My August as an Alternative Social Media Manager in Brighton
This edition is considerably less eventful than my July roundup, but I said I was going to try and make this a monthly thing, here we are! All opinions are my own and neither reflect the opinions of the brands mentioned, nor have I been paid to mention them in any way.
Pride 2026: Brighton Open Market
I started off the month by taking some content for some lovely makers at the Brighton Pride Open Market! It was super hot that day, but I managed to get some good photos and videos for people! I was invited by Ren of Lozzagna Draws, one of my Tiktok mutuals! It was quite a nerve-wracking experience because I’m still not used to being assertive in putting myself out there, but I know that kind of thing takes a lot of practise. It also made me think about how it would be if I did my own stall one day. I really do love making art but I’ve never been brave enough to do something like that…Anyway, I bought this badge from Ren’s stall! Their art is super cool (especially if you like Genshin Impact), check them out if you have the chance! They don’t know I’m writing any of this, but go follow them!
Monthly Artwork
I did a lot this month! Sometimes I end up finishing more than I start and this was one of those times. I dedicated two pieces to i, a visual-kei musician that I’m a big fan of. Technically, I dedicated four pieces to him and his past bands, but it’s not immediately obvious like the first two I did. I wanted to draw him in some capacity and I saw a photo that was really captivating so I just decided to go for it! I didn’t just want to just do a simple copy though, so I used the doll-like pose he was already doing and did marionette strings in the background. The second piece was a direct reference to gulu gulu’s (a previous band) album covers, using the colours, basic composition and some lyrics from my favourite song of that band. I can speak, understand and type a little Japanese, but writing is what I’m worst at. Being my first lettering artwork in Japanese, I was very aware that the letters don’t look how a native would write them (but I let that slide, or else I’d never finish it!). My next piece was actually for a post. I wanted to do something a little different than my usual graphics. I’m far more comfortable with using Procreate, so I don’t do vector art anywhere near as much as I do raster; I looked at vintage movie posters and was honestly shocked with how well it turned out. It still takes a great deal of time though, so I’m going to try and do one piece like that a month to practise! Speaking of practise, I wanted to work on my line weight as well. Line weight is definitely something that separates okay artwork from amazing ones, but I’ve never been able to fully crack it. I picked a skull from an angle and decided to add the “Memento Mori” lettering on the scroll as another reference to the band of the same name (one of i’s previous ones). Something I’ve also been looking to do for a while is recreate my gothic lettering tutorial, that I did over a year ago now. When I look into my TikTok analytics, it still gets views and likes most of the time. It dates back to before I separated my art from my main Ashen Rose Media account, so it doesn’t fully fit the direction of my account anymore. So, I decided to re-do it for my art account and make it better, as my letting skills have also improved in that time. The next artwork I did was the burning fan one (inspired by Memento Mori again). It definitely took some brain power figuring out how the little slats of the fan would be positioned (which I found out are called “sticks”). I’m really happy with how it turned out though! Finally, I finished a lettering piece that I began a couple months ago. Getting a bit philosophical for a second, something that’s quite important to me is remembering that time will pass regardless of what you do with it. In the case of learning a new skill, you often hear people say “But that’ll take ages to learn” as an excuse for not starting something (me included). In my case, it was art. I was originally put off getting into digital art (despite already having an iPad for uni) because I’d taken such a long break from it that I felt that I’d spend forever catching up to a “good” level. That’s why as I’m now closer to 30 than I am 20, I need to keep reminding myself that time will pass, regardless of whether I do something with it or not! After all of that, here are all the pieces of art for the month of August:
Musyozoku's Marionette Akunin Brand Scandal Memento Mori Gothic Lettering Tutorial Burning Fan Time Passes Anyway
Visual-Kei Night: Summer Boat Party
I’m currently in the process of writing a whole different article of my experience, so I’ll try and keep this brief! Anyway, I went along to the Visual-Kei Night summer party at Tamesis Dock, a wonderfully quirky bar and restaurant on a boat! I haven’t been able to go along to one of their events before as they’d involve me staying the night in London, so it was amazing to finally be able to go to one. There were so many great outfits and even better music, I really felt at home. I really recommend going along to a Visual-Kei Night for anyone interested in J-Rock or Visual-kei, it was such a good atmosphere! I managed to get a pizza from Tamesis Dock too, so it was even better than a club in my eyes! By the time you’re reading the content will already be out too!
Tamesis Dock Visual-Kei Night Tapestry Pizza
Writing
I’ve been doing a lot of writing this month! I want to post more articles and get back into posting at least one blog post a month! I don’t have any problem with actually coming up with ideas, it’s just that they take me so long to write! As you’ve probably guessed, I typically have no problem actually getting my thoughts onto a page, it’s the editing and formatting that takes me the longest. I like to include links and photos of what I’m talking about, which adds on to the time it takes to actually get an article posted. Anyway, I have multiple four thousand word-ish articles I’m working on currently, including; one on the ethics of social media management, one on accessibility in social media and another on why I hate generative AI. Anyway, stay tuned for those!
Other things
I never posted my July roundup here for whatever reason (and it’s definitely too late to upload it here now), but you can read it on my Substack if you’re interested. Last month I mentioned that we adopted a kitten and well…we adopted another one too! We’re unsure if they came from the same litter, but we think they’re probably only a couple of days apart (despite one being much larger). As a result that’s double the trouble now! I’m honestly quite surprised that I’ve been able to do so much art because potty-training them has been…an experience I’ll say.
Fluffy Kitty Grey Kitty
So that’s it for August! Next month is my birthday month, and I have another trip to London, for a concert this time. I’m going to try and remember to do a proper vlog this time, one that I can put on Youtube for more long-form video practise.
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