#last year I wanted to try and draw more food during Inktober

[hyacinth-04]

Inktober 2022 pt.1

#one piece #Sanji #nico robin #nami #INKTOBER IS AROUND THE CORNER!!! #un​intentional that me posting daily had my old Inktober drawings appearing near October #I wanna try Inktober again maybe this time with paper again #did I mention I like food art?? #last year I wanted to try and draw more food during Inktober #gonna try and do that again #digital art

[kelleah-meah]

General Plans for Fall 2023

Like last year, I've made plans for the fall season. Even though I've been trying to slow down and engage in slow living more, it does look like this autumn is going to be anything but boring.

So this list is great for providing a guide for what I would like to do, but it's not intended to be a comparison of what I should be expected to do. Rest and balance are always the goal now as my holistic health takes a greater priority in my life.

Just as a reminder, even though I have the rest of September, October, November and the first few weeks of December to do these, some of the stereotypical autumn activities that you might see on social media aren't on it.

For example, apple picking is no where on this list because I'm not a fan of doing labor for free and calling it "fun." I just want to eat the apples. I don't want to pick the apples. But otherwise, I think you might like most of the suggestions below.

September

Celebrate the Autumnal Equinox 🍁 ✅

Slow cook a meal in a crockpot 🍲 

Bake an apple-themed dessert (e.g., apple crisp, apple pie, apple brown betty) 🍏 ✅

Go for a bike ride in the park 🚲 ☑️

Mabon-themed tarot reading 🃏 ✅

Give myself a facial with an autumn-themed face mask 🧖🏽‍♀️ 

Work on my jigsaw puzzle 🧩

Put on some music and paint what I hear and feel 🎨

Donate clothes to a local charity, homeless shelter or refugee center 👚

Go for a walk in the park and enjoy the changing of the leaves 🍂 ☑️

Visit a coffee shop and hang out there while reading or writing 🥐

Spend a rainy day inside reading a book 📕

October

Read the poem "October" by Robert Frost 📖

Do Inktober challenge (draw, paint, or sketch every day & share it) 🖌️

Hang Halloween wreath 🥀 ✅

Put together 5 Dark Academia outfits and share them on social media 🧥

Enjoy Halloween candy without guilt 🍬 ✅

Go for a bike ride in the park 🚲

Binge-watch Penny Dreadful, Grimm, What We Do In The Shadows, or The Sandman 📺

Make my own pizza night 🍕

Make Rice Krispie treats (Don't know why, but these always feel very autumn-y to me. I think it's the marshmallows.) 🤤

Go for a walk in the park and enjoy the changing of the leaves 🍂

Attend a harvest or fall festival 🌻

Cook homemade soup 🥣

Paint my fingernails a dark color (e.g., black, blue, purple) 💅🏼

Take a road trip to Salem, MA 🚗

Visit occult / metaphysical shop ☠️

Enjoy some hot apple cider & hot apple cider donuts 🍎

Go on a guided ghost walk 👻

Try hot chocolate at 2 restaurants or cafes where I've never had it before ☕

Cook a pot of chili 🌶️

Bake bread 🍞

Wear something orange 🧡

Go stargazing 🌌

Make s’mores 😋

Watch autumn or horror-themed movies throughout the month 🎃

Dance to Allhallowtide playlist 💃

Do a Samhain-themed tarot reading 🃏

Celebrate departed loved ones, friends and family during Allhallowtide (Halloween, All Saints' Day, and the Day of the Dead or All Souls' Day)⚱️

November

Donate to a local food bank 🥫

Visit a university campus and take photos at the height of the leaves changing 📸

Spend a rainy day inside reading a book 📕

Cook homemade soup 🥣

Visit an art museum (Chagall, Paris exhibit at the Hall des Lumieres) 🖼️

Shop for Christmas gifts 🛍️

Put on my most comfy pajamas and spend the evening watching retro/classic/scary films 🎥

Cook a hearty stew and experiment with the ingredients 🍲

Bake bread 🍞

Take a long scenic drive in the countryside on a crisp, sunny day 🚙

Put on some music and paint what I hear and feel 🎨

Make s’mores 😋

Go see a play 🎭

Visit a coffee shop and hang out there while reading or writing 🥐

Volunteer for a cause or community event ⛑️

Bake an apple-themed dessert (e.g., apple crisp, apple pie, apple brown betty) 🍏

Go on a group hike 🥾

Celebrate Thanksgiving with my family 🦃

Eat popcorn while enjoying a movie (at home or at the cinema) 🍿

December

Treat myself to some new thick wool socks 🧦

Cook a pot of chili 🌶️

Bake bread 🍞

If I feel sick or under the weather, enjoy a hot toddy 🥃

Spend a rainy day inside reading a book 📕

Make Rice Krispie treats 🤤

Put on some music and paint what I hear and feel 🎨

Eat popcorn while enjoying a movie (at home or at the cinema) 🍿

#autumn #fall #fall 2023 #autumn 2023 #i love fall #i love autumn #automne #plans for the season

[nightsmudge]

Hope you all had a good and safe Halloween! Finally, I found the time to write down all these descriptions:

Day 25: Spirit Buddy During my work shift that day, I spent a good chunk of my time just trying to come up with a good design for a little spirit familiar idea, even going so far as to doodle out ideas on a piece of scrap paper whenever I had a moment. I ended up with a really adorable design that I liked a lot, and I need to draw a full reference pic when I get the chance. 
The guy is a witch/shaman/divinator (I’ll research more later) who’s a college student. He inherited a book of spells and magic from his family line, as well as a little wooden pendant that contains a spirit who’s supposed to act as a familiar. 
So far what I’ve come up with for the familiar is that they act sort of cat-like, being intelligent and slightly cheeky, but overall chill and helpful. Sometimes he’ll act cute because he knows people find him adorable (and like hell he’s going to turn down the attention). It’s also not unlike him to give a big slap to the face to whoever’s freaking out and needs to snap out of it, or to just yeet an object with his big hand-tail thing.
 There is so much potential for shenanigans with this creature and I love it Day 26: Run and Hide Little Rabbit Ok, the story idea I came up for this demon is fairly dark
 Like, it’s kinda messed up.
Spike was born in a rural area full of farms and fields, in a place right next to a forest, and with a human population who was oblivious to magic. 
When Spike was just an infant, his mother was killed, being hunted down by the local humans because she looked like a monster, and Spike was left at the edge of a forest. Luckily, he was found by a friendly farmer who raised rabbits, and mistook the demon infant for a strange defective rabbit due to his small size, large ears, and digitigrade legs. For most of his childhood, Spike was raised as if he was just a rabbit, the kind farmer waving off any remarks about his strange appearance. The farmer believed that Spike was just one of those rare instances of a genetic mutation, and cared more about Spike being a sweet little thing. However, as Spike grew, the kind farmer started to find less and less possible explanations for his appearance, at first thinking he was a Flemish giant rabbit, but then wondering if he was an entirely different animal due to his size. It wasn’t until Spike started to babble and imitate human speech that the kind farmer grew terrified. One of the neighbors suggested that Spike be released into the wild, and the kind farmer reluctantly agreed, wary of what Spike actually was. 
For a while, the kind farmer would go out into the forest to leave some fresh food and water for Spike, but unfortunately he died a few years later due to a heart attack. It didn’t take long for the other members of the rural town to catch sightings of Spike. Out of their fear, Spike became known as the monster that stalks the town and the forest, and people immediately took up arms in case they ever saw him. Due to him being raised amongst rabbits, and him being chased down by every human who saw him, he became incredibly timid and fearful of everything. 
As he grew into an adult, he wanted to stay far far away from the humans, but he had no choice but to sneak into their fields to steal food in order to sustain himself. This lead to the townsfolk becoming even more terrified as time went on, creating their own rumors and superstitions over the lumbering monster that came out to hunt at night. Even going so far as to blame every injury and bad occurrence on the skittish demon. It wasn’t until the village started to organize mobs to hunt down Spike that word began to spread about the monster in the woods. At this point, some of the more magically inclined individuals began to hear about this, and word got to the Magical Beings Protection Society. The MBPS sent out a rescue party to retrieve Spike and wipe the memories of all the townsfolk, and thankfully the mission was a success. However, they found that Spike’s mental state was long gone, a life of delusion and fear taking a severe toll on his psychological health. Spike could speak, but he was very insistent that he was a rabbit, no matter how many discrepancies were pointed out to him. He was admitted to the closest mental institution in a magic-friendly town, Ombra Nera, but no amount of care or treatment could fix him. He was so distressed about people not believing that he was a normal rabbit, on top being trapped inside a hospital, that he escaped on the first chance he got, and made a run for the forest that surrounds Ombra Nera.
 To this day, Spike hides in the deepest and darkest parts of the forest surrounding the town, forging for roots and grass, and nervously muttering to himself about always needing to hide. He is doing better in the deep forest now that he is no longer being hunted, but his mind remains broken from years of neglect and abuse. Day 27: Punk Rock Satyr I was initially thinking of just drawing a human, but since I was studying Greek art for my art history class, I decided to go “fuck it, I’ll make her a satyr” I think I might make her friends with that one demon character idea with the huge cage/mouth tail thing Day 28: Floating Little Angel I didn’t have much of a plan or idea for this one, I just wanted to make a long and skinny creature that was very reminiscent of the character designs I liked to make up over 5 years ago
 And I guess I decided to make it a sort angel? Idk, I just wanted to play around with the markings to make it look like it has psychic magic Might need to redesign this one to make it more consistent with the rest of my characters Day 29: Big Shoes The first thing that popped into my head was just this little gremlin with giant cartoony shoes It kinda reminds me of Webber from Don’t Starve Days 30-31: Ominous I wanted to end with a bang, so I decided to make one big drawing for the last couple days of Inktober This guy is another Necroform- a very powerful and high ranking Necroform as a matter of fact. Not sure what I’ll have him do in the afterlife realm, but all I know is that he’s probably about 15-20 ft tall Also I got the idea for his wings from those cheap skeleton animal figures that were popping up as Halloween decorations. Whoever makes those things probably doesn’t care about being anatomically correct lol I apologize for taking forever to update this, I've been trying to catch up with homework, and I've been trying to combat burnout

#Inktober #inktober challenge #inktober 2020

[vinku-iikku]

Yay I finally finished 2018 inktober! If you want to just scroll through them all please go here, and if you want to see some comments on each please look under the cut.

Day 01 Flowey and Overgrown Ruins This prompt I picked as is because as far as I remember Flowey stayed behind when the monsters left. If you can’t find him, he’s near the big root on the left. All other days the second prompt got randomised by a die (except when I reached the last two).

