I finally yielded to the challenge of challenging myself.

The challenge:
You have two months (April to May, 2023) to start afresh in a niche related to art, graphics or video of your interest in which you know nothing about and you have just two months to become an authority.

Rules:
- Keep a daily log of your activities
- It must be a niche of potential self reliance
- You are at liberty on how to task yourself

Equipment Provided:
- N2k Cash for micelaneous
- Old Laptop of 4G Ram and 250SSD , OS Windows 10
- Mouse
- Graphics Tablet

Good luck

The real motivation is you motivating your self, let's see how it's goes.

PS :this will serve as my log for my activities and will appreciate minimal to no inteference by way of comments

Day 1: 3.4.23 :Sea of Options

So excited for the unknown, google search was overwhelming, quora answers were so supportive but I was still drowning in the sea of information.

No direction for now, all options are open, I slept off in the sea of confusion, tomorrow is another day, data gone!

Time log: 11: 34pm to 4:15am

Day 2: 4.4.23 : Everything is just confusing

I knew I needed more than excitement to keep to this challenge, sleep in the afternoon so that I will not give excuse due to not sleeping as I was determined to make a sense of direction

Profitable niches was what kept ringing on my head, operaimini is my favorite browser so I hit tye search bar, no no no this is not what I want, none was related to the area of choice, abi make I swab....no na just temptation, try modifying the search terms bang see results, results upon results for my mind, I don hammer, a niche is about to come forth finally.

But this niche is interwoven, is two headed, no three, I see four, may be is more than what I see i think, yawns...is it hunger? No but wait o...how did I manage to sleep as I woke up asking myself when did I dooze off, chai...my day sleep did not work.

Time log : 11: 05pm to 7: 32am (from sleep)

Day 3: 5.4.23 : there is a how to in everything

I was now determined to revenge sleep by surprise, they said eat kolanut, I make sure I had it enough to spare, the said stand at night, I competed with the standing fan, there was water to wash face and soak feet, I was certain sleep was far from me so the tempo was set.

The journey started again it was war between google and youtube, the culprit was the keyword how to. How to came up as in eh...I come dey asked so there is even how to how to..
Lol.

The results were coming in their numbers and i quickly gather as possible, website info and ebooks, I feel relieved so google won I said.

So let me download before the 2GB finishes. Then comes this pop up, I enter my email, join mailing list, chai am on my way to the pro.

So now sleep come...is not coming, 4am, no way okay let me open what I downloaded so far, what, reports, sketchy contents, stories , hmm...after sending my e-mail, na mailing list I join, which wahala be this, so na just rubbish I downloaded, I no want read eBook again, na YouTube for better o but chai, 2Gb don waka for nothing, no free thing o. Chai nothing come out for day 3 , tonight YouTube go hear am.

Time log : 11pm to 5am

Day 4 : 6.4.23 : score line: 2-0

So I decided to make friend with youtube, am sure google will now be jealous and boom videos were in their hits, I was happy, so I decided to go on a 360px download to save MB and one by one download became completed, thats how easy things should be not on theories of manual. you tube is the best I have exhausted the 2gb plan so quick and its not up to 2am, well today must have been a good day as I smiled to myself.

So since i had no way to go during the day, I started transferring my dowmloaded videos from phone to system. I waa so eager to start my strange journey and so loaded the VLC player and suddenly the video went off and off the laptop at 71% so this laptop still the misbehave when light goes off, is so rite I said to myself, back to my phone to start watching from it..boom, its not there, I cut and not copy as my mind whispered to my body, oya na make I rest.

Luckily power was restored and with usian bolt speed, I saw myself playing videos one by one with a shocking look, the videos were blurry kind of, some were speed up, some had ascent that turned me off and some had music in background with no voice narration...it was shades of shege from youtube video and one by one I deleted the videos, so I lost again to youtube and am sure google must be making fun of me by now.

So wetin happen, something must have been wrong I said to myself, then I have to negotiate between google and youtube, 4 nights gone with no direction, to night e go b war as my phone is fully charged, there is even a combo of bitter kola and kolanut, and there is even chewing gum to keep the mouth busy as I remain optimistic.

