1 month ago
If you’re around any of these cities, you should check this out and see if you can find my sketchbook! Love the idea of a traveling library. However I won’t get to see my work again until September when it rolls through Austin.
Should’ve made scans for myself but maybe next project. Yup, next project.
6 months ago
I have 7 pages left on my sketchbook project…
These are the hardest 7 pages eva!
6 months ago
Updates:
Nothing exciting happening in my life right now. Let’s see…
- Still decorating my home. She’s coming along nicely and I’ll probably take pictures soon.
- I’ve been working a lot. It’s not stressful so I haven’t necessarily been upset about it. Work hard now, do cool stuff later.
- I’ve been avoiding friends. I don’t really know why. I didn’t get to do anything on my birthday so my friends tried to plan something for me on Sunday but I just avoided their calls. I feel bad about that but I just haven’t been interested in hanging out with anyone. Maybe because it’s cold or maybe I’m tired of being 20-something and all that comes with it. It’s a boring time, nothing like on TV or in movies. But of course, I knew that.
- While packing away things for my move, I put my Mamiya out in my parents’ garage where some of my other things were. My mom donated it. It’s gone. I traded a Nikon zoom lens for it a couple of years ago through Craigslist and I’ve taken a lot of great film shots with it. I really liked how easy it was to use. It was heavy but it was always worth it. I don’t even know if I’m angry. It feels like sort of a setback is all. I had always wanted a film camera once I started learning more about photography. It helped me to continue learning. Now I feel like I have to start all over. It’s just stuff, just things, but it’s things that I’m trying to use to get somewhere.
- In other creative news, still working on my sketchbook project. I feel like I still have a lot of blank pages but I’m on my way there. I have a lot of hope that I’ll finish it.
- Reading Nadja. Trying to challenge myself when it comes to different books, so even if I end up not liking it at least I tried a surrealist book for once. I’ve heard time and time again that a way to become a better writer is to READ, READ, READ. And to read everything. So I’m trying something new.
- Two great books I’ve read recently were by author Octavia E. Butler, a Black Sci-Fi writer. In her collection of short stories, Bloodchild, there is an essay in the back about writing. And in essence she says that it’s not about talent or even inspiration. It’s about habit. That if you just persist, you’ll eventually get there. This was important to me because I like to use tumblr as a inspiration scrapbook. There are a lot of great artists, writers, and pretty images online. But just clicking “like” or “reblogging” doesn’t make it permanent in your mind. It’s great if you can act on that inspiration immediately but it’s important to keep acting on it. To keep going. It’s hard sometimes to get off of work and write in my journal or do some doodling in my sketchbook. However, I can’t expect something to come to me through inspiration or a natural talent. I have to work at it. The essay was called Furor Scribendi - A rage for writing. I think that’s enough said.
That’s my thrilling life. Still without internet and I would disconnect my iPhone if I didn’t need it for work and such. Perhaps I’ll just start turning it off for most of the day. I’m trying to get back to somewhere. I don’t know what to or where exactly but I’m trying to get back there.
6 months ago
Trying my best to come off as sincere in my drawings & then I feel a little silly afterwards. Partly because I can’t really draw, mostly because it’s kitschy. I guess I’ll grow to like it since I don’t want to rip up my pages in the sketchbook. (Taken with instagram)
One of my favorites I’ve done so far. Based off of the Yoruba tribe proverb: if I am tall it is because I stand on the shoulders of my ancestors. Can’t wait to scan these and fully share all I’ve done with my sketchbook project. (Taken with instagram)
8 months ago
Still working on the 3rd picture for my sketchbook. I don’t think I meant to make it a story but it’s turning out that way slightly. This will be penned in and made a lot better but I’m glad I’m still working on it. This is based on a picture I took so I’m doing my best to make it different from the actual photo. Getting back into drawing has made me realize how little I use my imagination these days and if this project is supposed to be fun, I’m going to have to turn on the light in the ol’ attic.
