My Art Projects and Drawings – The Artzy Evangawriter

Has it Been Three Weeks?!

*pops in*

*waves hello*

Uhhh, hi, y’all! It’s been awhile—as in three weeks—since I last posted. Maybe some of you noticed, maybe you didn’t. Either way, I did. 😂

Those three weeks have been full of interesting things, such as

My first time drafting my novel six days in a row
My first time entirely neglecting to draft my novel for the next five days in a row
My ~~first~~ time neglecting my blog without warning
My first time in several years drawing a one-point-perspective room design
My first time accidentally putting a book on hold at the library in Spanish, not english 😂
Business troubles (yes, I run my own business. And yes, it is having troubles.)
Story anxiety and some self-doubt that I’ve told no one about 😂 (until now)
Refocusing on God and trying to stay on track with Him
Computer issues
More research on graphic design

And much more! I won’t get into all of these things today (and maybe I won’t dive into details on some of them ever), but I would like to attempt explaining why I’ve been absent from my blog with no warning for almost a month.

First of all, I’ve been thinking about redoing my site—giving it a makeover. I’d like to have some sort of author blog and/or email list soon, in preparation for publishing and selling my books. However, I decided to put off making that decision for a while, so for now I’ll be sticking to the regular blog.

My posting schedule may change a bit though, since I’ve been overwhelmed lately with a lot of things, and blogging has fallen a bit to the back burner. I want to take care of myself, my creativity, and my relationship with God before pushing myself to create content for readers. Sorry, y’all—I love you and I’m so thankful to have you. I hope you’ll understand.

So this unexplained three-week absence has been sort of for that reason as well—I got behind, overwhelmed, and then just quit. For a bit. To be honest, I wasn’t sure how long I’d need a break for, and I was okay with that. I’ve been learning to let myself have the space I need to recuperate, and this has been part of that journey.

Another small part of this has been college work and computer issues. I’ve been busy trying to keep on top of drafting my novel, fixing my business issues, and keeping my poor lil computer running (and not on fumes, hopefully).

Yes, a computer replacement is on the list, hopefully in the near future.

So there you have it! I’m sincerely sorry for disappearing off the face of the internet and leaving you all hanging (if you even noticed XD), but here I am again.

From now on, I’m not sure what my posting schedule will look like. I saw a friend, Leah, announce recently that she’ll be posting only when she feels led to, and I might do the same—we’ll see. Or, ya’know, when I have something exciting to share. ;P

For now, here’s a picture of the one-point-perspective drawing that I did, since I mentioned that in my list! I hope you enjoy it. (DISCLAIMER: this is not my own design. I was copying someone’s design on Pinterest. ;P)

Also, just for fun, here are a few books I’ve read recently! 😀

Gone-Away Lake by Elisabeth Enright

I can’t say this book has a huge plot or stakes or anything, but all the same, I loved it! It’s a safe, fun middle-grade story about two kids who discover a hidden lake . . . and some interesting people. I highly recommend this for a fireside story with little kids or just for curling up with yourself for a fun read!

Offsides by Lori Z. Scott

Pivoting from the fun middle-grade stories to a deeper YA novel, Offsides is an entertaining and yet heavy story. It deals with some difficult topics and staying alert to dangers young people face in the world today. It’s a good awareness story, but at the same time a heart-warming story of friendship, faith, and love. I’d recommend this book for older teens and parents, but I leave it to your discretion. 😀 I did really enjoy reading it!

And that’s it for today! See y’all next time, and God bless <3

~Janet

Digital Creativity: Character Collages and Exploring Canva Pro!

Good morning, everyone! Today I’d like to talk a little about art. Surprise, surprise, am I right? (Or not ;P)

I think you all know I like art at this point. It’s pretty much established by my tagline Art. Writing. Jesus. at the top of this page. But that’s not limited to pencil on paper anymore, right? In this day and age, we have many more creative tools on computers and the like. It’s not something I’ve dabbled in much, but recently I’ve been giving it another try—and I’ve been having a lot of fun!

So let’s dive into the world of Canva—more specifically Canva Pro. I have been using Canva for several months now and have been weighing the usefulness of paying for Pro since I started. For a while, it didn’t seem necessary for what I was using it for. But last week, incentivised by their 50% off sale for the holidays, I went ahead and did it.

And honestly, I think it’s been worth it!

Normal Canva is super useful, but Pro has a lot more tools and stuff that have been really fun to use and figure out. So for now, I’m sticking with that.

For instance, I have access to so many more templates that are super awesome and customizable, more fonts, and most of the “magic” options for background removal, enlarging, touchup, and the like.

