november art!
photo studies, yarn crafts, and eurodance
hello! i hope everyone had a nice Halloween! :-)
between finishing a few commissions and doing a project for my usually non-art-related job last month, i wanted a little change of pace and did a bunch of photo study digital paintings of trail-cam pictures (all found on @bettertrailcams on Twitter). my comfort zone has always been line-art, and this was a great exercise in color matching. the first one i tried, i used just a simple round pen brush to focus my effort on finding the right colors. i don’t dislike how it turned out but i can definitely see where i misplaced colors and what i would’ve done differently (my favorite bit is 100% the angelic illuminated fawn). for all my following studies, i used a pastel-y brush from a free brush set on Clip Studio Paint that i absolutely love, with tons of brushes that mimic traditional art textures. i much prefer the soft, textured look of these studies and i found it a lot easier to work with and get the result i wanted.
i’m really enjoying doing studies from trail-cams because they aren’t posed or as intentionally selected as other animal reference photos might be, and there is a huge wealth of unique photos to find. there are tons of hunting/parks & wildlife websites or FaceBook groups where people share their trailcam photos/footage, and you can find a lot of really beautiful shots.
also i did a little cute line-art fawn because i can’t leave line-art for tooo long
this month i’ve been continuing my fiber crafting spree and doing lots of crochet and knitting :-] i did a handful of simple crochet projects that are at least a 6.5/10 in quality. technically functional and complete but not the best (it’s about the experience thought!) the amigurumi bunny was fun and worked up quickly but i struggled with sewing the parts together and i got a little lazy with it. i also accidentally made one of the arms with the wrong crochet hook -__-. the cat ear hood is my favorite of the things i’ve crocheted recently - it’s very warm, but the fit is a little off. the bag is cute but i don’t think i’ll ever use it considering how stretchy and not secure the handle is. it might have a future in being a useful bag if i sew in a fabric lining and give it a stronger reinforced handle.
right now i’m working on knitting a pair of fingerless gloves which is proving quite challenging (turns out introducing like 5 new factors/techniques at once makes it tricky to learn) but i have cold hands and i’m determined. i’ve had to restart a couple times but my tension with knitting in the round is definitely improving, and i’m getting more used to working with metal knitting needles (so slippery!!)
now it’s music time! lately i’ve been listening to a Lot of eurodance (as usual) - most frequently the Danish groups Toy-Box and Crispy. Tarzan & Jane by Toy-Box has been a favorite of mine for a while now - Anila and Amir’s vocals are so fun and cartoonish and make for some real persistent earworms. www.girl, Super-Duper-Man, Best Friend, and The Sailor Song have all been on rotation in my mind all month. the band Crispy is a more recent discovery for me - their song The Game was recommended to me by Spotify’s knowing algorithm and i was immediately obsessed. to me, there is no music more delightful than nonsensical European dance pop.
i do sometimes listen to other music though! here are some of the songs i’ve been loving this month
The Upper Peninsula by Sufjan Stevens
Crunch Time by Stefflon Don
Esther by Tzusing
Time Trades by Jeffrey Lewis
Goodbye Evergreen by Sufjan Stevens
Floorfiller by A*Teens
Häschenparty ft Michael Wendler by Schnuffel
thanks for reading! i hope you all have a splendid November and enjoy lots of hot cozy drinks <3 i’ll be back in a month - hopefully with some new handmade handwarmers :-]
i hope you enjoyed reading this installment of my newsletter! if you have thoughts to share/questions to ask/fun facts to tell me about, please reach out to me by replying to this email, or messaging me on any of my social media linked on my website at augustcampbellart.com - thank you!