I’ve been putting off writing this because this is the tenth issue of this newsletter, and I wanted to write about something extra-special. But if there is any one thing that I have to still remind myself of, is that the special time may never come—whatever time we make special, is that time.

And yet I still wanted to do something special for this issue anyway, because ten is nothing to scoff at! So you may notice a new column which I’d been actually planning on doing since the get-go, but never got around to it. No time like the present though, and hopefully you enjoy it!

To say that I’ve been busy as well may be a bit of a cop-out, but at the same time, it is true, so… I’ve been busy the past while, not just because it’s been longer than a month since the last issue, but there seems to have been a lot of things happening! Here’s a very quick summary of what I’ve been up to:

Got last-minute tickets to and attended InMotion London — and had my art featured by Procreate!
Participated in my first ever in-person craft fair at the local museum
Joined a local artist group
Organised and ran a life drawing session (and continuing to run monthly meetups)
Designing and hand-lettering a sign board for a local shop

*Projection wall at the Procreate booth at InMotion London, featuring one of my artworks as part of the "You Made This" promo.*

…and that’s only the in-person stuff! I’m still doing all sorts of things online, like trying to get back into posting more on Instagram and BlueSky, as well as making videos for YouTube. Thanks to a friend, I also recently got a VGen account, where I have a couple of my emote packs up for sale. I’m working on doing some samples and hopefully this month or next will be able to get some commission samples up so I can get those going! So if you want to commission some character art, keep an eye out for that!

On the note of commissions, I still do take doodle commissions on Artistree if you’re looking for something quicker and simpler (or sillier!). If you’re asking what the hell the difference is between VGen and Artistree…well, honestly at this point I don’t really know. I’m just trying to branch out and frankly VGen seems to be a lot better of a marketplace, whilst I like the Artistree platform much better as a whole (including that they help the environment). Whichever you prefer honestly, it doesn’t matter so much to me lol. I always appreciate any sort of interest and support, and would be super grateful for shares, signal boosts, and just general awareness.

Things are hard, but especially in this online climate, and whilst I still hate the idea of having to toot my own horn and talk about myself, it only can do so much and even likes or reposts of any of my content helps immensely. And as always, thank you sincerely for showing your support by following along right here on Patreon. I always put the most effort and time into Patreon specifically because I feel it’s the best way to connect with you all directly rather than the doomscrolling mess of other socials, and I am so grateful for you all. 💖

As I’ve been getting more and more into gouache, I’m finding that I really enjoy the medium. The techniques are different yet similar to watercolour, but I think that the opaque nature of gouache is actually what I’d been missing when it comes to regular watercolours.

Those of you who have tried watercolours before will know that the trick is about layering. But there’s a catch, too — you can’t layer too much either, otherwise the paper will collapse into mushy tissue and/or you’ll end up with muddy colours when the pigments all mix. There’s quite a bit more planning required with watercolours, I find. It’s especially more important if you want to have pure-white (or whatever colour of your paper) areas, because you obviously have to make sure not to touch those sections at all.

You might be familiar with masking fluid, which is a gummy paste that you paint onto the paper, and as it dries it becomes water-resistant. This leaves those parts of the paper pristine as you paint overtop of it. Once done painting in the rest, the mask is peeled or rubbed off to reveal those white areas. It’s very handy and obviously ideal, but again, it requires quite a bit of planning ahead—not just with regards to where to leave the paper unpainted, but also packing it if you’re travelling. On top of that, it smells narsty so also need to make sure to work in a well-ventilated area.

At risk of getting too much into the product review territory, these are the three that I’ve used:

*The three types of masking fluid I have.*

The classic kind you’ll find comes in a bottle like the Winsor & Newton one, and you just brush it on with a paintbrush that you don’t care about because it will destroy the bristles. For those finer details, there is also the kind that comes with applicator nibs that get really fine, like the Masquepen one. The nib actually looks more like a syringe, but it does indeed get into very small crevices which is handy for sharp angles or small areas. Cleaning is a bit of a pain, though. Which leads me to the brush/pen type such as the Molotow. Maybe it’s just the brand and/or I used it wrong, but I DO NOT recommend that one. The blue tint is meant to make it easier to see where the mask is on the paper, but I found it nearly impossible to actually get off after so the pieces I’ve tried were actually ruined. This is why we swatch and practice with new materials!

