Art Progress – Fan Boys, Pt. 2 – The Shadening

It's started to feel like every piece has four stages. There's the first stage where I dither forever about what to draw because everything seems blah and I have no inspiration. After I get over myself, there's the stage where I'm mapping out the piece and drawing wireframes and boxes. Then there's the rough and…

Art Progress – Fan Boys, Pt. I

I really like thematic groupings -- they give me the inspiration and structure I need to push past executive dysfunction. I've found this is especially true of my drawing practice. Deciding what to draw next has been challenging for me unless I have an outside impetus (like Yuletide or a fanworks challenge week) or some…

Shut-up and Draw Dancing

I had a few goals this month for learning to draw. I wanted to practice figures in movement, and I wanted to get more comfortably free with my shading and highlights -- sort of deliberately messy? There's probably an art term for it. I don't know. I just know that my shading and highlighting lines…

Pie (day) Chart

Happy pi (π) day! Those of you who've watched one of our recent virtual events know that I've been making astrological charts based on one of the magic systems and the in-world calendar of The Mask of Mirrors. Because that system (numinatria) is so intrinsically tied to mathematics and sacred geometry, it seemed fitting to…

Six Month Art Progress Check-in

Back in mid-August 2020, I decided I wanted to learn to draw. I got myself a Wacom pad and a subscription to Clip Studio Paint, downloaded a few courses on Udemy and watched a bunch of youtube tutorials, and just... started to draw. I've learned a lot. Mostly I've learned how much I don't know,…

The Clothes Make the Con Artist

The Mask of Mirrors is a book shot through with textile metaphors, from slang terms like ‘knots’ for the gangs and ‘cuffs’ for the nobility; to the pattern deck and its suits of the spinning, woven, and cut threads; to the interweaving of multiple PoVs to create a dense cloak of intrigue. We didn’t consciously…

Yuletide Treasures

The lack of job and annual Christmas trip with my mom meant that I had a LOT of spare time this year to dive into Yuletide. That ended up with me writing my assignment, two pinch-hits, and a treat. For one of my pinch hits, I decided to illustrate it, so there was also art.…

Arting Progress Report

I've been doing a bit of writing -- finishing my Moshang Week story, dragging out Chiaroscuro and dusting it off so I can finally get it out the door, things like that. But the main thing that has been helping me keep calm and carry on is the daily drawing practice. Lots of funnels, ellipses,…

MoShang Week Recap

Last week was rough for a lot of reasons, but Moshang saved me from the worst of it. Moshang, for those who haven't fallen into the Endless Abyss of MXTX fandom, is the ship name for two secondary characters from Mo Xiang Tong Xiu's Scum Villain Self Saving System. SVSSS is a story about a…