Taking a Break to Get Busy!
Hi all! I hope your June has been well!
I’m feeling much better after treatment at the hospital and two weeks of rest. I’m back at work and back to art business things! I’ve done a hodge podge of things this month, but before I tell you all about that, I have some announcements.
Taking a Break from Newsletters
After this post, I won’t be sending out another newsletter for a while. Don’t worry, I’m not abandoning you! Because of my forced break, I’m behind on product creation and I want to make time where I can. I’ll send a little update before I officially come back, so stay subscribed and check your emails to look out for that!
Instagram and Facebook
As I mentioned in my last post, I made a new Instagram account to promote and sell my art locally. I’ve also made a Facebook, mainly so I can schedule posts to my Instagram, but also because Facebook is used heavily in my country to search for businesses. As I’m selling to my people, I need to go where they go.
I’ve had a bad time with social media in the past, trying to keep up with the algorithm and whatnot. This time around, I’ll be using them as promotion spaces, strictly business!
YouTube
While I won’t be posting here anytime soon, I have a better idea of what I want to post! I’ve been rewatching old videos from one of my favourite artists, Leilani Joy. She unfortunately doesn’t post to YouTube anymore (or anywhere really. I hope she’s doing well) but I still love occasionally going back to her old videos.
She had such a unique way of approaching filming, probably because she started when YouTube still had ‘You’ in it. Her art has had a huge impact on my own art and my inspirations.
She’s once again inspired me to just draw pretty girls (I’ve been doodling) and to stop taking YouTube so seriously. I don’t ever plan to monetize my channel. I just really want to show you how I make my art and talk about it! I’ll get to doing that once I have the time, so look out for my first video!
Website
The ‘Links’ page on my website is live and the full website will be live once I take some pictures of my new products!
Deviant Art
I’ll be posting my product artwork there soon, so go follow me there to see all of my art!
Product Update
‘Marisol’ Bookmark
It was (and still is) very difficult to get back into the swing of things, but I at least finished the last bookmark I was working on, and I actually got around to testing out cutting my stickers!
Here’s my completed ‘Marisol’ bookmark!
I will admit, I was going to scrap her and start all over, because I felt like I was overworking her. The drawing was so small, and I felt like I was doing too much. I didn’t want her to get lost in the details. I pushed through though because I needed to finish her.
Thankfully, she turned out quite well!
Going over the line art again really helped, as well as coming in with coloured pencils to sharpen some areas. Watercolour can only do so much in such a small space (I also don’t have the skills to make watercolours do that yet).
Sticker Cutting Test
I edited the ‘mushroom teacup’ sticker from my ‘Mushroom Tea Party’ sticker set to test out the matte sticker paper I got months ago, as well as the laminate. Great news, they were both pretty great quality, especially that laminate! Bad news, I need a squeegee to apply it without issue, and I need to fiddle around with my cutting machine’s hardware and software to get it to cut well.
The stickers that I ended up cutting were a bit warped from improper application of the laminate and the edges were a bit rough, because it took me a while to figure out why.
They were also a bit misaligned. I’m assuming this was because of using the electrostatic mat. I can’t find my sticky mat, so I had no choice but to use it. Until I’m able to find my mat, it will have to do. I’m going to test it with another sticker and see how that goes.
Personal Art
Green Sea Creature Painting
It’s complete guys! I finally finished my green painting! I almost didn’t, to be honest. This is why I don’t like working on a piece of artwork for too long, but with a job and a budding business, it can’t be helped.
This isn’t my favourite picture of her, but it’s the best I have at the moment. I did a lot to get her to this point, including using acrylic paint to push the background back into the, well, background a bit more, so she can stand out. This piece has also reminded me that I really need to get some new dark blue watercolours. Darkening the background was a task with what little I had!
New Painting and Possible YouTube Video!
As I mentioned earlier, Leilani Joy is a huge inspiration of mine, and as I’ve been rewatching her older videos, I’ve been inspired to push my creativity and do this YouTube thing the way I want to.
She’s done a lot of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ inspired pieces and I’ve decided to create my own! Mine is more cutesy and lighthearted. It’s a little Alice inviting you to her tea party. I Just really wanted to draw a pretty dress, big hair and lots of vaguely ‘Alice in Wonderland’ themed things.
It will be a while until even the sketch is complete. I haven’t worked on huge pieces in a bit, and I need to get used to it again. I may also do some other sketches as well. I’m not 100% sold on this one. We’ll see!
Well, that’s it for this month, and for a good while! I’m looking forward to writing about all the progress and new art that I’ll be making during my hiatus!
I wish you well for July and until I see you again! Thanks for stopping by!
