I have not been consistently posting here lately.

I have a thousand excuses… most notably work, but I will just leave it at stating that I’m juggling too many things right now and I’m having to choose between which platforms I share my material on.

Being an artist desiring to do so professionally (and for a profit to sustain me someday) is, to put it as simply as possible, “a lot.”

The artistic process in itself is challenging. To be able to pull from your brain the sketch to eventually make into a piece is likely successful fifty percent of the time, at least in my experience. I have dozens of unfinished pieces within the last few weeks/months that got no further than a sketch, and while I’m proud of them, the time it took to get to that state of incompletion can’t be gotten back.

What I’m saying is, sketching for practice and for fun is both enjoyable and informative. However, looking back at these sketches that I spent hours on with no “real” finish just shows me how much more time I need to be able to spend to have these sketching sessions… to exercise my brain and complete a warm up with more than just an hour or two between the shifts of the job that brings me a paycheck.

To elaborate on my first statement, “being an artist is a lot”…

Not only do I need that time to actually create the art, but I have to find the time to promote the art. And to do so this day and age, you must promote on a multitude of platforms… some that gain more notice than others.

Which do I choose? What time that I have so little of do I spend on promoting the things I’m proud of once I’ve spent the time making the things I’m proud of?

These are incomplete thoughts and I could probably make this into a better post if I “had more time.”

That being said, here are a few things I’ve finished and been proud of that I’ve posted on other platforms that I’d like to share here.

Thank you to those of you that follow this blog. It unfortunately has taken a “backseat” to other platforms… but that’s only temporary.

It’s been a tough few weeks.

I don’t feel that detailing that further will do anything to help how I am currently feeling, but tonight I was able to complete my first piece in several weeks!

It is a simple painting, and that’s okay.

I enjoyed doing it, and am satisfied with how it turned out. Sometimes simple is needed.

That is all.

I’ve been absent on all platforms for the last several days.

This is because during that time I was extremely ill and found it difficult to do anything but sleep.

Because my brain refused to function properly, I haven’t drawn much beyond sketches and have struggled with the coloring process. It has become so time-consuming that it’s hindering my projects and too many are going on unfinished due to being frustrated.

I’m discouraged.

Being so new still to digital art, coloring in this method is strikingly different than in the way I’ve done so in the past and I’m continuing to learn the steps without collapsing into myself like a dying star.

If you’re reading this and are an artist, what are some things you’ve done to overcome your obstacles with a technique?

It’s Not an Owl

The Fourth Kind, one of the most terrifyingly fascinating movies I’ve ever seen… although the truth behind it is disputed to say the least.

That being said, I’ve done four or five pieces on different mediums depicting the combination of owls and aliens, and so I decided to do another one.

This is extremely premature, only a few hours in and much more time to go, but I have to say my favorite part so far is the three owls depicted. See one here..

See a full view on my

Patreon!

I developed some prints…

I started with just a few, because I wanted to see the quality of them translated on paper before I spent an exorbitant amount of money. I couldn’t have been happier with the results.

I ordered them on matte paper, which is more expensive but has such a unique physical feel to them (every person who held them ran their finger across a portion of them, I observed)… and some of the pieces I chose that I’d previously ordered on canvas ended up looking even better in a more condensed print.

I’ve only shown them to a small audience that already know me and my personality, people who care about me as an individual, so of course there’s a level of bias that must be considered… but the reactions I’ve gotten have been so positive and exciting.

One person, after looking at the first print I showed her, immediately asked, “How much?” She immediately went and pulled some money out to pay for it right then and there.

It was the most proud I’ve felt of something I had done in some time.

To have someone appreciate my artwork, something I worked on for hours, and criticized and tweaked and even now have insecurities about… to have someone want it so badly that they go as fast as they can to procure it… that was some kind of feeling.

When she got back I asked, “Do you want to see the others to make sure that’s the one you want?”

She replied, “Yes, no, I mean, then I’ll want more… but let me see anyways” and together we looked at my art.

I love watching people look at my artwork.

Yes, a social media presence is important in the art industry, but there is really nothing like watching someone’s eyes dilate as they look at a certain piece, or to listen to someone explain their immediate reaction to something you’ve worked so hard on.

The exchanges I’ve had with the people who are genuinely interested in looking at my pieces have been the happiest moments in recent memory for me.

So I took the money I made from that one print (not pictured here, because she purchased it immediately), and ordered some more.

Character Creation

Some time ago I began working on an original character to draw whenever I don’t have a subject in mind (something to replace Rei Ayanami from Neon Genesis Evangelion, who’s my current default), and it’s proving more difficult than I thought it would be!

