#tried to do a little watercolour doodle to go with this but... i am not an artist

[katyobsesses]

Fearless - for @gleedrabbleblog week 23

Rain pounded against the pavement - thunder rumbling, lightning flashing - and their laughter echoed through the deserted streets, creating music they couldn't help but dance to. The storm had caught them unaware, soaking through Mercedes' best dress, but she didn't care. In that moment - running, dancing, hand in hand with Sam Evans - everything melted away, all worries and fears disappeared. Finally under the cover of her front porch she shook, nerves returning as the rain soaked chill settled into her bones. But then Sam grinned down at her before pulling her in, smile meeting smile, and she felt fearless once more.

based on Fearless by Taylor Swift 💛

[diminuel]

Hello! Your recent Dean art (which I love!) has me wondering this about your art process... Do you have a similar process when you are drawing digital vs traditional media? How similar or different does it feel for you to make art in one medium or another? I wonder this a lot about digital art, as I've never tried it before. And your style is so recognizable in both! I love it a lot! Also, please don't feel pressure to answer this if you are busy or tired, I know you have many things going on right now. Thanks for being a lovely presence on my dash, either way! :)

Hello hello!

Thank you! :D

It has always felt significantly different in a way. Back in the day - when I first made this blog - I still drew all my "elaborate" art by hand and then lined and/ or coloured the artwork digitally. Part of that was that I simply didn't feel all that confident in my digital art skills. I think until about 2010 or 2011 I drew almost exclusively in pencil on printer paper.

Now it has shifted in a way that I think of traditional drawing as "special", probably also because some years back my parents gifted watercolour paints and paper, which aren’t cheap at all. I used to draw enough that they could gift me new paper every birthday, though I have stopped doing it eventually - mostly because I drew watercolour stuff for the advent calendar and it added another layer of pressure - not just to draw well so as not to waste expensive things but also to draw fast, bundled with the frustration of not being able to take good pictures because it was usually dark once I was done and everything looked bad as a consequence X3

I'm trying to think of it as "for fun" now again, though I still do it rarely. Why I don’t draw with pencil on paper anymore (the inexpensive way of drawing!) I’m not sure. I never went to bed without a folder and some printer paper on my knees from teenage years to about my mid twenties. Odd how things change. (The art wasn’t good, but it didn’t have to be, because I wasn’t going to show it to anyone. I feel I put pressure on myself to produce art that could be shown online. If I am concerned with drawing something that is good that means I can’t just doodle bad things for the fun and practice.)

As to the process - it tends to start the same: look for references (though I don't always draw with references. If I'm doing a portrait though I like to have one). The thing with me is that while art can turn out looking good, I'm not particularly skilled at accuracy. I can correct and edit more easily digitally. You can overlay your reference on your art and see exactly where you were off and then fix it. That I don't have a simple undo tool for pencil drawing can at time be frustrating, because you have to erase the whole eye just because you drew it too high up etc.

And then comes lineart... I think there's a lot more tool user error in traditional art than in digital art for me. You can see how messy my art is. I often slip with the liner probably because it can sense my fear. X3 I also get impatient with the watercolour and don’t wait for things to dry, so everything blends together and Dean ends up with green make up around his eyes >w<;;

But it’s still fun and I love being able to survey my creations like a dragon with her hoard of little doodles!

[just-a-poor-boy-queen]

(This is based off the lovely prompt you gave me a while ago, and I decided to incorporate it into the kid!verse. Khaleel is five years old now.)

Part 14 of Jimercury Kid series

Freddie’s hands were shaking as he held the wrapped package in his hand and he cursed himself internally, wishing his nerves would settle long enough for him to just open the door and give Jim his damn present. He had never been this apprehensive about giving someone a gift before; he usually couldn’t wait to surprise his loved ones, to see the absolute delight on their faces when they unwrapped the paper and saw what he had bought them. It was usually something expensive, something unobtainable to them, something grandiose that only someone with his paycheque could afford.

That’s what everyone wanted, right? Big, expensive presents?

Not Jim, apparently.

Jim was a simple man. That’s part of the reason why Freddie had fallen so hard for him, aside from his unmeasurable kindness and rugged good looks, of course. And being a simple man, he preferred the simpler things in life; he appreciated the lavish gifts and parties that Freddie treated him to, of course, but Freddie knew fully well that he could have been a road sweeper and Jim would still be in love with him. That’s the kind of person his husband was.

Which was precisely why Freddie was in the predicament he was in now.

--

He had been trying to figure out what to get Jim for his birthday for weeks, enlisting the help of Phoebe and Mary to scout out all the local department stores in search of the perfect gift. Phoebe found a nice pair of garden shears, which would come in useful, given that Jim’s current ones were old and rusting and Jim was always talking about replacing them. Practical, thought Freddie, but not exactly the most personal of gifts. Mary found a lovely ceramic cat ornament, its features hand painted by the artist; Jim would love it, Freddie knew, but he had already bought him a similar gift years before. In the end, Phoebe and Mary purchased the presents to give Jim themselves and the search continued.

It was their son who ended up inspiring Freddie, though that was hardly surprising because Khaleel was always inspiring him. Freddie had come home from a long day at the studio and found the little boy painting at the kitchen table with Phoebe, old newspapers spread out to make sure he didn’t make a mess. They had been at it for a while, judging by how many paintings there were scattered around; paintings of flowers, and dinosaurs and, of course, every one of the cats with their names scribbled underneath in felt tip.

‘These are lovely, Bijou.’ Freddie beamed, after Phoebe had excused himself to wash the paint off his hands. ‘You’re so talented. We should hang them up in your room.’

Khaleel nodded enthusiastically, adding one final dab of paint to his wonky picture of Garden Lodge before setting it beside the others. ‘Daddy said you paint too, Baba.’

‘Did he now?’

‘Yeah. He showed me a painting of Delilah you did. It was pretty.’

Freddie couldn’t help but roll his eyes fondly. He had thought he’d thrown out the unfinished portrait of his favourite cat, but he should have known Jim had held onto it. ‘Baba doesn’t really have time to paint anymore, darling. I’m too busy with my music.’

Khaleel looked disappointed. He glanced down at his messy fingers and began to fiddle with them. ‘Your painting made Daddy smile so much, Baba. You should do it again. It’s pretty.’

Freddie was at a loss for words. He had always loved art and still found himself doing the odd sketches and doodles now and then; but painting was something he had given up long ago in favour of singing. He simply didn’t have the time or the patience to commit to it. But Khaleel’s words were now engrained in his mind.

‘I’ll think about it, Bijou.’ He said softly, before leaning down to pick the child up. ‘Come on, you’re going to need a nice, warm bubble bath to get all this paint off you.’

He smiled as Khaleel squealed with excitement. (1/2)

It had taken Freddie a while to figure out what exactly he was going to paint. He still had the old brushes and materials Phoebe and Joe had bought him years ago, when he was ill and had temporarily been inspired to try his hand at art again; but as he sat there, staring at the blank canvas in front of him, he realised he had no idea what he intended to make for his husband.

He considered finishing the painting of Delilah but couldn’t summon up the motivation to continue it. He tried doing a landscape of the garden, but after a few attempts on some scrap paper, he gave up and decided to stick to what he knew best – portraits.

It was only when he leaned back in his seat and surveyed the room a moment that his eye fell upon the large photo frame he kept beside his bed; the one of himself, Jim and Khaleel, professionally taken a year before. There was a copy of it hanging up in the lounge, over the fireplace, but Freddie always kept the original right by his bed, so it was the first thing he woke up to every morning. Safe to say, of all the hundreds of photographs that lived in Garden Lodge, this one was by far his favourite. He and his two favourite boys. His perfect family.

Without giving it a second thought, he picked up his brush and began to paint.

------

It had been two long weeks of staying up late and sneaking around to make sure Jim didn’t catch him, but on the eve of his husband’s birthday, Freddie’s portrait was finally complete, and he carefully wrapped it in brown paper in preparation for the party the next day. He was satisfied with the finished product, and yet, he couldn’t help but feel his gut twist with uncertainty as he stored the painting away in a drawer to keep it from prying eyes. He knew there wasn’t a materialistic bone in Jim’s body but… what if he didn’t like the gift? Phoebe and Mary had bought him such lovely things, what if Jim was disappointed when he got to Freddie’s?

Thoughts like that were why Freddie was now standing outside the door to the lounge, trying to gather the courage to go back in. He had excused himself under the guise of getting another bottle of wine and had quickly darted up to the bedroom to collect the package and bring it down. Taking a deep breath, he finally pushed open the door and re-joined the others, who were already sitting down to start opening Jim’s presents.

‘Mary, I love it!’ Jim smiled widely as he examined the ceramic cat, turning it over in his hands before carefully placing it on the coffee table beside the garden shears Phoebe had gifted him. ‘It’s beautiful. Thank you so much.’

Mary smiled back, ‘you’re welcome, Jim.’ And they leaned forward to give each other a kiss on the cheek.

Freddie’s heart fluttered in his chest. Mary hadn’t been very supportive of his relationship with Jim at the start, most likely out of overprotectiveness and jealousy. But once they adopted Khaleel, she finally had to accept that Freddie had found the love of his life and it was time for her to move on. She seemed a much happier person for it. It touched Freddie to see her and Jim gradually becoming good friends.

