The amount of art and sketches that I was too embarrased to share is ALOT. My sketching phase is messy and blobby and crude and the list goes on. I recall feeling so mediocre in art school when it was time to draw something from scratch rather than a still life. I'd picture it in my brain and then when I went to put pencil to paper I was severly unhappy with the outcome. BUT, over time I realized it did not need to be perfect immediately. I could keep sketching over it and over it again and again until I reached a happy spot. It did't mean I was less worthy than others, but it meant I just had a different process. I don't think it was until the past few years that I have embraced this feeling. I destinctly recall a moment in 2020 where I could not believe how icky one of my sketch attempts made me feel. After being inspired by artist Rebecca Greens sharing of her "uglies" as she calls them, I thought it would be fun to open up my sketch books and art drawers to find some random baddies and random goodies. Let's dig in!
Opening two of the drawers you can see how jam packed they are with artwork. Stacks on stacks on stacks as one might say. There are sketches, finished illustrations, first attempts, swatches, and second attempts. I pulled out some random sketches to share below.
I honestly don't recall what this elephant was for, but clearly I didn't think he was worth showing at the time. Looking at him now, he definitely makes me laugh.
This sketch was an attempt to draw animals without looking at them for reference. They're a bit crude but I do think that was a fun art assignment for myself.
I actually wouldn't consider this a baddie at all, but I forgot about this little astronaut drawing. I believe it was one of my first ones ever!! I was figuring out the style I wanted in my astronaut series and this was one of the attempts.
So, if you recall I wrote the book I'm working on waaaay back in 2017, and at the time I made a few sketches for the charachter and the book. At the time I thought they were awful and I was so overwhelmed by the project that I hit pause for several years. Looking at them now, they aren't bad by any means, but I'm honestly glad I abandoned ship because I really like the art direction now.
Random animals in tubs for my bathroom animal series. I think I was toying with a playful style versus a realistic look and ultimately went realistic.
This random bear and sheep...Very childlike, but ultimately he's cute and playful and I think he may be wearing a swimsuit. The sheep is the opposite direction and (gasp) legless!
Repetitive fox faces and one bear
Two more to go: Random roller skaters and a very sassy girl eating a sammie!
And final sketch share: This may be the winner...an entire page devouted to this "c" shaped line. What was it supposed to be? And why did I decide to move on so quickly?
I truly got a kick out of exploring my sketchbooks and my art drawer. Definitely has reminded me that it's okay to start out rough and likely it's not as bad as I think. I would also argue this is a lovely reminder to not be afraid to jump right in to creating art. Even if its rough at first...ya gotta start somewhere!
I hope you enjoyed this post and I look forward to chatting with you again in May!
xoxo, Rachel
I hope your cups are as full as they can be right now, and if they aren't that is okay too. My February was a bit of a wild ride of emotions, but it ended on a meanigful note. Nestled cozily in my mailbox was my printed copy of The ABCs of Grief: Emotions and Feelings by Jessica Correnti. If you are new here, I illustrated the first and second book of this series geared toward helping little ones (and big ones alike) understand grief and navigate their emotions and feelings. I am soooo excited to share the second book with you. Seeing my illustrations paired with Jessica's insightful words is such a meaningful moment for me, and I know its going to help so many little ones on their grieving and healing journeys.
While the first book is a broad view of what grief is and all of its misconceptions, the second book dives deep into all of the emotions and feelings that you can have while grieving ranging from sadness to joy to anger to relief and the list goes on. Jessica tasked me with creating the illustrations to each letter of the alphabet, and as a lovely little dive into the book I gathered a sneak peek of three of my favorite pages below.
Three Emotions and Feelings Explored
Edgy: "E is for Edgy...At times I feel nervous and afraid that more difficult things will happen." - Jessica Correnti
Boy did I feel this one! When something bad happens my brain spirals, waiting for more bad to happen. In approaching this illustration I immediately imagined fear and scary thoughts following me around like my shadow. I illustrated this feeling once before, but it really felt like it belonged on this page.
