Moonlight is one of my absolute favorite beaches. Even in the summer, just a little south of the main beach, you feel almost isolated--as you can see from the photo I took on that day.​

My family frequently took walks on this beach, and it was on this beach where I decided to start developing my webcomic, Suihira: The City of Water. I was 19 years old, and in an artistic rut.

I was an art student studying to become some sort of artist in the entertainment industry. I knew I had to study hard to become a brilliant artist studios would be eager to hire. Despite this direction I believed I was headed in my artistic journey, I felt lost.

Earlier that year, my partner showed me the film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. I haven't been exposed to South Park much growing up for many obvious reasons, but that viewing came at the right time. South Park is famous for its crude visual style, but witty writing. I had thought my worth as an artist was in how well I could draw. Before me, was a film with simulated construction-paper cutout of simply designed characters that I was fully invested in. I realized then and there that story and writing mattered more than the art. That shattered my entire world.

I was still lost, but I found escape in these characters. In school, I was studying my foundations in art while in my notes and in the small amount of free time I had,  these simply designed characters appeared.

I didn't need to worry about perfect rendering, proper anatomy, value organization, any rules of art academia when I drew these characters. I was simply having fun.

There's a heated debate in art academia about fanart. These days, because of social media and the abundance of cases in which fanart got people jobs in the industry, fan art won the battle. But in the early 2010s, fanart was on the losing end in academia. I've seen classmates leave class and never return after our professors would do the "Don't do fanart" speech. My drawings felt extra taboo, which made them more fun.

My illustration professor did take notice. 

Moonlight Beach, Encinitas, California--still that same day.

I looked up to my Illustration Professor. Her art was beautiful, and she did industry jobs I could only dream of doing at the time. She was at the beach that day, and I was excited to see her outside of school. 

We chatted about how much we loved this beach, talked about art, and eventually the subject of my South Park art came up. She had liked the show as well, and was amused at my fanart--but she had concerns she wanted to express to me. 

"Oh, don't worry," I reassured her. "I only draw South Park in my free time. It's so simple and fun to draw. I don't let it get in the way of my studies." 
"Why not make your own characters that are simple and fun to draw?" she asked me. 

I didn't answer. I paused. I'm not even sure I remember the rest of that conversation. As much as I will defend an artists' right to draw fanart--she was right. Why don't I make my own characters that are fun to draw? 

I'm not sure if it was that day or sometime later, but I came home and put pen to paper in a fresh, new sketchbook, and started drawing some designs, seeking simplicity and fun--not flexing any technical skill. I learned that was no longer important to me. 
​

My interest in South Park dropped fairly quickly thereafter, and soon, I was invested in this world I was slowly bringing to life. I had complete control. Complete freedom from the pressure of academic art, my future, career, and intellectual property. 

The following year was full of art from my own characters. They filled sketchbooks and space on my hard drive. 

The next year, in October 2012, I made an illustration of Dija meeting with the water Goddess Akia, taking the form of an orca. 

On June 16th, 2021, 9 years later, that moment was presented in context in what eventually became my full-time job, drawing the comic for Suihira. ​

It's incredible how everything has come full circle.

It is ironic that my efforts to find relief and leisure from school work became my career. I love working on the comic to pieces and I'm so grateful and happy it is where it is today. In the near future, I will be working on releasing a volume of the comic for people to enjoy, and I will write the rest of the comic over the summer.

I'm 29 now, and the irony of my leisure becoming my job has left me without leisure once more. What's especially funny, is that I've found that academic art has found itself back into my life via leisure. I signed up for my first art class since college this summer, and I aspire to be competent in painting outdoors when I travel. 

Maybe in ten years, I will be happily drawing comics and painting scenes from my travels. 

I have returned to the blog after a year...!

I had just returned from a two-week long trip to Buffalo, New York. The trip was meant to serve a few purposes, among them being a time to rest from work, a change of scenery, and for my partner to finally visit his friends and family after the pandemic started. Additionally, and the reason I'm writing a blog post about this, I wanted to establish a habit of sketching the places I visit.

After landing and having a day of rest, we spent the first few days of that trip in a cabin in the middle of the woods with my partner and two of our friends. It had the essentials but no phone signal nor WiFi. It was very much the 21st-Centry version of being isolated. At first, I was a little alarmed. How do I contact my family? How will I keep in touch with friends and colleagues? How can I maintain my detrimental online browsing habits?

