sarucatepes

Super Hot Week

Hey guys! 

I hope your week has been super good and productive, and that you've been avoiding the scorching temperatures! Personally, I've had no choice but to put on dresses and endure the heat because of the amount of walking across campus I've been doing, but I'm staying hydrated. First week of classes is down; I'm pretty excited. I'll be sure to show you guys what I'm working on in those classes, but currently, I'm doing a still life of a chair (gross) and learning InDesign with some basic tutorials. Nothing is complete yet, since a lot of my projects are done in class on work days and less as homework, which is interesting (since last semester, everything was homework!). I managed to pack both Patreon postcards and shop orders, so I'm incredibly happy to see that my workflow can still be kept in my little dorm room. I didn't focus on YouTube this week, since I want to relax a little bit and come out with some nice content-- hopefully this next week. To address the anxiety that I've been having lately, I started to take multivitamins and Valerian every day to calm myself and to make sure I'm getting all the right nutrients to keep me in the best mood, and I'm pretty sure they're working, which is awesome! I was thinking that a lot of my depression and anxiety was magnified through nutrient deficiencies, but whether its vitamins or a break from the stress of YouTube, I've been more positive and calm about everything that's going on.

First football game of the season was yesterday, which was fun to go to! I'm not really into sports, but I weirdly enjoy going to games and getting involved in whats going on. I honestly use any excuse to get outside and walk around since I hate going to the gym but I do like being active, so I've found a happy medium in walking a lot. 

As for art, I've been casually sketching designs for new stickers, pins, and buttons, so I'm thinking that I'll work on all of those this week so that I can begin ordering them and putting them up in my shop. If you saw this past month's Sketchbook PDF, you'll have seen some concept drawings and all my little notes on what I'm planning for all those products. If you have any feedback on those designs, let me know! 

MOVIES

I have been honestly obsessed with Queer Eye for the past two weeks. Ughughugh it's so funny and cute and a refreshing perspective. I don't really talk about personal beliefs on my social media, but I am a Christian and I do lean on the more conservative Libertarian side, so I am constantly surrounded by a lot of intolerance and hate and racism from people who claim to be Christians and who are much more Republican in their thinking. Mostly little rich boys who've had their lives handed to them and who think that making insensitive and rude comments is cool and funny, but I really don't appreciate when any party thinks it's above the other and when either is intolerant. All that to say, that coming from a very conservative setting, I try to be freethinking and to not let that repulsion affect my own morals and beliefs, and this show has been awesome in showing me how someone with beliefs that are completely opposite to mine can be loving and accepting and freethinking as well. As a Christian, I do get a lot of hate for my beliefs from social justice warriors who are putting me in the same box as those horrible hypocritical "Christians" that I do not consider myself to be like, so I don't have any expectations to be tolerated by liberals. All the crew on Queer Eye is sooooooooo loving and accepting, and I love the dynamic of how they treat more conservative people and how they think the church relates to God. I respect the show so much and I think that the positivity and acceptance on the show is awesome and an example for anyone. (Did that just get deep or political?)

Also, the Great British Baking Show has a new season out on Netflix, so I've been enjoying that a lot!

MUSIC

Animal- MISSIO

Bdy- Joe Mason Remix- Stalgia, Joe Mason

Happier- Marshmello, Bastille

Vapor- Trella

Natural- Imagine Dragons

Ahhh thanks for reading! Hope Labor Day weekend has been fun! <3

August Sketchbook PDF

Hey guys! I'm so sorry that I'm late with this past month's sketchbook PDF, but I'm here with it!

The first four drawings are Patreon original sketch rewards, and then the watercolors are all studies that I've been casually making this month. Lastly, I have some pencil sketches and product concepts that I've been working on, so I have lots of notes and ideas for buttons and stickers.

Hope you enjoy this PDF!

Moving Back to College

Hey guys! This week has been hecka busy for me since I moved back at college. I spent most of my time working on shop stock to bring with me (and I have a limited amount of prints, which I'm not going to be restocking!) I moved in on Friday, and I'm happy to be in a two person room this year. Layout for everything is pretty cute, not gonna lie. However, our AC is broken, so I am suffocating in 85 degree heat right now. Save me please!!

I'm taking 18 credit hours this semester, so that equals 6 classes (5 are gonna be art classes, and then I'll have a class on developmental psychology). The thing is, every class requires soooo many supplies! For my 3D design class, I have to spend over $500 on all the supplies? I'm kind of scared to have to keep purchasing so many materials, but also excited to learn more about graphic design and fine art! I'll also have the opportunity to share my process work and the finished pieces with my $5+ patrons! I'll have many more projects and pieces to share this semester since only had two art classes this past spring (now it's five.. it's gonna kick my butt).  School starts tomorrow; I have Drawing 2 and Intro to Graphic Design tomorrow, so we shall see how those go! Quite honestly, I feel like I'm going a little crazy because of this heat so I don't feel like my thoughts are making too much sense; I'm sorry! 

Hopefully I'll survive and bring you guys along on the journey. Majoring in graphic design is completely new to me; I'm solely a self taught studio artist, so design concepts and principles are really new for me. But if you didn't think the craziness would end for me, I'm planning on hopefully double majoring in studio arts as well! I'm not sure if I've shared this with you guys yet, but I'm planning on talking to my advisor soon and making the change on my DCP. 

I've been thinking a lot about what will my career be like after college, and quite honestly, I'm pretty determined to work as a concept artist or designer for a big animation company to begin with. My dream is to work for a while at Laika, but Dreamworks or Disney would also be pretty cool. I'm not sure how freelancing is going to work for me, just because I think an actual work environment that pushes me both socially and artistically will be beneficial for me, and I'll be able to spend much more time creating rather than working on admin. HMMMM these are all big and far-off plans, but things I'm considering when it comes to my major.

