ART

I think I’m struggling a little bit with art block. Part II.

Part I, I couldn’t even sketch. Now I can’t seem to do anything but sketch…I’d really like to start working on illustration projects again. But it seems impossible.

I’m still focusing on cartoons, and making my comic. Interestingly, this last comic was a single panel illustration. And I had no problem working on it. Same work flow. Just easier to come up with an idea I guess. It was a lot of fun!

I think part of my problem is coming up with project ideas that sound fun or interesting. And also a lot a bit of lacking confidence to start making new illustrations with this cartoony approach. If I can think of an idea, I usually can’t figure out how to make it an interesting composition or narrative. I don’t think my illustrations need both, but at least one seems necessary…

It’s so frustrating.

So, I’ve been spending a lot of my time not-sketching watching courses. It makes me feel like I’ve been productive, without having done anything. (Oops). So I’ve been re-visiting architectural drawing, since I really enjoy drawing buildings and I haven’t in years, and I really like the idea of drawing cartoony buildings too. And I’m learning more about paint markers, which I really like as a colorful drawing medium. And revisiting gouache too! I’ve always been intrigued with the medium, and actually started using it last year, or the year before? But now I’m learning how to use gouache with ink for outlining, which I hadn’t considered before but sounds so fun and perfect for how I like to work!

So yeah…now I really really need to figure out what to work on specifically…

I’ve got a style of work that I’m really enjoying, and a selection of media to work in that I’m excited about… I just need to find ideas I’m excited about too…

Uuuuuhhh….

…

…

Well, here’s hoping I start working on illustrations again this month.

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BOOKS

I finished the book about running. But I think that’s it. Yikes. That’s not much… I did read a chapter in The Wheel of Time series. Meh.

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THE REST

I decided that since I’m focusing so much on comics and cartoony styles for my art, that I should start watching more cartoons. Its like basically research, right?

Fun fact: Gravity Falls is the best cartoon I’d never heard of.

I missed it when it came out. I was in college, or just out of college, and was watching Adventure Time (so RaNdOm) and Family Guy (just yikes), certainly not anything on Disney XD? What is that??

Anyway, I tried Gravity Falls on a whim. And while I love cartoons I’m kinda picky about them. So I went into it knowing nothing, and being pretty skeptical. But it’s delightful! It genuinely cracks me up, and the art is so good!

I keep trying to watch Adventure Time again too, since I like the art style, but it feels very busy and hyper, which makes me feel so old. Gravity Falls is fun, but at least a bit more chill about it.

Also it’s officially basically summer because I watched The Field of Dreams, then sat outside to watch the sunset and it was warm and a little humid, and the sunset was gorgeous, and it felt like summer, and it was awesome. Yay!

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Thanks for reading!

SHOP UPDATE

I’ve added two new illustrations to INPRNT!

I’ve also created a sticker in Society6 of my green monkey drawing. And you’re welcome that I didn’t turn it into a wallpaper pattern… (although I kinda love it! 🤣)

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ART

A lot of this last month was spent trying to figure out my goals for my art moving forward. I tend to check in every few months and make sure my work reflects my goals, and that my goals reflect my interests right… Because there are a lot of different ways to be creative and they can be very shiny and new and well, distracting!

But I’m still focusing a lot on comics, and cartoons, and concept art. Which for the most part is what I keep coming back to again and again, more or less… So that’s good!

I know last month I had talked about worldbuilding and storytelling with my latest original character. But I’m beginning to realize that I don’t really love storytelling? At least not entirely. I really like narrative artwork, where it is telling a story moment. And character-driven illustration. But I’m just not too worried about the details of a full story. Maybe short stories would be an option down the road, but for now I’m okay with shelving the idea of a larger project and focusing on including more narrative and story beats within standalone illustrations, and improving my work in character design. Largely inspired by cartoons, comics, and manga, but basically simplified and stylized characters, right? (I think I talk about that A LOT!)

I’m also learning a bit about concept art, which has been fascinating as well. From what I can tell, concept art kind of plays with storytelling, being the visual foundation for worldbuilding in animation, movies, and video games. (“The Art of” books for movies usually include a lot of the concept art that would eventually become backgrounds, or set designs, or whatever…). So for illustration, I’m thinking it is going to be a great learning resource for pushing the worldbuilding in my art without getting overwhelmed with formal worldbuilding and backstory that seems to be a bit of a creative roadblock for me lately.