*Examples of old paintings with masking fluid mishaps.*

Going back to gouache, the benefit of it over regular watercolours is of course that it is more opaque. The fact that you can add a layer of white on top after the rest has dried is especially nice. With all these food studies I’ve been doing with gouache, I’ve come to realize that actually it’s not about the details that makes the paintings look more or less realistic — it’s the final white highlights. I felt this most with my recent painting of a strawberry. It looks more or less finished in the photo I took at the end of the first sitting, but then I took it home and added just a couple of highlights (and shadows), and somehow it seemed to pop a lot more. Maybe that’s just me.

*Comparison of gouache painting with and without extra highlights.*

So maybe, just maybe, ON OCCASION, it’s okay to noodle your doodle or pet your painting.

Just a little bit, though.

Current Reads

📗 Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut

I don’t know why I do this to myself sometimes, but I saw this at the library and figured…well, I’ve never actually read any Vonnegut and it’s a slim book so why not. Written years ago, and yet still so relevant.

📗 Legendary (Caraval #2) - Stephanie Garber

At first I had expected the first Caraval to be yet another Night Circus (E. Morgenstern) but it was actually quite different after all. I got through it relatively quick and then realised too late that it was actually part of a series, so of course had to pick up this one.

If you’re like me though and like to have matching covers (why does it matter? It doesn’t, but it just does, okay??), make sure to get your series at the same time or at least the same editions…because it turns out they changed the covers of this series and no longer are making the originals. They’re not massively different, just a big colour palette change and stuff, but still, it’s the principal of the matter.

Anyway the book’s fun so at least there’s that.

Recently Finished

📕 It’s OK to be Angry about Capitalism - Bernie Sanders

Yeah, I’m pretty angry. It feels like the book was unfortunately published a little too soon, and I frankly don’t know if there is anything that I can do at this point, but there is something to be said about the fact that despite everything, there are still people out there trying to make the world a better place. Despite what Yoda says, I think trying is sometimes all we can do. After all, if we don’t try, nothing will change.

📗 A Steeping of Blood (Blood & Tea #2) - Hafsah Faizal 3.5/5

A young-adult duology instead of a trilogy? In this economy? On the one hand, I’m glad it was only a duology, but on the other hand, the second book was so much longer than the first and it felt like maybe it could have been split after all. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Regardless it was an okay read, but the ending was not all that satisfactory. I did appreciate the emphasis against the horrors of colonialism (in fact, the dedication was: “To colonialism: you suck.”) interspersed with vampires and steam-punk-ish London-ish vibes, but at the same time, I wanted something more.

📗 Caraval - Stephanie Garber 4/5

Fun low-fantasy read perfect for bedtime! Gorgeous imagery and I really enjoyed the writing style, but what stood out was the way the author describes without explicitly saying that the main character has synaesthesia. I haven’t had the opportunity to read any other books with characters who have this and I reckon it’s actually quite tricky to write in a way that us normies can understand, but the author did a fantastic job of entwining all the senses together in her prose.

📗 Really Good, Actually - Monica Heisey 3/5

Thought this one would hit harder, and there were certainly passages that resonated, but the inciting incident of the main character being divorced is obviously something that I can’t relate to. Still, the representations of what it feels like to be grieving and depressed were pretty spot on, and the realistic elements of Toronto brought back some memories as well and made it feel all that much more real at some points. Only sorta good, actually.

📗 The Full Moon Coffee Shop - Mochizuki Mai 4/5

Are there too many slow-cozy books from Japan and Korea right now? Maybe. But it’s very likely because people like me really need this kind of fiction lately. This one has sections that focus on different characters who are all intertwined in some way, similar to “Before the Coffee Gets Cold”. The big difference is that the magical entities that help the main characters are actually talking cats, and it’s actually more astrology than magic, but I can’t complain when there are beautiful illustrations of the various foods and drinks. I’m not here for a complex story anyway; I just need something to help me fall asleep, and this does the trick.

