Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which I... Am Playing Catch-Up.

Let's be real, I struggle mightily with keeping up with... literally everything. I actually have done a bunch of crochet! I actually have drawn a bunch! I just really have not had the energy or concentration to write in the ol bloggerino.

It's October!

Which means that it's time for me to try and mostly flub an art challenge! This year, I've decided to take on #Cozytober!

Since I'm unhinged, I also wrote out a list of 31 animals and am slowly, carefully, trying to work my way through the prompts with a different critter for each day!

I... am not done with today's prompt.

Turns out it's very hard to draw a cabin.

"01 - Leaves (Colin the Wombat)"
Brush pen & pencil on sketchbook; 2023
[ANIMAL, PLANT]

"02 - Pumpkins (groundhog)"
Brush Pen & pencil on sketchbook; 2023
[ANIMAL, VEGETABLE]

"03 - Home (kangaroo)"
Pencil on sketchbook; 2023
[ANIMAL, LOCATION]

"04 - Scarf (lop-eared bunny)"
Brush pen & pencil on sketchbook; 2023
[ANIMAL]

Today's prompt was "05 - Cabin (beagle)", and I have only managed the vaguest of outlines, so faint that it never showed up on the photo I took lol.

I'll probably have it done by midnight. Maybe.

Regardless, I'm enjoying this challenge!

And I hope I have enough oomph to write more next week.

For now, though, I'm gonna get back to work on that beagle - if for no other reason than so I can show it to Z lol!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

In Which I Legit Forgot To Post This Earlier...

I finished today's sketch in the morning, and I've just... forgotten until now that I needed to post it lol.

Today's sketch is of a fairly famous beaver kit named Nibi, and it's based off of a picture that Z & I send back and forth to each other as something of an in-joke. it's not really a joke, it's just a fun thing we do.

I adore her little face in the original image, so I couldn't resist sketching her.

"Nibi" (aka "Hello!"); pencil sketch; 2023
[ANIMAL]

Nibi is such a cute little thing, but then, all baby beavers are precious chunky monkeys. They are the roundest, most adorable critters in North America and I love them about as much as I love opossums.

This picture almost didn't get sketched, by the way. We're having a lil silverfish problem right now, and one made its way onto the sketchbook. I did not notice this nearly inch-long creepy crawly until I had already carried it downstairs, set it on the kitchen table, and made myself coffee.

I sat down with the coffee, hoping to finish sketching (I had vague shapes lightly sketched, but no facial features), and the bug made itself known. I somehow avoided dumping my coffee and threw the sketchbook across the kitchen in surprise.

I'm not afraid of silverfish, I just wasn't prepared for such a robust specimen to appear next to my thumb so suddenly.

It was definitely not on the sketchbook anymore after its impromptu flying lesson, though, so I brought the book back, sat down, and drew.

I do want to do a few more takes on that cute pose, and I'd love to get a still from the video of her bunny hopping away from the dam and make a pic of her clicking her heels gleefully lol. Ironically, she has since made friends with an actual bunny, so I'll have to make a pic of that, too lol.

For now, though, I've got crochet to finish, pouches to make, and sleep to catch up on.

If you'd like to have a say in what I draw next week, feel free to send me a little donation on Ko-Fi with a message telling me what category (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Dedbert, Food, Location, Geometric, Word) you'd like to see, and I'll draw or paint something that fits the bill!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which I Have Been Very Busy

You may have noticed I missed both Monday and Tuesday. I promise I can explain.

I've been on the move a lot lately. Had some hangouts, had some St Paddy's Day celebrations, had a couple trips that were a ton of fun, and just basically enjoyed life without leaving much time for things like, say, crocheting, or writing, or even art.

