bookmark_borderAnimated GIF: Nervous Twerking

Gosh it’s been a while since I made something just for fun. I only used 2 frames for this animation. I am using Adobe Photoshop 2024.

You can refer to my Photoshop Tutorial post called: How to Make DAT ASS Shake!?

I’m sure there are easier ways to create this but no matter what I’ll always be a Photoshop girl. Old habits never die.

bookmark_borderDrawing: Magickal Synthwave Witch

I hate how the iPhone 11 Pro Max doesn’t capture true color, I had to modify this in Photoshop to show the pastel quality of these Zeyar highlighters.

Drawn last night, I stayed up til 1:30am drawing and listening to music.

A part of me wishes there was a place where I could just dance. No one bothering me or making small talk. Spirit dancing, moving your body to music, releasing toxins. I recently watched this video of Irene Cara (RIP) and she literally looks like a spirit dancing in human form. Then you listen to the actual lyrics and she’s talking about immortality and being remembered. I swear everything takes on a different meaning when you’re older. Or actually, the message was always there; it was my own understanding that took years to catch up to the message.

I did go to a party in an undisclosed warehouse in DTLA more than 10 years ago and I did just that.

Well since I’m old and don’t know where to go anymore for such things, I just danced in my room in between drawing. That was enough for me.

bookmark_borderIs It Halloween Yet?

I must’ve drawn this 5 years ago. I usually date my drawings but for this one, I didn’t.

Halloween last year was pretty non existent. I still look forward to it even though I don’t even dress up or actually do anything for Halloween.

I think it’s just mostly the vibe for me – the darkness, the fog, spooky atmosphere, horror movies, Samhain, etc. Just like how I like the design of the main Sanrio characters enough to get it tattooed on me but not be an actual collector of those items (unless it’s Badtz Maru). Ok, I’m rambling.

I live in my head, I live in the world of ideas. It must be the combo of my Fire and Air signs (Sag and Aquarius).

I’m missing my cat. I’m missing Roxy. This drawing was pulled from a 2016 folder of photos and both Tabby & Roxy were in there. She had an art show so we made a spontaneous trip to Las Vegas and texted her when we were already there. She was so stoked.

I’m also reminded that she passed 11 days before Halloween. First year anniversary on top of the pandemic was hard. This year is already flying by quickly. The years are just flying by as I get older, period.

And yes, I made a bigass file size, looping gif of my cat Tabby so I can look upon her sweet face until this blog is gone.

bookmark_borderNew Moon Girl – Animated Drawing

Sat 8/20/22: bumping this up because I was looking for her.

I made her blink, maybe I will do a tutorial on how to do that. I’m pretty sure I posted the original drawing here somewhere…

nevermind, here it is from 2017.

Some random thoughts today:

I’m really glad I have this blog. Instagram and other social media hangouts may seem permanent, but it’s not your property. At least I can say this is my property. So if someone on Instagram decides they don’t like my post, they can report me. Then I would be on IG’s radar which means they can do other things, like shadow ban or disable my account.

Well I’m glad I don’t have a ton of followers on there, I don’t have to feel so attached like many others do who have built up a following on there. In some ways, I can relate more to porn stars and sex workers – who are used to having their accounts banned on a regular basis.

The impermanence of it all.

bookmark_borderDrawing: Sherm 2014

Does the depression, sadness and self-pity go away because the season feels lighter and brighter? Maybe we just put it on the backburner until we feel the overwhelming pull of Pluto to take us back under to brood over our sins and aggressions. The neverending balancing act between love / self-forgiveness vs self-loathing, guilt and shame. Such a beautiful mess we humans are.

Everything is a cycle. Cycle of life – death and rebirth.

I really like this drawing of a geometric flower with my bunny in shades. I miss the way I used to draw. I feel like adulthood has robbed me of so much and I feel somewhat resentful. Like, what happened to the old me who used to just draw and create all day for no reason, no purpose whatsoever?

I know a lot of these thoughts are just passing through. I know I have much to be thankful for. It just feels like insanity at times when you realize that you have 12 signs, 12 houses, 10 planets and 4 elements existing within us all – every single one of them wanting to express themselves at any given time in an infinite number of angles.