And I guess this kind of focus and learning shows in my newest work, right? I’ve got one illustration with a fun, cartoony character in a vague library setting. And then I’ve got a comic-inspired illustration with a landscape and a little bit of scifi elements. I’m very proud of my helmet design, by the way. I probably spent too much time on it to just cover it all with moss, but it was important!

So yeah, not really a surprise — working on cartoony and stylized character design, and taking inspiration from the field of concept art to add some narrative and worldbuilding to my illustration compositions. Exciting stuff!

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BOOKS

I’ve been reading from the Sketching from the Imagination series, by 3dtotal Publishing. First I finished (AND LOVED) the Anime and Manga book, and am now working my way through their Storytelling book. It’s been so inspiring to see into the process and sketches of so many different, incredible artists. Highly recommend if you are into art books!

I’ve also been reading, for fun, Hal Higdon’s Run Fast, if you wanted to know. Because I’m a fitness nerd. And a very very slow runner… But I’m working on it!

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THE REST

What else? I don’t know… I’m back to playing The Division II again. Again. It’s easily got to be one of my favorite games ever. I just don’t get bored with it. And they just announced new updates, so yay!

Also, baseball season might be starting up soon? I don’t follow it too closely at all, but it’s just sounded fun lately so I’ve had a few preseason games on. So that might be fun to watch more of this year. It’s not quite time to watch The Field of Dreams (which I decided last year is my official kick off for summer)…but soooon…I’m ready!!

Just have to get through POLLEN SEASON first. What the heck?! That was so not a thing in the midwest! EEK!

(Also, should I be making sports-themed art?? I feel like maybe…?)

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Thanks for reading!

SHOP UPDATE

So I haven’t added anything new to the shops lately… I’ve been thinking about maybe adding at least a few of my comic strips to INPRNT and/or Society6… but I don’t know. Is that something you all would be interested in?

Part of me is like, that’s weird. Who displays comic strips? But then I was framing a bunch of old prints I’ve collected, and bought a few new prints from other artists, and like at least half were comic strips from artists I enjoy…

So yeah… do you buy comics? As prints? Books? Other merch, like shirts? Not at all? I won’t consider any feedback a promise to buy…I’m mostly just curious how other people enjoy the medium! So, let me know in the comments!

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ART

Honestly, it feels a little odd not having updated my shop last month. Like, what, was I not working?!? What was I even doing?!

Yikes…I was definitely working. Just looks a bit different now…

I have to remember that slowing down and focusing on quality is not a bad thing. I really like my workflow right now. Taking time working on drafting out values and composition. Knowing that I can experiment and play and create new illustrations that maybe don’t make sense as a standalone print, but may become something really really cool in the future…

Like this original character! She doesn’t have a name yet, nor her cute fluffy sidekick. But I definitely want to start incorporating them in some fantasy and/or science fiction illustrations. Maybe do like a comic page illustration with a bit more narrative elements? I think that would be really neat, and it’s kind of the plan! I’m really excited to make more art with them in the future, and have all kinds of ideas for worldbuilding and stuff that I hope to expand out and include in some of my future illustrations and offer as prints in my shop!

Also I’ve been spending a lot of time in my sketchbook. Again. Always. I know it’s something I’m always struggling with, but it’s also really really important.

I’m trying to get more structured in some ways — like I’ve divided my sketchbook into different drawing prompts of things I like to draw, and things I need to practice. I’ve also loosened up my expectation for sketching too — it doesn’t have to be some amazing finished piece (but also it’s cool if it is), and I’m becoming more open to drawing fan art.

It’s weird, but when you practice drawing from an old master painter it’s a “study.” When I draw like a favorite cartoonist or comic artist, it’s “just” fan art. I originally made a choice not to share any fan art as an artist, but it kinda stifled my sketching…because fan art is a lot of fun! And it just felt off limits (still not gonna sell it though). But now that I’m thinking of it more in terms of practice and study and learning, I’m drawing A LOT more. I don’t know if I’ll share it specifically, but it might pop up now and then in a neat sketchbook spread. And I think that’s okay…

So definitely keeping busy!

