100 day of merry drawing : day 51-60

I was afraid I would drop out before day 100 but I'm at day 77 now. It shouldn't be too hard to complete this 100 day project? In fact, I plan to continue drawing all through the year. It will mean so much to me :)

100 day of merry drawing : day 51

100 day of merry drawing : day 52

100 day of merry drawing : day 53

100 day of merry drawing : day 54

100 day of merry drawing : day 55

100 day of merry drawing : day 56

100 day of merry drawing : day 57

100 day of merry drawing : day 58

100 day of merry drawing : day 59

100 day of merry drawing : day 60

100 days of merry drawing : day 1-10 #the100dayproject

Hello my blog. Long time no post again but here I am to tell you that even though I had been completely absent from this blog for many weeks, my creative journey never stops.

I have been working on my new portfolio and preparing for more client submissions. I was thinking about adding work in progress or sketchbook section in my site when I found that the 100 day project has started again this year. I shamefully remember that I participated in the project in 2015 but couldn't get through the project. How about this year?, just keep trying, I thought.

So here is my project, 100 day of merry drawing, this will be added in my new portfolio site and I determine to make it all through the 100 day. I started the project on April 9 and have been drawing everyday since. I now have 16 drawings and below are my day 1-10 drawings scanned, background cleaned up and color adjusted. I plan to post here in 10-drawing batch to keep record. In the mean time, You can follow my daily drawing on my facebook and instagram.

I hope you like my drawings, I aim to have this project as children's book drawing practice and I think I have some ideas for a book now :D

100 days of merry drawing : day 1

100 days of merry drawing : day 2

100 days of merry drawing : day 3

100 days of merry drawing : day 4

100 days of merry drawing : day 5

100 days of merry drawing : day 6

100 days of merry drawing : day 7

100 days of merry drawing : day 8

100 days of merry drawing : day 9

100 days of merry drawing : day 10

Merry Sunday and my character illustration

Merry Sunday! This character illustration is part of my Merry ABC picture book and its coloring book companion project I did last year. It's self-published and available for sale on my facebook page. I will introduce the book properly here on this blog soon. In the mean time, you can look at the inside pages here on my fb Page.

Have a merry day!
 

My favorite cup

I accidentally broke my favorite cup the other day. It's not really a big deal as I also have other cups for coffee in the house. I missed the cup though. I liked its thickness, not too thin, not too thick, and it was just the right size for a good amount of coffee for each day (I limit one cup a day). Or maybe I just feel attached to the same old thing.

Yesterday I found a cup with similar design at a shop. Somehow I just went back home with a new cup, a white plain one with a bit of cute design. Sometimes, it just happens. You intend to buy some specific things but end up buying something else completely different. I guess my mind just wandered...

The coffee in the new cup is not as good as in the old one of course. I guess it's just only a matter of time to get familiar with something.

ps. I'm back to this blog again as my blog in www.onmerryday.com doesn't work quite well. It's much easier to update here in blogger. Promise to myself (again) to post regularly this year :)

draw everyday 173 : little drawing in little notebook

Staying at my mom's home tonight. I didn't bring the draw everyday sketchbook with me so I just grabbed my nieces' kid markers and drew on a little notebook instead. 

This drawing is part of my draw everyday project. You can follow my daily updates via MerryDay facebook and instagram :) 

A day with creative energy

I have so many things to tell here but just too tired. I can only say that each day of my life right now is full of creative energy and I love it :D If you miss my work, I update my facebook page and instagram everyday. Hope to see you there :)

Watercolor painting practice

Hello my blog :) I am having problem with my eyes and cannot stay too long in front of computer screen. It's a bit frustrating that I have to work on my digital drawing at slower pace. However, I use this opportunity to work on my watercolor practice and really enjoy it. It's really art therapy. The painting above is my latest practice and the ones below are what I have so far. Remember, I 'm always on my facebook page and instagram drawing my draw everyday project. Hope to see you there!