Finally, it was Freddie’s turn to present his gift. Despite his best efforts, he still couldn’t help shaking slightly as he watched Jim slowly tear off the paper. Maybe this was a mistake. Maybe he should have gotten Jim a new suit. Or a pair of cufflinks. Or-

‘Freddie…’ Jim sounded breathless and when Freddie looked up, he could see the Irishman’s eyes were sparkling with tears. ‘Freddie, did you paint this?’

The singer nodded, his mouth dry. ‘Do… do you like it?’

His answer was Jim leaning over and pressing their mouths together in a passionate kiss. When they pulled away, the tears in Jim’s eyes had spilled down his cheeks. ‘Sweetheart, it’s beautiful. It’s amazing, it’s perfect.’

Jim wasn’t usually one for PDA, but he was so overwhelmed in that moment, he couldn’t stop himself from kissing every inch of Freddie’s face, while their guests admired the gift that had enthralled him. It was a painting of Freddie, Jim and Khaleel, almost an exact copy of the family portrait hanging up above the fireplace except they were surrounded by flowers; yellow freesias, azaleas, and Khaleel’s favourite, Eden roses, all painted in watercolour.

When Khaleel saw it, he almost fell off Phoebe’s lap in excitement. ‘Baba painted me! Baba painted me!’

After the party was over and their friends had gone home, Jim snuck up behind his husband as the singer was placing the canvas on the mantlepiece and wound his arms around his waist. ‘So, this is why you wouldn’t come to bed all those nights? You were working on this?’

Freddie nodded, leaning back into his husband’s embrace. ‘I was going to buy you something, but I know how you always feel guilty when I spoil you. I wanted to give you something personal, that I made with my own two hands. Even if it isn’t perfect…’

He felt Jim kiss his ear, his thick Irish accent murmuring softly, ‘it’s the greatest gift anyone’s ever given me, sweetheart. And the best thing about it is that it came straight from your heart. I love it and I’m going to keep it with me. Always.’ (2/2)

--------------------------------------------------

OMG THIS IS PERFECT😭😭😭 This is the best interpretation of the prompt, MY HEART😭😭

Call me dumb, but whenever I'd think of Freddie doing something for Jim, it'd always be related to music. Until now, I had never considered art as one of the possible ways in which Freddie could've expressed his love for his husband. But this... this is so beautiful, oof.

I genuinely marvel at your ability to convey so many emotions in these short drabbles. You managed to portray Freddie's insecurities, his want to please his husband and do something special, his nervousness and fear so brilliantly. And Jim's reaction was so sweet🥺 This was truly such a special gift for him, and for their family, I am crying😭

Thank you so much for this, anon💙💙

(More drabbles by writer anon)

[solastay]

Color Wheel (Teaser)

(artist! Taehyung x artist! fem reader)

❥pairing: Taehyung x reader

❥genre: college!au, artist!au, fluff smut, crack

❥rating: M

❥summary: Kim Taehyung and you were best friends for over a decade. Between watercolours and tons of acrylic paint, will an art contest and a memorable trip finally reveal what is inside an artist's heart?

Colour wheel: A circular diagram of the spectrum used to show the relationships between the colors.

You dream of many things, many impossible things perhaps.

“Unlikely” is a word that you are fonder of. “I dream of things that are unlikely to happen.”

We are unlikely to happen.

Dreams and fantasies feel similar to a canvas. They trick our minds into a fictional reality, a different world, where everyone is who we want them to be. They make us happy, genuinely happy if we immerse ourselves deep enough. One surrounded by fantasies can almost feel like they are real, feel like they can reach them. In my dreams, everyone has a colour within themselves. Said colours reflect their personality. Some people were green... they are fun to hang out with. Other people were yellow, those always have cookies to share. Others were red, competitive beans.

One of them was blue and gray.

“Admit it (y/n), you can’t live without me".

You truly felt like you couldn’t, but you wouldn’t give him that.

“I’m still not showing you my sketchbook…” you snickered.

“Even if I say, I love you?” he mumbled hugging your pillow and staring at you with big bright eyes.

“You could be an actor, Tae” you replied not batting an eye, used to those same old techniques.

The man frowned, following your every movement while you got off the couch to get a jar of water “What makes you think I am lying!? You hurt me every day (y/n)…”

You knew he was being honest, but Taehyung declared his love to many people. He would say I love you to Yoongi, to Jimin, to Yeontan, to his mother, to you... Those words weren’t said under a vain pretext because he truly cared about the people around him. Although you were sure his love for you was nothing more than a long-term friendship. He was truly someone who loved words of affection, both receiving them and delivering them. His grandma used to call him “little bear” for his sweetness and cuddle addiction, although with his current height, 25-year-old Taehyung was far from being little.

You would describe him as a social butterfly, the type of friend who calls you to ask if you have eaten yet and suggests having lunch together if you haven’t. He is often the one who texts first and the one who wears a smile as often as possible. It becomes annoying how much his smile can brighten up your day. You hated that, the more you tried, you couldn’t ignore that boxy smile. He is just always there.

“How dare you doubt my affection” he dramatically laid down on the couch, taking the space for himself and glancing at your figure upside down.

“You are way too curious for your own good” you replied going back to the kitchen.

“I’m serious, though. I barely see your art… I know it’s personal,” he mumbled the last part while sitting up “but I feel like I am missing a part of you”.

He had a reason to feel that way. As an artist, he understood that the way one expresses themselves through lines and colours was a huge part of their lives. It was no exception to you. Sharing your art is sharing part of you. Your drawings and paintings were the way you perceived not only yourself but the people around you. It is an identity.

“Tae…you know how much I value my privacy. I appreciate you showing me your paintings, but my sketchbook is out of the question”.

It was out of the question because it was filled with sketches of him. Yes, you drew many people. Many people you didn’t even know, just as a practice, meaningless doodles. But Taehyung was one of your favourite models. You realised that when, in the middle of a lecture, you found yourself drawing a random outline, that wasn’t so random after all, it was his profile that you were mindlessly drawing. You found yourself drawing his nose and his smile more times than you wanted to admit. That very moment was one of the first signs that made you realise that you were in love with your best friend.

“So… you let me read your diary back when we were twelve, but I still can’t see your sketches.” he took the jar of water from your hand and wasted no time in dipping his round brush.

“Bingo. The quirks of being an artist.” You give him a wink while making your way back to his side.

“It’s been years and I still fail to understand you.”

You approach him and mess up his recently dyed blue hair “well, one day you might. Maybe when we are both old and adorable grandparents”.

He looks at you endearingly under his dishevelled bangs.

“I hope we are still painting together by then.”

“Do you really believe I would stop sending you classical art memes?”

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

i'm mostly interested from when u started drawing (again)??i think u mentioned in like 2016 or something about the loomis method is how u started drawing faces?? i can't remember much but just from that time to now 🥺 and like talking abt what u did and how u've improved over the years and what you've used and stuff 🥺 if thats alright?

I can def include that in a video!! Thank you for letting me know! Tbh I don’t really focus on art videos much anymore so I might not get to this until I have a speedpaint, so in the meantime if you’re interested:

I did start art in 2016. I wouldn’t really consider my doodles from a child a part of my art journey, but perhaps that’s because I was horrifically insecure about my art as a child (and still am because I never felt like a “real artist” << this imposter syndrome only really fizzled when I moved to university a few months ago). 

I did start drawing faces with the Loomis method. I no longer use this as I sort of know the face well enough to “intuit” where things will go (this is genuinely just because of practice). The Loomis method is my #1 recommendation when it comes to art, specifically if you want to draw portraits. But tbh, any resource that shows you how to break down the proportions of the face is great (people all have their own variations). I didn’t one day decide not to use the method, it just sort of happened after constant sketching practice.

My art didn’t really got “good” until 2018 (aka I think pieces I made then age well now). 

All I did to improve was draw? I didn’t have a routine (some people sketch every day, I just sketched whenever, maybe a few times a month). I don’t draw often anymore (maybe once a month or less), but have retained most of my skills from my years of practice (tho the more practice the better). Something important to note: I strongly believe my improvement happened so quickly because I focused on realism. The moment I started studying the realistic human face rather than stylizing, my art improved exponentially.

In terms of tools, for digital art I’ve always used the same stuff: my Huion H610 Pro tablet and Krita. I now block in big shapes (all my paintings start in black and white) with an “oil” brush (sort of my replacement for the Loomis method) just to get proportions semi down, and then go in and refine each element of the face with an airbrush (right eye first, then the nose, mouth, left eye, and hair etc). I then go in for a final render with that same oil brush, then pull it into Photoshop and use blend modes to colour (the colouring changes for every painting, but I mostly use the colour, multiply and soft light blend modes). Then I’ll edit the painting with adjustment curves (if necessary) and retouch in colour (if necessary).

For traditional, I’ve always used a Canson XL mixed media sketchbook (the little blue one). Even though I mostly only use pencil, this sketchbook is like, always on sale, so I always just get it lol. I draw mostly in mechanical pencil, sometimes in colerase pencils. I’ve recently gotten into gouache (I have the cheap reeves set), and would love to do more watercolour despite not being great at it lol. I don’t really have a “medium” per se. I kinda play around with everything.

Here’s a photo breakdown for reference!

On the left = my very first sketches using the Loomis method. On the right = my very first digital drawing. Not much improvement for a year, I wasn’t really consistently doing much/trying out realism.

