Tag: recommendation

Advice – Give the piece 10 more minutes…

Advice – Give the piece 10 more minutes…

by ehueston ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

For those of you who watch my livestream on a regular basis, I know that you will be tired of me talking about this.

This is one of the best pieces of advice that I have received about creating art, I use it all of the time, and if has saved more pieces than I can even count.

Whenever you want to give up on a piece, keep working for 10 more minutes.

Right away, don’t stop and come back to it later, because we all know that that won’t happen. Keep working on it. Work on a different part, a different layer, with a different colour… whatever you do, keep working on it! 9.8 times out of 10 you’ll see new life in the piece… at least that’s my experience.

Give it a try… let me know what you think!

Creativity – Use the Good Stuff

Creativity – Use the Good Stuff

by ehueston ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Use the stickers, the candles, the nice markers, the fancy paper! DO IT!

It’s that time of year where resolutions start clearing out closets, vitamins re-enter the diet and new habits make an entrance. One of my resolutions for this year is to use what I have, and use the good stuff!

We all have those things in our home. A fancy bottle of wine. The really nice candles and dishes. That extra special shirt. All for special occasions. My resolution is to use all of those things! Burn the fancy candle. Have a glass to the fancy beverage for any personal victory at all. Use the fancy things before they expire, don’t fit, or gather too much dust. You deserve it too!

One thing that I know a lot of us have is that pile of stickers without the perfect space to put them. They build and build, and we worry that we won’t be able to find the perfect place for them. What if they get ruined!

A few months ago, I took all of the stickers I had, and I took care of this issue once and for all.

I took the stickers, all of them, and I stuck them to random pages within my new notebook. I tried to spread them out, but didn’t get too worked up about perfection. I spread them out on different parts of different pages without overthinking it too much. I will be doing the same with the sketchbook I have on the go. Maybe these stickers will inspire or get incorporated into the illustrations that end up on the page!

Check out the reel here to see how it turned out!

Now I don’t have a pile of stickers losing their stickiness. They aren’t staring at me while I add to the pile. They aren’t stuck and forgotten, they are all there waiting for me as I work my way through the notebook and sketches. Now, it’s a fun surprise as I come across one with every page turn! They

This is one of my favourite solutions so far. Now I feel way less guilty about buying new stickers!!!!

How do you use your pile of stickers? Or your version of that pile of stickers?

2024 Wrap Up

2024 Wrap Up

by ehueston ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

With only a few hour left in the year, it’s time to look back on a very busy, productive and exciting year. As most of you know, this past year was the year I wanted to start pushing the studio a little harder and see where we could go. It was all about learning, growing, trial-and-error, and network building. It was a lot of hard work, it meant extra hours after my day job, tough boundaries, and juggling. In the end it all feels like it is paying off really well, starting off 2025 with a pile of momentum, plans and ideas.

The Markets

This year was my first attempt at markets and I have had so much fun. I started the year with three markets with The Mom Market London booked, and ended up doing a total of six markets at different venues. I can’t thanks Kayla of the The Mom Market London enough for her energy, encouragement and feedback, the people that I have met at her markets have been inspirational and will be great friends and market neighbours moving forward.
I also did a Book Fair Market where my bookmarks were a hit! I was also lucky enough to be chosen to be part of the Wildflower Christmas Market, and I could have done that one for days!
There are so many highlights when it comes to the markets. The people I have met, the experience I have gained, and the feedback. One of my favourite parts of the market is seeing the response to my work “out in the wild”. Unbiased opinions of the pieces that I have worked so hard on was beyond valuable in growing my portfolio. Everyone had great ideas of what gnome I should do next, what pieces they liked, and how they could incorporate the designs into their daily lives. I also received some ideas for where my pieces could be used in the community, kicking off the next steps in my 2025 plans!
If I could do markets all the time I would. These have been so much fun, and after my first one was out of the way, oddly stress free! I am so glad that I took this leap this year, and this will be something that I’ll be doing more of in the new year for sure.

The Tarot

Part way through the year, I finally kicked off a decade long percolating project. My tarot deck! I had this project laid out and planned for over ten years, but I was stuck on style and how to present them. When I was playing around with Firefly earlier in the year, I discovered that I already had my style ready to go. The stained glass/paper art combination would be perfect for these cards! A lesson in being patient, sometimes you just need that one piece to fall into place at its own pace.
I started these on the livestreams throughout the summer and we are making wonderful progress. I am thrilled to be working on a project that means so much to me. We will see where it goes, but the feedback so far has been amazing! Really, I just want to be working on them all of the time.

