A minecraft cottage made out of birch, cobblestone, and pumpkins.
As someone who's been playing Minecraft since pocket edition was released, I've built a LOT in Minecraft. I mostly build farming-focused bases and villages, and they can get pretty big and detailed. I'm often asked how I stay motivated and inspired to work on worlds that I've had for years, so I thought it would be fun to compile my advice into a blog post!
Firstly, I like to keep a book and quill to write down and keep track of all of my projects, ideas, and cords. As I'm walking around, I often get inspired to build this and that here and there, and writing them down in game is handy and immersive. When I finish a build on my to-do list, I mark it with an x! Whenever I take a break from Minecraft, its very nice to know where I left off when I come back. When I build, I like to include "busy work" here and there. Inevitably I get bored, art blocked, and/or tired while playing sometimes, so its nice to simply mine away at something menial but helpful such as a cobblestone generator, lumber yard, and crop farm.
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I've always been interested in architecture, so I'm inspired a lot by real life buildings. Whenever I see a building I like, I enjoy analyzing specifically what I like about it like the texture, color, movement, etc. Because of that, I know I like natural tones, wood, vertical lines, and cottage styles. This is helpful for searching for new real life and Minecraft build inspiration. However, sometimes Minecraft decor inspiration can feel a bit stale. When that happens, I like to look up inspiration from other games such as Animal Crossing or Stardew Valley. Both are also sandbox games with simplified graphics and dedicated fanbases that are always innovating new and aesthetically pleasing builds. Translating those builds into Minecraft can bring new variety to your world and help define your building style. This is my method for making small, filler builds and decor around my larger projects!
When planning the layouts of my base and large projects, I like to prioritize my movement and sightlines. How do I generally move through this space? What do I see as soon as I leave my house, turn this corner, cross this hill, etc. For example, I like to place my house in the center of my base and run my main route to and past it. Then I place my most used buildings along that route. I leave space in front of my house for a courtyard, a large open space where I put a garden or farm in the foreground and a larger eye-catching building in the background. This gives me a really wonderful sight every time I leave and return to my house! I also like to "frame" my base with decorative spruce and oak trees (the variety of shapes is very natural and nice to me). I would also recommend adding variation to land elevation across your base, for example setting certain buildings above or below others adds depth, coziness, or grandness depending on your layout. I prioritize cozy by setting my home and gardens on the lowest level and building the rest of my buildings on higher elevations and cliffs surrounding my courtyard, creating a short cozy sightline without looking flat or cramped.
These are all of the tips I can think of right now, but I'm sure I'll think of even more as soon as I post this entry hehe. I plan to post more Minecraft related entries and eventually, a Minecraft page showing off screenshots of my 5yo creative mode world and 3yo survival mode world, so if you enjoyed reading this there's more to come! I hope at least one of these tips is helpful or inspiring for you, happy mining crafting!
Here are some ideas for your minecraft world!
Greenhouses or Plant Nurseries.
Fish Pond or Farm.
Wind Turbines or Solar Panels.
Medieval or Modern Boats.
Stone and Suspended Bridge.
Decorative Orchard.
Building based off your favorite food.
A shop that sells your favorite item/block.
Mixed use buildings.
Small village and large city courtyards.
Vertical crop farms.
Aesthetically pleasing storage.
Railroad with Stations.
Temple with garden.
A strip of townhouses or shops.
A house based off of a block you dislike.
New dinosaur Figures: I love ceratopsian dinosaurs now!
Posted: April 22nd, 2025.
A figure of a zuniceratops, a small ceratopsian dinosaur.
One of my oldest and most intense interests is paleontology and dinosaurs! Fun fact, as a small child I was TERRIFIED of dinosaurs and thought a pterosaur or T-rex would stick its head into my bedroom window at night and eat me... As soon as I got over that, I've loved everything animal in prehistory since. However, I've always had a intense bias for therapod dinosaurs. My favorite dinosaurs typically have long necks, tails, legs, claws, and fluffy feathers. I'm not sure why, but triceratops just never spoke to me.
