The Benefits of Side Adventures

As a designer one of the best characteristics I look for in someone I am collaborating with or someone I’m hiring is the ability to stay calm when things get dicey. The person who takes things serious but doesn’t get their panties in a wad. They just don’t get their feathers ruffled. 

Things don’t always go as expected and this week is giving me some hic-cups but I am looking at it as an opportunity to share what I’ve been up to with you. 

Dameon has been crushing his ABC’s of February and we had a chat this past Saturday and we are going to postpone his show til he has a little more wiggle room in his schedule.

We both want it to be the BEST. That means tomorrow I will get to share with you want I am learning about as I am a third of the way through a 75 day challenge. 

I am doing a 75 day challenge with Genna Blackburn and a whole bunch of amazing illustrators all over the world. Today I am on day 26 and boy it’s getting hard. It’s hard to keep making time for it. Hard to think of something new. 

At about idea 25–30 of 50 is when typical ideas run out. We get frustrated and many people give up. The newness is worn off. 

I have to dig in and stay committed. I have to find a way to make it easy for a few days, then rekindle the passion. Or find a new way to keep it challenging and fun.

When do you hit a slump? 

What day in a challenge? 

How many sketches til you hit an idea plateau?

Listen here

LOVE ON DESIGNERS
This week is Encourage

Here’s some ideas of how you can encourage someone this week.

1. Create a post to share how someone has inspired you on social media. Maybe you have been inspired by someone’s series, or their color palette. How can you lift them up and highlight them this week. Tag them and use the hashtag #loveondesigners

2. Send an old fashioned letter to someone who you know who has been killing it in our industry.

3. Direct message someone and let them know you have seen their work and know how much time and energy they have been putting into it and it isn’t going unnoticed.

I hope you will join us as we lift up the design community this month and spread the love.

LOVE ON DESIGNERS GIVEAWAY

Here’s how to enter
GIVEAWAY TIME!

To enter the giveaway subscribe to our YouTube channel, then like and comment on any Creatives Ignite YouTube video, yes even old ones. When you comment make sure you use the #LoveOnDesigners2024 to be entered to win. 

One lucky winner will be selected each week and five individuals will win a few of my favorite art supplies and cards to send to friends and people who inspire you! Let’s spread the love. 

Five winners will be randomly selected. The fifth winner will be selected during the live show on Feb 28. You have to comment to enter and each comment during the live show is another entry.

The Full 75 Days

Transcript

[00:00:00] diane: Hey everybody. Welcome to another episode. This is episode 461 of Creatives Ignite. Used to be called Design Recharge, and sometimes I still call it design recharge. My dog’s over there making noises. Um, so. If you were expecting, if you’re listening and you heard the last one and you’re like, cool, I really like this inspiration thing.

[00:00:26] I can’t wait for the next one. I can’t wait for the next one too. [00:00:30] Um, Hey Brian. I am Brian. Brian and Brian. Um, I. Today we, I, I had to just pivot quickly. Um, I really do like these inspiration things, so I have them slotted for a couple different months, um, because I think it’s really cool. I think it’s a cool exercise for us to do.

[00:00:50] I remember one time, um, in a power station, Paul was like, uh, you know, I’d like to know what books y’all like. And so then we all brought our favorite books. I [00:01:00] brought. Stacks and stacks of my favorite books, and I just think, Hey, Brandi, it’s, it’s fun to be able to see what y’all like and what’s inspiring you, and then to see what you know, like it helps, I don’t know, get a new little window and the inspiration can be there.

[00:01:21] It also is just sometimes we’re in our own heads too much and we don’t realize how somebody. Got [00:01:30] from here to here by looking at this that we don’t get it like, but they saw one thing in this thing. Anyway, so I really, really like the. The inspiration one. So we are going to continue with those. But today I had to pivot.

[00:01:44] Um, I don’t want anybody ever to feel pressured, you know, like I want them to be on the show when they’re ready. And I knew because it was the ABCs of February. Damien does all these different posts the, during the whole month, and he does a lot of [00:02:00] research and he does these illustrations and I had an idea and.

[00:02:04] I just gave him an out and he said yes. And so he’s gonna be on later in the year about that. So today I decided to show you what I’ve been working on. Um, one, I don’t know if you know, but I have, my design business is called Little Bird Communications. I don’t really ever talk about the stuff that I do, but today, now and the next week, we’re kind of talking about how I’ve collaborated with somebody on a website and [00:02:30] how, how I work.

[00:02:33] Stuff into that, the things that I’m interested in and how I can kind of use those things to better my clients. But today is kind of in the middle of, well, it’s a third of the way through a. 75 day challenge. Now I’m not doing the challenge correctly. I just needed the accountability. So I don’t really know, uh, I know a few people that are [00:03:00] doing in the challenge or I know of them.

[00:03:02] Um, I, I know one girl, but there’s like 300 people from all over the world and most people are following, uh, Jenna Blackburn’s prompts. I’m not, I’m just doing these birds because I have, I have a goal for myself to do some patterns. And some more collections. So I know Maura will understand and when you’re doing a [00:03:30] collection, like they all kind of need to go together and, um, but it’s like 12 pieces that go together and then another 12 pieces that go together and then another 12 pieces go together.

[00:03:40] So the goal was, I had a, I have a set of robots done and now I really like birds. And I was like, okay, I wanna do birds. But then I wasn’t, when I was doing my planning for the year, when was I gonna do all these birds? So I wanted to draw, do the drawings, and do the illustrations in [00:04:00] January and then start, um, executing them in the computer as patterns or executing the drawings in February.

