Ohhh that sounds amazing! I've missed so much of this game. I'm just glad I'm back now and that EOE was my full re-entry and it gets to be followed by Lorwyn Eclipsed :D

I've been really excited that they're going back to these already trod planes to tell different stories or to pick up elements from their prior runs. Coming back to the game where these sets get to be "new to me" make me excited to dive into the narrative.

I see Selesnya less as a "cult" and more of a "found family," where "we are each other's burden." We are part of something greater, and that's "something" is each other and our relationship to the world-soul, itself. I dig it.

I get that the flavor text may say, "When you join Selesnya, you're giving up your identity." But I'm choosing to see this is as *gaining* an identity that is choosing to be connected to others who will also care for you, and using your strengths and powers to care for them in return.

It also didn't take long for me to acknowledge that I'm a Selesnya person. It's a VERY compelling pairing because an element of their story I think that is worth exploring is what gets people looking at it suspiciously.

BIG same!!

Oh that's cool!

And the great thing is that being an indie artist means teaching yourself your own pathways, so I'm down for this adventure. But again, I'm just wishing I had this when I was much earlier in my career.

My expected practice is just to make some color swatches, do some simple shape, light, and compositional studies, and play in my usual fantasy sandbox to make new pieces. THIS is how I wish I had learned all those years ago.

I started in traditional media so I should be better at this. But I've been in digital so long that I've built stronger skills and an eye that I'm trying to shift back to traditional media. I'm hoping I can translate some digital things to traditional, and back again, which is my ideal.

Sure "don't compare yourself" or whatever, but honestly? "Not comparing" is keeping me more stuck in a place I don't want to be because I simply don't have the foundational skills in traditional technique that's going to see me growing as an artist.

It's why I'm trying to correct for that now with intentional practice on layering, mixing, and application techniques in values, shape, coverage, and composition. I don't mind starting over but looking at other works I'm seeing everything I missed as an art student.

For me it's a lot of "what I know now" that has me kinda starting over with it. When I was an art major, I wasn't following a curriculum that got me familiar with my mediums, but was instead about "make a thing!"

In the mean time, I AM moving forward with other things just the same so that I can get SOMETHING done on time >.>

And honestly? A quiet night in of drawing is SO good. Especially with the right background sounds.