That was until recently... Last year I got into collecting dinosaur figurines for the first time since I was a kid, now that there are more scientifically accurate options on the market. This lead me to buy my first Beasts of the Mesozoic figures, a proceratosaurus and a zuriceratops?! Initially, I picked out the zuri because it was one of the cheapest figures available and I wanted something for my proceratosaurus to hunt hehe >:3
A albino white and yellow zuriceratops figure (left) and a brown and orange zuriceratops figure (right).
When they arrived, I was shocked that the zuriceratops was my favorite of the two! I loved the color scheme this guy has, his stubby little legs and tail, and big ol noggin horns. I'm not sure what made it click for me, but I'm very happy to finally join the ceratopsian fanclub. I had no idea what I was missing. I liked him so much that I got him a friend, the albino updated release zuriceratops. She is so, so pretty. If you have a favorite ceratopsian, let me know which one especially if it isn't triceratops! I have a lot of catching up to to :D !!
Happy 1st Website Anniversary
Posted: March 25th, 2025.
A pixel doodle I drew for my new gallery page!
On March 25th 2024, I uploaded the first version of this website! Back then I wasn't sure of my site's direction. Would it be a portfolio, a project focused, or a personal site? I've since settled on calling it a little-bit-of-everything site and added a ton of pages and stuff related to my art, projects, OCs, and hobbies via biweekly site updates.
Since starting my website, a lot has changed about how I engage with the internet. I have since left twitter after 9 years, and stopped monetizing my art completely. I've also reevaluated the way I use the internet. Instead of a place to pass the time determined by an algorithm, I try to only read, watch, and engage with what I choose for myself and is most rewarding. This has helped lower stress considerably and re-associated the internet in my mind as a tool for education and creativity (as it should be).
I've reached most of the goals I had when starting this website. Its now my primary place on the web, where I can share whatever I want on a site I can fully customize. In the early 2010s, artists' personal sites were the primary way I followed artists. I hope this site has become one that people bookmark and visit again to keep up with me and my art. This year I'm making an effort towards curating my own experience online and avoiding algorithmic complacency.
I'm looking forward to another year and more of site updates! I still have a lot on my to-do list, but my biggest priority is a Morningreigns page showing off all of the worldbuilding and concept art for the project so far. My plans for this year in general is to spend more time drawing for my projects and continuing my recovery from the total burnout I experience every winter. Thank you for so much for supporting my site via kind comments and encouragement!
Yapping about Morningreins
Posted: January 18th, 2025.
POV horses have taken over your brain.
Last summer, I started working on a new project - Morningreins! A fantasy adventure story inspired by My Little Pony (and too many DA animal oc stories to count) about a world of talking horses and magical creatures. The story follows Midnight Dove, a lonely wandering pegasus who flies from village to city and beyond. Despite the land entering a new era of unity and collaboration due to newly invented transportation, Midnight feels lonely and disconnected. Its a story about cultures, friendships, nature, and everything in between. If you follow me elsewhere or have visited my characters page, you've seen a lot of the characters from this project already!
The world has its own lore and worldbuilding, including some original species and cultures! There are farming and tinkering horses, scholorly northern unicorns, artsy southern unicorns, gender neutral zebras, carnivorous griffons, and singing and athletic coastal pegasi! I also plan to add sheep, deer, and giraffes too. There's also the locations, such as the Emerald Gulf, a tropical green water paradise, The Stardust Valley, a sparkly snowy mountain region, and The Crystaline Barrens, where large gemstones and crystals scatter across arid plains. Theres so much more I can't even mention without spoilers :3
Midnight is a character I'm really excided to get into too, I really want to write a character who's autism manifests in similar ways mine does without it being a sona. If she was the main character of a real cartoon, I think she'd be my favorite next to Candlelight Flicker. I'm also very partial to Ash Inkwell and Cozy Morning... They're my OCs they can all be my favorite!