[00:04:09] And for the most part, I have, I have been able to do that. I’ve still been making too. So there’s this part of making. But I was using, um, a, a process that I haven’t developed really well. It’s not something that I do. You know, a lot of times people will do a [00:04:30] challenge ’cause they wanna get better at a, a process or better at a type of drawing.

[00:04:36] Or maybe it’s a, they wanna do better at a subject matter. Kinda like what I’m doing. And I don’t really know how, like these illustrations are gonna end up. I don’t know how they’ll live. I didn’t have a, a goal from the onset, and I think there’s Jack, he is like, I’m tired of this. [00:05:00] I’m going to my bed. But how often do we.

[00:05:05] Just start something because we just wanna get better at it. We don’t really have this big goal of making a book or doing, you know, whatever. We stop animation. We just wanted to get better at something. So I realized that I saw when I was doing some sketches of birds, I realized that some of my birds, I was getting too tight and they were too.[00:05:30] 

[00:05:30] Um, I don’t really wanna do photographic. You know, if I wanna do photos, I’d just take a photo, you know? Or buy a photo. Man, my friend Roy will anyway. W-H-I-L-H-E-L-M. Um, helm Wilhelm Wilhelm probably is how his, anyway, he is amazing bird photographer. I know him went from when I was at V-C-U-B-C-U. He was an undergrad [00:06:00] and he was a designer and he now is.

[00:06:02] Taking these birds and it’s like, you know how, I just think it’s the G how God works. It’s like he’s putting these people that are doing the same thing that I’m interested or I’m interested in looking at. At the same time, I’ve just been seeing Roy’s stuff on Facebook. So it’s really a photographer should have had a link.

[00:06:19] Anyway. Um, thank you Maura. Um, so what I’m doing is I’ve realized that I had a deficiency on my ability [00:06:30] to create. Um, in a certain way that I wanted to create, which was using cut paper, it’s a little bit easier for me. Sometimes I’ll do paintings and then if it’s not right, I just build on, build it up, which I think is helpful for me.

[00:06:46] That’s how I did the Victor book, sort of, I did Victor. Um, if you don’t know, you’re gonna get the whole. Messy cla uh, messy room today. Um, [00:07:00] so this book I created using, um, Dustin’s brushes in procreate, but then I also did, um, like this is the at and t envelope, this is the Discover Bill, you know, the inside.

[00:07:13] And I did, did all these. Some of them, like the Brown is from Procreate, but most of them were actual, you know, cut paper. And then I just put ’em in the computer and the brown, the black layer came on top. So [00:07:30] I have worked in this cut paper way, but I haven’t done it since. Victor really, I don’t think, and I haven’t, um, I haven’t ever really done birds that were more real realistic, but I again, Hey Courtney, I didn’t really want them to be perfect.

[00:07:51] Okay. So. At the same time, Adam, I don’t know if y’all have Jackson’s art supply over there, but um, and I don’t [00:08:00] know if Maya, y’all have it either, but we have, there’s one Jackson Art Supply in Maine, in America, and so we can have things shipped to us and they have a paper sale. I think it must been, maybe it was December, January, or was like over that like window of months.

[00:08:19] Anyway, I like. Was like, oh my gosh, these things are really cheap. I wanna see how they work. And most of the ones that I got, I, you know, I like ’em. Okay, I’m, but [00:08:30] I’m always looking out for new things. So I’d really tried just the Jacksons, um, like the lay flat, the sketchbook, or the, um, and I tried to, like, I always try to keep the thing in the back, but I put it in the front this time.

[00:08:45] But this paper was a little thinner than what I liked. But I got these Cadi papers. I don’t know if you can get ’em, uh, from another. Place, but I freaking [00:09:00] love these sketchbooks. I like this long. I thought this would be really good for like a, um, landscape. Now I’m getting really warm, so I’m wondering, I’m gonna take off my jacket Anyway.

[00:09:10] So, um, I decided that I was going to, um, use this one. ’cause sometimes I don’t use really nice ones, but it wasn’t that expensive, but it was, it’s. Uh, let’s see what the GSM is. It says it is 20, oh, sorry. [00:09:30] 2210 GSM. And they come with those like, um, you know, papers. So anyway, I, but the paper is thick. Listen to this, and it’s a rag.

[00:09:46] Beautiful. And I’m using dark, thick. And I’m just, and you know, it’s a nice cream paper. So I really, really, really like these. I [00:10:00] will definitely buy more of these. Um, I really like these. This isn’t Jackson’s, but I decided I was, I had done some drawings in another sketchbook that’s over there that where I was getting too tight and, yeah.

[00:10:17] List of favorite paper. Ooh, that sounds like a good idea. Um, all right. So I decided to use, I was using. I thought maybe you guys would wanna see some of the tools [00:10:30] too. Again, it’s not like it’s anything amazing, but I really like these Ecoline brush pins and I dunno if you know this. But they’re like a watercolor brush pin, and they’re really, you can push hard.

[00:10:46] I’ll show you in a minute, but I have like two, I have more, it was like a set of grays, like warm and cool together. Um, but mainly I’ve been drawing everything with these two. Now sometimes I’ll use like, these are like [00:11:00] highlighters, you know, and they have two nibs, that nib, which I almost never used. And then this one, that’s like a brush nib.

[00:11:07] Now they do have a. Real highlighter one too. But I like these brush ones. Um, but like, here’s another ecoline. But did you know that you can refill these? You can open them up and if maybe you don’t like this color, you wanted it to be a little darker, you could actually add some other Ecoline in it. [00:11:30] So, let’s see.