Left: I take on the challenge to draw like 15 characters for my sister in a month lol (this really got me comfortable with the digital medium). Tried out a more painterly style than the above of Roosevelt. Middle: Experimenting with values/colour. Right: Getting comfortable in my new digital style. My style looked like this for a few months.

Left: getting better at rendering/detail. Right: comfortable with rendering in a more realistic way.

Left: Really getting the hang of realistic rendering (re: the eye/eyebrow/cross). Right: ooooh, rendering is really getting better! Almost at my current style (this painting is just a bit softer).

Left: I find a new process for painting (no sketch, more shapes). Middle + right = where I’m at right now! (There’s a longer gap between 2018 + 2019 because I didn’t do as much digital art.)

Hope that helps until the video! :)

--Rachel

[amarynceus]

State of the Artist - September 2019

Hello all.  It’s been a while since I did one of these.

Sorry for the lapse in communication; BronyCon drained me more than I realised, on top of fighting the general burnout and anxiety and minor depressive episodes I’ve had for some time.  I’m just coming out of one that ate the last week and a half or so (I managed to destroy a client's watercolour painting right as it was on the verge of completion) and am trying to get back on track.  I haven’t had energy for being online or interacting with people; about the only site I’ve been active on is Twitter, and only sporadically.  My apologies to those who have sent me messages lately; chances are I haven’t even seen them yet.  I’ll do my best to catch up on correspondence as soon as I can.

Now, a few items.

BronyCon Commissions

First of all, if you commissioned me at BronyCon but haven’t yet sent me your mailing address, please do so! I still have no place to send a half dozen or so of these commissions, and no way of contacting anyone.  If you’ve lost the business card I gave you when you commissioned me, please email me at amarynceus78@gmail.com with your mailing address and a brief description of what you commissioned so I can match it with my notes from the convention.

My apologies for the delays on these.  I took too many (3 dozen!) and severely underestimated the time it would take me to complete them all, and am still only halfway through the list.  I’ve also had multiple interruptions and delays that have severely damaged my creative output for the last several weeks.  I’m back at work now, though, and will complete and send out commissions as soon as possible.  I still have 17 traditional comms to complete from BC, including all the inks and colours.  Thank you all for your patience.  A dozen or so have been mailed out, and I plan to have the rest of them completed within the next two weeks.

(I know that’s what I said a month ago when I took the commissions in the first place!  Con crud and general exhaustion took a greater toll than anticipated, quite apart from other life interruptions.)

BronyCon in Retrospect

BronyCon was quite the experience.  Way too many people for me, but it was really great to see so many wonderful horse people, and to see so many of my beautiful trans siblings out and proud. <3  I wish I had had more energy to do and see things outside of the vendor’s hall, but four days of vending took basically all of my energy. It was amazing to get to hang out with so many friends I've made online; that was by far the best part.  I didn't get to spend near enough time with any of you, but I'm thankful for the time I had.

Thanks again to all those who dropped by my booth at BronyCon to say hi or to buy my art.  It was quite the experience, and great to meet many fans in person.

That said, it was extremely exhausting. 11,000 people was a bit much for me, especially having only done one convention before.  I'm glad all the conventions I'm thinking of applying to vend at next year are much smaller affairs.

Patreon Paused

My Patreon continues to be on hiatus until I’ve caught up more on my past-due rewards.  It will be paused through October and possibly November.  Please note that I have ‘Charge Up Front’ enabled, so I’d suggest those interested in supporting my Patreon campaign sign on at the $1 tier for now, even if you’re eyeing a higher tier.

If you want to donate to support me during the hiatus, my PayPal is via avatarzbrown@gmail.com.

General Commission Notes

I am very close to completing my current queue of in-progress works.  Once I do so, I’ll be going on holiday to recharge.  I’ve been running on empty for far too long.  

I’ll be taking on new commissions once I’m completely caught up on the art I owe people, and not before.

Burnout and Depression

As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been struggling with these.  This year has been difficult for me; I’ve been struggling with a lot of health issues, physical and mental, and it’s been extremely difficult to get any artwork done, either for others or myself.  Indeed, I’ve hardly been drawing for myself at all since the end of the 1000 Days of Doodles.  When I can manage to force myself to be productive, I’m compelled to work on my long-overdue commissions; I feel too guilty and anxious to work on my own projects most of the time.  This is most likely only further contributing to my general malaise with art.

I had a lot of plans and ambitions for this year.  By this point I was supposed to have created an artbook of the 1000 Days of Doodles project, be four months past the launch my long-delayed comic, caught up with all my patron rewards and gift art, completed all my commissions, and have finished two dozen more paintings that have been bubbling around for a while.  

I have managed to do exactly zero of these things, and I’m not at all happy about it.  After completing almost 550 individual artworks in 2018, I expected, once I had rested and recovered, to be able to turn that kind of energy and productivity on other things.  That has not happened, and it has been disheartening and disappointing, to say the least.  I’ve basically been feeling like a total failure and imposter, flawed and fake and worthless. (I know this isn’t true.)

Of course, one problem is that I never rested and recovered.  I gave myself a little time at the start of the year, but I tried to force myself back to work too soon, and have been paying the price ever since.  I kept telling myself, 'I’m just a bit tired, another week and I’ll feel fine,' week after week after week - it’s only lately that I’ve had to admit that I’ve actually been fighting burnout.  If I had taken an extra month at the beginning of the year, perhaps I could have averted this; that’s just idle speculation, though.

Anyway, I could go on and on, but I have to deal with things the way they are.  I’ll keep chipping away at the work and dig myself out of this hole.  Thank you for your patience.  I'll get everything done as soon as I can.

Cheers and take care of yourselves.  Burnout stinks.

- AZ / Amar

Again, if you haven’t sent me your mailing address for your BronyCon commission, please send it and a description of your piece to amarynceus78@gmail.com.

[picturebookmakers]

Axel Scheffler

In this post, Axel takes us on a journey through his art studio and career. As well as sharing wonderful development work from some of his much-loved picturebooks, he shows us unseen sketchbook pages, early illustration commissions, etchings he made as a student, and his recent work to educate children about the coronavirus.

Visit Axel Scheffler’s website

Axel: I’m not really sure how many books I’ve illustrated in the 30+ years that I’ve been working. Over 150. I mostly work for the UK market, but occasionally I do books with German publishers. Not picturebooks though, so nothing that collides with the co-edition market.

Each of the boxes you see here contains one of my books: the sketches, illustrations, dummies, alternate versions of covers, everything.

I organised these boxes with Liz, my assistant, to have all the main books there so we can find things for exhibitions. There’s still lots of drawings in these boxes which aren’t sorted yet. Liz is such a great help, but it’s very difficult for me to keep on top of everything. I think I would probably need two Lizes, or perhaps three.

So yes, I don’t really know where to begin... I’ve got endless sketchbooks and little drawings on paper. I’ve got some really old sketchbooks I could show you.

Shall we start with The Gruffalo?

My early sketches of the Gruffalo were thought by my editor to be too scary for small children. So I had to make him a bit rounder and more ‘cuddly’. Initially, I‘d also thought that all the animals would be wearing clothes, as they often do in picturebooks. But Julia had different ideas, and to be honest I was relieved. How would I have dressed the snake?

Here’s some spreads from the dummy...

I tried a lot of alternate covers for this book; I think there were twelve in total. There’s some where the Gruffalo doesn’t even feature on the cover.

My latest book with Julia is called ‘The Smeds and The Smoos’. It was quite nice to work on because it’s so different from the other books we’ve done together. The text is a bit like a mixture between Dr Seuss and Lewis Carol; it has this nonsense element. But it’s basically Romeo and Juliet in outer space.

It’s an alien story, so I didn’t have to draw any rabbits or squirrels for a change, and I could invent more. I had more freedom. But like always, I got bored with drawing the same characters over and over again. But that’s picturebooks.

There was quite a lot of development work in the case of this book. But when it’s a story about a fox or a squirrel, I don’t do this kind of stuff. Over the years, it’s become much quicker and easier working on my books. I do far less research than I used to. Now I generally just do a quick pencil sketch then go straight to artwork.

Sometimes I have to start again because things go wrong though. This was a finished piece that was abandoned. I think I suddenly thought that the rocket was far too big or something. I do that; I work on something for ages, and then I suddenly look at it from a distance and realise that something needs redoing.

Did you spot the little Gruffalo in this picture? Since ‘The Snail and the Whale’, I’ve hidden a Gruffalo in each of my books with Julia (not ‘The Ugly Five’ though).

For almost all of the books Julia and I have done together, our editor has been Alison Green. We’re an old established team. And I’ve always worked with the publisher Kate Wilson; I followed her from Macmillan to Scholastic, and then to Nosy Crow. Julia moved from Macmillan to Scholastic, and decided to stay there. So Julia and I have some of our joint titles with Macmillan and some with Scholastic. Julia does books with other illustrators for Macmillan, and I illustrate other books for Nosy Crow.

People often ask me which of the books I’ve done with Julia is my favourite. It’s quite hard to choose, but I enjoyed working on ‘The Smartest Giant in Town’. I liked the way I could do a crazy world with animals, giants, fairytale characters, everything mixed together without anyone caring or questioning it. I’ll show you a few things from the box...

For this book, the cover was changed at the last minute. The original design had the title written on a poster stuck on a brick wall, but the sales people said they wanted a landscape, so I did another one. Years later, they used the original design for a new paperback edition, so it wasn’t completely wasted in the end.

