Inktober: Behind the scenes

Inktober is well underway and while I'm posting my daily ink drawings on Instagram and Twitter, I thought it would be cool to show some of drawings that lead up to the final. This year, I've done a lot more pre-drawing than in the past; brainstorming, practicing reference, trying to work out all the bugs. There's a lot of work that goes into a "finished" piece of art, whether that's in pages of scrappy practice drawings or in years of study, failure, and learning. So while it's good to honor the pretty, final artwork, I think the process of getting there is worth celebrating too!

onwards and upwards,

Bethany

Rat Dragon (a break from Mermay)

Sometimes, in the midst of the general overwhelm of tasks and responsibilities that seem to define what it means to be alive, you get a bizarre little distraction. This week, I was supposed to be drawing mermaids, working on a painting commission, developing a web comic project I dearly hope comes to fruition, and surviving the onslaught of life. Clearly, there is no room for anything else. And yet, when this dragon idea plopped his smug  little self on top of one of my other projects, I shoved everything else aside and sketched him for pages, trying to figure him out. 

After lots of terrible drawings (more terrible than the ones pictured here), I decide he was a Rat dragon, that he was greedy, mischievous, bratty, and probably considered by most to be a nuisance, and that I totally loved him. 

Sometimes, a bizarre little distraction is just what you need.

onward and upward,

Bethany

Sketches from Hiatus: Random stuff

Last batch of hiatus sketches, most of which are pretty random. I think it's funny that I ended with cats, since that's where my hiatus sketches started. =^._.^=

onward and upward,

Bethany

Anxiety cat and a long expected adventure

Hello everyone! First off, an announcement; I will not be posting next Tuesday because...dun dun daaa...Jon and I will be at Walt Disney World!! We've been saving and planning for like, a year and a half, and now the fateful day is nearly here. 

If asked to describe my feelings about this vacation, I'd say I'm excited, terrified, and kind of overwhelmed. (Actually, at this very moment, I'm in denial about the whole thing, which I've found is a good way to keep from freaking out for as long as possible.) I really want to go to Disney World. In fact, I've never been to Disney World at all, so this is kind of like fulfilling a childhood dream. But, as someone who struggles with anxiety, planning and going on a vacation to Disney is not a walk in the park. (Actually, sometimes walking in the park is anxious, so maybe what I should say is that it's not like sitting on the couch watching Jon play video games!)

Last week, when the pre-trip anxiety first started flaring up, I made this doodle late one night.

It's sort of a scrawny, wall eyed, neurotic cat thing and did a pretty good job of personifying how I was feeling. 

Later on, I decided to explore the character further. 

I'm still in the "trying to get the character consistent" stage, so all the doodles are a bit off from each other, but I really like where it's going. It's decidedly awkward and not obviously cute, but still has some charm. And it has helped me do something constructive with my anxious feelings. Even if this character never gets used again, it's already done something good for me.

So again, no blog post next Tuesday. I am planning on posting some of our Disney adventures on my Instagram account, if anyone wants to follow along. I know that, for all the stress and planning and fears, it will be a really fun trip. And then I get to come home and relish the glories of my familiar routine, which is practically a vacation in itself. ;-)

onward and upward,

Bethany

12 Creative Days Challenge

First blog post of the year! I've decided to post on Tuesdays instead of Thursdays, in the hopes of getting a better weekly work flow. 

Back in December, my friend Nicole started the 12 Creative Days Challenge. The goal was to create something each day for the 12 days leading up to Christmas, with a new prompt each day. I joined in and drew something for each of the days (except for on Christmas, which just didn't end up happening), and it was a lot of fun! Since the challenge happened during Christmas break, I decided to focus draw things I wanted to draw, which turned out to be mostly sprite girls, foxes, and cats (big shocker there...) But drawing fun stuff was so refreshing! I think I spend so much time drawing things outside my comfort zone that I don't make time to draw stuff that's cute or fun. Definitely need to do that more this year!

Anyway, even though all my drawings on on my Instagram account, I decided it would be neat to post them all here! ^_^

Beside a new update schedule, I'm hoping to make a few other positive art/blog changes this year. Definitely looking forward to what 2017 has in store!

onward and upward,

Bethany

Post Inktober sketchbook

After the craziness of Inktober, it felt so nice to just doodle/sketch whatever I felt like in my sketchbook. These aren't the most ground breaking pages ever, but it was extremely therapeutic to draw them. I also did some skill building and a some exploration stuff for future projects. 

onward and upward,

Bethany

Pasta doodles

A few weeks ago, I found this super fun, lemon pasta at the grocery store; it was utterly adorable! 

After cooking it up and doing a customary food post on Instagram, I started wondering if there was anything else I could do with the pasta. Thus, pasta doodles were born! Playing around with drawings and 3D objects was something I'd never tried before and it was a lot of fun! 

I may try this again later with other 3D objects, especially when I need a bit of fun and whimsy in my life!

onward and upward,

Bethany

Gouache doodles

A few months ago, I decided to experiment with gouache paints to see if they would be fun/useful to work with. I bought a set, but then we moved and I really didn't get a chance to try them out. Well, now that things are (slightly) calmer than before, I decided to give the gouache a try on a few abstract doodles.

So far, it seems to handle a lot like watercolor, which is nice, because I know how watercolor works. It can go on thicker and darker than watercolor, though I haven't tried pushing it in that direction yet. You can also layer one color over another without getting a lot of color bleed and you can paint white directly on top of other colors! (This doesn't sound like a big deal, but with watercolor, you have to be super careful not to get color on any areas you want to be white!)

Gouache does have a tendency to dry quickly and stay where you put it. You can't really go back and pull up the dry pigment with a damp brush, like you can with watercolor. This makes getting an even wash over large areas tricky. But to be honest, I'm not super good at getting large, even washes with watercolor!

So far, I really like this stuff! I plan on using it in tandem with my watercolor paints, so they can each make up for the other's short comings. I have a lot to learn when it comes to painting, but I'm looking forward to working in this new medium more! ^_^

onward and upward,

Bethany