Art supply gifts + mini haul

Hello!

Christmas was good for me this year, I spent the whole day with Paul in my jammies, eating lots of food and drinking a little too much Asti. It was also good in terms of Christmas presents. I got lots of new exciting art supplies and I thought who doesn't love a good art supply haul.

Sooo, let's go.

Winsor&Newton Gouache

Why I love it:

- The colours are extremely bright and opaque.

- The paint is very smooth and the colours mix well.

- It's easy to go over it with coloured pencils, which creates some really cool textures.

Why I don't love it:

- The set came without a brown, which is one of my most used colours.

- The paint dries really quickly in the palette and unlike watercolours you can't just add water to revive it.

- It can be difficult to layer the paint and it can come out looking a bit patchy.

 

Overall:

I absolutely love these. I'm sure I'll be getting loads of use out of these once I get over my watercolour habits.

Colerase pencils

These are erasable coloured pencils. What's there not to love, right?

Why I love these:

- Superb 70s packaging.

- I was very curious to try these out and they are really fun.

- Once I get used to them they'll make for much nicer softer sketches

(Yes, I am aware this is crappy sketch).

Why I don't love these:

- They are not a hundred percent erasable.

- They come unsharpened and sharpening them is a bitch. They are, unfortunately, made of crappy wood and I'll probably end up having to sharpen them with a scalpel.

I mean look at this mess.

Overall:

I like them, but not as much as I expected and I could probably do without them.

Copic Ciao Markers

To those who are not familiar with copic ciao, these are double-sided markers. Sounds unexciting, but oh man, this one sexy art supply... These particular ones came in a set of five and a fine liner. One side is a nice flexible nib similar to a brush pen, the other is a kinda square and chubby.

Why I love these:

- They are not like anything I've used before. I remember using felt tip pens as a child and hating how bright all the colours were, as it made it impossible to draw faces, or anything really, with any kind of subtlety. These are pale, easy to layer and generally beautiful.

- They are extremely easy to carry around and whip out whenever I feel like it compared to my other art supplies.

- Using them makes me really think about my colour palette and simplify my drawings because I don't have loads of colours.

Why I don't love these:

- These are pricy buggers. How the hell does a single marker cost more than a quid or so?...

- The set came with a bit of a hideous pink that I don't think I'll ever use.

- I already want more colours and it turns out these babies are impossible to find in Glasgow.

First atempt. Meh.

Second attempt. I actually quite like it, but I smudged the fineliner. Meh.

Third attempt. I'm still undecided about this, so probably meh.

Overall:

I understand the hype now and I think these will become permanent residents in my bag.

Mini haul

I may have made a couple of purchases to complement my Christmas gifts, oops...

I picked up a couple of little gouache tubes because grey and brown are some of my used colours and the set didn't come with any. I'm just being lazy really.

Since copics are so hard to find I got a few Winsor&Newton promarkers. I got a pale blue, a grey and almond, which is a really pale warm pink. The colours are lovely, but I don't love them. They don't have the flexibility of Copic nibs and the colours are a wee bit more opaque than I'd like. Unfortunately, I think a couple of online Copic purchases will have to happen... But maybe in February, it's the 9th of January and I already have no money. Yup.

I hope those who made it to the end enjoyed this little run down of new art supplies with lots of pretty pictures. I really tried to get good photos this time and any feedback would be very welcome.

Okay, bye!

Hello 2017

Hello and Happy New Year!

I have never bothered with reflections on the previous year or resolutions for the next one. But 2016 has been a little different, so I figured why not share some of the things I've done and some of the things I planned on doing this year.

In 2016 I...

1. ...graduated. 

Last year at uni was a really sucky time, it was a lot of hard work and towards the end I had very little motivation to keep going. But I ended up with a First. I know it sounds like I'm showing off, and actually I am! I am very proud of myself for sticking with it even though I realised my degree was completely unrelated to what I really wanted to do...

2. I figured out what I wanted to do!

For the longes time I didn't know what I should do after graduation. A lot of people encouraged me to do a postgraduate degree and I was very close to applying for one, but I never went through with it. Once I really thought about it I realised that the only thing I ever really loved doing was drawing. I know that illustration is an extremely dificult profession to get into and even if I succeed it will be years before I get anywhere. But I want to stick with it and see what I can do. It's strangely comforting thought.

3. I moved in with Paul.

Easily the best thing I've done this year. 

4. And then we moved to Glasgow.

I've written a separate blog post (you can find it here) about how tough it was, but I'm glad we did it.

5. I have created a Facebook page and a blog.

It was lots of work and I still need to work on posting more regularly, but I'm glad I made a start on it.

6. I made my own Christmas cards.

It seems like a very minor thing, especially because I made my own cards last year. But I really took my time with these and got really lovely comments on them.

7. I got my first ever proper job.

And subsequently became a self sufficient (kinda) functional adult.

8. I got my first comission.

Actually more than one. I haven't shared the majority of it anywhere, so I figured why not do it now.

Here is a wee birthday card I made for my friend Jatta's dad. It was my first paid comission and it means a lot to me, even though I'd do it very differently now.

The next one was for my friend's photography page.

I then had a go at making a book cover for the same friend, but as it's not been published yet, I can't share the author or the title. This was a tough one because I had very little time to do it and had to change a lot along the way to fit in with what my friend wanted. But it was good practice for when I finally get to work with clients.

This last one was quite close to my heart because it involved two really nice people and hiking.

New Year's Resolutions:

1. Be less precious about drawing and sharing what I draw. I feel like I've not experimented and sketched enough because I always wanted to end up with a proper finished piece and it feels like I've missed out. I have also been very selective, but really I should be posting the good and the bad.

2. Open an etsy shop. I feel like it would be the first real step towards a career in illustration.

3. Make a calendar.

4. Make Christmas cards again.

5. Drop some hours at work and spend them on drawing if we can afford it.

6. Buy a new laptop and a graphic tablet, so I can finally start drawing digitally.

7. Get a dog. Here, I said it. Paul and I have been talking about it for too long, I think it's time we man up and do it.

That's it. I hope that if anyone is making New Year's resolutions they can make them happen. And I hope so can I.

Okay, bye!