Karin Wanderer Learns

… Chibi?

Chibi is an art style of over-exaggeration. Its origins are said to date back to Japan’s Edo period. The contemporary form of chibi arose from Japanese anime & manga developed in the 1970s; original credit is often given to a robotic cat named Doraemon from a manga of the same name. Anime series such as Dragonball & Sailor Moon, Studio Ghibli movies, & popular merchandise lines such as Hello Kitty are often credited with spreading the art style around the world.

Isn’t That Just Kawaii?

Yes & no. Kawaii essentially means cute. Lots of things are cute without being chibi. Chibi is a subset of kawaii. Something that is chibi is kawaii, but not everything that is kawaii is chibi. The English word comes from the Japanese word chibi (ちび). This word is considered rude if used to describe an adult, but appropriate when used to describe small children, smol objects, or cute art.

It would be polite to call this lil friend a chibi-doragon (チビドラゴン)

The Momentous Importance of Epic Proportions

Chibi art follows a small number of extremely important rules. 1. Chibi characters have very large heads- often anywhere from ⅓ to ½ their total height. (A more realistic proportion would be for a person’s head to be ⅙ to ⅛ their height.) 2. Chibi faces are mostly filled with their huge eyes. The mouth is very small & the nose is often left out entirely. 3. Chibi characters follow an extremely minimalist design.There isn’t space for a lot of detail! Most chibi characters have simple outfits & accessories. Since their enormous heads are the focus, extra effort is usually put into their hair or hat. 4. It must be kawaii! I have seen some “gross” chibi characters as the art form develops over time, but even the gross ones are pretty cute!

TL;DR: Chibi characters’ features are pushed out of proportion to an almost obscene degree. That’s why the chibi style is sometimes referred to as the ‘super deformation’ style or ‘S.D.’ for short.

Contemporary Chibi

Chibi art has only grown in popularity over time. From Hello Kitty to Funko's Pop! Vinyl, this is a style people love. You don’t even have to like anime to want chibi action figures of your favorite live-action characters or mythical beasts.

How-To Books for Chibi Art

[Quick review of my review policy: All of them are unpaid & unsolicited!]

Cute Chibi Mythical Beasts & Magical Monsters by Phoebe Im You Can Draw Manga Chibis by Samantha Whitten & Jeannie Lee You Can Draw Manga Chibi Characters, Critters & Scenes by Samantha Whitten & Jeannie Lee Drawing Chibi by Kikai Anime Manga for the Beginner: Chibis by Christopher Hart Chibi Art Class by Yoai

Do you have a book recommendation? Let me know on Mastodon or Ko-Fi!

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• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

Last time, on King Ink: I insinuated that I was going to tell you which #ink was best, then left you with a cliffhanger about how ‘the ink an artist works with is a very personal decision.’ I have since gotten hate mail, death threats, & absolutely wild offers of ancient family secrets & firstborn children. “Karin,” you collectively sob, “Please! Don’t leave us in suspense! What is the best ink?!” I will now tell you, if only to stop the steady stream of infants being left at my front door. The best ink is…

Sumi

Why? Because it’s the one I use. I told you, it’s a very personal decision! Sumi is a traditional Japanese ink. How long ago was this tradition established? Well, long enough that the word sumi literally means black ink in Japanese! This undiluted ink is a glorious black, & when diluted it gives a lovely range of grays to play with. It is permanent, with certain types used for tattoos. This ink is preferred by my favorite artist (Stan Sakai) as well as my second favorite artist (me). What makes this ink unlike any other ink? Read on to find out!

I painted this with sumi & a single shade of blue watercolor.

Carbon Ink

There are many different kinds of carbon ink. ‘Carbon’ is also often referred to as ‘soot’ or ‘lampblack’. Sumi is a carbon ink. Other carbon inks include India Ink (which actually originated in China). ‘Carbon’ ink is a very literal name for it; the pigment for this ink is made from the soot of burned wood, resin, or oil. Collecting the soot is a painstaking process, & only the first step involved in turning that soot into ink! Ancient recipes for carbon ink involve mixing the soot with water & a binder such as gum arabic, which is also used in watercolors. While many modern ink recipes still use carbon black pigment, their recipes are much more complex. Every carbon ink is different.

Plum blossoms are a very popular subject for ink painting, & one of my favorites.

A Word of Warning!