MOVIES

Eraser is super good! I love any Schwarzenegger movie, so I really enjoyed it! Otherwise, I haven't had time to watch anything else with all the packing.

No new music for the same reason, but I'm recommending Jacob Lee (I drew him on my Instagram, and he liked it very much! I've been DMing him, and he'd like to use as the cover for his upcoming acoustic album cover. I mean, acoustic Jacob Lee? I'm going to die. Keeping things on the down low for now, but this is one of the things on my bucket list! Making a Jacob Lee cover).

Hope you guys have been doing super well!

Stocking up my prints

Hey guys!

This week went by super duper fast for me! First, I wanna talk about some art supplies I've been using this past week. I've been liking the Strathmore 400 Series Softcover Watercolor Journal in 8"x5.5". I told you guys a couple weeks ago that I've been enjoying the landscape format of my Stillman & Birn sketchbook, and I actually bought this sketchbook at the same time as that one but have been putting off beginning it so that I could properly use up the sketchbooks that I've already started. I'm almost to the end of the Stillman & Birn sketchbook, so I've decided to crack into this Strathmore book, and it's been very interesting. I love that the cover is the soft matte type (it feels super nice to run your fingers over it), and the paper inside is a thick cold press paper. It's extremely textured, so the first time I used it, the huge blocky texture of the paper threw me off and I didn't like it too much until I saw that the paint looked really nice once it dried. I don't know if I can recommend this sketchbook just yet (I've only done a couple of pieces in it by now), but I'm loving that the paper is super thick and that allows me to paint on both sides of the paper easily. I've been making some rough still life studies in it by now, so I'll let you know if I recommend it by the time I use it all up! 

Oooo, the second supply I want to mention is this Faber-Castell Goldfaber colored pencil in the color 131? It doesn't have a color name on it, buuuut it's the most beautiful dark nudish pink, and I love it for accents or sketching! Not a big find, I just think the color is gorgeous!

Okeydokey, so this week, I'm not gonna lie, I chilled for a little bit and went thrift shopping (finally found a good jean jacket, so my basic wardrobe is growing quickly), and then I sat myself down to begin my huge print stocking. I get back to college this Friday, and I do want to keep my shop open while I am there, but it's requiring a lot of careful planning so that I can bring all my packing supplies and shop stock with me while conserving as much space as I can. I need to go buy tons more ink, but it's slowly but surely coming along. My hands are falling off.

I also finished this month's Patreon postcard, so if you would like to update your pledge, you can do so until August 31! 

I tried a technique that I haven't used for a couple of years. I started with a pretty complete pencil drawing, set it down with a good amount of fixative and then went over it with some light watercolor washes. I finished up the piece digitally for a darker, grungier look, and I'm pretty happy with it! You can check out the digital timelapse in my latest video, in which I explain some of my thoughts on YouTube and my artwork (I've already shared all these concerns with you guys, and you've been the most wonderful and understanding to me! )

MOVIES

OH MY GOD. I've found a better movie than Inception (is it possible? I think YES). If you like sort of mysterious thrillers, go watch Shutter Island RIGHT NOW (and if you've already seen it, feel free to send me a message so we can talk about how amazing this movie is). So apparently, three of my top favorite movies have Leonardo DiCaprio in them? Inception, The Departed, and now Shutter Island. OOofff, oh, if you're wondering which are some of the other movies on this list, we have The Dark Knight (of course), John Wick, The Place Beyond the Pines, and Ratatouille. My tastes are very manly, I know, but they're all amazing movies! 

Oh and I made the mistake to watch The Fault in Our Stars again last night (because it's so sweet), and of course I was sobbing for hours. It's objectively wonderful; I'm not a white girl, don't argue with me. 

MUSIC

Same as the past two weeks! Sorry for being so boring :-)

\

First Time Actually Relaxing This Summer

Hey guys! I do have data right now, so weekly update coming up right now! This week has been pretty good by now; I've been able to get sleep and I've had a couple of days of doing absolutely nothing (which hasn't happened once this summer, so I'm incredibly grateful for it!) I'm much more energized and pumped about my shop and new designs and doing my own thing, so I think a lot of everything bad that I've been going through this summer has been also due to overworking myself and feeling overwhelmed. It's hard for me to know my limits when it comes to work, since I'm my own boss and my "success" is completely based around how much I push myself. I don't feel okay with taking breaks or weekends when I know I could continue building myself as an independent artist, especially now in the summer when things are less hectic socially. Ahhh but this vacation has been helping me get all the rest before school starts again. I've been thinking a lot of new product designs for items in my shop, and after lots of thinking about more themes and thanks to all your suggestions, I'm thinking of making a Halloween themed sticker pack (and sheet hopefully), a set of postcards for the shop itself, and also some fairy themed items! I know I'm going to be making at least two more enamel pins based on the ethereal designs I made a while ago, and I'm planning on making two buttons- one with "Wallflower" and the other with "I'd Rather Be Drawing" as the text for them. And then lastly, I'm thinking of *HOPEFULLY* making some T-shirts that are fairy themed and that say "Away With The Fairies" on them. Let me know if you guys think all these ideas are cute or if you have any other suggestions! (Just because lots of money goes into production of everything and I want to make sure I'm making a good investment.) Speaking of my shop, since I'll be back on Thursday and that's when I'll be able to finally package all orders, I'm gonna be adding a sticker or mini print into each order to make up for sending everything off sort of late (so if you want a freebie, go grab something before Thursday!) Some things on my to do list for the rest of this vacation are to design this month's postcard and to paint or draw the original sketch reward tier pieces! If you're down for either the postcard or sketch reward tier, any suggestions for themes are welcome!! Thanks so much for the suggestions last week when it came to replacing the video with stickers. I'll look into that and figure out exactly how I'm going to go about it, but suggestions are noted!! And and thank you for all your support when it comes to my decisions; I looove that you guys really do care for my own mental health and well-being; you guys are the best!😊 MUSIC Wonderkind- Lovelier Other Come Home- The People's Thieves, Peyton Andrus

