guess who finished their book? 🎉 (+ painted a duck!)
Welcome back, Reader!
After a brief hiatus last week, we're now back to the regularly scheduled newsletter, with some exciting updates about the book and some art as a bonus :)
New Achievement: First Draft Complete!
I skipped last week's newsletter to focus on the book, and I'm happy to announce that the effort paid off! The book is now fully written!
Here's a sneak peek! Also yes, this character has a hat now
While it's not Lord of the Rings in length, every page is a great achievement for me as a non-native English speaker. I'm a very slow writer and good fiction prose is not really my strong suit; but I'm proud of the result!
As I said before, writing is hard; but this week especially, I felt like I was fighting an uphill battle. Non-fiction, like blog and these newsletters, are easy and fun, but having to convey action and emotion in a story that isn't in my mother tongue has really pushed my vocabulary and language abilities.
The good news? I've made it through, and my terse prose has already improved. After one more editing pass, you'll have the PDF in your hands next week!
I can't wait to have your feedback :)
But in the meantime, I can now start working on the actual illustrations! You will see my progress next week.
Reflections on Art & Investment
I have changed my view on my art and on money a lot in the past few months. I wrote a short post about it on my social, to celebrate the €300 I have spent on my art in the past two months.
If you're a creative who would like to take the leap and take their art more seriously, I think it's a pretty good read.
Wait, painting is actually kinda fun!
While writing took most of my free time recently, I thankfully was able to also do some art!
And this time, for my second acrylic, I painted a duck :)
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After the landscaped I shared last time, I wanted to explore the medium a bit more (I have paint and canvas at home, might as well use them!)
Here is the reference I used — I haven't stayed very close to it, but I just want you to see more ducks.
To paint, I went to a real atelier this time and completed it in one sitting.
Here's how it was looking when it was just a sketch:
I felt very modest next to the gigantic oil painting my girlfriend made
Now I'm going back to digital and the book illustrations, with their flat colors and round brushes, but it was really interesting to go so out of my comfort zone for some time.
That's it for this week! Thank you so much for being here.
Next week, you'll not only see the first book illustrations completed but also get to dive into the story yourself. I'm both excited and nervous about sharing my work with you.