The Collaborations

Through my livestreams I have built a community of people who provide feedback and work together. There are a few individuals who have a work setup, and artistic approach that inspire me, or that I’d like to learn from. I’d participate in their livestreams, and ask questions, I’d research and discuss their approach. In the end, I simply reached out and said “Hey! Let’s collaborate!” Luckily DTM responded positively and we are now working together and collaborating.
Check out this project that we started this year. It will be in the layout of a Joker card, and will be the kick start to our next collaboration in the new year. We will be working together, but also including other artists to see how they would interpret our idea in their own style. A great development later in the year that will be a great start to 2025.

The Portfolio

In reviewing the year, one thing that jumped out to me was the volume of work that I had built while pushing the studio along. Looking at my table setup at the last market of the year, I realized that I had drawn a vast majority of the work this year. This was both overwhelming and invigorating at the same time. I did a count a few weeks ago, and in 2024 I more than tripled my Behance content. Meaning I have doubled the work that I did between 2020 and 2023, this year alone.
It was a lot of work but the base is now set and we have an even better kick off point for the year to come. There’s still a lot of work to come, don’t worry, but it will be coming from a place of less pressure and stress… hopefully.

Overall, this has been an amazing year for me in the studio, me with my friends and family, and me and Mojo. It’s insane to look back on all of the hard work, and to see how it is already paying off. I have been taking a mild break over the holidays here, but we will be off to the races next week, looking to avoid any lost momentum.

Thank you so much to everyone who has been here for the whole journey, joined in part way through, made a purchase, provided feedback, provided a like, a share, or an idea. I appreciate all of you and I hope that you will all stay on for the journey in to 2025!

Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year from the Hues & Tones Studio.

Fall Update

Fall Update

by ehueston ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

It’s getting to be that cozy time of the year where we are pulling out our sweaters, boots and cozy blankets. There’s also so many great ways to get into the mood this season. I have been sipping pumpkin spice lattes, working away in the studio, and I have a lot of wonderful fall and Hallowe’en products coming your way.

We have all kinds of cards, prints, stickers and new bookmarks in the shop this fall and I can’t wait to share them all with you. You’ve seen these ones already, but there are still a few more coming down the line. Make sure to follow to keep up with all things Hues & Tones this season.

New Product Alert!

We have a new product coming out for the market this month. Keep an eye on the socials and here on the blog to see what we have and where you can get one (or several) for yourself.

Where can you find me this month?

  • Market: October 12 at the Covent Garden Market in the courtyard from 3PM-7PM
  • Livestreams: Every Monday, 7PM EST on Behance, Facebook and YouTube.
  • I just finished my 30 Day Reel Challenge with the Mom Market. I had so much fun working through these videos. I’ll be putting my new skills to use moving forward. Check out Instagram and Facebook to see the reels I made and the ones I have coming up

What I am interested in this month

  • Going to start reading Dracula for spooky season
  • Started watching The Penguin on Crave – excellent start
  • Obsessed with Pumpkin Spice Werther’s originals
  • Made my own Pumpkin Spice Martini’s this week. A mix of Dark Roasted Coffee flavoured Vodcow and Pumpkin Spice liqueur from Junction 56, topped with a little Pumpkin Pie Spice. Solid recommendation.
  • Inktober is getting started on October 1 – check out the list on their website to follow along.
  • Adobe MAX also starts on October 14-16. There is an online element if you are unable to attend in person. Don’t miss out on all the new tools and features in your favourite Adobe products.

More exciting news!

For those of you who have been following my livestreams, you already know that I have started creating my own tarot deck! These are going to start going live this month!
Keep an eye on Instagram and Facebook to see how all of the cards are starting to come together. I can’t wait for you to see how they are coming together!

Project – More colouring bookmarks…

Project – More colouring bookmarks…

by ehueston ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Today we have the final set of designs for my market being revealed!

Here we have 3 new “colour-your-own” bookmarks ready for you to take home. All three of these designs were inspired by follower and user suggestions and things that mean a lot to me.

Read a little more on that inspiration here.

All of these bookmarks can be purchased here.

Creativity – Go With What Feels Creatively Strong

Creativity – Go With What Feels Creatively Strong

by ehueston ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Don’t force your creativity. What is inspiring you right now? Go with what you want to do rather than what you “should” do when you can. The end!

OK, ok, I’ll give us a little more.

In my day to day I like to have a schedule so that I can get a little bit of everything fit into a day. Work, home, studio, dinner, knit, read. BUT this doesn’t always come across in a productive way. Some days I really want to be knitting, and most I want to only draw all the things. You see where I am going with this.