Time log : 11: 45pm to 1: 15am

Day 5 : 7.4.23 : Fresh Start

I knew something was wrong in my approach but not me for sure so I did a candid review of my past 4 days activities and realised that am left with N1,200 and with 15hrs + of nothing to show off, well I took consolation in the fact that i have an idea of the niche that I wanted to venture with an exception that it was kind of interwoven.

What were the parts, I needed to learn the writing, the interpretation, I needed to learn the layers, I needed to learn the construction and lastly the design, I needed to know how to edit and review critism, how to finally present the finish work or publishing as they said and I said to my self, you wanted to eat a full elephant at once, continue.

So which part of the elephant will I start with, hmm, let me start with one first, I saw my self visiting my ex, google. The results were astonishing, so people can change or rather google can change, it went as far as showing videos, the website results were so so informative, I quickly safe for offline reading, went to the next part and to the next, it was a smooth experience, I did not even take my night combo and I wasnt even feeling sleepy either, this should be the miracle of prayers but I wouldn't add fasting because I didn't fast, this is the fresh start.

Time log 11: 07pm - 3: 15am

Special annoucement

I could not update for days because of the attachment below, I don't know what went wrong but I have replicated the process which led to same ban.

Admins should look into this to know if it is a bug from the auto bot.

Problem: If you upload picture and immediately create a thread or reply to a created thread by you immediately you will get ban, the bot don't know between human and bot

Solution:
In cases as identify above, a simply captcha verification process or the famous traffic light identification should be initiated if the bot suspect a spam because you created a thread and reply to it immediately or updated a thread and reply immediately to the same thread almost immediately

Sincere apologies to those who were expecting updates from me, the situation almost got me discourage in addition to the closure of service of my favourite file storage site.

How do you tag admin at least for them to be aware if this bug from the nairaland bot.

We will continue tomorrow

Cheers

Day 6 - 11: 13.4.23 : Abridge Report

So I decided not to be distracted by the distraction that has happened, I pick my courage on one hand and determination on the other hand, so let's jump in time.

First a report of cash
Every night I just gave my self 2G night plan and I have exausted more than what I think is enough to keep me going as day 8 actually left me with 400 naira left.

Resources gathered
I can now look into my folder with great wealth of ebooks tallying 8 in numbers on the subject matter, there is also a repository of video files running in 40s as am now currently comfortable with those resources.

What transpires during the ban
There is one of this eBook that really struck my fantasy, but the problem was that I don't like reading, I wonder what would become of me if I find myself in school now, will I will even see third class in one of the A- rated university like the University of Nigeria, Nsukka ! (Shout out to the lions and lionesses) , I have converted the eBook to audio worth of 8hrs run time and my ear drum is vibrating to the sound of a pretty Robot Voice in person of Sali whispering the wordings to my listening pleasure with lots and lots of jotting in my jotter that was handed over to me by a friend who graduated from the college.

The reverse was the case with video files, but I must point out one thing clearly, there is this extra feeling of watching educational videos on a TV set than on phones or laptop, that was the magic that kept me busy during the holiday and at night and at day.I was able to scan through over 30 videos at my free time.

Coming up next
Insight on what new profitable business skills which is what this strange journey is all about and the outcome of a 45minutes video, untill then, I leave you with this Chinese Proverb.."the best time to plant a tree was 10years ago, the next best time is now"

Day 12: 14.4.23 : 45 Minutes Video

Having scan through the different videos, one video really took my fantasy, it wasn't up to anyone hours, infact, it can be watched within 45 minutes but surprisingly, it took me almost 4hours to grasp a single demonstration, I don pause, rewind, slow motion even frame by frame habba, na so video learning be? It wasnt funny at all and to make things worst, there was constant power supply, yes constant, so I was literally forced to watch without excuse of no light but I no gree do again, I don tire abeg, say wetin make I find another thing do but right inside of me, I knew I was just playing the blame and safe game, I have run away from the fight to fight another day.

Currently, the program requires any of the following
1. Photoshop or Krita or canvas or msword
But krita currently on 5.x couldn't run on my system so I had to uninstall it, I already had word but I can't used word due to the fact that I don't want to overshoot the function of word from word processing to desktop publishing. I like canva but count me out anything that has to do with online subscription based access, so at the end it ended with photoshop.