I will say my plan of “breakfast sketching” has gone out the window. I’m just not a morning person. I always resolve to become a morning person. I try to structure my days around traditional office hours. But I am a late-middle-of-the-morning until middle-of-the-night kinda gal. Oh well. Maybe I can make an evening decaf coffee and enjoy a baked donut for dessert and that can still count in the spirit of breakfast sketching. 😀

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BOOKS

Wheel of Time progress report: I finished the second book! YAY! But also now I need a major break to read something else…

So instead I finally finished Book Four of The Expanse series! FINALLY. And I just started Book Five. It takes me forever to get through them, but I love this series so much. It’s just so fun. And I can definitely take breaks in the series and come back to it without feeling lost, which is nice. Hopefully I can do the same with Wheel of Time…

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THE REST

President’s Day weekend is our Action Movie Marathon tradition. This year we kinda let it take over the whole month. It started with The Rock, quickly turned into the rest of the 90s Nicolas Cage trilogy (with Con Air and Face/Off). A few other John Woo movies, all the Mission Impossible movies. Crank, which was absolutely bizarre, ridiculous, and also a lot of fun, turned out to be our favorite despite originally sounding so dumb. (…so it’s like the movie Speed? But it’s just a guy?…) And we did watch a LOT of bad, dumb action movies. The Blood of Heroes (the guy from the show Silicon Valley talked about it on Stephen Colbert’s show and made it sound WAY cooler than it really is). Chuck Norris’ The Hitman was just a mess. Just a lot of bad movies. It was a good time… But, it’s not really fun to watch our usual action movies right now, so to end the month we returned to our beloved kung fu movies and watched Kung Fu Panda and Drunken Master– classics!

We’ve also started watching a lot of rugby again with the Six Nations’ Cup. I still don’t understand most of the rules, and especially the last game we watched (one team was down multiple players for reasons even the commentators didn’t seem to understand). But it’s still pretty entertaining, and easy to watch in the background while playing video games or working on an art project.

And now that MLS has started up again, and the Premier League still going on, we’re watching more soccer than ever. This is our first season living away from our home team, which is weird. We were like, do we watch the local team too? Is that allowed?? We decided it is, because they are separate conferences anyway, so at least watching the local team is introducing us to half the league…because our team just never plays them (such a dumb set-up). So now it’s even more soccer to watch! SO. MUCH. SOCCER… YAY!

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I thought this was going to be a very short newsletter, but it turned into a sort of ramble. Oops!

If you’re still here, thanks for reading!

Hello February!

SHOP UPDATE

As a reminder, my art is now available at Society6 and INPRNT!

I just finished a new illustration for my personal portfolio project! “The Guardian!”

And it’s now available as a print on INPRNT!

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ART

I spent a lot of January working on The Guardian. It takes a lot longer to finish pieces when I don’t skip steps… like creating thumbnails and value studies…

A lot of the fun of this piece though was going back to working in a larger format and using pen and ink for the linework! I did the color digitally still, since it’s so forgiving and I have no confidence with applying color theory. I get to change my mind a lot this way! I will probably do some pieces in watercolor again, I finally brought out my paints for the first time since last spring! But I think digital coloring might still be my favorite… I’m super pleased with the palette I created in the end. I love fun complementary pop of color!

I also tried to work in my studio more to start the year. Instead of exclusively working for the couch in the living room… Although I should say, my studio has a couch instead of a desk. I like to be comfortable! But it makes a big difference, as it is definitely easier to focus in the studio, and it doesn’t have a TV…

Plus, I’ve been trying the Pomodoro method for time management. I thought I could write like a big dedicated blog post about it, but I stuck with it for like a week. Which honestly is pretty good for me. But I now like setting a timer now for focused work. I’m just way more flexible with it. Mostly just being more intentional with how I break up my day for different tasks. But nothing too rigid since creative work can ebb and flow so much. I mean, if I’m feeling stuck I can still set a timer and sketch for half an hour. Just to do something… But also I’ve gotta have longer breaks. I’m an artist! I need lots of time to scroll my phone and get inspiration!

But mostly I have a lot of stuff I’m wanting to work on right now, and it can get a bit overwhelming. So between a weekly planner and setting a timer, I’m definitely finding a better way to focus and stay on a single task, but still find balance to work on multiple projects. Yay!

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BOOKS

Wheel of Time progress report: I’m halfway through book two. It’s still good, I think. That’s all.

I’ve been reading a lot of graphic novels and a few manga recently.