Making Changes to YouTube+ Winnie the Pooh

Hey guys! I'm so sorry for not posting my update yesterday; I kept telling myself I needed to do it, and then I had to leave somewhere and got back crazy late and just crashed. Things are hectic with me! I need to completely create Sunday's video today, since it is a sponsored video that I need to have up for review before publishing it, and I'm leaving on vacation tomorrow at 3 am! Ahhh, way too early in the morning. Even though this vacation has been something that's been planned for months, I have absolutely no luggage packed. I'm kinda freaking out trying to make a good quality video, as well as getting all my clothes and art supplies ready for this hopefully relaxing vacation. I'm going to be posting my next Patreon update either on Wednesday or Thursday next week instead of Sunday, since I don't anticipate good wifi at the resort. If I do have wifi and time on my hands, I'll be sure to check in with you guys!

I've realized recently that I'm made things way too hard on myself with weekly YouTube uploads. I'm constantly stressed and tired, and it's been having adverse effects on my health for this past year, so after lots of thinking, I'm going to switch off that schedule when I get to college. I still plan on uploads, and if I have time, I'll make sporadic videos because I still love the community and platform, but I really do need to consider my 18 credits as well as social life (and mental health) when I get back to college. Therefore, I'm going to be needing to update my $10 Patreon tier to not include real-time videos anymore(unless I do still manage to post at least one timelapse video a month to my YouTube). All thoughts on what to do about that tier are greatly appreciated!

Speaking of tiers, are there any rewards that you would like to see from me that I don't yet offer, or any changes that you think I should make? I'd love to cater to you guys as specifically as possible so your support is worth it to you guys; any suggestions would be appreciated! 

Hmm.. this week has been about fixing stressful areas of my life and figuring out what to do to have the best mental health possible. I've made some pretty drastic changes both to my housing and class schedule for this next semester, and I've decided to take a different approach with my art. I realized that because of my Instagram and getting a lot of comments about how I ONLY draw pretty girls, I started to put myself in a box. I didn't think it was okay for me to draw anything else than super cute girls because nothing else really gets too many likes. I started to make art for my YouTube only considering what the thumbnail would look like, and I realized how toxic this is for my own personal growth as an artist. I've realized I love still life studies and drawing landscapes, and I want to do more of that and less of.. like or view friendly drawings, so that's another big change I'm going to be making to my artwork. This vacation, I'm planning on lots of fun relaxing studies, as well as plein air drawing, and more shop and product designs! I want to branch away from just pretty girls and continue experimenting with mediums and techniques. I don't want to be a cute girly Instagram artist. I really want to branch out and have an extraordinary understanding of forms and lighting and colors, and I know I can achieve that eventually through more diverse artwork. I'm nervous about losing a lot of engagement and job opportunities by changing things up, but I know this is only going to be great for my own personal development.

Lastly, I saw Christopher Robin on Friday! 6/10 for plot and 11/10 for adorableness!! I'm a diehard Winnie the Pooh fan. I love all the books, as well as the original shorts, The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and even the newer movies. I looooove storybook adventure movies and books, and A.A. Milne did the best job with his stories. I've been watching some OG VHS tapes from my Winnie the Pooh collection and I'm super happy!

MUSIC

Between the Stars- Canyon City (one of those songs you play to purposefully make yourself cry)

Carry You- Novo Amor

The Rains- Henry Jamison

La Lune- Billie Parten

State Lines- Novo Amor

Alcatraz- Oliver Riot

Hope you guys have had an excellent week! :)

Sketchbook PDF- July

Hey guys! This is July's sketchbook PDF-- there are lots of notes on shop product ideas, as well as base sketches for my new stickers and thumbnails for some bigger pieces I've made this month. 

The first watercolors were some sad attempts at plein air paintings; but the watercolor sketchbook that I've been using (Stillman & Birn Beta Landscape sketchbook) doesn't have the best paper. I know lots of people loooove Stillman & Birn sketchbooks, but I really don't like them all so much. I've been liking the landscape format of it, so I've been trying to experiment in it and to fill it up, but all in all, I won't be grabbing one of these again. The landscape format is pretty fun though, and I'd like to try another out but from a different brand. 

I do really like my current dry media sketchbook- the Pentalic Drawing sketchbook that I talked about a while ago. I love the thick and cream pages, and I love the smooth paper for mechanical pencils. I'll definitely be repurchasing it again. :-)

Pretty Interesting Week

Hey guys! How have you been? Any new art supplies that you've discovered that I should know about?

 My week was pretty long; I packaged tons of store orders and made sure to pack lots of my new sticker packs. I need to design a couple of more single stickers and some sheets before leaving for college again, so hopefully, I'll be able to do that soon! Apart from lots of store orders, I worked on a new oil painting, and had it done by Thursday, and I finally cleaned up my workstation! This weekend however, my old roommate came over because it was her 20th birthday on Saturday, so I wasn't able to finish editing my weekly Sunday video, but it will hopefully be up today! It was a pretty good weekend, and it was the first time I've ever got hibachi grill which was super yummy and fun! 

I haven't really been able to get lots of drawing in lately, which bums me out a bit. I get too busy with admin work or editing videos that I really haven't been able to sketch as much as I want to, so I'm hoping to do some more sketching soon. I'm going on a vacation in a week and a half, so I'm anticipating lots of sketching and designing more products since I'll be super disconnected from the Internet. If you have any ideas of themes for new stickers and enamel pins, feel free to let me know them! I'm mainly planning on continuing my celestial theme, as well as the haunted carnival, but if you guys have a better idea, I'd be open to trying some different concepts.

I have to work on two videos this week (to schedule for when I'll be gone), so I gotta scurry!

