Creative Vibrations. . .and Inspiration. .

Learning new talents daily is on extreme feat, but what if you always want to learn a new medium?

We talked about learning curves already, but this time we’ll be talking about watercolors and my personal favorite watercolourist, and acrylic painter; Paige Poppe. 

You can click the name or the image to be taken directly to her website and youtube channel.

Paige is a beautiful artist, and her style is quite unique. She paints landscapes, floral, and cacti. Recently she’s mentioned her favorite landscape to paint is Camelback Mountain located in Arizona, where she lives.

Which is beautiful from what I’ve seen her paint! It makes me want to visit Arizona more and more!!

(Aside from the fact I have friends who live there too, it’s just a bonus! Anyone say VACATION?)

Now the reason this woman, who is the same age as me (24), is one of 4 of my inspirations is because she can so easily create a beautiful piece using the things surrounding her, and is extremely talented with a water brush. I’ve watched almost all of her videos, and she always leaves them on a positive note and sends out ‘positive and creative vibes‘.

It got me thinking.

I started thinking about the last physical issue of our magazine, and how it just ended. It became digital and then changing this site around to work more for my personal news, and updates on my artworks. I’ve been toying with the idea of bringing the magazine back as a physical or online copy.

I just don’t know where yet. It may just be a full once a year artist collaborations publication.

The whole reason I’ve brought this up, and her, is because I want to give it another chance. As well as giving watercolor a chance too. This is like two updates in one, but anyhow, I want to know if I can be as good as Paige controlling the medium because we know I’ve already mastered the art of the pen, to an extent, and broadening my horizons seems like something that will make me a greater and stronger artist.

We can always use improvement.

So, hopefully this is the start of a long and arduous journey of learning what works for me, as well as getting paid commissions to support my dreams. Which is another reason, the people like Baylee Jae, and Paige Poppe are my inspirations. And of course; Joy San. Who all do art for a living, and many markets, and conventions.

I’ve done 3. I learn something new each time.
We’ll talk about that another day!!

So let us get the magazine, back up and running!
This is my attempt at watercolors below;

My Minimalist Journey (Update)

I have accomplished absolutely nothing, except that I’m a hoarder when it comes to artwork. Although, I now only have around 4 boxes of art supplies rather than a gazillion. I was kind of productive during the month of October. It was difficult but I sort of managed, now onto the rest of it. I would like to have 1 box of art supplies and 1 or 2 of those 4 boxes just for my clothing and paperwork. It’s not a bad dream right?

Eventually I’ll have this down. In the mean time, I have obtained an ordination in the Universal Life Church Ministry, and follow the path of wicca. So that’s something else, a bit productive.

Starting the second week in the month of November; I was in a car accident.  I’m not sure what’s going to happen to said car but we will find out more Monday. As well as if I’m physically okay, aside from some pain and swelling. In that time, I reconnected with my planner obsession and decorated up until Christmas in it.

Geez!

Mind over Matter right? At least that’s how this should work out. .  . Anyhow, I just wanted to update all of you, and thank you for the likes and follows! It is greatly appreciated!

So, with that being said I will say my goodbyes and ask all of you minimalists and artists. How do you declutter? How are you so organized? HELP ME!! . . . please . . . .LOL!!!

(Featured Photo Courtesy of Bing – Full Website: Latina Homemaker)

THE BEST ART COLLABS I HAVE DONE

Creating art is relaxing to me.
It’s a way of personal expression.
– Augustyne

Art Collabs? What’s that, with who? With anyone and everyone. It’s not hard to find someone who is willing to collab with you, but what are you looking for in this collab exactly?

Becoming a Minimalist . . .An Artists. . .30 Day Challenge

Starting today, October 9th, year in our Lord two thousand and sixteen, I August, shall attempt a feat of incomparable measure. I shall once and for all. . . de-clutter myself of art supplies.

I know, it’s been a long time coming and I have been day dreaming of it for a couple years now but it all has to start with ME. Therefore, I shall attempt to start documenting my journey.

