#artist's life

[hellenlens]

My darling!

Me, starting to work on a new painting without having finished the old one.

[bean-writes]

PSA (rant) to NPCs:

I am a new(ish) artist and am working on improving my drawing skills by finding interesting and beautiful locations and people in your world to sketch.

CAN YOU PLEASE STOP KILLING ME WHILE I'M TRYING TO DRAW?

I am minding my own damn business, just trying to practice my drawing skills AND YOU KEEP SENDING NPCS TO KILL ME.

I get it. It's "threatening" and "makes you nervous" when I, the Player Character, sit on rooftops looming above you in the middle of the night while you're on patrol.

But before you put a bullet through my skull or slash your sword through my spine - just STOP AND LOOK FOR A MINUTE.

Am I killing people? NO. (not right now)

Am I being an active threat? Only in the way that a giant rock suspended in the air has a lot of gravitational potential!

But guess what?? That big rock is currently doodling very contentedly. MAYBE DON'T SHOOT AT IT.

I am sketching out of LOVE and ADMIRATION for the worlds your developers created. DON'T MAKE ME KILL YOU JUST SO I CAN DRAW IN PEACE.

Have some compassion for my poor nerves that get shattered every time a random arrow lodges in my chest after you've finally noticed me lurking above you.

THINK OF MY POOR FOUNTAIN PEN. Every time you startle me, my hand jerks and it's FUCKING RUSSIAN ROULETTE on if this will be the time I snap the head off in a knee-jerk streak across my paper and spill ink everywhere.

Just leave me alone and let me have fun making my silly little drawings OR I WILL FUCKING END YOU.

Thank you, that is all.

[highbrow-hepcat]

[leoascendantgirl]

[prettylittlelyres]

Drawing the Sandalwood Girl

An experiment in drawing with my non-dominant hand

In the last few years, I've been having trouble gripping pens and pencils, because the top joints in my fingers are weak. I have Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder, and although physiotherapy has helped with a lot of the resulting joint problems, there's not much I can do to stabilise my fingers. I could wear finger splints, or use pencil grips, or both, but these are quite expensive options. I opt for pens and pencils with thick bodies, because I don't have to pinch them. After work one evening - I work from home because it’s best for me with my changeable health - I decided to sit down and try it.

I did write (type, rather!) a whole 1,500 word essay with my left hand in my first year of university, because I dislocated my right arm 24 hours before the deadline and didn’t know how to ask for help, so I knew it wouldn’t be as hard as that, but… still quite a daunting thought. Picking up the crayon to make the first mark on the page was scarier than I expected it to be; I was quite shocked by how nervous I was.

Knowing I wouldn’t be able to do GCSE-level artwork with my left hand, because I can barely hold a pen with my left, I decided to be kind to myself and do something very simple. I got an old favourite book from my childhood (“The Sandalwood Girl” from the “Puddle Lane” series by Sheila McCullagh, Ladybird edition) and used one of the illustrations as reference.

I have a box easel that gives me a tilted surface to work on when I don’t want to (or can’t) spend an evening hunched over the table, drawing, and I have a big crate of about 150 Crayola wax crayons, plus lots of watercolour paper, which creates the most beautiful relief texture. I set my lamp and my easel up on the floor, got a cushion to support me, and started drawing with my left hand. I found I had to hold the wax crayons so peculiarly (relative to my right-hand habit) and couldn’t put much pressure on the page, but going over my work again and again let me build up the colour with a lot more control than I have in my right hand.

This is what I came up with - about an hour of drawing, I think, although I didn’t time it - and I’m so pleased with it!

My left wrist hurt a bit, but I thoroughly enjoyed this drawing, and I’ll definitely be drawing more with my left hand in future. I’m determined to make more visual artwork, but it’s not always possible with my hypermobility - my right hand takes a beating when I use my walking stick - so maybe this will help me do more of what I love. I also really liked the challenge of drawing with my non-dominant hand.

If you're an artist looking for a new challenge, this is exactly the kind of thing I'd recommend. (With apologies to my dear ambidextrous friends, this may be less of a challenge for you than for others.) I'm really looking forward to trying again!

[emperornorton47]

This is me

[theaftersundown]

*writes two paragraphs after months of literally nothing and it took three hours*

[isahowdy]

this moment from work has lasted in my head for months and i think its finally time to draw it out

[bethfuller]

limited perception.

find me on instagram!

[soul-from-another-era]

[xxdrowninglessonsxx]

crochet aquarium

[highbrow-hepcat]

[sidecast]

i looove the miku trend. nomadic horselord hungarian miku be upon you

[marlowe-art]

still life disaster

[mayakern]

looks exactly the same as when my wife brings me a little treat home from the store