One thing I would like to make clear: sumi is not vegan. Lots of ink isn’t. If this is important to you, always check thoroughly! Check the type of ink, the brand of ink, & the specific color of ink you are purchasing. I started using sumi because my favorite artist does, back before it ever occurred to me that ink wouldn’t be vegan. (While I am not personally vegan, I do prefer to know when I am using something that contains animal products!)

How Is Sumi Made?

Sumi is made from soot (often from pine resin or rapeseed oil) mixed with animal glue (often egg whites or fish skin). Sometimes incense or other ingredients are added, but they are not required. This makes a soft, claylike lump that is kneaded until it is a glossy, uniform black. It is then pressed into molds and left to dry. It can be used immediately once dried, but sumi sticks are believed to improve with age.

This was painted with sumi & a white gel pen.

Sumi Rumors I Keep Hearing But Can’t Prove… Yet.

• A 70-year-old stick is “perfect”, which is to say it is nicely aged but not so old it has become crumbly. A crumbly ink stick is not wasted, it can be mixed with new animal glue and re-formed into a new ink stick. The new stick will then need to be re-aged, as it is the animal glue partially decomposing that makes it “nicely aged.”
• The highest quality sumi is a neutral grey when diluted. High-to-middle quality sumi is often blue-grey when diluted. Low quality is brown in tone.
• The highest quality of undiluted sumi reflects the least light, both wet & dry.

This was painted with sumi & white ink.

Is It Always A Stick?

Today, Sumi can be purchased in many forms. The traditional ink stick required you to use a grinding stone to mix the ink with a small amount of water to create the ink. While I do have a few small ink sticks & a stone, most of the ink for my paintings come out of a bottle. (#NotSponsored but I love this ink so I’ll tell you about it anyway!)

This was painted with the sumi linked above & white gouache.

Books About Sumi & Ink Painting

(#NotSponsored but I love books so I’ll tell you about them anyway!)

• Sumi-e by Shozo Sato

• Japanese Ink Painting by Ryukyu Saito

• The Art and Technique of Sumi-e by Kay Morrissey Thompson

• Special Subjects: Beginning Chinese Brush by Monika Cilmi

• The Spirit of the Brush by Sungsook Hong Setton

• Art of Chinese Brush Painting by Caroline Self & Susan Self

Sumi-e

Oh no, this is getting way too long! This was supposed to be a short piece about my favorite ink! I guess this is Sumi: Part 1, tune in for Part 2 when I will talk about different styles of ink painting, as well as sumi artists whose work I admire. Have you used this ink? What did you think? Let me know on Mastodon & Ko-Fi!

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• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

Every 2 months or so on this blog, we take a break & share a #recipe instead of talking about art. Last time Wolfe3D shared his pizza recipe in my first collaboration. The time before that, I shared my favorite vegan cake recipe Would you like to share a recipe in a future blog post? Let me know!

This week, we’re making Plum Tea!

This recipe is delicious hot or iced.

Ingredients

• 4 ripe plums
• 1 cup sugar – any kind
• 1 cup water
• Lots of ice
• Your favorite tea*

*I used Apricot Medley (#NotSponsored) this time, but have made this recipe in the past with many different herbal & black teas. Part of the fun of this recipe is getting to experiment with whatever tea you like!

Directions

• Stem, pit, & quarter 4 plums. You do not need to peel them. If the plums are very small, you only need to cut them in half- but you may need 5-6 plums to get the same results.

• Put the plums into a tall pot with 1 cup of water & 1 cup of sugar.

• Bring to a boil, remove pot from heat, & let sit, covered, for 20 min.

• Uncover, remove plums, & let the simple syrup cool.

• Pass the time by eating the extra-delicious plums on fruit salad, granola, ice cream, etc. They will keep in the fridge for at least a day, maybe longer- but they get eaten so fast in this house I’ve never managed to find out how long!

• Fill ½ of a pitcher with ice, then fill ⅓ of the pitcher with syrup

• Fill the rest of the pitcher with your favorite iced tea.

I love that this one recipe makes both drinks & snacks, with minimal effort. The hardest part is waiting for the syrup to cool!

We’ll get back to talking about art next week. Is there an author or topic you want me to cover? Let me know on Mastodon or Ko-Fi!

Get my art on mugs & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #KWPrompts, a biweekly art challenge!

