OH ooop–thanks for letting me know…gotta defend that…shirtless baby raoul content.

Thanks for the compliment! Oh gosh, style…the Big One. I will try not to blather on about this too long! (Edit: I did blather, apologies)

It doesn’t sound very revolutionary or exciting but copying and doing master studies are really key. I can’t stress this enough!

I’ve always kept a sketchbook but it wasn’t until college that I had to start doing consistent master studies by assignment or out of necessity to fill the weekly page quota haha (ex:   https://www.instagram.com/p/Bbs5vrfFhVS/)

I improved so much during college. I still have a long, long way to go–but doing these studies helped me make some significant breakthroughs with color, anatomy, and other misc. elements of style. This stuff would have taken me years to happen upon if I just kept throwing stuff at the wall until something stuck (as they say).

All being said, I do think that we can do master studies wrong. If you find yourself obsessively rendering every wrinkle in a Rembrandt selfie or beating yourself up for not adequately drawing just like <insert admired artist here>–I’d say take a break, you’re doing it wrong! I had done studies in the past but always felt intimidated and discouraged by comparing my attempts to the originals…clearly missing the point of the exercise. Don’t compete or compare (unless you want to, I guess). Pretend you’re Evelyn from The Mummy–deciphering hieroglyphs for the love of learning, not for treasure or eternal life or…whatever. 

Studies are studies, not theses. There should be little to no pressure, maximum fun. The only way you can “fail” a study is if you learn nothing from it (which is a very hard thing to do). Technically speaking: by paying attention to another artist’s knowledge, we are able to inform our own muscle memory as we “trace” their steps. This is an act of deconstruction–so if half your sketches are a mess, you’re on the right track! Trust me, behind every artist you admire online there are years worth of wonky master studies and illegible sketch pages. 

I highly recommend having a variety of media to do studies with. Digital is great, and definitely a go to, but I find that there’s so much more pressure to create a replica masterpiece. My favorite sketching supplies are crayola markers, ball point pens, colored pencils, crayons, cheap watercolors, white-out, and acrylic paint. I do use charcoal and graphite etc–but using a neon marker to study a Leyendecker really helps me break the anxiety/replica mindset and focus purely on analyzing the art. My goal is to learn and inform my skills, not to be an Epson 6600. There’s not a lot of jobs out there for a human camea or a human copy machine–but there is a demand for informed, copious artists! 

And just to be clear, Master studies can come from anywhere. They don’t have to be studies of da Vinci or Matisse–they can be redraws of your favorite manga page, a portrait of your grandma, a food ad from the 1970s, a toaster, your cat…whatever interests and challenges you! I personally love studying midcentury holiday cards, Annie Leibowitz photo shoots, and 1800s typography *shrugs*. 

Aw thank you so much for this sweet note. I am feeling very not dedicated or good at anything at the moment but I am trying and thats really all that we can do! Thanks so much and I hope you are doing well, kind anon!

Oh gosh I am The Latest at responding to this…

Dream closet would be a lot of comfy old high waisted pants, lots of corduroy, overalls, overalls, overalls, sweaters that I’m *not* allergic to…turtlenecks…comfy clogs, boots…I like the gender/time-neutral country bumpkin witch dog mom look I guess. Fortunately thrifting has helped make this kind of possible <3  

Above are things I actually own and wear a ton (esp. in the summer). Hmm, I definitely love overalls and would probably wear them all day everyday if I couldst. In the winter, I am a big sweater + leggings + boots kind of bum but I’m trying to branch out! 

No worries!! I am not entirely sure–I had to pull back on etsy for the past couple conventions and for general overwhelm/life stuff. I am desperately in need of restocking/updating/making more stuff/etc etc but haven’t had the chance to do that yet. I wanted to open this month or early December so fingers crossed I can do that for a bit. Will probably do a 1-2 week sale and then close for holidays since I will probably be out of town. But if there is anything specific you need/want let me know and I can do a custom listing! 

Again, so sorry for the disorganization! 

Aw thank you so much–I am so sorry I haven’t been active here (or really anywhere). I have been strugs to func for a while and I am trying to crawl out of my cave to get back into the swing of being…somewhat present. Thanks for the well wishes <3 

Aw thank you–so sweet. Hmm…

This Halloween was a big downer for me BUT I’m working on the new update, i swear!!

You CAN say that and it is very encouraged. Around here we stan La Sorelli <3 <3 

epwhales:

I’m surprised I still haven’t even done fanart for @thedrawingduke‘s comic???? It’s one of THE reasons I decided to join tumblr in the first place!

it so happens that I (definitely threw this on for the post) had this on!

AHHHH!!! This is so good! You’re so good! I’m full of emotions 😭 I’m honored to have been some part of your art posting journey and I wish you all the best! Thank you for drawing my comic kids!

I miss you too!!! I promise to try and update stuff soon :,)