1000 days of drawing

Sadly I haven't found any time to work on Tea Dogs this week... because I've been doing these instead!

Day 1: Draw yourself. I rushed this and to be frankly honest makes me look like a character from the first Sims game!

Day 2: Draw your favourite animal

Day 3: Draw your favourite food

Day 4: Draw your favourite place. This is Whitehaven Beach in Australia

Day 5: Draw your best friend

Day 6 (WIP): Draw your favourite book character that hasn't featured in a movie. Guess you guess who it is?

After being inspired by this dude over on DeviantArt:
http://cryptid-creations.deviantart.com/art/Daily-Paint-1000-Made-it-554497415
I've started making a list of things to draw daily. I've found loads of lists on DeviantArt, but to me they're all a bit daft, like one day I'd have to draw 'sadness', so I'm making my own list :) Which I may or may not share, but doing this has sure as hell kept me accountable this week! I am a day behind though... as I didn't do any drawing yesterday!

Anyway, just to catch up on other news this week, we have a Bank Holiday this weekend, so I'm not at work tomorrow! Although work is still awesome :) And it's only 2 more weeks until my next holiday, bring it on!

I finally finished Imaginative Realism, and I'm sad to say I really didn't enjoy it. I'm now reading a book I got for free on Amazon called Bad Metal, which seems to be OK at the moment. And Terry Pratchett's final novel was released this week, although I'm still a few books behind before I get to his latest one.

And for Fat Fighters I lost a pound, which isn't as much as I was hoping, but better than nothing :) Not sure what will happen this week, as I went to the pub yesterday and had too much to drink...

Well, I've done about 5 hours of drawing with some procrastination thrown in for good measure. I've no plans tomorrow (unless I decide to paint the kitchen...), so I should get Day 6 & 7 finished tomorrow. Here's to a good week!

The start of Tea Dogs

I've done some more work on my Tea Dogs piece, although I found working out the shape of a German Shepherd's face more hard work than I realised!

The spaniel was easy for me though as I used to have one :) If anyone has any good captions let me know and I'll include it!

I've read some more of Imaginative Realism, and it's only as I've got tot he end of the book I'm coming across the section where there's a 'call-to-action'. I'm still not impressed with this book, and I'll be glad when I finish it.

Also in the UK there's a new 'theme park' opened called Dismaland, by Banksy. I wish I could go as it looks very interesting, there's a review of it here: http://www.creativebloq.com/street-art/why-banksys-dismaland-better-youd-ever-expected-81516387

I've been so good on fat fighters this week that I'm expecting a half-decent weight loss, I think I might cry if I don't :( I even abstained from having anything bad at a family BBQ yesterday, and hardly drank anything alcoholic, so it would be nice to see my efforts pay off.

Anyway, I hope to get Tea Dogs finished off this week (although I have a pretty action-packed week ahead of me), have a good week!

Not coping with Windows 10...

As you may know, I own an Asus VivoTab Note 8, which is like the poor-man's version of the Wacom Cintiq. Last weekend I had the option to upgrade from Windows 8 to Windows 10. I was so excited I upgraded straight away without researching if anything would be affected on my tablet.
The pen function does not work anymore.
And it's not isolated to all VivoTab's; some work and some don't! Unfortunately mine is in the 'don't' category, and now I'm looking on the internet to find ways to fix it. By the sounds of it though I'll have to wait for an update to fix the driver. However I keep getting sidetracked, especially with Google Hangouts at the moment.

Needless to say I haven't done any art. I actually cracked out my notebook and pencil earlier today, as I've had an idea in my head for a few days and wanted to get it on paper:

It's supposed to be 2 dogs sitting at a table enjoying afternoon tea. I've also been toying with the idea of having humans on leads so it's like a reverse situation, but I think if I drew that it would come across a bit weird. I'm not even sure where I got the inspiration to draw that from, or why I even would, but I figured I like tea and I like dogs so why not combine them? I'll have to get on my Wacom Bamboo to flesh it out. At least I still have that! I need to start drawing things that inspire me more, to hopefully get into a better groove for drawing. I just feel like I've had an art block that's lasted for far too long now.

