pages/src/routes/feed/+page.svelte

<script lang="ts">
    import Content from "$lib/viewport/content.svelte";
    import Banner2 from "$lib/banner2.svelte";
    import TableOfContents from "$lib/components/table-of-contents.svelte";
    import SubtitledImage from "$lib/components/subtitled-image.svelte";
    import ImageGallery from "$lib/lists/image-gallery.svelte";
</script>

<svelte:head>
    <title>Art Feed | denizk0461</title>
</svelte:head>

<Content>
    <Banner2
        title="Art Feed"
        banner="banner.webp"
        bannerAlt="Mirror picture of me, pixelated beyond recognition"
        subtitle="subtitle missing"
        date="2026-04-06"
        pixelated
    />

    <p>Welcome to my (new) art feed! It is heavily inspired by <a href="https://deathsurplus.com/">DeathSurplus' art blog</a> – definitely go check out his page!</p>

    <p>This page is intended to offer a shared space for all my projects without the need to create strictly-separated pages for each hobby. Some other pages on this website have been merged into this one; namely the "Small Projects" and "Drawing Gallery" pages, so don't be surprised if content from those pages shows up here.</p>

    <p>I'll add some more of my past projects, new projects, and an option to filter by project type <i>soon™</i>. Maybe I'll also split the content into pages, if I ever figure out how to do that.</p>

    <p>I <b>MAY</b> merge this with the <a href="/projects">Projects</a> page, I've not yet decided.</p>

    <TableOfContents />

    <h2>My First Month Drawing</h2>
    <p class="subtitle">self-imposed drawing challenge</p>400px
    <p class="subtitle">February – March 2026</p>

    <p>Back in January, I was thinking to myself that I'd really like to learn to draw. It would have some practical benefits like potentially being able to draw concept art for my game, but ultimately I just liked the idea of drawing as a hobby. I doodled a few small things before deciding that I should challenge myself to draw something every single day for an entire month (4 weeks); <a href="/blog/2026/0205">I documented the entire thing here</a>, but spoiler alert: I think I succeeded in learning to draw and I am now able to sketch like I was never able to before!</p>

    <p>Here are some of my favourite drawings from around that time, in chronological order:</p>

    <ImageGallery
        images={[
            {
                src: "/blog/2026/0129/girl.webp",
                alt: "A small drawing of an anime-style girl's head. She has a ponytail and is looking towards the left with a concentrated gaze.",
                desc: [
                    "<b>2026-01-29</b> (before the challenge)",
                    "A small sketch (only like 4cm wide) that I drew with a ballpoint pen on pink paper. The fact that I was able to sketch this, without any prior practice, plus an intrinsic want to be able to draw made me seriously consider learning to draw.",
                    "Having learned just a little bit about drawing, I can say now (a month and a half later) that this isn't great, but it served its purpose of making me start to draw!",
                ],
            },
            {
                src: "drawings/2026/breadgirl.webp",
                alt: "An anime-style girl chewing on a piece of bread. She wears a ponytail and a sleeveless top.",
                desc: [
                    "<b>2026-01-30</b> (before the challenge)",
                    "I drew her during a game of Wizard. I initially wanted to make her chew on a whole loaf but I didn't know how to draw that.",
                    "Wasn't really sure how to convey that her mouth is full either, but in retrospect, I could have exaggerated the bow in her lower eyelids to do so.",
                    "I like her eyes. Her head could be taller, actually.",
                ],
            },
            {
                src: "/blog/2026/0205/13-2.webp",
                alt: "A pencil drawing of a girl looking to the left. She is wearing a cropped loose tee and jeans, while her right hand is hinted to rest on her hip.",
                desc: [
                    "<b>2026-02-18</b>",
                    "She's the product of me trying to re-draw the character I drew on day 1 of my drawing challenge, and I was really glad to see that I had actually improved!",
                ],
            },
            {
                src: "/blog/2026/0205/18.webp",
                alt: "A pencil sketch of a girl holding up a V sign with her left arm. She is wearing a long-sleeve shirt, jeans, and her hair is tied up in a ponytail. She is winking, the other eye is coloured green. Her body is tilted towards the right side of the paper. In the top right corner is a lightly-drawn sketch of the girl's pose.",
                desc: [
                    "<b>2026-02-23</b>",
                    "My first character with the new style of drawing eyes I picked up from a manga drawing book!",
                    "I named her Emilia because she looked like a more nice and caring character.",
                ],
            },
            {
                src: "/blog/2026/0205/21.webp",
                alt: "Two pencil sketches traced over with a black fineliner. The left one is of a hand with a cube in its palm, sketched after the hand on the cover of Porter Robinson's album Worlds. Beneath it is an emoticon used on the same cover. To the right is a manga-style head with green eyes and wavy hair, meant to resemble Porter Robinson's Vocaloid mascot Po-Uta.",
                desc: [
                    "<b>2026-02-26</b>",
                    "I drew the Worlds hand for practice and then decided to draw Po-Uta's head as well. I realised then that learning to draw gave me the ability to draw fanart.",
                    "I had never considered that possibility before.",
                ],
            },
            {
                src: "/blog/2026/0205/22.webp",
                alt: "A pencil sketch of a girl with a ponytail, crop top, and track pants with a slightly shocked look on her face. She is looking at her right arm, which is a cyborg part.",
                desc: [
                    "<b>2026-02-27</b>",
                    "Possibly my favourite sketch from the drawing challenge, because she looks cool, but also because her design deviates from the other characters a bit.",
                ],
            },
            {
                src: "/blog/2026/0205/27-1.webp",
                alt: "A drawing of a girl with her head tilted towards her right shoulder. She is smiling with her eyes closed and is holding up a victory sign with her left hand. She has her hair in a ponytail and is wearing jeans with shoulder straps, and there is a scrunchie on her left wrist as well.",
                desc: [
                    "<b>2026-03-04</b>",
                    "This is actually the construction sketch of a drawing I later went over with a fineliner and coloured pencils. However, I kind of prefer the pencil sketch.",
                    "This was my first attempt at a head-on perspective. I had fun drawing details like the scrunchie, the jeans, and the smile!",
                ],
            },
            {
                src: "drawings/2026/0310.webp",
                alt: "A digital drawing of a girl with long brown hair in a ponytail. She has green eyes and is wearing a cropped shirt with stripes, an orange spaghetti top underneath, and dark trousers. She is holding her hands behind her back.",
                desc: [
                    "<b>2026-03-10</b> (after the challenge)",
                    "ok i changed my mind on digital art. it's awesome.",
                    "My first drawing using Krita! I went with my usual methods but tried refining some things and adding (hopefully not overly misplaced) shadows too. I ended up really liking the ability to use layers, and colour in digital art just pops so nicely.",
                    "Initially, I drew the left arm in front of her body but later changed this to avoid drawing the hand.",
                ],
            },
        ]}
    />