Thanks for coming. Hope I can talk more about my new journey of watercolor painting soon.
Have a merry day!

Draw everyday no. 54 and what I have learned

I posted this draw everyday no. 54 on my MerryDay Page the other day and immediately got a feedback from one of my followers that she liked this drawing without colors better. Below is the drawing she talked about. I forgot to take a photo of the drawing without the bracelet. (I took this photo with the bracelet just for fun :)



My first response to her comment was 'oh no, I shouldn't have posted this. I don't like it either'. I got a little worried as before this colored version, I got a lot of good feedbacks on the first line art drawing and someone actually asked if I had this piece for sale. I worried that she might not like this colored version. But then realizing that I was going back to be my old self who thought too much on little things, I pulled myself back and found good things from this little incident.

One is that I seem to be able to worry less about trying to be perfect. I didn't like this color combination but I posted it anyway.  By showing it in public and getting feedbacks, my doubt got confirmed. Although there were also some people who liked it, I knew in my heart that the colors were not right yet and I need to improve it.

Second is that it seems I'm getting more and more valuable feedbacks from MerryDay's followers who care enough to stop by and tell their opinions. I have been with my page since 2010 posting and getting some likes for each post and few comments from time to time. Now I'm getting more feedbacks and conversations in the page. I guess it's because of my everyday post of work in progress. While my followers are learning about how my art process is like, I'm also learning from their feedbacks. It's a kind of happy interaction :)

So, that's what I have learned from my little drawing. I'm going to work more on its color selection and will make it a greeting card and A4 print for my shop. It will be a wonderful addition to my new merry collection :)

Thanks for coming. If you have time, please drop a line and tell me how you like this drawing :)
Wish you have a merry day!

PS. If you just happen to be here for the first time and want to know me better, you can read my post of 'Artists around the World blog hop' here, or follow my 'draw everyday' on instagram or facebook :)

draw everyday no. 51 : Mr. Penguin and the poppy

I just got a new pen and so in love with its smoothness. It's Pentel EnerGel Tradio gel ink. The one I used is black but they also have blue, red and purple ink. The drawing I show here is one of my draw everyday project. I have already got to drawing no. 51. All the drawings are kind of everywhere right now. I will have to put them all in a proper place soon. But you can follow my everyday drawings on instagram or facebook.

The idea for this drawing really came out of nowhere. I love drawing plants and flowers. Then I thought what if I put something totally unrelated in the flower? How about penguin? It must be fun to have him holding a lollipop with fishes flying above ( I got the flying fish idea from a children's book laying beside me at the time).

I have always wanted to draw something whimsical, magical, surreal. Full of details of patterns or background. In the past, my drawings were mostly based on reality but ever since I started my 365 days I draw project and now draw everyday project, I think my drawings have gradually broken into magical realm. I love it. Drawing's getting more fun everyday :D

And here is the color version.



I have to say white paper seems to be more intimidating than kraft paper. I was a bit nervous when choosing colors. I imagined I would have more bright and colorful colors but then I changed my mind and just wanted to have the penguin and the flower popping up from green surrounding. Love how it turns out. How about you?

I used Copic markers for this drawing :) Going to draw more tonight. I told you I was so in love with the pen! :D

Draw everyday no. 48 and Sunday Sketches

My draw everyday no. 48 and Sunday Sketches. I started this having something more mature in mind but ended up with this whimsical piece instead :P Anyway, have a merry Sunday!

Art swap : Merry Girl in the flower garden

Last year I had a chance to meet wonderful ladies through Creative Courage facebook group. One day the idea of having a sketchbook swap group was posted and I immediately asked if I could join. It's quite strange for my timid self to ask something like that and it was going to be an international activity too. But then I was in the course talking about courage and creativity, I guess that's why I surprised myself :)

I have to say it's really one of my best decisions in life. We finally formed a small group around May 2013 and now is July 2014, the group project is done. Since we're still figuring out how to reveal the whole project, I'm going to go into details later when we are ready. For now, I guess it's ok to talk about my very first contribution to the project.

