Daily Creativity: Octopus

Daily Creativity: Octopus

Octopus - daily creativityI love octopuses and drawing them can be fun, but also frustrating. Where to put all of those limbs? I drew this one with ink and love how the limbs sort of make a heart on the right side.  I also had fun doing the head more realistic than other drawings I’ve done. I didn’t draw the individual suckers, oddly I thought adding that extra detail might make it too cartoony. I darkened the background in photoshop when I scanned this in, I think it makes the negative space pop more. I could sit and watch cephalopods for hours, I find them so fascinating.

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Daily Creativity: #ProjectSemiColon

#projectsemicolon - daily creativityDaily Creativity: #ProjectSemiColon

Today I learned about #projectsemicolon, I’d seen some tattoos of semicolons before but didn’t get the significance till I saw the hashtag. The main idea, as I was able to learn (correct me if I get anything wrong or left anything out) is that it’s raising awareness for mental illness, for living with mental illness, and many get the tattoos to remind themselves that they are more than their diagnosis.  A semicolon is a pause, it’s not the end of a sentence, it’s a pause that joins two thoughts. It’s kind of beautiful to think about.  In editing, I’m often against the use of a semicolon, there are very rare times when they are appropriate. Yet with this, it just makes perfect sense and it is totally appropriate. I have many friends and family living with mental illness. They are amazing people and I love them with all of my heart. I have leanings myself, I think we all do, but I won’t co-opt their struggle.  I can only support and love. In that idea I made this art. Drawn from a friend’s tattoo I made the inside of the heart in ink, permanent, like a diagnosis, like a tattoo. The outside of the heart is sketchy pencil, and the edge of the notebook paper. Rough, changeable, noisy, like the world.

To my friends effected, I love you so much. I’m thinking of you today.

Ink and Pencil on paper.

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Daily Creativity: Women of Trek – TOS

Women of Trek - TOS - Daily CreativityDaily Creativity: Women of Trek – TOS

The Women of Trek (The Original Series), Uhura has been a role model of mine since I was young. Nurse Chapel is pretty awesome too. Growing up it’s good to have role models and it used to be that there were so few women in media that girls could look up to. Today things are much better and we are making strides (not full representation yet, but strides.) I wanted to pay tribute to some classic role models that inspired me and many of my generation and the one before.

In addition to the fictional characters, the women who played these roles are also role models. As I grew older and learned more about them I realized that the people behind these characters were even more inspiring than their roles on TV. Nichelle Nicholes and Majel Barrett were two amazing women who helped change our world. Thanks to them there are more role models for young women, role models for people of color, and both of those groups in space. Thanks.

5×7 ink on paper

If you’d like get your hands on some of my original art check our my Patreon Page and snatch up one of the limited reward levels

Daily Creativity: Orphan Black Chibis

Orphan Black Chibis - Daily CreativityI love Orphan Black, and the new season is right around the corner. In anticipation I drew the clone club as cute chibis. I know that they aren’t all the right size, for some reason the center ladies are shorter than the outside ladies, and that’s just me not planning the composition out well.

I wanted to keep this strictly black and white, which mikes things interesting considering how many of the clones wear dark colors. So I was a bit creative with lines.

5×7 Ink on paper

If you’re looking for a podcast for this awesome show check out Clone Dance Party

If you’d like get your hands on some of my original art check our my Patreon Page and snatch up one of the limited reward levels

Daily Creativity: Embarking on Self Love! Love Your Body

Embarking on Self Love - Love Your Body - Daily CreativityEmbarking on Self Love, another piece in the Love Your Body series. This was inspired by a conversation about some fat shaming art and I wanted to turn the title of that art into something positive and uplifting. I painted my figure in yellows and oranges because I wanted her to seem like she was glowing, glowing with love. I then used a heart to be perhaps a little too literal about the concept, but it also marches some oil paintings I’ve done for a show, but not shared online, yet. Looking in a mirror is one of the most evocative images I can think of when it comes to self image, so I think that fits too.  I painted this in watercolors much like many of my other recent paintings. I really like the control and color that I get from watercolor. Plus it lets me paint without spending multiple days on a project and having to wait over a week for it to dry.