I made some things

And then I took pictures of them!

I finished my sketchbook so I painted the cover. I painted it like FIRE.

Fly off.

Blood rain.

A magic card book from a tutorial here!

Last night I didn't sleep because I'm nocturnal again, so I made a skirt with ducks on it. It's made from a kid's raincoat, a sweater, and a t-shirt.

duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck

Daily sketch

I got a planner-type molskein (in bright blue!) with a blank page for every day. My original plan was to do a reasonably decent drawing for every day, but the fact is that some days are just too busy for that, and then I'd feel pressured, and then I wouldn't want to do it, etc etc.

So my new plan is to fill with with gesture drawings. This is a great plan because they only take thirty seconds or more, so I can spend however long I want to on it without worrying, plus then I practice drawing, even if it's only a tiny bit, every day.

Schoolwork + art journal

It's the end of term, so I'm finishing up all the art homework I didn't quite manage to do at the time. It's all due tomorrow, and I finally only have optional stuff left! Whew. SO much drawing. I am reasonably pleased with most of it, though of course it could have been better, but blehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

This one is supposed to contrast geometric and organic shapes.


We had to get a black a white photo with perspective, and extend it three inches on each side. I like bit of it, where there was visible detail, but I am ambivalent about the rest.

Drawing is fun, but it's not really my favourite, so to take a break from drawing, I...did different art. Obviously. Did I ever blog about my art journal? I started it AGES ago, but I hadn't done anything in it in ages. Friday night I added a whole bunch of pages...I was just in the mood for it I guess. (I was also pretty sick on friday, and making art meant I thought about it less.) Anyway, pictures: (in the order they're in the book)

"Maybe not."


"Take control"


"Fear"

This one has a few pictures because it's a little interactive:

"Secret robot"
The pink yarn is handspun from acrylic bits, wooo!


"Greenery"


"Constitutional"


"Meetings"

Next time I choose a book for an art journal, I will choose one without lines. But this one was a dollar, so I guess I shouldn't complain. I also made a ball out of wire which is attached to the ribbon bookmark thing, but I forgot to take a picture of it.

I also finished my mom's x-mas present! I was going to make her a hat, but I made her a hat last year, so I decided on a cowl instead. She really likes smoke blue, I got the yarn in the summer for her because the colour was right. There's actually about half of it left, so I might make her a (matching) hat after all. Now I just have to make my dad's present...he wants socks, but I also found this wicked prawn pattern, which is great because my dad loves prawns. Anyway, cowl:

It's 100% wool, but it's pretty soft? I hope it's not too scratchy for her....
For anyone worrying about surprises being ruined, it's ok! My sister occasionally reads this (that's why pictures of her present won't be posted until after x-mas), but as far as I know my parents don't know this blog exists. Secrets intact!

I sort of feel like "Secrets Intact!" should be some superhero organization's group cheer or something.

Hm. Apparently being sick makes me super productive.

ATCs for trading

It had been ages since I made ATCs, so I got a little distracted from doing school last night, and made a bunch. These are all available for trade!

ATCs I guess?

I have been doing swaps ALL DAY. I am still NOT DONE. I think perhaps I need to cut back on the number of swaps I join, and ATCs I custom make for people. Ok, from now until I forget (or get bored), I am just going to make things, then find/make swaps for them afterwards.

Lots of ATCs:

>

I've been making ATCs in threes a lot recently. It just seems more efficient, since a lot of the time I get requests for cards I've made already. So wooo.

The first of these is for a swap on swap-bot where you have to combine two different animals. The other two are post-apocalyptic cards made on request for a trade.

Pencil Crayons

I've had a lovely set of artist-quality pencil crayons for a while now, given to me by a lovely friend who was not using them. I've never really tried drawing with pencil crayons before, it's pretty different from pencils, but I just love bright colours so having with with these. I feel like my ATCs have gotten a lot more sophisticated in the last few months - a lot of that is due to getting reasonable art supplies but it's probably also because of actually spending time on them, and getting used to making art. I haven't taken any visual art classes since grade 8 (when I was 12) so there's a lot of really basic stuff I don't know much about yet. Like colour wheel things! My sister explained it to me over the weekend, and it is already being helpful.

The above ATCs are traded in a swap I made on swap-bot, but I have some still available as well! Here are two:

Ancient Greek ATCs

A princess and a king. The source images are from Braun & Schneider's Historic Costume Book. The words down the side are "princess" and "king" in Greek.

ATCs and Sketching

I've been joining a lot of ATC swaps on swapbot, as well as sketching a bunch. I've been copying drawings from Braun & Schneider's Historic Costume Book, which is great for practice drawing clothing.

All of my ATCs can be found here, but his one is my favourite: