Drawing at the new place/image heavy**
I hummed and hawwed for days over what to start drawing. The stacks of boxes and work to be done made it hard to focus to do anything else.
This was going to be Optimus playing piano, with some care bears doing a carebear stare to cheer me up. When in doubt for what to draw during art block, comfort characters always help.
Art school memories & a pleasant surprise.
In a boomer voice “when I was your age I had to take two city busses to get from one side of Oakville to the other side to get to Sheridan. I would be carrying a backpack full of paint on my shoulders, this giant heavy portfolio in one hand, AND a toolbox in my other hand. My toolbox kept all my artist tools in it, rulers, markers, paintbrushes. This is what traditional artists had to do. And living in Canada meant I was dragging the portfolio through blizzards, sometimes the rain and snow we experienced during our commuting fucked our art up. I’d have to walk a mile in the sleet snow to the school doorsteps.-”
So it’s goodbye old friend. You bring me more “ehhhhhh” memories than good memories
There are no mistakes, just happy accidents.
Sometimes I have a vision in my head that I haven’t actually practised much on paper. I'm nostalgic for the 1970’s psychedelic album art/landscape art. The whimsy of the stars and the way the lines flow, intrigues me. As I was bringing it to life here in a Cosmos x Soundwave illustration, I found it needed more forethought than I was used to giving my art.
A visual timeline: how I explored color from 2017-2019.
For the new people around here that don't know of my early tumblr days and how much my art has visually changed since 2017. You can actually see the points in time when I started having fun with art and color again.
Drawing through the emotions
So the best way to launch myself into drawing when I really can't is by indulging in something I've wanted to draw for awhile. In this case, I wanted to work on some Danhausen fan art.
Revisiting old ideas & more of the art I don't share on social media.
An endless discussion of the pros and cons of sharing art on social media.
And what I benefit from, by not sharing some art.
Artists without networks and the barriers we face.
It was the strawberry full moon magic that made me type out way too much here. Talking about disabled artists without networking, and some examples of how networking continues my art journey.
NESS-HULK GONNA SMASH the class barriers.
Painting through insecurity
Yes well Everything I was working on at the time got permanently shelved. I felt like the only rejected artist to ever exist-a statement that is overly dramatic and false but, it's how I felt. The rejection hit deep wounds.
What do you draw for your daily practise? Q & A.
Having survived the incredibly humbling experience that it was to start making art again in my 30s. Especially after quitting art for so long…it makes me want to share my story. I hope it helps other former artists, make their way back to creating art again.
I go on artist message boards across the internet and when I feel compelled to, I will share some of my experiences. Sometimes people relate, and they ask me for more details. I had some great feedback on my latest response, so I felt it's good to share here too.
Work often equals burnout often.
Artistic burnouts are inevitable. Maybe it's just part of the process sometimes. Some artists think these burnouts are career ending.
They're not.
I find that the more you take on commissions and deal with larger amounts of money in exchange for your art-the more likely burnouts will occur and you have to constantly refine your ideas to keep going.
Tattoo lines & an artist’s time.- tattoo permissions post.
If you've followed me for any amount of time, it's apparent I love tattoo culture and a lot of my designs could be easy to transfer to a tattoo.
I don't tattoo skin, yet. It's still something I'm considering one day though.
Multitasking
These markers remind me of my plans, when I start the work again. My attention span is short and my idea flow is like roaring rapids. I can only remember so much, before it gets lost in the current and something else pops up to take my interest.
First day off in two weeks
It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks. I had two paying gigs happen at the same time. So I had to split my time between both, and parent (it's summer holidays so no school) and keep the house up and cook meals and so on.
To alleviate some stress, I wrote my to-do list, and cut out the unnecessary things that could wait.
Prioritised my “spoons” and time as best as I could.
Touching grass
I mention the tough parts of being a freelancer artist, because it's not discussed enough. There's so much rejection and rebuilding to do for most of us. And if it's not discussed, then we assume that we are the only ones to face such rejection. And it becomes demoralizing and unable to produce art becomes a nasty circle of defeat.
Social Media Highs, Social Media woes.
The downsides to watching the numbers grow or fall flat on Social Media. I will forever talk about this. Being an old artist, I’ve watched and noted how much this has effected my drawing,my choices and where I go next.
I know of a time before social media. It was harder to get your art seen. On the plus side, you were left to develop your practise at your own pace and not feel unnecessary stress from numbers, or lack thereof.
Grieving portrait & artist guilt
This current commission, hits close to home. We knew Hank, he was a dachshund who came into his parents life around the same time my pupper came into mine.
