(Water)coloring page!

~ Ari October ~ 2 Comments

I drew this new traditional coloring page in my watercolor sketchbook! I plan to use my watercolor paints to color the original myself.

I’m “getting high on my own supply” so to speak, I’ve recently started coloring my own coloring pages. Now I’m addicted, and I need more line art to color! It’s not like I’ve never colored before, I spent my childhood coloring like many of us did, and being an artsy type it was one of my favorite activities. However, over the last several years I have mostly focused on drawing, and for some reason I never really considered coloring my own coloring pages.

Now I’m coloring out of boredom and a desire for some low-stress creativity. I consider coloring to be an art form in and of itself, but there’s something particularly rewarding about coloring in line art drawn by oneself! I figured that since I have created so many of my own designs, and I think buying coloring books goes against my Art Supply No Buy, I might as well have a go at coloring them myself.

Since I started using Mandoo I have been able to create line art so much easier, it has really helped me ease back into drawing regularly. Wanting new designs to color is also a huge motivator for me now! I have been itching to get back into watercolor but I have been feeling intimidated, so I figured coloring would be a great way to start again.

I do plan on showing off some of my colored coloring pages soon, so stay tuned! Have a wonderful day and I’ll see you in the next post!

Neurographic Mandalas

~ Ari October ~ Leave a comment

Using Mandoo I was able to combine the concept of neurographic art with mandala and I love the results!

Doing this traditionally would be a lot harder and probably not a “true neurograph” since one is meant to start a neurograph with a random scribble, but with a mandala-making program it is completely possible and very easy!

If you are interested in coloring these I have uploaded them all to my digitally-drawn coloring pages Google Drive folder, so please enjoy!

Happy Pride Month!

~ Ari October ~ Leave a comment

You can find the original files for these coloring pages in my digitally-drawn coloring pages Google Drive folder!

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!

I accidentally violated my No Buy rules… Oops!!

~ Ari October ~ Leave a comment

Today I bought a pack of two stylus pens from The Dollar Tree to use with my phone. Unfortunately, I overlooked the fact that they are actual pens as well. Since they actually work surprisingly well I am certain I will end up using them as pens too, making this the first and only art supply I have bought in 2022.

Hopefully I can avoid making any more mistakes like this for the rest of the year, but what is done is done so I will just keep on going! Might as well just enjoy the new shiny toys since I have them now, the only alternative is to donate them and that feels silly since they do what I needed them to do.

Just wanted to make a quick post to hold myself accountable. See you in the next one!

Mandala made easy!

~ Ari October ~ 2 Comments

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.

See you in the next one, have a wonderful day!

Adventures in Red and Blue

~ Ari October ~ 1 Comment

[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!

That’s all for now, see you in the next one!

Panic

~ Ari October ~ Leave a comment

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.

Paper plate mandala doodle!

~ Ari October ~ Leave a comment

I went to my first in-person NA meeting since the start of the pandemic today, and once the meeting actually started I realized I was missing something very important: doodling supplies.

Luckily I had a fresh clean paper plate in front of me, all I needed was some ink. So I asked my sponsor to borrow a pen and with that I was all set!

Personally I find it much easier to focus on listening when my hands are busy drawing, especially something like a mandala or other abstract doodles. Otherwise I get too caught up in my own head to pay attention to what’s being said!

It’s nothing too impressive visually but I wanted to share anyway, as it’s the first drawing I’ve done in a while. I guess lately I’ve been having trouble drawing in sketchbooks and I’ve found a lot more enjoyment from drawing on random objects. I’ll definitely keep this in mind for when my No Buy ends.

Maybe it’s time for me to move on from being primarily a “sketchbook artist.” But I set a serious goal for important reasons so I’m not going to stop my No Buy now just because of this realization. I think I will always keep sketchbooks even if they aren’t my primary thing, and this year will be over before I know it.

Well that’s all for now, see you in the next post! Happy doodling 🙂

Why you can’t find me on Instagram

~ Ari October ~ Leave a comment

…or Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, etc.

This post doesn’t really have all that much to do with art, but it does answer (at length…) a question many people who stumble across this blog may have: so why the heck aren’t you on Instagram like all the other artists?

I’ll give you the TL;DR up front: I spent a large chunk of my youth on social media and I have experienced for myself just how damaging it can be. It is only through leaving, rejoining, and leaving again that I have come to see clearly what these sites do to me. I find myself much happier and less stressed now that I no longer participate on these sites.

I don’t think the internet is inherently evil or that we should all collectively throw our smartphones out the nearest window, but I do think that reevaluating our relationships with these things is a worthwhile endeavor.

So if you happen to be interested in a long story about why I have such a strong disdain for short-form blogging platforms with purposefully addictive algorithms, feel free to read on.

The full story:

I used to be a very active participant on social media. I practically lived on Tumblr from 2012 through 2017. I actually met my current partner on Tumblr after setting up a OkCupid account, linking my blog, and then forgetting about my OkCupid. So it’s safe to say I wouldn’t be who I am today if I hadn’t spent so much time on social media.

