Hopping into 2023! January 9th Patreon Newsletter (Patreon)

Hey Artnerds!

If you celebrate Winter holidays, I hope your holidays were full of food and family and fun, or at least, not too stressful.  Although we took it easy this year, Joseph caught a cold, and my allergies started acting up in all this back-and-forth weather.  I think I'm beginning to accept that going into January, I'm always going to feel like I'm playing catch up, and maybe that's ok.  Maybe that's just an End of the Year thing.

Goals for 2023

More sketching from reference to practice

Do a warm-up drawing every day

Continue painting comics

Get back to updating the shop

Figure out how to reach people with my art in 2023

It's hard to make goals for 2023, Seasonal Affective Disorder colors how I look at the upcoming year, and it's probably wiser to make goals in Spring, when I'm feeling better and more hopeful.

What I've Been Working On:

7" Kara

Pages have been coming along!  Joseph got a lift kit for my drawing chair, but I'm still hunching over pages like a genius because I'm stubborn, and my eyesight is bad.  Also, because now my chair won't fit at my drafting table, but Joseph is generously installing some risers, so hopefully we'll find an equilibrium.  Definitely a 'try to solve a problem, find a new problem' situation!

Other works: 

In between batches of comic pages, I've been taking breaks by working on reviews or creating other illustrations.  Here's some of what I've been working on! 

I recorded the creation process of the above watercolor illustration, and need it edit it and get it out to yall!  I also have a lineart to share with yall when I share the early access version of the tutorial.

Ohuhu sent some pastel brush markers a couple months back, and I wanted to check them out-not really review them, but since I reviewed Ohuhu's brush markers a couple years ago, I felt like I could just kinda append my new thoughts onto my old- and I decided to use this as an opportunity to color one of the pages from Curious Little Things!  

I'd purchased a Brea Reese watercolor kit at Tuesday Morning right after Christmas, and spent a relaxing evening reviewing these paints and painting along with the project in the paint kit.  While the paints themselves are pretty bad, and the instructions in the kit are laughably vague, I still had fun zoning out and painting some ice cream!

Lunar New Year WIPS

Watercolor Illos:

Jackrabbit:

Domestic Bun

I ran out of Moulin du Roy, so I'm waiting for new packs to come in from Jackson's before I print and paint these, but I wanted to share them with yall anyway!

Alcohol Marker Illos

Gyaru Hare

Sweet Lolita Lop Earred

Which of these do you like better?  I may end up printing, inking, and coloring both, but I'd like to focus on yall's favorite for Lunar New Year, so it's released first.

Since I do so much reworking when I pencil and ink illustrations, I decided to keep my sketches sketchy, so I'm not spending as much time and energy redrawing the same things over and over.

Art Squad Advanced- Drawing Faces

I've shared the materials with you guys as a Backer Exclusive post, so if you'd like to check it out, click here!

Kickstarter Charms Came In

So I recorded an unboxing video!  I compare them against Stickermule charms, but I have to say, I'm really impressed with the print quality on these charms, they're so bright!  I still need to add findings to them before I can ship them out, but I'm glad they came in!

Early Access and Backer Exclusive:

Early Access- Finished Sketchbook Tour Lilliputian Living Art Challenge 2022: https://www.patreon.com/posts/early-access-art-76401536

Early Access- Stationery Pal Haul: https://www.patreon.com/posts/early-access-pal-76401480

Early Access- Cotman Vs Phoenix? Cotman Travel Palette Unbox & Swatch and Comparison- Student Grade Showdown: https://www.patreon.com/posts/early-access-vs-76401408

The Best Watercolors from Walmart- Daler Rowney Essentials Folding Palette- Unbox & Swatch: https://www.patreon.com/posts/best-watercolors-76401262

New to the Public:

December: 

Tuesday, December 27th: Comic Artist & Teacher Talking (and Ranting) about AI Generated 'Art'- Vlog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_aWjcSmgsw

Saturday, December 31st: Selling at Craft Fairs- What Have I Learned Since Last Year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xywzCHy_08&t=3456s (selling your art, art, craft fairs)

January:

Tuesday, January 3rd: I Was a Guest at the Louisiana Book Festival! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSi0hXmbiS0&t=609s (small business, self published, comics)

Saturday January 7th, Catprint Art Prints Review- Watercolor Artist Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZB0yEp2f3Q&t=660s (small business, convention merch, craft fairs)

Favorite Shorts:

#artvsartist2022: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_KqNPB_Kqec

Daily Comic Page Progress From Start to Finish 1/3: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Dmq15aT777g

Daily Comic Page Progress From Start to Finish 2/3:https://www.youtube.com/shorts/phHEplQfe2Y

Daily Comic Page Progress From Start to Finish 3/3: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/pkovVa9M3js

Recently Finished Watercolor Art: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/H8q3V6ihNTY

Cleaning & Refilling My Watercolor Palette: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/8JR62fziXGk

Recovering Watercolor Paint from Dried Tubes: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/sy_onrYeDGI

Cleaning My Ceramic Palettes: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/HFxlMOdWLSY