Sketches 22: January Diary (Patreon)

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So before I say the next thing, I have to preamble that with:

If you're an artist reading this and you like to sketch/work traditionally - I can absolutely recommend doing a sketchbook like that! I'm glad I did it, it turned into a nice and small, yet thick book in the end that I can proudly put into my shelf and it doubles as a diary, because I've also drawn personal memories and temporary obsessions. :^)

BUT around that time, in January, I slowly felt the steam leaving me and the train getting slower (is that even a metaphor?) It started to feel more like a chore than an exploration and it was getting harder to come up with interesting ideas. At that point I had filled around ~250 pages and, frankly, that is ... A. Lot. But I clearly didn't want to abandon it at that point, with an investment of 250/400 pages filled. And every few days I was feeling it again! But I also felt compelled to not just fill every third page, but every single one, because I had done that so far more or less without fail. 

So from here on out you'll see probably more repetition? Character work and random body practices mostly. 

Pages 20-28 was when my boyfriend and I were watching Carmen Sandiego. It is GORGEOUS, lemme tell you. And I wanted to try my characters in their style, and that is what you can see there. 3 or 4 heads taken form the series or different mashups of existing faces and then my attempt at a more serious character illustration. (It's btw Wessam, Jameel, Kevin, Prince and Mariyan in order). Prince was clearly the hardest and turned out the worst, but I blame the series for not giving me any good reference for how to draw Black people, especially curly hair in that style 😂 He def would need some more work and I was really debating with myself if I should even put him here in this lineup, but ... now you see it all, my Wins and my Loses.

Oh and last doublespread: Jameel in Parisian fashion, because I started to relearn French that day, oh là là. 🥖🥐🗼🇫🇷 Et maintenant, mon français n'est pas si mauvaise, je dirais...