Category: drawing

Shifting Art Gears

October has just flown by! After the past few weeks of doing Inktober and Drawlloween and staying (roughly) on track, I realized that I haven’t done anything with jewelry, painting, or the site. Sorry about that!

It also got me thinking. I’m really loving drawing again. Not that I ever didn’t love it, but I’m rediscovering all the “behind the scenes” things that happen in art that make the experience of creating so robust. It’s deciding on concepts, looking at reference images, quick sketches to see if something will work, and starting over again when it doesn’t. It’s all the things that happen before the final piece is even started.

I’ve also been thinking that I don’t miss the fluid art. There’s only so much time before and after work and in between family activities. Every day is a choice of what to make – if there’s even time (or energy) to make anything at all. For me, fluid art was a stepping stone to bring art back into my life. It was something I could just make without having to worry about it too much (plus I learned how to make videos, which was super fun!). Then I started working on an old painting again. That got me thinking of ways to revamp old pieces and ideas for starting new ones – so the “fluid art phase” did what it was supposed to do.

They’re everywhere!

They’re here, too!

And here!

Now that my walls are covered in trippy paintings, I’m ready to move on. Of course, with Inktober I’m drawing every day again. So the natural progression seems to be to shift gears and focus more on that. I’m not going to make any more fluid art videos, but I do want to start recording my drawing and painting.

As for jewelry, I know I haven’t posted much about that here, but I’m going to keep going with that. I won’t be making any more Pebeo pieces, so I’m working on using up the Pebeo paint that I have left. For jewelry I’m going to focus on copper pipe necklaces and the “doogle” pins. There’s been enough experimenting and wasting supplies “in the name of science!” And it’s time to get the craft table under control. Seriously, it’s a mess. Time for some fall cleaning!

So. Embarrassing.

All of the Inktober stuff is coming as soon as the month is up! I feel like this year is miles better than last year, but we can talk about that in a few days when the pics go up. 🙂

But for now, thanks for reading! Until next time!

BTW, if you want to check out last year’s Inktober/Drawlloween fiasco, click here. 🙂

October 30, 2018
Inktober and Drawlloween Are Here!!!

If you don’t know them, you’re gonna know them! Starting today, it’s a drawing per day – two if you’re in it for both events. Every day there is a prompt and you draw it. Simple, right? For Inktober it’s an ink drawing and for Drawlloween it’s a drawing in whatever medium you want.

Of the two prompt lists I prefer Mab Graves’ Drawlloween because it’s more October-related. It’s lots of spooky fun and it’s super interesting to see other artists’ interpretations of even the most familiar monsters.

Spooooooky Drawlloween prompts from Mab Graves!

On the other hand, I think the Inktober list is more challenging because it’s more abstract. The prompt of the day could spark instant inspiration or leave you absolutely stuck, which is really the point of prompts, isn’t it?

OFFICIAL Inktober 2018 prompts!

Last year I did both for the first time, something I don’t recommend if you’re short on time! I started the month off strong, then ended up a couple of days behind and would play catch up. Then I would do well for a while and end up behind again. I think I did most of the last week on the last day! So I wasn’t super great about getting the drawings done every day, but I was determined to get them all done and I did.

Some pages are alright…

That being said, there are definitely some stinkers in there. It’s even more obvious because I dedicated a sketchbook to October. I don’t have to think back to which prompts I had issues with or which ones I relied to much (or not enough) on a reference for. I bet you could pick out which ones I had issues with, too. 🙂

Some pages I’m not proud of. AT. ALL.

I’m hoping this year is an improvement over last year. I don’t want to be too obvious or cliche and I’m thinking a ban on references might be in order! The sketchbook also needs to include the “junk” drawings and not just the final ideas. All that white space is uuuuuugly! ~~Oh, did I forget to mention that I put all the drawings up on the site? Yep, they’re there – every single one~~. ~~Give me another day and the “junk” will be up too. 🙂~~ (**UPDATE: The sketchbook page is temporarily down. Back soon!***)

Inktober and Drawlloween are two more reasons that October is my favorite month! If you follow the hashtags you can check out all the cool drawings that come out this time of year. Come November 1st, I’ll be posting the next section of my October sketchbook – for better or worse!

Thanks for reading! Until next time!

