Mermay, Digital Art, and Re-Learning How to Paint

I really, really wanted to jump into "Mermay" this year. I took out a sketchbook, and in about 15 minutes, I had a scribble I was happy with. And then it sat there. For WEEKS. May got away from me. The boys got me a set of gouache paints and I really wanted to paint this. That did not happen. It's been so long since I painted that I just didn't have the right paper. Undaunted, I popped it into Procreate and wrapped it all up this morning!

I follow a lot of creators online and many of them are digital artists with traditional art backgrounds. If you're over the age of 30, chances are pretty good that you learned how to create on paper! I know I did. The problem with digital art right now is AI. How can I prove this art is mine if the original is just a file on a device? And if I share it, it'll get scraped into the AI model. It's already happening. There are AI generated paper dolls floating around. They are neither good nor convincing but they're out there. Many of the creators I admire are getting back to paper, pencil, paint, etc, because handcraft is becoming more important than ever. I am absolutely not giving up on digital art - I love it! I love the freedom, ease of use, the ability to zoom and undo, and the clean crispness of it.

So on this last day of May, enjoy my only pink haired mermaid. I'm going to learn how to use those gouache paints and share that here even though I've been hesitant to share much.  Having my art stolen but individuals AND robots gets to be a bit much! If you want to see what I'm up to, feel free to follow me on Instagram - it's where I post my most current work, most of the time! 

Fairy Tale Fashion Friday - The Little Mermaid

Summer is full-blown here in New England!  I'm more of a winter person since I grew up in the mountains, but I'm now a 30 minute drive to the Atlantic coast and learning to love the beach, too.

I wanted to return to the fairy tale dolls with a summer/beachy doll, and we've got The Little Mermaid today.  I never really gave much thought to mermaids but my nieces love them.  It's a theme I may visit more because of them.  This Little Mermaid is obviously Disney-inspired.  I admit, I loved that movie as a kid.  I think I was 9 when it came out...so yeah, like a million years ago!

Anyway, enjoy the doll!

Download Fairy Tale Friday - The Little Mermaid pdf here

Kawaii Wednesdays - Mermaids

My nieces are going on their first beach vacation next week.  I thought, what could be more fun than coloring paper dolls on the beach?!  Today's Kawaii Kids paper doll is for them -- mermaids!

Usually, I have a boy & a girl in each of these Kawaii Kids sets.  This week, I decided to make it just girls.  If you want to have a little mer-boy, the tail will fit on any of the boy dolls.  I just figured girls were more interested in mermaids than boys. I'm basing that entirely on my sons versus my nieces so I could be totally wrong!

And I'll resume posting the Wicked Women walkthrough next Monday.  I took this Monday off to recover from my fun birthday weekend.  My husband & I spent the day wandering Boston - we walked something like 6 miles! It was a great birthday and we had a lot of fun, but it was tiring :)

Here's the mermaid set!  Enjoy!

Download the Kawaii Kids - Mermaid PDF here