Day 1: De-clutter. Examine all things and toss or donate them to my job. They could honestly use all the supplies they need. Things get lost and broken all year long. So today, I shall go through ONE of my art bins and toss out old art. . . .I’m writing this down because when I actually go to do it, I know I will have the strongest urge just to place it aside but NO, I CANNOT DO THAT.

It needs to be gone and destroyed. . . . that may be too harsh, but it needs to go. One way or another, I will create a bin for things that will be donated to the kids.

IT’S FOR THE CHILDREN!!!

Just keep that in mind, and I am pretty sure that I will stay on track. I’m also trying to make this post longer than it really needs to be. This was just a step one update. So, November 9th is my personal deadline. If I can do this in less time, that would be great but we will see!

Right now, I have a bin full of random things. Let’s start with that, then move on to clothes I don’t wear, etc. Not just art supplies but that’s where we can start.

I’m getting rambly. . . time to do the work.

Learning Through Experience

Good Morning!
Now I know, for a fact, that there are better artists than me, but I’ve come to accept that fact and have embraced this style I’ve come to develop. I’m still slowly learning it more and more however. I’ve come to accept that my niche is a bit on the cartoony side. That’s just my style and the more I learn the better I will become but what I really want to discuss is programs and learning to use them.

So, what’s my learning curve?

Now the way I got back into digital art after years of not wanting to go there but admiring others who could, was by searching for my old tablets, and guess what? I found the tablet but was missing the pen! Then I lost the tablet again and found the pen!But guess what, they were broken!  So I attempted to save money, and buy myself a new one. I was determined. I originally wanted a Cintiq but I don’t have that kind of moolah! A week or two later I ended up with my Wacom Intous Draw Tablet.

Then a day later, I registered it and realized all of Wacom’s products come with the option to download and that’s how I re-downloaded my Photoshop Elements 10, along with a new program. I downloaded  ArtRage Lite.  There are also programs that are free to use in general, or Open-share, example being Gimp, and Pixlr. I have no clue how to use Gimp, but I’m generally okay with using Pixlr for basic edits, although I do prefer PicMonkey, which is what I use to resize and add in text to my Redbubble works. However, I’m perfectly aware that they do exist in this present day and are getting better and better by the hour.

Anyhow; learning curves. . . .

First off; a learning curve is the time you allot yourself to learn a program, or something else in life. So a learning curve when it comes to digital art, is basically, the time you give yourself before officially calling it quits —or actually sticking around because you are starting to get the hang of some of the programs.

I’m being extremely serious though, you, or me, it’s a personal thing, either you learn to do one thing in the program of choice and see where it takes you OR you get a bit burnt out trying to learn how to do a bit of everything. Watching 24hr tutorials, documenting, jotting down notes, and keyboard shortcuts, it’s exhausting I know.

I still recommend it though, even if you learn how to do 1 thing in the program and just learn to do it well. Then move on, and try something else. Examples; coloring an image, using the pen tool, layering. Not just learning that you can’t figure out how to zoom and scroll when you want to get in some really good detail. . yep. . .still haven’t learned to do that yet. I’m not sure why it doesn’t do it, or how to do it, maybe I’m doing something wrong? Oh well, we will get there. . .

But that’s what I mean when I talk about learning curves, so tell me;
What are yours?

Inktober Versus Quality

Good Morning!
To mark the beginnings of the October, there is something mysterious artists do in which they refer to the challenge,

What is this challenge? It’s called Inktober. Its a month long challenge/event. In Witch, hehe see what I did there. . . Okay, what you do is create an Ink drawing per day. There is only one real rule; it must be inked.

Everyday.

Just to reiterate it; you must complete it. Now, to be honest, this is just my personal opinion when it comes to challenges like this. Its also a personal preference, just to be clear on that.

The drawings I keep seeing are just scrap-work, and again, that is my personal opinion. When I say scrap-work this is the kind of art that I am looking at;

I understand not having the time to work on a piece because you are bogged down by other works, or you are just a hobbyist and this isn’t a full time job, but still don’t put up work that has no type of quality.