MUSIC

Lie To Me- 5 Seconds of Summer

Guys My Age- Hey Violet

Malibu 1992- COIN

Water Ra Ra Riot, Rostam

Somebody you found- The Japanese House

Headspace- Thomston

Have a great Monday! :-)

New Stickers :)

Hey guys!

Not much happened this week, but I managed to design and order some stickers for a new sticker pack! I themed them to be celestial, and they are all gonna be transparent,  so I'm pretty excited to see what the quality turns out like! They should arrive tomorrow, so I'ma have them up in my shop in a jiffy. 

This week was just a lot of personal struggles for me. I'm still dealing with some insomnia and depression, and between the working late hours and my room being very hot and not ventilated, I've been having bad migraines. I'm finding it very hard to find a good balance for work and mental health, and I miss being active at college. It's also been difficult to focus because my desk and room has been very cluttered and disorganized, so I've been trying to clean up a little bit and make a pile of things to sell (unused art supplies, some equipment, and good clothes and shoes). I just haven't gotten around to listing anything, but at least I've done a little bit of organizing and throwing some junk away. I finally have a designated sketchbook shelf and I like not having stacks of them everywhere in my room. Hmm.. hopefully I'll manage to organize some more this week? We shall see. OH! Good news is, I finally found my missing ring! Backstory: I bought this beautiful diamond and ruby gold ring from my favorite antique store about two years ago, and I lost it like two weeks after I bought it! I kind of haven't let myself buy expensive jewelry since then because I couldn't believe that I had let myself lose something so great, but while looking through all my cases of glasses (I have a lot of pairs of glasses), I finally found it! I'm supah happy, it's been one of my favorite rings, and the fact that it's antique also has a special meaning to me, so I'm beyond overjoyed to have found it (definitely the highlight of my week). 

Oh, this is random and very personal, but I've found the best skincare routine and it's completely eradicated all my acne while also lightening scars! I've been using The Ordinary skincare, and it's actually amazing (while also not the most popular and super inexpensive). Since I'm very stressed and getting irregular sleep, this is the time that I'd be breaking out like crazy, but between the serums and lots of random cooling masks, my skin has been the best that I've had it. It's a little thing, but I'm really grateful to have one thing less to be worrying about. 

I also uploaded a video of my face (for the first time ever) here on Patreon, and I'm surprisingly very okay and calm about it. You guys are GREAT and honestly, I feel very blessed to have all your support. You're all so encouraging and sweet to me, and I've come to really love this platform and the small connection that I'm forming with you. So thank you all for being super cute and great. :-)

No new movies, just lots of rewatching The Office and some Friends. For my music, I've honestly been playing last week's music on repeat.

Hugshugshugs! <3

My first Q&A!

I'm not gonna bother editing a cute thumbnail. I finally did a video of my face and I feel weird (the same way I felt uploading my first YouTube video, and then my first video with a voiceover), but this is good! I'm getting comfortable with you guys (you're like the cream of the crop) and then maybe one day, gonna move my face to YouTube. I answered the questions you guys asked me in that one post from a month ago, and and I tried not to care too much about editing this (if I spent too long creating this video, I'd be having second doubts about posting it). Hope you guys liked it? Feedback is appreciated. :-)

July Postcard!

Hey guys! This is what July's limited edition postcards are going to look like! I hope you like this mellow little fairy with swoopy hair; be sure to sign up for my $12 tier if you would like one! Deadline to sign up is on July 31! :) 

Weekly Update

Hey guys! I hope you have all had a great week! 

I got back from our trip on Wednesday, and then I got super busy with work. I've been designing sticker sheets and new enamel pins! I want to slowly ween away from prints in my shop and only keep a couple up, so I'm excited for my designs! I'm going to let you know the suppliers that I'll be using if they turn out to be good quality! For the enamel pins, I'm going to be using GS-JJ again! When I ordered from them, out of 400 pins, 120 came out defective, so I contacted them and let them know of the situation, and they actually sent out for more from the factory from me! I'm extremely surprised that a pin supplier would do that rather than just to let me know that it was a common error margin, so I definitely recommend them for quality and price, and I'm excited to order more pins!

Honestly, I don't have anything extraordinary to report for this week. It wasn't very eventful and I didn't get too much done unfortunately. Tonight, I'm working on hopefully finishing the stickers and pins and beginning to order them. 

MUSIC

I've Never Seen a Cyclone- Mantaraybryn

idbh.- TRACES

Anything for You- Chelsea Cutler

La Lluvia- Relajar

Sorry for being so boring this week! I'll come back next week with lots of good stuff! :-)

Very Productive Week!

Hey guys! How was your week? Did you do anything fun for the Fourth of July?

This week started off horribly for me but ended on the best note! 

I was working on all the Patreon end of the month rewards, shop orders, and my newest video that needed to be sent in for review to Skillshare by Thursday, so I had a panic attack because of how much stress I was going through. 

Since I was so swamped, I didn't do anything for the Fourth of July, which was super sad; I love doing something on the Fourth every year, even if it's just watching fireworks, but I had to pass this year unfortunately. 

I've had a bad sleep schedule and more insomnia recently, so I was sleep deprived and overworked and feeling really defeated, but Thursday passed and I got my video finished, which was a huge weight off my shoulders. I've also been missing my boyfriend, since I haven't seen him in a month, so I drove down to see him on Friday (he's three hours away back in my univ city because of work) and we had a great day! Then yesterday was great; since I finished my video, I had a free day (for the first time in a long long time), so I just watched Parks and Rec and The Office all day and tried out some new watercolor brushes. 

Actually, today, my mom and I are leaving on a trip to Gatlinburg for her birthday, so I'll be back Wednesday night. It's her birthday, and we always love to take impromptu trips together, so I'm excited! Last year, we went to Niagara and Toronto, which was lots of fun. 

I don't have lots of interesting things to share about this week otherwise; most of it was spent packaging orders and editing my video.

