weekly (?) check-in #1
July 12, 2026
Happy Sunday! Well, it's 10:40pm PST as I'm proof-reading this so it's Monday for most of the world. I digress.
It dawned on me the other day that I could use this art blog as *gasp* an art blog!? Here are the things I worked on this week, things I'm excited for, plus some general thoughts.
I've felt stagnant in my art for a long time now. While I'm always reflecting, and seeing beats of improvement, it's been difficult in the past few years to make art in a way that feels consistent (time-wise, not stylistic consistency). Though art rarely has linear processes, it frustrates me that I truly could not tell you the average amount of time I spend on even smaller pieces. As I get older, I can logically recognize that 'regular' practice does not need to mean making art every day, but that doesn't keep me, or others, from feeling like we aren't doing enough.
So with these check-ins, I hope that in the longterm they will allow me to step back and look for patterns in my processes. To figure out what level of 'regular' is feasible, and how I can better work with my existing art habits (working for extended periods of time and/or hyperfixating until the work is done lol).
STUFF I WORKED ON THIS PAST WEEK:
Lineart practice - In the past I really hated doing lineart. I told myself that it was because I just preferred painting + colours, or because sketches feel more lively, or even that I was just too lazy for it. If I wanted to get deep, I could say that my aversion to lineart speaks to my general issues with indecision. Over the past few months, I've been wanting to improve my sketching and 'decision-making', so to speak. So yes, I am in my lineart era these days. Finished this illustration which I started in March :D
💬 0 🔁 0 ❤️ 0 · whew, finally finished with this! oh, TBZ royal / vampire concept, how i yearn for thee...
Marker practice - A friend of mine recently got some alcohol markers plus a colouring book, and she recommended that I check out a skintone set. Since buying it and dusting off my other marker sets, I've done some practice pieces and the overall process is clicking this time around. Thankfully, this goes in tandem with that goal of decisive sketching and practicing lineart. I'm contemplating doing a full set of the Princessez but that's 9 more members, so no promises.
Comics/thinkpieces (not sure how to refer to these) - Started these one-shot type comics. We shall see if these ever get completed lol
UPCOMING STUFF:
Personal - Two separate life events upcoming for people I love so I'd like to make something for those.
Art styles / design movements? - I yearn for brain elasticity!!!!!! I'm intrigued by art nouveaux / retro-maximalist design as of late. Would love to do some studies or just go through some related readings.
Studies / anatomy practice / sketching - I know I should do this. I WANT to do these. And yet... the motivation... Error 404, I fear. This may have to remain on my to-do list for a while longer 🫣
Crafts/Misc - I had so much fun making freebies for Junhee's show a few weeks back (was that really two weeks ago!??? girl take me back) and now I am scheming. I see concert announcements (*cough* ARTMS) and ofc I want to go anyways, but now I'm like... freebiesfreebiesfreebies-i-can-make-freebies-yay! Oddly enough when I had no deadline, it was always a strugglebus to complete creative projects around the 9-5 work/school schedule. But with my past two times making concert freebies, having a strict deadline really helped. And it was so rewarding to see something tangible come of my art, to see everything come together at the end, even if it was stressful. I'm starting to think about what I might do for the potential December TBZ show. Currently, I have one event in September (Dan and Phil) and I have a somewhat ridiculous idea for that. We shall see what, if anything, comes of it! So far, the freebies I've done were rather large-scale productions for just one person so I definitely need to figure out how to scale it back.