2. As part of the training, I will be creating scenes by sketching and painting so a tablet is necessary as I already have a tablet which was bought for digital illustration 2yrs plus ago and abandone but now ready to be put to a different use. It is here the problem of 45mins video watch became a problem

3. A story book is also required as this will be handy in crafting my sketches and painting my scenes, so I need to learn story telling too.

That's all on what happened yesterday, hope this insight was helpful, let's keep it a date tomorrow for more update.

Thanks😊

Day 13 : 15.04.23 : After All have been said

I did said immediately I get home, it will be me and that video, in fact I have arrange the video in the order that am going to watch, I have streamed line it to the best 10. I have revisited my combo to prevent me from sleeping at night, am sure it will be hot, fast forward to 11pm

11pm dot, i began to yawn, well maybe am thirsty, I grab two satchet and gallop all in a twinkle of an eye, let me keep my mouth busy, I took some snacks, let me stretch my back a little, I rested on the bed, set alarm for 30mins, ladies and gentlemen I found myself the next morning when the noise of my neighbors fetching water woked me up.

I taught I took my combo to prevent sleep, yes I did as I even saw the wrap of biscuit and satchet water starring at me, I look at my phone, behold the alarm was put off, who did it as I said to my self.

But it is said, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail, this one that I was fully prepare for a comeback fight only for the match to end before even starting, well I leave that for the motivational speaker.

So all in all, nothing come out, tomorrow is another day.

Day 14: 16.04.23 : Show of forces

What is happening today as I keep asking myself, well let night come as I keep wandering how it will turn out to be. I was shocked that I couldbe awake without any aid hmm, when I wanted to stay awake it did not work naturally as the evening keeps sailing slowly to night.

11pm ticks to 2am to 4am, to 5am, oh no, I just kept vigil in vain as I kept starring at the light bulb for power but the more I look, the more it seems impossible. Hmm, I hope some forces are not responsible for this as I said to my self as I sigh to bed in frustration, again in a row, no work was done!

Its well.

Day 15 : 17.04.23 : John 3: 15

Watching the videos became a task that must be done and finally it was done. It was clear that I look without seeing in all the videos. It only revealed to me that in youtube videos there are teachers, there are trainers, there are instructors, there are tutors and there are demonstrators, nothing really entered my head because I was watching videos on how to paint a set background without knowing the basics.

Another revelation that sets in was that the very ones that were good for beginners that recommended that I start with the fundamental referred me to watch the videos only on their patreon page, chai free thing no dey absolutely free.

So painting a background from ten video sources was like asking ten preachers to preach john 3: 15 and am sure, different outcome is certain.

So I resolved to learn the basics of painting and I must start with a simple subject or rather object and guess it, an apple, well I still have some spare cash for a 250mb YouTube shopping for a search in apple painting tonight.

Lessons learn, learn the basics and break down all complex scence to basic but as it stands, painting is just one area of the multifacet items to study in this strange journey with 15days gone only material gathered but no big dive in yet but am certain am close to breaking in.

Day 16: 18.4.23: print "hello world"

So I suspended watching the main videos due to lack of grasping the essentials and this made me looked for starting from something simple, painting an apple.

Painting an apple is said to be the key to unlocking how to paint, yes they were right, I stumbled on a 35 minutes video with voice over and speed up. I literally cry for not knowing how to paint an apple, I watch and watch I couldn't know how the trick to mix color in photo shop and had to do a quick search again on YouTube, I almost quit the search until one mind told me click this video and see it...omo, i saw wonders, brush setting was all I had to know which the later did not highlight to my understanding and to make things worst, the whole problem was that I did not activate pressure opacity, so the mixing did not give any secondary color, this struggle took almost 3hours to figure out, then Boom to the apple video.

Hmm, this thing look simple but to sketch apple became war, I sketch apple that I wasn't proud of but I had no option, I went further to blocking which I was happy of the progress but you see mixing and smudge for blending, I knew that am in for long thing.

So like a programming language, hello world is a common out put statement which one Can use to test the code and so was the apple in my painting experience.