MOVIES
My boyfriend and I saw Jurrasic World 2 and I really enjoyed it! I've been a die-hard fan of the Jurrasic Park movies and wasn't really into Jurrasic World, but this second one was more similar to the original movies! I'd recommend :-)

MUSIC

It'd OK- Frida Sundemo

Body Can't Hold- Jessie Early

She Whispers- Moda Spira

Creep- Harley Huke, Make It Rain

Supernova- House of Lions

Nyx- EZA

At All- The True Blue

Hope you guys have a great week! :-)

Shop Orders & Video Editing

Hey guys! I'm super sorry about this update being a day late; I've been crazy busy and burned out the past couple of days. Yesterday, I spent the whole day finishing up my last YouTube video; I was done by 11 p.m., but everything hurt and I was too tired to write a proper post or finish up the coloring page, so here I am! Ahhhhh, it's been crazy! For some reason, my latest video took ages to edit, so I worked on that for three days straight. I was also busy packaging shop orders (thanks for all the support on my new pins!) so this whole week has been me sitting at my desk and killing my wrists and back. I really need to figure out how to stop the wrist pain because it's getting worse. I think the sensible thing is to limit editing time (and digital work), but it's very difficult. Oh, also, it's been like 95 degrees outside and my room barely gets any AC, so I've been slowly asphyxiating and burning alive. Today, I have to answer tons of emails, plan my next video (lip drawing tutorial, hurray!), package shop orders and wait for this month's postcards to arrive so that I can finish sending them as well. 

One good thing about this week was making orange chicken, fried rice, and turtle cheesecake. I love cooking and baking, since I've always been someone who likes to do things with my hands (grandma status achieved because of my knitting, crocheting, and embroidery skills) and cooking relaxes me. I'm hoping that in the future, I can come up with a healthy balance to my work schedule so that I can do the whole only 8 hours of work a day. I need to streamline my process! 

Since I looooved making the enamel pins, I am thinking of making more things for my shop; I have a zine idea and I'm beginning to flesh it out, but if it turns out the way I'd like it to, it's gonna be pretty great! I've been working on a couple light drawings for that, so hopefully I'll get that completed and ordered soon. Also, I'm possibly planning on keeping my shop open when I go back to college. I'm thinking that with enough preparation (creating an inventory of available prints, and making sure to store all the packing supplies to save as much room as I can), I think I can make it work! It would be a shame to close it again after three months, and this coming semester, I'm planning on being way too bold and commandeering the common living room for some of my storage. I moved dorms between semesters, and in neither quad did I expand to the living space. You know how in all the movies and shows (and catalogs, and pinterest, etc.) they make dorm rooms look like the cutest things ever? Nope, our living space was just barren, especially second semester. Since no one really stays out there anyway, I'm thinking it would be okay to use it for some storage. Those are some thoughts going through my head, but I'm excited to work on a zine! I'll show you guys some updates if I do flesh it out successfully. 

Also, white bunny bit me. I almost cried; he's never bit anyone in his three years with me. :(

MOVIES
Basically just Gilmore Girls; I'm finishing the fourth season. Dang, this show is LONG. I'd rather be finishing Game of Thrones, but unfortunately, it's not on Netflix or Hulu (without paying extra). Ugh, so many shows I'd rather watch but Netflix doesn't cooperate.  

MUSIC

Everything- MUNA

I Wanna Get Better- Bleachers

curse- Koda

Fallin- Mick Pedaja, Sander Molder

Isabelle- Vancouver Sleep Clinic

Lost in Translation- Alice Kristiansen

Parking Lots- Ciele, Mapps

Monsters- Brother Sundance (been obsessed, the rest of his music is awesome)

Hope you guys have a great Monday!

June Sketchbook PDF

Hey frens! I still have 11 minutes till July, so sketchbook PDF is on time as promised! Lots of trying to not paint girls, but unfortunately, I didn't have a crazy amount of time to sketch this month. Lots of projects going on and being busy with the new website, shop, and pins! I love the pins hehe (I'll go home now)

ENAMEL PINS!

My pins arrived and are up in my shop! 

https://www.sarucatepes.com/shop

Be sure to use the code "WELCOME20" for 20% off any prints you'd like to add to the order; sale ends June 8th. 

:)

Q&A Time!

Guys, the time has come for me to post a video of my face talking about thingies that you ask me (the clear skin moment is with me today, hopefully it lasts until I film the video). Send me all your questions about personal or art stuff!

I'm a very anxious and introverted bean, so I'm hoping that I can do the whole filming myself! Posting videos has been a good challenge for me; I remember my first video with a voiceover was super scary for me, so it's gonna take me a little bit of guts to go through with this (but I'm thinking, you guys are a closer group of art fam than YouTube is, so it makes sense for me to start here!)

Starting Commissions Again and Working

Hey guys! I've been productive this week, yay! I worked on my shop a little bit, finished ordering the backing for my soon-to-arrive enamel pins, and I've taken on a new commission! I haven't done commissions in more than a year (at least!), so I'm excited to be doing it again. I haven't enjoyed every commission that I've received in the past, so I'm being a little selective with what work I'm accepting, but as long as it's something conceptual/fictional (not a portrait of someone from reference), I think it's fun!

Okay, real talk for a second. You guys know I've been working more on my traditional art than my digital paintings for the past year, and even though I've been enjoying watercolors and pencil drawings, I've been missing the depth that I can achieve with digital paintings. The huuuuuge problem is, it's begun to hurt my back and both wrists so so much. :( I never thought this would happen; I have a couple of friendos who have had bad wrist and back pain because of digital painting, and I've always thought that those were just... freak kind of situations. I've been digital painting for so long now, that I'm extremely confused as to why it's just NOW started to hurt... but it's extremely painful. I find myself cracking my knuckles way more than is comfortable, and even with little stretches and breaks, the pain is bad. I really hope I figure something out soon, because I hate that I'm limited to what I can produce. I don't have time spend multiple hours each day on a painting; I try to get it all cranked out in one day, so the limit to how long I can work each day is a pain. Woah, unintended pun. I'm hilarious. 