Kaiju No. 8 (a manga) was a lot of fun. A blend of Pacific Rim, One Punch Man, and My Hero Academia. It’s not my favorite, but I enjoyed it and preordered volume 2! I also got a manga where the conceit is basically “what if Harry Potter went to Hogwarts but secretly couldn’t do magic and was a total gym bro?” Haven’t read that one yet but it sounds wild!

Then I read the 1st volume of the original Spider-Man. It is so ridiculous. And dated. But I loved it. It was so fun. OG Peter Park (and Spidey) was a mess and kind of a bully?! I’m very disappointed The Living Brain villain hasn’t made it to a movie…yet. A 1960s super-computer on ball-bearing wheels! THE HORROR!

After than I jumped to Ultimate Spider-Man from the 2000s. Oh boy. Dated in a way I lived through is a special kind of nostalgia. Yikes… Also I didn’t realize how much Brian Michael Bendis influenced the Sam Raimi movies. That I also still kinda love. Because I was a teen in the 00s…

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THE REST

We have now watched all the Spider-Man movies (up to the new one). It’s also been a trip, and fun to compare to the comics. Apparently we just missed out on Garfield’s Spider-Man originally? Possibly because of Spider-Man 3. As well as dismay and confusion on how a superhero series could be rebooted so soon (HA!). But now that I’ve seen them, he might be the best Spider-Man? It was just so fun, and pretty good! Spider-Man Homecoming, which I originally loved, seemed now like just a mini-Iron Man movie, and not nearly as fun in comparison. But it was still okay. And Far From Home was better, which is encouraging. Also Martin Starr (Parker’s teacher) is the BEST.

We’ve also been watching a lot of classic kung fu movies. It’s always a good choice for a Friday night, and apparently Amazon Prime has a solid selection. Executioners from Shaolin is amazing, and formally introduced us to the work of Liu Chia-Liang and Lo Lieh. So good! I think at this point we will watch anything they are involved in.

Lastly, I started baking desserts at the start of the new year. And I’ve managed to make a different dessert every weekend, so far! The best was chocolate sugar cookies, but I also bought a donut pan and baked donuts are legit. I’ve always wanted to try baking more, so the pan was motivation. I have a major sweet tooth, but I don’t always want cookies or brownies or something. But there are few foods I love more than donuts. So yay new hobbies!

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Have you tried a formal time management method? (Are there others??) Have you picked up a new hobby for the new year? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

Hello January!

SHOP UPDATE

This is a big one! I’ve closed my Etsy shop!

But…what?! I just re-opened it!

Indeed. But with it back open, I’ve remembered just how involved (and expensive) running and Etsy shop can be…

And I’d rather be making my art!

So what now?!

I am now an artist on INPRNT! If you aren’t familiar, it’s a site for artists to sell art prints. I applied over the holiday and was accepted! I love a lot of the artists that sell on INPRNT already, and have ordered prints there before. It’s definitely quality! They only do prints, which is my main focus so most of my NEW work will be available on INPRNT. Speaking of, this month’s shop update is on INPRNT now! Check out my INPRNT shop here!

For most everything in my Etsy shop, its now been moved over to Society6 and is available as mini prints! I haven’t updated my Society6 shop since I stopped doing surface pattern design work, but I do love Society6’s products (I legit have so many of my own mugs and throw pillows around the house, is that bad?). Plus, while most of my illustration work will go on INPRNT, I do like that with Society6 I can offer new mugs or home goods (or even puzzles now?!), which can be a lot of fun! Check out my Society6 shop here!

I’m really excited for this fresh start to the new year!

ART

I’m so excited to be able to focus on making art again this year. For me, that looks like a lot of courses online (I’m slowly working through about half a dozen right now), working in my sketchbooks (gonna try to draw everyday… mostly), and creating new art!

I recently came up with a list of 12 illustrations that I want to make… Mostly because I thought I’d need a portfolio to apply to INPRNT (I didn’t) and I wanted to challenge myself to make new work in my newer style for the portfolio… Anyway, I still think its a neat idea. I’ve created like art checklists when doing pattern designs. But I’ve never planned out a collection for illustrations… So I’m still gonna try it!

Its going to be a handful each of: landscapes, character driven illustrations (I’m thinking very comic book like and fantasy or scifi inspired), single panel comics with my comic characters, and some cuter kawaii style pieces (dunno what yet! But its gotta be cute!).

I have no idea how long it will take to make that all, but I’m excited to focus on it and get started!