Podcasts

Now that I’m back at the gym (slowly yet surely), I am finally getting through my playlist! Not to mention, I find that podcasts are the perfect listening tool for when I’m working on larger pieces so I’ve been ploughing through episodes whilst working on the sign board.

If you’ve read the previous issues, you’ll know that this column is essentially where I fan about Ologies, my favourite podcast ever. If this is your first time reading, you’ll soon be aware of this fact. I can’t just list off every single episode I listened to, of course (I mean, I guess I could but I won’t), so I’ll highlight two vastly different but very great episodes: Revolutionology on rebellions and social change, and the Strigiformology two-parter on OWLS. Seriously, I already liked owls before this, but now I think I’m in love. Plus the guest is such a pleasure to listen to so if there’s any one that you should check out to get started on this series, this is the one.

On the more intense side of things, you can probably get a sense of where my mind is at by looking at the recent Hidden Brain episodes I’ve been listening to. I won’t list them all, but the titles alone speak volumes: “When It’s All Too Much”, “The Trauma Script”, “Escaping Perfectionism”, and “Passion vs. Paycheck.” Can you guess what I’ve been thinking of lately? 🫠

Videos

just pick a video to watch with lunch already - David Achu
Is AI making us dumber? Maybe. - Charlie Gedeon via TEDxSherbrooke St West
ChatGPT isn’t smart. It’s something much weirder. - Hank Green w/ Nate Soares
Those Who Curate, and Those Who Consume - Val
Why craft matters now more than ever - Jonathan Fields via TEDxBoulder

I’ve been really wanting to do a Feature column since the get-go, but admittedly it’s been a struggle trying to think of a way to make it ‘fair’ and not just highlighting my friends and people you may already know. Nothing wrong with that, of course! If you know me, I can shout out friends and other admirable artists until the cows come home. But at the same time, I also am a huge proponent of expanding horizons and discovering new and different creatives as well. Especially nowadays when it feels like tHe AlGoRiThM is all that people talk about and how it’s actually ruining discoverability, this has become even more significant to me.

With that said, I want to use this to feature those that are not within my usual circles that you may or may not have heard of, and maybe it will help you to discover your new favourite artist! Of course, it’s not going to be a hard and fast rule, and in fact, I want to make sure that this remains flexible and it will continue to be ever-evolving. Because of this, I’d love to get your help as well!

If there is an artist or creative that you feel is under-appreciated and is not someone that I may already know (ie. outside our shared social circles), or you’ve recently discovered and want to share, please send me a message with the links! Exception to this is if it’s yourself because we don’t shout ourselves out often enough. 🙃

So allow me to present the first Feature:

JL Meyer

https://www.jennifer-meyer.com/

I stumbled across this artist on BlueSky some time ago, and what can I say — I was taken instantly. Beautiful painting style? Check. Cozy vibes? Check. Bunnies? CHECK CHECK CHECK. Not only do they have a bunch of adorable bunny-flavoured artworks that I’m just dying to get prints of someday, they also have done some fantastic commercial works for Disney and MTG. On top of that, they’ve also published some picture books and done illustrations for others. As I venture more into the world of publishing as a potential career option, it’s truly inspiring to see some of the gorgeous works that Jennifer has done.

Please go check out JL Meyer at the website above! Oh, and there’s a Patreon, too!

That was a long one, eh? And it’s almost December 😱 so I should really be getting to work on the next issue (lol), but I still wanted to get this one out too. Thank you again, each and every one of you for your ongoing support of me and this silly little art thing, and especially for those who have followed along with all the issues of this silly little newsletter! I hope to continue to bring you a variety of ideas and topics, both artsy and tangential, in hopes that something connects with you in a meaningful way. Take care of yourselves and those meaningful things in your lives. 💖