Day 02 Grillby and Exotic Flora Grillby’s on a journey to look at all the flowers that aren’t living in a wet environment. Maybe he’ll make some wine from the non-poisonous ones.

Day 03 Chara and Cave Entrance They are still curious about morbid things and places that could be portentially dangerous, practically running at danger.

Day 04 Undyne and Astral Plains/Dreamland Welp I’d rather have had her with some other prompt, but now she has an anime showdown/faceoff with a mean monster that harasses a moldsmal.

Day 05 Asgore and Rocky Ruins Asgore had a trip down memory lane and visited the place where their castle used to be, before the war. Not much is left any more.

Day 06 Frisk and Ancient Tree They are still precariously looking for adventure. I saw this article about a 800 year-old Finnish tree, as soon as I saw that top I wanted to climb that, looks like a perfect spot to see everything around you and chill for a bit.

Day 07 Temmie and Nature Untouched I did some research in a nearby forest for this one, the sales-Temmie has made a nest in a tree that has fallen down in a storm. The soil is shallow before solid rock so trees have their roots mostly close to the surface, when they fall the roots go up as well. Temmie on the left is sitting on an ant nest lol. There are seven Temmies in total.

Day 08 Muffet and Crystal Coves Crystal Coves is either a place where crystal business is the main employer, a cove that has crystals, or a cove with crystal clear water, I think. I tried to implement them all just to make sure. Muffet has now made a business in making spider-products with glass expertise.

Day 09 Fuku Fire and Freezing Fjord Finally back to the ‘monsters travelling’ theme, Fuku is taking a longer trip and is currently on a boat by Norway.

Day 10 Gaster Blasters and Townsquare The blasters are on their own for whatever convenient reason, Pap’s one is figuring how things work by destroying them, Sans’ is... playing with local children. :D The fountain is loosely based on Havis Amanda.

Day 11 Nice Cream Guy & Shanty Town He’s travelling the world and selling nice cream! Definitely inspired by Beadle in BotW.

Day 12 Mettaton EX & Cemetery This combination took me a moment, Mettaton is a bit loud and showy for a cemetery. Then I remembered that Napstablook said they’re already dead when you try to kill them, so here Mettaton’s visiting haunted places and telling everyone about this wonderful body he got and where to get one if you’re interested in becoming physical again. I worked in a cemetery for one summer years ago, felt weird pulling those visual memories to this...

Day 13 Toriel & Hall of Deities In order to become a teacher I’d imagine she’d have to brush up her knowledge on lots of things that’ve happened on the surface, and here she’s in a secret underground place with some sacred scriptures or something, she reads them and writes down notes and then returns the scrolls.

Day 14 Annoying Dog & Volcanic Terrain Another weird combination, but eh, it’s the dog. It’s feeding bones to the vulkins and admiring danger up close.

Day 15 Monster Kid & Path Along the Water I made a huge area with different textures so I could try learn something new by scribbling around, and I’m really happy how the boulders on top of the waterfall and the water itself look like.

Day 16 Doggo & Ancient Altar Room Took a moment to come up with an idea, then I read Doggo likes squirrels. So now he’s travelling the world too, and he always has time and seeds for any squirrel population he discovers.

Day 17 Alphys & Summoning Altar I thought I’d not be drawing Mew Mew, but here was a perfect opportunity for that! Alphys isn’t travelling, but discovering new things in her home, humans have such interesting books! All of the Japanese text mean something; the bowl has the kanji for ’love’, books under it are Mew Mew manga, there’s two yury books, a reference to Free!, Digimon, Pokémon, Rose of Versailles, Natsume Book of Friends... and it’s fine if you don’t get the one that says ‘corn’.

Day 18 Photoshop Flowey & Windmills and Grasslands I think the modern wind generators look super cool. I tried to make Flowey as cute as possible so he’d be more fun to draw there, this is some dream stuff or alternate universe since Flowey did stay behind.

Day 19 Papyrus & Desserted Drylands I’m pretty sure that’s an accidental typo, but since it was Papyrus I wanted to roll with the new pun meaning. First thought was Papyrus somehow being in the drylands and dropping a huge cake, thus ’desserting’ it, but that would’ve been a bit mean. This cake is made with 100% organic sand (some of which he ground himself when grooming Rocky), the tiny cow ornaments are modified mouse skeletons. :) The chef hat would be straight but there wasn’t enough room on the page of the notebook I draw these on... I remembered he had a triangle on the battle armor, but didn’t remember what way it points so avoided it by replacing it with a heart. :D

Day 20 Sans & By the Beach Sans is getting some more sand for Papyrus with his shortcut, then he took a nap unfortunately close to the tide..? The shore felt a bit bare so I added some animals to keep him company. I h/c that animals don’t mind having monsters around unlike how they usually try to run away when a human is near.

Day 21 Shyren & Buried Statue(s) She’s doing that Disney princess thing where you sit down and start singing and all small animals within hearing range come to listen.

Day 22 Asriel & Underwater Temple Another dream thing since Flowey stayed behind, this is how he imagines the oceans look like outside.

Day 23 Lesser Dog & Market Place Some people have to learn the hard way to not trust a dog that has opposable thumbs.

Day 24 Box Mettaton & Merchant’s Store Any website run by a popular monster must get an insane amount of curious folk, which leads to ad revenue being a good way to fund the next tour. There’s some.. insider jokes there if you’re in any kind of website business.