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• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

Alina Chau is an award-winning artist. You may know her past animation work on projects such as Star Wars: The Clone Wars. What you may not know is that she quit her job at LucasArts in order to pursue her own artistic dreams! Today, she is an author & illustrator whose palette, plants, & people absolutely blow me away. I have read every one of her books available at my library. Her words & watercolors are overwhelmingly beautiful.

Alina Chau, Illustrator

Bonnie's Rocket written by Emeline Lee Bonnie wants to build a rocket ship. Hundreds of miles away, her Baba is developing equipment for the Apollo 11 space mission. This story follows Bonnie as she tries several different rocket designs & gets letters from Baba talking about their work. The book includes several different rocket-building activities for children! It is best for ages 5 & up. If you have space-obsessed 3-4 year olds, you might be able to read it in sections as it is a bit long & wordy for small children. The activities look very fun & require supervision. A great book! If I worked with slightly older children I would definitely have this in my classroom. I spent more time than I should have painting scenes from Chau’s books this week

Lunar New Year written by Hannah Eliot This sweet book introduces the readers to the Chinese Zodiac & Spring Festival by showing how one family celebrates, taking the time to briefly explain the significance of their traditions. The illustrations are beautiful & detailed; there is so much to talk about on every page! A very fun & informative read, good for preschoolers as well as older children.

The Rise (and Falls) of Jackie Chan written by Kristen Mai Giang As you may have guessed from the title, this is a biography about the powerhouse stuntman & brilliant actor Jackie Chan. This book goes out of its way to emphasize how hard he trained & how careful he is about his work. I loved learning more about Jackie Chan’s life! This book would be good for ages 4 & up. There is a bilingual edition but I have only seen the English one.

Double Happiness written by Nancy Tupper Ling In a series of illustrated poems we follow our main character as she & her family moves very, very far away from her Aunt & Uncle & Nai Nai to a new home. This is a great book for children ages 5-8, with a very sweet story that demonstrates healthy coping mechanisms for dealing with something as emotionally stressful as moving house.

The Nian Monster written by Andrea Wang Three days before Chinese New Year, Xingling’s grandmother explains how many of their traditions are meant to keep the Nian Monster away. It’s a good thing she does, Nian returns to eat the city that very day! Can Xingling use her wits to save the day? I love both the story & the illustrations so much! Especially the paintings of the monster, which manage to be bright & colorful & intimidating all at once; that is a hard balance to strike! I would read this with anyone 3-5 years old, but older audiences will probably enjoy it, too.

In the Spirit of a Dream & We Are the Change, both collaborations with many artists I enjoyed both these books quite a lot! Unfortunately I read them so long ago I don’t remember specifics. It’s definitely worth checking out if your library has them!

Alina Chau, Author/Illustrator

Marshmallow & Jordan I absolutely love Marshmallow & Jordan! I sat down to read just the first few pages of this graphic novel one Saturday morning, & ended up finishing it in one sitting. On her way home from school, Jordan hears crying. She finds that it is a white elephant crying over their injured leg, & decides to bring it home to take care of it. The rest of the story is even more magical than the beginning! The characters are well-crafted & believable in a way most authors don’t manage when writing tweens/teens. Characters who use wheelchairs are few & far between in comics. Chau clearly put a lot of work into understanding how the main character would navigate her world in a wheelchair, & it shows. The character designs & environments are beautiful! The story is so compelling; it made me care about sports just because Jordan & the other characters do! This graphic novel is recommended for ages 8-12, but I think older readers will also like it.

Alina Chau, Unstoppable Force Of Nature

Chau’s creativity seems to know no bounds. Her style works well with many artists/authors. This article only managed to cover a small portion of her work; I had to cut myself off because it was getting so long. I look forward to seeing what she creates in the future!

Would you like to know more about a specific picture book or comic book illustrator? Let me know on Mastodon or Ko-Fi!

Get my art on mugs & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #KWPrompts, a biweekly art challenge!

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• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

It’s Inktober!

Inktober is an art challenge with daily prompts for every day in October. The goal is to encourage people to post one #ink drawing every day! Every October all of social media gets flooded with #Inktober drawings & paintings. There is also a version that lasts all year – #Inktober52 – with a different prompt each week. Don’t like the official prompts? That’s OK, there are dozens if not hundreds of unofficial #Inktober lists out there! I have been sharing my art online for just over a year, so Inktober is the only annual art challenge I’ve had a chance to participate in more than once. I realized today that I haven’t ever looked into the history of ink, so I’m going to tumble down this rabbit hole & I’m taking you all with me.