I didn't expect this to happen, so I didn't prepare for it. But I'm an adult, I can handle a few days without connection--it'll probably be good for me anyway, I thought to myself.

It became apparent pretty quick how often I pulled out my phone to look at social media outlets. This was especially noticeable the morning I woke up, when I usually check my phone first thing after waking up. Not being able to connect, I remembered I had some eBooks and digital magazines on my phone from my library. I filled that message-checking habit void with reading PleinAir Magazine (not sponsored)--which I may add, I enjoyed far more than I ever did browsing social media or newsfeeds. It's now a habit I've maintained weeks later.

Later that day, one of our friends--who had cell phone signal--turned on the WiFi-Hotspot on his phone so we could check message and contact family. It's been a whole day since I've been online. What did I miss? My phone connected to our friend's phone, the notifications came in, and... 

You know, maybe overconnectivity isn't great for me.

There was nothing negative in any of my message or social media feeds, but in the short time I didn't have signal, I actually enjoyed being disconnected. Unavailable. Nothing but me, my friends, the cabin, and the woods.

It was a nostalgic feeling. It took me back to a time before everyone had a computer in their pocket. Don't get me wrong--I'm not going to be bitter and proclaim "It was so much better back in my day! Before Cell Phones, Facebook, and Twitter!" because I don't have that opinion and that attitude has been pretty silly throughout the various eras of advancing consumer tech. And I remember how I felt about this sort of thing when I was growing up. I would've given up my leg for a computer I could take everywhere I go. But... I think that happend, I wouldn't have those moments where I got lost within my mind. Those long car rides, those school nights where I was up passed my bedtime, those summer mornings hours before I crawled onto my desktop computer. I spent those moments lost in my head, dreaming up stories and drawing. It's those sort of moments that brought me to where I am today. How would things be different if I had a phone, then? 

I don't know. 

And obviously I'm not about to preach to throw your phone away. That's also very silly. Our phones are fabulous tools that help us with essential tasks every day and that have connected so many people--for better or for worse. And the "for worse" moments shouldn't spoil it for the "for better" moments, but we seriously need to learn how to live better with them. Whatever that means depends on who you are, so I'll end this train of thought on this note. But I will stress the word I already used, and I want whoever reads this to really think about it and how it may apply to you: overconnectivity. 

Wasn't this about sketching? 

Well, yes! All that rambling is about sketching! With no phone signal, there's no social media to cycle through and get me hooked for precious minutes out of my day. My library books were great, but I can only read them for so long. 

So there I was, out in the woods, with my modest sketching supplies and no connectivity--just good friends--to distract me. ​

This was my first sketch of the trip. Before I went, I watched videos of the great Glenn Vilppu do on-location sketching from New Masters Academy (also not sponsored), and the thumbnails before a more finished sketch was lifted from his video. While I enjoyed drawing, I think I overworked the tree and didn't stay true to the idea of sketching. I enjoyed the thumbnails a lot more.

​Later that day, I tried again.

I quite enjoy this one as well, but I still feel like I overworked it. I was concerned with the clarity of the sketch, but in the end I think there's too much linework and not enough clarity in shape and value. 

This is definitely one of my favorites. I took from my thumbnails on the first day and aimed for something very simple. Just a quick study on the color temperature and value of leaves. It was a good time. 

At the cabin and throughout the rest of the trip, I read a couple books about urban sketching, and was delighted by the pen and ink drawings I saw many urban sketchers make. Inspired by that and my previous attempts to sketch, the day I caught my first fish, I made a quick drawing of the lake shore to celebrate. I was without my watercolors but was with a pen and small sketchbook.

I like that this set up was super portable, but I did miss my watercolors and the ability to lay in large areas of value and color. 

Got my watercolors back for this one! The entryway to Six Flags, Darien Lake was a challenging subject, but I'm rather satisfied with it for a sketch. 

Shortly before the trip ended, I found a compromise between my watercolors and my ultra-portable pen and sketchbook: a small water brush big enough to fit in my purse to use on the non-water-soluble pen for those areas of value.

While this may be the anti-climactic end to this blog post, it's the beginning for my sketching pursuits. It'll be interesting to see where I am in regards to sketching in a year from now! ...hopefully that won't be when my next blog post will be published!