October 1, 2018
Roadblocks Don’t Have to be Roadblocks

Life has weird ways of interfering with the things we want to do. Roadblocks happen all the time. Sometimes they seem to be everywhere, sapping energy, joy, and inspiration. Ugh. That’s a bleak start to a blog isn’t it? But it’s kind of how the last week or so has been. Lots of effort (or maybe not nearly enough?) and not much to show for it. This first paragraph is even a stretch. I’m saying I’m sorry now because I know it’s not my best.

So what can we do when are just – blah?

I can tell you that a couple of days ago I was so tired I just lumped on the couch and binged a few episodes of Attack on Titan, occasionally glancing over at my sketchbook on the drafting table. It was a horrible feeling, like I just couldn’t handle getting up to do even a *little* bit of sketching. I knew physically I was capable, but it didn’t happen. I fell asleep early and woke up feeling… not at all better. Yeah, I know. You totally feel bad for me now. 🙂

Atsushi Nakajima referenced straight from the Bungou Stray Dogs manga!

This next day was different though. As icky blah as I was feeling the following evening (my only time to work on any art during the week), I did a little drawing. It was just a bit of work on a drawing of Atsushi Nakajima (Bungou Stray Dogs) I started the week before, but it was something! And I think that’s the key to these types of roadblocks – or at least part of it. Something is better than nothing. A squiggle, a few lines, a small start – something that could be built on later. Or not. But it’s something!

Got a bit more done on Atsushi. One more sitting should do it!

There’s something important to remember, though, and it deals with part two. We all have those days where stuff doesn’t get done for one reason or another. Sometimes being tired is a perfectly ok excuse! Feeling bad about it doesn’t change anything. Guilt doesn’t make roadblocks go away – moving on does. It can start with a small bit of progress on a tough day or by taking a little time to check out mentally. Neither one of those things is wrong!

The blah isn’t totally gone, but taking a day off from work definitely helped. Just thinking about having the better part of a day with the house to myself was super relaxing! The night before I worked on a bunch of jewelry and poured a painting and still had a little time to play some video games with my kid.

The day off is being spent working on whatever I feel like working on because it’s right now and the first thing I’m doing is finishing this blog post. I plan to finish Atsushi later this morning, but I’m not going to beat myself up if I don’t. Maybe I’ll take a nap or do a little painting. Whatever happens after I hit publish, I’m moving on from those roadblocks.

Thanks for reading! Until next time!

P.S. If you want to see my stuff as soon as it’s done, check out my Twitter. Thanks! You’re the best!

***UPDATE***

September 30:

I finished it. 🙂

Atsushi Nakajima is all done, but this won’t be the last time I draw him!

September 28, 2018
I Learned a Lesson… (Figma Archetype)

The case of the fake Body-Kun (FBK) figures has been resolved! Sort of. I ended up having to ship them back at my expense for twice the cost of the original shipping. I didn’t like it, but I’ll get most of my money back. Perhaps I can (begrudgingly) justify it as the cost of a lesson learned… HOWEVER, being the glutton for punishment that I am, I ordered another set of figures! It’s okay this time, really! They are authentic Figma Archetype figures and they are SO much better!

Archetype:He and Archetype:She just chillin out!

There was a deadline for sending back the FBKs, but the Figmas arrived just in time to do a comparison. The poor quality of the FBKs was even more obvious when they were next to the Figmas. It’s all covered in my unboxing video here:

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vinVTVhS-o0[/embedyt]

Even more fun was playing with the figures afterward! The Figmas were less expensive than the FBKs, but they also came with zero accessories and not as many extra hands. That was not a dealbreaker at all since I’d rather have a few pieces that are high quality than a bunch of low quality junk. It does mean that I’ll have to be creative in finding props for the Figmas, so the first place I looked was my kid’s toy box!

There was a Power Ranger sword and a gun from one of the action figures in the action figure bin. Sadly, both were too big for the figures’ tiny hands. What more than made up for that was the slightly forgotten dinosaur set hiding under the bed! There were rocks, trees, and dinos of all sizes. I grabbed a couple of tanks, a monster truck, and some finger puppets – all in the name of seeing how good these figures really are!

The dino scene came first. The dinos on hand were too small for the figures, but the point was really to see if they would sit on the dinos without any help. They definitely did and I even got them to look half-way passable as a reference. That is, if you like giants on dinosaurs. Or people on tiny dinosaurs. Before taking it all down I put the Archetype:She on a monster truck and sent it at the Archetype:He still on a dinosaur. She didn’t stay on, but it was still fun! She even stayed in the position I put her in.

RAAAAWWWWRRRR!

After this it was time to put them on tanks! It took several tries to get the tanks to hit each other, but with every attempt the figures stayed perched on top – at least until the collision! I can also confirm that they will stand up on their own and can even handle a little extra something.

They’re wearing finger puppets almost as big as they are!

I swear, I WILL use them for drawing references. I’m also going to hit the dollar store and see if there’s anything floating around there that might make a good prop. If you have an idea or something you want me to try, let me know!

Thanks for reading! Until next time!

UPDATE!!

Things with PayPal and the fake Body Kun dispute did not end well. Not only did Canada Post lose my package, but it couldn’t be located and I didn’t insure it. Doh! Since I couldn’t prove to PayPal that the fake Body Kun company received the item (even I though I showed that it shipped), they ruled that I couldn’t get a refund. So I’m out the cost of the figures, the cost of sending them back, and I don’t even have crappy Body Kun knock offs to keep making fun of.

I tell everyone that ends up in the same boat as me to dispute with PayPal and report the company as a scam. It probably won’t make a difference, but sometimes raising a little hell can be cathartic. If I could go back I would have just kept the figures and turn them into a project to expose a company that amounts to a drop shipper for Chinese knock offs. I’m totally not still bitter about the whole thing…

To make myself feel better I order what I’m pretty sure is an authentic Body Chan. We’ll see what happens. 😀

She should be arriving any day now, but in the meantime enjoy these other figures I found. They’re pretty interesting. 🙂

Another Update!

You can get legit figures (Body-Kun AND Figma Archetype) on Amazon. Just pay attention to the store you’re buying from!

September 21, 2018
Confession Time!!

I’ve been a One Piece for a long time now. There. I said it. Not that it’s really admitting to anything, but I remember the days when liking any anime was a particularly nerdy thing. I guess that’s hard to shake… I remember watching Sailor Moon after school (as a teenager) and if anyone came home early I immediately turned it off because no one could ever find out. Looking back, I don’t know why I cared.

But that’s not the point of all this. I recently had a pretty serious realization. I’ve been drawing since I was a kid (that’s not the realization). That’s n years of experience playing with various media and styles. Up until a few weeks ago, I had never – not once – drawn anything in an anime or manga style. Not really sure why, but it just never occurred to me. Maybe I was perfectly happy just taking it all in!

Not too long before that epic realization, I had already started playing with the style. A book was totally necessary (because I like having a physical reference) and I started drawing along with the examples. I was bored after a few pages, but still flip through it here and there, just like all of my other art books.

I know it’s easy enough to find references for free online, but I like books!

So I have some quick doodles of floating heads with different expressions, some from the book and some from my brain. Some are sober art, some involved *a touch* of wine.

Can you tell which ones are from the book? Oh, and I can totally draw figures. For realsies! I just like faces…

I got bored with that, too. Have you noticed I get bored easily?? 🙂 The only thing is I don’t know if I was really bored with it or uninspired or worse – am I just not creative? At this point it made sense to start drawing from my favorite anime and manga characters, but it’s not creative if it’s copying, right? But the copying can lead to ideas, right? And who’s to say what’s creative and what’s not? *sigh* In the future I might reusing part of that first paragraph: Looking back, I don’t know why I cared.

At first I figured I’d start drawing some characters and they’d never see the light of day because they don’t fit in with anything else I’m currently doing and that. is. STUPID. Here’s the first few.Luffy from One Piece was first. He’s my *second* favorite from that series, but he’s pretty simple to draw. It was a nice warm up and I got to remember the subtle differences in how he looked pre-timeskip.

He’s having a serious moment, ok?

Who’s my all-time favorite? Zoro. Always has been and always will be. I fangirled over Law for a short time because lots of us did (and still do), but Zoro will always be my favorite. As someone who can get lost making only right turns, I guess I can relate to the guy. He was the next one I drew (obvs).

Floating Head Goggles Zoro. <3 I also drew a girl that was supposed to have the same expression as Luffy. Success?

The face came out a little too thin for Zoro and the floating head look isn’t a good one. The paper in that sketchbook is also total garbo (it’s the “junk” book). Now I have sketchbook dedicated to anime characters and guess who’s on the first page?

Maybe I’ll add some floating heads across the bottom… (no I won’t!)

I don’t want to flood entire sections of my sketchbook with just one character or one anime, so next up was Dazai from Bungou Stray Dogs, because Dazai. 🙂

I did a little extra shading because I like to shade. And Dazai has his dramatic moments, so he deserves it. 🙂

And that’s about where I’m at right now. It’s been a busy few days (excuses, I know!), so I haven’t had much extra time. Either puck or Guts from Berserk will be next. In the meantime, and in the interest of full disclosure, please enjoy some pages from my “junk” sketchbook! (I’m going to go hide in a corner now).

Eyes and a couple of profiles from the book, followed by nonsense.

Nonsense, followed by eyes!

The face on top was already on the page, so I sort of based the other faces on it kinda?

I drew a bunch of mouths and lips. I still draw lips based on some stuff from a book on drawing comics. Then some emotions. Oh, the emotions!

Don’t ask what’s going on here. Maybe the face on the left side says it all. Honestly I think it was one of those days that I wasn’t really feeling it. We all have them. 🙂

Want to see more? Have a request? Let me know! @createm0de

Thanks for reading!

September 16, 2018
I Made a Mistake… (Body-Kun Fakes)

I like to think I’m pretty careful when it comes to buying stuff online, but I can also get a little impulsive. Because of that, I found myself in a small predicament all because I saw something shiny on Instagram. If you’ve ever taken a drawing class, there’s a good chance you had to sketch one of those nondescript wooden mannekins that sort of, but not really, look like people. It’s tough to get them into any sort of natural position, but for a basic subject to sketch, they’re pretty good.

A happy little family of drawing references!

That being said, I’ve been looking around for quite some time for an alternative – something that is more natural that I can look at in real life. Picture references are fine, but it’s different than sketching from life. Odd little knick-knacks around the house are great for a challenge, but at the end of the day I really like to sketch from the human figure. So when I saw an Instagram ad for Body-Kun figures, it looked like the most perfect solution ever! The site they were (ARE) being sold from is sketchy (the first red flag), but I ignored that for this perfect thing that was the answer to all my sketching reference dreams. The projected delivery time was 3-4 weeks due to high order volume. That was red flag number two.

Seems legit?

I received tracking information about a week after the order was placed, but it didn’t budge after that. During that time, I did the research I should have done before placing the order. I found instances referencing that exact site (and others) where poorly made knock-offs were being sold.

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/bodykun.com

How to tell if an S. H. Figuarts Body Kun/Body Chan is fake …

Bodykun.com: Has anyone bought a Bodykun from here …

So What’s Real?

The real product is made by Bandai S.H. Figuarts and they are not for sale just anywhere. There are certain retailers that sell them and they are not available all the time. If you aren’t getting one of those, you most likely are not getting the real product. There’s even a handy post on DeviantArt that shows the differences between the real and the fake Body-Kun figures: https://www.deviantart.com/lauraramirez/journal/Edit-BODY-KUN-REVIEW-Very-disappointed-703049537

It Took So Long…

Once the order hit the four-week mark, I contacted the company to see what was up. They said the item was backordered and I would have it by the following week. I immediately checked my tracking info again and it was gone. Big, fat, red flag number three.

I let a few days go by and decided I wanted nothing to do with any of it, so I contacted them again and requested a refund. Of course, they said the order was on the way and therefore couldn’t cancel. So I turned to PayPal, filed a dispute that I didn’t received the order, and the company replied that it was on the way. I replied that I would reject the package, at which point they would have to give me a refund, right? Sure enough, the following Friday when I was out of town, the package showed up. When did the tracking update? After the package showed up.

So now what? Well, I escalated the claim with PayPal to “item not as described” or whatever they call it. Then, for the sake of documentation, I did an unboxing video! I mean, I HAD to open them at that point to see if they were really as bad as I thought they would be. Spoiler alert: they were. In fact, I’d say they exceeded expectations on that front. The Body-Kun fakes are now sitting in a plastic bin awaiting their fate.

This pretty much captures how I feel about these. I really wanted to like them.

Depending on what PayPal does or doesn’t do, I might get a refund, I might have to send them back, or nothing happens at all. I’ll definitely keep you updated!

Don’t be like me – don’t buy junk from Instagram ads. 🙂

***UPDATE***

I bought more, but on purpose this time…

September 11, 2018