Day 25 Rocky the pet rock & Eldritch Forest I don’t actually know what the latter means, looking at Google images it’s probably just a forest that’s very dark or something. Wanted to try a different perspective for a change. Rocky has a bowl of food there but I can’t really think of any non-sad reason for why it’s in this forest.

Day 26 Froggit & Inn in th Middle of Nowhere Had to take a break for one day, regardless I’m proud of myself on being consistent this far despite everything going on. I first only had the top Froggit and the bg in the sketch, and didn’t like how it looked. Somehow adding more Froggits made it look a lot better to me...

Day 27 Burgerpants & By the Docs Birsd with human arms and birds sitting like humans will never not be hilarious to me.

Day 28 Bratty and Catty & Deep in the Woods Tried to play with perspective with this one, it’s kind of the opposite of the Rocky drawing.

Day 29 God of Hyperdeath & Idle Portal I had a hard time coming up with anything for this, so now poor goat is somewhere in a completely white dimention and the only way out is not active, though he’s quite chill about it.

Day 30 Amalgamate & Abnormal Formations This and last one’s world I didn’t leave for the die to decide, I really wanted to do Tetris with Napstablook and out of the two still left this prompt suits Endogeny more anyway. There’s a forest in Poland where several of the trees bend to north like this.

Day 31 Napstablook & Puzzling Platforms Only one I did during morning, my hands shake more then so all the lines are more or less wobbly. Every Tetris piece has it’s own signature design except the L-shape which is just blank to keep it interesting. Napstablook is enjoying game music while inside the game, maybe ghosts can possess videogames..? This also shows the notebook I drew all of these in and the tools I used most of the time.

It’s hard to tell if I’ve improved at all when comparing these to 2017 inktober, I haven’t draw regularly through the year and the main focus point this time was on backgrounds and not so much on lines and characters. I did learn new things and that’s always exiting, I think my trees, glass and rocks look way better than before I started, and I did some progress in shading metal too. All of these took 3 hours or less to finish, some only took an hour. I didn’t need to erase pencils like last year because I used a trick where I placed the sketch under the notebook page and my tablet with 100% brightness and a white bg under them, and traced that with ink. The notebook paper is pretty thin, you can see the Amalgamate drawing’s clouds showing through in the Napstablook photo. Anyway, this was fun, and I think I’ll try do it next year too!

#myart

[gracetoecuadorexchange]

Engaging

Well, after another week of fighting more avidly against boredom, I am feeling pretty good about myself.

I got lucky last week after failing to do anything for the first day of my three-day weekend. Rosetta joined my family and me at a traditional countryside restaurant, although her refusal to eat food (the premise being that she wasn’t hungry having just had lunch herself) came back later with a vengeance in the form of ordering a full pizza and chicken hamburger at the park we walked around later. Even Henriette, who I’d thought would miss out as she was sick, joined us. She and Rosetta took a paddle boat around the man-made river.

Monday, although almost as activity-less as Saturday, still had something to do--make a “lemon pie” with Mami Nina I could take to Tuesday’s picnic at school. I say “lemon pie” in quotation marks because it was truly just a glorified casserole; without the baking, or spices, or really anything that goes into a casserole or pie. After layering the bottom of a casserole dish in plain cookies, then spreading a mixture of condensed milk, 50% milk, and lemon juice over the cookies, the process was repeated one more time. I got to leave my two lays of cookies and milk in the fridge for the next day and wonder how in the world I was expected to keep it cool while at school waiting for the last class.

I still don’t know what Tuesday’s picnic was celebrating, but it may have to do with diplomas/certificates that were given to some students at the start of the day.

I have no idea what gets you these diplomas as the year hasn’t ended, but I assume it’s a good thing as the studious kids were the ones called up. I can’t say I am one of the studious kids, but I did pay attention and even got homework and points in classes (except Quimica--Chemistry--because I hate everything about it with a burning passion).

Thankfully my worries over keeping the “pie” cool were assuaged when Mami Ale told me I could ask the snack bar to put it in their fridge. When the picnic rolled around as our last hour of the day, I was able to present my full sized “lemon pie”/casserole-stacked-cookies-not-even-baked thing to impress all my peers. Other “dishes” brought by these freshman-aged students included; Nutella, potato chips, pizza chips, chifle (chEEflay--salted banana chips), strawberries, Coca-Cola, caramel dip, packaged cookies (I took some home to savor later) and some gummy rings. It entertained a few students when I tried the potato chips with Nutella, and Aldo went so far as to test the pizza flavored chips with the chocolate as well.

Even at home I felt productive, able to work on some slides in a presentation I would be an active part of in school next Monday.

Wednesday and I investigated half-heartedly into the running organization one of my classmates is in, “Federation”--like Star Fleet!

I made sure to talk to my school group when Theatre class did nothing, and I even taught a camp game.

By the end of the day I had confirmation that grades would start being written down for me, which is a huge win. It’s hard to keep track of your language progress and feel like you’re doing good. Getting outright confirmation on schoolwork will definitely help in stabilizing how I feel I’m doing. Also, school work is insanely easy (except Quimica because no one wants you, Quimica) which is bad for the students that should actually be engaging and learning, but good for me as I already learned most things in depth in eighth grade.

Wednesday also marked the day I finally got the mail package containing a few things I hadn’t packed the first time around: a small stuffed bear that I like to brag has traveled the world, a large American flag, more journals since it’s been a little over a month and I’ve filled almost the entirety of my first one, and some documents bureaucracy prevented from finishing in time for my arrival.

