Illustrating Emotions - Skillshare Class by Anne Bollman

I have started reworking on my first written and illustrated book (its too personal so i keep finding reasons to not work on it- more about it later in another post). The story is quiet emotional and I have been scared of approaching this very honestly. So best to help myself and not to think of this excuse again, there are 2 topics I will be focussing on to start with on Skillshare - Surface Pattern design (To hone further skills and though I have been a Pattern Designer for 13 years now, I am fascinated by how somebody works in the same field) and the second topic is Illustrating Characters or Childrens book. 

The first class I took this week is approx 40 min long Class by Anne Bollman (Anne was Here) called Illustrating Emotions.

Outline of the class - Drawing happy characters comes easily to most artists, but what if you need your character to show another emotion? In this class we will explore how to apply emotion to a character. 

I must say the class delivers fully to what it says, Ok the research idea maybe is taught to illustrators or maybe some people work like that already instinctively, but the idea of going thru childrens book and making a graph/ a chart to compare how different illustrators draw an emotion I had never thought of that! I found it very refreshing and love how simply she has explained it. Earlier I was happy with what rough sketches I had created, now I will be revisiting these. 

On other note - Anne Bollman characters have such beautiful eyes. I love them. Have you taken the class? if yes let me know what you thought? Or if you have taken any other of her classes, let me know?

Learning Always - Skillshare Gems

In March I published my first skillshare class 'Balancing Art Practice with Motherhood' - quite an intimate topic and I felt really vulnerable opening up but I wanted it to be personal. - In the Class i share with ideas for art practice  that i have used & learned over times while overpowering my beliefs as I became a mom- An Artist Mom.  Some of the feedback and reviews I received have been so heart touching especially when they have said the things i have shared could easily be applicable for people who aren't parents.  Few people even mentioned how different parts of the class topic really hit home and inspired them. Please do have a look or share with someone you think might relate - The class is 30 mins long.

My mom used to tell me to write down things so that I can remember better and My dad said recently being a Sikh means learning for life. As my class is performing well according to Skillshare I have received a year membership so i have plenty of amazing classes to learn from. 

Inspired by the saying of my mom and dad, I have  thought of sharing my take from various Skillshare classes or whatever I have learnt in written form here including  if there were any specific reviews I wanted to give to a Class. Hopefully somebody else will find it useful too. 

A Break from Instagram - Mental Health

 How easily do you get lost in Instagram hole, or Pinterest hole? or any social media hole per say? If you had asked me a week back i would have said most of the time!

Its been more than a week I have resisted going on Instagram, looking at other beautiful artworks and getting lost in it. I haven't posted anything for the week consciously, I feel a bit strange but needed it for my mental health. Now till 3rd May I am away from  instagram except the Instalive Thursdays for Permission to Create.

Moving countries during Pandemic, figuring out what we actually want to do or rather I want to do, has been tricky. I think the case is with many creatives who easily loose themselves in the heap of ideas and feel overwhelmed on the amount of things they can do but of course realistically one has only certain hours in day, and one cant keep feeling bad about each idea that they cant give their best or work on. Or maybe we can and its about time that it should be stopped, for me definitely. 

I have been going to Gurudwara everyday for past 40days, which helped me further in clearing my head, for that few mins to have space to think and appreciate something else than just house admin. 

I hope wherever you are you manage to get few mins if not more to your self everyday. Atleast sometime where you can re focus on the wider perspective of your life and your creative being.

Picture below - Fryent Park London 

Trousers credit Joan Hebbard

100 Day Project

 This year its my 4th 100 days project and I am already lagging behind but for some big reasons, Been working on Skillshare class and Day dreaming about Permission to Create platform. I never thought i could teach or be in education sector, but i suppose am still not teaching its more of sharing what i know!

Here are few pics from my Decorated Vehicles project, inspired from Southasian vehicles especially India and Pakistan. I always wanted to create a series in this so am glad I finally started working on this.

Materials Used 

Camel Poster Colours (They work like Gouache)

Posca markers (these work like dream)

Goldline Watercolour Pad 

Taklon Paintbrush

School Online or In Person - New City, New learnings

 Its going to be 2 months since we relocated to Toronto, and as the pandemic seems to be evolving and lockdown increasing, K (little human) joined Virtual school.  It has been a bag of mixed feelings, coming from Montessori background and now trying to tell him see your screen, are you paying attention to what they are saying, it all feels so contradictory to what we had been focussing on. 

For K give him Lego and sit next to him, he is all sorted for endless fun.

From next week he would be able to go in person, I am excited and concerned at same time, like am sure many others here! I want him to make friends, want him to play and learn, but its going to be such different experience as they have to wear mask on for all the time except eating and for small mask breaks! They have be to away from each other. We are going to see how his first week goes and take it from there, if it doesnt wok out we will be focussing on Homeschooling.  What are you doing? Are you sending your child in? Do you feel nervous about all this. 

More I think more I realize kids are much quicker in adjusting and maybe all this will work out?!

Facing the fear as an Artist

see the process on instagram

Its very easy to get caught up in the comfortable to keep on doing what you are used to with fears of different kind, no matter if you an artist or in any other field.  Once in awhile its important to pay attention to whats calling you, whats asking you to come play, what idea you have been saving tod o one day but your inner critic takes over. Because when you do face it, the growth you will experience could change you, inspire you. 

For me I had been sitting on the idea of painting decorative vehicles, especially trucks and painting a collection of surface patterns based on the truck art. I remember I even studied this in my early years of college. But i never gave it much importance, my inner critic had many things to say - like you have never drawn vehicles before (I am sure I have but I can't remember any), its been done so many times, its so time consuming you have time for this.....and many more. I am sure some of you can relate to this. 

But am glad I took this challenge as a part of my 100dayproject 2021, so I am not only writing a blog post everyday but also painting everyday and sharing my progress on Instagram.

I am so glad I painted this scooter based on Trucks of Pakistan's picture, it helped me tell my fear take a side seat.  It might not be perfect in perspective but it surely is a cheerful scooter for me to show me and remind me I can do.

If an idea keeps on nudging pay attention to it. Hope you will face your fears too and blow away the dust on the ideas that have been waiting for you to show up.

What do you to inspire yourself?

 Salvador Dali would fall asleep with a key in his hand, suspended over plate.Just as he fell asleep, the clatter of the dropped key would startle him to consciousness so he record and paint his dreamlike state.

The writer Honore de Balzac drank 50 cups of coffee a day. 

At the end of every month, Andy Warhol collected a time capsule of objects which once included a mummified foot. 

What do you to inspire yourself? To Fill the Artist's well?   I go for a walk!

Yes a walk. Walks that have no real purpose and no real goal, but are all about staring at the sky or sidewalks and talking to myself. Now i have little one talking to me and being curious, which helps most of the times to make me realize he is asking real questions. When he was around 2 years old, the walks had such different meaning to them, these slowest walks without motives were spent looking at anthills and snails crossing the sidewalks. which I hadn't done in years.

But I do have to say I love walks on my own, or just lying down on the grass or staring at the waves, walking through a forest/wild growth...... 

The more I think about it, I realize all these actually calm my chaotic mind helping me see clearly, the inspiration that was there in front of me all along. The leaves moving, the clouds changing shapes, the barefoot walks, the key is in the small details. 

Would love to know what you do to inspire yourself?

p.s. I did use to keep a sketchbook next to my pillow to record my dreams, but havent done that exercise in a while.