#022

Week-ness

A week happened. In some ways, it was special, in others, not so much. This is the essence of a week, it’s “week-ness”, how every week is somehow different and the same. Or not. I’m just a guy with a keyboard. At any rate, this was the week in which I began my journey as a martial artist, taking Maui Thai (Thai boxing) classes on the side of life. Also, I got to practice using a digital art app called Sketchbook, available on iPad and maybe other places. Now, usually I tend to use Procreate because of its simplicity of design and ease of use. All of the tools are very comprehensive, and there is rarely a time where I cannot find the correct tool. However, it does cost an up-front fee of maybe twelve dollars (don’t quote me on that). Sketchbook is free to use, and has a wide variety of features, but they are not very comprehensive, meaning that it’s difficult to grasp what each does.

Arting and Farting.

Okay, not that last one, but I couldn’t pass that rhyme (pun definitely intended). This week, as stated above, I practice using Sketchbook’s interface, and also practiced painting. Then Inktober52 prompt this week was “daisy”, and so I pulled up a sketch of a skull wearing a daisy chain and got to work. I began with the sketch using the watercolor pencil brush, which gives a deliciously thick and dark texture to the brush, and drew up the skull. Then I started coloring with the digital brush pen, using a bone-ish off-white for the base tone. The most interesting part was the shading, which I accomplished using the Synthetic Round Bristle brush, which acts like a real brush in the way that it only has so much “paint” on the brush before it runs out, in which case you spread the existing color around. In the end, I am rarely satisfied with the finished product, although I wish I had the time and energy to fix the line art or try to get a better finish with the paint to really bring it out.

Another Late Night

Unfortunately, this afternoon was busy with company, and so I didn’t have the time to do this until in the evening. Normally, this wouldn’t be so bad, but today was Daylight Savings Time, and so my internal clock has gone awry. Also, tomorrow I begin work bright and early at dawn, and so sleep is a hot commodity. I wouldn’t change it, though, because I love art and so do you people. However, completing this earlier is going to be a focus point goal for the future.

Ending.

And so we have come to the end of another sprawling monologue of the written word. I hope you have all enjoyed the art and reading, and that you will join me next week with a friend. Comment about your favorite rhyme/pun you said this week (or this month of it’s been a comedically dry fortnight). Farewell until then!