A couple more traces and some freehand

The first two are traces (of course) and the last one is my first try at freehand copying something in a very, very long time. I still need a lot more practice, but it does at least look a bit like the trace. I am happy to see that it isn't too terribly deformed. Eventually I'll be able to create characters of my own instead of copying others.

Too long between posts

I know it's been way too long since I've posted here. I don't have any new work to put up. Just a bit of news.

I have finally started putting one of my fan fiction stories on paper. I never thought of myself as a writer, but some dear friends have read what I have so far and say I'm good. Go figure. The current story is for Inuyasha. I will put the link here once I finish the story and post it on fanfiction.net.

I hope to have some new pictures in the next few weeks. It'll depend a bit on the weather and whether I have to walk to work in it or not.

I also plan to start AW again soon. I've realized that putting it off is just giving in to my self-doubt. Which is what the program is supposed to help me with. I've gotten some great ideas for Artist's Dates which seemed the hardest on such a limited budget. But my friends Rivercrow and derianti have helped with ways to have an Artist's Date without spending any money or having to leave the house. Check out their blog Frugal Creativity.

I think that's all for now in my creative life.

And ended on a completely different note

Went to even cuter...

Started with simple and cute

Trying my hand at shading

It's kind of hard to see in this picture, but I just traced the outlines and tried shading it on my own. I'll have to adjust this one some more and post it again.

More tracing fun

This one came out a little better than I thought it would. I had to make a few minor alterations because he was holding a weapon right across the middle of the picture in the original. But I couldn't seem to get his collar to come out right. Ranma was my first favorite anime and manga.

Just a tracer

Ok. I decided after talking with Rivercrow to go ahead and post this. It's just a trace right now, but I'm "getting my feet wet" again. It felt good to even be putting pencil to paper, even if it was tracing paper. I had a lot of fun with this. Naruto is a fun character to draw. I'll post a couple more tonight or tomorrow.

The longest week ever?

Week one managed to become 3 weeks long. Procrastination, my biggest enemy, was working overtime. With encouraging words and a few explanations, Rivercrow got me back on track. Following the spirit of the rules is much more important than following them to the letter. She helped me realize that different lifestyles call for slight adjustments to makes things work.

The biggest hurdle in the first week is identifying enemies to my creative self-worth. To face them head on and realize I'm not the only one to "blame" for my self doubt. Then we have to list champions. This was a bit easier. Remembering the good is always easier. The best task of week one was one of the last ones. If you had 5 other lives to lead, what would you choose? My choices were:

• singer


• animator


• astronaut


• martial artist


• store owner

My artist's date was a trip to Michael's. I slowly perused almost every aisle. In the end, I bought myself a new sketchbook, colored pencils, and stencil paints and daubers. These will be perfect supplies for future artist dates. I may even post a few of my new creations here.

Do Over

My life went completely crazy last week. This made it virtually impossible to do anything but stress. I want to do this program the right way. So Monday will be a do over of week one. Now that I have DSL (and my life back on track), I'll post my progress at least 3 times a week. I really felt I didn't give it my all the first time I started.

Week One

The first week, called "Recovering a Sense of Safety" is about facing the monsters in our past and realizing our support system. I was never really discouraged from being creative, but I wasn't encouraged either. I didn't know I had any artistic talent until I was an adult. So my "monsters" were of my self-worth in general. I was supposed to focus on specific instances in my past, but I have very few memories of my childhood. Just bits and pieces, the occasional feeling. So relating any specific stories was a bit difficult. The people who've been the most supportive of me were more recent, so that was a bit easier. I wasn't a complete success with the morning pages my first week. This does leave room for improvement. I only managed to write them 4 out of the 7 days, which was more than I expected myself to be able to get up early for. My artist's date was a bit shorter than two hours, but I didn't weasel my way out and I didn't bring anyone else along. If my ISP will allow, I plan to post a little more often than once a week. Writing things out, both here and on paper, has and will make a huge difference.

Tomorrow it starts

Tomorrow is the first day of my journey of creative recovery through the Artist's Way. This blog will be a diary of my progress and feelings as I go through the twelve week program. I probably won't post every day, just as I need to share my thoughts.