Happy 10th Blogiversary to the SketchBlog!
Welcome back, friends. It's the Holiday Season (Happy Holidays) and I have some rather exciting news to share.
I'm proud to announce that my SketchBlog has turned 10 years old this year. It is the ten-year Blogiversary. I'm very excited about this news and I wanted to share it with everyone. However, I also wanted to find a special way to celebrate the occasion! I just can't believe that I have been writing on this blog for ten years. I just realized this fact about a month ago and it blew my mind. It also, simultaneously, made me feel a bit old. lol. But anyway. I took some time to meditate on what I wanted to do to commemorate this occasion. And like any occasion, I always think that cake should be involved.
So I thought it would be fun to illustrate a birthday cake. I wanted to draw 10 tiers (one for each year I have been writing this blog) and do something fun and whacky with each tier. I wanted to have an overall theme, but I thought it was irrelevant as to whether each tier matched the other cohesively. I wanted a hodgepodge; the motley crew of cakes. After all, it's just fantasy. I'm definitely not a great baker, and I would not be baking ten tiers of cake IRL in my small Manhattan apartment kitchen. So illustrating cake seemed like a fun project.
I love drawing Holiday themed art so I thought that the overall theme would be Holiday Celebration. Celebrating the Blogiversary on the Holidays. Fun, right?
However, an illustration just doesn't seem like enough on its own to commemorate this. So, I thought it would be fun to share 10 of my favorite blog posts that I have written over the years. These aren't necessarily my "Top 10" but they are favorites of mine and I think it is nice to share them with you on this Blogiversary. Think of it like my mix tape of my blog posts. lol
So, let's just dive in, shall we?
(Heads Up: You can click on the link or the photo to be transported to that post.)
1.) Why a FatMan?
I get asked this question often about the funny and odd little character that lives in my logo. So, I decided to write a little something about who he is, who he is to me, and where he came from.
2.) A Little Mischief on Illustration Friday a.k.a. Mickey Night
There was this little spell where I was creating illustrations for the Illustration Friday Topics and then writing little short stories to accompany them. They were fun, but the pressure to do all of that (in my spare time mind you) within a week, began to wear on me. However, I did create a handful of them and this one is my favorite of the bunch. I might return to doing some of these in the near future #2023Goals
3.) I'll "B"e Good for Halloween
I was never allowed to go trick or treating when I was younger. As a result, my love for Halloween is boundless. Particularly, I love to make my costumes and dress up. This is one of my absolute favorite costumes I ever created. E.T. is my 3rd favorite film of all time and it was truly special to put this one together for Halloween.
4.) SCBWI Winter Conference Chronicles: Vol. 2: Would You Like Another Bagel, Mr. Kong?
Before I decided to move to New York City, I had visited it a few times. On this particular occasion, I was attending the SCBWI Conference for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. While this post is among a few that I wrote to document my experience there, this one in particular details some of my out-of-conference adventures during the trip. A highlight was going to the Busy Bee Bagel Cafe (when it was still open) and having lunch. I LOVE NYC and I can't even begin to describe in words to you how I felt visiting NYC on that trip.
5.) My Bloody Valentine OR You Make Me Want To Scream My Head Off!
I used to be part of a small Drawing Club. We would take turns coming up with assignments/projects for the group to create. This particular assignment was to create or recreate a poster for a scary movie. I, at the time, was hardcore obsessed with the clever Meta-Who-Dunit Slasher, SCREAM. I mean obsessed! I was working on the project around Valentine's day and made a few parallels of the romantic holiday to the gory scary movie.
6.) Great Design Takes the Cake and Is Usually Very Tasty of in Good Taste
I have done many many logos for a variety of businesses. This one is one of my favorites as it pulled me into that world of Cupcakes and Marie Antoinette. I absolutely loved doing all the research for this wonderful design... and who doesn't love cake? right?!
7.) Long Live Queen Neferkitti
Several years ago, one of my dearest companions, Run Tum, passed. I know many of us have experienced this terrible grief. I put my grief to work by creating some therapeutic art that would help me process my grief as well as honor and cherish her memory. Love you always Rummy Tummy.
8.) The FatKing: Another Unfortunate Suicide and Assassination Gone Wrong...
As many of you know, when I get creatively stuck, I call upon the musings of the FatMan. I do this by creating a new incarnation of him/her. This one in particular was very intriguing and fun for me to work on.
9.) The Fractured Chalice Ascending
A few years ago, I had a really disturbing dream that vexed me long into the week after I dreamt it. After a lovely discussion with a friend, I was sent a tarot reading (for Cancer). It hit the nail on the head and inspired me to work on some therapeutic art to help me process all the feelings I was going through at that time. It also is the reason I am as into astrology and tarot to this very day.
10.) A Dream is a Wish Your Art Makes... OR, Really, the Other Way Around
Speaking of Dreams, I do keep a dream journal. This dream in particular was not only disturbing, but it was also dystopian. I dreamt about this moniker that appeared all over the dream city I was in. When I awoke, I was, first, relieved and then secondly, inspired. I jotted down all the details about the icon I saw in this very weird dream. I then created it.
I just lastly want to say thank you to you all for supporting the SketchBlog all these years by coming to read posts, sharing them, commenting on them, and sending me personal thoughts about what you read. It's been all very much appreciated by me. When I started this page, I thought the only person who might ever even read it would be my mother. lol. And here we all are 10 years later still having our little chats about my art. I can't express in words what it has meant to me.
...Thank you. And until next time...
Keep dreaming, keep sketching, keep thinking, keep laughing, and most important of all, keep making art.
Comments
Post a Comment