sketchbook

Painting some trees

/ Art & Comics / , ,

This morning was my first time attending a ✨ botanical sketching meetup! ✨

It’s a local group that meets once a month in different parks to draw/paint some nature. I’ve been wanting to paint outside more AND I’ve been wanting to share with other artists, so this was a win-win situation! Plus, there’s something about “go paint around the park and we’ll meet back in an hour to show what we did” that really forces you to focus lmao…..

I got to draw and paint 3 different trees in an hour, which was…surprisingly faster than I expected? Like, what do you mean I can draw and paint a tree with watercolors in about 20 minutes? That’s not even too long! And it’s fun! I should be painting more often!!

Drawing with a broken arm

/ Art & Comics / , ,

On July 22nd I broke my arm after falling out of a car, just as I arrived to Boulder, CO for a planetarium conference. Yikes! First time breaking a bone, first time going to the hospital in another country…

(yes, I had travel insurance. NEVER EVER EVER travel without insurance! this could have gone very badly!!)

Despite this being a serious fracture, I got pretty lucky—I didn’t need to go through surgery, and it was my non-dominant arm. Silver linings, right?

After getting back home I found myself with a lot of time and not much to do, so I naturally gravitated towards my sketchbook…it felt relatively easy to do with one hand (except for the part where I can’t use a ruler), and it just felt good to draw for fun, you know? it’s like “oh yeah, I LIKE doing this!”, who knew!!

The bones painting was done in acrylic gouache, using a 3D model of my CT scan as a reference—you can see it’s horribly broken, but all the pieces are in place! I went into this painting with absolutely no expectations, and then it turned out surprisingly good… am I a bones person now??? (probably not)

Anyway, I still have MONTHS of rest and physical therapy before I make a full recovery, but I’m making good progress! It’s all time and patience now… 😌💦

A NEW book and a NEW cover!

/ Art & Comics / , ,


Two years later, I am able to redeem myself… 😤 (I’m probably the only one who noticed this)

THE DO-OVER: FRIENDSHIP GOALS is our newest middle-grade graphic novel, out October 14! This one’s more centered on Zoe, as she tries to balance her time and energy between the new True Colors Style Club and the school’s soccer team. If it sounds similar to my own life, that’s because it is!!

This is another joint effort from me and Rodrigo—we worked on the plot together but he did most of the writing, and then I did most of the drawing, with Rodrigo doing the backgrounds and color flats. This time we went more loose and wacky than in the first book, throwing lots of little gags that made us laugh, so we hope it puts a smile on people’s faces!