Monday, September 26, 2016

Gems and Stuff

The leaves are turning, but it's been really rainy lately. When it's nicer out and the trees are more colorful, I'll try to get a picture or so.

I tried to draw some colorful gems. I got quite frustrated with them. Also, I have added a white gel pen to my shopping list. Making indents in the paper with a closed retractable pen does not work as well as one might like for making extra shininess.


This one, I just reserved a spot for the highlight. It didn't work very well.

Not much art this past week, I'm afraid, although I did get a few of my several half-done books finished. (Reading, not writing haha) But, speaking of writing, I did enter my very first short story contest. It's a back-to-school-themed thing on Wattpad, hosted by Lenovo. But I thought maybe you'd like to read it. So, here it is. Yay! Lots of scariness.

In case you'd like some random odd facts about "Tadpoles"...
  • It was born Tuesday, November 3, 2015, at 12:09 a.m. (I know this because it was a middle-of-the-night brat that I scribbled down in my strange ideas/free-writes/unloading-writing-feelings journal. Haha. I don't know if I'm feeding the monster or helping it to be calmer by letting these things out onto pages; but it does seem to help my sanity the tiniest bit. Kind of like sticking things in the closet or attic or something. Out of sight, out of mind, but you know you can go look at it and pull it out if you ever want to.)
  • It is the first thing I have ever published on Wattpad. (I'm still kind of new to the site as far as using it goes, so I hope I did all right.)
  • While editing, I had a friend from art school read it over email and point out where I could add more words, to bring the count up to within the requirements for the contest and fill the story out. (I tend to write sparingly, I think.)
Now that I have done entirely much more blabbering than I had intended... At least this post isn't as woefully short (compared to my last) as I was afraid it would be. Of course, quality is always better than quantity. Unless you're practicing something, maybe. Like, I should be drawing lots more and not worrying about getting it just right. Right?

3 comments:

  1. Sarah, This too is good news: you finished a story and submitted a story and told us you have a story, so we can read your story. This wonderful progress and a great creative accomplishment.
    I read your story (after going through all the steps to get in the site (not used to that). You wrote a very appealing story. Thanks so much for sharing. It needs some of your delightful illustrations, too, you know....

    Regarding your gems, this would be a perfect opportunity to do some life drawing. While white gel pens are handy - I use mine a lot for mixed media work, not for regular drawing - they are absolutely not necessary for highlights. Highlights come from good shadows, and shadows come from three-dimensionality, which includes base shadows. Don't give up, find some shiny stones to copy or draw from life, use plenty of blending, and show us some more. You can do it.

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  2. I opened your story in another tab, so it is officially on my "to read online" list. Will get to it soon.

    Good white gel pens are harder to find than you might think. I thought I could get one at WalMart-- no go. I ended up ordering a couple...

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