BOOKS

I did it! I have finally read The Eye of the World, the first book in The Wheel of Time. FINALLY. And it was actually pretty good?

I’ve started the next book in the series already, which is promising. But I’m sure I’ll have to take many breaks. I’ve still got The Expanse to work though, among many others…

I also read the first Hellboy omnibus graphic novel on a whim. Knew nothing about it, but I liked the cover art. Oh man, it’s so fun! I didn’t expect a gothic noir beat ’em up. But its perfect. Story is wild, art is unbelievable. So excited to keep reading the series!

NOT BOOKS

If you remember, I started reading The Eye of the World again because I was so hype for The Wheel of Time TV show trailer…

Well…we watched it…

It’s not great?

I might watch season 2 because Moiraine and Lan are awesome. I like the cast. And its a very pretty fantasy show. And we don’t get many fantasy shows… But also, its just not good. I can deal with changes for adaption, but they are so much easier to deal with when they actually make sense. Yikes. But it makes the book seem extra good in comparison! So that’s nice…

Also, being in the South for the holidays this year has been wild. It’s been weird being away from friends and family, to be sure. But also we spent the whole time sitting outside, and going on hikes in the very humid, still very warm weather? I know I’m not supposed to be surprised by it. I didn’t expect a snowy Christmas, but I also didn’t expect shorts weather either. The locals seem to think this is unusual, so I don’t feel bad also thinking it’s very weird… I mean, I’m gonna enjoy it. But I’m also ready for the supposed cold weather that should be arriving any time now!

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Hope you have all had a delightful holiday! Happy New Year!!

The year is almost over, so now its time to look back at the work I’ve done in 2021, and look forward to some of the goals and areas of focus for 2022!

(Basically, care to join me as I do my own annual review?!)

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Comics

I started making my lil’ comics in 2020, but this year I’ve stayed pretty consistent with it! My most recent comic on Instagram was #27! So not too shabby! I did slow down to sharing new comics every other week, so I’d like to maybe get back to doing it weekly, but also I’m terrified of running out of ideas. Sooo, no promises. But definitely a goal…

I also created my cast of characters for my comics this spring– Sam, Pandy, Ghost and Chuck. I like not having to create new characters each week, and starting to sort of build their personalities as the comics go on. I would love to start doing illustration prints of my characters outside of the comics (so kinda like my single panel comics but focused on a single character). Mostly the issue is finding time with everything else I want to do as well.

Basically though, comics definitely became one of the main focuses for my work this year. Creating characters, and single panel comics, and reading other comics (basically homework!) and taking ecourses on making comics, I’ve definitely been making some strides and hopefully that will mean continued improvement into next year! Yay!

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Illustration

So in my mind, this area encompasses everything I work on that isn’t just in my sketchbook, and isn’t a webcomic. My landscapes, abstracts, and other illustrations… basically anything that I’d put in my Etsy shop.

Speaking of, this year I reopened my Etsy shop! I redid basically all of it, the photos, products, packaging, printing…ALL OF IT. It took months and was slowed down by our move across the country earlier this year…but I’m super pleased with how it turned out!

As I’ve mentioned before I’m planning on doing another mini shop update with new prints next month. My goal for next year is to definitely create enough illustrations that I can do quarterly shop updates. They probably will all be mini updates, just a few items each time, realistically. I’m just focusing so much right now on learning new stuff that I’m not making nearly as much finished work as I would normally. But that’s okay! It’s better than nothing, and I’m not going to feel bad about wanting to improve either!

I am hoping though that next year I will be able to slow down the focus on courses and learning new stuff and instead spend that time on putting it to practice and making new stuff!

I really want to focus on character-driven illustration moving forward. To tell stories and have some sort of narrative in my illustrations, and include a bit more like “whimsy” to them. Either like scifi or fantasy elements or humor. I don’t know. It’s definitely pushing my creativity, having so long just like a “draw what I see” approach. But its the kind of work I want to make, so I’ve just got to do it!

I actually don’t even quite know what I want it to look like. I’ve been working a lot of like very cute and kawaii characters most of this year, working in colored pencil in my sketchbooks. But lately I’ve been working in a more realistic style for figure drawing, to practice anatomy and like comic book style inking, so that I could work towards more cartoony stylized characters in the future. So it gets a little overwhelming trying to work in all three styles, and seeing how they work together and what I want my work to look like moving forward. It may just be a combination of all three. I’m not sure. But I also don’t want to rush the learning process, either. So I guess we’ll just see!