Enjoy the aging process.

bookmark_borderMusic Video: Goodbye Horses by Q Lazzarus

I’m posting this video because I want to save it here. I also want to talk about Chiron for some reason. What do the two have in common? Horses – being that Chiron is a centaur in Greek mythology.

More importantly (at least for me) is that in my birth chart, Chiron is in my third house in Taurus.

If the third house represents communication, it means that I have trouble talking, or speaking or saying things outloud. This is true, as I am an introvert to the core. I’m not very talkative.

Chiron represents the Wounded Healer in astrology, meaning everyone has a Chiron in their chart; everyone has a deep wound that they carry with them in this life that they have to work on healing.

I just discovered this recently which makes a whole lot of sense now, a breakthrough actually:

Copied and pasted from Tea & Rosemary’s blog regarding Chiron in Taurus:

The person with Chiron in Taurus will be afraid of losing something, whether it be safety, money, possessions, abundance, or love. The typical Chiron in Taurus will go to any lengths to avoid losing their home, their routine, the people close to them, their favorite possessions, their money, etc. Even if everything seems very permanent in their life, they will always be scared of some unexpected loss.

This resonates with me So.Damn.Much. Without going into too much detail, even though I have worked for other people most of my life I have always dreamt of being financially independent, like free from a job. I wanted to freelance; didn’t last very long. I wanted to tattoo; that didn’t happen. I wanted to have a small business; I’m barely even making it.

I can’t seem to do the things no matter how much effort I put into it. Not to say this is always true, but I try and fail A LOT it seems.

Or I just lose interest.

So yeah, that is my wound. I am afraid to not have resources and so I stay working. I’ve learned to work with this wound by accepting that I am meant to be working where I work. It is not creatively stimulating 24/7 but I am good at it; it has also given me the resources to be the provider and to live a life that is good. I’m also able to give to others freely. That is all I can ask for.

On the upside, I have found that learning astrology has been really good for me. This time though, I’m not trying to be an astrologer or be anything to anyone anymore…like that time I was trying to be a healer. Looking back I feel silly about it now tbh but for one reason or another, IT HAD to be expressed. That was the quality of that time period, where everyone and their mom wanted to be a healer including myself.

To be fair and not be so harsh on myself, my friend did pass away in Oct 2019.

Then 2020 came along and said ‘nope’! Being of service to others is not for me, not this year.

Then 2021 came and my cat had to be put to sleep.

I’m just learning for myself for once. And there is A LOT to learn and my Aquarius ascendant really likes it.

As a matter of fact, I’m learning so much by practice – interpreting people’s chart aspects on Reddit. So many people have questions and post their charts daily…

it’s almost as if getting suspended on Twitter led me to this, a blessing in disguise.

Anyways here is an old, rough drawing of a centaur, which I must’ve drawn when I had green hair. I’ve drawn centaurs a few times because me = Sagittarius.

 

bookmark_borderDrawing: L.A. Ace of Pentacles

I don’t know why I prefer to share my drawings here instead of IG.

I guess I just don’t care for likes or to be seen anymore. I think “creating for the gram” or social media in general tends to dampen ones creative spirit…I know it does for me.

A part of you is creating based on the possibility of getting more “likes”…it’s a trap that everyone falls into.

Stop giving a fuck about it.

Create because you want to.

Create because it what drives you to be.

I pulled the Ace of Pentacles today, along with 5 of Wands and The Empress.

I felt compelled to draw it, it’s one of my favorite cards. Whenever I pull it it always screams ‘Money Out of Nowhere’ to me. And that’s always a good thing because I.love.money.

Edit: I took the photo in the daytime so it looks closer though not as pastel-y in real life.

bookmark_borderSHERMGRAFIK Website Screenshots

It used to be so fun, challenging and also frustrating building websites; I was so obsessed about how mine looked and I was constantly tweaking it. The site was built in HTML via Dreamweaver, I was using iframes and tables to align elements. At the time, everybody was doing it that way.

Then WordPress came out.

All this reminiscing came about because I was thinking about Futura 2000’s website around 2004 when I started learning web design.

His website stood out to me because it was very experimental and out there. Everybody was using Flash to make their website graphics interactive.

However, I didn’t learn how to code actual HTML until 2014.

So yeah, before I switched to Save the Savages – Shermgrafik was my first ever domain.

Want to take a trip down www memory lane? You can see old versions of websites at Internet Archive.