It's Christmas time, mistletoe and wine...

Well, no wine for me after my horrendous hangover after the Christmas party! This week has been a blur - work, Christmas, Boxing Day and having a cold. I've gone back to the 1000 things to draw, and only managed one thing so far in a week:

32. Redesign a book cover (The Wolf Hound and the Raven), using my Graphiter app on my tablet

I should probably still finish my dragon piece, however my family got me a new sketching set for Christmas, and I've treated myself to some half decent coloured pencils today, so I think today will be spent playing with those. I bought my friend one of those adult colouring books for Christmas, and I've had an idea to make my own colouring sheet, so I'll probably be doing lots of doodling tonight.

At the start of the month I bought a Groupon offer to do 10 sessions of yoga for £10 at my local leisure centre. I've been doing the 30 days of yoga by doyouyoga.com, and in true spirit I've done them haphazardly. I've just done day 3 today, and it's probably taken me about a week to get this far! I wanted to get a feel for yoga though before going to a proper class. If anyone has tips or hints for me post a comment below.

I came across this link during the week and thought you might like to see it:
http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/13091885/list/11-tips-to-get-the-creative-space-you-crave

And here is my Pinterest of the week, I literally don't even have a corner to set up an art space, so I'm settling for checking out other people's spaces for the moment: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/330592428875273399/

Also, as of the 23rd of December my blog was a year old! I can't believe I've stuck at this for more than a year. While I haven't done as much art as I would've liked it's certainly kept me more accountable than if I hadn't kept a blog.

Anyway, the plan for the week ahead is to do some more of the 1000 things to draw, and I really need to finish the dragon piece. I have a terrible habit of leaving things half done. I've been having a think how to make it really work with colour, as I didn't get on with Bobby Chiu's method, so I'll have an experiment during the week. I'm at work between Christmas and New Year though (boo), so my time is as limited as normal. Hope Santa brought you everything you wished for, and have a happy new year!

Back from Amsterdam

Hey, so I'm back from Amsterdam, and I had a brilliant time while over there. We did everything we had planned, and more! This is what we got up to:

Friday: We spent the day exploring, and went to the Rome exhibition at De Nieuwe Kerk. We didn't get up to much in the evening.
Saturday: Spent most of the day at the Rijksmuseum. It's number 1 on Trip Advisor, and for good reason! Went to Boom Chicago in the evening for some laughs.
Sunday: Went to the Van Gogh museum, and was a bit disappointed with it. Spent most of Sunday evening bar-hopping.

Our room, had a cage for a wardrobe, and a mini-jail on top of the bathroom!

Our hotel, Mauro Mansion

Centraal Station 

Night Watch, Rembrandt, Rijksmuseum

Portrait of Vincent Van Gogh, Rijksmuseum

Library in the Rijksmuseum, it's like something from Beauty and the Beast!

Model of an oriental vessel, Rijksmuseum

Quick 5 minute sketch

Tried to do the same on my tablet, didn't work out quite so well

My first day back at work was 2 days out of the office doing team building. The morning's activity was outdoor-based, and was OK, nothing special. However the afternoon's activity was a take on the Great British Bake Off - I was in my element! Our team didn't win but I still had fun. There was a party in the evening, and I behaved myself and drank diet coke for half of the night. I was very smug the next morning when a lot of people had hangovers!

I haven't drawn much while being in Amsterdam, or since I returned, I'm not sure what to do next. I'm sure I'll figure something out. I should probably finish my dragon piece.

I found something on the internet before I went on holiday, designers might find amusing, it certainly made me smile: http://www.creativebloq.com/design/creative-process-timeline-nails-it-111518018

For my Pinterest of the week I must admit I've not read this yet, but I've pinned it for future reading: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/240238961349923858/

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a prosperous new year. Dream big, don't give up, and don't take yourself too seriously :)

Schoolism complete

So I finished Schoolism last Monday, and listened to the book excerpt from Bobby Chiu. It was quite insightful. I feel from doing the Painting Creatures course I've learned a lot, and also learned how to figure out quick and easier ways of doing things. I've also learned that using reference is not cheating if applied correctly, although I've learned this several times in the past few years it still comes back to give me a kick up the arse.