I want to use this project to write about different environments and landscapes, as well as explore different fictional cultures and meet hoof kinds from there, as if I'm peoplewatching through Midnight's eyes. I also want to explore how different cultures intersect with being disabled, gay, trans, etc. That sounds really heavy for a silly cartoon horse project, BUT I promise it will be pretty chill and lighthearted :3
This was a pretty aimless ramble but I hope it was interesting! I hope to make a page dedicated to both of my current projects up soon, but I just wanted to talk about it a bit before then. I hope you enjoyed! Please check out my characters page if you haven't already!
BonBonPocket Weird Cute Girls Anime Doll Review
Posted: January 10th, 2025.
BonBonPocket 1/6th Dolls, fully dressed and displayed on doll stands. From left to right: Popping Candy, Corrupted Heart, Paradise Lost, and Enamored Heart.
In the last couple of years, I've expanded my interest in dolls from western playline dolls to some blind box chinese BJDs, most of which are 1/12 scale (very teeny!) with sculpted hair. They've quickly gotten a dedicated area of my doll shelf. I think they're the perfect blend between a highly articulated doll and an anime figure!
Initially, my partner and I both tried to put these dolls out of our minds due to their price (about $50usd each) and size (1/6th scale aka 12inch tall). But we both really fell in love with them. I was particularly fond of "Popping Candy" and even started drawing my sona Daisy in her outfit. After a lackluster xmas season, we thought "fuck it!" and bought the full set.
These dolls come in blind boxes, meaning you don't know who you get. There are 6 standard designs, one "hidden" (rare) design, and one limited edition (not included in the blind box). We got the standard 6 and the limited editon. Each doll comes with a set of hands in different poses for more display options.
Close up photos of the doll's faces and hair sculpts.
These dolls are STUNNING. Their designs are really solid and I love their simple yet unique faces. Their hair paint jobs have soft gradients that give them a lot depth.
Their bodies are super sturdy, and with their huge boots, they easily stand on their own. Their clothes are well constructed and higher quality than the smaller 1/12th blind box BJDs I have. My only complaint is two of the dolls' tops are unhimmed, meaning they have a chance of coming apart if you're too rough while dressing them.
In conclusion, I'm extremely happy with them and they've quickly become standout pieces in my collection. Once in hand, the cost and size issues we previously had were totally worth it. Honestly, I hope they release a second series with different fashion styles (I'd also really like to see darker natural skin tones). They're not beginner friendly, but I'd recommend them if you want to branch out into 1/6th blind box BJDs and enjoy any of their designs :3
New Years Retrospective and Hopes for 2025!
Posted: January 1st, 2025.
Happy New Years!
Since I'm starting this journal at the start of the new year, I wanted to write a retrospective and some future hopes regarding my art, personal life, and this website!
I spent much of 2024 focusing on my mental health, and I made some major progress! A couple years ago, I was diagnosed with multiple trauma disorders that had been untreated until that point. I had to unpack a lot of shame and fear, my own trauma, and what my loved ones might think of my diagnoses. In the last year though, even my worst symptoms have been so much easier to manage and I just generally feel more safe and happy :3!
I didn't make nearly as much art as I wanted, but I did feel pretty okay while making it! I used to do commissions full time, but unfortunately I had to quit because it was overall unsustainable for me and damaged my relationships with my art. A lot of 2024 was also spent finally shedding the pressure to monetize and market (ughh) my art! I try to remember that it takes time to heal from a decade of overworking myself and perfectionism!
I also started this site in 2024! It'll be a year old in march and I'm really proud of how far its come! I'm really really glad for all of the support I've gotten on this site from neocities users, to social media followers, and my partner (who helps me moderate mwah mwah). I have a lot more planned for the site this year, including more artsy pages with original art.
As for the new year, I have a few hopes of various sizes. The biggest being moving into a bigger apartment. It'll just generally be a quality of life upgrade for my whole family, especially our kitty. As for art, I'm currently working on a second project named Morningreigns, a written story about a pegasus explorer. I hope to futher develop the story and start releasing chapters in early 2026 as well as start casually drawing THRIVE IN SPITE characters/scenes again. I'd also like to get back into animation and animatics. Thank you for reading!
