| |
| |
Background on me: I'm 18, originally from Toronto, designed & built a 3D printer from scratch, and am formerly a competitive Overwatch player (pics below). |
| |
| Two big things for this email: |
| |
- I want to introduce myself. You can reach out to me for literally anything related to Blot or other things at Hack Club on Slack. I have big plans for this year.
|
- Announcing the first Blot contest. Details below. Submit by Saturday at midnight.
|
| |
About Me |
| |
| |
in order from left to right: @lro, @samuel, @alex (me), and someone else. This was from TampaHacks, writeup on that soon! |
| |
I've been making stuff for well over 10 years now, so under my (very WIP) website you can find AI assistants, 3D renders, keyboard commissions, Origami art, and more! I've also contributed to the QMK Project, an open-source keyboard firmware. |
| |
| |
| Neutrino folded // assembled (ft. my school's wall) |
| |
| |
| Samice Keyboard I built for a client. Circa 2021. |
| |
| In previous years, I also competed in the FPS game Overwatch, where I consistently ranked top 100 on the leaderboard & played in various tournaments. It was intense: daily practice for 4+ hours a day, team coaching sessions, tournament prep, networking, and all of that on top of balancing school! |
| |
| |
| warm up with my teammates just before a tournament in Chicago |
| |
| Needless to say, there were tons of lows. But it also had its highs: the tight-knit community, the competitive thrill, and the friends I made a long the way. It was truly magical, and I hope that with Blot I can share some of that magic with you. |
| |
| |
| September 2023. Coaches, teammates, opponents, all at one table, just enjoying the moment. |
| |
| I eventually left the scene in 2023 for various reasons, and so I started to focus full-time on personal projects such as Neutrino. One thing that I missed from competing was the community, how tight knit everything was. Fortunately, I found community at HQ! |
| |
| |
| me with @cheru and @CAN at Hack Club HQ! |
Blot Contest |
| |
| Anywaaays.... that's enough about me, onto the rest! |
|
It's been super hectic during this transition, and many of y'all have been patiently waiting for your PR to be accepted; sometimes even waiting multiple weeks! While I'm still working through the backlog, I would like to speed up the process for some of y'all and present...
|
| |
|
| |
| |
| This is a new, time-limited event running this week that will serve a pilot for similar events in the future. The 3 winners will get their PR's approved and a Blot mailed to them!
Who's allowed to enter? How does it work?
Anyone is allowed to enter, The only requirement is that you submit a PR that has not been accepted to the gallery already, but you're free to make a new PR and submit that instead!
To enter the contest, follow these 3 simple steps: |
| |
- Create a Blot PR by Saturday 11:59PM EST. Instructions here
|
- Link it in this form! You will not be entered if you do not fill it out
|
- Sit tight and wait! Winners will be announced Monday evening
|
|
For the first iteration of this event, I'll be drawing all of your art pieces here at HQ and hosting a vote. We'll then pick out the top 3 submissions, who will all get a Blot kit mailed to them.
|
| |
| All of your artwork will be drawn by our Blot at HQ! |
|
Does this mean I can get a second Blot?
You can! The only catch is that you'll have to ship something really impressive, so let your imagination run wild and put your all in it!
I'm busy this week! I can't make it!
If you can't make it this week, more contests like these will be hosted in the very near future, so keep your eyes posted!
During this week, I'll also be making my own art piece alongside y'all and posting updates in the #blot channel. I can't wait to see what we all create at the end of this week. As always, feel free to reach out to me any time @alex (or search Alex Ren) on slack. See you soon!
|
| |
| A sketch of what I plan to make w/ Blot! |
|
Signing off,
- Alex Ren
|
| |