[00:11:32] So here’s some Ecoline. Um. I know it’s having trouble focusing. This is why. Anyway, the tech issues have been all about, I know it’s really difficult. You are not even really gonna be able to zoom in unless Chris zooms in for me later. But, um, you take this and you open it, you squeeze it out, and then you could fill your little.

[00:11:54] Uh, markers with the same color, the 7 28 [00:12:00] or whatever color it is that it is. But I have really enjoyed these two lightest gray, um, markers, colors. I mean, that I did just get in a set and eco, this is a watercolor, so it is, it’s, it will, I think, supposed to re reactivate, but the, they’re not really re reactivating, which with water, I mean, I haven’t.

[00:12:24] Doug, like, why isn’t it? But I love this paper. Freaking love this paper. [00:12:30] Okay. I’m trying to get my little brushes things up here to stay, but they’re really nice. They have a good thing. So, um, and the only other tool that I’m really using besides scissors, well I guess one other tool, but the, I use, and I don’t know, I grew up in, um.

[00:12:48] My first design job was at a craft magazine in Colorado called Memory Makers, and I learned about all these acid free and lignin free [00:13:00] things that you would, obviously if you’re putting your photos down in something, you don’t want them to yellow. You know, when I was growing up, all of our, all of our family albums, photo albums are all yellowed and.

[00:13:13] The paper’s yucky. You know, like it’s ruining the pictures, the, the quality, the, anyway, you know what I mean? Maybe, maybe not. Nobody’s saying anything. Anyway, so I learned about these tape runners a long time ago, and I, [00:13:30] and they’re, you know, all over the place now. I mean, Walmart, Amazon, I just buy, but I really do like the refillable thing.

[00:13:38] So this comes out, this you keep, and then you just get a new one of these and you, um, it just. Clicks in and, uh, these are probably my favorite. Now, of course, I can’t get it clicked in, but it has this little thing. So that’s the side that you, um, but it’s clear and it is really sticky, but it’s not [00:14:00] too sticky.

[00:14:01] But I, this is a permanent, you would want to get the permanent adhesive and it’s the tombo mono. Anybody know about these? Care about these? Obviously I’m using them for art things and they would last and they’re not going to yellow or get yucky anyway. Okay. So that’s the one of the other things that I’m using.

[00:14:25] But I love these Coty books. Okay. So then [00:14:30] now I’m, I mean, some of them are really dark. Oops. Okay, so, um, I obviously can’t hold it up because all my little scraps that are in this one spot are falling up, so just gonna take them out so I don’t make a mess. Um, so these, this is where I’ve started using, I’m not using pencil really.

[00:14:56] I will use some pencil later, but I’m using these [00:15:00] mainly the lightest one, and that’s how I’m getting. But they’re like watercolors, so, or maybe they’re watercolor. Um, and then you can build up so it gets darker with each layer, they’re transparent. So I’ve been drawing these birds. Now. The one, the birds that I drew before were with pencil and they weren’t tighter, or I was painting them with watercolor or acrylic or whatever.

[00:15:24] It was way too tight and it, it was like I was trying to. I was [00:15:30] trying too hard, so I really, I really have just gone on Pinterest, which I know probably is not okay, but I’ve, and some things I’ve been. Melding my own or finding, but like, some are just really funny, um, positions. And so obviously in the next rendition, you know, which I’m gonna show you in a second, is that I start here and then I move to kind of making my own sort of, [00:16:00] but positionally, but like the, these were his legs.

[00:16:04] I just. I ran out of room, so there are limited pallets. Um, and I am just, you know, they’re, these aren’t meant to be. These are meant to be the sketch that I’m actually making the thing from. Now, this one I’ll show you in a minute, but this one, he’s totally looks different, but I kind of use the same sort of positioning.[00:16:30] 

[00:16:30] I’m trying, I’m just trying to do a landscape here. Some ostriches, an ostrich. I’m just gonna go through these really. I guess I could do it the other way. Well, you can see it.

[00:16:42] I don’t know, bears and some women. Hey Dave. Oh, you have to have two to everyone, Dave. Then you can say, Eden, y’all. Sometimes I flip things, you know, and I take my notes in church. But these are like the ones I did him and he, I think he’s a failure. Like, I mean, not this one, but [00:17:00] the one I’ll show you. But I’ve done this honking one.

[00:17:02] I haven’t done this flying one. This was like a flamingo. This was this blue egret or blue heron. Um, you know, it’s like getting their necks are really long. These geese and then some other birds. The flamingo that I liked, I really look at that one’s eye. I was, I was really excited. Sometimes I’m making, figuring things that I could make patterns.[00:17:30] 

[00:17:30] This looks like I’m drawing. This is the back of a duck I don’t wanna do right now. But anyway, I’m just telling you, showing you kinda weird. Made him a little weird. I’m really having trouble a little bit with the, um, legs, but it’s okay. And these are my notes from church. Another flamingo. This flamingos were a little bit more difficult.

[00:17:49] I ended up doing this one. These were some sketches for client thing. I usually, that’s how I used to use my sketchbook. I just do whatever it was, like whatever [00:18:00] date to whatever date. But then I’m like, eh, I don’t really wanna put the client stuff in here. Um. And then some fun kind of just still trying to figure out what parts I can do.

[00:18:13] Again, these are pretty much two colors of gray and then just that orange, um, notes not eating TicTacs during lint. Um, bird flapping. Here’s some more. This is one I made more recently. These are [00:18:30] kind of like not real. They’re definitely putting my own spin on it. This is the one I did that was flying, but like this is, uh, a lady who waited on us at two 11 with my dad.

