Half a Year

I have to say, 2020 has been a weird year.  I mean, it is an election year after all.  But the way it's gone so far is headache inducing.  Between the pandemic scare, riots, division, and goodness knows what else the rest of the year holds, all I can do is sip my iced coffee and watch the world burn.  

In the process of watching everything go up in smoke, I'm still taking the time to draw.  Unfortunately, many of my sketches had to take a backseat due to work and school demands.  Even the requests from DeviantArt got pushed to the back burner.  Comics I started? Those are still on the shelf too! Half the trouble was zero consistency at work, and being bombarded with extra coursework during the spring semester.  But thankfully, my manager worked with me on changing my availability to permanent closer, which leaves the mornings open (at least for the summer) to do the fun stuff: gardening, drawing, filming videos for YouTube, and knitting/crocheting. 

Currently, some new drawings made their way into my sketchbook.  I have two different toned papers I love drawing on, and only ever reserve for masterpieces.  The latest one that was filmed is Simple Moment, which oddly got a dislike - whatever.  Simple Moment is part of a series of Looney Tunes fan art drawings that continued from my county college days.  The idea was to publish a bunch of one- or two-page scenarios between the Looney Tune original characters and my own characters.  The concepts are still in my head - just need to be revisited and revised at some point. 

So that's all I have for today! If you haven't been on my Gigi's Sketches Facebook page, then go check it out! I post my best drawings and crazy doodles on there, along with other fun artsy stuff.  Hop on over and give the page a like!

Until next time!

~Gigi  

2019: Year in Review

It has been an interesting year! I haven't been able to draw much - if anything.  However, some doodles made it into my drawing journal, which will be shared to my Facebook page in the coming days.

There have been a lot of good things: breaking off a bad relationship; got a new car and a new dog; learned a massive amount of musical knowledge (such as music history and new repertoire); and got to tour Prague, Czech Republic, in October with my bluegrass band.

With the new year rolling in, there is a lot to consider - work, schooling, keeping up with this page, etc.  Making art videos has been one of my favorite things to do; provided that I have proper time, I'll be making efforts to make more over winter break.  It really will all boil down to good time management - a skill I have yet to master.

So here's to 2020, a year full of more good things and hopefully more videos and art content on DeviantArt!

Deviant Art's Makeover!!!

Okay, I have some thoughts to share on Deviant Art's new makeover...

First thought...…….Whoa...!

Second thought: Ya know, this ain't so bad (once you figure out how to turn off the dark theme)!

Third thought: After navigating, I really like it! I could get used to this setup!

It seems every social media outlet is doing makeovers of their sites - only exception is that Instagram hasn't changed much.  Facebook is always updating in some subtle way or other; Twitter - which I haven't signed onto until tonight - also has a different appearance, but with no background themes like they used to have.

And then we have Deviant Art and their team of designers who came in and BAM! New design!!

DA is different, but it's cool.  In some ways, it's a bit more organized than the original site.  (Just don't use the dark theme! It's a mess!!) Tabs are included to improve navigation around your gallery, as opposed to the boxes that displayed your featured art, favorites, groups, DA about section, and etc.  Even notifications have experienced an improvement! Instead of your message center getting flooded with art uploads to groups, now you're only notified when a user "likes" your recent post or comments.  Another added bonus: you can hit the "love" button on another user's comment to your artwork!

The process to submit art and writing is about the same, but the final display is vastly different.  Instead of your artwork against the traditional green background, now the uploaded file floats against a drop shadow in a slideshow-style insert, with arrows that allow you to view the next/previous artwork.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg! There's more to learn about using this site, but I actually am in favor of the new design.  It's not that complicated to use - unless you're using the dark theme!! - and for the most part is user-friendly.

One more bonus: you can add a cover photo, just like Twitter and Facebook! How's that for staying current!

Speed Draw: How Do You Like Me Now...? (Looney Tunes Fan Art)

If there's one thing I love doing, and haven't done in a while, it's Speed Draws! Here's my latest Looney Tunes fan art with my OC, Cynthia Skunk!

This concept came to mind, based on the amount of attention I get from guys in my age group.  So in this scenario, Pepe le Pew and Cynthia are chilling on a tree branch, when Cynthia pops a question about what he thinks of her.  His reply isn't helpful!

Enjoy viewing this drawing process! Should have more in the coming months, depending on school and work and bluegrass gigs.

I'm Still Alive!!!

Don't worry! I'm still alive, just working a lot.  I took on a seasonal retail job about 3 months ago, and they've been piling on the hours like nobody's business! But hey, the pay is good, the coworkers and supervisors (mostly the guys) are great, so I can't complain.

I've been keeping up with music and other crafts, so there really isn't much time for making videos and tutorials.  However, if you follow my personal Instagram, you can get short clips of my latest drawings.  The newest sketch is of my character, Dreamer - which I will eventually share on YouTube.  You can view the Instagram video here ---> Drawing Dreamer

Plans for future YouTube videos? Sure, I have plans! Half the battle is bringing them to fruition.  And with school coming up in the fall, who knows what I'll have time for - maybe live streaming. 

Stay tuned for more content, and have an awesome weekend!

Drawing Peter Knetter and Manic!!

If you have never seen this Peter Knetter on YouTube, you need to! He makes everything under the name of gaming and Sonic hilarious! This video briefly shows the loooooooooooong process of sketching a real person.  And let's not forget Manic! I haven't worked much on the computer version of the drawing, but I'm getting there!

This Week's Inspiration