Tag: markers

End of November?

End of November?

by ehueston ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

How did this happen? Almost at the end of 2020 already? Or finally here? It depends on the day haha.

November has been busy. It is that time of the year where I need to find sneaky ways to show that I am doing work without showing the work that I am doing. Holiday season usually has me busy working away on things that need to be kept secret for a little while longer. That’s ok, the new year will keep the holidays going a little further while I share all of the updates.

One thing that November brought me, probably the most dangerous thing of all, was the awareness of subscription boxes. Now, I have seen these out in the world before, in all shapes and sizes. I had been on email lists that offered them with little challenges to encourage me. But before, when I wasn’t creating as much I felt that they might be wasted. Now, I am creating so much more!

Right after MAX, I received an email from Marker Universe. I have been on this email thread so long that I don’t even remember how I got on it. They sent a reminder that their November boxes were still in stock. They send out their boxes with a challenge to create something using just the contents of the box. Normally a stressy proposition for when I was out of practice, but now that I was on a roll, this sounded a little more appealing. So I bought the box.

Now we all know how this works, show interest in a thing on the internet, have every similar things offered to you through Facebook, searches, Instas, etc. So I was naturally flooded with all kinds of art subscription boxes. The Marker Universe November box would take some time (it was in a new shipping location in CANADA a couple of times), so I took some time to see what else was out there. I found Sketchbox next. What I liked about this was the variety that was offered. It’s not just markers (although I do love my markers), but each box would have a colour coordinated style or theme of some sort (watercolour, ink, marker). I like this a lot. I am a sucker for a new art supply, and I think that this is a more realistic way to try things out, rather than buy a whole set of somethings that you don’t like using in the end.

Sketchbox had a few past boxes available for sale. At this point I had a few weeks before any orders came in, so I bought three past boxes to see what they were like. By the time I had those opened and used, I would have the Marker Universe and my first mystery Sketchbox in hand. As I should have known with shipping in 2020, it didn’t work out that way. I had all three boxes that I would open one week at a time, then my Marker Universe showed up one week into that, that’s four now. Now my December box will be on its way, and I have a holiday Sketchbox under the tree (I am trying to open it closer to the holidays), and I am almost overloaded haha. Not a bad problem to have haha. This is exciting!

I am trying to take my time though. I don’t want to open a new one until I have created my piece from my last opened one. I want to give the tools their time. It’s been great. There are a few tools I have received so far that I have been meaning to try, like watercolour markers and Chameleon markers. This is a great way to get introduced to them and see how they fit into, or can improve, my style.

The challenges prove to be, well… a challenge. Limitations are great, and force creativity, but I always want to pull back to what I have been doing. Also, breaking into new tools, although fun can be a unique experience, am I using it right? Luckily, Sketchbox has a pile of videos to accompany the boxes to show the tools in action if you need a hand. And the internet is full of helpful things. It’s great though because I can learn so much more, apply my style in so many different ways, and more importantly challenge my style through these little pieces.

I think that the combination of these boxes and the Inktober weekly prompts will really help to keep me going well into the new year. I would definitely recommend these kinds of boxes for anyone who is looking to expand their hobby or even learn a new hobby. There’s boxes for everything! You just need to find the right one for you.

Inktober 2020!

Inktober 2020!

by ehueston ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I am so happy that I decided to participate in Inktober this year. It was so much fun. Getting back into drawing everyday again has been so therapeutic and seeing the growth in just that short time is so satisfying.

With something like this I normally reach a point of burn out, find that I am frustrated that I still have to do my sketch that day, or run out of ideas. The quality and motivation usually suffer. That didn’t happen this time! I think having the prompt list in advance let me ponder the ideas to see what I could come up with. Sometimes the prompt worked first, sometimes I had a completely separate idea that happened to work with one of the prompts. Sometimes I just gathered a pile of new ideas to put out when Inktober was all done. It was a lot of fun to experience.

It didn’t hurt either that I liked each sketch better than the last one. It’s easy to be discouraged with a project when the sketches aren’t coming out like you had hoped. Each sketch worked out though. Almost always, they were different from what I had initially pictured, but usually for the better. All of your responses and encouragement along the way really kept me going too. It’s fun to see how different ideas hit out in the world. For instance, you all LOVED the “Buddy” Rubber Duck. I felt it was a good idea, but you all freaked out! Thank you 🙂

I try to let my sketches do their thing. Letting the sketch pull itself together usually results in something that I like a lot better than if I tried to force it into something else. For example, the “RIP” prompt, my mind went from rip to tear to tear, so I was drawing an eye. I set out to do something realistic and shiny with the tear, but the shape screamed zentangle opportunity to me. So I tried it. The contrast in this sketch has opened the flood gates! Combining a few styles I have worked with in the past seems to be the key to what I might have been missing. I can’t stop now!

Another helpful factor was the convenient placement of Adobe MAX right at a point where I might normally get a little discouraged or frustrated, even though none of that was in sight. The creativity talks at MAX really encouraged daily sketch work, or at least work in what you do, and this lit a fire to keep going.

This is something that, as you all know, I have been trying to achieve: a daily illustration/creative output. I have been creating everyday, but in a more scattered way. I have tried many different things to get things rolling but none really stuck. With Inktober, I posted immediately that I would do it, holding myself accountable, took any voice in my head that said “You won’t do this!” and turned it into fuel, and never wavered once.

I do really want to keep up with the daily creative work. As I mentioned last week, I am overflowing with creative ideas and I can’t get them out fast enough. A daily post should hopefully keep me moving. Thank you so much to all of you who interacted with me on the socials during all of this, you really kept me going and I hope you’ll stick around to see what’s coming next. If there’s anything you’d like to see please let me know and I’ll use that for my prompt that day 😀

Happy November everyone!

Circus Inspiration

Circus Inspiration

by ehueston ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

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On Friday I went to my first Cirque du Soleil show, Corteo. It was amazing! The acts, the costumes, sets, visuals, everything blew my mind. I loved it so much that I bumped today’s original post in favour of this one.

All of the fantastic visuals really inspired me to get my tools out and start drawing, painting, anything I could do! It also gave me a little push to revisit a long neglected, much missed project that I will be posting about later in the year.

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In short, if you haven’t seen a Cirque du Soleil show yet, do yourself a favour and check it out. I know I am thoroughly bummed about all of the shows that I have missed so far, now that I know what I have been missing.