So of course, being the procrastinator that I am, I did two little landscape sketches for today:

"Late At Night"; pen and graphite sketch; 2023 [LOCATION, VEGETABLE]

"Desertion"; pencil sketch; 2023 [LOCATION, VEGETABLE, ANIMAL]

I'm pretty disappointed that I haven't managed to write every night this week, but I knew it was a risk I was running when I realized I was going to run my social battery into the ground. I didn't really go anywhere on Tuesday or Wednesday, but boy was I tired on those days. Today I've felt less tired, but I'm still sleepy enough to not want to do a whole lot. I don't know if I'll write tonight, either. That would mean that tomorrow I'll need to write 400 words, which is a lot to ask, but I know I could do it.

I have so many ideas and plans for the coming months, but I'm very much hoping that at some point I can just sit in absolute silence for a few hours to recharge. Maybe tomorrow morning? Regardless, it's kind of embarrassing how little it really takes to wear me out.

And that isn't to say that I haven't been having an absolutely delightful time! I've loved everything about the various Friend Trips we took, the family meal, the various things we've done, etcetera! My social battery's just a little underutilized, so it needs a little longer to recharge than you'd expect.

So as for next week's Absolutely Going to Art Topic, I'll be doing something in the GEOMETRIC category! If you've got a category you'd like to see (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Dedbert, Location, Geometric, or Word), feel free to shoot me a coffee over on Ko-Fi with a message telling me which one you'd like to see! I might combine it with the Geometric image, or I might do it on its own - you never quite know what you're going to get!

That'll do it for me for now, though. I'm sleepy as heck!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which I Made Art!

This has been an eventful week. The storm knocked our power out from a little after 10pm to nearly 3am, and I don't handle power outages very well. I stress out because I don't like being cut off from my friends. That's the Millennial in me, I suppose. But yeah, the whole day was pretty wretched, and yesterday had me very anxious about the power because the wind was still high.

And yet, I still managed to do art! I was given a few prompts (Vegetable twice, Animal once) and I filled them!

"Roots"; ink sketch; 2023 [VEGETABLE]

"Bunnable 0.1" pencil sketch; 2023 [ANIMAL]

"Bunnable 1.0"; pencil & ink sketch; 2023 [ANIMAL]

"Bunnable 2.0"; digital art; 2023 [ANIMAL, VEGETABLE]

As you can see, I kind of got stuck on the bunnies this week lol! I love rabbits. Lop-eared rabbits are my favorites, and little loppy buns with pink noses are the best.

I used Krita to trace Bunnable 1.0, which I had scanned (which was a pain, the scanner did *not* want to work) and then I filled it in with color. Honestly, I think I've just been using the wrong brushes to trace in the past. I used a watercolor brush this time and I think it turned out well! I based the clovers all over the bun on a tablecloth my mother has, and I had a lot of fun working on it.

If you'd like to see me work on something, feel free to shoot me a coffee over on Ko-Fi and tell me what category you'd like (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Location, Dedbert, Geometric, or Word) and I'll work on that category! Sometimes, if I'm given one category and I can see how it would cross over with another, I'll combine it like I did with the Animal/Vegetable crossover for Bunnable 2.0!

As for next week's Guaranteed Category, we're looking at LOCATION, so I'll be doing at least one piece of art based on a location next week. What location will it be? Well, we'll just have to find out next week, won't we?

For now, I'm going to continue my new trend of getting ready for bed amazingly early and not falling asleep til about 2AM.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

PS:

"Lights Out, Dedbert"; Pencil Sketch; 2023 [DEDBERT]

There is text on the page I drew this on in my sketchbook. That writing reads:

"BC of course the power went out at 10PM on a Tuesday... 3/14/2023)"

At the bottom of the page, I scribbled:

"And right in the middle of work!!!"

Thursday Art Walk

 

This Week Has Been Weird

So I normally complain about how tired I am and how I can't sleep and wah wah wah, but man, this week has been * ~ * w E i R d * ~ *

I slept almost all day yesterday. Seriously. Got up at noon. Went to bed at like midnight the night before. Did the same last night and slept til nearly 10AM. It's snowing, so it's all quiet out there like I like.