I had learned from a friend that Venom was out, so of course I took this opportunity to try and connect with friends and watch the movie. Unfortunately, Mami Ale changed these plans without first consulting me, and movie watching was put off for Thursday, meaning I had to be that irresponsible jerk friend that cancels with only 2 hours to go.

This also happened to be the day Tete, the pregnant dog, was expected to have puppies, so I was given the option to stay home. My entire social life is currently at school, so I declined. I still got cake, as I think they were celebrating the new puppies even though nothing had happened (or would happen until the eleventh--that’s what happens when you assume dogs operate on human expectations).

With no one but me needing to wake early on Thursday for school and work, I had to walk down to Cruz del Norte. Unfortunately, sidewalks are not a guarantee, and I’m pretty sure my nice white uniform shoes were covered in a thin layer of dust and not smelling fresh by the time I was in the building. It didn’t help that I couldn’t shower that morning when the water pressure fizzled out as I washed my hands.

On the up side, I now had my trusty stuffed bear Jarfrey, who was a hit with the ladies of my friend group. I passed him off during PE, and by the end of it, Katherin claimed he was her husband.

Katherin was the Ecuadorian friend I had planned to watch Venom with the day before, along with the only exchange student that responded in our group chat when I first sent the invite out. Unfortunately, something came up and she couldn’t make it, but lucky for me, now Marcela could.

Her mother accidentally introduced herself as Marcela’s sister, but it was sorted out rather quickly and we watched Venom. Totally in Spanish. I think I understood about 50% of spoken words, followed 90% of the plot, and caught 40% of the jokes. On the car ride home I learned the family had a Wii U, so I will be looking into a Mario Kart tournament sometime in the future.

I didn’t get a chance to see Tete and her new-born puppies when I got home, but that was rectified the next morning.

Friday dawned, and people were late rising-- except for me because I’m always up at 6 and ready to leave by 6:45 as I was told to be. I saw the three little black puppies Tete can now call herself mother of, but I still haven’t dared to touch any of them in case that would hurt something.

At school, Marcela joined in Inktober late, coining the term ‘Latetober’ and letting me join in as well, along with Ysabella. In English while Marie was stepping out to find Henriette and my desk mates were talking amongst themselves, I drew a hamburger and a tiny hungry cat since the first day’s theme was ‘comida’.

Jarfrey of course joined me this day as well, becoming Marcela’s wrist adornment as she beat us all in the basketball game trying to make shots from different positions.

I learned from Marie halfway through the day that exchange students would be having a picnic. I have not kept up at all with the exchange students, but a picnic sounded nice and it’d be fun to enjoy the outdoors for a little while. I got to the park with four liters of sparkling apple juice and twenty cups--that’s right, I remembered to bring something to actually serve beverages in. I was the only one to remember to do so, and no one brought plates.

At one point, the French boy across from me passed Kinder chocolate under the table and we joked he was our drug dealer. He was the same one to eat tuna straight from the bag and try rip-off Cheeto puffs with guacamole. My second picnic of the week ended a little while after one of the girls got out their Ukulele and another sang along to ‘Riptide’.

It didn’t end before a woman we later learned had no connection to any of us sat down at the table and asked about exchange. People ended up leaving the chips and Nutella with her when we left for a walk. My day finished around 12 am as I enjoyed the two new Miraculous Ladybug episodes (2 in a day again!) and I started off the new weekend right.

Once more, I have fought off boredom, this time engaging in a combination of movies, drawing, and haphazard excuses to eat a ton of junk food with friends. !Ole!

[airlieanderson]

Why I 🖤 Inktober

November 16th, 2019

Inktober’s challenge is simple: during the month of October, make a drawing every day. The original challenge (2009) stipulated that the drawing should be created with black ink on paper. Since then, the “rules” have become more flexible and artists have interpreted Inktober with all kinds of media. I rarely finish all thirty-one drawings, but the spirit of it is what I love. Every year, Inktober reminds me that it’s important to draw for fun, daily if possible. I used to do that a lot — now I have to make a conscious effort to take out my sketchbook and doodle. It’s a habit that I want to cultivate and protect.

One of the things I love about this exercise is that it reminds me that doing warm-up drawings significantly improves my mind-hand connection, and I surprise myself with how much easier it is to draw throughout the day during Inktober. I find drawing to be like working out, and I feel quite out of shape if I haven’t drawn in a few days.

Last year, I had significant arm/shoulder/wrist pain and could hardly draw at all for the whole month, and into November. It was a wake-up call and proof that I needed to take better care of my systems in general: get more sleep, eat nutritious foods, hydrate, stretch. I’m not shooting for perfection with all that stuff, but I realized that have to prioritize self-care, otherwise I can’t draw! It was worrisome at the time, but now I know what the problem was. Inktober helped me see that there was something wrong — simply because I noticed I couldn’t draw every day.

Lots of people post their Inktober drawings on social media, which is super fun to sift through and see how everyone is interpreting the daily prompt. This can be dangerously distracting though, and I have to be very conscious of falling down the rabbit hole of scrolling through other people’s fascinating artwork and news. I get angry about the way social media sites have designed the apps to be deliberately addictive — I am so susceptible to it. I will mindlessly return to the app again and again and again, even if I haven’t made the conscious decision to do so. Even if I decided I wouldn’t open my app again for the next few hours, there I am, scrolling. I can lose hours this way, precious creativity hours that I need to protect for my own sanity and well being. Having said that though, there are so many things to learn and absorb from social media that are worthwhile. It’s just really hard for me to be moderate about it. Usually I delete all my apps all day, and block the websites on my phone so I can focus on my studio work. But I make an excuse for Inktober and do a bit of a social media splurge!

