After being stuck with an A5 pad for a month, i finally got my hands on a A3 one. What better way to celebrate than painting a messy room? No rules, no plans, just making things up as i go.
It's my third illustration with a lantern theme.
I had doubts while drawing this illustration. I changed the concept a few times. And I'm not sure if I got the expected effect.
But I'm not afraid to share it and say: "this illustration could be better."
It gives me the motivation to work harder.
It gives me reasons to push myself forward.
Have a creative weekend!
Hello everyone! My new OC is finally finished! Her name is Lunaria and she is a forest guardian. I also got hugely inspired by Yasuo art from League of Legends. Timelapse process https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tdbkctDr7M
Looking down on the Afon Mellte from its rocky riverbank in Neath's 'Waterfall Country'. I was a little perturbed by the complexity of this scene at first, but soon got into the flow of it. I love doing these wild nature scenes. Uniball Eye Micro on 6x8" sketchbook.
Inktober 2020, Day 25: "Buddy".
I thought what better match for the prompt than Stanley Stegosaurus, which my parents got to me when we moved to the US, when I was six. Stanley was a good buddy to me, when I didn’t understand at first the weird language spoken by those American kids. It has also been a good buddy to me during this weird pandemic time, when my IRL social life seems to be limited to maybe meeting one person once a month.
Brush pens and posca on coloured A4.
Fineliner sketch depicting the unruly world that is the press, i struggle with many news outlets and the odds they use to sell and manipulate people. It can cause real suffering, real negativity, real bigotry. Blood is on all there hands.
There’s a lot of waiting in life.
Waiting in lobbies.
Waiting on answers.
Waiting for braces to tighten, kids to grow, hearts to heal, or prayers to be answered.
I sat at the orthodontist, watching dollars tighten on tiny wires, and made this sketch. A tree. A house. A street. Color helped the moment breathe.
I remember once hearing a chess master say, “There is no waiting in chess.”
It confused me—wasn’t there always a turn to wait for?
But he explained: “There’s no waiting. Only planning. Plotting. Analyzing. You’re always thinking.”
I once repeated that to a FIDE master. He got mad.
Maybe because waiting and patience aren’t the same thing.
We can be still and deeply active inside.
We can pause without being passive.
And then there’s Lindsey’s voice in the back of my head:
“That sounds like a first-world problem.”
“Speak life.”
“Be thankful. Rejoice always.”
And she’s right.
So here’s to filling waiting time with something creative.
Something kind.
Something that turns a delay into a doorway.
I am amazed summer after summer seeing this tree and garden grow. I started this with a blue background and a black layer that I punched through, and from there, I painted layer by layer from the back to the front. I like the realism I got, but I kept to a painterly feel using oil brushes.
This line from the Stephin Merritt episode of the 'She's A Talker' podcast (referring to Stephen Sondheim plot-lines) got my imagination ticking in overdrive
I'm not sure how this happened,
And neither is this peep:
A beach vacation for his wife
That he bought on the cheap.
He wanted to surprise her,
So this is what he got.
Turns out his wife prefers a beach
With water over not.
A 45 minute drawing of some old tombstones. Done in pencil, graphite powder, charcoal powder and used a kneaded eraser to create effect, also edited digitally.
It’s easier to remain silent for someone
whose words only ever got twisted.
(spoke in other forms though)
Running from what?
Nothing. And everything.
Until they fell off the edge - or flew-
and plunged into an epiphany where words can’t
even translate,
can’t touch you.
“Don’t you come looking for me”
on the wind.
(I had gotten some new fine-point pens last week, and I figured this was a good way to test them out.) Two very different things have been on my mind lately, maybe there's a connection? I think it's interesting how it's taken me 4 years to figure something out, become comfortable enough to open up to others about it, and then embrace it. Yet it's like living a double life, being authentic to some and keeping secrets from others. On the other hand, to the person receiving this drawing, I know I can't do anything to change the situation even though I wish I could. All I can say is I'm forever grateful for all you do, and I truly hope you decide to take advantage of all the opportunities coming your way.
April has truly started off on a high note: 3 days of warm weather (a rare occurrence in an early Chicago spring), I finally did double-backs to the floor at gymnastics, found out I won a few art contests, and I got my first COVID vaccine! It's nice to have things starting to work out, even if it is just temporarily.
I first bought some cheap soft pastels back in 2018 and did a couple of sketches. I bought a nice set of Rembrandt pastels a few months later — didn't use them. I bought some pastel pads, none if which seemed right. September 2020, I bought a couple more sets of bargain pastels and tried a couple of pieces — no good, still couldn't bring myself to use them. Jess bought me pastel pencils for Christmas — I was too scared to use them. I even bought a pad of Pastelmat which is supposed to be THE paper to use for pastel paintings in January. I was too scared to use that as well!
FINALLY, after a few unsuccessful attempts at working with watercolour (brush issues), I cast aside my fear and thought I'd mess around with pastels. Some time later, and this was the result. I've finally broken through my pastel fear-barrier.
I've got to say, I love soft pastels and I'm excited about doing more pieces in this medium.
This is part of a sequence inspired by @moonchildillustrations and her #moontoberweekends prompts (this one is apple!). This was fun, I want to start incorporating more animation/ sequences on what I create. I got inspired by my mother, when she was little she was scared of eating seeds because she thought they would grow out of her ears. With that in mind, have a great October!
