Diamonds are forever

In June this year, Moulin Rouge is opening on Broadway and I'm so excited! It's one of my all time favourite movies, and they've done such a wonderful job updating and adapting it for the stage. It's always been on my list of dreams to one day visit New York specifically for Broadway. Although I often see stuff at the West End, Broadway often has shows we don't and sometimes never get. Add to that that two of my favourite performers are the leads in Moulin Rouge and I knew I had to make 'one day' happen soon, and I'm going in August! I'm so excited, I'm going to be in New York for 6 days and so far have plans to see Moulin Rouge twice, Frozen and Wicked (I know Wicked won't be much different than London, but I have to see where my favourite show originated!). I was hoping to see Anastasia too, but unfortunately it's announced it's closing which frees up a night. I'm so excited! I never thought I'd be able to do this, and I've funded most of it by selling stuff and seeking out deals (and accepting the fact I'll be living on ramen noodles while I'm there!). I've really taught myself what I can make happen when I put my mind to it.

The wonderful Karen Olivo is going to be playing Satine, and she looks so stunning I just had to draw her!

Frozen hearts + Etsy update

Can you believe, I drew something that isn't Wicked?! Don't worry, it won't last, I'm already working on two more Wicked illustrations, but I wanted to share this Frozen drawing that I doodled while watching the movie. I'm really into Frozen at the moment, it's been my favourite Disney film for years but the Broadway show has helped it grab my interest all over again and I'm going through that phase. Hans and Elsa are my favourite characters, and as messed up as it is I do kind of ship it (only not kind of, I ship it a lot, but people can get pissy about that kind of thing so I mostly keep it to myself). This is more of a "I wonder what they'd look like in my style" than a proper illustration, but I'm really pleased with it and want to make some proper Frozen art at some point!



Also I've opened my Etsy store!🎉 I only have two items on there right now, a set of postcards and a set of stickers both based around my Wicked character illustrations, but I figured I may as well just get it open and let more and more items trickle in to my inventory otherwise I'll always have excuses not to open it!

Cintiq vs iPad Pro

I said goodbye to my Wacom Cintiq this week, which actually makes me really sad!


It was around two years ago that I decided that I wanted to start getting into digital art, and I knew that the first step was to upgrade my drawing tablet. At that point I only owned an 11 year old Wacom Graphire 4 which no longer worked on my OS as the drivers were so outdated, and I'd never gotten along with it when it had worked. I believe it was the precursor to the Bamboo as it was the cheapest tablet Wacom sold at the time, and I could never get used to looking at the computer screen whilst my hand drew elsewhere so it ended up just being used for cleaning up scans of traditional work.

I was always fascinated by Cintiqs ever since I first heard of them, and when I enrolled into art school it was one of the first things I checked for in resources. They had an old 12XW model which I was so excited to borrow that I never even realised I needed a HDMI port which my laptop at the time didn't have! Gutted! However when I did manage to get it working, I loved how natural it made drawing on the computer feel as there was almost no learning curve like there had been with my Graphire.

By the time I was at a point that I could afford my own display tablet, the iPad Pro was coming more and more to the fore which threw me into a bit of a quandary. Initially I wasn't keen on getting an iPad as I own an iPhone, and an iPad just felt like a larger version of that. Plus I'd used a Cintiq and knew I liked it. However what I wasn't keen on with the Cintiq was how long it took to set up, all of the wires required, and the fact that it didn't offer any portability. After A LOT of research on both tablets (unfortunately there weren't any comparison reviews back then) I went for the iPad Pro mostly for the portability aspect. I loved the thought of being able to take it anywhere without being wired up to my laptop, I envisioned it as being like a digital sketchbook. However it didn't take me long before I felt I'd made a mistake, and that I should of gotten the Cintiq after all.

When I first got my iPad Pro I honestly hated drawing on it. A large part was due to the glass screen, which probably sounds trivial but it means the tip of the Apple Pencil has nothing to grip so there's no friction. It just glides around the ultra smooth surface, making it difficult to have the same level of control and precision that I have drawing traditionally. I also couldn't get to grips with Procreate, the biggest art program for the iPad. It frustrated me as I was on a learning curve with digital art anyway, so to also have zero familiarity with the program I was using left me ultra lost and I craved the comfort of Photoshop that I knew so well. Also little things began to bug me, like the fact that I felt like I was constantly transferring files between my PC and my iPad. I ended up mostly using it to watch YouTube whilst the Apple Pencil collected dust, and six months later I bought a secondhand Cintiq 13HD on eBay.