Disclaimer: this is not an ad for Canva Pro or anything. This is completely my own opinion. XD

So . . . moving on . . . what have I been doing in Canva lately? Well, a lot of it has been covers and collages for myself and other writer friends. But I’ve also made a writing tracker, daily planner cover for my mom, and flyers for my business! I can’t show them all to you, but I would LOVE to share the collages I made for my two main characters in my next novel—Vickie Allison and Loryn Wilkins. So here they are!

I hope you like them as much as I do, although of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But these characters are so near to my heart, and making these collages was super fun and a learning experience! I did use Canva templates to start and then customized them. 😀

Here are a few of my favorite things about digital art:

I can easily change and adjust things rather than having to erase and draw them over again.
It’s clearer than trying to scan or photograph physical art, especially for flyers and such where you want it to be clear and concise.
There are lots of options for banners, fonts, graphics, etc!

That being said, I still LOVE physical drawings, so never fear! I’ll still be using my pencil and paper. 😉

I’d love to hear your thoughts on digital art—Canva, Pixlr, Photoshop, etc! Do you use them? What are your favorite tools?

Until next time, God bless!

~Janet

The Mind’s Eye: How I Draw from Scratch

I’ve wanted to write this blog post for a long time. Wonder why I haven’t? Well, it’s in fear that I won’t be able to actually explain how I draw because I think a lot of my talent is just inherent—I wasn’t taught, so how can I explain it to others?

But, shoving down that worry, I’m tackling this post. I’ll do my best!

I’ve been artsy for as long as I can remember. I remember coloring a picture of Strawberry Shortcake when I was four or five even! It was one of my favorites at the time. Let’s disregard the fact that my brother (older by a year and a half) didn’t like all the pink and decided to draw a huge black X over the whole thing. 😬

Besides coloring, I was HUGE into drawing horses for several years. I had pictures, photos, drawings, trinkets . . . you get the idea. I was obsessed. The way I started out drawing horses was probably how you can imagine it: a rectangle body with four legs sticking straight out of it with a chunky neck and head.

But my mom had an interesting book about drawing at the time, and it had some animals in it. I just copied those over and over until I got the idea of how circles and curves joined together into the body of a real animal.

After that, I began studying the things I drew more carefully. Stick figures turned into something resembling cartoons . . . and it went from there.

I think a lot of it has to do with talent and interest in what you’re doing. It goes for any hobby, whether it’s mechanics, art, or computer programs. My dad is an engineer, and he’s tried many times to explain trig and calculus (among other things) to my siblings and I without much luck. I think some people’s brains are just wired differently, and I’m not here to say anyone can be an AMAZING artist! I’m definitely not—it’s just a fun hobby that I’m pretty good at.

But moving past that . . .

When I moved on from horses, I took up faces avidly. I LOVED drawing whole faces, eyes, noses, ears . . . my sketchbook looked pretty creepy in some parts. But my mom let me snoop in her portrait drawing books as well as old photo albums and pictures. I started copying more—this time whole bodies. I practiced a lot.

And when you practice a lot, you get better.

I began drawing some cartoon/anime styles as well as hyper-realistic drawings. I love a mix, and I practiced all of it. I colored with markers mostly and had some fashion design books as well. Clothing has also been super fun to experiment with!

When I got really into writing, I started drawing characters. That was a little harder because I had just a picture in my head to follow for a lot of them. That’s where the mind’s eye comes in. It’s not something everyone has, and those who do have it have it to a varying degree.

It’s when you can picture an image or design in your head and make it come out onto paper or other designing programs. I have it to a certain degree—when you say “elephant” I can picture an elephant. I could probably sketch a decent one from memory. But a bear . . . well . . . that’s a little harder. I use reference pictures a lot in my drawings to make them stay realistic (especially animals—not my strong point!).

So yeah! The subtitle of this post is “How I Draw from Scratch.” And how do I do it? Well, it’s a combination of things. First, inherited artistic ability. I know some people just aren’t artistic. And that’s okay! You have other skills. 😀 Second, mind’s eye: knowing which shapes to use and how things look in real life. Third, reference pictures. I know that’s sort of cheating since it’s not “from scratch” at that point, but I’ll admit I do use them!

And that’s all I’ve got today! Have a lovely day, everyone, and thanks for reading. 🌼

God bless!

~Janet

Another Trailer Update + Photos!

Good Monday to you all! A few weeks ago, I posted a sort of update about my camper/trailer (I still haven’t decided what to call it yet XD), and since then big things have happened! So, I thought I’d give you another update—this time with pictures/ a picture.

Since it’s taken so long to get really anything done, I haven’t taken very many pictures of the process so far. But now, I have something really exciting to share!

When I left you last, my grandpa and I had been working on getting a window installed. I had cut a hole in the interior wall . . . but it was too big. So we had to tear out and replace half the wall.

