My First Month Illustrating From Scratch! 👀
Hello friends! So…as a writer at heart, this whole experiment of teaching myself to draw my novel characters and illustrate scenes- (even a front cover, dare I say?!) is, well… a little short of crazy. However, routine is key, and my goal orientated brain was holding up that elusive dream like a carrot on a stick.
I tried to push myself by doing something slightly new everyday – may it be learning a new trick on procreate, shading & light, or being more ambitious with story scenes. the trajectory was to start with things I love – gothic, mysterious…something a little uncanny…and…preferably things I had lying about the house I could use as reference!
Week One: Let There Be Glow ✨
Day 3 and I discovered my new best friend- the luminescence pen & underlays. (Basically a layer under the line art, that can create that glow you see below with low opacity.) I used Studio Pen for most of the drawings you’ll see, and then went over it again with more confident thicker lines once I was happy with the result.
My obsessiveness came out here- realism wasn’t my goal, the GLOW from stained glass now was. To this day, I have no idea what textures and shading and hours staring at my new lamp did to me, but I can proudly say, dang- that brass stand! 🫣😆
Week Two: Oh God, People
Characters. I knew I wanted to do my Caskets of Ice characters ever since I was 16 and my friend helped me visualise them for the first time. Thank you Ellie, this was such a full circle moment!
😍
I quickly realised three things:
- I like bold, controlled lines – the semblance of having something ‘neat’.
- I was good at eye-balling especially architecture & physical items (and weirdly….eyes. O.O pun intended)
- I hated the shading process. Drawing yes. Highlighting (basically the end) also yes. Middle, not so much.
They were averaging 5-7 hours per person though. And that was a problem.
Then…this.
3 days. 3 days. I wanted to cry, or vomit from exhaustion.
Respect for my illustrator & the sheer TIME it takes to complete anything with SHADOWS. No seriously, respect to all artists out there, especially commissioned pieces.
And this is where I decided to pivot. Items, 20 mins to draw. No pressure and no throwing in the towel. I owned most of these items, (my hoarding paid off) so I knew they would fit into any Hartshaw Manor lore.
Week Three: Embracing the Weird? 🎪
I love carnival scenes, and in one of the ‘Tales from the Manor” stories, the character experiences a trippy night in the Oval Room with some carnival guests. Up to this point I was just drawing what I wanted, so there was no pressure to spend a while to perfect one thing – though that would have been the logical step! I’m so proud of how they turned out, and was the first time I saw the difference the daily practices were doing in terms of decision making.
Game time!
SPOT THE ITEMS! You might notice some sneaky little items in my ‘Tales from the Manor’ doll’s house from above! 🤪 No spoilers to the story itself, incase you do end up reading it, but each room is a hint of whatever horrors they face (and hopefully the imperfect wonky lines added to the creepiness!)
There was a pattern, though I couldn’t quite see it. It wasn’t that I was getting better either, but that I just got more confident holding the pen, relying less on reference and free-styling little bits (even if the lines were wonky!) that would make them their own unique piece.
And I suppose the beauty is that each day you’ll create something new. Your next best piece/work is on the horizon, waiting for you to bring it into being. ❤️
Week Four: You thought we were done with people?
And here she is. My ode to Yvaine from ‘Stadust’– my first attempt at depth, and also drawing a silhouette from scratch. See I’m not giving up with people! Heads, necks, no matter how many guidelines I followed and oblongs I did, they were 3 times the size of anything appropriate. Heh? But after 5 times doing more or less the same style, I was getting the hang of anime hair?
I guess the question is what did I l learn from this process?
Aside from, well you know. Enjoying the process.
How could I even expect myself to master something that takes people, frankly, years to perfect? And the answer, is it really depends what your goal is. The thought might be daunting (there’s so many ‘I learnt drawing in 100 days’ videos online) and tutorials to follow step by step. For me, I wanted to get stuck in, no matter how hard, to see if I could achieve the look or result I wanted.
To trust your gut (when to say a piece is finished), and to pivot when I just had enough. To take breaks. Even if you feel burnt out, and have no idea where it’s going.
Everyone’s style & journey is different, but I keep reminding myself what young Kate would do – when the book doesn’t sell, or nobody sees the work you spent months or years writing. Would she have cared? Quite frankly? No. 😂 She would have done whatever the flying heck she wanted to read, draw or write, and then said:
“Anyway — what’s next?”