I know that if I have a set time, let’s say an hour, where I am going to sit and read, but I don’t feel like reading… then that will be a waste of time. Or if right after work I want to be in the studio, but the creative juices aren’t flowing, how productive will that stare at the wall be?

One thing that I do know about myself is that I am happiest with a variety of options on hand. That way, there should always be something to do. If I don’t want to knit, there’s a sketchbook and reading book on hand. None of those fit? Maybe some social media updates or dishes to do (just kidding, I almost never pick dishes over a hobby – that’s a cry for help if you see it happen lol).

Even in my day job I think I have a pretty good balance. I can illustrate, or do some testing, if those don’t work I can organize files or clear out the inbox. If I was always doing one thing all day with no options for variety that would be rough.

Having this variety allows me to go with what feels creatively strong to me in any moment. I am going to draw a lot more, and with more confidence if I have an idea I am excited about.
This happened at work for me recently. I was tasked with coming up with a topic for a lunch seminar this month. I had a list of some things, but they all felt generic or buzz word-y. They were topics that hold a personal interest to me, but ones that felt a little played out lately (burnout, work-life balance, etc). I knew I could come with good content, but I wasn’t exactly feeling on fire about the whole thing.
Then I thought of how I could bring my own personal skills to my topic. I thought of all the things I do with a pen/pencil and paper in a day/week to help take care of me. As soon as that came to mind I felt like I wanted to work on the presentation, I had a dozen different ideas of how I could present the concept, all because the content was exciting to me.

Now, we don’t want to let things go too far the other way either. Don’t force it but don’t wait too long either. Keep a skill/idea/activity on the surface so it’s still in your mind to get it done. If you leave something too long, you will run into more frustration when your skills aren’t up to your usual standards because they have been idle for so long. Then you might not get back to it at all.

Try to listen to what excites you and when. Personally, I find my “get up and go” for personal projects is 2:00 in the afternoon. I get all my good ideas for my arts just after my morning coffee (if it uses its powers for good that day). Are you too tired to paint a masterpiece? Maybe fuel the creative juices and turn on some music. Are you excited to get an idea down on paper? Why force yourself to do some other creative thing first?

So what is feeling strong creatively to you right now? Do you have a minute to explore it? Let’s go!

*Disclaimer. I am in no way suggesting that you sacrifice work, relationships or basic adulting in favour of this method. Please feed yourself and do your job. Don’t get fired because of me, I hold no responsibility. The message above is meant to encourage productivity and excitement in your personal time.

Creativity – Defining a Good Idea

Creativity – Defining a Good Idea

by ehueston ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I have attended quite a few different talks done by the wonderful Lauren Hom. In one of these talks she broke down what she thought defined a good idea.

This is a place where I think a lot of people can get stuck, whether we are talking creativity or not. I know I have had a lot of ideas come to mind, I ponder them and toss them, because I fall into the “No one will like that” categories and don’t pursue the idea.

I am also back and forth on having too many rules on things, especially when it comes to the creativity we all have. But I do think that a few guidelines do tend to help me, especially when I am a little unsure about what I have in front of me.

Here is what Lauren had to say for her guidelines:

EASE – Does it feel easy?
ENERGY – What is my capacity to make this now?
EXCITEMENT – Does it excite me?
ENGAGEMENT – Have people asked me about topics related to it before? (something that comes up in conversation regularly)
EXPERTISE – Do I have tangible proof of expertise related to my idea? (ex. I love movies, and research all I can on them, so I have movie knowledge in my back pocket that I can apply to a project)

These guidelines can always be used for brainstorming or getting out of a creative slump too. I always make sure to write down when someone says “I need a shirt that says that”, or make note of what really pulls the creative heart strings, anything that excites me etc.

If you use that “good idea” then maybe you can turn it into a great portfolio piece or series for you to use.

There are SO many different ways that you can define a good idea. I just loved what Lauren included here as her collection of basic criteria. I found it accessible, adaptable and relatable.

What are your good idea guidelines? Which ones are you working through right now?

Creativity – Let Your Sketchbook Work For You

Creativity – Let Your Sketchbook Work For You

by ehueston ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

One thing I have Googled most frequently is “what do I show on my social media?”. Do I show finished work? Do I show work in progress? Do I show my mistakes? What do I do? The internet’s answer is… maybe. If I get anything clearer, I promise to share here.