Currently am having challenges in mixing and blending color to give form and shape as I have overcome sketching wah ala, the trick was box model and since my overall objective is not a realistic painting, I can say I am the judge of this my sketch of apple.

Am worry I might be ban if I upload pictures and comments immediately like it happened before, so what I will do is that I will update the pictures tomorrow night abi morning if it sails through fine.

So what I can do after 16days

1. Sketching of object with reference or without reference
2. Developing a colour scheme and shades the painter method not clicking on color palettes.
3. Blocking objects with color

Self learning no be beans matter

Hope you can now have a lookup and guide your self, thanks for following this far and I hope to entertain your query when I have a good grasp of the craft, until then, Peace be still.

Day 17 : 19.4.23 : journey of a thoudsand mile begins with a step

Following my first ever paint of an apple, and looking at what was obtained, I had to quickly go back to watch the results from the video and that of mine and give a honest criticism.

Hmm....nna, this thing look so flat o, just one color, no form, no lighting , no color, no background, poor silhouette....😂 but shebi i followed all the steps na why mine come dey difference.

A closer look at the video again shows there are wide array of brushes that was intermittently use in the painting, a kind of special brush yet to discover and secondly I dont know if the smudge tool effect is system dependent as mine no dey respond the way I dey see for the video upon saying smudge brush no need extra settings.

So I have decided to master those areas of weaknesses and prove in my next painting with same object to see the level of progress and hopefully light will not be an issue to stay long hours of watching and trying by error.

I hope to post the progress with the photos and until then, the journey continues.

Day 18-25: 27.04.23 :YouTube Na Intro

Recall from my previous post how i struggle to watch youtube video on a simple painting of an apple 🍎 that got me frustrated, truth be told, i spent over 4hours on what a primary two kid will use drawing book , pencil and crayon to draw and colour within 30mins but am happy that is not me of today 😂.

In a bid to make an improvement on my apple painting, I luckily came across a bootcamp painting for an apple worth $67 but was for free, the kind speed i take put my email , i never rush like that before, the boot camp was to last for 5days, my people, this thing i dont know whether to say na luck or fate but it came at the right time

The videos were simple and straight forward and i was like wow, although the things mentioned and demonstrated where not new, they were really done with no step skipped. It was like solving a mathematics problem and you get stuck to a step that you dont know how it was arrived at and suddenly a tutor expand six hidden steps that the text book did not revealed, that was how the boot camp was to me and i now saw that YouTube is filled with intro videos, no wonder we have udemy , linda and co.

Well, with the little money left, I calculated how to spend data on the bootcamp training and resorted to downloading the video but that was a war of its own but to cut the matter short, i succeeded and to celebrate it, I bought myself an apple 🍎

What i have discovered:
If you want to go far, don't stop at youtube videos
Painting get children 😂 , Object painting, portrait painting, environmental painting, landscape painting.....
You see Discord, try join am and find community that resonate with you, u go see better family there where you go belong

What I can now do
I can analyze object for painting
I can paint object

See my progress below

Day 26 to 60 : Now i know for myself, it is possible to achieve what i want if i can be consistent and dedicated with time.

Wow people of Nairaland 😂, i was too overwhelmed with the responsibilities I got from online as i embarked on this journey aa today is the last day of the month, i quickly realized i need to end this journey but in real sense, the journey has now begun.

A quick update
1. The Object painting: This was just one of the recomended skills to my primary goal, however i realised that painting skills will be much appreciated in animation and character illustration and from the useful boot camp i got free of charge, i have the entry skills from zero level previously (i intend to post my object painting work on a yet to determine new thread) but i was unfair along the line as i unsubscribed from the bootcamp newsletter, i was so so disturbed by mails for offers in paid seminar.

2. The time lapse : so many things took place but the goal was not altered as i continued learning in one of the recommended skills which i later got attached to that i have already started work with it with just the available tools that i have and am happy that a fragment of a skill that should have form part of my needful skill is already a goal mine.

3. Other things: you see deviant art, art station, Discord, stack overflow just to mention but a few worth sowing your time than wasting your time anywhere else.

4. What next: although I have not accomplished the over all task, i have accomplished segmented success that forms the overall task which am happy of. The 60 days was fun as i now added a new skill to my portfolio.

This officially ends it here
End of Challenge!