As such, since finishing the Schoolism course I've done no art at all. Nothing. Nada. Zip. So I did a few figure drawings this evening:

On Friday I attended my first Christmas party for my new job, and I was absolutely annihilated. I've never had a hangover so bad - I was still being sick at 8pm on Saturday! Needless to say this has inspired me to come out with quotes I'll never stick to, like 'I'm never drinking again'. I probably won't drink too much over Christmas now as I've had my blow-out for the Christmas period.

I'm off to Amsterdam on Thursday as part of my birthday celebrations (the big 3-0, eek!). Don't think I'll be drinking much while there, but I have some expeditions planned - the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh museum, and we have a couple of shows at the Boom Chicago comedy club booked too. I can't wait! I went to Amsterdam a few years ago, and loved it so much that I've always wanted to go back. It's such a vibrant city, and we didn't do half of what we wanted to do the last time we were there. That, and the fact we were knackered from walking around on the first day didn't leave us with much energy to enjoy the city for the remainder of our time there.

Well, I hope you're all getting ready for Christmas - I managed to put my boyfriend off from putting up the Christmas tree until 3rd December, and now it looks like a festive elf has sneezed all over our living room; there's tinsel everywhere!

Well, right now I'm going to finish watching my recording of The Hunt, narrated by David Attenborough. I love everything he narrates, and the camera skills of the crew for this series are just astonishing.

I won't be posting a blog post next week due to said holiday above :)

And last but not least, my Pinterest of the Week: http://batkamal.tumblr.com/post/70928746752

A full-on week

2 days left of the Schoolism subscription, and I've done nothing since last Sunday. I watched the last video on finishing touches, but there's a book excerpt at the end I've not found time to listen to yet.

I travelled to Center Parcs at Longleat on Wednesday on a business trip, and had a wicked time :) This was the view from my apartment:

It was a couple of long days though, the traffic on the drive back was horrendous.

I've been back to Center Parcs today (this time to Sherwood Forest) with my friend's family, and had a wicked time, although I didn't feel like we did much. Totally shattered now, watching the Formula 1 before going to bed.

So I've struggled to do any art this week. I'm still keeping in touch with it though, I finished the TV series of Landscape Artist of the Year this morning while doing the week's ironing. I live such an interesting life...
I've added my colour to my dragon a la Bobby Chiu, however I cannot get it to look anything better than washed out. I don't understand his technique enough to fix it, so I'm going to figure out a different way. This is the best I have so far:

Anyway, as is the norm now here is my Pinterest of the Week: http://theultralinx.com/2012/06/art-colour-coordination-infographic/

I've also come across some more relaxing music here for anyone that's interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCYk9CRx0g8

Holidays are coming

Well, I've made it to the last lesson of my Schoolism subscription, although I think it's more of a watch-video than a doing-video. In the last week I've worked on scales, hands and eyes, though I'm the first to admit I've not done a very good job on these things. If I have time at the end of the course I will go back over these videos. So below is what I've been working on. Please note I haven't done the base drawing, only the faint scales, eyes and hands:

I haven't worked on my dragon this week. I'm not really much further into my writing course either.

Yesterday I went on a chocolate-making course and made 24 chocolates for an advent calendar, including a few spares. It was loads of fun!

I've been listening to more relaxing music while I study, I'm still really into classical music, although I have deviated slightly... to Disney classic on the piano, ha! The link is here for anyone that's interested: https://youtu.be/tp5hgjD_Y5g

I was listening to classical music while writing this blog post, but then someone came on singing opera, and I'm more of a fan of instrumental classical music, so now I'm listening to Planet Rock. Old habits die hard.

