My First DTIYS | #bunnytraildtiys800

 

I know I have mentioned this before, but I am a huge fan of “Draw This In Your Style” challenges. They are a super popular thing on Instagram where an artist will share an image and prompt others to draw it in their style (with permission to change things as long as the source image is still recognizable). I just think they are such a fun way to challenge yourself as an artist and treat it as a study of someone else’s approach to art (while not completely copying). Doing these challenges has helped me grow in my style and technique, as well as skill through getting myself to try different subject matter that I might not normally draw.

All this being said, I’ve had a dream of hosting my own challenge for awhile now, and this past April I made my first attempt in celebration of reaching 800 followers on Instagram. I posted the image below with so much excitement and anticipation! I couldn’t wait to see how my illustration would translate in someone else’s style! 😃

And while I didn’t get a lot of participation, I did get THREE incredible entries! The feeling I felt when I first saw each of them was pure joy… someone had taken the time to study my illustration and create something beautiful from it in their own way. And while I was hoping to see more entries, I am so so thankful for these three… they mean so much to me, and the artists behind each are incredible!! So please take a look at the three beautiful entries to my first DTIYS below and show each of them some love! Thank you all so much for your participation! 🥰

I definitely plan to host another one of these challenges in the future (maybe when I hit a few more followers), but the experience of hosting this one will forever remain special! 🐰

 

May Recap

 

This month, I was able to finish up going through all the Immersion lessons and make the final tweaks to my first collection (which I will be revealing in it’s entirety later in June)! It’s so exciting for me to be able to check off these boxes and start taking steps towards the next thing and I’m already brainstorming for my next collection! But as Bonnie tells us in Immersion: focus on “one thing a day”. This is something I have to constantly remind myself of or else overwhelm can so easily settle in. It feels like there is so much to do (and not enough time), and I have days where my head is buzzing… where I’m not sure what to focus on first. I’m learning to be okay with setting some things aside until I have the head space to approach them with the care they require. I don’t want to rush through and risk leaving things unfinished… I want to tend to each thing on my to-do list with the care and attention I need to give it. All these things I have to do WILL get done (in their proper timing), I just have to keep working at them… one thing at a time. 😅

I honestly feel like I’m really starting to hone in on a style to use when drawing in Procreate. It gets me excited and makes me want to draw even more! Here’s a look at some of the challenges I participated in this past month:

The last illustration reminds me that gardening season is upon us!! I bought my flowers last Friday and I really need to plant them! It’s not supposed to rain this Friday, so that might be a good time to do that. I’m looking forward to the warmer months and spending time in my garden! How about you? ☺️

 

A Peek at My First Collection!

 

Immersion may be officially over, but I am still continuing to work through the lessons. I am on the last module this week and the course content continues to be so inspiring as well as motivating. I’m excited to be able to check off more boxes on my to-do list so that I can move onto what’s next!

I have been making some amazing progress on my first collection called “Down the Bunny Trail”. It consists of 10 prints in 2 different colour ways. I am hoping I will have it finalized soon and plan to share it later in June, but for today I will share one of the prints with you for a bit of a sneak preview. This print is called “Bunny Play”! 🐰

I am so thankful to the Immersion community and my study group who have given me such helpful feedback on my collection. They have challenged me (in a good way) and helped me see things from a different perspective. This being my first collection, the feedback has been invaluable; it has allowed me to take this collection in a direction I wouldn’t have been able to on my own. Never underestimate the value of a fresh set of eyes!

Below are a couple of mock ups of this print (called “Bunny Play”) on a fabric swatch and an adorable baby swaddle. I’m already imagining ALL THE THINGS it could be used for… that is definitely one of the most fun parts of surface pattern design and I’m so thankful to Aimee (@theindoorsyproject) for the beautiful mockups to play with! I can’t wait to share more with you soon! 🥰

On a fabric swatch.
(Mock Up by @indoorsyproject)

On a baby swaddle. How cute is this baby, though? 🥰
(Mock Up by @indoorsyproject)

 

Spring Creativity Challenge

I love participating in #dtiys challenge, don’t get me wrong, but I think my favourite drawing challenges are the ones that give you prompts to work with (rather than an image). These challenges become an exercise in not only style exploration but also conceptualization. The #springcreativitychallenge was such a joy to participate in and I can start to see my style becoming more consistent. I also had so much fun exploring colour because so many beautiful colours come with spring!

Thank you to all the lovely artists that hosted this challenge. You helped bring a lot of beautiful to my Instagram feed these past few weeks! Which of my illustrations from this set is your favourite? You can let me know in the comments if you’d like! 🥰

April Recap

 

Well…

…we got COVID this month… and it sucked. 🤒🤧 My husband got sick a few days after my birthday, and I lasted a week before I started showing symptoms (I was starting to think I wouldn’t get it, however, I didn’t get so lucky). About 4 days in bed followed by a week and a half on the couch popping lots of vitamins/supplements, drinking lots of fluids and fighting off fatigue. I watched a LOT of movies, played my Nintendo Switch (which I hadn’t picked up in awhile… yay Animal Crossing and Super Mario Galaxy!) and had a few moments where I felt I had enough energy to pull out my iPad and draw. I definitely did not work on Immersion, so I fell behind… but it’s okay, because I’m on my own timeline. This just means I will have to go a couple weeks into May to finish going through all the course material. That’s perfectly acceptable… I can be okay with that… I have to be! 😅

And while I couldn’t keep up with the scheduled release of the modules, I still enjoyed listening to the Q&A’s with Bonnie every Monday/Wednesday/Friday and popping into the community here and there. Also, my beautiful student packet finally arrived!! Only 5 weeks late, but it was worth the wait! I had a lot of fun opening up the last two envelopes with everyone else in the course! ☺️

My Immersion Student Pack finally arrived! 🥳

Matcha got something special in the mail too! 😉

April 27th was the official graduation ceremony for Immersion, and while I didn’t quite feel the closure I should have (because I hadn’t finished everything yet) it was such a lovely experience. Bonnie had written each student’s name on a piece of seed paper at the beginning of the course, and she shared a video with us of her going out to her garden and planting each one. What a beautiful gesture! We have all come so far just by taking this step to learn and grow in our creative journeys, and now there will be flowers growing in Bonnie’s garden in honour of that. I may have gotten a little teary eyed… 😭

Bonnie’s wall with each student’s name written on a piece of seed paper. My name is there somewhere! ☺️

Here are a few illustrations from the challenges I managed to participate in this month. I wish I could’ve done more, but I’m just happy I was able to draw a little bit while I was sick!

Now that we are on the mend, I’m happy to leave April behind… looking forward to having more energy to get more things done in May! 😄