Month: January 2024

it’s been a few years since i’ve been to a rave so please bear with me.

first, i had to sketch what i thought this rave would look like. obviously, the building entrance has to be a mouth. the LSD tab is a tooth. here’s the best illustration i’ve ever created:

i used microsoft bing image generator and asked for a simple, rave at the dentist image. one with the word cursed, because the event sounds cursed, and another without it. it wasn’t really what i had in mind but it’s a nice starting point.

okay, here’s a more specific generated image. i searched, “dentist office but the building door is a mouth.” i mean, yeah, that works?

okay, next search was “dentist office but the building door is a mouth with lipstick on.”

now we’re just adding words. it’s getting weirder, isn’t it? “dentist office but the building door is a mouth with lipstick on with an LSD tab on the tongue.”

okay, lets make it darker, literally. “dentist office but the building door is a mouth with lipstick on with an LSD tab on the tongue and it’s nighttime.”

okay, wait a minute. i didn’t even mention the tooth tab yet??

alright, AI just came up with my idea on its own and i’m now having a small creative crisis because of it.

“dentist office but the building door is a mouth with lipstick on with an LSD tab on the tongue and it’s nighttime and a rave is happening inside”

last one, “dentist office but the building door is a mouth with lipstick on with an LSD tab on the tongue thats shaped like a tooth and it’s nighttime and a rave is happening inside”

i mean, unless you knew this event was taking place, you probably wouldn’t think this was a rave. but it’s kind of beautiful, isn’t it?

okay, not the movie, but the blog assignment. the 2016 movie, which i loosely remember, stars daniel radcliffe (and another man i do not know of) and is about his character, a corpse, teaching man how to live. perhaps i should revisit the film and learn a thing or two myself.

last week, we had a very much alive alum and guest speaker tell us about life post graduation. he said a few things that resonated deeply with me, the most compelling being that the work we’re doing isn’t always about us. that we’re not the only ones with a stake in this. a truly shocking revelation to an only child like myself.

so, reader (if you’re there), what would my tools be if i were a swiss army knife? i wish you could decide for me.

tools i have:

i’m an illustrator, i have good interpersonal skills (big shout out to years of therapy), i refer a lot to cultural iconography and community for inspiration, i’m creative and eager to incorporate various ideas, learn more and collaborate.

tools i will need:

time management, a better understanding of illustrator, self discipline, confidence in my abilities and voice, patience and self compassion when things don’t automatically click or i’m struggling to learn a new skill or program.

these skills will obviously change and evolve over time, but right now, this feels accurate for this part of my life.