~ Many Irons In The Fire ~

Strike...


I don't post on my own blog near enough and hopefully, that will change soon. I am trying to line things up to get my ducks in a row as to where i will be able to post more often and on a regular basis.


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'MoshMouth' NFT for sale

I refuse to shit post just to get rewards... so quality over quantity is my philosophy. But there is much to be said for the more prolific participators that don't compromise quality and are still able to pump out some awesome content!

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Between curating for OCD within the niche communities that i unofficially help out in along with the ones i officially moderate takes up much of my time on the blockchain. The Photography Lovers Community as well as the Alien Art Hive Community are the most labor-intensive. I am not complaining by any means... but to comment and engage as well as sift through all posts to curate the ones that deserve support for their efforts and quality is a rewarding yet daunting task.

I highly recommend that you check out the Community Curation Posts for both of those communities! They are fantastic and the quality seems to get better every round of curation.

I was also recently added to the SplinterLands Community as a curator to help out in the Weekly Art Contests. I consider this a great honor and privilege considering i have been down with them since the Alpha and Beta series.

Back in my early days here i had a post that did well with rewards and i rolled those rewards into the starter deck predominantly as an investment. However, i really enjoyed playing the game and implementing strategies to win and gained a lot of early rewards. I had no idea all my rewards and the cards that were essentially free for me would end up being worth so much. I did have a feeling the game was going to explode and i wasn't wrong! If you have a Hive account then you can start playing for free over there and earn yourself some rewards too! Here is my referral link to get started.

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I'm not sharing all this information to toot my own horn but to say that i have many irons in the fire. I feel a bit spread thin at the moment but that is a driving and motivating factor. I am not going to burn out... but i do want to make more time for myself and my own gains here. I help a lot of folks grow and develop should they take the opportunity at many times my own expense. That isn't a bad thing but i should have more balance in my approach to be honest. So, while thinking on how to achieve this balance i came up with a bunch of ideas.


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As many of you know, I and many in this community have been playing around with Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence to augment, supplement, and create art. In fact, i am doing a couple of runs to share with you all while i type this post up. I prefer the videos to static images and it takes quite a bit of time to get the run and upload the video files to Youtube.

This has been a venture out into the digital unknown and challenging yet also very rewarding. Nothing ventured... nothing gained.

I have also been trying to be more active in minting and selling my NFT artworks at My NFT ShowRoom gallery. All these endeavors have been to participate in communities, to help newer users grow faster based on their quality and efforts, as well as to grow myself, here on the blockchain too.


~ While The Iron Is Hot ~

One of my ideas that i am exploring that i would like to get your thoughts on is moving forward into the NFT artworks but that is centered and based on SplinterLands motifs. I have quite a few ideas but wanted to get any of your input and suggestions on the matter to help temper my game plan.

My initial idea was to make my own version of the SteemMonsters Splinterlands cards in the style of some cards that were very artistically inspirational to me as a kid. The Marvel Masterpieces cards were my favorites growing up. I had collected baseball, (American) football, and basketball cards. I also had some other weird ones like Garbage Pail Kids, Mars Attacks, Dinosaurs Attack, The Crow, and some other Horror Movie cards.

Having played Magic the Gathering back in the day and seeing some of the overlaps and inspirations behind the SplinterLands gameplay i could really sense the potential. I almost became an illustrator for Wizards of the Coast back in the day and felt that SplinterLands characters could benefit from getting a Marvel Masterpiece or Magic the Gathering MakeOver.

This is where i might need some of you guys' and gals' help. I would be curious to know which characters you would like to see remade in a more realistic or different style to that which is implemented in their cards at the moment. If you aren't familiar with the cards and their various editions you can peruse them all here at SplinterCards.com

Splinterlands is in a presale event currently for the next edition called Chaos Legion. I have a feeling this is the true beginning of something very special. So, while NFTs are hot and SplinterLands is killing it.. i think it would be foolish not to STRIKE WHILE THE IRON IS HOT!

