This mermaid went down fighting, I think...

Alrighty. Here goes.

Alrighty. Trying a double page spread this time.

Personal first steps!

Someone saw one of my hands from my 100 Hands of Family and Friends ongoing personal project, and wanted something like it for an album cover for their band. Haha! I guess those square Instagram images are good for something, right? I'm also making different image assets distilled from layers of the same hand portrait so they can use them in their 12-page CD insert. Ironically, the part they didn't want was the hand itself... LOL!

Anyway, I finally got to practice making a contract, talking about logistics, so on and so forth. I'm sure I've screwed up something somehow that will come back and bite me in the butt, but hey--I'm just reveling in the idea that someone is actually paying me to draw for them.

And I thought I'd share this little victory of mine with folks who I know can appreciate it.

Happy Dance!!!

Okay, someone has to post first...

I played around a bit this morning with a stork while watching another artist stream his sketch session on YouTube. I used a reference pic off Pixabay. The challenge was to do it with no erasing! LOL! I ended up doing two layers in Procreate with two colors---black and white. Fun fun!!

It's the 2nd of the month. Time to share.

I've been working on a made-up Oz series, trying to produce as much work as I can and force myself to mature a bit. I'm in a bit of a dream spot--I'm off for the summer because I teach, so I can devote all my energies to this right now. And I have to take advantage of it as much as I can. So I'm cranking out as much stuff as I can, and learning that being slow and precise is really where the good stuff happens for me... Hehe...

I've finally reached Tier 4 of the suggested curriculum, and I'm realizing this is where it gets harder. LOL! I'm pouring myself into these Oz images currently, trying to apply what I've learned on more than homework. I have no idea what I'm going to do with these, but I'm learning a lot. Eventually I'll move on to some other subject matter that allows me to play, but for right now it's Oz. Having fun on the journey so far!

In my other life as an instructor of theatrical costume design, the school year is getting underway and with it the production processes for several shows. I'm currently working on putting together some costume designs for one of those shows.

I guess I'll be second. This was done in Procreate on my iPad.

I guess I'm just late to the party, but I see things like this that are being made today and I think anything is possible. This fascinates me. Literally walking through a watercolor painting...

More and more nowadays, I'm finding the traditional applications for children's illustration are expanding way beyond just books...

https://youtu.be/5rhwRxP3rMs

https://unjenesaisquoi.fr/dordogne/

@Will-Terry In my perfect perfect world, I would be producing a rich and lustrous animated series of all of the Dresden Files novels. But I'd have to win billions in the lottery to make that happen. LOL!

An only slightly less impossible perfect world would involve me creating my own illustrated novel with an interactive augmented reality component. I would love to create in-depth motion book novels with art that isn't traditional "comic art" and figure out how to get rid of the text bubbles and frames that characterize it so strongly. I would love to enhance the experience of reading a good book with visual and aural components.

Ryan Woodward's Bottom of the Ninth animated graphic novel lit a fire within me. When Madefire Comics came out I was enthralled. Then I found the works of Brian Selznick. More recently Timeless by Armand Baltazar really made me sit up and take notice.

Telling a long-form story with text in some sections and then shifting to non-textual visual imagery to continue the story is really intriguing to me. I'd love to be doing something like that but for digital platforms that would marry rich literature and high quality art with motion components and compelling AR that are integral to the storytelling and not just superfluous or decorative or tertiary to the story.

I'd like to get paid to do that someday. If I could earn $50-60 thou a year, I'd be ecstatic.

But in the end, the reality is that I just dream of being able to get paid someday for my art. Baby steps. I feel like there's just simply too much for me to learn and master to ever become a self-supporting artist. Having a few jobs here and there is literally my dream right now.

I think Procreate has a LOT of things going for it, but it is limited in some ways to specific types of workflows. For example, there is a limit to the number of layers you can have depending on the dimensions and pixels of the canvas. Some say the CMYK color profile isn't really up to snuff. And the file/stacking system in the app has two levels--that's it. In addition, some of the tools lack the specificity and accuracy that Photoshop has--for example, it crops anything outside of the canvas, has no adjustment layers, has no AI for enabling intelligent fills, etc.

All of these things added together make for a very specific appeal for very specific artists who can flourish within those boundaries and not need those other tools. It has gorgeous brushes, a simple and intuitive user interface, and a "feel" that some say is more natural than Photoshop. And a lot of artists use it for a part of their work flow, but it hasn't replaced Photoshop for most artists completely.

Personally, I'm not sure they can ever completely go down that path, as Photoshop can do too much for too many different types of artists.

Completed this tonight. I've been taking pics of things that catch my eye on my daily walk through my neighborhood lately. Seems to be the only exercise I'm getting right now. I've seen more of the community I live in recently than ever before, so I guess that's one good thing coming out of all this. There are some really gorgeous things out there when you stop to take a look...

This pic was a potted plant. It was taken late in the day, so there were strong angular shadows that I wanted to keep--it gave it a bit of a sunset feeling that seemed good for this piece I'm calling "Suppertime".

I drew a flower today.

Yeah, I agree with @Braden-Hallett --I've seen more people walking around my neighborhood than I ever have. It's surreal. We all make sure to avoid getting close, and usually it's a quick "Hi! Hello!" before continuing their walks, but it's absolutely surreal seeing all these strangers outside. I try to get at least a half-hour walk each day with my husband who is also working from home (well, at least until his company ceases to exist, which, honestly, could be any day, but there are lots of people in that situation).

Every time I try to write down or post anywhere what has been happening in my little corner of the world results in me deleting it.

It seems... small...

If one dwells on the reality too much, it's paralyzing.

So I've been drawing to escape. To distract from the present. To make pretty things. Because it's just too big.

I draw because it's something I can control. And if I can brighten the life of someone--children, parents, whoever--well, that's something I think can do. I can at least try.

Welcome!!

I was incredibly skeptical of this, as some of the commenters in other places had some small hiccups and such.

I was wrong. It's legit. I saved $60 bucks, and I needed it. They've streamlined the whole process whereas before it was a bit of a maze to get through it, so it's not as scary. You cancel your plan. You then click the box to tell them it's too expensive. Then they offer you this deal in response. Click accept and viola! Worked for me.

This came out of my Apple Pencil yesterday.

It has been one hell of a week. Lemme tell ya. On SO MANY levels. Life has turned upside down, and riding the wave is an exercise in adaptability--which I'm privileged to be able to do as so many others in the circle of my life and profession are not so lucky. When it rains it pours.

Hm. @xin-li I wonder if you could make some family pop-up book "dummies" together? Or maybe some rotating dials using a brass brad in the middle, giving homemade paper dolls different heads and torsos and legs? Or maybe plant a "paper garden" with some drawn flowers taped to straws or utensils--you could put it in a planter in the window and suspend some clouds and rain on string from the curtain rod. Or even decorate the room with drawn and taped stars or rainbows or trucks on the walls? Or maybe make drawn and folded rectangular paper houses to create a little village with no roofs to play with the people inside? Paper plate masks?