Some Setbacks:

Said goodbye to our fur babies

It was a stressful and emotionally-draining year for both the hubby and I. Our two cats became ill at the start of the year (one with stage-4 kidney disease and the other, rectal cancer). The one with kidney disease (left) lost his eyesight so we had to watch him more closely. He had fallen from a landing through a rail onto the stairs (luckily, not far). Needless to say, this scared us so the hubby built guards along the railings and to prevent future mishaps. Both cats ended up needing constant monitoring and care so it tied us to our home more than usual. Sadly, their battles ended later in the year, one shortly after the other's, and it was a truly heart-wrenching time for us. We know we were very lucky that they both reached the ripe age of 20 but it was still very hard to accept. They were our babies and had been with us since they were kittens. The house certainly feels emptier without them.

I also had some of my own health issues to deal with, one of which was the onset of severe back pain. I’m still trying to rule out the cause but it has slowed me down. I’m hopeful that I’ll figure it out and rectify it in the new year.

Although I did manage to create more art and post it, some goals that I had laid out for myself at the beginning of the year, both art and personal, weren’t reached.

I sum up the setbacks in this final image I drew for the year:

And some of my successes:

Gained new a client

An animator who follows me reached out to see if I was available to assist a project he was involved with. While working for this client, I learned some new techniques and had a lot of fun creating background illustrations and props for an instructional animation about ADHD. Once the project had completed and been made public, I was able to share it. It's an unusual but satisfying feeling seeing your work as part of an animation.

Worked with returning clients

It’s gratifying when clients come back to you for more work. It seems to validate that I did something right. At least I hope it does. Maybe it’s just good timing. Unfortunately, most of that work was either internal or not yet allowed to be shared.

Got my work published in a children’s art book

The Monster Project:

I was pleasantly surprised when I was approached to contribute artwork to The Monster Project: elementary students are asked to draw a monster of their own creation and artists from around the world are each matched up with a child and attempt to envision that child's creature rendered in their own style. The organizers had a big event late in the summer to present the new creations back to the kids so they could see where their imaginations and collaborations led. It made me happy to see the video of my chosen kid’s reaction to my artwork. I was delighted and humbled to also have my artwork included in the printed book. It turned out very nicely and if weren't for this project I never would have discovered so many other great artists. So thank you to the organizers!

Started to gain some more followers on my portfolio sites and more interest at my stores

This might be more common than I realize but, speaking for myself, an artist's ego is a fragile thing. It sure feels nice to be appreciated for what you do. As an artist that feeling perhaps goes a longer way. Could it be that the extra time & care spent posting and curating helped? I did spend more time working on the consistency of my art style; it's a constant struggle. I’m pretty sure being part of the Monster Project didn’t hurt.

Learned some new skills

I pushed myself to do more colour and light studies; I learned how to properly apply colour to a greyscale image, and learned some new techniques to speed up my workflow. I like to think that my design skills have also improved this past year.

In the preceding images I used reference from The Mandalorian TV show and what I had learned from my classes with Sam Neilson to paint them. I drew this little fellow (yes, I know it's Baby Yoda AKA The Child) by breaking him down into flats, shadows, occlusions, highlights and final touches. It was good practice to focus on technique and application instead of just trying to race to the end result.

I also delved some more into animal anatomy because I want to get better at drawing animals and creatures:

I hope I'm not just imagining it but I started to notice a style beginning to emerge (see my earlier comment about consistency) and more of a direction with my work. It’s something I wasn’t sure I’d ever accomplish with my penchant for being distracted by bright shiny things and techniques.

Despite the setbacks I think there were some real positive gains and I look forward to what 2020 brings. Here’s to a healthy and prosperous New Year!

Chalk Full of Dreams