genesis does what nintendon't

question 1 - art block i felt art block constantly during the pandemic. granted, it was a confusing time for all, creating art whilst in a confused and isolated state must have been hard on a lot of people. i think i wrote a lot more about it (maybe in some digital diary entries?) but here's what i briefly wrote in a blog post: "2020-2022 were rough years during the pandemic… i wanted to stop drawing so many times. i always say this, but during that time i went back and touched base with things i used to love as a teen, such as old anime (fma, pandora hearts, etc) that inspired me to pick up a pencil in the first place, and it helped to revitalize my love for art. and then i discovered drawing and studying fabric and i could never go back! i think my art is now more inspired by fine art history than cartoons hence the more realistic drapery…" so the gist is that i found my old spark, what inspired me to draw in the first place, and ignited a new one. finding your spark might not come back right away. i certainly needed some time to absorb everything and just let myself be content doing NOTHING so that i could recharge. it certainly wasn't fun picking up a pencil the first few sketches upon returning. also not trying to be a nagging parent (or therapist) here, but, our mental wellness impacts our ability to create. life struggles, spite, etc can be a great motivator, but there's a certain point where it dampens your motivation and when it gets too damaging. you gotta iron out those wrinkles first... it's definitely hard to take this advice, even to myself, but don't be afraid of the pain that'll lead you to change for the better. also sometimes when your life is a bit too sedentary - physical blocks can lead to mental blocks. exercise is really good for artblock... you don't have to do anything strenuous HAHA like even going for a walk to the park, pacing around the house, walking on the spot, walking up and down the stairs, simple dumbbell exercises (it doesn't even have to be dumbbells it could be like. a small bag of rice or flour), light stretching! it gets your blood flowing and your mind too! (take this advice as a grain of salt don't injure yourself taking my advice please) i also feel art blocked or demotivated when i've produced a lot of artwork during a range of time, e.g. especially after a huge con, or after con season in general. when you feel this, it's important to take a break and do other things. it's also important to know when to space out your breaks during the day/week/etc so that you're not overexerting yourself (if possible). question 2 - fundamentals

oh, to be honest i'm not the best person to ask for this ... if it isn't clear already my fundamentals aren't that strong LOL i don't do a lot of studies in my personal time (i did during school of course, but i don't have a lot of time for personal art anymore)... here are my points for applying fundamentals/doing studies: 1. i think what a lot of people lack when doing studies is being mindful. you can do 1000 studies, and that's fine and dandy, but you need to NOT mindlessly copy the original work, and you need to constantly reflect on your studies. unless you do that, you will feel stuck doing studies. - keep notes on the side of your studies, what worked? what didn't? what can you do better next time? 2. ask for help - try to look for art groups, discord groups, etc. that focus on giving feedback! you can learn a lot on your own, as long as you're open minded, but guidance can help speed through improvement. 3. what i do in place of studies, is i incorporate references into my art as much as possible - even when i come up with the poses from my imagination, i try to look for reference photos afterwards from a similar angle, or i'll put a mirror on the table. it's kind of a given, and it feels redundant for saying this. but in a contrived sense your "fun" art becomes your studies. draw your ocs based on a reference photo, look in your mirror and draw your fav chara emoting a fun (or sad) expression, anything! - do you like drawing animals? great, turn that cat reference photo into your fursona or a warrior cat! - do you like drawing ships? great! look up refs of hugs or whatever, drawing bodies interacting and intertwining is difficult but rewarding! - are you interested in drawing cars? great!! draw cars fanart! draw f1! whatever! capturing all of the changes in planes and light is crazy hard but it's such an amazing skill to have! - are you crazy like me and enjoy drawing fabric and only fabric, and don't care about depicting slick hair or gem-like eyes like regular "anime influenced" artists? go look up those photos of fabric girl 😻 if you're lazy or you lack time, you can simply train your eyes to be more "observant". i don't do art studies often but i think i'm quite observant? i'll make up for it by intensely "studying" works of art. if i come across a new illustration, painting, sculpture, i'll ask myself, what do i like about it? is it the colour, composition, concept? what's one thing that's unique/new the author used, that i can learn from? and i find just interacting with your favourite visual art pieces in that way can train your eye to be more observant of techniques and subject matter. types of fundamentals i recommend:

trying to balance all of the deadlines and cons and life stuff this year really took a toll on me….. LIKE it's not that i didn't have fun, summer was a BLAST but now i'm like. oogh. my social battery for the rest of the year… o|-<

my dream has always been to debut some type of comic or zine at tcaf (toronto comic arts festival), but i've always struggled with school, work, and cons taking up my time away from developing my stories more, esp when i do merch full time nowadays, but i'm gonna try to do a career full time within the next year so i don't have to rely so heavily on merch.. please pray for my girlfailure ass!!!

i'm trying to focus less on small merch like charms and stickers nowadays (i already have so many of them), and my short term goal is to make more flat art like prints and sticker sheets, and you can count zines and books in the mix too. wish i had discipline… heh…………

i learned a lot over the course of the last 2 years in terms of illustrations. before, my illos used to be strictly you know, sketch -> line, colour, maybe a few colour adjustments at the end (but i rarely do that bc i find it doesn't improve my drawings all too much? i know photoshop i just dont really care about using it for colour adjustments), all with very clean brushes. it was missing something… i think i've always struggled with garnering a stronger response to my art. i've noticed people react more strongly to stuff like doodles, rough sketches, closeups (LOL when your closeup/WIP gets more notes than the finished drawing) and more textured looking art a lot of the time, and more importantly, art that tells a story - or maybe i'm just projecting. but i realized my penchant for cleanliness and "characters just standing or sitting there" removed a sort of human touch and was the bane of my existence. one of my goals is to draw more group pictures, which is a horrible combination with my slowness, but i just gotta...

nowadays, my illust process is a lot more involved, i'm constantly redrawing and colouring and omitting lines, and i have a set of favourite textured brushes like watercolour, chisel brushes, etc. more than just… 3 favourite brushes now LMAOOO. below are my FAVOURITED brushes, i use them all sporadically (minus the watercolour brushes i like)

there's just too many..............

my process sounds a lot more tedious, and i won't deny it is, but i'm much happier with my drawings nowadays, something about the "roughness" of it all makes drawing much more satisfying. (well, the very few illusts that i actually do). and i hope that colours and objects pop more in my art, and that my art looks more sort of .. uniquely me now?

ill also have copies of the sticker sheet AFTER leftover sales end, at *mystery consignment store* in toronto from oct-nov, and at my next event - toronto game expo! this version will be slightly edited to preserve the layout of my original sketch! not sure if dunmeshi is still popular so i'm still figuring out how many to print bc i estimate the bulk of my sales will have to wait until next summer's cons!