I loved the Cintiq immediately, and did use it quite a bit in my final year of art school. I bought a 15" laptop sleeve to carry it about in, but my back soon grew weary from carrying both the Cintiq and my laptop around every single day. I didn't have the space to have the Cintiq set up on my desk constantly, and getting it all out and putting it all away again felt like a real hassle - especially as the Wacom drivers usually crashed and needed to be restarted almost every time, or the pen pressure sensitivity would randomly cut out, so it would take me a while to get everything set up before I could even draw anything. Obviously the biggest positive to the Cintiq was the fact that it still allowed me to use Photoshop, the program I'd been using for 15 years and was used to, as well as having all of the files on my computer right at my finger tips so it really complimented my work flow. But the lack of portability and huge set up meant that I wasn't using it, and so owning it hadn't made me want to experiment with digital art like I had hoped it would.

Last year I heard of PaperLike, a screen protector for an iPad that feels like drawing on paper, and although it was pricey I bought it immediately. My iPad already felt like a waste of money by then that I was considering selling, and I was skeptical about how much difference a screen protector would make, but decided to make one last ditch attempt at getting along with it. Thankfully PaperLike was true to it's promise, it literally makes it feel like I'm drawing on paper and it's made my iPad feel more comfortable to my traditionally trained mind. The only draw back to the Paperlike is that it does stop the screen from being quite as crystal clear as it is without. It doesn't obscure anything so it's fine for drawing, but when I do just want to curl up with YouTube it can be slightly annoying. Although expensive, it's worth every penny to my mind as it's taken my iPad to being a fully functioning piece of art kit that I wouldn't be without now.

After I'd gotten the screen issue sorted out, it took me a really long time to actually sit down and force myself to learn Procreate, mostly as I had art block and wasn't motivated to draw anything. But as soon as I had drawn a couple of pieces I was well on my way and pleasantly surprised with how much Procreate can do. Now I know what brushes I enjoy and which shortcuts to use, drawing on my iPad feels as natural as drawing in my sketchbook, and I'm actually starting to feel really passionately about digital art and the limitations it removes from my process.

Also, just like I'd hoped when I originally bought it, I love the portability of the iPad. It's even more portable than my sketchbook as it's much slimmer and I only need the one pencil to have a full range of art supplies in every colour imaginable. I have the 9.5" model which is perfect for me as it's slightly larger than A5 which is the size I most frequently work in, and obviously it keeps it portable as a larger iPad wouldn't fit in my everyday bag. I feel large screens are only really necessary for Cintiq's as you are restrained by Photoshop's frames and toolbars which need to be large enough to be able to access. Procreate is so much more intuitive and allows me to use the full screen so it's not an issue. I also love the fact that I can't ever lose work on my iPad as Procreate saves my progress automatically - I can't tell you how many times I've cried real tears because I forgot to save something in Photoshop and lost hours of work when it crashed. The iPad has quickly become my preferred drawing method, even over traditional art right now. Really now the only drawback I have with it is the fact that I can only draw for as long as the battery will last, which isn't the end of the world, just a slight annoyance.

I obviously couldn't justify keeping my Cintiq as well, plus I'm saving up for a big trip this year, so this week I sold it on and said goodbye. Like I said, I am sad to see it go, as despite how much faffing about it took to set up I did really love using it. I just hope I don't come to regret it now! 😬

Making a mess

A couple of weeks ago I picked up The Artist magazine, and loved reading this article by James Hobbs. It spoke to me a lot, as sketchbooks are something I've struggled with for a long time now which I've briefly touched on before.

In the days before the internet, an artist's sketchbook was more likely to have been retained as reference... But social media has revolutionised the way we share our sketchbook work, particularly Instagram and Facebook, but also Pinterest and Twitter, have meant we can, within minutes, share our images with a worldwide audience and get the dopamine hit that a wave of likes and comments can bring... Gradually, perhaps unwittingly, we can find ourselves trying to make work that will be the most liked, loved and wowed, and not what will help us find the way of working that's right for us as individuals.