Okey okey, I'm hoping my order of pins arrives soon and that they will look supah cute, because I wanna put them up in my shop already (and wear them myself.. I like the boy pin)! This is the first time I've ever ordered pins, and it cost a hecka ton, so I'm hoping that I didn't do anything wrong in the whole ordering process. If everything worked out and was successful, I'll let you know who I ordered from and the process that I went through for the pins. 

Patreon postcards are gonna be shipped same as last month; either on the 2nd or 3rd (sketch rewards will get a tracking number as well). Let me know if you have any feedback on the postcards! Were you happy with them? Any changes? Do you guys like that the back is actually a postcard our would you like a change?

MUSIC

I'm not a boyband kind of girl, and I've never been, but 5 Seconds of Summer came out with a great new album! It's alternative, and every song is in a different style. I defintely recommend it (if you just want to listen to one song, I'd recommend Valentine)

I Belong to You- Jacob Lee-- I foresee this being on my most played songs of 2018. I've cried, it's so sweet :,)

Caves- Haux

You and Me- Shallou

Leave Like That (feat. Jenn Champion)- SYML

Mr. Brightside- Live at RAK Studios- Leo Stannard, Jane Devlin

Talk- November Lights

Questions- Tristam

Hope you guys have a great evening! :-)

Community page!

I'm such an idiot, but I JUST discovered the Community page! All the comments are welcome and I'd love to talk to you guys, so go ahead and shimmy on over!

June's Patreon Postcard!

Guysguysguys, this is June's Patreon postcard. Make the proper adjustments to your pledges so you can all get a postcard! (I'm kidding, but if you don't like the print, be sure to yeet on out of the Postcard Reward Tier until next month!)

She's a little blueberry cheesecake fairy :-)

Patreon Postcard Artwork

Hey guys! It's time to make the artwork for my next Patreon postcard! I'm thinking of a fairy theme for it (as well as for my original sketch rewards). Would you like digital or traditional artwork?

New Website!

www.sarucatepes.com

Please go check it out! You can grab 20% off all prints with the code WELCOME20 :)

Designing my website+ being hecka stressed

Hey guys and happy Father's Day! Hope your week has been goin super well. I've been working my lil butt off this week with designing my first website and retaking the product photos for my store. I'm trying to put together a wholesome aesthetic while including some of my darker pieces, and it's a little challenging finding a balance.

I've also been trying to find frames for my pieces (both for product photos, as well as putting up some prints from artists I love up in my room), but the whole journey has been difficult. Hopefully, the shop's design can be done by tomorrow, and I'll be having an opening sale as well, so I'm excited.

I've also been working on a new oil painting, which will be up for sale hopefully tomorrow as well! I shared some of the real-time painting process this week for my $10 patrons, and I livestreamed most of the process on YouTube as well, so that was super fun (but a little bit time consuming and has made me late with my new YouTube video upload unfortunately!). 

I've also had a stressful week personal-life speaking. My roommate came over this weekend, and hanging out with her and some friends was great but socially draining, since I'm used to being a hermit in the summer. One success was that both she and I have been looking for overalls since last semester, and we finally managed to find some yesterday; it was a treat yo' self kinda day. 

I've also been having a lot of anxiety and some meh things happen this week, so I've been sleeping super poorly and crying some (mixed with rabbit allergies, my eyes are crazy red and sore). I know my limits, so I'm going to hold back on posting my new YouTube video until I can properly edit it so that I like the end result (cause I've been trying to make my new videos more involved and aesthetic and this video isn't there yet!). I'm gooooood, everyone has off days so no worries. 

Here's a picture of Jerome so that you can understand why I put myself through the torture of severe bunny allergies. :-)

More notable events have been that I finally ordered my new circus pins! Crossing fingers that they turn out really cute and perfect! They should arrive sometime early next month, so I gotta do the backing designs and order those soon.

MOVIES

I've been watching a little bit of this and that (you know my love, The Office, and some Gilmore Girls while working). Circle is a pretty good independent movie on Netflix--one of those psychological movies about a moral dilemma, so I was all about it. Hmm.. that's about it?

MUSIC
I've been listening to Sinking In by Will Heggadon on REPEAT. Sososo good.

Flames- Tedy

Bloodstain- Wrabel

Hope you guys have a great evening. :) Patreon Postcard artwork will be up soon!

Going to D.C.

Hey everyone!

I hope your week was super good! I'm sorry for posting this update a day late, but I was supah busy yesterday.

This week, I mostly worked on my latest YouTube video-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3vc9o98mGg -- and had lots of fun with editing! I'd love to be way more creative with my videos; I really do love to make videos that I can look back over and be proud of, so I tried to put in some simple animation. I hope to keep improving the quality of my videos, as well as to make the whole editing process more streamlined and deliberate. It's difficult fumbling around when you're uncertain of the tools available on hand, so I'm watching lots of tutorials on learning Premier and editing. 

I've also been working on designing and developing a website (finally!) so I can be all sorts of professional and so that I can host my store and have all my links and portfolio in one place. It's coming along slowly unfortunately. :(

I also had lots of insomnia; I was wide awake for two nights this past week, and it was super horrible. Generally, I have no problem sleeping, but I was so restless that I was up until 6 in the morning, and then I just collapsed. 

The best part of this week was my boyfriend and brother's roommate drove up to see us for the weekend! It was awesome seeing them again after a couple of weeks; we went to an escape room on Saturday (which had a secret passage, that was awesome!) and then we went to D.C. on Sunday to visit the Archives and National Gallery of Art because the boys know how much I love art and I had never been (even though I've lived close to D.C. for 10 years and we've been to every other museum hundreds of times). They left later yesterday, and I was so super tired from all the walking and waking up early, so I just decided to post my update today.