I mentioned my endless sketchbooks earlier. I’ll show you a few of them. This was mainly me playing around without thinking about what I was doing; it wasn’t a conscious thing.

I haven’t looked at these sketchbooks for ages. It was such a long time ago. I don’t work in sketchbooks like this anymore, and I no longer doodle. But for fun, I make illustrated envelopes for friends.

I often think about doing a book with just pictures, but I’m always too busy doing other things. Posthumously, perhaps there will be time to do this. I’d also love to experiment and be more spontaneous; it’s been my dream for decades to do something completely different. But when I receive a book project, I always feel under pressure to finish it, and I’m always late with everything, so I end up doing it the way I’ve always done it.

This is my drawing table, which is and always has been too small and too messy. I think I have to accept it will always be this way.

I use Saunders Waterford paper for my illustrations. It’s funny how we all have our special paper. My rough sketches are often quite small, so I have them blown up to the correct size. Then I trace the sketches on a lightbox onto my watercolour paper. After that, I draw the outlines in black ink with a dip pen. I colour everything with Ecoline inks using brushes, and then coloured pencils on top of it (I use Faber Polychromos and Prismacolour crayons). I might then need to redraw some of the black lines, or use some white gouache for highlights.

I studied History of Art in Hamburg, but left before graduating. I realised this wasn’t what I was good at; I’m not an academic.

Then I had to do my alternative service as conscientious objector. Sixteen months. There was still conscription then; that’s how old I am. I worked with mentally ill people in their homes. It was during this time that I had a friend studying ceramics at Bath Academy of Art in England. I went to visit her. I really didn’t know what else to do, so I thought maybe I could move to Bath and go to the art school. So this is what I did. The course was Visual Communications, so it was design, printmaking, photography, all that stuff. But I realised I only wanted to do illustration.

I’d gone to art college hoping to learn something. I don’t think that necessarily happened, but drawing intensively for three years was, I think, what I had needed to do. I don’t remember actually finishing any projects though.

Here’s some drawings from my student sketchbooks. I did lots of observational drawing back then, which I don’t anymore. I did it then because they told us to. I’m an obedient person!

While I was a student, I did an exchange in New York: Cooper Union Art College for three months. These drawings are of Jewish immigrants, meeting for coffee. It was 1984, so many of them were still alive; refugees from Germany or Austria. I heard them speaking German, so that’s how I knew.

Sketchbooks are such a good way of memorising things. Nobody really knows about these sketchbooks; I used to take them to interviews, but they’ve been hidden away for years.

After I graduated, I moved to London and took my portfolio around. My art teacher had suggested I should do this to get work, so that’s what I did. In those days, you had to ring them and ask to come around. I got two commissions straight away, and it’s been busy ever since, really. I’ve always had something to do.

Here’s some of my early commissions. Starting from 1985, I guess. Very pointy noses...

I did so much of this kind of work. It was a good way of earning money quickly. Occasionally, I still do editorial. I did some Brexit drawings for the remain campaign. Sadly, it didn’t help. Maybe I wrecked everything!

I’ll say a few words about the KIND book... 38 wonderful artists donated a picture to illustrate some of the many ways children can be kind. Such as sharing their toys or helping people from other countries to feel welcome.

One pound from each book sold goes to the Three Peas charity, which supports refugees from war-torn countries. It’s been a big success so far, and Three Peas has received a lot of money from sales in the UK and co-editions.

I’d quite like to do the UNKIND book next! I think illustrators would probably enjoy that, but I don’t imagine it would sell very well.

And now for something completely different! Some etchings I made when I was a student.

People often ask me which illustrators I’m inspired by. I don’t seek any direct influence on my work, but I’ve always said that Tomi Ungerer had the greatest influence on my approach to illustration. Although his style is quite different to mine, this humour and wackiness is something that has always appealed to me. And the details.

William Steig is someone I got into later, when I was already illustrating. And Edward Gorey of course. And Saul Steinberg. I think the Czech artist Jiří Šalamoun is wonderful. And I like Eva Lindström from Sweden a lot. She’s so great.

Okay, to finish with I’ll talk about the coronavirus work I’ve been doing...

I asked myself what I could do as a children’s illustrator to inform, as well as entertain, my readers here and abroad about the coronavirus. So I was glad when Nosy Crow asked me to illustrate a book on the subject. I think it’s extremely important for children and families to have access to reliable information in this unprecedented crisis.

You can download the free digital book in English here, and in over 60 other languages here.

I also wanted to do something light-hearted to cheer people up, and I thought, “What if I imagine some of our characters in corona situations?” Julia liked the idea and wrote rhymes for the new scenes. This was really more about entertainment than serious information.

Artwork and verse © Axel Scheffler and Julia Donaldson 2020. Based on characters from ‘The Gruffalo’s Child’ (2004), ‘Charlie Cook’s Favourite Book’ (2005), ‘The Smartest Giant in Town’ (2002), and ‘The Gruffalo’ (1999) — © Macmillan Children’s Books.

And here’s one more thing: my ‘letter from lockdown’. On The Children’s Bookshow website, you’ll find lockdown letters from lots of other wonderful authors and illustrators.

Illustrations © Axel Scheffler. Post edited by dPICTUS.

Buy this picturebook

The Gruffalo

Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler

Macmillan Children’s Books, UK, 1999

‘A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark wood. A fox saw the mouse and the mouse looked good.’

Walk further into the deep dark wood, and discover what happens when a quick-witted mouse comes face to face with an owl, a snake... and a hungry Gruffalo!

‘The Gruffalo’ has become a bestselling phenomenon across the world. This award-winning rhyming story of a mouse and a monster is now a modern classic, and will enchant children for years to come.

PUBLISHED IN THE FOLLOWING LANGUAGES & DIALECTS

Afrikaans

Albanian

Arabic

Australian

Azerbaijani

Basque

Belarusian

Bengali

Breton

Bulgaria

Catalan

Chinese (Simplified)

Chinese (Traditional)

Corsu

Croatian

Czech

Danish

Doric

Dundonian

Dutch

English

Esperanto

Estonian

Faroese

Farsi

Finnish

French

Frisian

Gaelic

Galician

Georgian

German

Glasgow Scots

Greek

Guernésiais

Hebrew

Hindi

Hungarian

Iceland

Indonesian

Irish

Italian

Jèrriais

Kazakh

Kölsch

Korean

Latin

Latvian

Lithuanian

Low German

Lowland Scots

Luxembourgish

Macedonian

Maltese

Manx Gaelic

Maori

Marathi

Mexican Spanish

Mongolian

Norwegian

Orcadian Scots

Polish

Portuguese

Portuguese (Brazil)

Romanian

Russian

Sami

Schwabisch

Serbian

Sesotho

Setswana

Shetland Scots

Slovakian

Slovenian

Spanish

Swedish

Swiss German

Tamil

Thai

Turkish

Ukrainian

US English

Vietnamese

Welsh

Xhosa

Zulu

Buy this picturebook

The Smeds and The Smoos

Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler

Alison Green Books, UK, 2019

The Smeds (who are red) never mix with the Smoos (who are blue). So when a young Smed and Smoo fall in love, their families disapprove.

But peace is restored and love conquers all in this happiest of love stories. There’s even a gorgeous purple baby to celebrate!

PUBLISHED IN THE FOLLOWING LANGUAGES

Afrikaans

Catalan

Croatian

Dutch

English

Finnish

French

German

Hebrew

Hungarian

Italian

Korean

Luxenbourghish

Polish

Russian

Slovenian

Spanish

Swedish

Turkish

Ukrainian

Buy this picturebook

Kind

Alison Green, Axel Scheffler & 38 illustrators

Alison Green Books, UK, 2019

Imagine a world where everyone is kind; how can we make that come true? With gorgeous pictures by a host of top illustrators, KIND is a timely, inspiring picturebook about the many ways children can be kind, from sharing their toys and games, to helping those from other countries feel welcome.

One pound from the sale of each printed copy will go to the Three Peas charity, which gives vital help to refugees from war-torn countries.

PUBLISHED IN THE FOLLOWING LANGUAGES

Bulgarian

Catalan

Chinese (Simplified)

Chinese (Traditional)

English

French

German

Greek

Hebrew

Italian

Korean

Netherlands

Portuguese (Brazil)

Romanian

Spanish

Swedish

Turkish

Vietnamese

[maiji]

Art year in review. I tried to pick based on how much I like the final image result, but also if there was anything particularly personal, memorable or just somehow of note in the process of creating it. 

Click the post source to read more thoughts on the humangray blog ^^

JANUARY: #meettheartist meme. I was doodling with @atorier​ in a cafe and we were eating and chatting and making a mess. I remember I had to actually open my bag(s) and look at all the random things I had inside it. It’s kind of eye-opening to stop and document something even when it’s always with you! 

FEBRUARY: standby // me. One of the first illustrations of Emmie and Morio together, and a serious one for once. I wasn’t entirely comfortable with drawing Morio yet, but I like how the pencil crayon colours layered on Emmie’s hair.

MARCH: German language pack. @onetruetea started translating Now Recharging into German at @wird-geladen which I still find so wonderful and amazing *___*

APRIL and MAY: Through My Mind II and III. Two of a set of three ink and watercolour pieces. It’d been a long time since I did any polished standalone illustrations that were unrelated to Now Recharging or YYH, and I wanted to do a series of pieces that offered three angles on inner thought/experience/meditation. One of my friends pointed out afterwards that the set did kind of look like Emmie, Morio and Mrs. G, which made me laugh. It’s true but was totally not intended...