Micron Pen Ink

What Is Ink? When Did Ink Start?

Writing is a concept that has fascinated humans. Around age three most children start to understand the distinction between writing & drawing. Children who have not yet learned to write will often make scribbles lined up horizontally or vertically, with left or right alignment, according to whatever style of text they have been exposed to the most. Is it any wonder that a medium that we invented to write with should be equally fascinating?

Ink has existed for at least 4,500 years. People in China & Egypt are both credited with discovering ink at the same time. This is called Simultaneous Invention, & it happened with the wheel, too. I have to say ink is “at least” 4,500 years old because there is some debate over when people started using ‘ink’ as opposed to ‘paint’. The debate rages on in large part because of a simultaneous debate over where the line is drawn between what is ink & what is paint.

Sumi Ink depicting the Plum Tree, a very popular sumi-e subject.

What Makes It Ink, Not Paint?

There are many different kinds of ink, & many kinds of paint. Sometimes the only difference is that you use paint to cover a wall, & ink to write a letter. Most of the differences can only be discussed as generalities. Paint is usually more lightfast, whereas ink is generally a “fugitive” pigment unless it is designed to be long-lasting. Ink generally has the consistency of water, while paint is often thicker. Paint often changes the texture of any surface it covers, but ink usually doesn’t. Natural inks mostly come in blacks & browns, whereas natural paints come in a rainbow of colors. In short: you could apply most ink with a paintbrush, but most paint could not be applied with a fountain pen. This is because inks are made with very small pigment particles that dissolve easily, while paints often use larger particles that may dry with a slightly grainy look.

Sumi Ink depicting a cat, a very popular subject in every form of art.

There Are Many Many Many Types Of Ink

The earliest inks got their color from a variety of natural materials. Egyptians used inks to write on papyrus. Those inks were made of ingredients such as ochers, which are also the colorants used in some of the earliest paints. Many inks, such as India Ink (which is actually Chinese) & Sumi (Japanese), are colored by soot. Whether the ink is a cool black or a warm black depends on what is burned to produce the soot & what the soot is mixed with to make it into ink. There was also cephalopod ink which dries to a shade of brown called ‘sepia’, because of the Latin name for the cuttlefish: sepia officinalis. Other inks were made from chemical precipitation formed from ingredients like oak galls & iron sulfate. I have made inks from crushed berries & vinegar (pretty successfully) & walnut shells (pretty unsuccessfully). Dyes that work with synthetic inks were discovered by a chemist named William Henry Perkins while he was trying to cure malaria, & now ink comes in any color you like. Even today, though, many inks are made with animal-based glue & other non-vegan ingredients, so if this is important to you it is something you must be very careful about!

Which Ink Is Best?

Some artists remain devoted to one type of ink, or have different types designated for different jobs. Some artists have a more free-for-all approach. Bill Watterson, of Calvin & Hobbes fame, uses India ink & watercolors. Stan Sakai, creator of Usagi Yojimbo, uses Sumi & watercolors. Suisen Nakatani, a kokotsu-bun specialist, also works in Sumi. Alphonso Dunn uses an impressive array of inks & pens with his watercolors. Cheriue Ka-wai Cheuk is an expert in the gongbi painting style, which is specific about all the tools an artist uses. The ink an artist works with is a very personal decision.

I work with Sumi because I, personally, am a shameless Sakai fangirl.

What’s your favorite kind of ink? Are you participating in #Inktober? Let me know on Mastodon & Ko-Fi!

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Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #KWPrompts, a biweekly art challenge!

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• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

The Amazing Author/Illustrator

It absolutely breaks my heart that more people haven’t heard of cartoonist Nie Jun. His watercolor comics are beautiful. His use of greens stops me in my tracks page after page after page. He paints insects with as much love & attention as people. I spent this whole week finishing all my other work at the last minute because I wanted to paint so much of his!

He is the perfect author to continue my #WatercolorBooks series. I will be talking about watercolor comics & picture books & their illustrators from both an artists’ perspective as well as that of a preschool teacher, where applicable.

The Breathtaking Books

My Beijing: Four Stories of Everyday Wonder is the loveliest comic I have ever read. The stories focus around a child named Yu’er, her grandfather, & the people in their small neighborhood. It is marketed towards 7-10 year old readers, but I’m in my 30s & enjoyed every page. Really, it is a book for everyone- although some of the storytelling devices may be a bit confusing for children younger than 7. All of my paintings were from this book.