I do know that I want to work in ink, digitally, and in watercolor. I love working in ink, always. And I’m starting to get more comfortable working digitally too. I haven’t used watercolor since we moved, so I’m sure I’m a bit rusty. But watercolor is just so fun and I’m sure it’ll look pretty awesome with inky illustration work. I was working on gouache a bit at the start of the year. And I like it, but its just not as much fun. I’d rather focus on ink drawing, with watercolor, than just painting. Its just different. And thats okay. So yeah, definitely want to focus on these three media next year.

I’m so excited!

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Sketching

Last but not least, my beloved sketchbooks…
I FINALLY got comfortable with and consistent about working in my sketchbook this year, since I’ve been doing so much focused learning and trying new techniques. I love my sketchbooks!

I did so much in color pencil and I think that might be my favorite way to just like play in my sketchbook. So I definitely want to do that more next year too. I’m trying colored lead for my mechanical pencils too so I can keep my sketches lighter than when I use traditional graphite. And its so much easier than worrying about a pencil sharpener! Yay!

Unfortunately my scribbly colorful pencils sketches aren’t very A E S T H E T I C. So I haven’t had too much to share. But I’m trying to get over it, and share some of my favorite sketches anyway. So look out for that on Instagram, at least.

I did create one sketchbook tour this year with Mosstober. So that was a fun challenge. I’d love to create another pretty sketchbook to share in a tour again for next year. But it’d need to look cohesive, and I’d need to actually finish a sketchbook. So…maybe it will have to wait until October again next year. But we’ll see. I have a dedicated figure drawing (like character design) sketchbook right now that is a mess but might be interesting to share when it’s finished (let me know in the comments if that’s something you’d like to see?).

Also, side note, I recently got a copy of Mike Mignola’s The Quarantine Sketchbook book… Oh man, that is some serious goals for sketching. Like good grief. I’m just going to carry that massive book around everywhere I go next year and maybe I’ll like absorb some drawing wisdom… just wow. (Not an ad, obviously. Just really excited.)

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Favorite Artwork of the Year

Okay, last bit for the review. I did this last year, and really liked it. So I’m doing it again! Picking out my favorite work of art from this calendar year. Woohoo!

The Slinky Cat

I mean, it has to be… I’m pretty sure when I made it I was like “this is the best thing I’ve ever done as an artist” and “I’ve peaked as an artist.” I made it super early this year (that was this year?!?) And it is everything I want my artwork to be. Happy, silly, fun, a lil’ weird. Cute. Inky. Colorful…

…Like what am I even doing now?! I need to return to the simple joy that is The Stretchy Cat… BRB gonna go rewrite my goals for next year… Okay just kidding. But still. I still love it. I’m still so proud of it. Best piece of the year for me.

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Whew. I think that’s everything…

So let me know what you think?! And feel free to share any of your creative goals for 2022 in the comments!

Happy Holidays!

Hello December!

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Art

100 figure drawings in 30 days was ambitious… I think I got a third of the way through, but that included a lot of small scribbly pose ideas that weren’t really gesture drawings or very helpful. I quickly realized this was a quality over quantity issue, needing better structured practice, like hand studies, and expression practice, so that ultimately I can draw complete and detailed characters. I’ve definitely improved, being too embarrassed to share the early work. But its getting better! I think I’m getting better at the technical side of drawing characters. Now I struggle a lot with ideas, creating interesting poses and branching out from drawing everyone in sweats or flannel… But I’m working on it! Still practicing, and so looking forward to feeling comfortable creating interesting characters for my future illustrations!

As always, its hard to find balance and structure in my routine, between comics, illustrations, and sketchbook practice. Making sure I have time for it all. But the good part is that I enjoy all of it and I’ve got the time! I think…

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Not Art

I started playing Animal Crossing again in November. (Suddenly it is no longer a mystery why getting my to do list done each week was a lot harder than normal… Oops!) I finally burned out again around Thanksgiving, when I proceeded to play Skyrim nonstop. I played so much, I was grateful to go back to work that Monday after. But honestly, it was so fun to play again after years!