I have heard that people get stressed out about Inktober, which seems like the antithesis of what it’s about. I can see why it would feel stressful, if you felt pressured to post everything every day, but I guess that’s why I try to shield myself from social media and not let it become too intertwined with my sense of creativity and self. It’s difficult. But that feeling of just drawing, just for fun, just for me, is a facet of my creative life that I will try to nurture forever. And I think that’s at the heart of the spirit of Inktober. Ok, time to draw!

#illustration #kidlit #art #inktober #drawing #picturebooks #books #childrensbook

[lysitheaioandeuropa]

1-100 cute questions

:~)

1: when you have cereal, do you have more milk than cereal or more cereal than milk?- more cereal than milk! it has to be crunchy and milk is fucking gross, even though i use almond milk instead

2: do you like the feeling of cold air on your cheeks on a wintery day?- FUCK yeah, especially if it's also sunny outside

3: what random objects do you use to bookmark your books?- grocery receipts are the usual culprit. maybe i should make my own bookmarks!

4: how do you take your coffee/tea?- rn i'm having sugar free white chocolate w half & half and 3 splenda

5: are you self-conscious of your smile?- i'm self conscious of my entire existence my friend

6: do you keep plants?- yes! she gave me and orchid and a bamboo plant a while back, and i have ian my aloe/succulent

7: do you name your plants?- lmfao yes, ian! she named the bamboo melman, and i never named the orchid. zack and sabrina are no longer w us unfortunately

8: what artistic medium do you use to express your feelings?- i used to write and draw a lot. i don't get a chance to do it as often now but i rly am trying more. i'll even try my hand at inktober this year but yikes scared bc i can't actually draw

9: do you like singing/humming to yourself?- hell yeah bitch if i am in the mood for it

10: do you sleep on your back, side, or stomach?- all of the above? lmao. my back is most cozy but sleep paralysis, so a mix of side stomach like its a specific diagonal ass position on my bed lol

11: what's an inner joke you have with your friends?- "coming this soon"

12: what's your favorite planet?- FUCKING JUPITER BRO OMFG MY URL ARE TWO OF MY FAVE MOONS OF JUPITER TEST ME BITCH

13: what's something that made you smile today?- i don't think i've smiled today? maybe something michelle said earlier when we went to lowe's

14: if you were to live with your best friend in an old flat in a big city, what would it look like?- *takes pics of my current place*might have a little more aesthetic to it just bc location though. and if i live in a bigger city than orlando that means i have more money to REALLY fulfill my aesthetic wishes

15: go google a weird space fact and tell us what it is!- Recent work by planetary scientists has indicated that the deep atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn may contain chunks of diamond floating in a liquid hydrogen-helium fluid. MEANING, it rains diamonds on jupiter

16: what's your favorite pasta dish?- permission crusted chicken, w angel hair in a lemon butter sauce

17: what color do you really want to dye your hair?- i was going for a magenta over the summer and was p successful but my mom paid for me to not keep lightening and shit, that wasn't my money so idc lol rn its auburn-ish. i rly do still want a light blond/almost gray though

18: tell us about something dumb/funny you did that has since gone down in history between you and your friends and is always brought up.- the time i got incredibly drunk, like, throwing up and dying can't even walk drunk like wow i'm not like that lmao so when that happens it's wild

19: do you keep a journal? what do you write/draw/ in it?- i have multiple journals and a sketch book. the sketch book is whatever i feel inspired to draw atm and bc thats so rare i just be picking it up and going lmao. i hardly write anymore, these questions kinda keep me going

20: what's your favorite eye color?- light brown is vastly underrated tbh, like yeah green is cool but i have always been a sucker for hazel or just noticeably lighter brown eyes. i remember this one boy in the 8th grade had me swooning w that alone lmao and ofc my gf now its soo nice

21: talk about your favorite bag, the one that's been to hell and back with you and that you love to pieces.- i no longer have it, but i had the same jansport since the seventh grade. i used to customize it and sew on letters or iron on, change it up ever so often, and got rid of it senior year of high school

22: are you a morning person?- i really am not, but everyone thinks i am since i'm up at 6am even the days i ain't got shit to do

23: what's your favorite thing to do on lazy days where you have 0 obligations?- PLAY VIDEO GAMES. draw, do these questions, sometimes even brainstorm ideas about books i'll never write

24: is there someone out there you would trust with every single one of your secrets?- shit every single one of them? well nvm, yeah there is. jordan. that's my ride or die forreal and honestly i think she does know ABSOLUTELY everything there is to know about me. timmy too actually!