I ran out of time to do anything beyond reading Seekers of the Aweto. Two brothers seek (can you guess? … No, what an odd guess! ) Aweto, aka little plant spirits that can be used for medicine. The first book was amazing! Nie Jun’s love of insects has been cranked up to 11, his mythical creatures are a sight to behold, & his landscapes are dazzling! This comic series is great for anyone ages 12 & older. The second Aweto book came out this year & my library has not gotten it yet. I am very excited to read it!

This is Yu-er’s grandfather, a true insect aficionado.

The Lovely Lianhuanhua

One of Nie Jun’s earliest inspirations was Lianhuanhua – old Chinese sequential art. Lianhuanhua was the precursor to modern Manhua – modern Chinese comics. It is a very interesting form of art worth checking out, if you're interested! While I have been calling Nie Jun an illustrator for clarity’s sake, he calls himself a Manhuajia, or ‘humorous cartoonist.’ Does the word ‘manhua’ sound familiar? It eventually made its way from China to Japan, when it became the word ‘manga’ we all know & love today.

Spoiler alert: cats are awesome.

Would you like to know more about a specific picture book or comic book illustrator? Let me know on Mastodon or Ko-Fi!

Get my art on mugs & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

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• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

Hi folks! It's your friendly neighborhood Karin here! Now is an auspicious time to review my review policy. All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions. ~KW

Isabella Kung Knows All About Cats

Isabella Kung is an author & illustrator whose watercolor art has lived rent-free in my mind since the first time I read No Snowball. In an interview with CanvasRebel, Kung said, “Children are amazing and it is an absolute honor to delight and entertain them, to teach and show them our world, to empathize and tell them they are not alone…” This is exactly how I feel about reading with children. She is the perfect author to begin my #WatercolorBooks series. I will be talking about watercolor comics & picture books & their illustrators from both an aspiring artists’ perspective as well as that of an experienced preschool teacher, where applicable.

Watercolor cats are a weakness of mine

Kung is the Author/Illustrator of No Fuzzball! & its sequel No Snowball! She captures a wide array of the emotions – & the narcissism – of cats in these two picture books. No Fuzzball features bright illustrations focused around one adorable black cat, the eponymous Fuzzball. Fuzzball is an unreliable narrator, written in such a way as to be age appropriate for preschoolers. As a super fan of dialogic reading, I love this book. Talking about whether or not a character’s words match their actions has always led to very interesting talks with my students! In the sequel, No Snowball! the family adopts a new kitten. How will Fuzzball handle it? The answer is so sweet – not to mention so amusingly cat-like! – that this has become one of my standby books for children having trouble with the idea of becoming a ‘big sibling’.

I might have gotten distracted from writing this article by painting cats.

Kung is also the illustrator of Lesléa Newman’s A B C Cats & 1 2 3 Cats, which required her to illustrate over 120 cats. These books are wonderful! The illustrations are gorgeous. There is a rhythm to Newman’s rhyming that makes it extra fun to read, which is good because this seems like the type of book kids are going to want to hear over & over & over again.

Kung is a prolific illustrator whose work has won many awards & honorable mentions. This is one of my favorite of Kung’s illustrations, & here is a video of her painting it. Also deserving of mention is that her book titles both have punctuation, putting them in exalted ranks along with classics like Thud! & Guards! Guards!

What an adorable ball of demonic rage!

Would you like to know more about Isabella Kung? Is there a picture book or comic book illustrator you want me to talk about? Let me know on Mastodon or Ko-Fi!

Get my art on mugs & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #KWPrompts, a biweekly art challenge!

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• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

Comic & picture book artists use a wide variety of physical & digital media for their work. My favorites have always been the ones made with watercolor- even if I did not realize it at the time!

Watterson used India ink & watercolors. I used watercolors & micron pens.

Why Watercolors?

Using watercolors to make a picture book or comic is very different from using watercolors to paint more traditional forms of art, such as a still life. While the supplies may be similar – or even the same – the techniques employed by a comic illustrator like Bill Watterson are very different from a fine artists such as Fidelia Bridges.

