#@galewindstudios

Helloo there my friend, I am first of all very sorry for replying so late...I don't really know why, college has started and it is 10 times more busy than what I imagined :') days pass in the blink of an eye and I'm barely hanging on lol

My first few weeks were very tough in college, I had problems adjusting to the new city and got so sick, but am good now :)

I'm studying design, so any art I'm doing is just assignments :'D, I wish I had the time to do my lil sketchbook doodles at least, i miss them so, but I'm so exhausted half the time.

But even though it is tiring, I feel good most days?? Im eating well, handling emotions well, with so many deadlines I'm still not stressing out all the time... I have surprised myself, I must say. I do miss posting art, maybe when I get more adjusted to my schedule, I'll try to find time to dedicate to my personal art...but for now, as I said, I am barely hangin on :D

But here is a lil photo dump of some art from the last few months and some pretty pictures :]]

Hello friend!!!! I'm so sorry if I am answering this late, I hadn't gone through my notifications in a while :(

But yes to reblogging our own work :DD here's some artworks that I feel quite satisfied with...

Some are old and some are recent, but I think that these are the ones that don't immediately prompt me to thoroughly criticize and admonish myself for not doing better, although I think we should avoid such negative thought processes with all our artworks :)

The only thing I'm working on as of late is maintaining my sanity fren :'] exam season going on so I'm not doing any hobbies of mine and I may be a tad bit overwhelmed lol. But it'll be over in 2 or 3 months so that's fine.

Thank you!! I've been loving drawing something in my sketchbook everyday, it really does help with one's mental health- doing something for yourself everyday :) even if it's just a lil scribble, it helps. I haven't been working on anything big though, although I have many ideas I would like to work on once things get less crazy. Here's some sketchbook pages :3

My poor plant babies also haven't been seeing much of me but I do take care of them everyday!!! I haven't planted anything new though, but I might try to plant some flowers since it's the season for them :] here's my lil money plant that is doing well

Thank you for checking in galen my bestie, I hope you have a lovely day or night!!!! <333

Hello there galen my dearest bestie!!!! I am doing well and hope you are too <33

-One of the first things that comes to my mind that I learned was no harsh lines. Usually. Try to work out and mark only the values at first, the shadows, mid tones and highlighted parts and add the details from there. It's quite important to get the values right.

-Don't outline, especially like one would do in a more graphic style, the shapes of the realistic artwork will stand out by themselves if you've done the values right. You can see softer, harder or lost edges, it depends on the similiarity of colour you are transitioning from in shape to shape. Eg. If the colour you are transitioning from is darker to a much lighter colour, you will see a hard edge being formed naturally.

-Also pay attention to the tones of every colour that you use, like in the watercolour painting below, the shadows are quite cool toned and the other parts are quite warmer.

-It doesn't really need to be said but I'll also say that the drawing should also have realistic proportions, in the case of human anatomy, animals, other objects, nature. Along with the perspective, if these proportions are off, you will notice that there is something "off" about the artwork too, almost immediately. You can try to copy pictures or draw from real life to improve the drawing skills :^]

-Also, this is something I try to do, try not to use black. I feel that there is very little black in real life. When you need to use a dark colour, try to use black mixed with some other colour like blue, green or red so that it doesn't look flat.

-In the case of colours, I would say not use very saturated colours, to tone them down and neutralize them just a little bit. Whenever I'm outside I try to look at everything and try to figure out what colour I would use if I wanted to paint something. The road isn't just grey, it is blue, red, yellow, green; it has highlights and shadows; different tones and texture too. This exercise really helps, at least for me, it's fun too :]

-Some people say that visible brushwork is also a disadvantage in a realistic painting, but I think it can work. One can use it to their discretion.

Hello fren :]]] I'm very sorry for not answering for a while, I haven't really been very well. So I'm only able to do the bare minimum these days and the rest of the time I sleep. Just not going through a very good time you know.

Here's an update on my pomegranate plant. It doesn't stand up straight and I don't know why, but I added a stick to support it. Otherwise it's growing really well!! Since the gradner doesn't come to help anymore I have to figure my way with these plants on my own lol

I do try to draw, but I'm not really happy enough with anything I make to post it. But if I make something good I'll surely share it.

I don't know when things will get better for me, only that I know they will. I just have to wait. So I'm waiting, and when things get better, I'll be present more :)

What kinds of landscapes do you really enjoy painting/drawing?

Are there colours you find yourself really gravitating to?

What do you reference when drawing/painting? Your own pictures? Other peoples? Real life subjects?

Favourite watercolour method?

Do you pick out the size of your canvas/paper or just grab one on a whim?

What kind of subjects draw your attention? (e.g Happy people, colourful flowers, or maybe even still life's you create yourself?)

Favourite pencils/charcoal for drawing?

Do you have any tips for younger artists getting into traditional art? Anything you wish younger you knew?