Last but not least it's my Pinterest of the week, and this time it's not an image, it's a podcast: the Creative Pep Talk podcast. I've only just got into them, and they seem pretty good so far, check them out: http://illustrationage.com/2015/11/17/96761/?utm_source=hootsuite

Scaly things

Last week I kind of cheated with my dragon. I wanted to draw scales, but couldn't be bothered to draw every single scale individually, so I made a custom brush and painted them in. I didn't think it looked too bad.
The next Schoolism video showed me how to paint eyes and scales, so I've gone back to the drawing board with the scales on my dragon and refined them:

It looks subtly better now. Oh, and I did some work on the rabbit! I will probably shrink it even more though.

I'm hoping to get the Schoolism course finished now, I'm on lesson 7 out of 9, and I still have 2 weeks to do it. I've also quit Slimming World now, so I'll be getting my Monday nights back. I'm also still a week behind on my writing course, and I'm still as blasé about it as I was last week.

Nothing much to report on from the past week. I have a busy schedule for the next 6 weeks (including, but not limited to: work visit's, seeing my nan, Xmas party, work away-day, Amsterdam and Xmas to name a few!). I think December will be a quiet month for drawings, as I'll be so busy, I'll try to get some things done though.

Also, I've come across a few websites where you design something, and if you upload it to a particular website it can be printed on things like phone cases, cushions, you can earn a commission from it if people buy it! Let me know in the comments below if you're interested and I'll post the links next week.

Anyway, that about wraps it up for this week, I've re-discovered a playlist on youtube, it's called a Study Playlist, but it's good for having as background music while I draw: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx65qkgCWNJIs3FPaj8JZhduXSpQ_ZfvL It's totally not my style of music, but sometimes I don't like listening to someone sing while I'm studying/drawing as I find it off-putting.

And here is my Pinterest of the Week, hope you have a good week everyone! http://lisapace.com/files/2014/07/1601284_802860943081664_2679415269977914934_n.jpg (sorry, I have a thing about rabbits)

Here be more dragons!

I carried on with the Schoolism videos, and I spent quite a lot of time on the 'fur' videos. I quite like drawing straight fur, but curly fur is quite difficult. I also felt like I spent way too much time on fur, so towards the end of the video I glossed over the last points. Then it was back to the dragon.

So I've spent quite a lot of hours refining my dragon. I feel like it was worth it, although I was feeing pretty down about it earlier today. It's nothing spectacular, but I feel it's a pretty good effort on my part:

Please excuse the giant rabbit. I wanted to get the silhouette down before I called it a day with this today. The rabbit won't be that big when this is finished!

I'm not sure if I'm going to get the Schoolism course finished. I have learned some key points already though, even if they're not the ones I'm supposed to be learning! I've learned that:

• Making a small thumbnail as an extra window on your screen helps you see the bigger picture while working on small details
• Use lots of reference
• Try to make sure whatever you're drawing has virality ie is cute/clever, etc
• Make sure you're drawing is clear and concise, the 3-tone drawing is good for this
• Always start with big brushes and work down to small for finer detail. Seriously, I never realised how useful this was
• I can pay for all of the tutorials I want, but unless I learn the basics and use basic techniques I'm never going to get better!

My writing course is going OK, I'm a week behind now, but I'm not stressing too much about it as this course is free, and it restarts in January anyway. If I get behind on this course because of my Schoolism course it's not a big deal.

I follow InPursuitOfArt on youtube, he posts some pretty good videos about being in the art industry, and I've just watched one of his recent ones this weekend, it's driven home a point to me that I don't need a Wacom Cintiq with state-of-the-art computer to be a good artist: https://youtu.be/1rg2c8FPf2E

And my Pinterest of the week is the following, hope you enjoy! https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/164386055/white-rabbit-print-rabbit-time-rabbit?utm_source=Pinterest&utm_medium=PageTools&utm_campaign=Share