~ Iron to Steel ~


I obviously haven't included any of my artistic endeavors in this post in regard to the ideas that i have in mind towards the makeover. I figured it best to ask my fellow community members and those that visit my blog that are familiar with the game first. Even for those that aren't familiar, your input would also be highly valued as well. Please take the time to go see and check out the characters and cards and respond to my question according to your own tastes.


Dragă....jpg'Dragă' NFT for sale

Which characters and cards would you like to see reimagined in my style of art? My initial idea was to do 3 characters and mint them at the NFT Showroom and see how that goes. I want to make these exclusive to HIVE and to make them fairly limited and rare. My initial run of 3 characters would be a dry run to see how folks respond and what demand there may be for this kind of a project.

If it's worth the time and effort i would pursue recreating each card individually from each of the series and editions. In essence, these first three characters would be NFT prototypes of the first edition of this series.

There are so many details to nail down that i don't want to get too far ahead of myself and get the cart in front of the ox so to speak. But i really feel a sense that this project could potentially go over very well given the popularity and awesomeness of SplinterLands.

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Red Glow - A.I. Genesis Mint NFT for sale

I feel like if we all come together with all the different irons in the fire we can all strike while the iron is hot and benefit in the long run together. Personally, i have already witnessed the synergy that community and similar interests can bring together and utilize to produce amazing results!

~ Monsters & More ~


I have sprinkled my A.I. experimental artworks along with my NFT artworks that still have some available editions for purchase. Shameless plugs to stay relevant! I have ideas for my own characters and monsters for SplinterLands. So, keep an eye out for upcoming NFTs and posts.


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La𐐒iotica NFT for sale

I also added that A.I. run that i created with one notebook to roll over into the video notebook. As of now it's been taken down by Youtube as some of the others were... but hopefully, by the time you are reading and/or scrolling this far, it will be available. I put in 2 appeals and we shall see how that pans out.

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Once again credit needs to be given to @Jotakrevs for all of his hard work making these notebooks usable to the laymen and commonfolk such as myself!

I hope you all have enjoyed the visuals and videos along with my commentary of what was, what is, and what is yet to come!

Please don't hesitate to let me know in the comments your thoughts and ideas. I took a year off of the blockchain to come back to a Hive Hardfork and a totally new way of thinking about things. So, i am not in a hurry to rush something great but i don't want to wait too long.

I do think that the Iron is Hot and soon is the time to Strike. Thanks in advance for helping me to blacksmith out my endeavors. I appreciate your time and attention to this post and hope you have your own irons in the fire!

It was the late Bob Ross' birthday earlier this week. Just wanted to offer up my appreciation for his love and inspiration within the arts. Y'all take care and thanks for stopping by.

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35 comments
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Hello castleberry, the videos really give us the impression that they are living. I like the 4th video where you see a woman who changes and earrings grow. Very cool to see. The 5th video is also very Mystical. The 6th video gives the impression that the oont has moved in the universe and through clouds of gas. The 7th video would make me think of a generic film or series from the year 1970. Great editing !!!

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Thank you for taking the time to check out all the videos and to give such thorough commentary on your impressions of them and the artwork. To be honest, i can take no credit for much of the art or editing since it's me prompting and collaborating with Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence to come to the final results. But i do thank you for your kind words and for your thoughtful considerations!
Take Care! =)

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Hi, great post. Loved your Draga NFT :). Regarding the redesign of Splinterlands cards, some cards are confusing to look at in the card images, they make more sense only when opened in the lore page. One such card is the Ancient Lich. Another one would be Haunted Spirit...

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Thanks for the feedback. I am super glad to hear that you loved the Draga NFT. There are some cheaper editions for sale at the list price rather than the expensive one at auction.

As far as the cards go... i totally agree. Haunted Spirit has been one of my favorites since the Alpha days and i have never really been able to see what it is. The lore pages and all the content surrounding the cards has come a long way. I have quite a bit of catching up to do in that regard. I will check out the Ancient Lich and i appreciate your angle of approach for me there.
Thanks for stopping by and take care.

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Will look into the prices again, thanks for the info :).

Yeah, do check out Ancient Lich, that was most confusing for me. Glad that you consider others’ inputs in your work. You take care too!