[00:18:42] But that’s how, like you can get that thick. That was this one. You can get that thick of a um, mark. That thin of a mark with that brush. This is a Cracker Barrel. I’m just drawing anything. Cracker Barrel. [00:19:00] It’s a place to eat, like good country cooking. Anyway, these are my chickens, not my chickens, but the chickens that I was drawing.

[00:19:06] So I’m gonna do chickens next and. Those were notes about at church. Okay. So the other thing that I’ve done, oh gosh. Well I really made a mess. I didn’t realize all of this stuff. All this stuff fell out. Anyway, so what I did was I started with just some [00:19:30] ano mixed media paper and I’ve had to buy two sets.

[00:19:34] Um, Dave, have you ever gone to Jackson’s Art Supply? That’s where I got this. Um, Coty papers. Uh, I love it. Anyway, so just to kind of let you know, I have been, I just painted paper with, I may had, uh, maybe I. Five colors and then I mixed them. I made my own, like made some browns. I made some [00:20:00] things so blue and orange, you know, like a, they make a great kind of brown, so I’m just painting paper first.

[00:20:08] So I made my own paper and I made all this paper. Which does seem a little excessive, but I’ve just been making, and now all of it is, some of it’s cut, some of it’s not, and you can tell like, I’ve already used this, you’ll see this in a second, but, and I kind of separated it in [00:20:30] by color, but so some lighter ones, these would be good for bills or legs or.

[00:20:40] I don’t know, maybe there’s some things, but I just was going after texture. Um, and obviously we’re just, I was just getting all the browns here and oranges, but, you know, I, I’m just making whatever, I don’t have a plan of how I’m gonna be using these, but I really ended up [00:21:00] liking kind of this texture that I was getting, and that’s what I ended up using for some of the beaks.

[00:21:05] So, lemme stick these back in. I think in the right spot. Hopefully. If not, it’s okay. Nobody’s, nobody’s gonna know, nobody’s gonna care. But theano paper’s pretty good. It’s, uh, not too heavy, but it’s heavier weight so that they can kind of stand on their own. Now, when I started this side adventure, I was just gonna do it in January, but [00:21:30] then I, this Jenna Blackburn started this, it was like a dollar a day, so it was $75 for.

[00:21:36] Is really community for the accountability. I know I needed accountability. I don’t know if you’re like that or not, but I needed accountability. I needed some people to encourage me when I thought, oh gosh, I do not think this looks good. Or to be like, you know what? You are gonna have some bad days.

[00:21:58] You’re gonna draw some ugly [00:22:00] things. And that again, okay. They’re hard to fit in a little bit. So anyway, I mean, and I did all these blues and, um, I had some big brushes, so I made some that look like, so I just took the brush and did this like, like this the whole way across, which made some really nice. One, maybe kind looks like it’s having a little trouble with the heartbeat or something, but you know, again, I’m just thinking and I was able to use [00:22:30] some of these for sure.

[00:22:31] I. All of them. I did really think I was gonna do more blue birds, I think. Um, but I did, but this is, I have plenty of paper in the color palettes. I did end up adding red because of the flamingos, so I had to make a little bit more. And then I ended up needing some more white, ’cause most of the birds that I was doing were white.

[00:22:52] So I needed some, I didn’t wanna just be drawing in. Gray, I have added some, so there are some mixed media, but to kind of [00:23:00] give you an idea, like here’s this, I use scissors and the only other real tool that I use, oh, two tools, actually scissors, who cares? Nothing special with the scissors, um, is of course I can’t find it.

[00:23:20] Is it not in here? No, there it is. These, these are like reverse, got hair on them. [00:23:30] Reverse. I’ll show it to you in a different way. Um, tweezers, can you see, uh, I’m trying to. You squeeze and then it’ll hold the thing that you’re gluing. So it’s really nice. Um, the other thing, somebody when I was doing or trying to play, like I was doing, um, lettering, hand lettering years ago, this is a electric.

[00:23:59] Can you hear that [00:24:00] it’s an electric eraser? Well, what I realized is I was having, you know, these tiny little pieces and when I was trying to erase like the edges from where I was drawing, I was having trouble. So they were getting bent or whatever. So then I got this out and it, I just pushed the little button and it doesn’t, and it was great.

[00:24:21] And I think there’s like. These are refillable. So anyway, this was, I had never used it before I bought it ’cause it was somebody probably [00:24:30] recommended and I thought, oh, that wasn’t very much. And then I never used it. But now I’m using it and I really appreciate it. So these, these are super, super, super great.

[00:24:41] Um. Oh, Adam thought I had made tissue paper, so this was all me making paper. And then I had a call with Paul and he’s like, I think you should use some real collage paper, Diane. And I was like, ’cause he knows I like collage if you didn’t know. I really like collage. So I was like, you know what? [00:25:00] Good challenge, Paul.

[00:25:01] I take you up on that. I’m gonna, I’m gonna do it, but I will literally have tiny pieces of paper and then I’ll make them work. So this was, I don’t love this paper that I made. I’ve tried to use it, but it’s not, don’t going great. But then like, here’s some of the orange paper that I think is great for a leg or a foot.

[00:25:28] Since a lot of my birds are white, they [00:25:30] just have a tiny bit of it, but it’s fairly thick paper. I think you mostly can hear. Now sometimes I’ve added a little bit of extra texture. Let me just turn these over so you can see them. When I, and again, here goes the Blair Witch Project. Okay, so I’m gonna show you my birds that I’ve done so far.