I do not think you should sacrifice the quality of your work by uploading scraps you have inked in the hopes of keeping up with the Inktober mindset.

Now, when you re-purpose those scraps and redraw them or turn them into something else, that’s a whole ‘nother post in its entirety.

Im honestly just being saddened by those artists who are doing what I’m describing. Please note that not every artist thinks about this in the same way. Again, I really want to make it clear that this is a personal preference. So, with that being said I am going to be using to of my own pieces as a starting point, or example if you will. As to not offend anyone.

Especially when I know and understand that every one arts differently lol but I want people even hobbyist to strive for greatness when they put their “Art Foot” forward. I want there to be this glass star way up there, out of reach, and you just have to stretch yourself out and just break it. I want you to break that star with your artwork.

JUST BREAK IT and then make a new goal to reach for, and with all that being said, leads into my next topic of Learning through Experience but we shall get there soon!

So for the year of 2016, and the month of Inktober. I am going to challenge myself, and attempt to put my best artwork forward. I shall leave you with this new standard to put upon yourself as well. . . . . . . . .  . I Challenge YOU!

(Below is a drawing for Inktober 2015)

That was all for today, thanks for stopping by!

BYE!!!

Redbubble Update!

Good Morning, and Happy Inktober, and HalloThankMas!

October 1st marks the start of the 3 month long holiday. It’s strange, but true. If you’ve traveled to any walmart lately, one aisle is Halloween, the next Thanksgiving, and the next one has Christmas decorations. What is this life?

I wish it was halloween at all times, but that can’t happen. Especially with these weird clowns wandering, and luring kids into the woods. . . .just no. . . stop what you’re doing. It’s not acceptable. It’s not even funny.

I work with kids, and love them to death. As if they were really mine. I DO NOT LIKE WHAT I AM HEARING! Halloween should be a fun time, a silly time. Not a weirdo time.

In some cases weird is great but NO. Don’t do it.

We all should be aware. . .say no. . and find a grown-up, get away from there. . . – Link to the song. And another creepy version, while I was looking for the real one.

But back to the real reason I started this post. I’ve been very productive this past week, and I’m hoping to stay that way for a while. I’ve been really going hard in my planner, and updating, researching, and hey I even corrected my facebook info, and such.

With all that being said, I wanted to share a design, and hopefully encourage you to come and purchase my works. Or commission me for a new piece. I’m getting back into the full swing of things. It’s great.

I’m even doing more and more art pieces at work. I’m also on a really weird coffee high these past few days.

Honestly, this is one of my favorite pieces and I can’t wait to buy it, in IDK what form, but I know I’m going to buy my business cards, as stickers. That’s just such a really awesome concept to me, because you can stick it anywhere. It’s just too cool.

If you want to take a digital tour through my portfolio click here to be taken on a trip, in our favorite rocketship . . . okay, I’m sorry, you know you were going to sing it to day. I just initiated the thought a bit.

Now, to work on our next post. It’s about Art Collabs.

Woot.

BYE!

AFO – Anime Festival Orlando

Yes! I went to the coolest convention ever this weekend.
(Click on the picture to be taken to the website.)

I really enjoyed it. I went to about 6 or 7 panels on Sunday and a few Saturday night. Saturday night was the Japanese B-Horror panel, and it was . . . definitely B-Horror movies, but it felt more like comedy. The first movie that played was “ZombieA**: Toilet of the Dead” and it honestly just made me want to puke. That’s all.

The next panels I went to were about casting and sculpting on latex. It was a great panel hosted by NegativeDreamer Costumes, and his adorable son (mind you, he’s 2 and didn’t actually talk with us). He showed us what to use when creating our masks, and so forth. You can ask him as many questions as you’d like through his Facebook page which I have linked twice. The next thing I went to was the Anime Voice Actor Panel, hosted by Todd Haberkorn, Veronica Taylor, and Eric Stuart. I have linked their talent pages. It was so entertaining, and it was Todd’s birthday too, and he was kind enough to share his cake. I didn’t go for anything but I enjoyed the gesture.

