Inktober 2019 Supplies and Prompts

It's my favorite time of the year...fall! And October is the best month of all! The weather is changing, pumpkins are everywhere, Halloween, and of course INKTOBER! But let's be honest, I start Inktober every year, but I've never completed it. I am keeping my fingers crossed that this is my year.

PS If you are not familiar with Inktober you can read about it on the official page here.

Here are the supplies I will be using this year, which are mostly my usual supplies. In years past, I've tried out new supplies, like copic markers, liquid watercolor, regular old map pencils...you get the idea. This year I plan to push myself artistically by working on landscapes/backgrounds and on occasion maybe drawing boys. These are two things I'm not confident in.

 

But back to the supplies...I've tried picking a color palette to work with, so I will only be using a small number of colors from my watercolor palette. I'm also using various watercolor pencils in the same color families. Along with my trusty  Aquash Water Brush from Pentel,  I'll be testing out this Mossery Co sketchbook that I've been hoarding for about a year now.

I was actually inspired to use my Mossery sketchbook when I saw their prompt list for Inktober. (Pretty much there are a million different prompt lists out there along with the official list.) My theme for this Inktober is "Everyday Witch" which came to me when I saw a picture of someone walking their dog wearing a witch hat.

I'm hoping to work on landscapes and backgrounds, because I've never tried much before and I'd like to eventually illustrate my own children's books. I'm hoping with this daily practice to learn, improve, and develop my style/voice in this area.

Are you participating in Inktober? What prompts are you following?

Being Productive

With the new year always comes goals and resolutions (yes I know it's already February). I used to do the One Word for the year thing that I never thought of again and pick resolutions I never kept. I decided to keep it simple and challenge myself this year. A fellow illustrator (Anke Weckmann) started a goal of 100 Days of Productivity to hold herself accountable. She has some really fun printables for you to use too!

I also started using the DONE app. Which is simple and easily customized. Right now I have it set up to remind me to draw, do yoga, declutter something, and do my French lessons with my daughter daily. If I have a tracker with a streak involved it makes me competitive and not want to mess up my streak. Genius! (The app DUOLINGO that we use for French has a streak tracker too!)

Something else that helps me stay on track is calendars and planners. This month I am really focusing on some self care and yoga practice. Taking the time for myself and keeping that little promise to myself has been very important, especially as a busy mom. I'm really enjoying Yoga with Adriene.

Let me know if you have any fun ways to stay on track with your goals and being productive.

Stay Cute xx

The 100 Day Project

Instagram is my jam. I check it a million times a day...one day I saw the #The100DayProject and how many of the artists and creatives I follow were starting this week. I thought this would be a good way to kick start getting out of my own creative run and try something new.

I've been bored with my art recently. It feels repetitive and unoriginal...something is lacking which in turn is making feel depressed about creating in general. I decided to pick a theme for this project that did not involve drawing people. Instead I'm drawing kawaii food!

I even started a Pinterest board, so you can see where I'm getting my inspiration from. So far this project has been fun. I'm not thinking too much about these little drawings, just sketching it out, adding some watercolor and outlining in my Moleskine.

You can find out more about The 100 Day Project here.

PS I've opened my shop + will be adding more as soon as I get the new stuff made! xo

A Study in Pink

This year I wanted to try a 365 day project, hoping to challenge myself and actually finish something. I'm really bad about starting things and never finishing them...almost as bad as changing the color of my hair....

My goal for myself is to keep my hair pink for an entire year! This is quite the challenge for me...

I'm also doing a sort of daily doodle where I illustrate bits of my life. I started this week, and I've been sharing over on Instagram. The only rule I made for myself is to use pink as the only color (besides black) in my doodles.

My bangs are getting so long they're in my glasses + my hands are so cold I've just been warming them on mugs of coffee + tea all day... This marker was awful for coloring in. Hoping to invest in some copics this year.

In my illustrations this week I've been using a scrapbooking artist marker, Sakura Micron {1 + 5} + a Sakura Pigma Sensei {06} in a moleskine journal. I have to rip my pages out because I'm left handed and need to turn my paper a lot so I don't smear the ink. I just realized yesterday that this moleskine has tear out pages >_<.

Today's #dailydoodle Doing yoga with a toddler. She calls it yogo. 😂 This turned out as more of a caricature, but I tried working on things I struggle with like body parts. 

I've been trying to break out of my comfort zone and work on the things I struggle with. I've never been good at drawing body parts (hello got a big fat C in figure drawing), so I've been incorporating more full body drawings. Also hands and feet are always wonky, but hopefully this daily practice will help me improve my skills + evolve my style a bit.

 Laundry day feels. That meme about it being the never ending story as an adult is so true! The threenager loves piles of laundry though.

I haven't been worrying too much about proportions or perspective, which makes it fun. Also, my style doesn't really take any rules into account. I just want to draw everyday + have fun. This weekend I'll be hitting up the craft store in search of some new pink markers + watercolors. 

What color are you loving right now? Do you think I can keep my hair pink all year?

True

Even though I'm awful at looking back + reflecting through out the year on my One Little Word, I still like to pick one. Sometimes I look back at the end of the year, and turns out that word was perfect! Maybe it just helps to set the tone for the year by letting it unconsciously float around me.

I keep visiting the word honest(y), which led me to truth/true, in my morning pages. I have a little quote and affirmations notebook I look at often to keep me grounded and here are few that have stuck with me the past few weeks:

"My creativity always leads me to truth + love."

"Originality is the process of remaining true to ourselves."

and a huge part of my truth is this-" to know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive."-Robert Lewis Stevenson

I was also thinking of a song that might embody how I'm feeling and relate to my one word. For the past few weeks I keep listening to Perfectly Perfect by Elizabeth and the Catapult from her album Taller Children. I have a feeling that Taller Children will become my album for the year.

So this year is all about truth in life-true love, true connection, true living. Looking past the facade, and just being true to myself. This year I plan to keep an eye out for the little clues that the universe drops that I'm heading in the right direction.

Do you pick a One Little Word? What's your word this year?

Challenge Accepted

Happy 2016! 

Source

Today, I signed up and started Lisa Congdon's Daily Drawing Challenge on Creative Bug. It's 31 days of drawing different objects using your imagination, and embracing the wonkiness + imperfections.

I've always wanted to do something like this, and work in a more/different stylized way. This will also help me push through the bad arthritis days where my hand is really shaky. I'll be posting my drawings over on Instagram.

I also signed up for Adriene's Yoga Camp. Yoga is something I've always wanted to really get in to, so here I am with a new bright green yoga mat! I really want to focus on my physical + mental health this year, and Yoga Camp seems like a great starting point.

This year I really want to challenge myself in new ways, and I can't wait to share with you the process. Hope you all had a Happy New Year! Let me know what your goals, resolutions, or focus may be for the coming year! xo