I did Jon Spencer’s January Event and drew some birds. 🐦 🖍 (art post)

Okay, so.

January was a rough month for me. What I mean is that I spent the first… 4/5ths of January attempting to keep myself from the clutches of dread as I awaited health information. To get it out of the way at the top of the hour, I’ll say it now that my procedure went fine, and it’s looking like things aren’t nearly as bad as they could have been, so.

THAT’S GREAT! I can breathe again! The last four days of January have been fantastic!

Anyway, I mention all this to explain that January has been rough, my dudes. However, Jon Spencer (of Jon Spencer Anime Reviews) challenged everyone on his Discord server to an event this month, and gosh darn it, I wanted to try, even if I was starting belatedly. Our instructions were, “For January, either try something you never have (but always wanted to) or revisit an old hobby you’ve since abandoned. Keep track of how things go during the month.“

So, I sort of did that. Coincidentally, the event coincided with a renewal of one of my interests.

(How many times can I say “so” in one post?)

SO.

I was one of the “art kids” in high school. I’ve always been a better writer than artist, but it was something I was good at and very much enjoyed. I braved the basement and dug some of these up.

This January, I ended up pulling out the sketchbook and getting back into art just a little bit. At the beginning of the pandemic, I renewed my interest in painting, but after completing just one painted landscape (and a quick shaded Easter egg), I fell off the wagon again. I blame all the craft projects I had to do for work.

At Christmas time, my mom and dad gifted me a set of KingArt mixed media gel sticks (oil pastels with really nice holders so your hands don’t get icky, basically.) With that in mind, I grabbed a few pencils and my new pastels and got to work on a series of quick sketches.

Firstly, although I don’t play Overwatch, I tried sketching one of my husband’s figures. Meet Bastion and his birb.

Next, I tried the same thing in oil pastel. I realized I really enjoy sketching with oil pastel, especially since, when sketching, I never erase.

Following, I decided that I was in love with sketching simple birds, so I did that a little bit. A few cartoon-ish characters later, and I ended my experiment.

The next time I picked up my sketchbook, I decided to get more serious with my sketching, and looked up some bird references. I proceeded to sketch, and fell in LOVE with my angry, baby floofs.

Seriously, I love them. Baby birds are so cute. They look so angry. ❤

So, now I think I’ll keep sketching on the semi-regular. Maybe? I love painting, too, but sketching is more low-maintenance. And that’s my experience. So.

So.

If I find my motorcycle screen print, maybe I’ll post it here.

Until then… Stay home when you can, where a mask when you can’t, wash your hands, and stay safe!

~Shoujo🌸