The Shallow End – October 2021

SHOP UPDATE

The countdown is done! My Etsy shop is now open! I’ve got all kinds of prints and stickers, new and old, available in my shop! I’ve made little thank you cards to go with each order, and worked on cute packaging for my stickers! I’ve always enjoyed these little extra details, and I’m glad the relaunch gave me the time to work on it for my own shop! I’m so excited! Check it out!

ART

It’s finally October, so it’s finally #mosstober! I’m so excited to get to work in my new giant sketchbook! I will absolutely be doing a sketchbook tour when it’s done…but I’ve gotta get started first!

I’ve also been super obsessed with Domestika courses lately. Fall always makes me want to go back to school (even though I really don’t want to go back to school). These courses are a perfect happy medium. I’m terrible at doing the exercises (aka homework), but I’m really good at watching the lessons throughout the day! I’ve mostly collected courses on character design and illustration techniques, and I’m learning so much neat stuff! I’m hoping it shows in my sketching for Mosstober…

I know I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m definitely working on developing more of a cute comic and cartoon style to my work. I’m having so much fun with it, but it’s definitely been a struggle to like, take the genre seriously, to take my goals seriously. Is it weird to want to draw cute stuff, to draw cartoon characters? It can feel that way, personally. Although I love the genre so much, and never judge other artists for drawing that way. I love their work! So I’m just being hard on myself. Fortunately, I’ve found that watching lessons on drawing and illustration from cartoonists and animators and character designers has been so encouraging. I’m not quite at the level I want to be at, but I think I’m really making progress, putting in the practice, and heading in the direction I want to go with my illustrations. Yay!

NOT ART

It’s HALLOWEEN season! We started watching X-Files again (that later seasons are…not great…I remember why we stopped watching…). We fully switched from scifi movies to scary movies a full week early. Mostly to watch a few on streaming services that go away on October 1st (so dumb… but also I’m really glad we didn’t spend money specifically to see Insidious. Yikes.). I doubt we’ll watch too much else this month, except for soccer, of course. I’m so excited!

BOOKS

Oof. Books. Honestly, reading has been a struggle again lately. I just haven’t been able to focus on reading too much. I still have Cibola Burn, and I’m off the philosophy wagon (the joke being that I’m a “recovering philosophy student”). I picked up a few books on the philosophy of The Good Place (I miss that show!). But sitting down and actually reading them for more than a minute? Eh, not so much. It’s a bummer too, because I actually want to read them (and the small pile of “to-read” books that’s developing). It’s definitely something I need to work on this month. I think the only books I finished in September were comics. Which still totally counts, right?! …Right?!

Oh! I did start reading The Eye of The World again. The first book in The Wheel of Time series. I say “again” because I have started that book like three times before? I don’t think I’ve ever made it past the third chapter (still…) and I even donated my paperback copy in the move. But I saw the trailer for the new show, and it looks amazing. So I’m determined. Mr. Husband has generously shared his copies since he’s read them all. I AM DETERMINED. (Okay, so yeah, now we know the real reason I’m not reading lately…)

…

Thanks for joining me in The Shallow End!