[00:25:51] So sorry if you have, um, already seen them. So, but you’ll see them in a different way I think. [00:26:00] Okay. So you get the idea of these, oops, I forgot to turn that one over. Oh, it’s pink. So you get the idea. There’s some really nice, I think, nice textures. This one may be too much over there, but some are really subtle.

[00:26:16] And then like, I thought these would be good for. Beaks or for especially the chickens, they’re little combs or whatever. But even this one, there’s some extra texture that I added after I did [00:26:30] the paper, I added some extra and like this one, if you can see, can you see the, the glitter? Anyway, so I added some gold, so I’m gonna just scoot that over.

[00:26:42] This is my desk. How messy it is. There You are repeated. Now, here are the ones that I’ve been making. Now this is, I tried to put them in order, so this was the first one that I made, and I didn’t erase all the pencil marks. Now, sometimes it [00:27:00] doesn’t bother me, but I was like, I mean, this doesn’t really look like an ostrich, but sort of, and I was okay with it, but I really liked the blue, the green, and then this is just that.

[00:27:13] I think this, um, the 7 0 4, the other one is 7 28. Um, is the Blair Witch stuff is this okay? Can somebody tell me in the chat or is it too, oh, I gotta [00:27:30] throw up again, or not again. Anyway, nobody’s commenting. So then I would, at this point I was adding some color after and some of the. Stuff was like coming off because it was too water soluble.

[00:27:47] Um, so like some of this texture I added after. And so there, but there are multiple, you know, I’m, it’s multiple sheets cutting together. Um, [00:28:00] you can kind of see. Anyway, I’m just gonna keep going. Really need to see them close up. A little seasick. Okay. So then I would also use some white, um, like, I can’t remember what that, it’s this pin, this uni ball signal.

[00:28:23] I use that one. Or a posca pin, uh, paint pin. But that’s what I was I colored over? [00:28:30] Sorry, A color. I’m trying to make it really still, I think, I think I just drew his eye on there. But the beak is. Tape, you know, glued on. But then I thought it was too dark, so I added some of that gray. And then he’s kind of weird.

[00:28:48] They don’t have legs yet, some of them no legs. But I really liked that texture. Okay. I’m gonna try to not be so sorry about the tethering cord. I can [00:29:00] hold it in my mouth, but then you won’t be able to understand me anyway. I like him. Sorry, I’m just recycling paper from school. So this is my, um, colleague’s syllabus that she left around, but I really liked, what I really liked is some of this kind of the texture that’s happening.

[00:29:21] When I was painting, now you can tell there was this other texture and then I added some of this really like gray, [00:29:30] but sometimes I start, at some point I stopped just drawing in. Look how cute his little head is drawing in the eyes and I started, um, paste. Uh, I started cutting them out and then I made a pink one.

[00:29:48] Thought and it is gold. Woo. So less layers on that one. Oh, it is an I. You can see, Ugh. Anyway, [00:30:00] but what this has done, you can see that’s an I, I mean it’s separate little thing. What I’ve done. I’m gonna, this one’s the biggest one. Did you know that their neck is the same length as their legs? Crazy, huh? She, she or he has gold also.

[00:30:20] Anyway, I like his little face. Okay, so then I went to geese and I was like, okay, sorry about the [00:30:30] get making you sick. Um, I went like that. Look at its head. That’s just the way it was painted. It just had that tiny bit of white in there. I thought that was pretty good, but it didn’t have very much, uh, gray.

[00:30:48] It had that tiny little bit right there. Um, but again, I added some colored pencil and added a few other little elements. But what I’ve [00:31:00] noticed, oops, it’s gonna go away. What I’ve noticed is that I’m able, oh, I think I forgot, hit. Maybe it’s easier, better, easier. I think maybe they get a little, he’s still my favorite probably.

[00:31:11] Um, he does have, there was a lots of texture in the stuff, but I, there’s lots of extra pieces of paper, you know, and sometimes I’m taping. No, but anyway, there’s that one. I then I looked at [00:31:30] just, um, a photo and this was terrible because I got too way too tight. And then look at his feet like they’re terrible, like Ugg.

[00:31:41] But you remember the ones that I went and did with the brush like this, that was this part, and I thought that was. Oh, sorry about that. I have the weather channel. Clearly it doesn’t know that I’m sharing my screen and he has like a little bump on his head, but that’s how it was. So hopefully, [00:32:00] oops. Anyway, this one had too many pieces.

[00:32:02] I’m not gonna work from photos anymore. That’s when I really committed to doing the illustrations in my sketchbook first. So here’s another there. Yes. Ed Berley. I agree. I love it. Ed Berley. Here’s a little, um. Sometimes they were challenging. Like, can I use this blue to make the gray color? Do I need to be so tight to what the colors were?

[00:32:27] And here was one that I’d really just had a [00:32:30] silhouette, but I, it was a blue heron and I wanted it to, so it is pretty small. I mean, I don’t have big hands, but you could see his little eye thing. And you know, I kinda had to piece it together ’cause it wasn’t, but. Cutting all these little, and I’m just cutting.

[00:32:45] I could cut with, um, ex exacto, but I’m just cutting these with scissors. And then I started going more personality. She was like walking, and I know she sort of looks like a duck, but this was again, where could I use [00:33:00] some of this color that I have? Will it still kind of look like a goose? I don’t know. And I, for me, because I had seen a deficiency in.