I remember posting above picture on my facebook page last year. It's the first stage of the page I was doing for the project. I didn't think much at first what I would do. I just sat down and drew flowers (my usual subject when doodling). Then a picture of a field of flowers started forming in my head and I kept drawing more.



I wanted to play with depth so I tried cutting out the flowers. (I hesitated for a second but this was supposed to be playing and fun so pick up the scissors!)



At this point, I knew how I would like the whole image to turn out. I traced the outline of the first cut-out paper on another sheet, lightly with pencil. This became a guideline for drawing another set of flowers. Then my character, Merry Girl, came in on the stage. I cut her out of another sheet of paper too.



I also cut out the second flower set then tried layering the pieces. The idea was to make it look like my Merry Girl was admiring flowers in the garden.



The last step was to add the big smiley sun and little fluffy clouds in the background. I was thinking about adding something more but I already learned how to stop when it's enough. I just didn't want to ruin the whole scene ;)

You may have a glimpse of adjacent page on the right. It's another member's contribution in this sketchbook and I can't wait to show them all!

Thanks for coming. I hope this bright drawing can make you feel merry :)

draw everyday challenge : the little brown book project

One night I picked up this little brown book and started drawing then posted it on instagram and my facebook page. I wrote 'draw everyday' in the caption and decided to do drawing everyday challenge again. This is a bit scary to me as I used to do a grand project called '365 days I draw' started in 2010, meaning to draw on specific topic everyday for a year. Sadly, I could manage only 130 drawings. After that I found drawing on topic everyday was stressful and not fun anymore so I stopped it. I missed the feeling of doing something everyday though.

So here I am starting an everyday project again. This time I make it easier by drawing on smaller space (this book is about 4x5 inches), using limited colors as I have only a few markers and no topic. I almost called it bedtime drawings as I only draw at night, after work when I am most relaxed.

It is really a nourishing project. I found myself looking forward to drawing something at night everyday. It's funny that by day I get stressed on drawing something for work, by night the same activity can also make me relaxed :)

I have come to day 13 already. You can follow my everyday drawings through facebook and instagram (@onmerryday or #littlebrownbookproject). I already bought several copies of this little brown book. Let's see which one will come first, me getting bored or run out of ideas or all the books filled up.

I hope it will be the latter. Thanks for coming. Have a merry day :D

sweet celebration work in progress and I'm setting my goal!

I'm still working on Make Art That Sells part B class assignments. As I mentioned in the previous posts, week 1 assignment is to design a holiday card with candies and ornaments as keywords. Since I'm working on this on my own (the class already ended last year) and there is no deadline, I decided to do a set of design for each week's topic. I have done a couple of illustrations and this one above is the third. The overall design is not yet completely finished. I need to make the pieces look more cohesive.

My goal for this year is to create a new portfolio website containing works done from this MATS class. It's going to be a big step for me as I determine to improve my overall design work, make it more presentable and professional. My work so far has been mainly book deign. I want to expand my career to illustration field now. So, I think I'm going to have to set a specific timeframe for this whole class assignment. There are 5 weeks assignments and I hope... I think I should use stronger word now... I MUST complete all 5 week assignments by the end of June! And then doing the website will be next.

So there I said it! It's quite scary to say it out loud. I'm not even sure I can make it. Although I don't think people will care much if I'm going to make it or not, making it publicly may help pushing me forward.

My problem right now is thinking too much. There always seems to be something that doesn't look right and I just keep changing and moving things around. I have to constantly remind myself not to spend too much time trying to be perfect. It's never going to happen. Finish this and move on!

Work in progress : candies forest

Work in progress after a week of not working. I had a terrible headache for several days. I realized I'm getting old now, not so young anymore. My body needs good nutrition and regular exercise. Yoga seems to be the best choice but I have neglected it for so long...