Don't know what it is about taking care of a couple of very old, shockingly chill (though occasionally naughty/ridiculous) Jack Russels, but I've been helping out on Mondays & Tuesdays, and it has meant totally-zonked Wednesdays and barely-functional Thursdays every time.

Frankly, I'm okay with it. I have rarely slept so well.

Kind of annoying to miss out on a whole day of progress, but that's just life.

Speaking of progress, uh... not much has been made on that shawl. I've worked on it for a total of... less than 20 minutes.

I cannot be sorry about that when I've actually finished three separate pieces of art for you guys today!

"Side Eye"; graphite on sketchbook; 2023 [DEDBERT, ANIMAL]

This first image is a fun little sketch of our boy Dedbert giving a Look to a confused little squirrel. This was composed and sketched during coffee while the snow fell softly, right before the snow stopped, in fact lol! I love drawing little scenarios where Dedbert, who is actually only about the size of my head, is much bigger than other animals. I have a Beanie Baby nearly his size, after all...

"Independence"; Digital; 2023 [WORD] [GEOMETRIC]

Did I use the ol Red White & Blue to signify Independence? Yes. Did I also use the letters of "independence" to plot out the shape here? Yes. It's been a hot minute since I did any bubble art. This one was made in Krita with a few different brushes. Sadly, my 2-in-1 tablet computer croaked, so I did this using my XP-Pen and my normal laptop, which... doesn't always work out great for me. See, when I use Krita on the 2-in-1, it lets me draw around things without buffering. On my laptop, it buffers and that's why the lines are more jagged. It's very frustrating.

You know what isn't frustrating? This last piece:

"Mountaineer"; digital; 2023 [LOCATION]

Oh boy am I satisfied with the way this sky turned out! This is another blender/brush combo experiment and I'm thrilled with how it came out. Especially the way the colors are blended on the mountains. That's the blending stump on Krita used against several other brushes in multiple colors. The sky is all pens with the first wet blender in Krita. The water was made the same way. The trees are several brushes and pencils in shades of green blended down with the cotton bud blender, and the ground is one of the watercolor brushes with a pallet knife blender run around it.

I will keep experimenting with ways to blend colors and build depth, I think, because it's really fun to experiment.

All of these images this week were requested via Ko-Fi, so if you'd like a say in what I paint or draw next week, feel free to drop me a coffee over on Ko-Fi along with a message telling me what category you'd like (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Location, Dedbert, Word, Geometric) and I'll make it happen, no matter what life tries throwing at me. Come dogs or blizzards or insomnia, I will make the art!

Speaking of making art, I have been working on that manuscript, still. Today's word count was a whopping 365! That means that since last Thursday I've gotten 1077 words done. Not as good as some weeks (I missed a few days like yesterday, wrote less than 100 on others) but that's still more than my goal of 700 words a week!

And how about you guys? How have your creative projects been going? Have you guys been getting anything done? Are you looking forward to working on something artistic? I hope so!

As for me, I'm going to go back to bed - yes, I'm still sleepy and cozy and dopey. I'm okay with that. I got three pretty okay pieces of art and over 1000 words done this week. I did good.

And so did you.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which This Is Kind of A Catchup Blog

I'm going to be honest - I didn't draw at all this past week. Sorry. Mostly I have simply been busy and haven't made time like I thought I would. Probably after next week I'll have a better grasp on my art! I do, however, have a series of updates and one quick sketch to put out there for this week!

So, Monday.

I did do a bunch of crochet - in fact, since last week I've worked on that new shawl for almost 2 hours and 10 minutes! That means it's been a total of 5 hours, 8 minutes, and 45 seconds with a 2.75mm hook and lace weight yarn!

Yes, it's very meshy.
Also, yes, I've worn a small patch into the touchpad of my laptop.
That's life.