[00:33:12] What I was able to, to draw. I like that I was being challenged to what part of the paper could I use to get, even though this would be back in space. This is really upfront. So this, he’s honking, but [00:33:30] I really, you know, this is one sheet and I thought that was kind of cool how that worked and the feet are getting a little better.

[00:33:39] I doing a little texture there with this, you know, with the cutting, not as many layers. Then the prompt that one day was cats, and this is my cat three. So it would be interesting to see all the birds assembled into a large collage. I agree. Then I went [00:34:00] really big. Did you know that flamingos have teeth?

[00:34:04] So I drew those in, but he also has some shinies. But from the illustration that I had in my sketchbook, it was a, um, oh, I guess you can see all that. Maybe photos better. I guess you’re still seeing the little line. Sorry, I don’t know how else to do it. Um, anyway, I did [00:34:30] that. The yellow piece is drawn, is cut out, but the black piece is just drawn in.

[00:34:37] Okay. Anyway, but I’m realizing that I’m able to give myself a little grace and play a little bit more because I’m forcing myself to use these paper that I had done. You can see just a little bit of gray, and I’m picking these weird. If you saw the photo, you’d be like, that doesn’t look anything like it.

[00:34:55] And that’s okay. That’s better for me. This only has like two pieces of [00:35:00] paper, so limited. Um, really limiting on that, which I thought was good. Kind of a weird little guy. This one was the same paper that I made the cat out of, but I was just using the areas that weren’t as. Dense. So you know, and he was looking that way.

[00:35:19] So just trying to get different kind of perspectives. Again, I know it’s not perfect, and then somehow, I don’t know why, but I went big again, but I was doing this from a drawing. [00:35:30] I was trying to see if I could do the blue. I added in this, I added in this, but I really liked the textures that the paper that I painted, I was able to get.

[00:35:42] And I like that. I’m able. If I mess up on something, I can just cover it up. Um, I have multiple, um, you know, beaks in my sketchbook where I didn’t like the one, so I peeled it off. This guy got a little drip of [00:36:00] water, but their beaks don’t really look like that. You know, it’s, you don’t, wouldn’t see it like that.

[00:36:04] So this is me taking some creative freedom. And then I decided I kind of was getting tired of geese a little bit, and so I was like, well, what’s another kind of white bird? Because I had all this kind of light paper, so I did a seagull. And a lot of this is one, it just, it was on this piece of paper, particular, this one had blue and it kind of went to gray.

[00:36:28] And then some of that gray I’ve [00:36:30] drawn in and then I’ve drew in all those white, and then these two are pieces that came together. But all of this is kind of one piece of paper. So. And then his legs. I think his legs are the better legs if you’re compared to the, but one thing I’m realizing is that I’m able to take my drawing and then draw with paper, and I don’t have to look at the photo.

[00:36:54] Then, you know, at some point maybe I’ll get, be doing a whole bunch that are just outta my [00:37:00] imagination. But this is one that I had drawn. I can’t my sketchbook, but it, this is one I had drawn and you can probably see the sketchbook a little bit better. But see there’s the, that guy’s head. I don’t remember.

[00:37:13] There’s the blue heron. I mean, I wasn’t, didn’t have a lot to work with there. See? Little eyeball. Okay, lemme see. We’re getting close. This is the one. Oh, this is the one [00:37:30] that. Is this guy, so not exact. I think this guy’s beaks a little bit better, but again, at least I’m getting more confident in knowing how a bird shape is and where I can kind of, um, I.

[00:37:50] Push it a little, but again, lots of texture and I kind of go a little overboard into place in a minute. So then Paul was like, you [00:38:00] should add some real collage. And I think I actually did another one first, but, so this is the inside of a envelope. Again, this is the outside of that, um, these, uh. Um, you know, these things and I just put a little, it’s a dark gray, it’s gray, and I just colored it with the darker gray here, this one.

[00:38:25] And so I was able to kind of. Again, I think from the photos you’re [00:38:30] seeing on Instagram, you’re not able to see that this is another piece and then this is another piece and this is another piece and this, and you know, you’re not able to see all that and that’s okay. This, I had to paint a lot with white ’cause I didn’t like what I had at that point.

[00:38:45] I don’t know. This is interesting to anybody. I have no idea. Then Paul, you’ll be happy with this one. I’m glad you challenged me for sure. Um, that I added just the dark [00:39:00] gray from that Coty sketchbook, and then that’s another piece from something else. But I really like the textures. That I got when I just painted the paper.

[00:39:12] So these, I just made small and I was like, okay. They just were a little coupled together. Again, that’s just a darker piece, but those are two separate pieces. And then another piece in the back I started dating them. Sounds like I took up to McDonald’s. But anyway, [00:39:30] here’s another one. This one had too many layers probably.

[00:39:33] I mean, that one’s got a lot down there. And then I did this bird that is, um, he is flying overhead, so he would be, these are his little legs and then all of his little wings. I kind of went a little crazy there. Those, some of them got cut off, but I like that I was doing it and I liked that I was able to pull in.

[00:39:57] It eased into this [00:40:00] darker color. Same thing kind of over here. It kind of did it naturally. Then I added some of these, kind of, has a darker, you can see where the bones are, I guess. Um, and you can’t see their eyes we’re almost done. So this is probably my favorite one. Um, definitely owed to Paul, me pushing, um, his wing is.

[00:40:24] Paper, his wing is over here a little bit now. I think it’s difficult to, [00:40:30] it would’ve been better had I done the most back things first, I guess. But you can’t always do it. So this was first and then this. And you know, this really should be. This is in front of this, if it was in real life drawing. So I’m still kind of figuring out, but the goal is in, in 75 days that I have come up with a process that will work now, not just that it will work for me, making these, there’s some freedom of not having [00:41:00] any kind of output for this.