I used to draw a lot as a kid and thought I’d grow up to be a children’s book illustrator. I made homemade individual Valentine’s Day cards for all 15 students (and the teacher) for my 3rd grade class. My mom let me stay up late so I could finish it. I made a book for my best friend across the street. The Best Friend Book, which I worked on for longer than an hour, was my gift for her. Just drawings of us being best friends, ha! It meant a lot to make something for someone from what I thought was my true talent. And it just made it easier to tell a story.
Then it all became about competition and someone telling me they were better than me at drawing like in middle school. So I stopped. It stopped being fun. And I just left doodles in the margins of my spiral notebooks. It became less natural to me because I was stopping myself from really drawing. It makes me sad to think how much better I could be at drawing today if I kept at it but I guess it’s never too late to start. Honestly, this picture looks a lot like how I used to draw as a little kid so I guess I’m just starting over. And I’m starting over in the best place, when it used to be fun. The process has felt more organic the more I go at it. I want to see what I can do and I can’t wait for the finished product!
8 months ago
So to prepare for my Sketchbook Project, I checked these three books out from the library for inspiration. I received my cute little Scout Book like 4 days ago but I picked out my theme for it about a week and a half ago. My theme is I Remember You. Now I know the project suggests that the theme is just a starting point. It’s not there to hold me down. But I think the theme I picked is so perfect for the ideas that I have that I really would like my sketchbook to embody this feeling of remembrance. I want to chronicle a lot of this summer’s and past summers’ events in my life. And being that the sketchbook tour starts in April of 2012, what a great way to launch the season.
I have to admit, I felt really lost at first and I thought to myself why did I even sign up for the project. I can’t really draw & my work will totally fail in comparison to what others are doing. But then I remembered that this project is for me and if I keep that in mind, I’m sure it will go smoothly. I want this to be fun. I have until the end of January to complete my sketchbook and hopefully I’ll have time to share with y’all all the work I put into it. Until then, here is where I’m starting. I’m so excited!
The books:
- An Illustrated Life by Danny Gregory: a cool little peak into artists’ and designers’ sketchbooks that are often very private.
- The Art of Jaime Hernandez: I actually had two friends at two very different times in my life introduce me to Love & Rockets. Though I’ve never read all of the comics, I have really enjoyed the ones I’ve picked up. This book is sort of a history of Love and Rockets with some work that’s never been seen before. I really like illustrated stories. I never wanted to make comic books but I did want to grow up to illustrate children’s books. I guess I just went the way of comics to get a better idea of that little kid dream. Two years ago I read a cool biography of Jack Kirby and of course as a young girl, I really liked Daniel Clowes. Obvious reasons. In the past few years I have been introduced to Kate Beaton, Art Spielgelman, and Frank Miller. It’s a select few and I’m not a huge comic book geek but I’m always down for some good storytelling.
- The Drawing Breakthrough Book by John Hastings: A lot of how-to drawing book bore me to death, which leads me to believe I’d rather take an actual drawing class, but this one has good exercises and is pretty simple to follow. I wouldn’t say it’s for someone who wants to learn to draw from the ground up but it is good for us doodlers who need a little push in the right direction.
8 months ago
Look what I just got! My official sketchbook for The Sketchbook Project 2012 arrived. My theme is “I remember you”. So excited to get started (Taken with instagram)
8 months ago
So I just signed up for this project that I thought was pretty worthwhile. I was inspired by this zine-makin’ dude who also signed up for it. I’ve enjoyed the work I’ve seen by him and I thought to myself, how does he do it? And it must be that he just gets involved. I keep freaking out over stuff I want to do & maybe the problem is that I’m starting off too big. I’m still going to do those big things, probably sooner than I originally thought. But the little things matter too. So it’s time to start a new project, bring out the camera, get our book club going again and maybe sign up for a class. Let’s see what happens!
(via The Sketchbook Project)
