Imperfect Lines, Honest Presence
This sketch is not perfect—and that’s exactly why it’s alive. The bold figure, the dissolving hat, the tilted chair: all of it feels unfinished, fleeting, caught in motion. It’s what the Japanese call wabi-sabi—finding beauty in the imperfect, the impermanent, the incomplete.
But there’s something deeper here too. A quick sketch is not just what the eye records. It’s what the soul permits. To draw without fixing, without polishing, is to admit the world will not hold still for us. Life slips past. The lines break off. And yet, somehow, the essence remains.
When you sketch this way, you are not the master of the moment—you are its guest. The pencil does not carve permanence; it pays attention. The act of drawing becomes an act of being present, of honoring what is already vanishing.
So here’s a challenge: grab a pencil and sketch someone near you in sixty seconds. Do not erase. Do not perfect. Let the lines falter. When you finish, ask yourself: What truth did the imperfection reveal?
Perhaps presence itself is the real art.
Caged is a collection of healing through deep inner journey work. Note: this is part of the process included while writing the final draft of my upcoming novel.
“When I draw something, the incredibly annoying thing is that it doesn’t come out like I pictured.” - Akira Toriyama (1955 - 2024).
Thankfully, this came out as intended. Full comments and reflections in the next slide!
Ten days back (April 7th) was my 30th birthday! Been up to my eyeballs in photography projects since then and only just got some breathing space to draw... always good to be back after a break, however big or small.
Wanted a fantasy comp but with a unique color palette and a modern subject. I also wanted the foreground to appear as a very distinct layer hoping the landscape appears downhill to the viewer. I used Barad-dûr as inspiration for the castle ruins.
A great deal of upheaval in my personal life, including making steps to better my mental health as well as reflecting on changes in my work life (potentially) and also my living situation, have dominated my headspace as of late.
Long story short, Buddha reminding us all to still any madness in life got me to work here as did the obvious itch to get some drawing done!
I grew up drawing and illustrating, but 20+ years later, it hit me with force. I haven't looked back since. These are the first two practice sketches I made when I decided finally that I want to be an artist.
Today’s drawing gets it’s name from something I overheard someone declare at lunch yesterday afternoon. I’ve had kale often enough and yet, I’m not convinced it tastes *entirely* like grass... I could be wrong though. Thoughts?
The name for this piece comes from a billboard I noticed as I was heading home from a shopping trip not too long ago, and it’s stuck with me ever since.
Life in lockdown (needless to say) brings with it plenty of time for us all to learn and get creative in whatever way works best..
A bit on the rough side right now, since I'm just getting started (again) on watercolours. I've never painted this loosely before so this is a big step for me. Maybe I'll try a selfie again in a few months to see how I've progressed.
My girl chump, she'll get that fruit punch. I heard this song the other day and I fell in love with it. My girl came to mind. It goes well with her personality, well she is a vampire. She is ruthless! Anything for her dark prince.
https://youtu.be/IjF-QXvBaXA?si=1BdYAMY50v0x4NZO
To draw a forest so it's big enough you don't include the tops of the trees or any sky. Just very thick tree-trunks growing absolutely straight.
...
In a proper painting of a forest everything is roughly the same colour, the moss, the tree-trunks and the branches of the fir trees, everything is soft and solemn, half-way between grey and brown and green but very little green. If you want you can add a princess, for example. She is always white and very tiny and has long yellow hair.
Sculptor's daughter by Tove Jansson.
*PS photo 1 finished is is better is better then photo 2 is inked ver.*
*ps my og inked sketch is lost media so i used finished to photo edit on Google photos an inked since my cam roll rsndomly deleted it...