[00:41:03] Um, this, just so you know, has tons. All those are. Lots of little cuts. I mean, this one is not that big and it has tons of cutting, so, and he’s stuck. That’s the water. Last one, or there’s one more. And then him, he’s, it’s hard to see perspective I’m still working on, and I think this is one of the [00:41:30] reasons that I switched to, um.

[00:41:33] I switched. Sorry about the Blair Witch stuff or this is the last one. I switched to chickens because I felt like it looked like his, he had like abs. I don’t know. Um, Hey Amy, no problem. Um, but there’s some neat texture for sure. And I guess to me, what is great, I’m gonna stop the share. [00:42:00] But the thing that’s great is that there isn’t an objective, and how often do we do things that aren’t, how often do we try to get better at something and put it out there, um, for feedback or for critique, or just for encouragement?

[00:42:20] And we really dive into a subject. So lots of times they’ll have. Like a 30 day with, or you’re doing in October or [00:42:30] you’re doing something else, and I’ve found that I can do those. But about now, day 25, 26, 27, it gets really hard. So when I’m even like when students, or when I’m trying to come up with lots of different ideas, concepts for something about 30 is when I get, it starts getting hard.

[00:42:52] But really what I’ve done is. I’ve just exhausted all of the, um, all of [00:43:00] the, the normal things that normal people think of. And then now it’s pushing into what else? So one of the reasons that I didn’t wanna just keep making new color palettes and new paper, because that would just be, I mean, I have all this paper, like, let’s use what we got.

[00:43:20] There was something really fun about that, the making of the paper. But there is something challenging in can I push myself to [00:43:30] really see where I’m having a problem? Like with their legs or with the shading or, okay. Instead of like, I’m gonna redo this one over. No, I’m just gonna try to do the dark things first and then work into the highlights or.

[00:43:47] I have to think about it. I have to approach it. So my goal in 75 days is to figure out a process of one, just making that, that they do sort of connect together, either [00:44:00] the way they look or maybe there’s a style that I’m using. Maybe I’m always exaggerating There. Speaks, or it looks sort of normal, um, or realistic, but it’s exaggerated in some ways.

[00:44:15] I think that the ones that I’m really enjoying and the ones I see other people enjoying is the ones that have the most personality, and that is me choosing which ones to do. Um, so there’s something in that, but then I have that [00:44:30] second step of what am I gonna do with these? And I’m just gonna show you. A tiny bit of what I’ve been trying to do.

[00:44:38] I am figuring out a process. I don’t have it figured out, but by the end of 75 days, just like Maura said, her a hundred days was 150 days because we need time to figure out what’s gonna work for us. And then you need time to get efficient and perfect it. But [00:45:00] maybe part of it is, what I had noticed when I did the a hundred faces was that.

[00:45:06] I was getting better. I was using some similar materials. It wasn’t completely, I still had like a PA color palette, but it wasn’t as confined as what I am now. And I think that there’s something that helps me go deeper and helps me get better. It also helps me to see what’s wrong. Like I don’t know how to get [00:45:30] that foot in that way.

[00:45:32] I’m having trouble with perspective like. When a duck or a goose is walking away from you, their foot looks different. You know, it’s like in the air or, and it’s like, if I don’t spend time working on that, I don’t wanna redo the same thing. But yeah, for shortening, I, but what could I just focus on? Just getting better every day.

[00:45:57] And maybe it’s not [00:46:00] 30 minutes, maybe some days it’s just. Five minutes in a sketch, but I’m no problem. I, um, but sometimes I think that I’ve taken a lot of classes on just birds and so I see how other people do and then it’s like, okay, well I wanna try, I wanna get dirty. I wanna see what works. And I’ve definitely seen things that don’t work.

[00:46:25] Um, absolutely. I’m, [00:46:30] I keep hitting like a, a, maybe it’s a plateau or I keep hitting someplace that I don’t like, so then I’m like, okay, I, I’m looking at it and this is what I did with a hundred faces. I look at it and say, I don’t like this. I’m gonna move forward, uh, in a different direction, but I’m not just doing one in the different direction, which is kind of what I did with the hundred.

[00:46:52] Faces now I’m doing more in that until I hit that plateau. Or a, [00:47:00] an ugly, I don’t like this, I don’t wanna do this anymore. So anyway, that’s, that’s what I’m doing. I do think it’s fun. I need accountability when I do things like this. I don’t know if y’all do, but I mean, again, these other people are not, they’re 30 day challenge or 75 day challenge.

[00:47:19] They have a different prompt every day. But for me it was really important. And other people are kind of doing their own thing. They’re just using it as a community for accountability, which I think is good that [00:47:30] I’m not the only one that’s not doing, using the rules or, you know. But for me, I really needed to dive deep in, into the structure of a bird and what part of birds.

[00:47:43] Now I have birds on my wall, and I’ll show you. I should have just left. I should, I don’t. Maybe I’ll just, anyway, I’m just gonna show you these back here really quick. So I have these back here. So these are, uh, Jane Houghton and I have these [00:48:00] two birds. Um, I have this little Jane Houghton bird. She’s in plastic.

[00:48:07] I have this one from Doc and that one’s Jane Houghton as well. And then I have this little bird. I mean, I have a lot of birds around, um, that I’m looking at all the time. Lemme stop this.