Now, as for Tuesday blathering, I went on some adventures with my guy and our friends on Valentines to have something of a Palentines Day filled with sushi, burgers, and fun. It was a fantastic trip, I ended up with a massive dark chocolate Kit-Kat, and we got to hang out with cute dogs.

All in all, it's been a fantastic week!

Also, the writing is going pretty good on my manuscript! I had a day where I did no writing (yesterday), but I made up for it last night. In total, I've written 1176 words since last week! And I've got a good idea of where the story is headed, too.

As for art...

I've been bitten by brainworms about a Weird Western idea I had way back in the day regarding a man who was made to look like a demon and had to wander around the desert trying to clear his own name.

Like a lot of story ideas I've had, it's grown up a lot since then, and now I think Devon "The Devil" Deepenham has a deeper well than I'd imagined.

Maybe I won't be as cruel to him as I've been to some of my other characters lately.

That seems unlikely, since the poor man is basically a Frankensteinian monstrosity who escaped an unscrupulous circus sideshow in the twilight of the Civil War...

Anyhow, here's a quick sketch I mocked up of his profile in about 10 minutes:

"The Devil"; pencil sketch; 2023 [ANIMAL]

Oh boy am I not happy with that. I need a lot more practice with profiles before I can get him right. His face is all scrunched up.

Then again, I only gave myself 10 minutes to crank that poor boy out.

I've got work to do with him, especially since I'd really love to figure out a simplified version of him to draw consistently.

He's such a delightfully visual idea.

Next week's looking to be a lot like this week, so I apologize for that, but hey, I'll keep trying to do art no matter what. I can't guarantee it'll be *good* art, though.

Anywho, that'll about do it for me tonight. I have writing to do, sleep to catch up on, and some cranberry/elderberry juice to sip like a fine wine (if you haven't tried it, try it, it's incredible). And if you want a say in next week's art, go ahead and shoot me a coffee over on Ko-Fi with a message telling me which category you'd like - Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Dedbert, Geometric, Location, Word!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which Art Was Made

Oh boy has today been a weird one. My cat had to go to the vet for a checkup, so of course she chose this week to be off her feed and a little barfy. Her appointment lasted less than 20 minutes, wherein the vet said "she's fine" and now she's eating again.  The dork.

But yeah, cat's fine.

So now I can focus on important stuff - like art!

I did draw every day this week, but boy were some of those sketches embarrassingly derpy (we're talking barely more than a pile of graphite spaghetti), so here's the best I did:

"Nyan"; mechanical pencil in sketchbook; 2023 [ANIMAL]

"RIP Mouse"; mechanical pencil in sketchbook; 2023 [ANIMAL]

"Scribbletree"; mechanical pencil in sketchbook; 2023 [VEGETABLE]

"Crowmouse" digital; 2023 [ANIMAL]

I'll admit, I drew the same subject matter twice because it was the weirdest thing I've seen all month. The crows we have around here have such an overabundance of non-prey food that I forget that they can and do hunt. I guess the mouse was too easy to resist for the crow who snagged him. Regardless, it was a fascinating series of events that nearly put me off my brie.

As for next week, we'll see if I can get seven decent sketches! I'm not gonna hold my breath, it'll take a lot of drawing practice for me to improve greatly.

I'm going to try anyway.

How are your guys' art projects going? Anyone have any art plans for February?

And if you want to have a say in what I draw, feel free to buy me a coffee over on Ko-Fi with a note saying which category you want to see (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Dedbert, Location, Geometric, Word).

As for me, I'm going to go obsessively watch my fellow Zelda nerds break down the Nintendo Direct trailer we just got for Tears of the Kingdom and then play a bunch of fun videos for my boyfriend.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

In which I Discover I must change my schedule...

 Don't be alarmed - when I say "change my schedule", I'm not talking about how often/what I blog about. No, I am talking about the order of operations I have throughout the day.