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Teamwork makes the dream work! I could always use all the help i can get! hahaha I did check out the Ancient Lich and i see what you mean for sure. Pretty cool character though... just need to make a better and more discernable focal point! Cheers!

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WOW! A @castleberry POST!!!! Sweet deal. You have a lot of cool art pieces showcased here today. Love them all. La𐐒iotica was of particular interest to me do to the cool lines and black and white style. Excellent! I was staring at it for a while and then fell over because I got dizzy.. hehehe.. Awesome when the art starts moving without the use of drugs.

I have a few of this card and that, but I also have several sealed packs of Garbage Pail Kids and a whole box of the Giant Stickers - also garbage pail. I think there are three packs with 'Atom Bomb'. Recently they have been going for around $100 USD a pop. We'll see.. not ready to part with them just yet.

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I wouldn't want to part with them either! hahaha Garbage Pail Kids bring back some of my best memories of better times!

My dad used to say that he wished i was around making art back in the sixties and seventies for their psychedelic nature. I think that there is something optical and cerebral about the repetitive use and nature of lines. I really enjoy the analog art process and now there are digital options to embellish with as well. The La𐐒iotica is purely hand-drawn and scanned into a digital file. No manipulation or post-production editing or embellishing.

Thanks for stopping by and taking time to comment and appreciate the post!
Cheers bro

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Oh you really would have been good at that! You dad was right indeed.

I'll have to do a post on those garbage pail kids cards some day in the future. I originally bought them to flip, then decided against it.

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I finally know someone who remembers the MAGIC letters, if I'm not mistaken here, they arrived in Venezuela in approximately 2001, the internet was also very recent, and cell phones were still analog, for this reason groups of games were formed In public places, the quality of the images on the cards was incredible, I wish you the best in your new project ...

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Yes, some of my best memories from around that same time was playing Magic with a couple of friends of mine. They had group events and tournaments... but i never got that into it. I probably should have though. And yes, the art was always top-notch! Thanks for stopping by and for your thoughtful comment! Take care brother.

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The dragon art looks awesome!

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I am really glad you liked it. I know you enjoy some good pointillism from time to time yourself!
Cheers

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I fully agree with you, quality first of all. I always try to put quality content, for me it is very important that every project is interesting. The contents you propose, and the communities you take care of are excellent, I happen to open your selections and discover many fantastic artists, what you do is exceptional and you give a great help. When you select my works I am always very happy, I mean really. You do well to take some time for yourself and your projects, it's not wrong, it's a good thing. I hope to still grow a lot, artistically speaking. Thanks for the work you do.

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I really appreciate your kind words and it's very motivating to hear how being curated is so uplifting for you. I feel the same way when i get curated. I don't think that feeling will ever get old. Taking care of the communities is a challenge but well worth it. We have been growing in all areas and the quality keeps getting better all the time. Thanks again for your encouragement and for taking the time to comment something meaningful! Cheers brother

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Hi Castleberry! Great post!
Very nice idea to make the splinterlands cards in your own style! @astrocreator did a couple of works like that. I had thought of the same thing but knowing very little about the game I didn't dare to do anything about it.
Very good your videos (I have no idea how you do them, all this is new to me) and I found your works very varied and interesting! Blessings and success for your future projects! =)

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Thanks bro! I appreciate your kind words. I have a few posts detailing the process of using the AI Google Colab notebooks with Machine Learning. Most of it is automated and you just fill in the blanks. AI Augmented art has a lot of info in it. Check it out when/if you get some time. It's pretty fun actually. Hopefully, i can get the ball rolling on my project. I think it's going to work out well once i get a little more inspired with a plan of action.
Cheers.

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Your Dragă NFT is just incredible. Loved the story taht goes with this artwork in your NFT Showroom, too.

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Thank you so much! I really appreciate your time and effort i understanding and valuing the artwork.

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I appreciate the credit, but even more to see that share the notebook is helping you and others to have fun with the AIs.

Awesome artworks, and by the way, I noticed that you still getting nippled by the AI :D

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Thanks for noticing bro! hahaha I am starting to enjoy that now rather than get frustrated by it.

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So making "nipplenade" I guess :D

Almost forgot it, !PIZZA!

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