[00:48:22] So I see. And her, the, her birds, James Birds and DS birds are not realistic, but they’re not, not realistic. [00:48:30] They’re, they have elements. So what parts am I going? I’m not even at, I’ve only, oh, where’s the February 14th bird? He’s must be gotten stuck somewhere. Anyway, there was this blackbird that I made out of my head, so I’ve only done two kind of outta my imagination bird.

[00:48:55] So I think that there’s maybe more will come, but I still think right now I need [00:49:00] it. I need to know what’s really happening in the bird. I don’t want it to be. Photo realistic. I’m gonna do one more share. This is on the computer, so you get to see, but then I’m taking them into Illustrator and this was that thing that I scanned in from my, um, sketchbook.

[00:49:20] And then I was like, okay, I’m gonna make a pattern with this. So this is one of the patterns, this is the color palette that I’m working on. Um, [00:49:30] and then I made some other, like, that was that one bird, but I didn’t like how, I don’t think this worked. This is too much and he doesn’t have a under bill. And so I haven’t figured out how those are gonna work.

[00:49:45] I think what I ended up doing more recently is, um, taking it into, um, procreate and redrawing. So. I have all the look, I kind of made [00:50:00] a little dog out of these little shapes. I made a brush and I thought, this is just these, but in a different kind of pattern. So again, I’m really thinking about what patterns I can make and I like to make things that are real, that were real drawings.

[00:50:21] And then I just reusing image Trace in, um, illustrator. So you can kind of see, I was trying to work [00:50:30] with some of the image trace elements that Illustrator does, and it just, it wasn’t working. So, but that’s okay. Everything doesn’t have to work, but I’m figuring it out. So it’s not like I’m just doing things only on, on the computer and everything’s, or only on procreate.

[00:50:50] Not that that’s bad either, but just for me, like that’s another kind of very simplified bird. Um. A couple. There was that one. [00:51:00] There’s that little guy. This is before I converted it. This is one bird that I did before I started. I feel like he’s in a different style, so I’m not gonna do him, but like at least I’ve taken the time to scan things and work on things and then.

[00:51:17] All of these that will be in here will be using the same color palette. I’m not sure where I am. I don’t know if I like all the colors in this color palette. I do really like this pattern. I think that one’s really [00:51:30] fun. Um, again, maybe I’m a little bit better at some of the simpler, um, color. Uh, sim I’m not hero.

[00:51:42] Patterns are not where I am great at in the beginning. So. That’s what I’m learning and what I’m doing. Um, where do you get stuck when you’re at the 30? Are you hitting a plateau? Do you give up? Um, [00:52:00] do you keep, keep working? Um, those are things that for me, I need accountability. So I used today for that and.

[00:52:10] This is still love on designers. So this week if you could take time to lift somebody up who maybe you, they caught your attention and just tell them you can see them improving or, um, I. Maybe they’ve had a great big goal or they’ve [00:52:30] finished a client project or who knows, just could you find somebody and just lift them up and maybe lift that same person up all week and just make a difference in their life ’cause you see them.

[00:52:43] Um, if we could all do that for one other person, I think it. Can make the world a better place this week. So, um, and then next week I have my friend Pippa, and we’re gonna be talking about how we’ve collaborated, how, um, how she [00:53:00] collaborates with her clients, and then how I collaborate with my clients and how we’re.

[00:53:06] Co-creating something that is, it’s her website, but we’re co-creating it. And then I’ve made patterns specifically for her, for her website. So I’m excited that I’ve been able to incorporate my patterns in things that are, are for things that hopefully I can get licensed, but also Okay, John? Um, [00:53:30] I definitely need accountability and challenges as well.

[00:53:34] Um. It is hard to form the new habit for me. I would give up if, um, if I couldn’t see progress or if I was like, oh, I don’t like this. Then sometimes I would step back and what I need is. There’s 75 days. You gotta keep trying until you find a process that does work and is, uh, repeatable. So when I [00:54:00] did a, I did like four, um, of the birds.

[00:54:03] I didn’t like any of them in the computer. So I was like, Nope, that’s not the process for me, but I’m not giving up. I’m just trying something else. So it’s just problem solving. So that part’s fun anyway, um, brought to you by Cady Papers today and Jackson Art, but man, when they have a sale, these big a.

[00:54:25] Four. A four. It’s like 11 by 17 almost. [00:54:30] Um, it was $2 and 21 cents, 20 sheets of paper. Pretty okay. GSM. Um, but anyway, really good, uh, deals on their paper. Jackson Art, the, the Cady papers. That one, the book I showed you was like $20. This one. 46 cents and it’s fairly good inside paper, but I don’t know. Um, I haven’t tried really thick, and I’ll show you this one other one anyway.

[00:54:59] This one [00:55:00] is the one look,

[00:55:04] two and 21 cents for 20 sheets. That’s amazing to me. Anyway, um, Jackson starts, but they’re not really a sponsor, of course. I just like sharing my deals with y’all. Um, thanks for being here and I’ll see you next week and in March. Just so you know, I was gonna do a workshop, but what I’m gonna do is I’m going to break [00:55:30] down this book into four parts and.

[00:55:35] Each week is gonna be a workshop like thing. I’ll have handouts and you can download them and we’re gonna be figuring out how to tell your story, um, at, in a little workshop style. So they may be a little bit shorter, hopefully, Lord knows. Um, and, uh. Anyway, so that’ll be what March is. But I’ll see you next week.

[00:55:59] [00:56:00] Love on some designers this week. Thank you. And I’ll send out a link of my favorite papers. All right. Thank you for being here, and I appreciate you watching My birds. Bye [00:56:30] y’all.