Currently, I wake up, have my coffee, get washed & dressed, and then set about the hard work of... trying to figure out what to do next. I always mean to do more than just crochet a bit and doomscroll, but somehow I always end up just doing that. And then I write in the evenings. I have been intending to also do art at night, which is when I usually feel at my most productive.

But I've never been a spectacular multitasker.

In fact, I'm rather terrible at performing multiple trained skills in the same time blocks.

So I will have to add something to my mornings.

I'm going to try, starting tomorrow, to sketch while I drink my coffee.

Usually, I've been playing armchair for the cat, parsing out random story ideas, or grumbling at wildlife during my morning joe, but that clearly needs to change if I want to ever get a consistent art schedule down.

Besides, the light is so much better during the day, and for the next couple days, I won't be going outside at ALL.

No, sir, I'm not interested in experiencing what a Real Feel of -63℉/-52.8℃ day feels like. Not in the least.

The frigid temperatures are, of course, being caused by the same weather that's icing over the southern US right now. My heart breaks for everyone trapped in that mess. Mainers like me will remember the Ice Storm of 1998 - this disaster to our south is that, but in states that have no infrastructure or citizen preparations for such weather! It's nuts!

Up here, we're just getting wind and bitter cold.

I cringe at 14℉/-10℃.

Anywho, I only managed one measly sketch this week. At least it's a fun one!

"Assemblage"; mechanical pencil on sketch book; 2023
[VEGETABLE, MINERAL, ANIMAL]

This little sketch is of some random, gravity-defying twigs, a cherry, a bottle, a beetle, and a small rock. I started sketching it as kind of a mindless image, just letting shapes form. I kind of like it!

I hope to do more art next week (sound familiar? lol) but we'll see if me changing up what time of day I draw works!

As for tonight, I'm sleeeeeepy as heck. Keep staying up way too late reading dumb stuff, doomscrolling, YouTube bingeing. It's silly. I'm silly.

So what I'll do is get cozy, and actually try to sleep tonight.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

In Which This Week Was Rocky, Art-Wise

 I didn't manage to draw or write every day this week, and that makes me sad. I'm not angry at myself - the days I didn't write or draw were days when I was either exhausted or uncomfortable. I needed rest. I rested. That's all there is to it.

I'm not sad because I "failed" in my resolution. I'm sad that I didn't get to draw on those days because I love making art.

I did make some art, though, and I've done a lot more writing this week than I thought (feared) I might! Over 450 words since Sunday, in fact! (And yes, I am aware that 452 words/4 days is over 100 words per day, but half of those days were actually between 40-60 words...)

"Fox"; pencil sketch; 1/6/2023 [ANIMAL]

"Doodlebug"; digital art; 1/11/2023 [GEOMETRIC]

"Dream Sea"; digital; 1/11/2023 [LOCATION]

The fox was scrawled while I was 2/3 of the way asleep that evening, and it was haphazard at best. I think I might try to make an abstracted version of it eventually, like last week's abstract nude. Maybe shades of brown or orange?

"Doodlebug" was a lot of fun to paint in Krita. I took one of the larger pens and a black tone, drew random shapes with my eyes shut and the image zoomed out, and then painstakingly filled each section with blues chosen at random, using a different brush for each color. I really enjoyed making that one, and I'd love to experiment with other line-weights, colors, and patterns.

"Dream Sea" is very much an experiment. You can tell just by looking at it that I was running out of steam at the top, but I'm incredibly happy with the way the water looks! That effect is not something I could easily replicate with watercolor. I took several tones and weights of magenta/lavender/purple and scrawled them across the piece haphazardly in different directions. After that, I used every single blender in my basic version of Krita and went over the whole piece repeatedly. I'd love to try it again some time and maybe make a cityscape or something!

Regardless, art was not easy this week, so I'm hoping that after today, it'll get easier. You may notice I haven't got any art from today proper. That is because I don't think I can make any art today. My knuckles ache and my eyelids feel grainy, so it's another sore and tired evening for me, I guess. That's not the end of the world. I'll make more art starting tomorrow, I'm sure!

