The Lazy Scholar Shop: My Works on Display

Hey Scholars,

It has been such a busy time in my life lately.

• I am currently a month and a half into my bachelors degree program.
• I began exploring more artistic ways of expression.
• And I am trying to maintain my sanity since Eli has become very clingy. I'll post about Eli's sudden need to cling to me now that I'm expecting in May, at some other time in the near future.

Overall, I am busy and exhausted, but I really like that I am productive in so many areas of my life right now.

As the title of this post suggests, I am dedicating it to the newest addition to The Lazy Scholar Blog family: The Lazy Scholar Shop on Cafepress.

In my Goals for 2014 post back in January, I listed a lot of ambitious goals for this blog and many other areas of my life. I have been able to achieve a lot of things on my list already. So much so, that I added more goals to it! One of those goals happened to be opening an eCommerce site.

I didn't believe that I would be able to achieve that goal this year, but I have been working so hard in the first quarter of this year, that I decided I was ready to do that now.

My shop is stocked by Cafepress, meaning that all of the merchandise listed there is stocked and shipped by that company. The only inputs I have with the items my shop sells are:

• What designs are available
• Which products I want to make available
• And, which designs are available on which products

Overall, I am satisfied with the items that Cafepress offers in their inventory. I do not currently have the ability to create my own items for sell, which is why collaborating with this site is the best option right now.

Here are some of the designs I am offering in the shop right now:

These design collections represent my pride in being African-American and celebrates the beauty and cultures of people of color (POC). While the design collections are not complete, I have listed the designs I have created so far. I must say, I am satisfied with my work so far.

*Note: Every design I offer is being reproduced in varying skin tones so everyone can have a likeness to themselves and their family dynamic. This is just what I have created so far and have available so far.*

The more I create, the more experience I will gain, and I will be able to create more intricate works of art.

Thank you for reading this post.

Don't forget to tell your friends about this blog and about my The Lazy Scholar Shop on Cafepress.

You can look forward to more designs being posted this year as I evolve more as an artist.

Until Next Time Friends,

Practice Makes Perfect

Hey Scholars,

In usual autodidact fashion, I've been teaching myself a new program in the quest to become a better blogger and expand my career opportunities.

I was recently introduced to a design program called Inkscape. It's similar to Adobe Illustrator, but it's free and can be customized for your needs (Open Source). It can be downloaded here.

I had a lot of trouble reading the manual for the program. There were too many words and pictures and it was overwhelming. I opted for flying by the seat of my pants and just playing with the tools and options until I figured it out. This took me a little over 4 hours to do before I finished my second creation. The first was never saved and the program crashed mid-design.

I am impressed with the result after a few hours of messing around and I definitely plan on using this program more in the coming weeks.

I hope you enjoyed this short post!

Until Next Time Friends,

♥ Domonique ♥

Modding & Concept Designs

Something I've been interested in for the last few years are case mods and concept designs for console gaming. I love all kinds of case mods. Cell phone, video game console, and computer are my favorites.

Once, I saw a console mod of a Nintendo 64 (N64) by modder Polvorito from Best Case Senario. This console mod operated as a PC and was equipped with a motherboard that used an AC Adapter as power (pictured below).  I was in heaven.

I am not only a Nintendo Fangirl (excluding the Wii and Wii U systems), but I also had my first taste of gaming playing The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask on the N64. So, seeing this mod made me geek out, completely!

Here are two pictures of the finished console.

I have even thought about trying to do this mod myself and acquired an N64 from a friend only to return it. I wasn't ready to butcher such a beautiful console because of my inexperience in modding.

Anyone who knows me well or has sat next to me when I'm on Tumblr, knows that I am constantly looking for inspiration for my next project or post. I am fascinated with concept art, especially of my all-time favorite console, the Gamecube.

Some of my favorite designs are:

Engadget - Never found actual source, sorry!

Gamecube Revolution by Ashen (Mod Retro)

I have so much love for console mods I almost cannot explain it in words. There is probably only one thing I love more than console mods and that is concept designs. I specifically love concept designs/art for consoles and cars.

I have always told myself someday I would learn how these designs were created so I could contribute to the design community, but I haven't researched anything yet. Look forward to me doing that in the future and putting up some bad ass designs for you to check out!

Here are my top concept designs/art:

Ricardo Alfonso - Digital Artist

Seunghan Song - Designer

And with that last picture, I am concluding my post.

Until next time friends, peace, love, and green tea <3

~ Domo ~