25: what's the weirdest place you've ever broken into?- hmm idk if it counts but this one "abandoned house" in the gables to smoke, and the rooftop of merrick park late at night

26: what are the shoes you've had for forever and wear with every single outfit?- bro i had these low top black and white converse that i got for christmas one year from this boy that rly liked me lmao i kept them for a hotttt minute, through college i think but had to throw them away when the sole finally gave out

27: what's your favorite bubblegum flavor?- just mint is fine

28: sunrise or sunset?- sunset

29: what's something really cute that one of your friends does and is totally endearing?- just how she remembers and notices absolutely everything. i moved a pin in my room once and after not having been over for a week she asked me where it was as soon as she walked in

30: think of it: have you ever been truly scared?- yeah last night when i was home alone and i swear i thought i heard knocks on my bedroom door which would be impossible. fuck no i didn't open it

31: what is your opinion of socks? do you like wearing weird socks? do you sleep with socks? do you confine yourself to white sock hell? really, just talk about socks.- i think socks are cool, they make my feet soft if i put them on immediately after showering & moisturizing. they protect your heels from getting too cracked as well. i don't care for white socks, but am a slut for black no show ones. i sometimes have to buy kids socks bc my feet are so fucking small that no show, still show. i like aesthetic socks! like the ones w cartoons and stuff like that. and knee high socks can be sexy, just maybe not on me?

32: tell us a story of something that happened to you after 3AM when you were with friends.- i don't be w friends like that? OH but this one night we went to see Laidback Luke at Space and then we went to Nikki beach to drink some more and watch the sun rise and we all rly bonded and i learned some shit about my friends i def ain't know before it was rly nice. there was a dog we met there named molly LMFAO

33: what's your fave pastry?- i like lemon and red velvet stuff. guava and cheese pastries are good too i miss them

34: tell us about the stuffed animal you kept as a kid. what is it called? what does it look like? do you still keep it?- okay i didn't rly have any stuffed animals as a kid, but that boy i was obsessed with, omar, he gave me a plush lil puppy one year for christmas and omg i cherished it lmao. but then my dog got it and i was so sad :(

35: do you like stationary and pretty pens and so on? do you use them often?- FUCK YEAH I DO. i use them often, though not as often as before like i need to get back on track w being organized

36: which band's sound would fit your mood right now?- arctic monkeys, always

37: do you like keeping your room messy or clean?- clean!!!! i finished cleaning it completely today and wow i feel like a brand new person

38: tell us about your pet peeves!- messes stress me outtttttt, like gross unhygienic messes omfg

39: what color do you wear the most?- black bitch, next

40: think of a piece of jewelry you own: what's it's story? does it have any meaning to you?- i have these 1/4 carat diamond earrings that i received as a christmas gift last year from one of my kids and it was just so sweet and i rly love them, they're the only earrings i wear now

41: what's the last book you remember really, really loving?- the zodiac series! and lord of shadows!

42: do you have a favorite coffee shop? describe it!- no i don't, not yet at least. i would like to find a rly rly nice one, maybe we'll go hunting for one next weekend. there are two rly good boba places i like though!

43: who was the last person you gazed at the stars with?- michelle maybe? and no gaze, we just noticed the starts were nice during that hurricane lmao

44: when was the last time you remember feeling completely serene and at peace with everything?- july 8, 2017 it was short lived limited to just that day lmao but it was nice

45: do you trust your instincts a lot?- some times? my instincts don't be telling me a lot tbh

46: tell us the worst pun you can think of.- "what did the cell say to his sister when she stepped on his foot? Mitosis"

47: what food do you think should be banned from the universe?- sea food? fucking pickles!! mustard too

48: what was your biggest fear as a kid? is it the same today?- roaches, and possibly hell yeah

49: do you like buying CDs and records? what was the last one you bought?- i do! but i have apple music now so i do not buy music or anything any more

50: what's an odd thing you collect?- tickets. plane tickets, parking tickets, concert tickets, admission tickets, sometimes even receipts, if it has a nice enough memory attached to it i collect it

51: think of a person. what song do you associate with them?- nothing i can think of at the moment

52: what are your favorite memes of the year so far?- salt bae, all the "it" memes, the neo yokio memes, "i had to do it to em," x-files memes

53: have you ever watched the rocky horror picture show? heathers? beetlejuice? pulp fiction? what do you think of them?- i'm familiar w rocky horror & the heathers, love beattle juice, haven't watched pulp fiction

54: who's the last person you saw with a true look of sadness on their face?- myself whenever i look in the mirror

55: what's the most dramatic thing you've ever done to prove a point?- i don't rly be doing shit "just to prove a point" thats rly petty

56: what are some things you find endearing in people?- love when their faces light up talking about some shit that gets them hype

57: go listen to bohemian rhapsody. how did it make you feel? did you dramatically reenact the lyrics?- i rly don't fucking care for bohemian rhapsody like why is that a thing

58: who's the wine mom and who's the vodka aunt in your group of friends? why?- i am vodka aunt

59: what's your favorite myth?- I LOVE ALL GREEK MYTHOLOGY EQUALLY. norse mythology is cool too, as is celtic but i think greek is my fave

60: do you like poetry? what are some of your faves?- poetry is hard to get into bc so much of it doesn't resonate w me or comes off as fake deep tumblr posts (i'm looking @ you milk and honey). howl by allen ginsberg is still my fave

61: what's the stupidest gift you've ever given? the stupidest one you've ever received?- i'm always surprised to be getting any gifts at all, i don't think i have ever received anything "stupid." my gf used to love giving me food and candy though but like i'm fat so no. and i don't give gifts without putting any thought into it so i have never given a "stupid" gift either.

