I am a little bit late with my final post of October, so I am merging it with first days of November. We were away on a short break on the lovely Oregon coast. But back now and ready to catch up with everything I’ve missed during my mini-vacation,

Let’s take a quick look at the work done for the past 2 weeks

1. Pastel ((See all on instagram under #greenrainartpastels  was a main aim for my trip- to gather material for future paintings. We were always on the go, but I managed to make two little sketches with Stabilo soft pastel pencils. Overall I can’t say I love working with pencils and probably will reserve them for moments when regular pastels are not available.

Plans for November: continue to participate in @artofpastels Instagram challenges and paint what I saw on my Oregon trip

2. Make Art That Sells (my MATS adventures can be seen on instagram under the tag #greenrainartmats)

I was hard at work on backgrounds for my Illustrating Children’s Books class

Creating storyboards was especially challenging, but also quite rewording as I am gaining better understanding of the process of making a picture book.

I worked on the sketchbook warm-ups

Other preparation included soft pastel sketching of various objects that could be included in the scenery

 

 

And finally I made three spreads for the story created by Zoe Tucker for our class. I only could submit one to the classroom, but all three came to life at the same time and I had to actually make myself stop drawing.

I have a page on my site where one can see examples of my illustration work. Just click here 

Final week of ICB is done, and a cover created for the story. I had to work fast due to being away and I hope I did a good job.

Final thoughts on ICB class: I couldn’t believe how intense it was. I mean people said it will be, but still it felt times more intense comparing to Home Decor. I do feel 5 weeks weren’t enough for me personally, Zoe and Lilla provide an enormous amount of information and I still have to read a huge chunk of the materials to even begin  to grasp the market. I would prefer to be more prepared next time, I had the time carved out for working on the art, but still felt out of breath often. I am definitely planning to take another intensive with them, the encouragement and wisdom shared in the class is invaluable. I felt I learned so much, I need to lay low for a while and digest it.  I also realized I need to have a better base knowledge and I am also looking into a longer program on illustration, I can’t learn on campus due to family commitments, so it will have to be online.

November plans: To review and re-study all the materials provided in the course, start working on other stories from the class

3. Drew mushrooms and a perfume bottle  for Sketchflashmob (see #greenrainartfromlife  for more)

Other works from life aka “memories” include 10 second sketches from my trip

drawing clouds as we flew helped time fly faster

November plans: To continue drawing from life. I am also planning to read some of Natalie Ratkowski’s books on art journalling

4. Weeks 8 and 9 of Folio Focus (see all works under #greenrainartff17 hashtag on instagram) were dedicated to characters:

Funny Halloween for week 8

and a self-portrait for editorial for week 9

Other pattern work included limited palette abstracts shapes for a Spoonflower challenge (didn’t win, but I will one day)

November plans: I have one more week left on this course, final thoughts next week

 

5. 100 days challenge continues with interruptions, I wonder if I will make it by the end of the year 😦 Maybe I should just forget about the numbers (especially since I’ve done about 55 days of my failed attempt in the summer…

Anyway, I really like the progress I make on my folk style sketches so far (see all on instagram under  #100daysofgreenrainart and folk art specifically under#greenrainartfolksketch hashtags)

November plans: Continue!

6. Inktober successfully completed! Not all drawings were pretty, but I had fun with this little challenge  (see all work on instargram under #greenrainartinktober hashtag)

Flip through Inktober sketchbook is here

7. Illustrated journal was all about thumbnails this month again

November Plans: Would love to go back to bigger drawings but not sure if will have time

 

Will also continue with 52 weeks illustrations

 

Have a lovely November, everyone!

 

Love,

Anya

As always, please find me on Instagram,  Facebook, Pinterest and Etsy