:] No pressure to answer all of these, if any, btw! Have a good one :D

Hello there :D life has been decent and I hope you've been well too!! Let's see

-i really like to paint very green and saturated landscapes. It can be anything from flowers to trees to mountains, I just love it when there's lots of strong colours. But I mostly like to paint landscapes that are a bit messy? It helps me be a little looser with the painting and not obssess over details, if that makes sense. I try to use techniques that give the illusion of details and depth, though i don't know if i succeed but I try lol

-at the beginning, when I started out with art, I was always quite worried about it being realistic. But after a while I now feel that real life is quite desaturated, everything in nature is a tone of grey, and absolute colours are not very common to find. So I now try to make my art as colourful as possible for it to look lively and more my style, becasue when I was aiming for realism, all my art would turn out dull and muted and I couldn't figure out why. Some colours I really use a lot are greens, all kinds really. I love all colours, but I think green is the colour I enjoy using the most these days.

-i use a lot of places to find my reference photos- pinterest, tumblr, Instagram, Google, and my mom is always sending me random pictures of clouds and landscapes and mountains too. Sometimes when I'm drawing people and I need to understand anatomy I use myself as a reference, although I don't really draw full human anatomy much, only portraits. Sometimes I use my own pictures of flowers and clouds and all that as reference too. I actually have a folder in my phone gallery for references, and I put at least 5 pictures I find in it everyday, because I'm always finding weird things to use as references. I save a lot of old paintings by classical painters too so that I can study them later, learning from the masters is the best way to learn :)

-ehh I don't really know the formal names for methods, you know? But I do like the wet on wet method, I love the look of it. I also like making clouds in watercolour, also fun hack- put down a wash of your blue watercolour, take a paper towel and blot where you want clouds to be-voila pretty clouds!!

-i just grab stuff on a whim and use whatever I feel like whenever I want and make it fit to my art, I don't really plan much, although I'm trying to do that more lol

-i actually don't have a definite favorite subject, I think it really depends on my mood, but I think most of the time I really like making simple things you know, like goats, urban sketches, simple portraits. I don't try to overthink about it, and just draw whatever I feel like. Although in portraits I really love drawing people candid lately

-i use the Staedlr pencils and Faber castle Matt black hb pencils for graphite drawing, and for charcoal pencils I use a local brand. I also have charcoal pencils from General Pencil Co. And they're really good too

-well I think one thing about traditional art is it can be expensive. So what I used to do when trying out a new medium was buy a cheap one and if I like it then get a better quality one. Also when it comes to brushes, I think it's best to buy good quality brushes. I used to buy cheap brushes and use them until they were in horrid condition and then buy new ones every few months. It wasn't a very good system, so I bought better quality brushes and learned how to take care of them and now I have had some of my brushes for years and they're still in really good condition. So learn how to take care of your art supplies!! Also do research about art mediums and supplies, so that you know what you should start with when you're trying something new and don't get overwhelmed

When trying out a new medium, don't feel bad if you don't get it at first, it takes time and the first painting will probably be muddy, but don't give up without trying your best!!

I also think that when it comes to art, it's very important to practice. So draw everything! Fill lots of sketchbooks. And not everything has to be good or perfect, it's quite cruel to expect such perfection from yourself. I still struggle with practicing regularly but it really does help.

And as I mentioned earlier, learn form the masters! Whatever art style you're trying to do or learning, studying and drawing older artworks of masters will help you a lot

Helloo galen my good friend :DD I've been doing alright! I feel a lot better these days, although I still take a lot of naps lol. I get a little better each day you know, and i hope that lasts. There's so much stuff going on right now, so I'm quite occupied most of the time.

I did figure out some problems I have been having for so long and got help, and I'm trying to deal with them in a more positive way. I also cleaned my absolute dump of a room that I hadn't cleaned in a long while, and although I'm really tired now I feel quite proud of myself.

However I haven't been able to do much art. I started some pieces but I haven't completed them. I suppose it will just come naturally on its own. I try not to force myself to draw, because then i usually end up not liking what I've made haha

Ok ok please excuse my horrible photography am still learning-

But this here is my curry plant!! He's been here a while and this spring he got flowers, they're kind of shrivelling up now but they were really pretty, Sir Curry is a star

This here is coriander!! I had planted coriander seeds in the pot beside Sir Curry but they decided to be petty and not grow properly but then one day I saw two of them growing in Sir Curry's spot! So they now kind of live with Sir Curry and they all make good friends

This is the bell pepper plant who's an old fellow now and probably won't be able to give any peppers but I love it still

Here are some flowers and decorative plants :))

Most of my plants are doing well, sometimes when they dont do well and I can't figure out the problem i go and ask the gardener, who actually knows what he's doing, for help

I'm doing alright too!! I have two exams left and by the end of March this school year will end and I'll start the last year of school, I'm pretty excited about it, especially becasue it's not online. Im so tired of online classes. I hope you're doing well and have a wonderful day friend :))