A Drawing, a Comic, a Poem, and Just Generally Some Faffing About · 7:09pm March 10th
So I've been getting back into art recently.
I imagine almost none of you know this, but I actually went to an arts high school, back in the olden days. I majored in visual art (and minored in the violin, though that's neither here nor there, I haven't touched it in almost a decade now). I was never very good at art (and definitely never ask me to paint, Jesus Christ), but I liked doing it.
I kind of stopped doing art while I was in college, though. That's when I started getting really into writing, and I threw myself into that. Then a lot of things happened. It's complicated. You don't want to hear about it. It was a long time ago.
I recently started watching a channel called Drawfee on YouTube. It's sort of a comedy art show, they upload an episode every Tuesday and Thursday. Just a bunch of artists drawing silly things, doing silly prompts, etc. And it's really made me want to take up art again. I bought a sketchbook in December, did a lot of figure drawing from photos. Finally bought Clip Studio Paint.
At the moment, I'm experimenting with doing linework as vector art and then colouring it in Clip. Which is how the picture of Rarity up above was done; I did a sketch in Clip, put it into a program called inkscape, vectored over it, then sent it back to Clip to paint. It's not amazing, I'm still working out the technique, but I always hated doing lineart normally and it makes me want to actually make art, so... whatever works, I guess.
Here's something else I've been working on. It's very stupid. It's called 'Tall Bulborb':
I played Pikmin 2 a lot as a kid. Like a lot. Never fully beat it. I paid off the debt later, a few years ago, but I've never saved (for a certain definition of saved) Louie. It's still one of my favourite games. I also played Pikmin 4 when that came out. Also an excellent game. Probably my game of the year.
I know it's not a very good comic. But I think the point of making things at all is to get better at them. Sometimes you just have to make shit. That's how I got okay at writing. By making shit.
Speaking of making shit:
I once asked Luna
What it meant to live forever.She replied
(In words that were like poetry)
(As she always did)
(I loved that about her)
that as a day is to an ant
and a year is to a pony
a decade is to a tortoise
and a century is to the earth itself
so too is a millennia gone in the blink of an eye for her.And yet, she said
that didn't make what happened in that millennia any less meaningful
sad, happy, or otherwise
because she had lived it
and those she was fond of had lived it with her
and that was what mattered.I thought on this a while
Until the same tired question came to my lips:
"What about those who you were fond of
that you had to leave behind?"She sighed.
"Twilight,"
she said,
"It will be hard for you
Perhaps more than it was for me
(For I was foolish, and kept my heart close.)
But you will learn, in time,
That the best thing you can do for someone
Is hold on to their memory
For in that way
They, too
May live forever."
I wrote this poem this morning. It is also shit; I'm terrible at poetry. I wrote it because my birthday is next month. I'm edging ever closer to thirty. Scary! But I was ruminating on aging, and what it means for time to pass, and what that must feel like to someone who's lived as long as Luna.
I dunno, I thought I'd share it. Why not.
Other things that have been happening: I started keto a week or two ago (I forget which). It's supposed to have good effects on my brand of mental illness, so I thought I'd try it. So far it hasn't been so bad, and I've lost eight pounds to boot, but I've been feeling pretty good lately and I know the diet's going to get a lot harder once I slip into depression again. So that's something to look forward to.
alafoel introduced me to a new album recently. It's I'm Wide Awake It's Morning by the band Bright Eyes. I've been listening to it basically non-stop. It's kinda melancholic though.
I've been reading The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin, very slowly, whenever I'm waiting for an appointment at the hospital. It's a fifty-year-old science fiction novel, which isn't my usual fare, but this one concerns topics that are relevant to me. It's pretty cool so far. Maybe look up a summary and see if it sounds interesting to you.
That's all I have to ramble about, I think. I dunno why I wrote this blog. Maybe because I feel lonely. Maybe just to show off.
Regardless, thank you for being here for my bullshit, everyone.
- RB
We love making shit around here!
You're very talented! I'm glad to hear that you're picking some old creative endeavors back up!
You're doing great!
Hurray for sharing cool stuff! That art is super cute and the poem made me teary and it's gentle sweetness.
I'm glad to hear things are improving for you on multiple fronts too. n_n While progress is rarely linear (damnit) It's still worth celebrating the little victories.
Hey, I recognise that name! ...I used to watch drawfee all the time!
God, yeah. The first time I properly listened to it was on a day that was already really stressful for me, so I thought I'd put it on hopefully to chill out and I was just completely wiped out by the end, haha.
(I liked the poem, too.)
That's a pretty Rarity.
No one's first work is ever a masterpiece. Don't be afraid that you're currently making crap; keep making crap, find out why it's crap, and improve.