Last night marked the completion of the 9th sketchbook I’ve ever filled from cover to cover! So as promised, here are some of my favorite pages from said sketchbook. (Some of my favorites from this sketchbook have already been featured in my post about dangle art!)
Although this sketchbook was started in 2019, I actually filled about 60% of it in the last month. I’m excited to be starting a brand-new travel sketchbook, and I’m wondering how long it will take to fill up since I won’t be abandoning it this time! I think I will take it at a leisurely pace though, since I’m working on finishing a massive sketchbook that I can only draw in at home!
I’ve been wanting to make more Google Drive folders for my sketchbooks like I’ve done for the first two I completed, but I’ve not made the time to do so. I decided to just bite the bullet and do that for at least this one I just finished! I of course wish the photos were better but something is better than nothing in this case, and there were nearly 100 pages to photograph! Some pages have been slightly altered and one withheld entirely for the sake of privacy.
I’m a sucker for all methods of doodling and pattern drawing, which is why mandala is such a recurring theme for me. Dangles are right up my artistic alley. So after copying down many patterns in the book for reference, and of course practice, I decided to create my own original artworks using the dangle method:
In the future I would love to create real, tangible, 3D dangles! My partner pointed out to me that wind chimes are in fact dangles and that just made me all the more excited about the idea!
I actually have another post set to come out as early as later today, so I will see you all again very soon. Have a wonderful day!
Stickers courtesy of The Dollar Tree. I would love to credit the original artist but unfortunately they don’t so I have no idea who painted these lovely cacti!
These images are just a small sample of my favorite pages from this sketchbook.
The comic strips are collaborations with my partner, Jasper Rae. She did half the panels and I did the other half! It was a drawing game we came up with, one person draws a panel of a comic and then the other draws the next but with no communication or context other than the panel itself! It is based on other drawing games we’ve played and probably already existed in this same form before we thought of it, but nonetheless it is loads of fun and I highly recommend it!
I started this sketchbook all the way back in November of 2019, right after filling up the first sketchbook I ever filled from cover to cover! Most of it was actually filled in the last few months though, as part of my Art Supply No Buy side project of trying to finish up as many of my partially filled sketchbooks as possible. I “restarted” this sketchbook back in March, so it took only 4 months to fill the remaining 2/3 of the sketchbook!
While I won’t put a ton of pressure on myself to do so, I think it would be amazing if I actually managed to fill all of my semi-filled sketchbooks before the end of this year. I do own some blank ones still, so I won’t count those, but to just finally use the rest of all the ones I abandoned would be excellent. I hope to never abandon sketchbooks in such a way in the future, I plan on making much better purchasing decisions from now on!
I’ve got a couple things cooking in my drafts. I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted (relatively, given how I used to go months between posts) I’ve just been rather busy lately! Thankfully it’s not because of procrastinating anymore, I’ve come to really enjoy writing and I look forward to making these posts.
I sincerely hope you are all doing well. Thanks again for all the support! See you in the next post, whenever that may be!
Released a new traditional art coloring page today, and even got a sketch in too! I’ve started using my watercolor sketchbook more, and I’m hoping to actually get it wet soon.
Working on my mid-year Art Supply No Buy check-in post, so stay tuned! See you soon!
This coloring page was a special request from my mom, who gave me the idea for the little blank flags. I went with something super simple and open-ended so it is very customizable! I am eternally grateful to have a mom who accepts me and wants to support me and my community.
My queer identity has a very long and complicated story behind it. Today I have settled with the labels of “nonbinary lesbian” but it’s still something I continue to question on a regular basis. Luckily I am happily partnered to the most wonderful woman in the world so I don’t really need to think so hard about it!
I hope June is kind to each and every one of you, see you in the next post!
While it might read like it is, this post is NOT sponsored. I’m just excited about this wonderful tool I recently started using and I want to share it with the world.
These 3 mandalas were made in the android app Mandoo. It is completely free, no ads or in-app purchases! I love this app so much. It’s rare to find good apps that are completely free, but when I do I am so incredibly grateful.
Mandoo lets anyone create a mandala, from absolute novices to experienced veterans. This is because you only have to draw one section of the mandala, the app will automatically copy the design around the facets for you.