Comic & picture book illustrators are making lots of pictures to a fine artists’ one (or relatively few, if they are working on a series.) This is where a lot of the biggest differences lie. Comics & picture book illustrators are also expected to put out more pictures in a shorter amount of time. The pictures all have to be very consistent- if a character is wearing a red shirt on one page & a pink shirt on the next, the reader might think it is an entirely different character! Comics & picture books also tend to show less detail overall, to allow for the small time frame & aid in consistency. The manga series Sand Land, written & illustrated by Akira Toriyama, is a great example of the importance of simplifying your work. The series features a tank that is practically a main character, appearing in some form in most of the manga’s panels. Toriyama had a terribly hard time hitting deadlines for this series, largely because the detailed tank took up so much of his drawing time!

Of course, it isn’t all bad. Most comics are assembled panel by panel, not a whole page at a time. This means that panels with small mistakes can be fixed digitally. If a mistake ruins a whole panel it can be swapped out easily instead of starting the whole page over again. Many comic & picture book illustrators buy “convenience colors”- premixed shades they use a lot – to aid in consistency. It also means that artists can often use cheaper materials. After all, the lightfast rating of the paint hardly matters when the picture is meant to be reproduced in print or on a computer screen, rather than having to stand the test of time hanging on a wall.

… But Why Watercolors?

The transparency of watercolor allows for dramatic layering. The dreaminess inherent in the medium lends itself nicely to the fanciful stories that picture & comic books most often contain. From a financial standpoint, you tend to get more pigment for your dollar with paint than with markers. (I would make comics with my dollar-store paints any day, but never with my dollar-store markers!) Additionally, the workflow is entirely different, in a way I find oddly fascinating. For example, compare my workflow painting disparate pictures versus the Calvin & Hobbes comic at the top of this article.

Typically when I am painting I am working on multiple pictures at once, in order to avoid sitting around watching paint dry. I fill the time while painting A dries by drawing & starting to paint Painting B, then maybe starting to draw & paint C before going back & doing more work on A, etc. My palette is covered in small amounts of paint, with a different color scheme for each picture. When it comes to comics, a major concern is consistency. I rarely paint series of pictures, with the notable exception of Milly, whose coloring is easy to match consistently. Working in a comic strip style changed everything for me from the ground up!

I had to draw both panels entirely…

I didn’t write Calvin’s dialogue in the first panel- I should have.

Ink them entirely… The kerning… It haunts my every step…

Then mix up a big batch of each paint I needed & paint all the parts that need to be consistent all in one pass. As you can see in my example below, I did not mix up enough red to do the title & both Calvins’ shirts. This meant I had to stop after finishing the title, even though I had enough paint for one of the shirts, & mix up a new batch of red so the Calvins would match neatly.

All in all, it is an entirely different experience from painting more traditional pictures! So I am starting a new series, called the

Karin Wanderer Blog Series For People

Who Wanna Read Good

& Who Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too

Or, maybe I’ll be talking about watercolor comics & picture books as well as the people who illustrate them in my future Featured Artists articles.

So many artists, so much time!

Is there a picture book or comic book illustrator you want me to talk about? Let me know on Mastodon or Ko-Fi!

Get my art on mugs & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #KWPrompts, a biweekly art challenge!

Find me on Linktree

• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

I Have 12 Hobbies & 0 Space

I have quite a few hobbies I engage in regularly. I do both traditional & digital art. I also cook, bake, sew, embroider, read, write, garden, watch movies, play video games, listen to music… That’s a dozen hobbies. This presents a bit of a challenge.

Why Can’t I Have 0 Hobbies & 12 Space?

It can be hard to find the space in your schedule & in your actual physical space for your hobbies. My apartment is tiny, I am not the only person who lives here, & my time is a finite resource. I have had to develop strategies to help fit all my hobbies into my life, since restoring a vintage TARDIS is not one of my hobbies.

Strategy 1: The Buddy System

It’s a classic for a reason. Happily, lots of hobbies pair up well. I can paint while I bake, write while my paint dries, & listen to books or music while doing just about anything. Which of your hobbies can be buddied up? Which ones need to stand alone?

I baked a cake while painting this nightingale.

Strategy 2: Figure Out If It Needs Scheduling, Then Do It- Or Don’t

Sewing a simple garment or household item takes my entire work table, plus my ironing board set up nearby, as well as several days’ worth of my free time. Obviously I need to schedule that in advance. Things like gardening & cooking need to happen regularly. Listening to audiobooks or painting can happen at any time. Which of your hobbies need scheduling, & which can you jump into right away?