62: do you drink juice in the morning? which kind?- no, i drink ice cold water and coffee. sometimes crystal light which isn't rly juice to me i think its just flavored water

63: are you fussy about your books and music? do you keep them meticulously organized or kinda leave them be?- nigga YES! i just reorganized my entire bookshelf and my itunes is not as neat bc i'm behind but i also keep that rly meticulously done

64: what color is the sky where you are right now?- blue-ish gray

65: is there anyone you haven't seen in a long time who you'd love to hang out with?- my gf, lmao. thuy!!!! nick and andres too omg!!

66: what would your ideal flower crown look like?- not roses, it'd be an assortment of a ton of flowers, lots of pink and green and white

67: how do gloomy days where the sky is dark and the world is misty make you feel?- i fucking THRIVE it's nice, scary movie and reading weather

68: what's winter like where you live?- it's FAKE AS HELL. i wish it just a tad cooler, like ten or fifteen degrees

69: what are your favorite board games?- i like scategories and the game of life. candyland!

70: have you ever used a ouija board?- those are caucasian activities no thank you

71: what's your favorite kind of tea?- great tea or tazo passion tea

72: are you a person who needs to note everything down or else you'll forget it?- HELL YEAH and i'll note it down multiple times like written, typed, phone agenda, etc it's hard and i hate my shit memory

73: what are some of your worst habits?- procrastination is the worst i think

75: tell us about your pets!- i don't have any :( i would count zeus but i'm also deathly allergic to him

76: is there anything you should be doing right now but aren't?- yeah!!!!! smh

77: pink or yellow lemonade?- "why not both?" probably pink more

78: are you in the minion hateclub or fanclub?- hate that shit they're so ugly and annoying and gross and hate how they talk like bro

79: what's one of the cutest things someone has ever done for you?- i never thought my mom cared about me tbh but she threw me a huge graduation/birthday party i cried.

80: what color are your bedroom walls? did you choose that color? if so, why?- they're a nude/beige, i didn't pick it but i'm also not painting over. its nice though

81: describe one of your friend's eyes using the most abstract imagery you can think of.- this sounds nice in theory but i dont rly have the energy for it rn lol

82: are/were you good in school?- i was but i coasted, had i tried a lot harder and dedicated more time to it i could have been better

83: what's some of your favorite album art?-i can't think of any rly  

84: are you planning on getting tattoos? which ones?- i have to add to what i have on my back, and have a few more i would like but am not sure about

85: do you read comics? what are your faves?- i do! i'm actually reading one now on tumblr, its called countdown to countdown and its rather interesting. i like twd comics, and am also reading the OoT manga. i rly love manga too actually, inuyasha was the first one i read that got me into it

86: do you like concept albums? which ones?- BECAUSE THE INTERNET, CHILDISH GAMBINO

87: what are some movies you think everyone should watch at least once in their lives?- i've seen a ton of movies dude. i think spirited away or kiki's delivery service, or princess mononoke. ghibli movies w strong female leads. howl's moving castle too but it does focus more on romance. i should reread the book

88: are there any artistic movements you particularly enjoy?- i'm not familiar enough w art to tell you! i think art is rly interesting though, and don't particularly care for modern art

89: are you close to your parents?- not rly, but am more so as an adult. i don't tell them my business or anything like that though

90: talk about your one of you favorite cities.- seattle just really resonates w me and the more i talk about it the stupider it sounds. but i have been to quite a few cities, DC, atlanta, Tallahassee, miami, san diego, vegas, the list goes on. none of them made me feel the way seattle does. maybe bc i went alone? maybe the time period that i went? some of the memories attached to the city kind of suck now, lol, but still rly important to me

91: where do you plan on traveling this year?- nowhere in particular this year, but i'm def going back to seattle next year guaranteed, maybe doing paradiso

92: are you a person who drowns their pasta in cheese or a person who barely sprinkles a pinch?- if its my own sauce then no cheese at all, otherwise olive garden def hates me

93: what's the hairstyle you wear the most?- i just wash it and wear it down

94: who was the last person you know to have a birthday?- today is felisha's bday apparently

95: what are your plans for this weekend?- uh idk, ig see my gf. i'm avoiding a baby shower but idk what we'll do instead

96: do you install your computer updates really quickly or do you procrastinate on them a lot?- i procrastinate on them a ton lmfao "remind me later" yeah bitch in like a century

97: myer briggs type, zodiac sign, and hogwarts house?- INTP, gemini, ravenclaw

98: when's the last time you went hiking? did you enjoy it?- i don't think i ever have gone hiking

99: list some songs that resonate to your soul whenever you hear them.- i'm sure there are a few but nothing i can think of off the top of my head. reflection by 5h actually lol

100: if you were presented with two buttons, one that allows you to go 5 years into the past, the other 5 years into the future, which one would you press? why?- FIVE YEARS INTO THE PAST and five years ago is a rly good time to go back to!!! i was 20 and going through suchhhhh a bad break up but i wish i could have gotten up and been a bad bitch sooner lol i love the stuff i experienced that year, went to my first edc and whatnot. 2013 was rough on me but i pushed through it! 2014 i made some bad choices that i would change, 2015 wan alright but i can do it better and i'm not even sure what 2016 was. i would have started teaching sooner had i known it was something i could do i think. i would have worked harder and been more responsible especially financially, though tbh i did pretty well. i'd just do adulthood a lot better and start off a lot stronger. I WOULD REDO THAT LOCKHEED INTERVIEW AND ROCK THE SHIT OUT OF IT.

#personal #inthemoodforlovee #asks