I can distinctly remember when the self conciousness over my sketchbooks first began to creep in - I began carrying one with me everywhere I went as a late teen in order to practise, but it quickly drew comments of “can I see your sketchbook?” I was always happy to oblige as I enjoyed the “oohs” and “ahhs” that accompanied it, but it began me on the track of thinking of my sketchbook as something that had an audience and that I had to make look perfect, which often paralysed me from actually creating.

This was only made worse by the rise of social media. I never had issues with sites such as deviantART and blogs as it promoted only showing your best work and finalised pieces. It was YouTube where the toxicity began to creep in. I've long enjoyed watching art YouTubers and their perfectly curated sketchbook tours in awe, but it resulted in me seeing my own sketchbook as messy and incomplete in comparison, and wanting to make my sketchbook as perfect as theirs. I didn’t realise that sketchbooks aren’t supposed to be perfect and curated, they’re supposed to be messy and incomplete and personal.



It’s taken me a long time to come to this realisation, to know that I don’t have to create a sketchbook for anyone but myself. I finally have a sketchbook now that I'm happy with - it's messy, it's full of ideas and experimentation, thumbnails, to do lists, and ticket stubs, things that have no relevence to anyone but myself and that's ok because it's mine. I don’t owe anyone my sketchbook, and if someone asks to see it I’m well within my rights to decline and offer them finished pieces instead. After all, you wouldn’t give someone access to your journal and what’s the difference? I've finally stopped starting new sketchbook after new sketchbook, always leaving them incomplete as I couldn’t keep up with the idea of perfection I’d set up for it. Stopped creating each page with the idea of offering complete strangers online a flip through of the final thing one day when I’d finally completed one and it was perfect. I'm no longer intimidated by a blank page because it doesn't have to be put up for public opinion and consumption. After years my art block has gone, evidenced by how much work I've been uploading to this blog recently, and it's all because I've re-learnt how to create like no one is watching.

Of course this isn't to say that all social media is bad - watching YouTube channels like thegothicalice and drawingwiffwaffles have been incredibly inspiring for me and have played a huge part in helping to remind me of what a sketchbook should be. Many artists and illustrators have managed to build their entire careers through their accounts, and I myself enjoy sharing my processes and final pieces with anyone who'll listen. But social media is definately able to give a constant self awareness that isn't always healthy, and I think it's time to recognise that. Not everything has to be shared to be valid or worth creating, sometimes the only audience you need is you.

Fiyero

A couple of weeks ago I drew some digital illustrations of Elphaba and Glinda with their representative elements. I mentioned at the end of that post that I'd quite like to extend it with other characters from Wicked, and felt inspired to draw Fiyero in a similar design.

Like I mentioned in that previous post, Fiyero is from the West as he's from the Vinkus / Winkie Country, which is represented by the element of Earth and fits Fiyero's character well. However I'd obviously already drawn the Earth element for Elphaba, so this illustration ended up being a bit more literal and narrative driven rather than symbolic. I knew I needed to include Kiamo Ko in the background as it's his castle! And the Scarecrow is obviously both a reference to his story, but also represents the element of Earth as their purpose is to protect the crops growing from it. The sunflowers are a nod to the sunflower field that Fiyero is taken to to meet his fate in the musical, and I added the blue diamonds as diamonds grow in the Earth and it's also a nod to the book as he has blue diamond tribal tattoos covering his body. I'm not sure it comes across very well with the final colour scheme, but I also gave him a medium skin tone to fit the book description (it's more obvious if you compare it to the illustration of Glinda I did before)

I'm actually really pleased with how this illustration came out! I'm considering turning the three into a set of postcards and die cut stickers to sell in my Etsy store.

Folktale Week

I'm not generally a person who enjoys online challenges - partly as they're usually far too vague to pique my interest and I have no idea how to illustrate what feels like words picked at random out of a dictionary, and partly in the case of huge challenges such as Inktober I'm usually so sick of hearing about it before it's even begun and tire of it taking over all of my social media feeds. I don't see the point in taking part in such things when even my favourite artists become background noise, and I doubt I'm the only illustrator who feels this frustration.