A moment of appreciation for my local libraries' audiobook selection.

Strategy 3: Know When to Rest

Mind your spoons. Sometimes you need to take a break & abandon all but your lowest-energy hobbies. Sometimes you need to enjoy the oldest hobby of all – taking a nap!

Or sitting & enjoying your tiny garden.

Variety Is A Blessing & A Curse

Having too many hobbies can be overwhelming. How many is too many? That largely depends on what hobbies you have, how much time you want to dedicate to them, how much time you have to spend… Some might say having a dozen hobbies is too many, but it suits me just fine. Of course, sometimes they distract from one another. Say, for example, you were supposed to write an article on watercolor illustrators & then, to pluck a for-instance out of the air, you got distracted reading the books they illustrated instead. And what if you followed this up by re-reading as much of Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur as you could get your hands on? Well then, dear reader, if you had a dozen different hobbies then you too could pivot to an article about one of those other hobbies, or even an article about how to balance many different hobbies at once…

HEY WAIT A MINUTE!

See you next week for an article about watercolor illustrations! Maybe. I just got the notification from my library that my hold copy of Yukon Ho! has arrived…

Is there a picture book or comic book illustrator you want me to talk about? Let me know on Mastodon or Ko-Fi!

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• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

Hello & Hello Again! I absolutely refuse to apologize for any puns used in this AuGHOST postmortem. Even that one. Enjoy! ~KW

Such ghastly humor!

What Is #AuGHOST?

AuGHOST is a ghost-themed art challenge for the month of August. There is a different art prompt for each day. AuGHOST is billed as a “all-skills, all-inclusive, no-pressure art-event” & that’s exactly what it was! Draw one ghost, draw all the ghosts, make it a scribble or a fine oil painting- anything goes. If you’ve been haunting this blog long, you know how much I love art challenges. It probably won’t surprise you to find out I did all 31 Days of #AuGHOST!

Let Me Introduce You To My Boo

Here are 31 pictures & 2 animations featuring the best little ghostie in town: Milly!

This video does not feature descriptive audio. A thread where each picture & animation in the video is posted with alt text can be found here

Last Time I Did All 31 Days of an Art Challenge…

…I made many grave mistakes. In an effort to push myself to expand my skills, I put so many restrictions in place that I got in my own way. I learned an important lesson that changed my approach to these challenges. This month was much more fun than MerMay because of that difference in approach.

What I Did Differently This Time

I focused on challenges, not rules. Instead of saying I couldn’t use certain media or colors, I challenged myself to incorporate something new. This led to my using cardboard from cereal boxes & embroidery thread scraps. It resurrected my love of upcycled materials, which I had not worked with much since I stopped making collages a lifetime ago. I also challenged myself to create a new character like I did for #HippySheepFest, only more in-depth since I would have 31 days instead of 4. I think we can all agree this worked, as in my totally logical & objective opinion Milly is the greatest ghostie who ever was.

Eat your heart out, Casper!

How Changing Things Changed Things

All these changes were for the better. I think it probably helps that I like painting ghosts more than people. It helped me see that I’ve grown, not just in terms of artistic ability but also mindset. I’m still getting used to gouache & am a bit inconsistent with transparency levels, but most of the time I would sit down to paint a prompt with an idea in my head & end up with pretty much what I imagined on the paper. More importantly, to my mind, is the change in mindset. I am always very critical of my work. (If I waited to share only the paintings I loved, I would share maybe one a month.) I am still very critical, but in a better way. Now instead of oh, that’s terrible I’m more likely to think oh, that’s the wrong color or the wrong proportion or something else that’s much more constructive. All in all, these changes have definitely made a positive impact!

It’s The Magnificent Milly Announcement We’ve Been Waiting For!

I have spent the month of AuGHOST being absolutely amazed to see that other people love Milly as much as I do! I am finally doing it- opening a TeeSpring store! This is your chance to have your favorite Milly on mugs, notebooks, & even stickers, in case you want to put Milly on something that isn’t a mug or a notebook!

My Spring Shop is Officially Open!

Follow me on Mastodon or Ko-Fi to be the first to hear about updates as I add new watercolor designs- more Milly as well as watercolor flora & fauna!

#Inktober Inspiration

Which was your favorite Milly? Let me know!

Get my art on mugs & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #KWPrompts, a biweekly art challenge!

Find me on Linktree

• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.