arting while sick ;'(

Good morning, everyone. It's an early day for me (I guess), because I actually slept from 8pm to 5am lol. I didn't do anything art-related yesterday so I'm trying to catch up on some things on my to-do list, including blogging. I was recently really sick and bedridden for two days, and it came just after I had been hit with this sudden inspo for another one of my little character illustrations that I do in color pencil. I managed to draw out the sketch before I couldn't move anymore lmao. Don't you hate the frustration of being in a state or place where you can't work on art, but just thinking about the piece you wanna work on the entire time and fantasizing about the end product. Ughhh it was so annoying, but when I was feeling better, I was able to make it look even better than I imagined!

I did make a trip down to Blick to get a 16x20" pastelbord for my Mac Miller portrait. I was originally gonna put him on a 12x16" and use the 16x20" for a project that I can't speak on at the moment lol. But I decided Mac's project was much bigger and needed more space to capture all my ideas for it. Some upcoming projects I CAN speak on, however, are some small 9x12" pastel paintings that I plan on doing of the Super Mario Bros characters, possibly with a holiday theme. I did Kermit and Elmo and baby Grinch last year so drawing popular characters with holiday themes might become a new thing for me to do every year. Also, the old holiday paintings will be on sale as prints every December, so look out for that :)

As for recently completed projects, I finally finished my beautiful doe fairy! I'm so in love with her. She wasn't really received to well by my followers on social media, and usually that makes me look at my art differently and not like it as much. But I'm still so captivated by her. She came out more beautiful than I expected her too. I didn't make prints available because I don't think they would sell, but I did add her to my Redbubble, and she can be purchased on tote bags, phone cases, floor pillows, etc. And of course I recorded a timelapse, which features a voiceover of me talking about different methods for staying productive as an artist while working a 9 to 5!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ipqD6CGicU

Have a productive day <3

#youtube #ampersandpastelbord #colorpencil #completedpiece #nupastel #timelapsedrawing #derwent #prismacolor #softpastel #newpurchases

I needed a change!

Good morning, if anyone is up this early! If you're viewing me on mobile then you can't really tell, but I made a few changes to the overall look and feel of my site. I wanted something a little brighter and more welcoming and easier to navigate. So of course I had to put my prettiest painting as my site banner lol. Also my blog updates are easier to scroll through and view, as well as my feed of timelapse videos and art tutorials! I think everything looks a lot neater and put together now. What do you guys think? Do you like it better?

So this doe fairy that I started a little while ago is slowly becoming a Halloween-themed piece. Originally, I intended for her to have this bright pink and purple and beige color palette and be bright and beautiful. But now that I've worked on her a little, I see her going more dark and mysterious. And since Halloween is right around the corner, I decided to just let it happen, you know? I'm just gonna let her be what she wants to be. And maybe I'll even have some kind of Halloween special that involves her somehow! I'm currently working on her and Mac Miller, while also planning a large-scale piece of a vintage beauty that I won't disclose this early in the process lmao.

And last week, I uploaded a youtube video for the first time in idk....five years? I don't even keep track anymore of how much time passes between my timelapse drawings/paintings smh. But this particular drawing came about out of nowhere. Right after I said I was leaving the color pencils alone for a while and going back to the chalk pastels, I got inspiration out of nowhere. Well technically, the inspo came from myself. But it all happened so fast. I literally got the idea, sketched it out, finished it and uploaded the timelapse in a span of 24 hours. I worked on the drawing nonstop and finished it in one sitting. It was a 9x12" unrealistic illustration, so it only took about 2.5 hours, but still. I never do that! I named her Bubblegum for the obvious reasons. The video features a voice-over of me explaining how I inspire myself to art. You can watch me draw her below.

Speaking of my little illustrations, I'm going to get back to posting them to Redbubble so you guys can order them on phone cases, tote bags, pillows, etc. I keep forgetting that now that I make so much original work with original characters, I don't have to worry about Redbubble deleting the designs haha. And they're all pretty cute of course. I think they would look lovely on bedroom decor and bags. Other than that, the only other announcement I have is that I recently updated the guidelines on my "Commission a Portrait" page. It is now possible to pay for an HD video [digital file] of me drawing your commission! Exciting right? :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=getYo68H9M8

Well I hope you guys have a nice day!

#youtube #colorpencil #completedpiece #timelapsedrawing #commissions #updates #workinprogress

Fall is here...the best time to art!

Happy first of Halloween! lol. Guess who's actually [attempting] to participate in Inktober this year? Yes, yours truly, even though I've never actually drawn in ink before. Trust me, I fully intend on laying down a pencil sketch first. Idk if that's considered cheating butttt like I said, it's my first time. Also, I saved three different Inktober challenges so that I have more of a selection lmao. Is that cheating too? Oh well. I'm really just going for it because it's a challenge and challenging yourself always gives your creativity a huge boost! And it gives me more reason to get off my ass and draw. Plus I'm in the Halloween spirit... definitely made a list of Halloween movies. I'm gonna watch one each day. Some I've seen, some I haven't. Currently watching The Conjuring 2, and I haven't seen it since it came out so I don't even remember what to expect >.<

Anywho, outside of planning for Inktober, I've been getting steady commissions for my 9x12" color pencil illustrations! They have been so fun to do!! I really am so lucky to have gotten such amazing clients every time I do commissions. Seriously. Super sweet. Super grateful. They pay immediately. They don't badger me the whole time lol. They just let me do my thing and they make my job so much easier. I really appreciate anyone who has ever commissioned from me. I'm looking forward to making it possible for clients to pay a little extra for an HD timelapse video of their drawings being done in the future as well.

The only new supply I've picked up since my last blog post are these white Uni-ball gel pens and man....they are the truth. I've been looking for good ones to use for highlights on my color pencil but all I had was a gelly roll pen and it SUCKED. It would fade out whenever I used it on top of lots of layers of pencil and it wasn't bold enough. These ones are like painting on top of the surface and they're super bright. They were only about $6 for a pack of three. I'll like them here.

Even though I am having so much fun with color pencil commissions, I am gonna take a SLIGHT break to finish the pastel piece I started beforehand of my next doe. I also think I might go ahead and knock out a Mac Miller portrait. It really got to me when he passed. It was so shocking and unexpected. And I usually don't do these kind of pieces but I really would love to do something nice of him that really memorializes him. And since I got rid of one of my original muses for my Valentine's Day series, I decided to go ahead and make him apart of it instead.

As far as prints go, there are gonna be a lot of changes. For one, I'm no longer making prints of every piece I make. I decided to only make prints of the most popular ones or most in demand. Secondly, all of them will be limited edition from now on. That means I'll have 10-15 copies available and when they sell out, they sell out. No more unlimited prints! If you're wondering why, I just started to feel like it wasn't worth it to make so many prints. I never sell all of them and I could be saving ink and money of course. Prints are definitely my lowest-selling item lol. I've decided to focus on selling originals and commissions more.

I'll try to update again after my first Inktober attempt! :)

#prints #sketch #colorpencil #updates #prismacolor #newpurchases #commissions