A growing awareness of the ill effects of social media began to plague me some time in early 2018. I started to realize that I liked my real-life friends more if I didn’t know what kind of nonsense they were getting up to on Facebook. Facebook was the first account to go, after I realized I only ever opened it out of compulsive habit and then left immediately because I knew I didn’t actually want to be there. It’s been 4 years now since I left Facebook, and I haven’t had a single ounce of regret nor the slightest desire to rejoin since.

The next to go was Tumblr, at which point I also dropped all social media I had at the time. Leaving Tumblr was the hardest because so much of my life had been spent there, but at that point I realized I was doing the same thing I did on Facebook: logging in, scrolling really really fast down the feed, and then closing the tab again. Over and over. The party was over for me and it was time for the compulsion to end.

Instagram and Twitter are another story. I have left and rejoined both sites more than once, but at the time of writing this I’m pretty sure I’m done with them for good.

By October of 2020 (there really is something about that month…) the loneliness of the pandemic really sank in. I decided against my better judgement to rejoin Instagram, and later Twitter as well, because what the hell else could I do!? I needed human contact. Unfortunately it ultimately made me feel even lonelier.

I started to become an “influencer” type when I ran a hair growth blog through Instagram, while maintaining an art account on the side. During this time my average daily screentime was 8+ hours, not even the slightest bit of an exaggeration, and I spent any time away from it obsessing about interactions I had with others there or about what my next post would be. I was neglecting my real-life relationship for shallow digital connections with people I had never even met and never would.

At some point I got completely overwhelmed by my Instagram feed. I decided I needed to thoroughly declutter who I was following on my art account and only follow the accounts that truly brought me inspiration and joy. This of course, caused me a massive drop in followers as many of them only followed me because I followed them. I realized how few people really cared about my art, and how many only cared about advancing their own numbers.

I started this blog before starting that Instagram account, and my original intention for making a new art account was to direct traffic here! But as you can see it sucked me right back into it’s algorithm-fueled mania, even though I had been so happy without social media for over a year prior.

When I eventually did leave Instagram altogether, not a single person attempted to contact me, despite my last post containing my personal email address in case anyone cared enough to reach out. I think that was really the last straw for me, I knew those connections would never be what I wanted them to be, so I really don’t see me going back again.

My 2nd Twitter account (I remember very little about my 1st account, which I hadn’t used very much anyway) came about as a way to keep track of the election news. You may have guessed it by now, but I am definitely not a Trump supporter. I’m not a Biden supporter either, but “lesser of the two evils” and all that nonsense. My favorite quote from directly after Biden was elected was “I’m celebrating a Trump loss, not a Biden victory.” And that about sums up how I felt about the whole thing. After the dust had settled I realized I had no more use for the site and I discarded it once more.

But then came a 3rd Twitter account, which may have lasted the shortest amount of time but nonetheless had a lasting impact. I created a Twitter account so I could easily upload screenshots from Animal Crossing New Horizons onto the internet directly from my Switch. I then decided to make it into an actual ACNH blog, so I could see more content from my favorite game and interact with other fans. But I soon realized I found the whole thing incredibly exhausting. I became quite physically aware of the impact such sites have on my attention span, I found myself with noticably more brain fog and fatigue. I left silently.

Nowadays I still occasionally use Reddit. Reddit has been around in the background for years, never being my main thing but still occasionally becoming a problem. I have had and deleted countless Reddit accounts, as I tend to delete my account as soon as I come into any sort of conflict. I’ve come to realize that I like the site a lot more when I just read it without an account and don’t participate in the discussions, it’s significantly less stressful this way!

What makes WordPress different? Well first of all it’s a long-form blogging platform, where one is expected to write at length rather than ignored for doing so. This decreases throughput and vastly reduces the ability to addict readers (though of course I’m sure it still happens! Just not systematically.) Secondly, most people who read WordPress blogs do not even have WordPress accounts themselves. They may not even realize the site they are on is run by WordPress! Because of this, likes and comments are comparatively rare, which makes it easier for me to disregard the numbers. These things are exactly why I chose to be here. It’s the closest thing I can get to having my own personal website without having to pay for one.

Long-form blogging is a “dying” art, which is perfect for me actually, as I’d much prefer an audience of quality over quantity anyway. I prefer to speak my truth at whatever length I desire and let those who jive with it come to me. I don’t need to appeal to the masses, I just want to connect with like-minded individuals.

I think this long story has gone on long enough though, so let’s wrap it up with a summary: I have engaged with many social media platforms throughout my life, (some of which I haven’t even listed here because that would be far too long a story for even my liking,) and through my experiences came to my own conclusion that these sites harm my well being. Now I no longer use most of them, and the ones I do I use sparingly and try to use mindfully.

I want to live my life free from the grips of addiction and this is just one of many I’ve struggled with. I am still working on myself, learning and growing every day. So if you’ve read all of this I hope you can respect my decision to abstain from the likes of Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter! Continue to do whatever works best for you though, I’m just sharing my own personal experience.

See you in the next post, whenever that may be. It’s all up to me! 😊