š #074 - FINALLY! Drawing machine video(s) are go-ish! š
Video philosophy, Patreon and more AI with Kitty2
The plan was to always have a couple of videos āin the bagā, before publishing the first one. But plans have been getting in the way recently, so, without the next one done & dusted, I went ahead and hit publish on the first video in Drawing Machines 101.
YOLO.
I did think about waiting until the next newsletter before mentioning it, so thereād be more than just a five minute introduction sat there. But I decided that sometimes you just have to go for it at some point, and after years of talking about it, that point is now. All systems are go!
Thereās also a very sparse website to go with it so I can keep everything in one place: https://penplotter.com/
The plan is to keep adding to that as I go along, uploading files, and updating resources and the artist directory. Havenāt totally figured out how that last one will work yet, but I know that Iāve always wanted a place to go to find links to pen plotter artistsā shops and websites so why not (slowly) build one?!
Oh and Patreon Iām still figuring out, more on that below.
# THE PHILOSOPHY OF DRAWING MACHINES 101
Not a tutorial, not a course!
Iāve thought a lot, probably far too much, about the philosophy behind the videos I want to make about drawing machines. Iāve also studied a bunch of video courses to figure out what I donāt want to do.
Itās not that I donāt like courses and tutorials, in fact I love them, but whenever Iāve sat down and made a video like that Iāve always disliked the result; the power dynamic puts the āteacherā in the active roll, āI am going to teach you these thingsā.
But I think thatās hard to do in video, the recording has already been done, a snapshot of time now presented as a moving image on the screen. The viewer is the active participant, theyāve come to learn, the interaction is on their side and they can choose to click away at any time (and more power to them).
The way Iām approaching the videos is as though I have a friend (who doesnāt know anything about drawing machines) who wants to visit my studio to watch what Iām doing, and then decides to stick around to see how I go about making & creating; the under-the-hood stuff; the thinking and approaches.
Iām not teaching, instead Iām showing how I do things and why.
But Iām also aware thereās probably a good order to how I show what Iām doing; rather than jumping in at the end, I can start by demonstrate the core concepts I use over and over again, and then how I combine and build on those to make more complex things.
My friend may just stick around because they enjoy watching someone do something they love, or maybe theyāll even have a go and will hopefully take elements of what Iām doing and apply it to what they want to do, while learning things in the process.
Of course itās fine to call the whole thing a course, and each video a tutorial; itās a useful shorthand so we can all get on with more important things in our life.
But, itās a gentle reminder to myself when approaching making a video not to start from a position ofā¦
āIām going to teach you how to write loops in codeā
ā¦but ratherā¦
āI want to draw LOTS of lines, hereās how Iād go about doing thatā
ā¦because I want it to be about the art first and then how we do that second.
Shooting for the next video; showing how the machine arm moves from side-to-side, in-and-out, and then combining both to draw other shapes.
# PATREON
Done is better than perfect.
OR
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now.
This is me actually planting the tree Iāll wish in 20 years time that Iād planted.
š³ š³ š³ š³
The Drawing Machines 101 videos are (hopefully) what they call āevergreen contentā on YouTube, in that itās not supposed to āpop off and go viralā now, but rather be there waiting for when someone types in āhow to get started with pen plottingā at some point in the future.
So far just the first video is up, but one day the whole lot will be there, and under each one is a link to my currently new Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/revdancatt - which isnāt really for now, but for the future.
It just happens that I need to make it live now so I can link to it, tbh, Iād rather leave it another six months, but sadly things donāt work like that and itād just be more trouble that itās worth, so here we are.
Iāve had a few people ask why Iām going to be uploading the whole ācourseā (lol) for free on YouTube, why not stick it on SkillShare or somewhere and charge for it.
The main answer is that I love pen plotting and want as many people as possible to get an introduction to it, the more drawing machine artists there are the better it is for all of us.
But; if I do put my business hat on for one moment, the answer is probably two fold.
The first is that itās a trust building exercise, if we both get through this and out the other end then it means everything works, phew!
The second is this is a 101 introduction, it gets people up and running. Perhaps I can create some actual advanced tutorials, and at that point I know I can make them, and you know I can make them. More importantly, as the DM101 videos go out I can see where most of the questions are, and interest is. Then I can either choose to make a quick video to fill in the gaps, or add it to my list of āadvanced tutorialsā.
Which can then be tucked away on Patreon, which also by that point will have enough stuff on to prove Iām not some fly-by-night-AI-content-farm.
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The main problem I have with Patreon, more than most social media, is thereās a feeling of needing to get things right from the very beginning. It stresses that itās harder to change things once people join, so I guess you set all the memberships at the start and hope it all works out. I know you can change things, but itās presented as being a pain in the ass for everyone involved.
