What is dropshipping, and why should you watch out for it?

Dropshipping is a term for selling products you don’t own. When you order from a dropshipper, the dropshipper place that order to the real seller. The dropshipper earns money as they sell for more than the product really costs.

Here is an example of a dropshipping store called Dino Bags. They sell bags that look like dinosaurs. A bag costs 34 dollars. On the retail store AliExpress however, the same bags can be found for a little under 18 dollars, including shipping price. That means you pay 16 dollars extra, which goes in the dropshippers pocket. Setting up a dropshipping site is very easy, and promises easy money. The dropshipper never needs to see or handle the goods, and orders are automatically taken and made. It’s not free however, and dropshippers often have to keep pouring money into buying ads to get people to come to their site. This is why there is A LOT of dropshipping ads on the web.

So when you see a cool product that you want to buy, I recommend searching for it on AliExpress or Wish first, it can save you a lot of money. You could argue dropshipping is fine, as they help advertise and sell products. But I think it bad for consumers, as we end up buying from some random person trying to make quick money, instead of from the actual sellers. There is no promise of good service, you’ll rarely find real contact information on dropshipping pages.

Screenshot from dropshipping site

Screenshot from retail site

Mockups

So.

I just discovered the magical world of mockups! Or maybe rediscovered, I am getting old.

I’ve downloaded a few (free!) mockup templates from Pixeden and slapped on my newest creations: A vector Link and NES controller.

I made the controller to go with Link, but found the color schemes to clash. Before deciding I prefer them as two separate illustrations, I played with the colors. Fun! Here are some of the different variations I like. Remove the Triforce from the blue guy, and he’s not really Link at all.

Odd Friend Generator

Try generating a friend!
Link: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/208207496/

Using Scratch, I’ve made a very simple program that generates a sentence using words from three lists: adjectives, verbs and nouns. Inspired by the sentence “I’m so adjective I verb nouns”. Since Scratch writes text in a speech bubble I made the program also generate a random character, by combining a head, eyes and a mouth. I first drew more interesting, detailed characters, but I found they stole attention from the text. So I only kept the most neutral graphics, which I find works very well.

The result has entertained me immensely! Here are some of my odd friends:

Quick portraits

Hello Blender

 

I’ve started learning to use the 3D software Blender. I used this tutorial to make the the image above. Both the software and the tutorial is free 😀

Tutorial by BlenderGuru: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYj6e-72RDs

Tentacle Monster

Here is a render of how my little pet ended up looking. She’s great!

Tentacular improvement

I don’t normally know what I’m doing, but when I keep doing it, it normally pays of. My first attempts at making eyes and tentacles in Maya was horrible. Now I’m approaching, well, only the right kind of horrible! Mmh, tentacles…

<_<

 

>_>

About trees

Observation of the day: A little randomness in the angles makes a huge difference.

Alien Pet Shop #1

Hey, so I go to college now.
One class I am currently taking is “Introduction to 3D”.
I have to make a terrarium with a creature in it. I have not gotten far past the “gray box model”, but here are some test renders I did, while learning how to use “Arnold render” in Maya.

Trying to tell a story with the model, I have a life supporting box which displays “error”, while inside the terrarium lives the last remains of DNA-life, although not like anything living today. To make the story sadder, the creature has laid eggs. Working title for the project is “Last mother of DNA”.

The little lantern of Lumous

Materials:
The lantern
Sandpaper
Acrylic paint (black and gold)
Paintbrush
Wire

Today I found this cool little lantern for 50 NOK in TGR.  I have a thing for lanterns, I want them hanging from my ceiling, I want them hanging from my belt. You know, for costumes, mostly. This one being made of plastic instead of metal and glass, makes it light and safe. The LED light flickers like a calm candle light. I saw much potential in it.

I wish they came in black, or other more neutral colors, but alas, they only came in these kinds of bright colors. That means that the green really sticks out if not completely covered, and as I learned, it can show if I hold the lamp against a bright light. I can hopefully fix it later by painting the insides with a thick layer of black paint.

This is how it looked originally.

It opens in the bottom, after a bit of prying. The plastic glass panels slipped out easily, and I sanded one side of them to give a frosted effect. Sanding in a circular motion gives a nice finish, without obvious streaks. I sanded until the whole surface reached it’s maximum frostedness. The more frosted, the better, plus then all the panels looked the same without me having to try to match them.

By taking things apart, it’s easier to work on them, now I don’t have to worry about getting paint on the glass.

Illustraing the differense between the clear and the frosted glass. The light gets spread more evenly, and you can’t see the fake candle, or even that I left the inside green.

I lightly sanded all the surfaces where to be pained. Smooth plastic doesn’t like paint.

I gave it two-three layers of black.

Drybrushed on some dark brown (though that was not necessery), then some gold. The result, in my humble opinion, is a great finish. Much better than it looked, with very little work. And it was easy, anyone can do this. All the paints I used are acrylics. I also removed the metal ring for hanging, it didn’t fit, and made a ring of some dark wire I had.

And now, I have a really cool, mysterious, omnious lantern!

My wizard powers grow stronger.