September Chat
What’s in this month’s issue:
Preparing for September + September Mood Board
Art Updates
Mining past work for fresh inspiration
Brush Freebie
Basic life updates
A video for the road
It’s September and while I’m ready for that chilly fall goodness, I want to take my time and enjoy what September has to offer. When I think of September, I think a lot about vibrant yellowish greens. Things are starting to change over for the next season, but there’s still one foot back in the previous season. I think it can lead to some really nice chances to play with color and perhaps come up with some less traditional fall palettes. While thinking about September, I put together this little palette of colors for myself to use and you’re welcome to use it too!
To that end, I’ve created another Pinterest board. Last month, I focused on portraits, but this month, I really wanted to capture that September feeling. I’ve tried to include a good variety with some landscapes, clothing, color palettes and general September vibes. If you’re ready to dive into September, check out the board!
This month, I spent a lot of time working on client projects. It’s always difficult to keep a balance between making my own work and also you know, making work to earn a living. With client work, it’s not really possible to show and tell much about what is going on, but to give you a little bit of an idea of what it looks like behind the scenes, I’m currently working on one large project with 50 color illustrations and sketching out the cover for a book where I’ve already completed the interior illustrations. Additionally, I’ve got two more books waiting in the wings. I’m just waiting on briefs to come in so I’m feeling the pressure to make sure I am getting through my current work so that I don’t end up in a tight spot with too much happening all at once.
Even though I have client work I need to do, it’s also very important to me that I keep a balance and make time for myself to still make my own things. This is what keeps me a happy illustrator. Drawing for clients is work and so I need to build in some fun and play as well or else I become a joyless illustrator and that’s bad for everyone. That brings me to my next topic, mining old art for new inspiration because sometimes when I’ve got a lot on, I don’t have as much time to get inspired and the easiest place to find new ideas is in things I’ve done before.
Mining Past Work for Fresh Inspiration
I’ve been thinking about several things when it comes to gaining new inspiration. Those are:
A Return to New Things: What new things did I do in the past that I forgot about and could try again?
New Twists: What did I make in the past that I liked and could try again with a new twist?
Old Themes: What themes did I use before that I could return to?
A Return to New Things
I made this Alice in Wonderland piece this past spring. Checking out the ground specifically, I went with a more abstract type of foliage and used different brush combos. I did this the one time, loved it and forgot about it. When looking at my work this summer, I asked myself what happened that I totally forgot about this new thing that I really liked? This led to me building out a background based on the Alice piece and then creating a new piece from that. I then continued this on into several new pieces.
Can you go back to your old pieces, find something cool you did, but forgot about and try making something new with those elements?
New Twists
In the fall of 2021, I made this illustration of a girl riding a fox through a very orange forest. I started thinking about that girl on that fox and was like, what if she wasn’t on a fox? What other animals might work together with their people? What would that even look like? That led me to one of my very favorite pieces, this girl and her bear. I also took the same girl and bear and tried them in a different scene and with a slightly different color palette just to see how that might work out, expanding that world and pulling even more ideas out of one thought. As a fun addition, the idea of a girl and her bear is nothing new here either. Way back in the early days of my art journey (this piece is from 2015), I had a warrior girl and her bear as two characters of mine. There was a basic story about the girl finding the little bear as a cub and them becoming best friends and working together. It just goes to show that even at the very beginning, that kernel of an idea was there.
Is there an idea from your past that you could expand on? Can you recombine characters, put them in a different setting, create additional family or friends?
Old Themes
I’m currently in the land of old themes. I’ve been wanting to draw more fairy tale type work. I think the reason is mostly that fairy tales include a lot of fantasy and I’m in the mood for that magical element at the moment. I also love the idea of twisting things around and giving the female characters some of their power back, rather than waiting to be rescued. I’m still working on this because it interests me, but it’s slow going as not every fairy tale excites me or inspires me and sometimes I just don’t feel like sitting down to read something so I can remember how the story goes! If you know any good ones, give me a shout!
It’s something I plan to continue in my work, but for now here are a few of those fairy tale inspired pieces. There’s even one that I wont be posting until September as I’ve made it for the upcoming #storybookseptember challenge on Instagram. I will be honest though, the other prompts on the list haven’t brought inspiration yet so I am not sure if I will participate in all of them or not.
Are there stories you love that you could illustrate? What about trying a book cover idea? Are there stories you’d love to see go in a different direction? What might that look like?
Brush Freebie
This month, I delved into something I’ve really wanted to learn for quite a while and that is making my own brushes. I’ve come up with the first brush that I feel comfortable letting other people use. It’s really an inking brush, but I use it for sketching. When I sketch, I like to have my lines come down really strong and that’s why I’m not really a fan of working with a pencil. I also find if I am working on details in a sketch, the pencil gets a little messy and I can’t clearly see what I am doing. For all of those reasons, I prefer the inking type brushes to start my work.
I’m not really sure how to best offer a brush for download so I’ve used gumroad since this is how I’ve gotten most of my brushes. I know that it gives the option to pay what you want, but please just put a 0 into the box. You should be able to download it and then import it into Procreate.
Basic Life Updates
So what am I up to? I’m still playing games. I haven’t finished Zelda: Skyward Sword or Stray. I promise I will! I’m also eagerly awaiting the release of Minneko’s Night Market on Switch. It’s promised for this year, so fingers crossed that it does come out before the end of the year! It looks very cute and like something that is right up my alley.
I also plan to finally see Ai Wei Wei’s art exhibit in Vienna. It’s been hard to find someone to watch Aaron so that I can get away for the day (his doggie day camp has become pretty popular, so there hasn’t been a spot for him to sleepover), but it looks like Sunday it’s finally going to fall into place. I mostly want to see the lego mosaics that are a part of the exhibit, but a friend from school told me that it was amazing so I’m excited to have a look. I also hope to find something exciting to eat while in Vienna. There are certainly more options than here in Villach.
Speaking of food, I started feeling a bit off over the last few weeks so I’ve been working to take better care of my nutrition, which means I’ve been cooking. I actually find cooking pretty stressful, so I don’t enjoy it. I’ve tried to take some of the stress out by becoming a master of the crock pot. So far, the best recipe I’ve made is a creamy tomato tortellini soup. If you have EASY recipes, please let me know and I can try them out!
Entertainment wise, I’m kind of over anything true crime at the moment. I need something a little more positive I think. I’ve been listening to Maintenence Phase, Lore (perfect for incoming autumn), Unexplainable and Every Little Thing. I’m also watching Sandman. I love everything Neil Gaiman and I am very much enjoying it so far.