I have some ideas regarding pixel art to experiment with, after all!

That'll do it for me, today. If you want to have a say in my art in the coming week, send me a coffee with a message telling me the category you'd like (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Dedbert, Location, Geometric, Word) on my Ko-Fi, and I'll prioritize your category so it 100% gets made next week!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which I Did All The Art This Week!!!

I'm shocked at how much art I was able to crank out this week! I promised myself I'd try to at least sketch every single day, and I did! I have 5 pictures from the 1st to today, and I'm incredibly proud of myself! I'm posting these below with a format of Date (month/day/year); "Title"; medium [tag]. The tag is what category I would consider the artwork in.

1/1/2023; "Possum"; pencil sketch [ANIMAL]

On the first, I sketched this awkward little possum hanging from a branch. It was a quick sketch that used one of my mechanical pencils and a few reference photos, though I invented the pose.

1/2/2023; "Silence"; pencil sketch; [ANIMAL]

Along with my daily drawings, I'm also trying to write at least 100 words in one of the stories I'm writing. The story I'm working on now involves snow, a very unhappy person, and themes of brokenness and repair.

1/3/2023; "Abstract Nude 01"; pen and pencil drawing [GEOMETRIC]

I don't do a lot of nudes, but I liked the idea of trying to use positive and negative space, texture, and shape to suggest an image. I like how the neck turned out, but after that, I kind of forgot to add the negative space and things got hectic. I still like the image, though.

1/4/2023; "Banana"; digital painting [VEGETABLE]

In my ongoing quest to master Krita, I painted this scribbly banana. I'm actually super pleased with how vague and slightly unsettling the soft background is compared to the jagged scribbliness of the banana itself. Also, I know a banana isn't a vegetable, I just use the VEGETABLE tag to denote any plant or fungus or lichen. Bananas are berries. Look it up if you don't believe me lol.

And for today's art, I present to you...

1/5/2023; "Abstract Nude 02"; digital painting [ANIMAL/GEOMETRIC]

This painting was a lot of fun, if a bit difficult, and I think I'm going to be exploring more of this style in various colors. In fact, I think I'll get a bit of help from that Coolors website that generates palettes. I consider it both GEOMETRIC and ANIMAL, since it's a human (animal) and also abstract (which counts as geometric for tagging purposes).

Since I don't have a lot of experience with bodies, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to convey a Large Person, but I think I did pretty well, even if I had to adjust the left breast a few times to make it stand out less. I'm really loving experimenting with Krita, too! I'll be continuing the art next week, gathering all the art until Thursday and then posting it all at once. Sometimes, I'm sure, I'll either miss a day or draw something incredibly dumb or oversimplified. I'll almost certainly have some really ugly art, too, but I think it's important to accept that not every piece is going to succeed. It's good to know when to stop and try something new.

If you'd like to have a say in the stuff I draw during the week, feel free to head on over to my Ko-Fi and send me a coffee with a message telling me what category (ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MINERAL, DEDBERT, LOCATION, GEOMETRIC, WORD) to work from, and I'll put it up with a little thank you. If you prefer anonymity, let me know that, and I will simply call you a Kind Patron.

That'll do it for me this week, guys!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which Plans Sometimes Fall Through
And That's Okay

I'm working on some more abstract digital art, and that's going... weirdly. I made a major oopsie last night, didn't catch it til this afternoon, and had to start over.

It's not getting done tonight.

So about an hour ago, I ate some spaghetti and decided to try a Timer Challenge.

The prompts I drew were "Self Portrait" and "Fruit". My times were "20 minutes" and "5 minutes".

I grabbed a Ticonderoga Black and my big green sketchbook, and I got to work.

"20 Minute Self Portrait"; graphite on sketch paper; 2022

"Five Minute Pears"; graphite on sketch paper; 2022

I'm honestly way happier with the pears than the self portrait... but what can I really expect from a 20 minute self portrait? I wasn't taking my time, I wasn't getting everything perfect, I was beating a timer?