I wanted to go to the Stunt fighting panel but we missed it, it started during the Anime Voice panel and eh, it’s alright. I believe the last panel I went to on Sunday was hosted by Blackstaranime.com, and they were discussing anime NOT by Studio Ghibli. I created a list of what they discussed if you are interested in hearing it. I think I am going to stop my listing of things here and just tell you what I did in the in between hours.

I was in and out of the Artist Alley about 30 times and walked the floor maybe more. I left a ton of business cards on a table in the artist alley area where the event things are. So if you are here from that comment below! I also gave my business to some of the artist in and out of the alley, and exchanged cards with the wonderful Sarah Serenity, who does Magical Cosplays.

I also bought makeup at the con, from SurrealMakeup, and the women in the booth was super sweet and had a wonderful personality. I wanted to buy more but I also need to save some cash for school and things. I also went to another small but large booth and bought eyeliners for my mother and I. I had a wonderful conversation about Game of Thrones with her, about who’s really good and who’s not, and if she should craft more items geared towards certain characters, and all.

I ended up buying “A Dragon is Not a Slave” – Daenyrs necklace from her as well. I can’t for the life of me remember her name though, but I did give her my business card so if she is reading this please comment so that I can link to your amazing works!  It was really fun, and I also played injustice Gold edition, so I think I’ll be buying that soon. As of now, I think we will go back to school shopping and buy me a planner!

Thanks for reading! Hope to see you all soon!

Hot Glue Stencils – Not New Just Cool

I’ve been wanting to try this out for a while, and today after I helped Ky hot glue the foam to his really awesome Nunchunks, I had the urge to test this out. I watch a lot of youtube videos related to crafting and I saw one a while ago that was really cool in my opinion. It was The Frugal Crafter Lindsay Weirich’s Video. I have the link below. She makes a bunch of these stencils using nothing but a non-stick baking mat, and a hot glue gun.

I don’t have a baking mat, but Ky had some old CD cases he didn’t care for. I used them. It was really simple, and to test it out, all I did was use the circle shaped imprint already on the CD case and then did a web-like design on the inside of it. I thought it would come out cool, and then the search began for some spray paint. We found some old Gold Spray Paint in the Garage/Shed. I used it, and made a decent pattern on a piece of paper. I had to let it dry for a few minutes before I could color on it but these are my results.

I followed her basic instructions as you can see – minus the baking mat.

Here is my “un-final” result, I want to get black spray paint and go over it once more before I say it’s final. Here is a closer view of the circles, and I did realize that spray paint is quite strong, in both pigment and odor. We sprayed it out in the garage were it is well ventilated but still it’s strong. I’m still smelling it, not to mention I did spray paint my stencil gold which I actually don’t mind (it just looks cool!).

Don’t the lines just look really cool? I agree. I really love this technique and plan on using it to create even more stencils that are unique and custom to the College Artworks look, and style. I think I’m going to make a ton of these and gift them to my Good friend Alien. She makes GORGEOUS paintings all using stencil and her creative mind. I would love to see what she makes using a stencil by me. Here is what the stencil looks like after it’s been spray painted, sorry I don’t have a between photo for this. Just imagine some hot glue drying, it looks plastic.

It reminds me of a spider webs, and Ky said it looked like Rims on a car at first. Still kind of does if you really look at it. Maybe I’ll do a car portrait. That’d be fun. The next project I want to work on with this stencil is to make a water spray using food coloring because I think that will leave a good impression and watery pigment on the paper, and then it will look like I painted it, maybe. If I do it correctly. So stay tuned for when I get around to that.

P.s. Here’s a photo of Ky’s really awesome Nunchucks!

Gorgeous aren’t they, today has been a great crafting day!

BookMark-It Haul [VIDEO]

A Small update Haul from BookMark-IT!