WITHIN MY LOCKET

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AND SO IT BEGINS...

I am not an artist by any stretch... yet?

However, I have the idea of putting pen to paper to not only conjure up worlds with fanciful, powerful and seductive words but also with lines, texture and colour knocking me sideways for a long while now - watching endless videos of illustrators, painters, graphic designers, animators you name it sharing their process and snippets of the projects will do that to a person. My scribbles and doodles leave a lot to be imagined and have led me to abandon this cause many-a-time but, like I said before, the image of me actually translating what is in my head on paper in a way that is understood by most in the manner that I intended it to as well as in ways I could not have imagined keeps pulling me back.

And so it begins.

It being me learning to #EmbraceImperfections in my "art". I say "art" because I do not want to insult anyone by grouping my current attempts in with actual art. Have no fear though, I am like 90% sure those quotes will disappear one day even if that day is my 86th birthday or sometime after I die. If Hayao Miyazaki can make an animated movie in his 70's that is sure to be loved by millions like most if not all his other films are,then the least I could is practise how to draw a flower somewhat regularly until I am able to draw a detailed landscape filled with cherry blossoms and marigolds in a way that to the "untrained" eye appears to be a photograph... No one is dreaming small here folks ;)

The Storyboard_Tools -WML.jpg

Oh how I love art supplies.

I figured there is no need to get ahead of ourselves here. I (or we? Fancy joining me?) will be using the basic tools of the trade to understand the tricky concepts of light, shadow and perspective. My creations will truly test our ability to #EmbraceImperfections as they are awful but it is best I get over that now. This stage is all about quantity over quality. And do not worry, I will be filling you in on my adventures in great detail right here whether you care to know or not. Speaking of details, the tools I am using at the moment are:

And as there are a multitude of things I could start drawing, I have decided to focus on lighthearted botanical studies . I say 'lighthearted' because I am a somewhat aware of how intense actual botanical illustrations can be and that is not what I am doing (yet?). Why botany first? Well, I took a quick look through my phone to see what I normally photograph and it turns out I do have a thing for flowers of all shapes, sizes and shades. Bearing that in mind, I thought it useful to thoroughly understand my subjects by borrowing a few books from my local library as well as purchasing a couple:

I am hesitant to say that I am eager to see what my illustrations will look like but I am excited to learn about my chosen subjects and see how I will improve over time. I have decided to call this little project 'The Storyboard' because all that I create in the order in which I do them could be seen as being my very own live storyboard. Anyway, that's enough babble from me. I am sure you ( i.e. future Mo) are itching to see my illustrations so I will get a move on then.

ArtMo Ray