SHOP
I haven’t added anything new lately, but there are still currently a lot of prints available in my INPRNT and Society6 shops! Check it out! (Also I believe INPRNT is running a sale for Labor Day weekend starting Friday, and Society6 is always running all kinds of sales! Definitely check it out!)
COMICS
I realized I haven’t been sharing my comics here lately. So I’ll try to remember to include the last month’s comics in my newsletters moving forward! Here’s what I made in August!
ART
Where to begin?
My breakfast sketches are going well.
I like starting my work day studying artists I admire so much. It’s usually so encouraging! And I can already see some progress in my own sketching, like building confidence in my line art in my comic strips, and using my brush pens for inking.
But I say usually because sometimes it can have the opposite effect. I start losing any confidence, thinking all my work, even my original art is a pale imitation of those artists. Just trash! Or I can feel intimidated by my lack of success in comparison, or feeling so old (this one is just ridiculous)… Ultimately the refrain becomes “maybe I’m doing this ALL WRONG.”
Yeah, so that’s no fun. It’s a tug of war between “this is so good! I want to be able to do this!” And “this is so good! I’ll never be able to do this!” For some reason, if I encounter this mindset in any other area, like say, running, it’s pretty easy for me to just be like, “yeah, I have goals, but this is where I am right now, and that’s okay, and I just have to keep at it.” Whereas for art sometimes I just feel so overwhelmed that I panic or wallow and it’s hard to make anything.
But I’m trying to keep a healthier perspective, and embrace the learning, enthusiastic, and PATIENT side of things. I don’t want to quit. I’m not going to quit, and ultimately I love what I do. But I definitely just have some patience and confidence stuffs to work through in my art… maybe that’s relatable? Anyone? (And if you’ve got any motivational tips, lemme know!)
It also means I haven’t done any new illustration work like I had been hoping to start last month. I did spend a whole day doing nothing but brainstorming where I want to focus my art. I already know I want to make prints, and know the types of media I want to work with. This was more about exploring the themes, subjects, and genres for the art I want to make moving forward, as well as noticing the patterns in the art I’ve already made. It was a super helpful exercise (and I love making lists/brainstorming). I’m hoping it will give me a great starting point for coming up with project ideas, especially when I feel a bit blocked. I’ve already come up with one idea I’m excited about, just working on figuring out the composition. So I’m not totally art blocked anymore! There is an idea! And enthusiasm! Progress!
BOOKS
Not for lack of time or options, I think I’m back to not reading very much, again. But, I also suspect I’m not great at remembering what all I’m reading either? I know I was reading something earlier and was like “I should mention this in my newsletter!” Except now I have no idea what it was… soooo….
Although, just yesterday I got a copy of the book How to Become a Successful Anime-Style Artist by 3dtotal Publishing. And it has been fascinating! I’m not super into anime, but every now and then I really enjoy it. I think I pre-ordered this during one of my anime kicks. And I love cartoons of all kinds, so it’s been really interesting to read so far!
One part of the book is a feature on artist Carles Dalmau. I’d seen some of his work in one of the Sketching from the Imagination books by 3dtotal Publishing that I read earlier this year (the storytelling edition, I think?). I did a couple studies from his sketches but that was it. I liked it but didn’t look into the rest of his work. But y’all. I don’t know if it’s seeing his work in full color, or that I’ve fully leaned into cartooning…but his work is just SO GOOD. Like, I definitely see his art now, and I’m just like “THIS. THIS is what I want to do!”
…it may have led to one of those mini-meltdowns in my confidence. But, again, on the flip side, I’m just like so excited to find another artist that is so inspiring! Also, I’m kinda learning that those meltdowns also function like gigantic flashing arrows that point to wear my goals are! (Interestingly I learned this way that apparently I really want to publish a book/graphic novel one day! …just sayin’…)
Sooooo…. Anyway…. What have you been reading lately? Any stellar summer reads?
THE REST
I don’t think we’re alone in this but regardless of the weather, it is now basically FALL in our house. I know we’re not alone, because I see the pumpkin spice products on display in the store. At first I got very excited, but then I remembered it was only August. So, really, I’m trying to find the spirit of Late Summer… And I guess it’s just iced pumpkin coffee, and wearing shorts AND cardigans? I don’t know…
I also have all our Halloween decorations ready to go. But I’m trying to decide if September is too early to actually set them all out? Do I just slowly add more and more as we get closer to Halloween? Do I wait until October 1st? Do I just go all in now? What are the rules?!
It doesn’t help that we finally watched The Haunting of Hill House show on Netflix. It was really good…until it wasn’t. Alas. The third act is always a struggle in horror stories. (Although the book version did not have this problem!) It kinda feels like the show was ultimately just a family drama, with horror as more of a sub-genre? I definitely liked the production and it was super creepy throughout. I dunno. I both really liked it. And like it less the more I think about it. But it was worth watching, and a great (albeit super early!) start to our scary movie season!
We’ve also been playing a lot of PC games lately too. That always feels oddly seasonal for me. In our last place, the room with the computers got way too hot in the summer, so we mostly played in the cooler months. Anyway, first I played a lot of Civilization VI. One of my favorites! And now I’ve been playing Final Frontier, which is basically a settlement-building game like Banished. And I flippin’ love Banished. But this game has a bit more complexity to it, which I’m enjoying. And now we’re also playing 7 Days to Die. It reminds me a bit of the game Valheim and Minecraft. I don’t do a lot of crafting, but do a lot of smashing things with my baseball bat. It’s fun!
Anyway…
Thanks for reading!
Summer Child Designs 