I washed my car yesterday, and listened to something on Youtube to try and inspire me to do something with my life... the link is here, and it's well worth a listen: https://youtu.be/GakfEmYBukQ

I haven't read any of Imaginative Realism this week, I only read at night and I'm been so tired when I've gone to bed this past week I've just gone straight to sleep!

I'm back on Fat Fighters now :) We have a party for Slimmer of the Year tomorrow, so I'm going to take some cucumber cups for the party (thick cucumber slices, seeds scooped out to make a 'cup', then filled with a mixture of low-fat cottage cheese, garlic and chives).

So, here's to another fab week at work, and to me getting out of my artistic rut!

Briefbox submission

Hi all, I've finished the Briefbox assignment, but I can't get on their website to post it as it's been hacked! So here it is in all its glory:

I'm still reading Imaginative Realism, and I'm halfway through. I get the concepts he writes about, but I'm not overly bothered by the book. I want to read it to the end this time though. It kinda sucks, as I want to draw a scene from a book I like, but I'm reading Imaginative Realism instead :( I haven't ready any more of Fun With A Pencil, though I hope to start that properly once I finish Imaginative Realism.

Saw an old friend at the weekend (me being my usual observant self didn't notice her until she was practically in my face, haha ;) ), hopefully we'll get to catch up soon :)

I also decided to not join a gym, as I have one at work and can use that when I please. Although I think I need to do some stretching for my back, as I've developed a glass back since camping.

My diet plan is not, ahem, going to plan! I've learned at my weight-loss group that you can make 'healthier' cupcakes using a packet mix and a can of diet pop, they are rather nice!

Madeira cupcakes (inspired by the Great British Bake Off) and chocolate fudge cupcake. Both with chocolate chips

Work is going from strength the strength, it's nice to work somewhere where 1) You are treated as an adult and 2) I genuinely feel useful and needed, not just needed because there's a high attrition of staff... Although I'm trying to put some extra hours in to cover my holidays I had booked for the end of the year, I just couldn't face working late on Friday :) It's the weekend after all!

Feeling rather uninspired

I've been feeling a bit blue the last few days, and can't pinpoint why. Needless to say I haven't done any art, although I am in the middle of a Briefbox project, but it's only concept stages so far, so I don't have anything really to share.

I've started reading Imaginative Realism by James Guerney. I bought the book a while ago, and read part of it, but then put it away and forgot about it. I've since re-discovered it, and I need to do some of the tasks from it.

I also started reading Fun With A Pencil by Andrew Loomis, and again this is another book I've partially read. I think the reason I'm feeling a bit uninspired is I just don't know what to draw!! Before I started re-reading Imaginative Realism though I was half tempted to pick up one of the Terry Pratchett books and draw a scene from the book, or maybe pick something from Egyptian mythology (I like both of these topics). The Imaginative Realism book has also suggested to draw something from the pages of a book, so I think I might try that to get the creative juices flowing again. Also, I'm not totally on board with Fun With A Pencil, as it just seems a bit childish, but a lot of artists swear by him.

I'm also playing the same old broken record of I've been busy this week which is why I've not done any art. To be honest though, I've been to Slimming World (only put on 1.5 pounds for 2 weeks of holiday, quite happy with that :) ), been to see the bestie as it's her son's birthday, been to a pub quiz and then had guests over last night. Maybe I need to become a hermit for a few months and become an art-processing machine, ha!

My mood is usually better after exercise, and I haven't done any for about 2 months now. Maybe I should get back in to something? There's a new gym opening where I live, but I don't want to get tied into a contract again, and all of the bullshit that comes with being at a gym. I've quite comfortable doing something at home, and I'm thinking of getting Insanity Max 30. I don't think I can do Insanity again, month 2 is a killer!

Well, I should have something to share with you from Briefbox next week. If anyone wants to do a Hangout on Google for some sketching send me a comment with the time and I'll try to make it :)