Weekly Tumblr Roundup #1

Since my good friend Marty Davis moved his brushpen blog over to Tumblr, I decided to go ahead and start an account in order to follow along more easily. I'd been avoiding it for quite some time, as I'm not a big fan of collecting, then ditching, several social media obligations.

I actually think it might be a better format for me, but for now, let's put it on a trial basis, while saving this blog for a weekly roundup.

Back from the Dead...of Summer!

Yikes! Four months?

In my last blog post, I was excited for the arrival of the shirts I designed for the summer kids' program. The program began soon after, and what a summer it was! 175 kids and a good 15-25 weekly in my little art club. With the summer days all blending together in haze of field trips, art lessons, heat waves, and power outages, it's no wonder I abandoned the ol' blog.

BUT, with only 17 days left until the 3rd annual San Diego Comic Fest, there is much to do!

I've been trying my hand at colored pencils lately, and I'm planning to have this piece ready by then, featuring a character I created last year.

 

It's a fun undertaking. I've always wanted to do a full piece with this character.

 

 

That's all for now, but this piece should be done in a few days. Then maybe I can knock out another one or two before Comic Fest.

Back to work!

Summer's on the way!

It's been a rocky two weeks, with the Santa Ana wind-fueled wildfires in the neighborhood during a week-long heat wave, and some rushed art project planning for our upcoming summer program! Unfortunately there hasn't been a Thursday Art Club for two weeks for these reasons, but we'll pick it up again soon.

The summer t-shirts are in! I love designing these things, and this is my first time using white ink for the design. A few of the lines ended up being too thin, drowning in the white ink. I was pretty bummed, but I felt better after the kids saw the shirts and got excited.

As for today: a little sketching, a little planning, and short work week ahead, thanks to Memorial Day. Things are looking up!

Teaching Kids to Train Their Hands

I'm three days late for Thursday Art Club, but it was really just a group drawing session.

When the school kids watch me draw, they always ask me the same old ambiguous question: "Miss Emily, how do you do that?" And I usually have the same old ambiguous answer, "Practice."

Thursday Art Club: New Chalk Pastels

My original plan for this Thursday was, admittedly, pretty lame. Let's not speak of it.

That's why I love it when little miracles come into the picture. Imagine my surprise on Monday when I discovered that someone had donated a gigantic bin full of chalk pastels!