Admin Post: Community Check-In for January 2023

[goss]

Tomorrow's the last day of January, and we'd love to have you check in and chat with us. How have things been with you this past month?

Did you sign up for or take part in any fandom activities in January, or have you been working on any personal art projects? Are you currently trying to meet a deadline? Feel free to share upcoming art challenges that have got you excited, any frustrations you've been experiencing, possible goals for the next month, and so on.

Our Round-up of entries for Drawing Challenge #51: BIPOC Diversity in Fantasy will be posted tomorrow, and a new monthly art challenge will go up later in the week. :)

Comments

[writedragon]

I have a goal of finishing up the very first art journal I ever started (way back in 2016!). There are already about 100 pages worth of art in there, and I have a handful left to do. I'd love to know what everyone else is up to. :)

[yhlee]

That sounds amazing! What kinds of things do you draw/paint/etc in your art journal?

[writedragon]

I tend to prefer making mixed media abstractions/intuitive stuff (very therapeutic), but sometimes I make fannish things too. I often post the latter here on my DW blog or on my tumblr. Here's a recent art journal page in honor of The Orville. https://at.tumblr.com/writedragon/the-orville-mixed-media-on-paper-by-writedragon/rbbykpwpmn6a

[yhlee]

Oh, that's so beautiful! :D

[writedragon]

Thank you! I'm happy with it too. :)

[facethestrange]

This is SO gorgeous, wow, I absolutely love the colors and the general atmosphere. ♡♡♡

[writedragon]

Thank you! I wanted to capture a little of the feel of the show, which has some of the most gorgeous and creative sci-fi scenery I've ever seen.

[mific]

Wow, that's a lot, go you!

[writedragon]

Thank you! :)

[goss]

Yay for 100 pages of art! \o/ *cheers you on*

[writedragon]

Thanks for the cheers!!

[yhlee]

In January I decided to quasi-focus on doing head studies, which was definitely a mixed bag but very very useful - this one turned out okay? It's reassuring that since they're studies rather than intended to be final pieces, it's okay to fail and learn from my mistakes.

I also broke and did a personal piece of one of my characters while experimenting with partially tinted lineart: Thank You for the Light. I seem to do best with very limited palettes, unfortunately.

Finally, I'm in the midst of my final project with my art tutor, Erika Lancaster, as she's basically kicking me out of the nest. (Erika has a background in graphic design but switched to fine art and teaching - her specialty is teaching beginners/intermediate students and getting them through basic competency and giving them a grounding in the fundamentals. I obviously have a TON more to learn, but now I have those fundamentals - I was a clueless self-taught n00b - and a much better idea of what to do next.) This is kind of terrifying because my choice of project is a mockup book cover, and the concept involves a picture plane coming out of a picture plane and may well be outside my technical ability even after a year-plus of art lessons, but I guess the only way I find out is by trying! This will probably take me a full two months as I iterate through thumbnails and do studies to test techniques, etc. :] I literally had this illustration concept five years ago and didn't tackle it then because I lacked the skills, and I still think I lack the skills, but at least it will be educational?!

ETA - oh - I did fanart for candyheartsex, but obvs I can't say more than that at this point! XD

Anyway, February will probably be devoted to the final project BUT I'm hoping to focus next on drawing vehicles (cars, airplanes, that kind of thing). I figure before I can draw giant robots/mecha, I really need to learn how to draw more basic vehices.

[mific]

It's great you're sticking with your projects - love the coloured lineart!

[goss]

I am so happy that you found such a good teacher in Erika! It's been a real pleasure seeing your skills develop. Looking forward to the project coming together next month. :)

I'm hoping to focus next on drawing vehicles

Cool! I know you love incorporating machines into your concepts, so that'll definitely be interesting to tackle.

[writedragon]

Wow! That's impressive commitment and I think your limited palette style is really cool.

[facethestrange]

*CHEERS YOU ON* on your final project and all your other art plans! You're doing AMAZING! :D

[mific]

Bit of a difficult month with RL stuff. I wrote a lot for an SGA challenge earlier in Jan, and have been enjoying the drawesome BIPOC fantasy challenge a lot. I started working with my old kid's paintbox art from many years ago - revamping or modifying it. One was the centaur musterers, and another's here: Masters of Disguise. I also discovered a brush in Procreate I like a lot and used it to do a drawing for "The Last of Us" - Tess. I'm pleased with it and plan to do more like it.

[goss]

Masters of Disguise

Amazing!! XD

[writedragon]

I like the sketchy quality of that brush you used in 'Tess' and the surrealist look of "Masters of Disguise". Great work!

[facethestrange]

I will comment directly on ao3 but wow, both of these pieces are awesome while being completely different styles. ♡♡♡

[facethestrange]

Just having lots of fun drawing for exchanges as always. :D Currently herebedragonsex is posted but unrevealed, candyheartsex is nearly finished, and I've yet to start on idproquo, worldbuilding_exchange and goreswap. And my playlistexchange entry got revealed a few days ago, you can see it HERE (Wednesday & Enid from Wednesday). :D