However when I heard of Folktale Week, which was held 12-18 November, it definitely felt relevant to my interests and came with a prompt list that actually excited and inspired me so I knew I had to take part. Looking back, I think I aimed a bit too high - I purchased a concertina sketchbook and planned to create a double page spread for each prompt, coloured entirely with Copic markers and coloured pencils to give the storybook feel I was after. I opted to do a double page spread for each prompt as then it would allow each illustration to stand alone, and be less obvious that it was leading onto the next image. I wanted the concertina element to be a bit of a surprise that I could reveal at the end, with each prompt leading onto the next to create a panoramic woodland scene.











You can view a video of the full concertina here on my Instagram.

It ended up being a lot more work than I initially anticipated with each illustration taking on average 5-6 hours, and although I gave myself a few days head start I still ended up falling a little bit behind on the final two days as I was busy with other commitments - how people manage to do month long challenges is beyond me! I actually really enjoyed the process though, I haven't created work to a deadline since leaving uni and I thrive really well under that kind of pressure. Not having the time to over-plan and over-think everything is really liberating and allows me to just get on with it and switch off my perfectionism.

The first prompt was 'Forest' which is why I decided to set the whole thing in the woods, and apart from the reference to Baba Yaga in the first image, I decided to keep most of the prompts fairly vague and inspired by folktales rather than a direct representation of. I felt that if I tried to match each prompt to a particular tale, then the whole concertina wouldn't flow as well, and I wanted the viewer to be able to decide their own narrative from the images.

The very last prompt with the raccoons is definitely my favourite, but then again they are my favourite animals!

"It's not lying...its looking at things another way"

The Scarecrow (Fiyero) walks on stage. He bends down & knocks on a trap door in the floor.
Fiyero: It worked!
He opens the door & Elphaba climbs out.
Elphaba: Fiyero! I thought you'd never get here.
She touches his straw face.
Fiyero: Go ahead, touch, I don't mind. You did the best you could. You saved my life.
Elphaba: You're still beautiful.
Fiyero: You don't have to lie to me.
Elphaba: It's not lying... its looking at things another way.

I guess this illustration is a massive spoiler if you haven't seen Wicked, sorry about that. Personally I think knowing Fiyero's fate of becoming the Scarecrow from the beginning helps you appreciate his character more.

I've always found this scene really sad. I feel like the fandom generally focuses on Glinda and Elphaba so much, that Fiyero's sacrifice gets completely overlooked. He loses absolutely everything, even his body, for Elphaba, which is a pretty huge deal anyway but especially when you consider how proud he is at the beginning of the musical. To go from being the popular guy at school whom everybody envies and wants to emulate, who can have his pick of anyone he wants to date, to become reduced to a scarecrow is major to him. But he's OK with it, because it means he gets to be with Elphaba and he’s finally happy.

Fiyero has always been one of my favourite characters, and I do find it kind of sad (although also understandable with time constraints) how much his role was reduced in the musical. Although Fiyero only properly features in one section of the book, his presence is felt throughout the rest of the novel as his fate affects Elphaba so much. In the book, he's a tribal prince from the Vinkus who the other students at Shiz are both intrigued and racist toward - they consider his culture "barbaric", his traditional tattoos "silly", and make detrimental comments about his dark 'ochre' skin. His 'otherness' is a big part of why he and Elphaba bond so strongly, and his section of the book is one of the most heartbreaking things I've ever read. I'm always adamant that Fiyero in the musical is much deeper than most give him credit for; Dancing Through Life is incredibly nihilistic, and his mask to hide his deep unhappiness is quickly seen through by Elphaba. But it's a shame that his character couldn't be explored more, so casual audiences don't just mistake him as a spoiled rich kid.

I spent a really long time working on this drawing - I started it last time I saw Wicked which was on 1st October, and have been working on it on and off ever since (more off to be fair, as I've had major surgery on my arm during that time too.) I'm mostly pleased with how it's come out, I'm still working on my style so there's a few elements that I'm still working on and ironing out. I stopped drawing this to work on my illustrations of Elphaba and Glinda that I posted yesterday, and all three of these drawings were done in Procreate. It's crazy how far I've come with the app, because I was struggling so much when I began drawing this, and finished it up today in a jiffy now I know what I'm doing!

I have a few more Wicked illustrations in the works, but I'm putting them on hold for now as I need to work on some other things. Although I'm seeing Wicked again next week, so I'm sure I'll come away with even more ideas!