Studio Notes - October
It's Fall! FINALLY
Fall is here and illustrators know fall is BUSY. It always feels like a mad rush to get work sent out, emails sent out, apply for grants / exhibitions / projects before we come to the very strange time of year where it’s all holidays all the time and people are maybe on vacation, and definitely away from their desks if not physically then mentally. Plus for those of us with school aged kids, school is closed for an absurd number of days from late October to January, like almost a month worth of time if you smashed it all together. But that’s another discussion altogether.
Earlier in September I finished up a 5 piece series of works for a little cave adventure story, and it really truly felt like getting back to myself, getting back to the work that feels like me. I love a little magic and mystery and a dramatic landscape.
Some pieces in process (a sneaky peek of a storyboard), and a set of drawers I got from IKEA and successfully got into my car, and also assembled myself without losing it once. A feat! Now I have somewhere to store the enormous amount of paper that’s been stacked up under my couch for the past year. Not artwork, I’m not a monster.
On the reading front, September was slow on books because of aforementioned emails / deadlines / applications etc. Also I was kind of in a funk about reading, so I did some re-reading. Of which The Anthropologists was a re-read which I picked back up after finishing Aysegul Savas’ new book Long Distance, which was delightful.
The God of the Woods - Liz Moore // I blew through this book in 2 days, it was fantastic. It’s a disappearance mystery set between the 1950’s and 1970’s in a summer camp neighboring a wealthy estate and it’s got some layered drama.
The Anthropologists - Aysegul Savas // A re-read cause it’s wonderful. I wrote a bit about it on an earlier post here, but I hadn’t done Reads and Rugs for it yet.
I recently finished Heart the Lover by Lily King which the internet is all abuzz about, and deservedly so it was amazing, I fell in love with the characters, I cried, it was honest and heartfelt without being sugary. I’m currently reading Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman which I’m really excited about, I pre-ordered this one because I loved her previous book The Shame. Over the summer I checked out The Wall by Marlen Haushofer and I loved the premise, and I started it, and then ran out of time on my library hold and people were waiting, so I’ll have to check it back out another time.
For October I’m doing some of the prompts for Peachtober which is the Inktober type creative challenge/community started by Sha’an d’Anthes aka FurryLittlePeach, I did it for the first time last year and it was fun and I met a lot of nice illustrators through the prompts and chats. Here are a few early pieces, if you’re over on IG too please follow along, it’ll be fun! I’m approaching this year like a series of spot illustrations or more of a sketchbook of ideas that would be fun for a board book / mini book type format.
01 Acorn / 02 Kite / 03 Slug / 05 Poppy / 06 Ring
That’s a wrap for this month, I’m going on an adventure soon and I’ll have fun things to share from that, but honestly probably not drawings, because I’m not usually a draw on vacation kind of gal, that’s what I do when I’m not on vacation :)