Hey June

Royals Stadium about 6:50 am on a Tuesday.

I do some part time work at Royals stadium these days as a manager for Aramark, which has begun to help level out the financial burden of slow art sales, and no current art shows to attend. The plus to this has been as it always has been with a myriad amount of side jobs I have done over the years, experience to add to the resume, new experiences, and new research of sorts for future comic book character livelihoods.

Being freelance has it's ups and downs, as along with it, I've been now working two part time jobs, while still writing, recording, creating content for youtube, the podcast, and now more than ever KKFI, since it seems that very possibly, the radio show will be coming to fruition sooner than I had anticipated.

Along the way as I travel, I also like to find places of hapstance, and I happened across a mini museum and garden upon the site of the old Gerald Ford home. The garden wasn't yet in bloom, but the area was quite nice, with an interactive display in the center. It had pre-recorded audio of President Ford, and an assortment of cool things on display from his time as president, as well as a bit about his being an Eagle Scout, which, being one myself, is always cool to see what accomplishments other Eagles have contributed to history.

(Left) Ford folding the flag with fellow boy scouts. (Upper Right) A model of his birth home, which no longer stands. (Bottom Right) The entrance sign to the rose garden.

Anyone that works with video knows that it's a majorly time consuming prospect, the most of which is letting your machine render out and create videos. I have been enjoying creating newer ones as of late, and the project below was from the video I posted from my last update for my poetry group at KKFI, "Unpacking Poetry".

It used to be that I just carried around a camera for getting photo references, or for images to sell through Dreamstime, now I find myself with a checklist of B-roll shots that I try and get in, or the occasional vlog post that I will work on when I get spare time.

A lot of people ask what I use to edit. I work on a PC and use AVS software.

I've also got another review coming up for Tenacious Ninja this next Monday, of the Kubros series "Hellboy" kit. I had just been doing time lapses, but I decided to get more interactive with this new video and review.

It's actually hilariously cool looking in all the best ways.

Thanks to some recent freelance work and income from Patreon, I've been slowly upgrading my video equipment bit by bit. I managed to find this INSANELY bright cold shoe mount light on sale for $20, with all kinds of metal accessories, and two rechargeable batteries w/ charger.

It's the Bower VL8K. It's not quite prosumer level in build, but it is light, durable enough, and bright. If you look at the iphone screen below, the only two light sources were the flash on my camera to take the picture, and the light coming from the Bower, which fully illuminated the studio area behind me, which was showing up on the screen.

The size of it in my hand, and in a solid dark room, the light is mounted on the assembly I have on the wall used for my vlogs and other youtube content.

I've had a few people ask me if I am using tripods, and yes I do, but the lion's share of shots happen using mounted camera supports strategically placed in my studio, so I can run and shoot most everything solo with bluetooth controllers and wired/wireless audio. The light I picked up helped round out the lighting issues I'd been having during evening to night recording sessions.

I may start adding reviews of some of these things, because honestly, they are also counted alongside my other tools of my trade, and help chronicle and create my art.

Until next time, support your local artists, be kind to your fellow beings, and always take the path less traveled!

- Mario, the Artisan Rogue
Illustrator, Podcaster, Writer, Toy Collector, and Animal Rights Activist

www.theartisanrogue.com