MARCH NOTES
Here in the Netherlands, we are still waiting for Spring to come as the weather is not the one you would expect. Lots of rain greets us in the morning and the clouds stay around mostly throughout the entire day. You cannot really feel the beginning of Spring through this gloomy weather, thus whenever the sun does come out, we need to make the most out of it.
The best thing that did happen is that the day got longer, so having more hours of light does indeed help with the mood and energy for the day. Hopefully, the trees and flowers will bloom soon and fill the cities with new scents and colours. As years have passed, I have noticed that the weather outside impacts me more and more, which means that my productivity is also affected by it.
SKETCHBOOKING
One of the goals for this year is to fill a sketchbook that I have started back in 2019. In all of my years, when I have been actively drawing, I have not managed to finish a sketchbook. Most of them were abandoned after only a few pages because of various reasons: I didn’t enjoy the format anymore, I took a break from drawing, I needed a fresh beginning and so on.
Another reason that always made my progress slow in filling a sketchbook is that I believed that whatever I created needed to be aesthetically pleasing (and worthy to be shared on digital platforms). I am still trying to learn this, but a sketchbook should be a safe place for artists where they can put on paper anything they feel. If the “final product” is interesting to post it then good, if not, it is still good.
Art is meant to stir emotions in the viewer and each viewer has a different experience when seeing various pieces of art. That does not mean that your art is not good, it just means that it did not yet find the audience to connect with. Same goes with the art style, some people can connect with it and some cannot. Your art and style can create a community based around the same feelings and values, which can be a beautiful experience.
CASSETTE TAPE PROJECT
With Spring finally coming in slowly, I am continuing with the Cassette Tape Project with the next theme which is, of course, Spring. For this season I have decided to go ahead and add flowers, more exactly Forget-Me-Not flowers. When I was younger, I always enjoyed seeing the small blue flowers in the parks once they would bloom and felt so much happiness. Blue and violet shades are my favourite colours and I often implement them in my artworks and day-to-day life.
It took me a bit to figure out how to render the flowers in order for them to look more fleshed out and not flat. At the same time, I tried to not overwork both the flowers and the overall illustration.
In the month of April I will continue with this illustration and adapt it into a short looping animation as I did for the Valentine’s Day Cassette Tape. The idea would be to show the flowers slowly blooming, thus starting from a small bud transitioning to a full bloom of each of the flower. I am excited to work on this even though I know it will be a bit more trickier than animating just hearts.
MISC.
Next to work days and squeezing in a few hours of personal projects, I did get to enjoy some other fun things as well and would love to share some with you in case you would like to try them out as well.
Video Games: I got to finish “Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective” and let me tell you that it was quite the ride. The plot twists right at the end were so unexpected and left me surprised. All in all this game has been a fun and great experience. The soundtrack is amazing and will most probably put it in the background when I am working, the character and environment design together with the animation have such a unique charm and they look so fluid. The story also keeps you on your toes and if you thought you saw it all, guess again. The split between gameplay and cutscenes is fairly equal, you get to see the story progressing and in-between you get to interact with the world by doing puzzles in the ghost world.
Next to all of the amazing things that this game brings, there were also a few things that I did not enjoy in my experience. Surprisingly, I felt a bit disconnected from the characters and did not find myself caring for them as I did for the Ace Attorney characters. It might be because of the multiple breaks I took throughout playing the game thus not managing a more continuous approach to the story. My favourite characters were Sissel, Missile, inspector Cabanela and last, but not least, the two guards from the jail. Another thing that could put people off is that as you further proceed in the gameplay and the puzzles become a bit more challenging, the player has to try multiple times until they get the correct combination of interactions. This can be a bit tiring and frustrating and I can admit that it did happen to me (and yes, I did look up a walkthrough). Lastly, I felt a bit overwhelmed at the end of the game when all of the answers were provided. There was a lot happening and a lot of dots were connected in order to reach the final outcome.
Even with that said, I strongly recommend giving this game a try and see for yourself if you enjoy the gameplay and story. Next up for me are the games from the Professor Layton series, starting with “Professor Layton and the Curious Village”.
Movies/Shows: This month I got to watch the sequel to “I Know What You Did Last Summer”, “I Still Know What You Did Last Summer”. It’s a classic horror, slasher movie from the ‘90s. Not mind blowing or anything special, but watching an older movie brings nostalgic and cozy vibes (which are always welcome).
Books: For the month of March I managed to wrap up 3 books, which are at complete opposite extremes. “The Library at Mount Char” is one of the oddest book I have ever read and it is for sure not everyone’s cup of tea. You can never expect what will happen next, there are quite a few graphic scenes and the plot itself can be confusing, but… once the pieces start to fall together and you have a better understanding of the bigger picture it becomes a strange masterpiece. If you would like to give it a try, definitely give it a bit of time until you reach further into the story before giving up (as I was tempted to do).
After many years, I managed to find the last two books, “Summerkin” and “Moonkind”, in the “Winterling” trilogy and this month I got to read both of them. The trilogy follows Fer’s journey into the magical world of Summerlands and all of the obstacles and enemies she has to face in order to become the Lady of the land. It is a Middle-Grade series with an easy to follow story, full of action and encounters with many characters. There are many lessons to be learned from this story and enjoyable moments.
Music: On the music front, I have found myself in quite a rut for a long time. However, by accident, I have managed to be reminded of an album that I have forgotten of, which contains many good songs: Chapter One by Lemaitre. A fun and full of energy album that can boost your mood on a gloomy day.
That’s a wrap for this month! Slowly preparing for my trip back home, which means that I need to find new ways to create on the go and not in my usual set-up. Until then, let’s see what April has in store for us. I will see you soon, take care everyone ✨