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Books

I finally got to new chapters in The Wheel of Time! We started watching the show, and I knew just enough to be very confused. So that gave me all the motivation I needed to read more of Eye of the World finally. I don’t love the show, admittedly. I get why they are making a lot of their creative decisions, but I just don’t agree with them. Mostly the way they handled the beginning (since I know it sooo well) and character motivations. But I can’t even be like “the book is better” because I don’t love it either and certainly haven’t finished reading it. But I do love fantasy, so I’m intrigued enough to stick with both.

I also read Magpie Murders last month. I think after rewatching Knives Out I was like, I need more mysteries in my life. So I tried Anthony Horowitz, having read some Alex Rider books growing up. And it was very like, cinematic, in the way he writes (I believe he writes for TV too). So it was a lot of fun and I’m super excited to read more mysteries now! Yay!

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Thanks for joining me in The Shallow End!

Finally! A new sketchbook tour!

This sketchbook was for the October daily drawing challenge generally known as “Inktober.” Normally I come up with my own theme for the month, but this year I decided to try the prompt list provided by Mossery for their version of the challenge called “Mosstober.”

Set Up

I thought emojis would be fun as inspiration, and I wanted to work on drawing cute, simple drawings, since that was what I had been focused on so much recently. It’s not intuitive for me to draw that way, but I really like it, and I thought it would be an interesting way to approach the challenge. I also wanted to use a larger sketchbook than I normally gravitate towards — this was a 9″ x 12″ Koh-I-Noor sketchbook with smooth Bristol paper. I sketched in mechanical pencil, for each drawing. Inking was done mostly with the Sakura Graphic 1 ink pen, but I also used the Pentel Arts brush pen in black, and later started using a gray version as well. White was sometimes added in with the Sakura Gelly Roll white pen.

Thoughts

If I had to do this challenge again, especially focusing on simple, cute, almost kawaii-style drawings, I would definitely not stick with blank and white. Color is such a big part of what makes kawaii art so cute, and it felt like an extra challenge to keep it monochromatic. I had to use the white and gray inks, just to keep things readable. In one way, I liked the challenge to approach value very very carefully. But on the other hand, some drawings just look sooo weird, because they don’t have any color.

I also got so tired of drawing what felt at the time like a lot of food themed pieces. I struggled with getting so literal with the prompts, and coming up with new ideas. I think that shows, especially in the later pieces, or on drawings where I missed a weekend prompt and had to catch up two or three in one day. I probably could have planned ahead a little more, but I’m used to just “winging” it for Inktober, and not following actual prompts. I think if I do it next year I might brainstorm general ideas for each day in advance and so on the day of the drawing I can just focus more on the drawing itself.

I also struggled to stick with the kawaii element of the challenge. Eventually I started getting a bit tired, and I know one day I just drew absentmindedly (probably while watching a soccer game), and was like “shoot this isn’t cute at all.” I still like it, but it’s not kawaii! Oops. Not a big deal, and if there was ever an experiment in how do I draw when I’m not thinking about it, I think it’s safe to say I know the results…

All in all, I learned A TON from Mosstober. I’m so glad I did it, even if it was super challenging, pushed my art and creative skills, and didn’t quite turn out the way I hoped. I still had so much solid practice, learned a ton about my current strengths and weaknesses (I learned I still struggle with figures (poses, expressions, etc.) so I’m working on that a bunch now!). I loved getting back to working in ink too! I definitely want to do more of that in the future! And now I have a super awesome dedicated sketchbook to all things Mosstober… let’s take a look!

Sketchbook

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So there it is! My Mosstober 2021 Sketchbook Tour! Which one is your favorite? And do you like the kawaii-style (like the ghost or the steampunk man), my original style (like the Eiffel tower), or the pumpkin (which was something else completely!). Personally I really liked working on kawaii drawings, and developing that as an option for illustrations in the future, but the style of the pumpkin might be my personal favorite for exploring in more detail. That inky comic-book look is just soo satisfying! …Let me know what in the comments below!

Hello November!

SHOP UPDATE

In case you missed it, my Etsy shop is open! Check it out here if you haven’t already! So many different kinds of prints are available! Abstracts! Animals! Landscapes! Still life! And more!

And while it feels far to early to be thinking about the holidays, it really kind of isn’t… unfortunately it seems reasonable to probably anticipate delays in most shipping services this year, so my advice is to plan ahead if possible. Not just for my shop, but all of ’em!

My next shop update won’t be until after the holidays. I only have a few new illustrations right now, so I’m focusing mostly on learning new skills and creating more new work. I’ll definitely keep updating on progress, but right now the goal is early January!