If you're looking for a good exercise to get your creative juices going, I'd recommend looking up an art prompt, then randomly assigning yourself a time. If you'd like to add a little D&D element to this exercise, go pick a prompt from somewhere, then roll a d10 on this table for times!

1. 30 seconds
2. 1 minute
3. 5 minutes
4. 10 minutes
5. 15 minutes
6. 20 minutes
7. 30 minutes
8. 45 minutes
9. 1 hour
10. Roll 2x

Speaking of prompts, if you'd like to have a say in what I draw next, feel free to buy me a coffee over on Ko-Fi and leave a message there with which category of mine you'd like to see next! Today's categories were "Animal" (the self-portrait) and "Vegetable" (the pears). Available categories are:

• Animal
• Vegetable
• Mineral
• Dedbert
• Location
• Geometric
• Word

I'll get back to work on my digital mess, now.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Happy Halloween!

 

Happy Halloween!

It's Halloween, so here's my lil collection of Spoops!

First up, we have the crochet project for today, based on a pattern I found on Ravelry by Zoe Deterding!

As you can see, it's quite... pink!

I picked pink for the witch hat thinking it'd be cute, and I was right. It's *way* pinker in person. I think that having it against a very dark blue sheet is what washes it out. That said, it's a bit tight for my grown up noggin, so I'd call it child-sized. Makes sense - the pattern calls for a much larger hook than I used, which ... maybe it was an F hook? It's wooden and has no markings.

Regardless, you're probably wondering if I made it all the way through my Creeptober prompts, and I'm pleased to tell you that Yes I Did!!!

"COSTUME"; pencil sketch; 2022

"PARTY"; pencil sketch; 2022

"TRICK OR TREAT"; pencil sketch 2022

"SOMETHING YOU ARE AFRAID OF" pencil sketch; 2022

On the 28th, I drew "COSTUME", which shows a girl in a cute demon costume (which, maybe I'll try out next year).

29 was "PARTY", so I drew a ghost and a black cat having cake and conversation at a punch bowl.

The 30th gave me "TRICK OR TREAT" so I drew a curly-haired witch getting her candy from a bowl on someone's porch.

And today's was "SOMETHING YOU ARE AFRAID OF"...

Guys, I'm terrified of large creatures in the deep.

I'm seriously unnerved by massive animals. I think they're amazing and I'm in awe of them and I respect the fact that they could accidentally kill me and never even notice. It's the existential dread some people get when viewing the Pillars of Creation. I get the same "wow I'm super tiny and pointless" feeling from whales.

In other words: Whales are like Great Old Ones to me.

Sure, a giant squid paralyzes my brain in the same manner, but man... It's silly that I'm scared of whales.

I think it's mostly the "can come out of nowhere because it's super duper DARK in the deep sea" thing they've got going for them.

My eyesight's pretty bad. It's easy to startle me.

Getting startled underwater can kill you!

So yeah. I'm a chicken.

Anywho, I'm gonna cozy up with my Dedbert and watch some spoopy videos tonight. I hope you guys are having a good Halloween!

And if you want to have a say in this week's art, feel free to send me a coffee over on Ko-Fi with a message saying what category you'd like to see:

• Animal
• Vegetable
• Mineral
• Location
• Dedbert
• Geometric
• Word

From me to you all:

Go Enjoy Something!

And Happy Halloween!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which These Are Mostly Doodles/Concepts...

I have, as you may be aware, been plugging away at the art prompts from Kick In The Creatives' Creeptober list...

But the last couple weeks have been weird.

Last week, everything was all about my youngest sister's wedding, which, as I said on Tuesday, was PERFECT. It was marvelous and I hope the two of them have a wonderful marriage. It did mean that I was a bit wrapped up in the stresses of prep and then the tiredness of the following days (not that I cut a rug or anything, I'm just low-social, and having that many people around me was tiring in a very good way).