This coming weekend, my roommate is coming over as well, so I'm gonna be busy recording and editing until Friday.

Artists

It was awesome seeing one of Rembrandt's self portraits in person, as well as some El Grecco and da Vinci works. It was inspiring to see all the details and the size of classical paintings. I'd love to continue oil painting and coming up with interesting concepts and symbols in my artwork. Ahh, so many things on my bucket list!

MOVIES

I don't have anything really special to mention other than finishing The Office for the sixth time now, and watching The Departed (again? I love that movie).

MUSIC

Movies- FRND

Silhouettes- Echos

She Don't Like the Lights- Aaron Richards, Direct

Angels- Sound Remedy

Taking Flight- Tim Schaufert, CASHFORGOLD

 Hope you guys have an awesome week!

Working on Patreon and Youtube

Hey guys! Happy June! I hope you guys have had a wonderful week and a restful weekend. I was supah busy this week with finishing up Patreon rewards for the end of the month, vet trips, and oil painting.

What I did this week

I'm a little bit stressed because firstly, my older bunbun needs to be neutered; he has a tumor as I found out from taking him and my white bun to the vet for a checkup, and therefore I'm taking them both to get neutered tomorrow morning. My older rabbit is 8 years old, so I'm a little worried that he'll be okay after the anesthetic and surgery, but  fingers crossed that everything will be okay. All the vet visits and surgery is gonna put me back $500, so I'm a little stressed about continuing to save money for college/long term, but I'm continuing all the work! This time of year is always the worst for me, so I'm just gonna keep pushing through.

Another problem that I've been noticing is that my filming camera (I have the Canon 60D) hasn't been performing the best for me. My past couple of videos have been slightly fuzzy for some reason, so I invested in a Panasonic Lumix G7 (I rented one for a video project a couple months back and really liked the video quality) so I received that on Friday. I used it for my newest YouTube video and I'm really pleased with the quality, yay! I've also been watching lots of studio vlogs of way better artists than me, and I'm hecka jealous of editing skills. I really wanna get better at video production, so I'm trying little by little to improve, but it's super difficult for me. I'm gonna scour Skillshare for some good editing videos since YouTube doesn't have what I've been looking for. 

Oh! And I would like to share some more of my face on YouTube or here on Patreon, so I'm thinking about how to do that. Would you guys like for me to do a Patreon-exclusive personal Q&A for you guys? 

Also, I'll be sharing some of the full-time process videos for my past couple YouTube videos that I haven't gotten around to sharing. I tried to export the full, real-time video for today's oil painting, but the file was way too huge and wouldn't fit in my laptop's storage, and the only way to get the file size down is to make the video 720p instead of full HD. I don't know if I should compromise the quality. :(

MOVIES

Rewatching The Departed (cause it's such a good movie?), The Office, the new season of The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (which was way too short!!), and some Chopped and Worst Cooks. Apart from The Unbreakable Kimmy, I've just been running shows and movies in the background while I'm working. 

MUSIC

Nothing really new. I've been playing Andrew Belle's new album a couple of times through, as well as listening to songs that I've recommended in the past two weeks. The 1975 came out with a new album, but I haven't had the opportunity to listen to it yet! I'll let you guys know my thoughts as soon as I do.

Take care guys! :)

May Sketchbook PDF :)

I forgot to attach the actual PDF yesterday! I'm so sorry; I had a really long day and I completely missed attaching it!

 Hey guys! Here are all the sketches and paintings that I've made for the month of May; the first couple of paintings are actually the Sketch Rewards from this month! Thanks to everyone who so generously signed up for the Papaya Green tea reward! I'll be sending you your packages soon (be sure to check your message inbox for the tracking number for your package; I'll most likely be sending you the number on the 2nd). 

I've been trying to draw some more full length ladies since I've only been drawing portraits for quite a while now. I love drawing legs even though it's a little bit tricky, so I should keep at it until I perfect my technique. Hope you enjoy looking through what I've been sketching! :-)

Resting and Doing a Little Work

Hey everyone! Hope your week has been awesome! This week has been very chill for me; I've been catching up on a lot of sleep and resting a little since I got sick a couple days ago and so it's been hard to be super active and at work! I'm holding off on touching store orders until I feel better since I don't want to spread my cold, but I'll package them soon. I've been working on my enamel pin designs and I finally have two that I really do like. I'm going with a cotton candy and caramel apple, opposites attract kind of thing. The girl is super pastel and the boy is more neutral and earthy. I like the designs, and I should get them around mid-June. :)

I hopefully will be able to create a carnival sticker sheet or two as well to add to the shop, and I'm excited to work on a bigger personal project like this. 

Something that has been on my mind recently has been the clutter of art supplies that I have. I've accumulated a lot of random supplies because I do love to experiment with different mediums and I like to try all the brands out, but it's difficult to keep everything organized and in good storage. I'm thinking about whether to find a better organization for everything or to let some supplies go. Hmm.. big decision. 

Also, strangely, I've been kinda sick of watercolors since I've been painting only with them for a long long time now, and I like to alternate the mediums that I use. I should keep working with digital painting or perhaps oils, but I would love to explore some new and interesting themes with bigger pieces. I find that very difficult for me-- I'm not terribly creative and it's difficult for me to come up with "wow!" kind of pieces. 

MOVIES

I went to see A Quiet Place on Tuesday, and it was super good and emotional. I definitely recommend it if you like psychological movies. When I first saw the trailer for it, I thought it would be super stupid, but it's crazy suspenseful. I've also begun watching Seinfeld, and I really like it! It's definitely not a show that I can binge, and I prefer Friends but I've seen Friends four times through already and I need to find more sitcoms. However, nothing will ever beat The Office in my book. With all the time spent curled up on the couch with a blanket, recovering from sickness, I've also been watching season 7 of Worst Cooks in America and I started Downton Abbey with my mom again. I love this show bunches and bunches, and it would be fun to draw all the characters. 