I did participate in a session at MAX a couple years ago where Octavia Bromell was speaking. She encouraged the sharing of sketchbook pieces. She had a few great reasons too:

  1. Career development. Working in your sketchbook consistently will help you to find your style for some of your work. It will help you to build your skills and the execution of different styles of projects.
  2. Sketches do well on social. Personally I love to see people’s process. Looking through someone’s sketchbook really helps me to learn about them, their thought process, and their art development. As an artist I like to see what pieces went through to get to the final stage, and learn from that what I can.
  3. You can’t get hired for work people don’t know you do. A lot of artists have WAY more in their sketchbook than in their finished pile, I know I do. But you may have that perfect idea in there somewhere that someone has been looking for. If you don’t share it, that someone doesn’t know it’s there.

In my mind, the process is just as important as the final result. My favourite part of any project, especially the much bigger ones, is the research phase. But I am learning to really appreciate that initial sketch and development parts where I am watching the illustration develop into its own piece. Working on my own work has really allowed me to “let” my pieces take over and evolve as they go. Why not share that process? Your process is important too.

So while I still don’t know what you are “supposed” to share on social media. I think that Octavia makes a pretty solid case for sharing at least some of your sketchbook work. Even the bad stuff! You have to get that stuff out of the way to make room for the good stuff, making it an important part of the process too.

Creative Prompt: 100 Day Challenge

Creative Prompt: 100 Day Challenge

by ehueston ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

It’s that time of the year where everyone is working to build new habits, or at least break some old ones. It takes some time to build a habit and have it stick, so I propose the 100 Day Challenge for those of you who are up for it.

The 100 Day Challenge comes in all shapes and sizes, and can be used to help you build a habit you’ve been chasing. If you set a reasonable challenge and stick to it, this could be the first steps to getting you where you want to be.

As I mentioned, you want to be reasonable in your challenge. If you’ve never lifted weights before, maybe don’t start with lifting all the weights for 100 days in a row. If your goal isn’t reasonable for you to work with on a daily basis you could set yourself up for frustration and put you in a position that may have you leaving the challenge behind. As an example, when I did my challenge last year, I chose to work non-digitally at least once day for 100 days. This was reasonable because I was already creating on a daily basis, mostly digitally, and I had a lot of supplies available at home that I could use. I didn’t need to buy a lot of expensive supplies to get started.

How you execute your challenge is up to you too. This is meant to be a fun challenge, so if you overwhelm yourself the challenge will feel more like a chore rather than growth. I set myself a minimum of 20 minutes of creating with my hands everyday. Sometimes I would go over, sometimes I would be right on time, but I made sure to stick to the minimum of 20 minutes for it to count.

As I mentioned, this is supposed to be fun, not something you end up dreading doing. Be easy on yourself while you go through this. For example, if I was busy with work, course work, or just overwhelmed on a day, I didn’t pressure myself to do my 20 minutes. I skipped that day. Now I did try and set some boundaries on this, some structure helps me to keep things going. So if I skipped a day I wasn’t going to skip the following day.

If you give this a try, you’ll be amazed with what you see. At the end of my challenge I am not using my art supplies every single day, but I am getting a lot more ideas for them. I started a few projects that will keep me busy for a while still and that are inspiring more pieces like them. It’s not a daily habit, but it has adjusted my creative process and development.

What habit are you looking to build this year?

Whatever you decide to do, I hope that you enjoy this fun idea!

Creativity – Try!

Creativity – Try!

by ehueston ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I’ve talked about it a lot here, how people, myself included, will not start something because they are stumped somehow. They don’t know the style, the process, the tool, so they will just wait for that to happen before they get started. Here’s another idea… give it a try!

I saw a video years ago, so I forget the name of the person being interviewed for a proper credit (sorry), where a woman said that at the dinner table at night, her father, rather than ask “what did you do today?”, would ask “what did you fail at today?”. Not in a “how did you mess things up today?” way, but a “what did you try today?” way. If you didn’t fail at something, then you weren’t trying anything, or at least weren’t trying anything that is a bit more of a challenge for you.

When trying something new, or starting a big project, it won’t go smooth right away. To be honest, if it does, it isn’t challenging you and you may be getting less out of it than you think. If you don’t fail, you aren’t learning. If you don’t try something new, you aren’t growing.

“Trying is more than others are doing.”

Jose Andres (chef)

Artistic people didn’t get where they are on natural born talent, they tried things, failed A LOT, learned, and tried again. Over and over and over, and are still doing it today. What can it hurt? At very least you are going to learn how to do it differently next time. But you will never know that if you don’t try.

What did you fail at recently?