I’ve watched all kinds of tutorials on character creation, many of which include imagining a backstory for context, and proceeding from there on appearances and physical characteristics.

On my other social platforms I detailed the comedic exchange between my boyfriend and myself (he’s the one I bounce ideas off of, and gives me the most sound advice however much I may fight it)….

Me: I need to create an original character so I can draw her instead of other people’s characters.

James: Okay, it’s important she has a backstory… and a purpose.

Me: She is sassy and has a pep in her step.

James: That’s not a backstory or a purpose, those are descriptions… what’s her purpose?

Me: Dinosaurs.

James: …

Me: …

Me: And her eyes are orange.

James: Again, description. She needs a weapon.

Me: She’s a pacifist, her brain is her weapon.

James: …

Me: And she has a pep in her step.

James: You’re being extremely difficult.

Me: That’s not a purpose, that’s a description

As you can see, I’m struggling a bit with this. Fortunately, despite being stubbornly resistant to anything being suggested to me straight away, as my significant other described my personality in the most kind way possible, he’s extremely patient.

A few weeks ago I did some initial sketches on this new character, and then the other night I did a few more. Both sets are quite different, and I’m still not satisfied. For instance, I can’t decide on the length of her hair. I quite prefer short hair over long hair, however, with long hair you are given more opportunity to create interesting changes to the style.

Anyways, for now I’m playing with a medium-length.

For the sake of avoiding an even lengthier explanation than I already have found myself in the midst of, I’ll just post these progress photos.

Clearly still very much a creation in progress. I definitely want dinosaurs to play some sort of a role in the backstory of this character. However, her Victorian-style dress in my latter drafts seems out of place. It’s a start, though, right?

The only thing I’m certain of is her name. Maya, a name from a dinosaur picture book I loved as a child spelled in a different way.

It is both fun and frustrating to go through this process.

“Manager Spotlight”

I was recently “asked” to be the next Bakery Manager Spotlight in a small newsletter for the company I work for.

I say “asked” because it didn’t seem much like a request. Anyone who knows me is well aware I dislike personally being in the spotlight and that it makes me extremely uncomfortable. While I work extremely hard to get my artwork out in the open, I myself prefer to remain behind the scenes.

I had to have one of my associates take a photo of me “on the job,” in my work attire which is anything but flattering, as anyone in a retail establishment knows… with a mask on no less (although I was actually quite happy having to wear the mask in public—if not for the pandemic, the mask is an ideal situation for me on all spectrums)… Then I had to list my hobbies outside of the job, my family life (as if I ever see them as much as I’d like given my profession, my rise in the company, and my favorite thing about the job.

Of course, I found difficulty expressing any passion or positivity in anything other than my family and my hobbies in this questionnaire I was given. I wasn’t exactly given an option NOT to do this, so..

My friend suggested that I use this undesired spotlight to showcase my art.

Despite this being a small newsletter that almost no one will see, I have noticed how much attention my artwork has gotten since I placed a small canvas of my “family portrait” on my desk in my office, and how many requests I’ve gotten for commissioned work from people in my store because of it.

Family portrait

Any exposure is good exposure, right?

I hate the spotlight. I’d rather have what I produce take that position instead.

So I happily put my government-regulated mask on for the “work photo,” and posed with a smile for a picture with something I’m proud to have created for a spotlight.

Creation Station

As I worked away for my eleven-hour shift at my day job, my brain focused on other things in the background.

In my old apartment, and the old apartment before that, I always had a space to work on my creative endeavors. Once I had a large desk, that seemed to take up a lot of space unnecessarily (although I had plenty of empty room to horde my various collectibles), and another time I had a more sensibly-sized smaller desk.

When I sat down at my chair in both of these different “creative stations,” the difference to creating things in any other location was striking. And I suppose I’ve always known that, as someone who has been artistic their entire life, I will need some specific space to create in.

I love my current apartment. It is by far the most beautiful place I’ve ever lived in and I’ve spent hours on hours making it exactly what I want it to be (my nightmare is when I, for whatever reason, have to move and begin my progress again)…

But I don’t have a “desk.”

I have a “lap table” that you can work from bed in (I enjoy to do that because I have a literal tent over my mattress — but that’s a story for another post)… and I have a “TV tray” that was cost-efficient enough that I could plant myself at wherever I desired when the mood struck for art.

But today I reflected that I miss having a desk.

Fortunately, my apartment is so great, that a “desk” was included in the format, built in ‘marble’ against a little nook that I currently use to house two litter boxes (elevated to prevent any dog-invasions)…

So today, I decided that my most recent short-term goal is to reinstate that nook as my Creation Station, and on my next day off those two litter boxes are moving elsewhere. I’m ready to have a permanent space again.