#and maybe if i'd heard it i would've gotten on meds sooner

[ooops-i-arted]

2019 Art Goals

There’s a snowstorm today so I finally am cooped up enough to sit down and make an art goals post for this year.

Let’s see how I did in 2018:

Okay first of all I am SO MUCH BETTER with fingers and so much more confident with them how awesome is that

Um I varied off and on with posting things on time but I did a little better.

I tried to keep on with drawing and I think I mostly did good.  I had a lag in fall/winter this year but I’m getting back on the wagon.

I still suck at facial diversity.  Idk man I try to draw a new face and somehow it’s always the same face?  I think part of it is because I’m terrible with perspective in general and it’s even more terrible with faces so I can draw them from like, maybe two angles.  I have been trying to tweak a little more with chin shape, jawline, eye shape, noses, etc. but not so much success with that imo.

I did pretty good sticking with reference images but the real breakthrough was when I was sick as a dog last month and was stuck in bed with nothing but my phone for company and finally figured out Pinterest, so now I have a nice little collection of reference images in my pocket.  (Before that they were mostly on my desktop, which obviously doesn’t go with me, and I never sit at my desk to draw anyway.)

So my goals for 2019 are:

Ramble less

JUST KIDDING THIS IS GOING TO BE AN UNNECESSARILY LONG POST

Who knows maybe third year is the charm for figuring out facial diversity.  Let’s keep at it.

Maybe this year will be the year I post things promptly and regularly!!  Lmao as if that will ever happen

I tried soapmaking and love it, so I want to experiment more with different types of crafting that catch my eye.

Keep drawing.  Continuing from last year, more stuff with focus on process than product (most of the time).  I find it keeps my workflow going better.

SWTOR remains my main obsession so that’s the content you’re mostly going to get for now.

(But you have my word that whenever I get a Rebels idea, I always draw it, because I know y’all like it.)

I have been missing doing actual comics though, so I want to try and do a few more of those.  I’ve been working on a couple recently and I’d forgotten what good practice it is to keep your characters realistically moving, maintaining detail continuity, etc.

I found this 30 Day of Domestic Fluff prompt challenge thing and I love fluff and fun so I decided to do it with Avei and Corso, and that’s how I’m starting off the year.  Inktober kept me on track well so I’m hoping this will do the same lol.  I’m currently working on 4 and while I’m not sticking to a strict one a day schedule I am doing them in order and regularly to get me in the drawing groove for the new year.

Sewing!  Continue sewing more because I dropped off on that too.

Still gotta make me my Ravenclaw pajama pants.  Since I’m snowed in I might work on those this weekend if I can tear myself away from video games.

Decide on a costume for Episode IX.  Am I excited for Episode IX?  No, not really.  Am I going to go on opening night in costume?  Um hell yes I am!!!

I’m strongly leaning towards Luke but idk.  But since I went as Han after he fell victim to the sequel trilogy I feel I should do the same with Luke.  That and Luke is the only member of the OT trio I haven’t made a costume of.  Also, I can make a Luke outfit easy.  Right now my main choices are:

Luke’s end of ANH outfit but without the yellow jacket, because 1. it’s snazzy af and 2. I can reuse my Han pants and belt and just make a new shirt.

Luke’s RotJ outfit because it’s my favorite Luke outfit and again I already have the shirt pattern and could probably just buy pants to go with it, so simple enough.

Luke’s original farmboy outfit.  I can use the Jedi tunic my mom made me in middle school (still fits!), wear light pants, make boot wraps, make a new belt or use my Han Solo belt, and make a poncho.  I also really love Luke’s fresh of the farm outfit so it’d be fun and simple to make.

One morning I woke up at 5 AM and wondered what a General Grievous inspired dress would look like.  I have no ideas yet but that is still an option in my mind.

The only other goal I have is sort of art-related, sort of not, but it is very important imo, so please allow me to step onto a soapbox for a moment.

By summer 2018 my anxiety and depression had gotten so bad over the past two years I finally went and spoke to a doctor about it, and got put on medication.  It has made a world of difference.  I have so much more energy and I can think again, clearly, in a way I feel like I haven’t for almost two years.  I feel like myself again.

I’d heard before and you probably have too this idea that medication dampens creativity.  “Oh, but would Van Gogh have created such beautiful paintings if he wasn’t mentally ill/depressed/struggling/[phrase of choice]?”  I’m here to tell you that’s a fucking lie and anyone who spreads it should be ashamed of themselves.  I have produced more art and better art since I got on medication.  My brain is mine again and I am more myself, as an artist and a person, than I’d been in a long time.  So if you’re struggling and worried about losing your creativity, don’t be.  (Do tell your doctor if you’re sensitive to medication, though, the initial side effects can be wacky.)

And with that, onward to 2019!  Here’s hoping it’s a good year.

#2019 #art goals #mental health cw #i don't usually like soapboxing but #i feel this is very important #and maybe if i'd heard it i would've gotten on meds sooner #(or at least gotten help)