    <h2>3DS USB-C mod</h2>
    <p class="subtitle">DIY charging port mod</p>
    <p class="subtitle">October 2024</p>

    <SubtitledImage
        image="electronics/3ds-usb-c/showcase.mp4"
        subtitle="it charges via USB-C! also do you like my A Hat in Time theme?"
        video
    />

    <p>
        I modded my New 3DS XL (SNES Edition) to give it a USB-C port to charge!
    </p>

    <ImageGallery
        images={[
            {
                src: "electronics/3ds-usb-c/finished.webp",
                alt: "A back view at a New Nintendo 3DS XL with a USB-C port added between the charging port and the right shoulder buttons.",
                desc: ["the USB-C port in all its glory"],
            },
            {
                src: "electronics/3ds-usb-c/hole.webp",
                alt: "At the top is a view at a USB-C-shaped hole cut into the back half of a New 3DS XL. At the bottom is a look at the same hole from the inside of the case. There are rough cutouts where the stylus slides in.",
                desc: [
                    "a closer look at the holes I cut, and how they affect the stylus slot",
                ],
            },
        ]}
    />

    <p>
        I used a small USB-C breakout I had lying around that is wired straight
        into the charging pads of the original charging port, which is left
        completely intact. The breakout board also has a 5.1kΩ resistor between
        ground and one of the CC pins (which I had to manually find because it's
        unlabelled) to allow for using C-to-C cables.
    </p>

    <p>
        What I wrecked in turn was the wrist strap loop, which I completely cut
        out to create the hole for the port. The stylus port also got cut down
        to make space, but my stylus is kind of broken and doesn't stay put when
        I put it into the system, so I didn't really care about that.
    </p>

    <p>
        It works well! The hole isn't the prettiest but it was pretty simple to
        pull off, and extremely cheap as well. In turn I got a 3DS that I can
        charge using any USB-C cable and I no longer need to lug around the
        proprietary 3DS charger!
    </p>

    <h2>deej0461</h2>
    <p class="subtitle">PC companion audio source controller</p>
    <p class="subtitle">August 2024</p>