Well, the tearing out part took about 10 minutes, but the putting back in took a while longer. We had to measure and cut a TON, but finally we got the first window all cut out correctly. Both the inside and outside walls had matching holes in them! I can tell you, that made a HUGE difference in the temperature of the interior, as well as the lighting issues we’d been having. If the door wasn’t propped open all the time, it was pitch dark inside!

Anyway, moving on.

The windows I got were for RVs, so they’re meant for a wall about half as thick as mine. That caused some interesting problems, but we finally got the first one in last week. That was a temporary measure until we got the putty tape on the outside to seal it, but it was in!

This week, we took out the window and installed it correctly, as well as cutting, framing and installing the second!

So now I have two working windows in my trailer!!! This is so exciting, guys. 😀 I’ve been waiting for this for almost five months!

The rest of the work will be a lot simpler I think (famous last words). We have to build a bed/couch with storage underneath, put in flooring, paint both inside and outside and install a sink, but other than that the construction-type work is DONE! Then I get to decorate . . . 🎉

I will continue sharing photos of the progress until it’s done—and hopefully I’ll be able to sleep in it to see how I like it!

For now, here are the windows.

Until next time, God bless you!

~Janet

New Markers—Review and Some Coloring Projects!

I had my birthday recently, and since all of my family knows me sooo well, I was gifted a TON of markers! I had asked for a particular brand that one of my friends has, and I got two sets of them, adding up to 150 markers.

Now, I have a bunch of art supplies already, so you may be wondering why I wanted more. In my post “My Drawing Supplies,” I mentioned the markers I’ve had for a few years—the Arteza brand.

I’ve loved those markers long and well, and most of them are dried out by now (at least, the ones I use most often). I had a choice: either replace the ones I had or try something new. I was on the fence about this, but after having a drawing party with my friends, it was decided.

I wanted to try the Ohuhu Markers. The Arteza ones work pretty well, but I’ve found that if I go over one spot to thicken the lines, the color gets more and more saturated. I barely ever get the lighter colors I want, especially as the markers start to dry out and I have to go over the spots again and again.

When I used my friend’s Ohuhu Markers, however, this didn’t happen. I layered a color on thickly as a test, and the color stayed very nearly the same! Maybe a shade darker, but barely noticeable. Also, they come in several different color shade sets—pastel, vivid, greyscale, skin tone, etc.

I’ve always wanted to try some pastel colors—since they’re usually a lot lighter in tone. So I asked for those ones for my birthday. My sister gave me a set of those, and my wonderful aunt and uncle gave me a pack of 100 vivid colors! I was overjoyed. 😀

I’ve used most of the colors at this point, since my aunt also gave me a giant coloring book to use the new markers on. I’ve been doing more coloring in the last three weeks than in the last year! I’ve gotta say, having a pre-drawn image makes it really easy to jump into coloring.

Here is one of the pictures I’ve done—using a mix of pastel and vivid colors. I think it turned out really well! This coloring book is from the “Color Me Your Way” set, and the pages are huge! They take a while to finish, but it’s sure a lot of fun.

Besides coloring, I can’t wait to use these new markers for my own creations! They work so well, and the colors always come out clear and vibrant. (Also, they don’t bleed through paper! Yay!)

Which do you prefer—coloring or drawing (if you like either)? Do you have a favorite marker brand?

Until next time, God bless!

~Janet

PS: I highly recommend the Ohuhu Markers to anyone who needs a new set of colors!

What’s Going on with the Camper/Trailer

Some of you may remember a post I wrote a while back about lists . . . but I also mentioned a certain trailer that I had received for free from a friend. I want to fix this trailer up into a full-blown camper, but the progress has been . . . slow, to say the least.

I’ll explain a little more.

First, we have the fact that I know very little about framing, building, etc. However, both my brother and my dad are very good at this type of thing, so I asked them to help me out with the big structure work in the beginning. They both said yes, but they were pretty busy.

The main problem is that the trailer doesn’t have any windows, and I want to add two. I ordered the windows, and they came about three weeks ago. However, since both my brother and my dad are extremely busy, they didn’t have much time to help me cut holes, frame the space for the windows, or install them.

Thus, the windows are still in their box.

However, I did make some progress. With a fifteen-minute explanation of how to run a jigsaw from my brother before he left for work one morning, I cut a hole in the interior wall of the trailer. However, my grandpa had a look at it and discovered, quite conveniently (I’m being sarcastic here), that the hole was about a half inch too big.

I managed this by measuring the trim edge of the window, not the part that actually goes in the wall. Oops. I told you I know barely anything about this stuff, right?

Well, Grandpa was very helpful in helping me make a plan to fix this issue, but it involves tearing out about half the interior wall, which is all tongue and groove (or TnG).