Just as I said earlier that this year was going to be the year of being offline. I was not quite so sure that I could be away from Facebook and the internet in general. Now I guess I could make it :D The world seems more peaceful and I could concentrate more on reading and making art.

I think I like myself better :)

This drawing is part of Make Art That Sells part B 2013 homework. It's still in progress and I guess it would be some time before it's all complete. I will write about my design process then :)

Today's drawing

Work in progress. Thinking about candies flowers and celebrations ;)

Remember to keep posting

Merry Saturday. I think the best strategy for keeping blog is to post whenever I feel like it.
Just post and record what I'm thinking, doing, drawing, reading and learning. No plan,
no stress. Just remember to keep posting...

MerryDay Holiday Collection and a big sale is here :D

My newest stationery design collection is here! The theme is merry holiday. November is coming up and also the happy season of Christmas and New Year. I initially designed this for Make Art That Sells part B first week assignment of holiday card. Then I decided to make a whole collection for my shop. The idea started from Christmas ornaments and the rest just came to me. I had so much fun creating this design set :D

You can look at each item's details in holiday/christmas section in my MerryDay shop. I hope you enjoy this bright and cheerful collection. It's something that I'm proud of :) Don't forget to look around the shop and see if there's anything you would love to have. It's special occasion and I'm having big shop sale now until November 25, 2013! Remember to use the discount code : MERRYHOLIDAY13 when check out. If you could spread the word, I would be very grateful :)

Now some of you may wonder how I have been after last post about my creative struggle. I actually got a message from a facebook friend. She's following my Page and she wondered why I had been so quiet. I was so touched and thankful that someone would care for me and my work enough to stop by and leave a message. It's one of the things that help me go through the struggle, which I think will be a helpful story to talk about.

Not today though ;) Now I just want you to go and take a look at my shop and enjoy! :D

PS. Please note that I create and ship everything from my hometown in Bangkok, Thailand. It will take about 1-3 weeks for international shipping from Thailand. You may want to order early to make it in time before Christmas :)

Remember the 10% discount code : MERRYHOLIDAY13 !

That's why it is called the present.

I have been struggling with something inside me lately. I feel I cannot work on my art as smoothly as I used to as in months ago. I keep thinking of improving my art and shop and have a lot of sketches in my sketchbooks but somehow I cannot produce them into final artwork. I discussed my feelings with my friends and they kindly pointed out why I have become so slow.

First, I'm trapped in the attempt to be perfect. I don't think I'm a perfectionist but maybe I'm subconsciously trying to be. Strangely enough, I went through this kind of perfection struggle once already when I decided to open my shop. Now it comes back to me.

Second, I have been absorbing too much of information. I took e-courses, read a lot of creative business blogs and books. All these information are good helpful things and I'm learning a lot. But it can be a double-edged sword when I cannot organize things in my head well enough. Plus, during the process of learning, I get to know a lot of people and I can't help comparing with them. I know it's a no-no thing for those who work in creative business. Comparing doesn't help, instead, it slows you down and even paralyzes you. I know this too well but still...

I miss myself when I could draw without thinking, just drew and posted my doodles on my Page almost everyday. When I just had fun and get excited with occasional Etsy orders...

But I guess there's always a cure for a problem. Now I know my problem. Someone says that guilt and comparison are not productive. So, I'm going to let those unproductive feelings go and live with the minutes of joy when I draw and paint. Learn as much as I can but won't put too much pressure on myself. I want to be successful in creative business but not as much as to be happy with my art in the present moment, I realize :)

By the way, the drawing above I drew as a sample for a book illustration project. The idea is based on the famous quote :

Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it is called the present.
---Alice Morse Earle

The illustration will look different in the final but this is already perfect for this post and my MerryDay :)

Thanks for coming. I hope you have a merry creative day :)