Guarded: "G is for Guarded...I hold my feelings close to my heart. I am unsure if I am ready to share what is on my mind with the world." - Jessica Correnti
This one hit hard for me too. It's easy to feel protective over our emotions, especially when we don't quite understand what they are. I have a tendency to guard my feelings tightly until I've processed and reflected upon them. For this illustration I had a few different ideas, but this one I kept coming back to: Warriors standing guard to the entrance to a castle door. I wanted to bring the heart idea into the fold, so I illustrated it carved into the door like a fortress.
Loving: "L is for Loving...I feel so much love through my pain. Love can travel through time and space. My love can even reach the sky." - Jessica Correnti
This may be one of my favorite pages of the book, and the perfect example of how we can feel two opposite things at once: sadness and joy, fear and love, and so on. It's hard for me to process and accept that it's okay to feel love and joy when I'm sad. It feels like I'm dismissing the grief I'm feeling, but in reality we grieve because something mattered to us. And isn't it a wonderful thing to have cared and loved something that much!
For this illustration, my space series came to mind, but with a twist: A shooting heart! I imagined my heart zooming through the night sky and I imagined taking a rocket to the stars and grabbing hold of the shooting heart!
This book was very impactful for me. While illustrating this book my mom started her chemo treatment and stem cell transplant. Simultaneously I was navigating my first year as a new mom. I was experiencing incredible highs and incredible lows, sometimes all in the same day. But every time I sat down to work on this book I found myself immersed in a bit of therapy. Not only is drawing and painting such a helpful tool in and of itself for my mental health, but thinking through Jessica's words on grief was so beneficial for me to understand what I was feeling.
I truly hope you all enjoy the second book as much as I do. I'm so proud of my illustrations and I hope it helps all the little and big grievers in the world.
You can buy your own copy here.
Until next time, Rachel
Hello my Snazzy Snakes and Happy February and Happy Lunar New Year to you all!!!
I know what you're thinking!! Rachel, I don't want to be a snake. They're icky and scary and all of the slithery things. I too thought these things for the longest time! But this year, I decided to look up the meaning of the snake and was so moved by the symbolism that I am fully embracing its vibes.
I was born in the year of the snake in 1989 and never thought twice about it except that I hate snakes. But I read that the year of the snake is about shedding your skin, releasing that which you don't need to hold onto anymore, and embracing your new self. Chills!!!!
After a year of motherhood, this is something I'm trying to do. Let go of gripes, let go of things that make me anxious (major work in progress here), and move forward with only the things I need.
I was so moved by the symbolism and the fact that Valentine's Day is upon us, that a little snake illustration was in order (and exciting news, you're receiving a freebie download of this print!!)
But before we get into that I thought it would be fun to show you a little behind the scenes how I made this design.
Let's get into it:
I made this in the Procreate Drawing App on my Ipad using my apple pencil. It's a tool that has become such an integral part to my art process. Sometimes I soley draw pieces on the Ipad, and other times I use it to sketch out ideas or tidy up a scanned in painting.
For the snake, I started with a quick sketch, knowing I wanted the moon, and some hearts in the mix.
Then I made a quick color palette and color-blocking sketch to help me see what route I wanted to head in. This technique is newer to my practice. I have a tendency to be impatient and dive in, which can be great, but if I'm working quickly a thumbnail color blocking sketch helps me not do as much negative work.
After creating a thumbnail, I enlarged it to the size of my final design. Then, I lowered the opacity and started drawing over top of the sketch. I blocked out color in the final design, first with the snake, then the blue hearts.
After getting all of my major pieces into the design, I removed my sketch layer and toyed around with different textures and slight color variations (keeping my color palette in mind). As you can see, I ultimately decided the moon needed to be lighter in color, so this was the final product.
She's chic and confident and at peace (in my humble opinion).
You can download your art print below. Feel free to print, share, and tag me on social @artbynieman
I'll see you beauties in March!
xoxo
Rachel