you told me you were a witch
sorting tarot cards with stubby fingers
prancing between old oak trees
casting spells that you dreamed up
tossing herbs in a cauldron pot
chanting gibberish at the stars
you gasped and cried out
praises for life
distanced from the past
future manifestations
of hope that would last
your heart on your tongue
bleeding words with vigor
but I knew they weren’t listening
just watching you like a million eyes
but I let you believe
because you were magic to me
Hello and welcome back to year 3 of Industrious Illustrating, which means a new header image! I’m going with a new header image look this year to reflect my growth and evolving identity as an artist. Each header image shows off some of the works I’m the most proud of making in the past few years.
In terms of other changes, I’ve been thinking recently about what I want this school year’s Industrious Illustrating columns to look like. Ever since I started selling art at anime cons over a year ago, more and more of this column has focused on conventions and upcoming events I’m doing. Just talking about these events in announcements isn’t the most riveting blog material, so I thought about how to make my experiences more interesting and unique as content.
I then decided that I’ll be putting a greater focus this year on writing about the ins and outs of being a freelancer and selling my art. While I will still post about the artwork I’ve made recently and the processes that go into making art, I also want to bring my own experiences running a small business as an artist to the table for people who may be interested in making that jump to marketing and selling their creations for money.
Some of the business topics I plan on addressing with this year’s Industrious Illustrating columns:
Profit margins
Different types of art products
The “marketing funnel”
Different types of art fairs/conventions
Fanart vs. original art
Commission invoices and finding clients
How much does a social media following matter?
And much more! I’m also up for doing columns about topics suggested in the comments on my posts, if anyone has questions or wants me to elaborate more on any of the topics I’ll talk about this year. Anyway, I hope you guys will continue to follow along with this blog column this year even now that I’m moving slightly to a new focus!
Hello All! Welcome to a new year of Sketchbook Smashing! Here’s to another year of evolving art styles and character designs! Before I start, here are a bunch of initial character sheets under the cut. I look forwards to seeing the character designs change over the year.
Hi everyone, welcome back to OTM! I’m happy to announce that I’ve been training for a marathon (relay) with my Michigan Daily co-writers, and it’s been such a fun experience. I already love running, but the added aspect of friendship and self-growth makes it all the more exciting. I’ll be running the relay this Sunday, so I took my last run before the race today as I’ll be tapering in the meantime.
I cut my hair short (as I usually do) this past weekend, and now I’m unable to fit all of it in my ponytail. I usually think this is a cute style, but when I’m running, it becomes a different story. As my face and hair get damp with sweat, the cold air helps to essentially freeze those two tassels of hanging hair. I was so engrossed in my five mile run that I failed to realize what was going on. “Ouch! Was I wearing big, clunky earrings when I left this morning? There’s no way,” I think to myself, only to then realize that it’s my cold, hardened hair smacking against my face. How hilarious. I feel sweaty, tired, and, strangely enough, joyous at the end of this run. There’s something so fun and cool about being so in-tune with your body moving that you fail to recall that your hair is a part of you; I guess I must be really into running. I’m happy to be back, and will hopefully provide an update on how the big run went next week! Thanks for reading.
if the mind has legs
they are spindly
like a spider’s or vines on a plant
which turn, wrap, squeeze, intertwine
without secure direction or honest intention
you look at me
with my spindly legs
but your smile is mischief
like the Cheshire cat’s up above
clinging to a branch in the dark
I find you hard to trust
and I’m sure you’d say the same