JUNE: First Meeting, the fancomic that then exploded into a ton of pages and turned into the North Bound Hokushin prequel comics. A ton of time has been sunk into this out-of-control thing lmao. Action is hard for me to write and to draw, so it’s been good practice. I like this page because it transitions from a dark “under the cover of night” mood into sudden action. I remember also being pretty happy with how Hokushin’s face and his mouth turned out, where he stops feeding and starts up and swings around to confront the intruder. Er, it’s more gory than what I normally draw but you can’t tell much anyways since it’s all messy pencil...

JULY: Name, the second North Bound comic. I was particularly happy with this sequence where Hokushin is washing his face and then pulling his hair up to tie the bandages around his neck. I think about “everyday” motions a lot, and am a little obsessed with rendering ordinary and mundane actions and trying to integrate these kinds of sequences smoothly. 

AUGUST: The Demon Generals. Drawing with the glass dip pen was fun! I thought this illustration had a decent balance of the sketchy art style+waterbrush/bleeding ink effect.

SEPTEMBER: Now Recharging Chapter 2 page 105. It’s hard to include NR pages because they’re sometimes not drawn in the same month that they actually go up on the site (I try to stay a few pages ahead of the posting schedule). This one was completed at the beginning of the month and went up closer to mid-month. It’s a page I was really looking forward to.

OCTOBER: Lenormand - The Mountain. October was a bit insane for choice thanks to Inktober. It’s pretty simple compared to most of the other Lenormand cards, but The Mountain stood out for me because there was a specific effect I was trying to go for, and I was kind of nervous about it just before I put pen to paper.

NOVEMBER: Hokokuji bamboo forest from the teahouse. This whole day was one of my favourite outings.

DECEMBER: Light and its limitations. As mentioned in the description on the image, this drawing was inspired by a statue I saw in Kitain. I really wanted to convey a feeling that was both vulnerable and warm. Not sure if I was successful but I do like how it turned out.

[isalissa]

Chill Out (isalissa one-shot)

My friend @noddytheornithopod wrote me the cutest isalissa oneshot for my birthday and I couldnt be more happy and blessed ♥♥♥ And he let me post it here! Read it and go shower him with love! I specially loved the portrayal of the girls and their relationship, is pretty much how I imagine them,,,, anyway, story under the cut! :3c

Isabella woke up in her bed, and reached for her girlfriend sleeping next to her. There was just one problem – she wasn’t there.

   ‘Melissa?’ Isabella said. ‘Melissa, where are you? You know how much I hate it when you’re not in the bed for morning snuggles.’

Isabella heard some muttering coming from outside their bedroom, and saw Melissa walk into the bedroom with a tray. It had what seemed to be a breakfast for the both of them. There was coffee, omelettes and French toast for the both of them.

   Isabella gave Melissa a quizzical smile. ‘Melissa, what’cha doin’? For real?’

   ‘Breakfast in bed, for the best girlfriend in the world of course,’ Melissa said.

   Isabella sat up. ‘No, really, you didn’t have to do this. I really appreciate it, but really, I could’ve just made us something again.’

     ‘I’m not letting you do all the work around here, sweetie, you deserve a rest. Also, I’ve gotta put this down now, I can’t hold it for much longer.’

Melissa gave Isabella the tray and put it on her lap, and then moved into bed beside her. They both started eating, though Melissa gave all of her attention to Isabella and how she was reacting.

   Isabella turned to Melissa. ‘Melissa… you told me you were terrible at cooking. This is great!’

   Melissa gave a sheepish smile and giggled. ‘Well, I thought I was, but I really wanted to do this for you. You seem to really like it, so thanks.’

   ‘I love it, really. Thank you so much.’

Melissa put on a jacket as she gathered her belongings together, now all she needed was Isabella. She looked around the house, but caught her in their study room, with her hard at work sketching and drawing things in a visual diary.

   ‘Isabella?’ Melissa said.

   Isabella turned around. ‘Oh hey, Melissa. Come to watch me work?’

   ‘Well actually, I was going to suggest we go out for the day, have some free time just for us.’

   ‘You gave me breakfast in bed and now you want me to have a date with you. Is everything alright?’

   Melissa sighed. ‘Look, I’m just worried you’re overworking yourself. You insist on doing everything, and you still do so much of your own stuff too. I appreciate how hard you work for everything, but don’t you ever want to chill out?’

   ‘Look, just because I have college, work at the café, cook everything for us, do RA, am part of student government, do sports, volunteer to supervise Fireside Girl activities and sometimes babysit Candace’s daughter, it doesn’t mean I’ve got too much stuff on my plate.’

   Melissa smirked. ‘Sure.’

   Isabella grumbled. ‘Okay fine, I do get exhausted from it all. I just want to do so much, but there’s so little time for it all.’

   Melissa walked to Isabella and pulled her up. ‘Look, I’m not saying this isn’t admirable about you, but I can tell you get overworked. If you want me to help out with even a few of these things just tell me.’

   Isabella leaned onto Melissa’s chest and embraced her. ‘But you never seemed interested in all of that. You just want to do your journalism course and have fun the rest of the time.’

   ‘Well, you never really asked, it seems like we just kind of assumed that you’d do everything around here. I do want to help you though, anything to get my girl some more free time.’

   Isabella chuckled. ‘So, what do you want to do for this day out?’

   ‘I was thinking something like go see a movie, have lunch, hang out at the park, that kind of thing.’

   ‘Sounds good to me.’

Isabella and Melissa returned home with some pizzas, after having that day out.

   ‘I’m still not over that twist in Space Witches II, Aly and Lily’s love being necessary to defeat the mermaid queen by their relationship unlocking special powers? So awesome,’ Isabella said.

   Melissa smiled. ‘I know, right? I really should’ve shown you the previous film sooner.’

They both enjoyed their pizza for a while, until Melissa got out some ice-cream. Isabella finished her pizza and looked up at Melissa.

   ‘Give me a moment, I need to do something,’ Isabella said.

   ‘Isabella, really? This is your day to chill out, you don’t need to-’

   ‘No, really, this is extra important. You won’t regret this.’

As Isabella walked off, Melissa sat on the couch and waited for her girlfriend to return. She tried to keep herself calm, but she wriggled and fidgeted as she anticipated Isabella. She watched the time and noticed ten minutes had gone by, which got a groan out of Melissa.

   Isabella returned, but was carrying her visual diary. ‘Sorry for making you wait like that, I just needed to touch up some things.’

   ‘Okay, what were you even doing back there? And why do you- oh, is there something you need my opinions on?’

   Isabella tore out a page from her visual diary. ‘No, Melissa. This is for you.’

Melissa looked at the piece of paper handed to her. It was a bunch of doodles on the top half of the page, showing Isabella and Melissa drawn in various ways, from animals like ponies, cats and dogs to simple everyday life. The bottom half was a watercolour painting of Isabella and Melissa dancing and wearing formal dresses, with a vague background to contrast with the two of them at the front.

   Melissa looked up at Isabella. ‘Wait, is this for me?’

   ‘Yes, yes it is.’

   ‘I love it. All of it. But why?’

   Isabella smiled. ‘Because I love you. That’s all there is to it.’

Melissa put the art on a table and kissed Isabella. Isabella put her visual diary away as Melissa wrapped her arms around her, returning the kiss. When they broke away from each other, the both of them had their eyes lowered and were smiling.

   ‘Thank you so much. I love you too,’ Melissa said.

   ‘Can we cuddle now?’ Isabella said.

The two lied down on their couch and cuddled each other, talking little but looking into each other’s eyes. There was the occasional kiss and scoop of ice-cream, but the other in her arms was all either of them needed right now.

[applegelstore]

Hello, hope you don't mind me asking (and I apologize if you've gotten this question before), but who/what are some of your art inspirations or artists who you feel have influenced you? I like your art style and am curious to know. Thanks!

Hello dear anon! Don’t worry, if anybody asked me this before, then not on tumblr and nowhere where other curious people like you could actually find the answer. Sooo!

I vaguely remember actually trying to imitate some artists’ styles that I liked when I was a teenager; sometimes I still do that “for science” and because it’s a great exercise (reminds that there were several style memes going around a few years ago and at some point I should really, really try that again!), but otherwise I’m fine just letting my style do what it wants. In general I love it if people can‘t place it and thinks it’s somehow unique, though!

I’m sure, however, that some people influenced me simply because I like what they do and tried similar things at some point in my life. I very much remember adoring Mokona Apapa’s work with CLAMP back in my early teen years (which led to buying copics, but I NEVER got the hang of those!). I also remember trying to copy Tetsuya Nomura’s style a few years later.

I should probably also mention my dear friend Jenny Dolfen. Our styles (especially colouring) are pretty similar in some ways, which is funny because that already started before we knew each other, and before we met each other in real life (we did a few times now). Ever since we only seemed to move in similar directions. Guess I borrowed one or the other watercolouring technique from her.

By now, my favourite artists are tons of people I follow on deviantART and here on tumblr, as well as big names like Alan Lee, Ingo Römling, Jef Bertels, Hideo Minaba and Nobuteru Yuki, after all these years.