This week, you'd think I'd have less excuses to fall behind on art, but... somehow despite there not being anything going on, I still feel very tired and none of that is helped by me not being able to sleep. Yay.

Last night's lack of sleep had a reason, at least.

One of the massive horde of ladybugs that seem to be creeping into everyone's homes found its way into my bedroom, and instead of chilling on the ceiling or on a far wall like one of my spiders...

The big doofus was flying around like an idiot, smacking into walls, pinging off the metal shade to my bedside lamp, and most egregiously of all...

Landing. on. my face.

Ugh.

Nothing like waking up at 3am with little feet tapdancing on your nostril.

Creepy lil butthead.

Anyway, it's missing in action now, so there's every possibility that this headache I can't shake is from ingesting a toxic insect.

I'm mostly joking about eating the ladybug.

Because it really is nowhere to be found...

Anyway, after yesterday's rainstorms, today's gorgeous 65℉/18,3℃ weather with its broad blue sky and wondrously golden light and balmy winds is a treat. A treat that I enjoyed in owl pants and a tee with Putties from Power Rangers on it under the label "Jobbers". Also a yellow flannel shirt. While wielding sandpaper and scrubbing furiously at rocks.

Anywho, I did end up doing the art from the 14th to today, it's just.... kind of more conceptual than finished. And there are some pieces that I'd love to finish some day!

"SPELL"; pencil sketch; 2022

"MONSTER" pen sketch; 2022

"HORROR FILM"; marker sketch; 2022

Yes, Horror Film is flipped on its side. My camera was being very, very combative that day. And yes, it's based on "Halloween". I'd actually like to try this one again, because the idea of taking something that should be Orange and Red and Silver and making it in entirely pink/magenta tones is kinda calling to me. I'd try it in Krita, I think.

As for Monster, that thing is adorable, but I wouldn't want to meet it on a moonless night. And Spell has a lot of potential in a more graphic style - it might make a fun piece of flash some day.

"FESTIVAL"; marker sketch; 2022

Oh Festival... I want to redraw this some day as a proper engraving-style piece. It's supposed to look like a Halloween-themed Maypole being danced around by various monsters - a bat, a skeleton, a headless ghost, a minotaur, and maybe a cat? I would love to play with this concept some more!

"SCARY FACE" marker sketch; 2022

"GRAVEYARD"; pencil sketch; 2022

"GOBLIN/I LIKE ROCKS"; marker and pencil sketch; 2022

"PUNCH" marker & pencil sketch; 2022

"CLOWN"; marker sketch; 2022

"SILHOUETTE"; pencil; 2022

"TWILIGHT"; marker sketch; 2022

"FULL MOON" marker sketch; 2022

"THROUGH THE WINDOW"; marker sketch; 2022

"GOTH" marker and pencil; 2022

I am extremely happy with how both Goblin and Goth turned out. They're both self portraits, after a fashion. I buzzed my hair yesterday and honestly, it's not bad! I can't do makeup to save my life, though, and I haven't owned a pair of purple pants in years.

I'm also thrilled with Silhouette, which is a silhouette of a human skull! Graveyard is based on a still from Plan 9 From Outer Space, and Scary Face is supposed to be a Gengar from Pokemon, but... yeah, he be wonky.

Those are the prompts for the last 14 days! I should post again on Halloween as a General Halloween Blog so check back then to see the last few prompts:

• Costume
• Party
• Trick or Treat
• Something You're Afraid Of

If you'd like to have a say as to what each of those contain, feel free to shoot me a coffee over on Ko-Fi with a message saying which category you'd like to add and for which prompt. The prompts are above, the categories are

• Animal
• Vegetable
• Mineral
• Dedbert
• Location
• Geometric
• Word

I'm really looking forward to closing out this month, and I'm gonna have a good time finishing up!

How about you guys, any plans for Halloween?

And I hope you go Enjoy Something!

FC