Hey peeps, so I wanted to do something a little different and talk about hobbies other than reading. I KNOW, it’s weird, right? Well, when I think about what my other hobbies are, I seem to always to defer to the usual: writing, drawing/art, and playing video games. Each have been a huge part of my life almost my entire life, and I can’t see myself without any of them in my life at all.

How is it going to work? Well, I’m going to be introducing a bit of different things to the blog once a month that will include artwork, poetry, writing (which I’ve already introduced), video games, anime, etc. Whatever my hobbies are, that’s what I’m going to talk about that month! It’ll become more detail and focused on certain topics and other things after the initial introductions are out of the way, but for now, I’m just going to talk about why each of these hobbies are so loved by me.

So, for this month I’m going to talk about ART!

Now, for those who don’t know, I love to draw. I always have, so I can’t really pinpoint a time where it really began, BUT I can tell you that my love for drawing grew after my introduction to manga in sixth grade, around the age of eleven or twelve. I loved manga and anime styles, and my friends who introduced me were also very much into them.

As I got older, though, and continued to take art classes every year throughout my schooling, my art began to improve more and more, but I feel like I’ve reached a sort of plateau when it comes to certain styles of drawing – my style – and though I’m okay with that, of course I’d like to improve still. In fact, I love art so much that I took AP Art in high school (and got a 0 for the AP score, but an A for the class, oh well) and I minored in art in college.

The picture above on the left was drawn using only charcoal pastels. I’ve always loved drawing flowers, especially roses, and when I have a model to use it makes it much easier to draw. The picture on the right was drawn free hand, but I did use a little help from online sources for the placement of the hands.

I know my strengths lie in still life, pencil, pastels, and charcoal. My favorite medium is in graphite pencil, with charcoal being a close second. But I also draw digitally.

I love drawing and creating cute chibi characters for people on other websites or just for fun (I did a whole bunch when I was still on Gaia Online, which is where the above pictures were drawn for: people on Gaia). They’re the easiest to me, especially head shots, and I just have a special place in my heart for this style of drawing.

I haven’t drawn much since I graduated college, though. I’ve been in sort of a rut since having to work full time, but when I participated in the Biannual Bibliothon, I did a challenge where I let a character take over my channel and I chose be Feyre from A Court of Mist and Fury and paint three paintings.

And it was marvelous.

The paintings didn’t come out spectacular, but it was the first real kind of art I had done in a long time and it felt amazing. I had a blast! And I’d totally do it again, too.

Being able to touch and hold paints, paintbrushes, markers, colored pencils, sketchbooks, tablet pens, and more just bring a whole other level of happiness into my life and I don’t know why I don’t just do it more.

I think having hobbies that you love and cherish are important, especially when they’ve been so part of your life for as long as art has for me. So pick up that paintbrush, get those colored pencils, and make art!

If you want to check out more of my work, you can visit my deviantART account. I don’t post a lot any more, but I might start doing so if I pick it up more again.

Let’s Chat! ≧◡≦

Do you like to draw or paint or do any kind of art? What’s your favorite style and medium? What are some of your strong points? Are you better at still life or creating from your imagination?