If all of this was way too much text for you, here’s a little summary…

Thanks for your sweet question! I hope it helps!

…It reminds me that I haven’t done any elaborate artwork for myself in ages. I simply flooded this blog with silly doodles. But hey. I do enjoy it. I’ll keep doing it because the doodle ideas keep coming. At least I’ve got a muse again? :P

[my-job-is-to-fangirl]

Hello its part one of two stationery posts!! I am going to share all the stationery I have, like Amanda Rach Lee does on youtube, I will do it here. Safely. Without my face showing. :))) Its literally a list of pens and other writing instruments that I have with pictures. I’m saying it again, I’m not great at taking pictures but I tried.

~ I have no idea where I got these, they are at least six years old and I haven’t used them in forever, but they are SO good.

~ Camlin Brush pens. They’re quite nice, but I feel like the nibs are way too flexible and I can’t letter properly with them :// But the colours are nice.

~ Staedtler metallic markers. Loveeee these. My aunt got me these from Melbourne (a recurring theme, as you will see). The first one is supposed to be gold, but the glitter’s all gone for some reason ._. They write so well on black though, and the last one, you can see a light outline, its white and takes a few seconds to show up so its like a magic marker its cool.

~ The infamous Staedtlers. These are the Triplus Fineliners and they are worth the price, honestly. They’re ridiculously expensive, but the quality is brilliant. They rarely bleed through and the colours are so bright and oh they’re so pretty. I inserted a close up for the colours. The pinks and blues are my favourites.

~ My aunt got me these again. The colours are the usual, but the packaging I loooove. I feel like they’re a little bit muted in comparison to the usual highlighters we get, which I appreciate.

~ Again, I have no clue where I got these, but they are Giotto Turbo Double markers. They’re not bad, but as you can see, some of the colours dried up. The thin sides are okay, mostly, the thick ones are slightly meh.

~ Sharpieeees. I absolutely love them, but I can’t use them in books, so sometimes I wonder how useful they really are…. but its okay, I use them on cards, or labels.

~ Crayola SuperTips!! I got these because of Amanda Rach Lee, she always raves about them. Now these are all I use in my bullet journal. My only problem with them is the fact that the nib….splits? I don’t know how to say it, but the tip almost like folds over and breaks so then I have two lines instead of one, you know? (might just be my aggression) Otherwise, they’re great.

~ My aunt got these too….hi. No idea what brand they are, but MAN they’re amazing. Damn it, you can’t see how glittery they are but they’re so shiny and nice. Going to be using these a lot.

~ Staedtler Luna pencils. I had to buy these for an exam, because they wouldn’t accept any other brand of pencils. I cribbed so much because of the price, but oh, so good. They’re watercolour pencils, so for a long time, I barely used paints because I had these. They blend so well and you wouldn’t be able to tell they were pencils.

~ Koi Water Colours. I made my dad bring these from America because they weren’t available here. These shades are beautiful, especially the pinks and blues, they’re so vibrant. They’re very pigmented, and a little bit goes a long way.

~ From aunt. These are the Pentel EnerGel pens, so smooth.

~ Possibly my favourite pens ever? They write so well, don’t bleed, and come in so many different nib sizes. I think the 0.2 and 0.4 are the ones I use the most, 0.2 for general writing in small font, and 0.4 for headings because its thicker.

~ Now these are all the brush pens I own. The Tombow Fudenosuke (bought because of Amanda Rach Lee) have become the ones I use pretty much every single day. The hard tip one is the best because it has a plastic nib and therefore, will never break. The soft tip is handy to colour things in, a little difficult to write with. The Pentel brush pen is also so so good, it is jet black and somehow has this tip that never bends and is so thin, I don’t know how (sorcery). The ones on the right are all Bianyo Metallic Brush Pens. Again, quite expensive, but worth it.

This is what they look like on black. (doodles courtesy- Deep and I) They’re SO GOOD.

~ Lastly, these are what I use in my bullet journal. The black pens, I rotate and use whatever I pick up from the pouch. The XimiVogue one is my current favourite, mostly because its a bunny hehe. The white posca pen is BRILLIANT. It writes on everything, and is a paint marker, so it never fades, at least in my experience so far it hasn’t.

That’s all :p I’m now thinking this was a useless post and looks like I’m flexing, I’m not I swear. I just love stationery so much. Yes, I hoard, but I use almost everything.

  My stationery collection! (Part 1: Pens) Hello its part one of two stationery posts!! I am going to share all the stationery I have, like Amanda Rach Lee does on youtube, I will do it here.

[doodlewash]

Hello, everyone! I am Supriti Chauhan from India. I am the artist behind the nom de plume – ‘Laburnum Soul’. I hail from the beautiful North Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, currently based at Noida, India. I am an Educator by profession and art is my getaway, it takes me away from the daily race of life, helps me de-stress, heal and feel rejuvenated every single morning, brimming with new ideas not only at my workplace but also in all of my creative endeavors!

I have a very vivid memory of playing with Laburnum flowers as a 4-year-old and that love story continues to date! Every year, I wait for the Laburnum trees to come alive with its brilliant yellow flowers. Happiness is watching the golden chains unfurl all around. I paint or take photographs of these beautiful flowers every year around the same time, the Indian Summer… many times over in different versions as long as the season lasts. I haven’t broken this annual tradition to date. A flowering tree that I imagine my soul to be…that’s my spiritual connect with this beautiful flowering tree, hence the name – Laburnum Soul. ​​

Having spent most of my growing up years in the mountains and the countryside, I grew up with a very strong connection towards nature. I have experienced nature in all its glory as I have experienced it in all its rage and fury. I was taught to respect nature in all its forms right from my formative years. My parents always encouraged outdoor activities, gardening, trekking, camping and taking care of the farm animals.

My preferred playthings were mostly flowers, twigs, stones, pebbles, seedpods, shells, feathers, and anything that I could gather from our walks. If I wasn’t gathering, I was drawing them or painting on them! Cut to the present, my husband and our two grown up children (adults!) are even more outdoorsy. We love traveling, trekking, and exploring on foot. We prefer staying in a forest lodge/campsite rather than in a luxury hotel in any city. I continue to gather all of nature’s treasures. I call them my collectibles, my memorabilia of the places travelled to. I use them as my subjects for paintings.

I should have been in a creative field, instead God had other plans. Life took its own twists and turns in the years in between, best laid plans had to be shelved, clearly, life happened. I became an Educator and got busy doing things that had higher priority, everything else took a backseat. I didn’t paint for years except for my annual tradition with the Laburnums until I picked up the brush last year. I don’t remember why or how it was triggered, I just had this strong desire to paint and I haven’t stopped since April 2019. I have painted every single day. By the time this post is published I would have successfully completed the #100daychallenge of painting every day (and more) and would not have missed a single day of painting for World Watercolor Month (July)!

I strongly believe nature has the power to heal and transform you, only if you let it. One has to embrace it the way it is and that’s when the magic begins to unravel – of the restorative and spiritual realm of a world within you, in sync with nature. The only other thing that comes close to this power of transformation is art. Now imagine what these two things together can do for you.

My art reflects my deep love for nature. I have created my own little Plein Air Studio – My Garden, a little plant world – here at home, right in the middle of bustling city environs. My passion for gardening inspires me to paint and document every little thing in my garden- the flowers, foliage, fruits, vegetables, little visitors- bees, beetles, bugs, butterflies! And my paintings encourage me to add more to my garden… I find the relationship between my art and gardening symbiotic.

Although I have dabbled in all mediums, however since last year I have deviated more towards watercolor explorations and the reason could be that it allows me to paint anywhere, anytime with the least bit of a hassle of setting up anything. There’s a little art pack in my handbag that travels with me everywhere, you never know when inspiration may strike!

I will let you in on a secret, I am a big-time art supplies and paper hoarder. Even in the years I wasn’t painting, I was collecting art supplies. If one saw my collection over the years, I dread Mary Kondo-ers (totally respect them and in awe of them) would bury me deep under the ground! But can’t help- it’s my Spark-joy! Having tried pretty good number of different watercolor Brands, I seem to have developed an extra bit of fondness for Artphilosophy, Mijello Mission Gold, White Nights, Winsor & Newton, Sennelier, and M Graham (Is that too many?! Too bad!  My go-to brushes are by Silver Brush and Escoda.

My floral artworks are intuitive and reflective. At the same time, they are super simple, fun and loose… nothing is complex about my artwork. I seldom sketch and paint, I prefer to begin directly with the paint and brush, at times I mess up the painting yet I choose to do it this way as it gives me a sense of free spiritedness and in the process I end up learning from my mistakes. If you dropped by my Instagram profile where I post all my ramblings, you would know of my love for flowers- in watercolors and in gardening!

If you are starting out your creative journey, here’s my best advice – Just start! Don’t wait for any perfect moment or a perfect art supply. Just start, flow with it and let the magic of colors take over. There is nothing wrong or right if it brings you joy, heals you, rejuvenates you. Let the colors guide you and later you can see where you want to go with it. Challenge yourself to paint every day, even if it is just a little doodle. Participate in Art challenges, interact with the Online community (I made some lovely friends that way), as all of this helps you in staying consistent with your daily practice and keeps you inspired.

If you have read this far, I suggest you hop on over and visit me at the links below, for some floral watercolor explorations, process videos and a bit of my garden inspirations! I will be so happy to share it all with you!

