When It Comes to Materials

*NOTE*   This post will be two, possibly three, posts long. There's just so much I want to talk about and compare, and to fit it all in one blog posting would just be pushing the limit. I will do my best to update the next post quickly!!  



Yesterday, I was so blessed to do my third Manga Drawing Session for the Teen Anime Club at our local library.  I LOVE doing this. Since manga is really where my artistic passion lies, I have such a blast getting to share my passion with other young people that are interested in the same type of art! We had a great time, and a great turn out!  The title for this session was "From Head to Torso"  (and I will do my best to squeeze in a blog post about drawing manga bodies soon!), and it was fun to show them my method of drawing manga bodies and poses, and seeing what they drew.  After the class was over, I had several young ladies come up to me afterwards and ask about some of the different materials I use, buy, and would recommend. And since I love answering questions like this (and there's SO much to discuss when it comes to this subject), it inspired this blog posting. Hopefully, if you're reading this, it will be a help to you as well. And I'd love to hear your questions or thoughts on art materials as well!! 

So, you're getting pretty good at this art stuff. Good enough, that maybe you're looking into purchasing some new various art materials, or looking into upgrading to nicer materials than you're using now. My advice:  Wait a minute. Slow down. There are a few things to keep in mind! And, hundreds of opinions for every product that you're looking at, why you should.. or, should not.. use it.

By all means, research before you buy. But remember, that reading every negative/positive opinion on the product still won't make up your mind for you. That's just someone else's input. When it comes to art supplies, only you can figure out what's going to work for you. Only you are going to be able to figure out what you're comfortable working with!

So, why are you thinking of buying some new supplies? Because you've really been practicing with the old ones and have improved so you feel ready to try something more professional? Or you just feel the need to spice up your art by trying something new? Or maybe you've got birthday and allowance money stashed away and have decided that investing in new art supplies is the way to spend it?  All of these are good reasons for looking into better quality products.

But, here is a really important thing to keep in mind: All the fancy art supplies in the world will not make you a better artist. I cannot stress this enough, because I see so many artists that think this is how it works! Nope. A lot of young artists completely miss this fact. I follow a lot of  beginner artists on instagram that save up money and rush out to blow it on Copic Markers, thinking that these will completely improve their art, when they could spend a little more time learning how to nicely ink a piece, or work on body proportions. This is just an example. Nicer art supplies will not automatically make your work better. But, nicer materials will give you the incentive to become better. Think of it as leveling up; you've become so good with your old tools, that you're ready to try mastering a few new ones! 

Also, don't overload yourself with new tools. It's best to start with a few here and there, until you get the hang of how they work and if you can make it work for your style of art of not. So, don't rush out and buy the Copic markers, watercolors, and expensive drawing pens in one trip, come home, and expect to know how to use them all the first try.  It's better to try out new tools gradually. When you focus on one at a time, rather than three at a time, you'll become more comfortable and better equipped at using it!

So, those are just some things to keep in mind about purchasing new art materials. In the next post, I will start a break down of different (traditional) materials that I use, have used in the past, and what I like and don't like. I will give you my honest opinion of each item, but again, only you are going to be able to decide what will work best for you and your art!!  

What advice would you give to someone looking into new art supplies?

-Stasia- Chan

Kawaii Scribbles

This past weekend was very busy for us, as my husband and I celebrated our fifth anniversary on Valentine's Day.  =-)  Since I'm on the subject, I'd like to throw out there that I greatly appreciate having a husband that supports my artistic hobbies 100%, who has taken time to help me set up for the community art walk, runs me around for art supplies, and doesn't mind giving me the occasional afternoon to myself somewhere so that I can sketch and he takes care of our three year old daughter. I'm so blessed and thankful to have someone that supports and encourages me like that!!  ^^

Since the weekend was very busy, I didn't have a lot of time to focus on art. But Sunday night, I took some time to sketch out an idea I had inspired by breakfast foods (the picture you see on the top). If I have to title this one, then I'm calling it "Vocaloid Breakfast", since I decided to draw a kawaii chibi Hatsune Miku.  ^^ This sketch was done in one of my Fabriano sketchbooks ( I LOVE their sketchbooks, and I will be sure to talk about them some more in another post!), colored with Copic, Prismacolor Premier, and Spectrum Noir markers. I especially like the watercolor feel of the floor, I used two colors to give it a sort of "wash" feel that I really like. Actually, I really like this whole drawing, and looking at it just makes me hungry for breakfast foods!!  O_o

Since I liked the first idea so well, I decided I'd like to draw another one featuring donuts and a kawaii chibi Usagi Tsukino. I sketched the idea out while I was waiting on laundry to come out of the dryer, and inked and colored it last night using the same tools as I had in the "Vocaloid Breakfast" drawing.   At first, I wasn't really pleased with the colors I blended for the donuts.. I still think I should have tested different blends of markers more diligently before hand.. But, I don't think they look so bad now that I see the finished colors all together.

While I would love to focus more on actual manga pieces, some days my busy schedule just doesn't allow the time to do something that extensive. If there's one thing that I've learned in the last several years of manga, it's that it takes time to do it properly and to turn out something really nice that you can be proud of.  I'm a busy stay - at - home mom to a three year old, so some days, well.. they just don't go the way you plan them out. On days like this, I'm glad that I can focus on something smaller scaled, which the kawaii style allows me to do!  And, what's great about this style is, it's STILL manga art!!  Yep!  Kawaii is just another form of chibi art in the manga world. In the last few years, kawaii art has exploded!! 

I learned about the Kawaii style through this book that I am showing you below.. You can find it on just about any book seller site, and on amazon. This book by Chris Hart not only goes through the basics of the Kawaii style, but also gives you some tips on the Moe style, which is another type of kawaii art, mostly focused on sweet, lolita styled girls. I totally recommend this books!!  But, even if you are looking at books written and drawn by other great artists, never be afraid to find your own style. You definitely don't want to lean on one certain way of drawing for the rest of your life, or only follow one artist's style. You've got to take all those elements and turn it into something that's totally yours!!!  =-) 

What sort of kawaii things are you finding time to create?  =-)

-Stasia -Chan

Welcome!

Hello!!   Welcome to my blog! Thanks for stopping by!  ^^

My name is Anastasia Merritt. I am a stay at home wife and mother of one, but I also love to draw and art!!  ^^  My passion lies in manga style art, but I love the kawaii art style and cartooning as well. My methods in art are traditional, meaning, I'm old school and still push a pencil around paper to achieve what I hope is something that looks nice to you.  ;-)

I have been wanting to start a blog for some time now, it was just a matter of finding the time to do so.  With this blog, I hope to share with you some of my own methods and helps in the kind of art that I do, as well as some of my recent works and ways to stay in touch with me, if by some chance, this blog fails to be updated as often as I hope to...   ^^;

Once this is a bit more established, I also hope to have some of my artist friends host or share a blog post with me on this page!  I see lots of more professional type artists do this.. i.e., painters, photographers, etc.. but I've never personally seen such from manga/cartoon artists such as myself. And so this is something I'm excited about doing in the future!!  

I hope to update here about every other week, but I will plan to do a more detailed blog posting this weekend, since this is just my "welcome" post.  =-) 

Hope you will keep in touch through my posts!!!  Have a creative day!!  ^^