Themed months, there oh so fun, day 1, draw a circle, day 2, draw a circle with your non dominant hand, then by the time you get to day 15, its gone absurd, like do a handstand and draw a circle holding the pen with your foot, by the time the end comes by your thinking what was the point of the past 30 days, have I done this just for likes, why do I now hate the thing I was most excited about. Inktober, MerMay, Smaugust, Drawcember… it goes on.
I did MerMay, it seemed simple, I'd take my love of wrestling with a challenge of using more digital art, I'd draw a female wrestler as a mermaid and illustrate them with a digital art app id downloaded.
My first hurdle would be Instagram. Instagram has a set border if your picture doesn’t fit in its parameters then tough; you’re just a bad photographer who doesn’t understand dimensions.
Next, the digital side, turns out unless you’re willing to put the money into it, most drawing apps, aren’t the best, I use, Sketch on my android, but I’m sure most do well enough with time and familiarity.
Then there’s preparation, with these month challengers, you usually get day prompts on what you should be drawing around, well I didn’t have any, I was a freewheeling it and by day 5, I was uninspired and unsure who top do. You see it would be easy to just draw 31 wrestlers from the WWE but that would be easy, and nothing easy is ever worth it. I wanted to draw from around the world with different types of women, different body shapes and sometimes different art styles. Well if you haven’t got a list, winging it doesn’t always bring inspiration. Thankfully wrestling’s a continuous soap opera so there’s always someone to draw from in a month.
Preparation is key. Should you ever participate in a month-long social media experiment, look at the prompts and prepare. Maybe you have a busy day ahead, so can get one in advance just in case you’re rushed… which happened to me the day after a PPV that was also the day of the final game of thrones. Gonna be honest, I rushed that drawing and I’m not happy with it.
There’s also the fact that I’m drawing these women, who although they’re public characters, they’re also people with real feelings and a drawing I do with love and a chance to show how great these women look can also not come across to them, who if they didn’t like the picture, would untag themselves, which is rejecting. I don’t want to make these women feel bad about them or make it seem like I’m drawing them ugly, but the idea in your head doesn’t always come across like that.
I’m going to be honest, by the time I got to day 30 I was almost sick of doing the challenge and had to power through 2 drawings because I was creatively spent. Isn’t the point of doing this to have fun, challenge yourself and discover new talents?
Remember that you never have to keep going, I participated in inktober one year, then the next, I did one drawing then dropped out, I felt bad but I just couldn’t come up with anything and got anxiety with the thought of rushing this, then getting a good light, then adjusting and hashtagging, and enough. If at any time you feel like you can’t keep going, step away and do something else you enjoy. Creativity will come back to you, but never feel like you have to post anything you control what and when you design.
With love, Alisha Valerie. x
I did MerMay, it seemed simple, I'd take my love of wrestling with a challenge of using more digital art, I'd draw a female wrestler as a mermaid and illustrate them with a digital art app id downloaded.
My first hurdle would be Instagram. Instagram has a set border if your picture doesn’t fit in its parameters then tough; you’re just a bad photographer who doesn’t understand dimensions.
Next, the digital side, turns out unless you’re willing to put the money into it, most drawing apps, aren’t the best, I use, Sketch on my android, but I’m sure most do well enough with time and familiarity.
Then there’s preparation, with these month challengers, you usually get day prompts on what you should be drawing around, well I didn’t have any, I was a freewheeling it and by day 5, I was uninspired and unsure who top do. You see it would be easy to just draw 31 wrestlers from the WWE but that would be easy, and nothing easy is ever worth it. I wanted to draw from around the world with different types of women, different body shapes and sometimes different art styles. Well if you haven’t got a list, winging it doesn’t always bring inspiration. Thankfully wrestling’s a continuous soap opera so there’s always someone to draw from in a month.
Preparation is key. Should you ever participate in a month-long social media experiment, look at the prompts and prepare. Maybe you have a busy day ahead, so can get one in advance just in case you’re rushed… which happened to me the day after a PPV that was also the day of the final game of thrones. Gonna be honest, I rushed that drawing and I’m not happy with it.
There’s also the fact that I’m drawing these women, who although they’re public characters, they’re also people with real feelings and a drawing I do with love and a chance to show how great these women look can also not come across to them, who if they didn’t like the picture, would untag themselves, which is rejecting. I don’t want to make these women feel bad about them or make it seem like I’m drawing them ugly, but the idea in your head doesn’t always come across like that.
I’m going to be honest, by the time I got to day 30 I was almost sick of doing the challenge and had to power through 2 drawings because I was creatively spent. Isn’t the point of doing this to have fun, challenge yourself and discover new talents?
Remember that you never have to keep going, I participated in inktober one year, then the next, I did one drawing then dropped out, I felt bad but I just couldn’t come up with anything and got anxiety with the thought of rushing this, then getting a good light, then adjusting and hashtagging, and enough. If at any time you feel like you can’t keep going, step away and do something else you enjoy. Creativity will come back to you, but never feel like you have to post anything you control what and when you design.
Written and posted on behalf of Morphilms.
With love, Alisha Valerie. x
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