Supriti Chauhan Instagram Twitter

GUEST ARTIST: "Nature And Art: A Symbiotic Relationship" by Supriti Chauhan - #doodlewash #WorldWatercolorGroup #watercolor #watercolour Hello, everyone! I am Supriti Chauhan from India. I am the artist behind the nom de plume - ‘Laburnum Soul’.

[comicteaparty]

April 25th-May 1st, 2020 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble  chat that occurred from April 25th, 2020 to May 1st, 2020.  The chat focused on the following question:

What is your warm-up routine before you write or draw something related to your story?

Page, Rambler Extraordinaire!

Honestly? I don’t have a formal warm-up, but I definitely like to have my fingers all warmed-up and ready for lots of typing! I really need to get in the mindspace for the particular image/idea being portrayed, though.

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

1) Seek out music that matches the energy of the page, 2) Draw some circles/spirals/hatchmarks to loosen up, 3) Pick the easiest thing on the page and finish it first to build momentum, 4) Repeat Ad Infinitum

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

-listen to music from my playlist -read some fanfics -watch YouTube videos from my subscription -get some tea -stretch/workout -wear my comfiest clothes

CalimonGraal(Fenauriverse)

i'm also another one that listens to music before doing story stuff. (sometimes either is a favorite song/song i'm obsessed with atm or one that matches the current scene)

Eilidh (Lady Changeling)

I usually reread my comic so far and listen to some music I associate with it to get me in the mindset and excited for it

eli [a winged tale]

I have a warm up character to go to! Usually I try for some gestures before getting right back to the panels. It gets the rustiness out of the way for me!

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

Ooh I love your warm ups, Eli!

eli [a winged tale]

Thank you! It’s easier for me to get into a routine when I have something fun to draw first (with zero expectations)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I don't always need a warm up, but doing panel borders for HoK makes for an excellent warm up. It gets my brain switch gears to comic mode. Music is great, but I only turn it on for important moments (or illustrations outside of comic). There are certain moods that... recur in important moments in my story, and I have playlists for those. e.g. 'sad emotional intimacy'

eli [a winged tale]

I love how music influences our work! I would love to hear all your playlists if you have them easy to share

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

ooooh @eli [a winged tale] i like the motion in your warmups! They're very fluid and nice to look at @keii’ii (Heart of Keol) Keii, I agree with separating playlists for moods! I usually just group them all in my favourites and mentally search for them

DanitheCarutor

Gosh I'm one of the most boring people. Lol I don't have a routine, I don't need one since I'm always in comic mode. Like, all I ever draw is comic pages. I don't have a script or anything that requires writing, so no need for a warm-up for that. I just jump right into it.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Sounds like you live on the edge which is the opposite of boring 8)

eli [a winged tale]

^

DanitheCarutor

I dunno, it would be cool to do warm-up drawing. That would sure help for gesture/color/anatomy practice. I just don't have the time, a page takes about 4 days to finish without outside distractions, so I have to get to work right away.

eli [a winged tale]

If you can jump right in, that’s great! For me otherwise I just stare at the inks and wish it would colour itself

DanitheCarutor

Ffff I'm like that with dynamic shots where the perspective points are off the page, and I have to tape scrap paper to it, and sometimes my ruler isn't long enough. Working in a traditional medium can be such a pain in the ass sometimes. Lol

This panel is a good example.

Top view perspective lines went way off the page, I hate it.

Anyways, that's my complaint for the day.

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

When I draw warm ups. This was of my 'for practice' comic art. I wanted to practice the vertical scroll storytelling. A lady gets her purse string cut, and the thief runs off. Whenever I want to figure out action scenes, I do little character interactions. It helps me learn more about certain character behavior(edited)

eli [a winged tale]

Nice! Practice comics are great!

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

yeah it's really good too!

it's also a great way to possibly have new stories/series

kinda like.....brainstorming, but applied

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

Thank you Eli, Shadow. I try to combine my knowledge of storyboarding, since vertical scroll sequences, are similar to that in some regards.(edited)

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

I.... Don't do warm up. I just... Start drawing(edited)

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

dang Holmea you living the risky life

that's brave

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

I am pretty sure of my skill. Should I warm up?? Could be super to start warm ups! I check my mail, find out how we are doing online with our comic and just begin to draw. I guess since I have done it professionally as a 2d animator, and there is not really time to warm up, that I have learned to just start

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

I do warm ups for everything! though what I define as warmups depend on each creator. For me, it begins with stretches and sketching, ill doodle things i need to get out of my head so i'm not distracted by those ideas- they usually involve studies, certain character interactions, or thumbing out pieces I want to tackle later! I may sure to draw everyday to flex that too, so its also important to be able to relax those creative muscles with some pre-work!

also! my warm ups vary with what medium i work in. if Im working in watercolours, i practice fine pencil work and get my lines as loose as possible. when it's comic (so mainly inking) i do what I described above with character studies and what not

kayotics

I’m really bad at remembering to do warm ups. I should.... actually do them more, but the time I have dedicated to drawing is usually pretty limited

Deo101 [Millennium]

Because I usually finish off whatever I had been working on the day before, warmups for me are kind of the process of starting a new piece. All the sketching and thumbing to get my next idea out work pretty well for warming me up, and then I feel ready to go by the time I'm needing to do things like lines. I also get music going that fits the mood of what I'm working on, like lots of people seem to do! I also need to remember to do stretches more :/ And I usually get myself some kind of drink, tea or something, to keep me company while I work ;)

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

Sounds like you are pretty busy, Kayotic. Yeah warm ups can be a good practice before diving into a big illustration

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Weirdly I don't think I've ever done warmups for illustrations. Only comic work!

Probably because illustrations, I just do them whenever I feel like it, so my brain is already ready (i.e. I don't start if my brain isn't ready)

whereas comic... I can't just wait for my brain to get ready. I need to keep updating it.

Page, Rambler Extraordinaire!

Pro-tip: if you decide to not do anything and procrastinate, you don't have to warm-up!

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

hmm, can't say i've really tried warming up for art before, but i've heard it can really help! What are you guys' art warm up routines?

Deo101 [Millennium]

For me it's just kinda mindless sketching til I hit what it is I wanna be doing

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Make panel borders (not really a routine though, at least I don't think it is)

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

When I do watercolor, I usually don't do warm ups unless I'm planning from thumb-> sketch ->color thumbs and figuring out local colors for watercolor then doing my watercolor flats from there

Deo101 [Millennium]

Instead of staring at a blank screen and waiting, making little circles or scribbles or drawing like. Some arms or something til, eventually, my brain thinks we're working and then it's like "ah yes! Here we go!"

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

but digitalllyyyyy I shoullddddddddd

my brain when looking at my comic: "aight time to do the thingy lmao"

Deo101 [Millennium]

If I've already got a sketch waiting to go I can jump right in though

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

idk, I should but my time is usually limited so I haven't done a warm up in a while lmao.

now I have the time, I probably would

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

ohh i see

like some quick sketches

i see how that can help- whenever i'm figure drawing or drawing people in a cafe or something my later ones are always better

how is making panel borders a warm up? don't you have to do that anyways?

Deo101 [Millennium]

Lines with intent! Doesn't matter what the purpose is, same kinda thing as drawing a bunch of straight lines in a row or practicing ellipses a bit

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It's something I can do with my brain turned off. While I do it, it wakes up the comic-making part of my brain

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

oh ye

Deo101 [Millennium]

Which I'd encourage doing things like drawing a ton of ellipses or straight lines, it gets your hand into the groove so you can draw stuff right the first time

Do I do it often? No But I do encourage it

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

ah i see keii

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

So for me, the panel borders can function like a warmup without being a "ritual." Kinda like if you're... say... hiking, walking from your parking spot to the trailhead can be a warmup even if it's not a ritual and is necessary anyway

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

ooo that's an interesting way of putting it

... man I really should consider warm ups often. I have been touching my sketchbook less and less so lmao

I do find making small thumbs and coloring them in relaxing for me, not sure that count as a warm up but its something I like doing when planning out watercolor illustrations lol

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Relaxing/chilling/ "reward after a long day" arting is also an interesting topic, though not 100% suitable for this week's question...

I find it interesting how a lot of people seem to like, make cute ship doodles, whereas I uhhh

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

lineart is the easiest for me to do though. I don't have to think much about it

maybe i should like line a page as warm up?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I'll drop some examples in art share in a bit

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

ooh please do(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

That sounds like a good idea! Worth trying

Feather J. Fern

I actually read in a artist self care comic "Draw Stronger: Self Care of Artist" that you are supposed to stretch and stuff before you art so your body is warmed up for long periods of sitting. Things i draw before getting into main art, the one line challenge where you draw something using one line, gesture drawing warm ups, and always becuase it's something I recently been doing, is drawing a thumbs up on a page that I can erase later or keep in a sketchbook as in like "Good job "(edited)

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I don't have a warm-up routine before I sit down and draw / write comics. Besides making a cup of coffee before I dive right in. (edited)

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I don't follow rules

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

i don't really have any warm up routines. it helps that 3d art is less physically demanding than drawing. during/after my work, i try to look away from the screen and relax my eyes every so often, but i can't think of anything i specifically do before working.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Another dive-right-inner here. I mean, I do loose pencil sketches before putting down lineart, but it's not like a separate warmup drawing before the real one, it's just the start of the real one.

