Here comes November, the creativity month!

As I mentioned before, this month seems like the month of all creativity. There are art challenges that get people together to do art everyday, according to their themes and concepts, for the whole month. I'm going to participate in Art Every Day Month (AEDM) as I did last year. The idea of this challenge is simply to create anything you consider art. It could be drawing, painting, sewing, photography etc. Anything that helps boosting your energy and creativity, you name it :)

There are also some other interesting challenges. I heard about National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and then Picture Book Idea Month (PiBoIdMo). The latter one is what I am interested in. I do have a goal of writing and illustrating a picture book myself. Not in the near future though. My priority right now is my etsy shop which is in the process of redesigning (quite slowly but I'm working on it!).

What I think I would benefit from following this challenge is that, with every day guest posts I would learn how creative people get their ideas, how they develop them into visual and verbal final works. As I love to collect picture books, process and behind the scene talks always excite me and I'm looking forward to it. In fact, I have enjoyed their Pre-PiBo posts already!

This month is going to be fun and inspiring. With the Art Every Day Month, you may see me more often here as I intend to draw and create as much as possible, along with my shop improvement of course :)

So, let this month be full of joy and colors :D

drawing : the love of Octopus

So, I think I'm gradually coming back to be myself, a person who draw almost all the time. In fact, I have been a member of some art groups but have been guiltily neglected most of them. It's not good. These groups are helpful, friendly and inspiring. They really help pushing me to pursue my art. So, I think I have to be more active now.

The illustration above is my latest style. It's done for The Fancy Pants Sketch Club on Facebook. The topic is 'Tentacles'. It's quick drawing and although I drew this while I was having a headache, I enjoyed it very much :)

It's a good feeling when you have finished something, even a small thing like this drawing.

I really love me, myself now :)

Every little thing could make big difference in life.

Every little thing could make big difference in life.

This little paper bag contained my latest shopping items from a zakka shop near my place. Simple sentence, but it has stuck on my mind for days. I have always been a person who believe that whatever things we do now will have a role in our future one way or another. No matter how trivial those things are. Just wondering how my little things I do now (such as writing this post?) may affect my future.

The future of unknown, it's a bit exciting, isn't it?

....

About my project of redesigning my shop. I'm still in the stage of researching, taking notes. The good news is I'm beginning to sketch down new ideas and do some digital drawings. 

Everything is in slow pace now but I can't wait to see the final solution already !

Here a sneak peek of what I'm working on :) 

Children's Book, Good Magazines and what's bothered me lately

If you are my old follower, you might have known already that I have an etsy shop selling illustration and paper goods. I don't put the link on right now because I have put the shop on vacation so that I can spend time in revamping my whole design.

I think those who work in creative fields might experience this feeling from time to time, the feeling of uncertainty and doubt. Not sure of your style. Not sure of the future. This has been bothering me for some time and I feel lost.

What would you do when you encounter this kind of feeling?...

When you get lost, you have to find a way back. I find it in books. Reading can bring you to focus state. When you focus, things will become crisp and clear...

I had had Beyond the Pawpaw Trees on my wish list for some time before I ordered it and I am so glad I finally did. It's a joyful book, full of beautiful black and white line drawings. More importantly, its simple but whimsical story just pulls me off the confusing reality to straightforward childhood, when you don't know the meaning of worry and could do whatever you want. That's what I need right now.  

Then I know a solution to my problem. If I don't feel happy with my art, why not find a way to improve it. So, these past two weeks I have let myself slipped into the world of blogs, creativity, and brainstorming. I look at shops and blogs I admire. I do research and read almost everything about online marketing. I take notes and collect every material that I think could be useful from magazines. (Martha Stewart Living and Anthology in picture above are really helpful and inspiring :) I train my eyes to look at everything in shapes, forms and colors and try to think further...

This will be going on forever as long as I want to have my business. But I think I'm having fun doing all these things and I begin to see how my shop is going to be now.

It's quite exhausting but I'm feeling good, inspired and energized.
Now that I can get back right on track :)

green inspire and a photo taking experiment

Since I moved in my  apartment, it has become a habit to buy flowers every week to decorate my little room. A friend suggested me to have some flower pots to take care, but I know I cannot do that. I have never been green-thumb person and I will feel so guilty if plants I take care of die on me :(. So, I choose to have different kind of flowers in a vase each week instead.

I usually buy flowers from little shop at my usual marketplace or from little stall around the corner. There are not many varieties, usually mums, roses or carnations but colorful shapes and fresh scent are enough to feel good just standing in front of them.

This week is green mum. There was only one bouquet in the shop and its different shades of green really stood out among colorful others. Somehow I fell in love with it... and already imagined taking photos of them on wooden background (it just popped in my head).

So here they are on my little wood panel. It’s kind of photo-shooting experiment.  My place is quite dark and it’s hard to find bright natural light around this time (it has been so cloudy for several days already). I used light from my desk lamp, turned it upward so the light would not reflect on the panel, and just pressed the shutter.

It turned out unreal to me, more like plastic and somewhat surreal. I like it though, especially the two green shades look so separate as if they are not from the same branch. It has something to do with the camera color function too, I guess. I’m really an amateur in photo taking :p

I really like these two green shades and wondering how I could use them on my next design :)

How about you? What colors inspire you today?

back to creative track

So...I have neglected my blog again. Same old reason, busy with my work and my time management inability :(

But writing something is always on my mind. I like the time when I get back to my old posts, read and wonder how this or that events happened to me. I don't have good memory, always forget things. So reading old things is like living my life again.

My life has changed a bit this year. I got married and moved to a small but cozy apartment in the city. It's not so much a life-changing stage, part of it is that I had been going out with my boyfriend for 10 years before marriage. It's a long relationship and I don't feel the need of adjustment much. I still work as a freelance graphic designer and I still have the same dream as I did last year.

October and November is like the season of learning for those creative minds. There are so many workshops and art challenges at this time of year. I was in the process of wrapping up some of my work projects when I came across Stephanie's post of her e-course, Creative Courage and I thought that I must take this course! And it is a good decision really. With the class started a couple of weeks ago, I have been able to focus my mind on what I have always wanted to succeed for so many years. In my mind, I can visualize my goal but it seems that the path to that goal is so blurry and I don't know where to start or I know where but it's very hard to keep going from there.

Not sure if I make myself clear. This post is more like rambling thoughts rather than well-thought writing. Forgive me...

Anyway, I enjoy Creative Courage very much and start to look for more. I remember my participation in Sketchbook Project 2011 and then Creative Every Day challenge. I miss waking up each day feeling energized and inspired to create something. Staying constantly focused in creative track is what I really need now. That's why I feel it's the right thing to enroll in another creative e-course, Blogging Your Way. As people always say being surrounded with creative people will help you stay inspired and I feel that already :)

 There are 2 more blogs I plan to follow and learn if not participating. Picture Book Idea Month (PiBoldMo) and Pugly Pixel's css workshop. Too many things? I'm starting to feel overwhelmed already but if I don't put too much stress on myself, it could be a fabulous time :D

Let's see how far I can go in this creative journey :)...

Wondering about my picture above? It's my inspiration board with quotes I love. I just did it this morning and found that taking some time before work to create something for myself really helps boosting my energy and I can focus more on my work after that.  And I'm looking forward to the next morning to do something fun like this again. :)

Thanks for stopping by. This post is way too long, I hope you don't get bored :)