Spring Break!

Hello there frens. I'm sorry for not posting yesterday! I had a super busy weekend; I was working on my Youtube video and then homework yesterday afternoon. I went out to get some dinner, and came back to my roommate and two of our friends all dyeing their hair red (it looked like a massacre), so I helped out with washing everything out and cleaning up. Then my roommate and I had this super deep talk until like 1, and I fell asleep cause I was exhausted!

FIRST OFF, I NEED HELP!

My last Youtube video was about 4 hours long, so I would like to know how you guys would like to see it; an edit to around an hour long of real time footage, or 1 hour segment videos of the whole process?

What happened this week

Spring break was this past week, so I went back home. It snowed tons on Wednesday, so we were completely snowed in. I had wanted to see my friends while I was back, but roads weren't clear, so we couldn't drive and see each other. Sad day. I went out only once last week, and that was to Maryland (road trip!) to catch a movie. 

I opened my shop until Thursday, recorded a lot of little pencil drawing processes for YouTube, and live-streamed on Instagram a little bit. I also received a big order from Blick Art Supplies, and I got new Arches watercolor paper and some Reeves gouache paints to try out. I've only used gouache once before, so I really want to get better at using them. I've been obsessed with Chris Hong's art lately, and I would love to have an illustration style similar to hers mixed with Tony DiTerlizzi. I love illustrations with lots of little details and cool shadows and all the washes of watercolor and gouache mixed with pencil, so reasons for buying some cheap gouache. I want to know if I can learn the medium and enjoy using it, and then I'll probably upgrade to higher quality paints if all goes well. Anyway, I tried to use gouache for this big illustration I had in mind, and it turned out to be a disaster. I talk about it in my latest Youtube video, and you can see the new piece that I worked on after the first one failed. I ended up using Holbein watercolors for the second piece, so I didn't really get the chance to work on something successful with gouache, but I do want to try some little studies to get used to the paints before beginning a bigger illustration. Lots of meh art this week, but I like trying out new things even if they aren't successful to begin with. I'm at a point right now where I understand that messing up is a-okay, and does really aid the learning process. 

Friday, I did a buttload of taxes. Friday wasn't a good day for my bank account. I realized I had to pay way more taxes than I had anticipated, and with being a student and a dependent, I get absolutely no benefits. I put in every conceivable deduction, and it lowered the final tax by about $1,500, but it's still... a ton of money that I need to pay. I'm a little upset at the thought honestly; being a freelancer is super hard. I've spent a lot of late nights packing orders and editing and painting, and for no benefits and a crazy amount of taxes to pay, it's just discouraging. I know I want to do art, so nothing is going to stop me from pursuing this dream, but it just sucks a little bit. Also, some idiot set a claim on an order I had sent out in November (which I had tracking for and which stated that the package had arrived at the person's mailbox), and they won, so they basically stole a drawing and a couple prints from me, the money that I was supposed to get from it, and an additional $20 for bank transaction fees. I don't get angered easily online, but I think I'm allowed to be a little mad when someone steals money and frickin art from me. It pisses me off cause they took an original drawing. Like... I put in work and in a cliche way, love, into my pieces, so to have someone just steal that is stupid. 

I'm good now, it was just an intense week. It's good to see friends again and be busy. I hate just sitting around all day, so all this walking is great for me right now. 

But a word of gratitude; thank you all for the support, even if you're an Earl Grey kid! It means a lot to me that you support me and willingly just give me money to be able to keep investing in art and posting! With everything going on, and not being able to make a lot of money while I'm studying, any support helps me tremendously. So truly, thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Movies!

I saw Annihilation (the Maryland road trip) and it was trippy. It was a good movie, probably one of the best alien movies I've seen, but I definitely didn't understand all the plot elements. Visually, it was extremely beautiful, so if you want some cool rainbow morph action going on, you should watch it! Also, Natalie Portman is fine, just saying.

I've also watched the first season of Nailed It! on Netflix, and it's such a dumb show but it's okay. I love cooking and baking shows, and this one is super funny/kinda drunk. 

Music

Naive- RKCB

Underdog- Banks

Six Feet Under- Billie Ellish

Crowded Out- Funeral Suits

Ties- Slow Skies

Hunting Season- Fences

Air- Junno and Hanna

Locked and Loaded- Lael

Hope you all have had a good week!