If my brain isn't in "comics mode" and I need to get a page done...I find a nice secluded spot, sit down with the blank sketchbook, and stare at the empty paper until ideas start clicking into place. Unrelated sketches would be a distraction at that point -- same as checking twitter, just one more excuse for my brain to focus on something other than the page.

Used to do the seclusion in local restaurants( whether it's a nice place or just a plastic fast-food table), but obviously that hasn't been an option for a while :/

varethane

My warmup is working eight hours at an unrelated job l-lol

eli [a winged tale]

Haha aw that’s a mood

Miranda

Oh boy do I feel that

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

oh that got real

[betweenthesteps-blog]

  I am SO excited to show you what is new this month! I am completely in love with November – what is your favourite thing to do this month? Comment below to get the conversation going and get yourself into a Fall spirit 🙂

    As always, we are kicking a new month off with a brand new doodle page which you can now find in our Community library – go ahead and print it out to use in your own bullet journal or have fun colouring this with your kids! I used my favourite Koi watercolours to make the red squirrel pop out – I must admit that I have never seen one in real life, but it will happen one day! Leuchtturm1917 takes watercolours very well, the paper does not wrinkle very much if you do not go heavy with water and when using acrylic paints, it does not wrinkle at all – but this also depends on how much paint you apply onto the page. I had no issues so far.

    Don’t you just LOVE this spread? Autumn is in its full bloom – or should I say fall – and it very much inspired this theme we have going on here. I split the monthly log to keep it at the top of the page – do you like it? The big mushroom is for scheduling monthly tasks and wood logs for people I want to get in touch with, plus projects or any unfinished business that need to be completed this month.

Monthly goals are separated into four categories – Business, Personal, Home, and Happiness which is new area I am going to focus on in November. In each area, there are 5 things you want to complete and focus on throughout the month. If you have not tried this before, maybe start with 2 or 3 things in each area 😉 You can always add more when needed!

November mini monthly calendar is positioned in the middle of the page for scheduling blog posts & YouTube videos. And you have probably noticed another new element here, yes, December mini monthly is here too, along with an empty space for upcoming tasks/events/projects etc.

  #gallery-0-9 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-9 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 25%; } #gallery-0-9 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-9 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Wellness and mood tracker

Sleep log colour code

Cals intake colour code

Mood tracker colour code

  Let me introduce you to a new Wellness tracker! This is going to be a big helper during the month of November and it will be very helpful in losing weight and keeping track of your overall health. The quote “If you can’t count it, don’t eat it.” is my own (Michaela Siroka) and it basically says, if there are more calories than you can count in your food, do not eat it – it is probably not very healthy or there is too much of it.

I am using a colour coding system for sleep and calorie intake – it’s as simple as writing down the number of hours slept/calories eaten and going over with a specific colour of Tombow dual brush pen that I love dearly and can highly recommend if you would like to add a bit of colour to your pages 🙂

And we have a different kind of mood tracker that you can print out in our Community library – I am curious to see how yours will turn out! Tag me in your Instagram pictures as @betweenthesteps so I can see how beautiful it is! You can also share your recreations in our Community group on Facebook.

    Awe moments – find something fantastic and a-m-a-z-i-n-g every day! Have that awe moment, it’s very refreshing and you will feel awesome!

‘Little things’ is a monthly appreciation page or a gratitude log – you can sketch, paint, letter, write, stick a picture on here, whatever your heart desire and you want to remember about November.

    This grid is a monthly schedule with number of the week at the top. It can be used as a workout log, meal planner, daily doodle challenge etc. Personally, I am going to use it for a marketing challenge that I created for myself.

On here, you can also find a monthly review – every week is reviewed individually and at the end of month, I come back to this page to reflect on the entire month. See that Stop sign in the right bottom corner? That is for anything that did not work out for you this particular month and you need to stop doing.

  #gallery-0-10 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-10 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-10 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-10 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

week 1

week 2

week 3

week 4

week 5

  Last but not least, weekly layouts! There are 5 weeks in November, lots of work and also lots of fun! This layout is very simple, yet very useful. It consists of daily task boxes, weekly tasks, 3 weekly goals, empty space for you to express your weekly focus/motivation, and a weekly tracker from our Community library.

  New style setup on YouTube 🙂 → November 2017 setup

New on blog: Novermber 2017 setup :) #bulletjournal #betweenthesteps I am SO excited to show you what is new this month! I am completely in love with November - …

[doodlewash]

Hi all! My name is Judy Jones, I grew up and still live in the beautiful Derbyshire countryside here in the United Kingdom. As a child my home was always full of family, friends and pets. Between my parents my two brothers and myself we had fish, budgies, canaries, finches hamsters, gerbils, rabbits, dogs and horses over the years. So as you can imagine, I grew up with a real love of animals.

My other passion was art. I loved to draw, colour and paint. My dad would draw cartoon characters for me. Yogi Bear was one of his favorites. In those days, my art supplies consisted of pencils, felt tipped pens, Crayola crayons, and cheap watercolours. I loved colouring books and would spend hours colouring. As I got older, I ventured into creating more of my own art. Finding inspiration in everything around me from the beautiful scenery to my pets, and pop stars I admired.

I got an O level in art at school which was as far as any formal training went. After I left school, my time was taken up with my job as a florist and taking care of my horse. There was little time for art and it took a back seat in my life. I grew up, got married, tried eight years to have children. I longed for my own family and after several failed IVF attempts, I gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. My family was complete or so I thought.

Around seven months later, I found out I was pregnant naturally, but sadly when the twins turned one, I lost the baby. Less than a year later, I discovered I was having another baby and along came my youngest, another little girl. I rediscovered my creative side with the kids, we would draw, paint, and make weird and wonderful creations like Halloween masks, Plasticine swans, hedgehogs, and even an Egyptian pyramid with sarcophagus and mummy.

Ten years ago, I split from my husband and life has been difficult. I suffered from depression after the loss of the baby and the break up of my marriage. I was in a rut and unsure where my life was heading. Around 5 years ago, I was scrolling through YouTube videos when I came across an artist by the name of Dede Willingham. I watched several of her videos and soon joined her on you-stream (now live on YouTube) for live stream and chat. Her carefree style and love to create rubbed off on me. I was soon creating again. I have met some wonderful people online in the art community on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Many of whom I would now consider friends.

I find if I have a bad day just the simple act of picking up a pencil and a sketchbook calms me and takes me to my happy place. I am now trying to draw or paint something every day.

My favorite mediums are Faber-Castell Polychromos coloured pencils and Winsor & Newton watercolours. I also enjoy the simplicity of just a graphite pencil. I do love to buy art supplies of all kinds. Some of which get used more frequently than others. I will sit with a sketchbook whilst watching TV or YouTube and doodle ideas that come to me. I have also rediscovered my love of drawing animals.

I love to draw a wide variety of subjects but animals will always be my favorite. I am not currently employed and would love to make a living from my art, maybe illustrating children’s books. Julia Donaldson if you ever part ways with Axel Scheffler give me a call! I have done some commission work but it doesn’t pay the bills.

My children are now 18 and almost 16 and have my creative streak. My oldest daughter is studying photography at university, my younger daughter is doing a GCSE in 3D Art, though her true passion is dance and my son has done some great digital art. I feel my artwork has improved a lot over the last few years.

I watch a lot of YouTube artists and have learned a lot from them, though I think the best way to learn is to just do it. Getting over the fear of “doing it wrong” was a hurdle for me and my confidence in my ability could be better. But you know what, it’s just a bit of pigment and paper and if it goes wrong no one has to see it.

I have had my share of disasters along the way. It’s all part of the fun. I learn something from every piece I do even if it’s just “don’t do that again!” But, if you are looking to be an artist, the best advice I can give is keep practicing. You don’t get good at something by not doing it like everything else in life. It’s a learning process. We are not all born with a whole set of skills, we learn them. You couldn’t just pick up a football and be a professional footballer as you can’t just pick up a pencil and be an artist. But, the more you do the better you get. I’m striving to get better little by little.

Some days, I will have a specific thing I want to draw and other days I have no clue. I find mind mapping and keeping any ideas that pop into my head in a notebook really useful to go back to when artist block hits. Inspiration is all around us. I sometimes draw what’s on my desk or, other times, I will look online for ideas or just going out for a walk and observing the things around me be it a flower, a leaf, a pebble, a person, a building or anything else that grabs my attention.

I take my phone out and will often take a photo of something I would like to draw later. All you need is a passion for what you are doing and determination to do it. Looking back at my artwork, I can see that the more I enjoyed doing a piece the better it came out.

Going into the new year, I would love to get better at watercolour and inking and I intend to do more along those lines. I have loved doing the daily prompts in the monthly Doodlewash art challenges, even though it’s time consuming it makes me create something every day and I, for one, need that push. Daily life often gets in the way and it’s easy to say, “oh, I’ll just do something tomorrow,” but as long as I am creating something each day I will be happy. Even if it’s just a doodle on the side of my shopping list.

Finally I want to thank Charlie for this wonderful opportunity to be a featured artist here and if you want to see more of my art or just say hi, you’ll find me on Instagram at the link below.

Judy Jones Instagram

GUEST ARTIST: "My Happy Place" by Judy Jones - #doodlewash #WorldWatercolorGroup #watercolour #watercolor Hi all! My name is Judy Jones, I grew up and still live in the beautiful Derbyshire countryside here in the United Kingdom.