MUSIC

don't you see... vaash 

Haven't been listening to any new music, but I have been listening to some OG The Neighbourhood (my very favorite band of all time because I'm edgy and I like sad feels). 

Okeydoke, hope you all have an awesome evening!

Focusing on Youtube Again!

Hey guys! For this week's update, I thought I'd talk about how my priorities have shifted since I've come back for the summer. 

I'm focusing on creating better videos for YouTube again! The video linked is my last YouTube video; it's a draw this again challenge and it's an IMPROVEMENT. During the past two semesters, I barely had time to put out any videos, and it would stress me out so so sosososo much. I enjoyed spending my free time with friends, and looking back, I don't regret that at all (honestly, I should have just missed my upload schedule more often to spend my Saturdays hanging out!). Now that I'm back home, I have more time to think of cool concepts for videos, and I want to get better at video production. It's super hard for me, and it often takes much longer than the process for the artwork. I don't know how some art YouTubers can produce such artsy and clean videos; it makes me sad that I don't have those skills. :( 

I'm also trying to make some enamel pins, but I'm not 100% in love with my designs by now. It's kind of a bucket list item for this summer, so I should finish the designs up soon, but I'm doing that perfectionist thing where I hate everything that I create. 

Okay, what I did this week: lots of sorting through all my luggage and putting my clothes and art supplies back in order. I donated some clothes to Plato's and found a green Hogwarts hoodie there (which I had to pick up, of course). I packed some shop orders (Guys! My shop is open! And I have new prints up-- sarucatepes.tictail.com ) and experimented with my new pearlescent Kuretake watercolors for Patreon Sketches! I've painted all of the sketches for your pledges by now, but that means less sketchbook time! I should chill tonight and break it out for some studies. Hmmm... what else... Honestly, being at home is a blur. All the days kind of melt together, but not in a good way; maybe because it rained all frickin week? It's still raining. :(

MOVIES

Watched Civil War with my dad, and he didn't know Sebastian Stan is Romanian, so he was supah happy (I'm an immigrant and I speak Romanian, so I lived for the plum scene hahaha!) . I watched some Series of Unfortunate Events, the Office of COURSE, and Gilmore Girls while painting and working on shop orders, and lastly, L.A. Confidential (it was an interesting movie? Not the best, but I love 90's movies with the whole guns and blood and gritty feeling. It's a good aesthetic). 

MUSIC

Hits- Totemo

I haven't had time for music this week, whoops!

Okey! Thanks for catching up with me. I hope your week was awesome, and if it wasn't, that you treat yo-self tonight.

Artwork for my first Patreon postcard!

Hello! This is gonna be the artwork for my first Patreon postcard, and I went with a Mermay theme. She a happy little glittery girl in a cool lagoon. Just select the $12 reward tier for this if you'd like to receive her on a postcard!

Coming Back Home

Omgush guys, I forgot to post yesterday??! I had my YouTube video scheduled for upload and I was thinking that the only things I had due were some online projects for school TODAY. I'm sorry for neglecting you guys! :(

I got back on Friday and it's been chiiiiiillll. Home is nice; I love my room and workspace, and it's been awesome eating real homemade food again. I didn't have too much time to cook at college, and my selection was super limited, so it's amazing to actually get real organic food again (my little Romanian stomach doesn't like things that are overly processed). I'm at my kitchen table right now with some yummy coffee and some organic Nutella alternative and Trader Joe's french bread. I was working on school forums and then BAM, I remembered that I hadn't checked in with you guys yet.

I'm excited to be recording nicer videos again! I posted a pastel watercolor palette review yesterday, and I was really happy with how it turned out. For my $10 patrons, I'll post the process video for the painting right after this post (since my YouTube video was focused on reviewing the palette and not so much on the painting). Let me know if you would like any other reviews and what supplies you'd like me to try out. I just purchased the Kuretake Gansai Tambi pearlescent watercolor sets (Gems, Starry, and Pearl), so I can talk about those as well! 

My shop is also open, so if you want a print or original drawing, that's the place to go to-- sarucatepes.tictail.com . Speaking of my shop, I'm working on a new series that will be carnival themed! I hope to make enamel pins, stickers, sticker sheets, and some new prints for the series, so I'll let you know how that is going and if you'd like suggestions on where I got everything made, I'll let you know if the experience was positive.

Thanks to all my new patrons for grabbing my new reward tiers! I'm gonna get to creating the sketch rewards asap. If you haven't seen the sketch reward tier yet, check it out (it's a pretty great price for original drawings!).

MOVIES

Well, now that I'm home, I'm back to watching Netflix with my momma; we finished the second season of A Series of Unfortunate Events (hmmm super creepy toward the end. Kinda similar to the books, and I'm excited for the last season). We also watched The Limehouse Golem on Hulu (would not recommend at all) and The Negotiator (unique and pretty good movie). My mom has started watching The Bates Motel, and she keeps commenting what a good boy Dylan is and how much she hates Bradley and how she loves Norma. I've only seen until season 3, cause I was starting to get tired of the intense drama and lack of creepiness, but I know she's gonna watch all 5 seasons regardless of if she likes them. She watched the whole of the X-Files even though she started to hate it, and it's really funny that her OCD doesn't let her stop watching a show she's started, even though she might hate it.

MUSIC (lots of it; I had a good Discover Weekly playlist)

Goldfish- Until The Ribbon Breaks

Are You Ten Years Ago- Pvris

Bleed- Vorsa

Haunted Heart- WILD

Riot- Paris Carney

Introspective- Josie O'Connor

Bury / / This- RVRB

Unnecessary Conversations- dne

Closer- Majik

Spirit- anatu, Gabriel

Nighttime Hunger- Overcoats

Rose Petals- S.Carey

I Just Know- Jacob Lee