    <SubtitledImage
        image="electronics/deej0461/finished.webp"
        altText="A golden 3D printed shell with a slider on its left, two LEDs recessed, and four black buttons on its right. The buttons have symbols of speakers, monitors, and headphones printed on them. Three screws at the top are visible. A USB-C cable is plugged into the back of it."
        subtitle="a handful of device for controlling a handful of other devices"
        alignment="left"
        smaller
    />

    <p>
        This little device was inspired by one a friend of mine built his own
        version of: a <a href="https://github.com/omriharel/deej">deej</a>
        volume slider panel. This thing allows you to control different
        applications with individual, <i>physical</i>, sliders. Super cool
        thing.
    </p>

    <p>
        Except – I didn't need all these sliders, really. A single slider would
        be cool, I thought. You know what I really wanted? Buttons to control
        the audio <i>source</i>, because I switch between speakers and
        headphones constantly, and that's at least 3 clicks every time I want to
        switch. So I built a device based on deej, but with some expansions.
    </p>

    <p>
        I only used few components: a HID-enabled Arduino-compatible Pro Micro
        with USB-C controls the whole thing. Hooked up to it are four Cherry
        switches and a Soldering slider I had lying around from my <a
            href="/projects/daisy">Daisy project</a
        >, and I added two LEDs for good measure. It's all packaged into a
        3D-printed enclosure I designed myself. The slider is screwed in
        tightly, and so is the top of the case; the key switches are clipped in
        from the top so they don't fall out; the Arduino and the LEDs are just
        hot-glued in. For extra flair, the four output buttons are marked with
        symbols for my outputs: two monitors, a pair of loudspeakers, and a pair
        of headphones. In the final device, they're arranged so that my two most
        frequently-used buttons are at the bottom for easier reach.
    </p>

    <p>
        Software-wise, I set this up with the original deej software to control
        main volume. For the audio, I used a program called <a
            href="https://soundswitch.aaflalo.me/">SoundSwitch</a
        >. The program listened to key presses for the <code>F21-F24</code> keys,
        which the Arduino triggers when the output keys are pressed. The red LED
        lights up when a key is pressed; the white LED has no assigned function.
        This worked pretty well, but this is no longer the setup I use, since I switched
        to Fedora Linux, as I needed to adapt/change the software for the new OS!
    </p>

    <ImageGallery
        images={[
            {
                src: "electronics/deej0461/printing.webp",
                alt: "A Bambu Lab A1 mini 3D printer in the middle of printing casing parts using a golden filament. The printer head has two googly eyes attached.",
                desc: ["googly-eyed printer hard at work"],
            },
            {
                src: "electronics/deej0461/soldering.webp",
                alt: "An Arduino set into a 3D printed case with a slider, two LEDs, and four key switches soldered to it using wires. The components are spread out and hanging out the top of the case.",
                desc: ["no PCB? no problem"],
            },
        ]}
    />

    <p>
        When pressing a keyboard's volume button, Windows raises or lowers
        volume in increments of 2. Fedora does 5. I found this much handier, so
        I stopped reaching for the slider and just defaulted to using my
        keyboard. This meant I didn't bother setting up the slider in Fedora.
        The buttons work, though, but they needed some adjustment. I think (and
        I might be wrong??) that Linux doesn't support function keys past F12,
        so I changed the Arduino script so the buttons trigger <code
            >Shift + F9-F12</code
        >. Instead of a separate program (which kept asking to be updated...), I
        now use KDE's built-in Shortcuts that trigger a script. The script is
        one line: <code>pactl set-default-sink [sink-name]</code>. The sink name
        is hard-coded into the file because, as extensive testing proved,
        Shortcuts does not allow arguments when entering a command. I currently
        only have two files set up: one for the primary monitor, one for the
        headphones.
    </p>

    <p>
        I much prefer the setup now because it doesn't rely on third-party
        software anymore.
    </p>

    <p>
        This thing is, no exaggeration, one of the handiest things I have ever
        built, because I use it quite literally <i><b>every single day</b></i>.
        I often switch between my monitor's speakers and my headphones, and
        being able to do that with the press of a single button is
        <i>unbelievably</i> handy. I don't even think about it anymore, I just reach
        for the buttons whenever I switch. It's a part of my routine now and I wouldn't
        want to miss it.
    </p>
</Content>

<style>
    .subtitle {
        font-family: var(--font-mono);
        margin: 0;
        font-size: 1rem;
        line-height: 1.4rem;
        font-style: italic;
        font-weight: 700;
        color: var(--color-highlight-alt);
    }

    .subtitle::before {
        content: "<!-- ";
    }

    .subtitle::after {
        content: " -->";
    }
</style>