This is where I am now in the progress (plus a bit of exterior painting done). Yes, I know it’s pretty bad. But I have the new TnG ready and will tear out the old stuff (with the too-big hole in it) this week. Then Grandpa and I will frame the window, put the new stuff on, and hopefully move on to install the window for real!

Although I’d originally hoped to have the trailer done by July 14 (there’s a summer camp I’m going to that starts that day), I realize it may not be finished until September or October. Maybe I’ll be able to camp in it next year!

Although this is an example of “failure,” I’m not done yet. It’ll take a bit longer, sure. But it will get done eventually. Once we get some more visible progress made, I will share some pictures here on my blog!

And there you go, a little update on trailer progress. Hope you enjoyed it! And make sure to double measure when you’re cutting things. XD

God bless,

Janet

PS: Yes, I count this as an art-related post. Since it’s sort of artistic, in a way. Just not the usual way. 😉

Challenge with My Sister—Continued

Heads up: this post will be short. For an explanation, go to THIS post!

Here are the other two characters that I have drawn from unnamed descriptions! Although these I did guess correctly after drawing them, since they were pretty easy.

A tall and gracious woman with black hair that fell almost to her feet, marksman, grown-ups thought her the pretty one of the family, the most beautiful lady they had ever seen, had freckles.

As a side note, I was able to finish listening to The Hobbit audiobook that I had started in THIS post while I drew both of these! Such a great book. 😄

As another side note, both are done in colored pencil with a little gold gel pen for highlights. Are there any other mediums or styles you would like to see me try?

Drunken, charismatic, long, dark brown hair adorned with all manner of beads and trinkets and a short goatee beard. Wears a faded black tricorn hat, long sea boots and long, hard-wearing linen trousers and a long brown coat. A knotted striped-red sash is tied around his waist, where he stows his pistol when it is not in use. A faded blue waistcoat with a shorter lightly-colored back area, and a torn white undershirt. A red bandanna is always wrapped around his head, he wears two belts, one to which he attached some odd additions, beneath the belt, he wears a sash. He wears four rings and a shredded black wristband on his right wrist.

As I said, this one is short. So enjoy the pictures and I’ll see you on Thursday!

God bless,

Janet

A Life-Update-That-Isn’t-Really-a-Life-Update

Projects. Work. Family. Spring.

These are things that I have been focusing on a lot lately. This post will be a bit different than my usual ones, so please bear with me! ;P

First off, the projects. I have had several unfinished projects sitting around for a while, which is detrimental to my focus on other things. I’m a very visual person, so if I see it I think about it. And on the flip side, if I don’t see it . . . well, I forget about it.

For example, I had a mini DIY house sitting on my shelf—unfinished. It was a project I started nearly a year ago (yikes!), but never finished because the person I was doing it with had given up on it.

So on one of the days I got off work a little early, I decided to go ahead and finish it, once and for al. It took about 5 hours, but I entertained myself by listening to some Sherlock Holmes audiobooks (this is a really good pastime!).

I finished the mini house that night, including the lights and wiring, which is one of the most delicate parts!

I also did a painting I’d been needing to do in preparation for an ART CLASS I’m teaching! (This was impromptu, we’ll see how it goes XD).

That’s just a peek at some of the projects I’ve been working on, but there are several more! I must say, having those done—or at least in progress again—has been super helpful to my productivity!

Next, the work. There are a lot of bigger projects around the house that my family and I have been working on (well, my brother is doing most of the heavy lifting ;)), and working together as a family is super fun (this ties in with the family part above)! This includes building a deck and retaining wall and just generally getting things ready for summer!

Also, I must mention the spring. It’s finally here! (Well, I hope so. Who knows, it may snow tomorrow. XD)

I spent a good hour and a half out in the sun on Tuesday, just soaking it in and working on an assignment for the Author Conservatory. And yes, I got a tad sunburnt! It’s actually been almost hot the last two or three days, which is AMAZING! Last week it was chilly and trying to rain.

The weather has also made me feel happier. At work, one of my coworkers kept bothering me for not smiling enough (I sometimes have trouble keeping a smile on my face all the time, even when I feel happy inside). But yesterday, I was joyful all day, and this same coworker noticed, asking what made me so happy. Well, the weather and Jesus of course!

It’s so nice to see the sun shining outside and have a gentle breeze come in when we open the windows! There may be times when it gets a little too hot for our liking, but it’s a nice change from winter!

That about wraps up my sort-of-life-update-that–wasn’t-really-a-life-update! It was basically just some wonderful blessings from God that I’ve been focusing on and wanted to share with you!

Until next time, God bless and have a wonderful day!

Janet🦋

PS: Monday will be my special one-year anniversary post!