Iāve already written about this in the past in #27 - Super Stupid Patreon Maths ā where I worked out that was entirely possible to Denial of Service yourself by getting so many members that your whole time is spent posting physical prints & plots out to people, with no time left to actually do anything.
So two things.
First, the membership tiers I ended up going with; Ā£4, Ā£8, Ā£16, Ā£32, Ā£64 and Ā£128 are satisfyingly nerdy until they get displayed in US dollars at $5.26 ā¦ $21.04 ā¦ all the way to $168.28 - where they lose some of their charm. I probably should have thought about that one a little more.
The second thing; Iāve limited the number of members at each level, not in a hustle āget in quick before theyāve all goneā way, because I very much doubt thatāll happen, but more to keep things within safety levels. If all the slots did get filled thatās 120 postcards to create and post a month, which is already a bit much, without all the other A5, A3 and oddity stuff.
Most people very sensibly stick to digital things (like courses, or downloads), so I kinda want to get that limit locked in now - just in case.
If we go back two issues, to where AI made this ālevelsā chart for me.
Iām up to three members so far! So nearly ā of the way to āš Starting pointā.
I think Iām aiming for āšÆ Major milestoneā by the end of the DM101 series, itāll be fun to track and Iāll keep you posted, although I may need to split this out into paid and free members.
# KITTY2 - AI BOOGALOO
A quick update to the last newsletter where I mentioned buying a Sony ICD-TX660 dictaphone, and stringing together Hazel app, Obsidian, MacWhisper and the Cursor IDE to copy over, transcribe and process mp3 files.
Turns out I wasnāt too lazy to write my own code and instead started work on Kitty2, a newer version of my studio AI PA. Itās still very early days and all it currently does is, firstly, transcribe mp3 file from the dictaphone, which honestly is THE BEST THING EVER, and works SO MUCH BETTER than I was expecting š Itās almost spooky good.
Whenever Iām away from my laptop and have a sudden thought or idea I just hit record on the Sony (which has zero start up time) and say whatever Iām thinking, but with a request at the start or end āCan you file this away in my video ideas, thanksā¦ blah blah blah, oh and I need to remember to do X, Y, Z, can you add that to the todo listā - and it just works (with you know, a whole bunch of code behind it).
The other thing Iāve done with Kitty2 is wire up this conference microphone, and a big glowing mute button.
The button is supposed to glow RED when the mic is recording and GREEN when itās muted and safe. But the constant red light was putting me on edge, so I switched it to GREEN when recording/working and BLUE when muted.
https://luxafor.co.uk/luxafor-mute-button/
I know theā¦ hold onā¦ āAnker PowerConf S330 USB Conference Speaker for Home Office, Smart Voice Enhancement, Plug and Play, 360Ā° Voice Coverage via 4 Microphones, and Powerful Soundā ā¦phew, has its own mute button, and having a big glowing button that only does one thing; toggling this one specific mic on/off, may be a bit much, but it is very satisfying. At some point Iāll 3d print a retro enclosure for them both.
Which means Kitty2 is now always listening, except when itās not (when someone else is around, or Iām on a zoom/video/phone call), and dumps down, transcribes and processes the audio whenever it detects Iāve shut up for 30 seconds.
This is in response to the Bee AI getting bought out by Amazon, and the Omi AI pendent being a bit shit.
Ultimately, rolling my own so I could keep everything local to my laptop was going to happen, but I got so irritated over the weekend that it happened sooner than expect š
Iāll confess, I wasnāt expecting the conference mic to be as good as it is. Iām moving around my studio all the time and it hasnāt yet not picked up what Iām saying.
Having my hands full on the other side of the studio while changing the pen in a drawing machine and saying things like āHey Kitty, I need to remember to buy some cheeseā and have it pop up on my todo list a couple of minutes later is very satisfying. Meanwhile having a summary of whatever else Iāve said out loud in the studio at the end of the day is also surprisingly useful.
# THE END
Work had a deadline, that deadline has been hit and and gone (yesterday), things are a LOT calmer now, thank goodness. Thereās still tinkering to be done, and a lot of UI work, but I can now breath.
Honestly Iām a bit surprised Iāve managed to publish a video, get halfway through another one, update a website, start Patreon and get a new version of my AI up and running, oh, and this newsletter written! But I must confess to feeling a little tired now.
Iām going to keep the next few weeks nice and simple; the first 2-3 hours in the studio either recording, editing or writing the next video in the series, and then working. Oh, and sending Patreon ārewardsā out around the 3rd Wednesday of each month, so thatās a new thing I guess.
Anyway, thank you for hanging tight while 'Iāve battled with this whole ātutorialā thing for the past couple of years, and thank you for all the support and kind words so far, even on ājustā the introduction, itās been very validating š
The next newsletter should be getting to you on Thursday 27th of November, just two more newsletters until Christmas!! š
Love you all
Dan
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