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ART

Mosstober is finished! I shared a few of my early favorites on Instagram, but I will be sharing the complete batch of drawings in a sketchbook tour later this month! It was a very interesting challenge — I wanted to focus on kawaii-ish art, which I did. But I also did it exclusively in black and white, which normally the genre is very color focused. I didn’t think about that…which made it extra challenging…and eventually I just kinda lost the plot and well, you’ll see…

My latest webcomic was a seasonal one-panel comic. I loved the poolside Summer comic, so I was really excited to work on one for Fall and Halloween. It didn’t turn out as well as I was hoping, but I’m still overall pleased. I recently picked up a bunch of new brushes and textures from True Grit Texture Supply, and I just HAD to use them, right?! I love the look of classic comics, so trying to bring that into my work was so fun! But I definitely have some practice to do. I’m not used to seeing so much texture in my work, and there was such a learning curve in building tones with CMYK, that I couldn’t handle shading. But it was still a fun experiment and hopefully I’ll get better at it with more practice!

Speaking of practice — for November, I’ve decided to create a new art challenge for myself. Maybe it’s already a thing, I don’t know? But the goal is draw 100 people in 30 days. After doing Mosstober, I realized the sort of gaps I have in my “visual library” (aka things I know how to draw). I know I’ve mentioned it before but I would still like to be able to draw people. An as it turns out, I still haven’t done the work to learn how to draw people, so I still don’t know how to draw people. Go figure.

I mean, I learn how to draw cute little chibi cartoon people this time last year, so I feel pretty comfortable drawing that now. But it’s not always how I want to approach figure drawing, you know? Like, I’m glad I can do it, but I don’t want it to be the only option. I really want to learn how to draw stylized characters, and have been working on that a bit this last month. But it’s hard to stylize a person when I still don’t quite have the fundamentals down. And I refuse to believe that I need to go all in on realism and anatomy. Instead I’m gonna try to brute force this and finally learn the thing in a way that works for me. And then I can go back to learning how to stylize characters successfully — the thing I actually want to be able to do…

How I currently draw + what I want to learn = uuuuuhhhhh….

Sooo, I’ve got a Domestika course on figure drawing from imagination, and another on stylized character design that I just am too impatient to wait to watch. So I’m hoping the combination and a ton of actual pencil to paper practice this month will work! Wish me luck!

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NOT ART

The Halloween movie marathon was a success! We branched out into a lot of different subgenres of horror, and watched a movie nearly every night! Yay!

We also started watching Staged on Hulu. I don’t think I could have watched it any sooner (as it is very much about the pandemic), but I’m so glad we’re watching it now. It is so well done! Absolutely love it!

To enjoy the fall colors at our new house, we took a long road trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway! I learned the East Coast mountains are legit (this is a revelation as someone who grew up much closer to the Rockies). I also learned I am not a photographer. But it was so pretty! The leaves are starting to change now in our backyard too, which is exciting! I’m curious next as to what kind of winter-like season we’ll get in this part of the country (although just more fall is okay too!)

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BOOKS

I’m still reading The Wheel of Time book. In that I keep it on my Kindle and read a chapter every few weeks. That’s the best I can do. I’m determined still…but only kinda.

I did start reading Kings of the Wyld, because I do actually want to read a fantasy story. It’s been on my to-read list for a while, and I started it on an evening I just couldn’t with Eye of the World (Wheel of Time). I’m only a few chapters in, but so far it’s really interesting and I’m actually enjoying it!

I started reading graphic novels again recently too! I finished Paper Girls finally. It’s sooo good, and I think the art and colors may be some of my favorite ever. I started reading them when they came out, but remembered being really confused by Volume 3. This time I read it all together and it wasn’t confusing at all, there’s just a lot that happens in six volumes! But it didn’t feel rushed, and was just so good! Next up is Hellboy that I don’t know anything about but the artwork looks incredible too, though very very different from what I normally enjoy. I’m excited!

(And yes I’m still reading The Expanse series. These books are massive. I swear I have a whole stack of other books I’m waiting to get to, but like, when?! They hinted at a book shortage and I believed them! So I’ve got all kinds of books queued up! I guess I need to get reading!)

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Thanks for joining me in The Shallow End!

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…)

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Thanks for joining me in The Shallow End!