This isn’t a new concept, Mandoo is only one of many apps that can do this, but I love Mandoo for being ad-free and very simple to use. Many mandala coloring pages you find in coloring books are made this way with similar programs, and I can see why, It gives you perfect symmetry effortlessly and it saves loads of time!
If you’ve been around here long enough you should have gathered by now that I am a fan of “easy” art that is accessible to all skill levels. I am very much not someone who argues about what is or isn’t real art, I find that all to be overly pretentious and unnecessary. My whole mission is to inspire ALL people to embrace their creative side, so there’s no room for that nonsense here!
What I started using this app for is jotting down ideas for traditional pieces later, as lately I found myself overusing certain motifs and I have grown bored of them. The possibilities are endless and I want to unlock more of those possibilities! Even just by scribbling at random I can find new shapes that inspire me and I can use them again later. I have found myself making finished pieces in this app more and more though, since I enjoy using it so much.
Nothing really beats the experience of drawing a mandala entirely by hand for me, the repetition is actually part I like most. But if you’re someone who looks at mandala art and thinks it’s not for you because it looks too tedious, you might want to try a tool like this, because then you can make the same fancy circles I do without having to do quite as much work!
You may know that I have a Google Drive folder of all my free hand-drawn coloring pages, but I’m going to start a new one for these digital tool-assisted pieces. This will make it easier to choose coloring pages based on what better suits your personal tastes, and I will be able to release new line art faster using this tool. I can’t lie, my traditional pieces are more sentimental to me though since I have to put more work into them. You can expect to see me putting out both traditional and digital mandalas in the future, as I enjoy them both for different reasons.
[All photo credit goes to my partner this time around! It was much more frustrating than I expected to take photos of my tiny travel sketchbook. She really made this post possible, I was ready to give up! Thanks, love!]
This is just a small sample of the doodles I’ve made with my red/blue color palette. I would show more, but I need to figure out how to get decent photos!
These red and blue Sakura Pigma Micron PN pens were some of the last supplies I bought before I decided to do an Art Supply No Buy, I bought them right before Birdie was born because I was anxious and I thought it would cheer me up. I didn’t start really using them until this year though!
I had read about limiting one’s color palette and how useful it can be, and I’m really glad I tried it out for myself. The rumors are true, it’s fantastic! I struggle a lot with decision fatigue and this solves that problem. I don’t like working in just black and white all the time, so this gives me that color I crave while still not overwhelming my brain!
Deciding what elements of the drawing to make which color is exciting for me. Since most of the things I draw are not actually blue and red in real life it’s so interesting to see how different it looks when I cut down the colors to just two. I love how I can add emphasis and contrast using this method.
When it comes to doing art on the go I think a very limited palette is the best choice for me and I will continue with this method in the future. I would like to try experimenting with cyan, yellow, and magenta next time! Those are my 3 favorite colors, and they’re a famous trio!
I have extreme anxiety, including social anxiety. I second guess and ruminate over nearly every interaction I ever have with another human being. Every social mistake I make triggers self-loathing thoughts. I struggle with this every day, and I have for well over half my almost-26-years of life.
This one is a self portrait. The last time I drew myself I looked a lot different, I shaved my head a few months after Birdie was born. I’m autistic and I desperately needed one less sensory input. This isn’t the first time I’ve done a buzz cut, and it likely won’t be the last, but it’s the first time in a few years. I’m not fussed about it, I can grow it back whenever I want, I’ve done it before!
I’m not good at drawing people, but I don’t have to be. I think this piece effectively communicates what I was trying to convey, and art is all about communication.
I believe that venting is one of the most important uses for art. When words alone fail us, the visual arts can come in to pick up the slack.
That’s all for now, but I have a more positive post with the same color scheme underway! See you next time.
Again, I’d love to post full tours (or at the very least, more google drive folders!) of all my completed sketchbooks but I just lack the energy to devote to something like that right now.
So in the meantime, here are some highlights from that sketchbook I just completed tonight. That one was definitely more of a messy sketchbook, there were countless terrible doodles, but I thought these pages turned out a little better than the rest.
Ari October Art 