A paper calendar, in this day and age?
Why yes! I was never one for wall calendars of my current favourite things. Sure I had them but it was more about the picture than anything else as they often reflected the seasons and usually the weather too! Then when I came back to RPGs and found folks to have games with I needed some way to keep track of everything. Sure discord has hammertime and Outlook or Google has appointments that beep at you but writing in pencil on a calendar and rubbing it out when dates change is so easy. No logging in, no battery issues or accepting invites, just there ready and waiting, plus you can see all the game sessions you’ve had!
The one for you…
With the closest portal for the Cosmic Outpost being the uk, there is a seasonal shop that crops up to sell calendars each year. But it was really hard to find one that had a grid and enough space in which to write. So being the creative type I grabbed a whole bunch of my images I had made over the past couple of years in Daz Studio and out came the 2023 Calendar. It was A3 in size, folded in the middle with one of my pics in the top and a nice big grid for me to write all my game sessions and odd things like anniversary dinner. It also helped me with blog posts here when I was being less creative! The same followed for 2024 with me spending more time making the images seasonal and digging out 3D assets I’d never needed to used. Leather clad warrior with wings flying through the sky? Why not! And when the offers are 50% off then a ‘home made’ calendar can be the same price as nice commercial one.
And the next Calendar?
The 2025 Calendar is a little different. I think I spent half the time on making it and it was more fun. Sure some frustrations but some really happy smiles when an image finally was ready. Daz 3D studio wasn’t the weapon of choice but the explosion of Artificial Intelligence image creator tools that have come out. I know better than to give an opinion on the internet so I’ll say that I was happy with the ethical statement of the sites I used and happy with the images generated. As I mention in the video Deviant Art was a good place to create images as was Daz 3D studio which has an AI side of things. Daz has trained their Ai model on the 3D image assets they sell so whilst I can’t name specific characters assets to use, I can make some great images there and they don’t have extra legs!
Enter the Ko-Fi
I’ve always wanted to make a calendar for others to have but previous creative endeavours were never popular enough to be worth trying a crowdfunding project. Add to that too the nature of the internet with folks in different countries, the logistics of printing, shipping and having to make sure it all worked for nominal profit just wasn’t worth it. Roll4sanity has some followers on YouTube and as I’m making my own calendar I thought why not find a way to share the images I use so folks can enjoy them too. I nearly went with deviant art but that was going to be over a dollar and image. Ko-Fi though was very simple to use. Folks pay the price of a Ko-Fi and they get a zip file of images which can be dropped into an online calendar maker where they are ready for the new year. If you’re one of the folks that have purchased the images pack then thank you. As I say in the vid, I’m not here to become rich or famous but a Ko-Fi or more certainty helps. And if you do make your own calendar in whatever way you do then let me know!
https://ko-fi.com/s/884f23da9b – Roll4Sanity Image Pack
Having something you’ve created on the wall that is useful and looks nice is a great feeling. Take and look at the vid and see if you fancy making one too.