Call That Creative Cummins

call that Creative Cummins

Okay so last night at about midnight, my brother got up and whispered “I’m gonna go do something” and disappeared into the dark house without elaborating.

Two minutes of dead silence was followed by the loudest crash of diningware in the history of the world. Like all the bells of Notre Dame Cathedral were tossed out of the magnificent round window and shattered on the streets below.

And then, very quietly, I heard him sing: 🎶“How could this happen to me?”🎶

i love how gentle mars is. warm colors with only subtle contrasts, bright daylight but not as intense and harsh as on earth. a landscape mostly smoothed by the eons, but with just enough sharpening from impacts and volcanoes and wind to create places of interest that draw the eye - and the mind's curiosity

and that's not to mention the things that pictures can't show. the way the thin atmosphere muffles sound like burying your head in pillows and blankets, and makes even the fastest winds too weak to disturb anything but sand and dust. dust devils spinning hypnotically. noctilucent clouds drifting in the twilight, briefly coming alive with iridescence before fading into the night. snow falling not as blizzards, but as light dustings on the winter poles. and perhaps every so often, the quiet rumble of a marsquake reverberating through a rover's wheels

and over more-than-human timescales, volcanoes erupt - but only a few times in an epoch. the poles tilt and the climate shifts. glaciers might come alive for a bit, and maybe trickles of water flow where the pressure allows for it. wind carves the faces of rocks, deposits of dust slowly lithify, the occasional impact forms a crater

mars was once thought to be a dead planet, but it's very much alive, just beautifully quiet and subtle

hey it's me black mold. thanks for running your window air conditioner all summer. whatever you do, do not regularly clean the removable filter. that's not necessary

you should also never ever unplug the air conditioner and stick a flashlight in the vent that blows air to see if we're in there. it's very bad, that place should not be checked

and whatever you do, if you've already made the mistake of unplugging it, don't remove it from the window for cleaning if possible. and whether it's possible to remove the unit or not, don't carefully disassemble the front panel, document where the screws go and plastic bits go, and open up the vent more to be able to get into it easily

as black mold, i'm an expert on this. you should heed my warnings: now, if you've somehow made the mistake of doing all of the above, you should not use warm water and dish soap to CLEAN the inside of the vent thoroughly. DON'T ever use a bottle brush to get into the hard to reach places. and certainly don't rinse and dry the cleaned area before carefully putting it back together

there's nothing wrong with us, black mold. we don't cause or exacerbate breathing conditions like asthma or other illnesses. it's cool, we're cool

furthermore, if you're capable of removing the window unit, DONT take a hose with the same soapy water and wash the portion of the window unit that sits outside the window and is therefore weatherproofed.

whatever you do, don't allow the air conditioner to dry before plugging it back in and turning it on again

and if you have a central air conditioner, you will definitely never ever consult a manual or sources online to perform a similar cleaning procedure on the cooling unit outside.

lastly, if you're physically unable to do the things we (the black mold) warned you not to do above, you should never ever ask someone to help you or hire a service to do it.

Hey there!

I'm Dee, an illustrator/graphic designer who's worked on children's books, self publishes coloring books, created countless illustrations, and loves working with traditional and digital media.

My work is hugely inspired by paleontology, astronomy, sci-fi, fantasy, and educational media. I love designing characters, creatures, and the worlds they live in.

Making art has always been a part of me for as long as I can remember, and now you can help support my work! For $5 a month, you can see high-resolution versions of all of my art posted here before anywhere else online, as well as literally thousands of sketches and concepts I don't post anywhere else at all!

Patreon is where I'll be posting all the behind-the-scenes of my work, from watercolors, to vectors, to the characters and creatures I'm constantly creating, and a comic I'll be launching this year! In addition to that, I now record timelapses of my digital art, all of which are available on Patreon!

You can also get in on monthly merch packs delivered right to you, including stickers, wooden pins, zines, and art prints! Etsy discount codes are available at certain tiers as well. Come check it out below!

The Backstage Pass is the tier where you get to see all of my work, which is way more than what I make public on my various social media platforms like Tumblr and Twitter. This could be sketches, WIPs, rejected works, writing, coloring pages, hi-res images, and more! It also includes access to my art Discord server!

For the Sticker Club, in addition to all of the above benefits, you will get a pack of three 3-inch stickers delivered to you! I will also be making drawing process videos available at this tier.

If you're part of the Pin Club, then every month, you get to choose one 2-inch wooden pin from a selection to be delivered to you. Due to shipping costs, this reward is only able to be fulfilled to USA residents. All of the benefits from the previous tiers are represented here as well!

For the Prints and Zines tier, every month, you get to choose one 8.5x11-inch print or a zine from a selection to be delivered to you, as well as the monthly pack of three 3-inch stickers. Due to shipping costs, this reward is only able to be fulfilled to USA residents. This tier includes all rewards in the Sticker Club and Backstage Pass.

The Works is the tier to pick if you want all of the rewards from every tier delivered to you!

Every month, you get to choose one 8.5x11-inch print or a zine from a selection to be delivered to you, a wooden pin, and the monthly pack of three 3-inch stickers. Due to shipping costs, this reward is only able to be fulfilled to USA residents.

Thank you for reading this far! The link to my Patreon is here. I hope you stop by and take a look!

Appalachia is OLD. She is gentle. But she does NOT love you. She does not even like you. She is tolerating your presence and politely but firmly asking you to not stick your nose into her business.

hiking trails on the west coast: Begin climbing on a soft earthen trail through beautiful douglas fir-western hemlock forest for 2.5 miles along a series of switchbacks, then break from the tree cover for 1 mile of straight even trail through a stunning wildflower meadow just below the ridgeline, after which the trail makes a sharp right and continues to the summit with a further 2 miles of switchbacks. Enjoy beautiful views of the nearest dormant stratovolcano and also at least two waterfalls and a crystal-clear alpine lake along the way. Round trip: 11 miles, 3,000ft elevation gain. Difficulty: moderate :)

hiking trails on the east coast: Go 1.5 miles up. Yes, straight up. Switchbacks? What are you, a baby? Are you a little child? Fuck you. Go up. [Seasonal note: first half of trail is a running stream during mud season and a multipitch ice climbing route during winter.] Round trip: 3 miles, 1,200ft elevation gain. Difficulty: jesus christ