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I'm back with the second installment of the illustrations I've created for the 30 days of art "fruit" themed challenge by Sealemon. Here is my Part One post which shows days 1-10 in case you missed it. In terms of how Im doing with the challenge now, 20 days in, it's interesting (well, to me, it might not be for you, but humor me for a minute). I thought I would feel really overwhelmed with the commitment of having to draw something every day, something I might not want to draw (I suffer from an anxiety disorder, specifically linked to cleithrophobia - which is a fear of being trapped), but actually, I'm dealing fine with this, I'm not feeling overwhelmed by the challenge at all - even by the posting on Instagram part which is something I normally suck at. What I am starting to experience though, is a bit of fruit fatigue - especially as I see several melons on the horizon - I'm starting to feel like I'm being repetitive in what I'm producing, and maybe part of these challenges is breaking through that feeling, but right now, I sort of feel a bit "done" with fruit - not with the idea of producing everyday, but yeah, not fruit. Nevertheless, I will finish this challenge, but going forward, I think I would maybe look for a more varied prompt list to work from, just for me personally.
Day 11 - Lime
For lime, I wanted to do something distinctly different from what I did with lemon - which was a palette knife acrylic painting - and since the response to my continuous line strawberry drawings had been good, I decided to go that route again and make some lime slices. So the slice was drawn on paper with a Sharpie Marker and then scanned into Photoshop to be made into this simple repeating pattern.
I liked the colour combination because it felt really fresh and Summer-y, and so I actually made a few other citrus inspired variants and uploaded them to my Redbubble and Society6 stores.
Day 12 Cherries
I struggled to pick a style with cherries - I feel like there's so many ways to interpret them! In the end I painted them in acrylic, and I wanted to create quite a rich, deep palette, and then to pair that with a kinda unexpected, more modern background. Did it work? I have no idea. Did I have fun making this one? Yes
While I do really, really want to make acrylic painted Digital Paper Packs, I still haven't yet, so at the moment, this design is just available in my Redbubble and Society6 stores on a wide range of products, and on a few different background colours.
Day 13 - Pears
Pears are quite possibly, no, quite probably my least favourite fruit (except for pear flavoured Fruitella sweets, does anyone remember those? Those were heaven). So I wasn't really sure how I wanted to draw one, having never really looked much at them! In the end I brought out my inks (which I have almost no idea how to use) and thought I'd give it a shot. Honestly, I actually kind of love how this came out! I went in without any plan, but I like where I ended up!
Unfortunately, I accidentally closed the design in Photoshop without having saved any stage of it (I know, such a rookie mistake), and I haven't actually yet gone back in to re-create it to upload it anywhere, but I think I will!
Day 14 - Grapes
So, mixed results on this one, I feel. I wanted to paint them in acrylic, but I really wanted to try and capture the finish that red grapes have on their skin - that almost white, or matte vibe to them. I think that challenge might have been a step to far for my skillset, as I do feel these kinda just came out looking chalky. For creating the pattern, I wanted to try and do something a bit different and take advantage of the fact that grapes work on stalks, as well as as individual grapes. I feel like I ended up with more alien trees than fruit, but that could be kind of cool I guess! I haven't developed this idea any further, but that's not to say I won't in the future.
Day 15 - Peaches
Typical me, I spent ages looking forward to drawing peaches, with their super cute bum shapes and delicious colour palette, only to promptle produce a line-only drawing showing them in a non bum-shaped way?! Oh well, best laid plans and all that. So yes, these were line drawn with Sharpie Marker and scanned in to be coloured digitally and made into a pattern. I had this idea of this almost neon gradient and thought, why not, but I'm still not sure about it. It does definitely scream SUMMER though!
I uploaded this design, on the bright gradient, as well as on several more muted colours to my Redbubble and Society6 stores.
Day 16 - Mango
I very much had it in my head that I wanted to draw my mango with oil pastels, I wanted to get the intensity of the fruit, the colours mashing into one another. In retrospect, I think I forgot that I hadn't used oil pastels in years, so my skill wasn't where I thought it was and I wasn't really able to get the full effect of what I was going for. Still, I had a lot of fun and I will definitely keep playing with oil pastels. I haven't developed this idea any further.
Day 17 - Grapefruit
This was by far the day I came closest to skipping so far in this challenge. I've been having some hand pain - which I think it just me injuring it slightly through a combination of repetitive strain and general tension - but on this particular day I really couldn't hold a pen or a paint brush for any length of time. I sat down to do a detailed, ballpoint pen drawing and after about 10 minutes I had to pack it in. There may or may not have been a few tears of frustration. So, I fell back onto a quick sketch and to make up for the lack of drawing involved, I took time to put my quickie pattern onto this mockup from Creatsy.
Day 18 - Papaya
My hand was feeling a bit better on this day, but I still didn't want to push it and try and hold something for too long, so I decided to do a quick, kind of expressive acrylic painting. To be honest, although I know I've eaten papaya I've never held one or cut into one, so it was kind of fun and strange to be painting one. I actually completed the painting early in the day, but then completely forgot to photograph it until the evening - and the light then sort of washed out the painting a bit, but still, it's a papaya.
Day 19 - Avocado
Looking back on this day, I can clearly see my fruit fatigue setting in! Does it meet the brief? Sure. Did I enjoy making it? Nope. I honestly, just wasn't feeling this one at all, which is weird because avocados are a favourite of mine and I was really into doing some sort of pink and green theme, but nope. Not feeling it. I'm struggling to even write about it now because I'm so meh about the whole thing - needless to say, I haven't developed this idea any further!
Day 20 - Pomegranate
Feeling a bit more like myself with this one. I know that pomegranates are all about the stunning interior, but I just wasn't feeling that detail yet (hand problems) and so I decided to - for only the second time in this challenge - crack out the watercolors. Oveall, I'm actually pretty happy with how this one came out - watercolours are way out of my comfort zone but I feel like I did an okay job with this one to be honest. I think the little seeds are a nice touch - although my partner, Kenny, thought they were axolotls at first, so, mixed respons there.
I am going to be making this into a pattern and uploading it onto Print on Demand, but I'm writing this on the morning of the 21st and so I just haven't had the chance yet.
Conclusion
While I'm still really glad I started on this challenge, I think I am enjoying it less as time goes on - and maybe thats to be expected? Maybe I'll catch a second wind and get really into it again? Who knows. I actually think if I was going to do a challenge like this again, I would do it all in one medium - so acrylic paint probably. I think then at the end it would be fun to see a cohesive sort of "collection" of all the fruits, rather than the sort of mishmash of styles I have floating about just now.
I'm back with the second installment of the illustrations I've created for the 30 days of art "fruit" themed challenge by Sealemon. Here is my Part One post which shows days 1-10 in case you missed it. In terms of how Im doing with the challenge now, 20 days in, it's interesting (well, to me, it might not be for you, but humor me for a minute). I thought I would feel really overwhelmed with the commitment of having to draw something every day, something I might not want to draw (I suffer from an anxiety disorder, specifically linked to cleithrophobia - which is a fear of being trapped), but actually, I'm dealing fine with this, I'm not feeling overwhelmed by the challenge at all - even by the posting on Instagram part which is something I normally suck at. What I am starting to experience though, is a bit of fruit fatigue - especially as I see several melons on the horizon - I'm starting to feel like I'm being repetitive in what I'm producing, and maybe part of these challenges is breaking through that feeling, but right now, I sort of feel a bit "done" with fruit - not with the idea of producing everyday, but yeah, not fruit. Nevertheless, I will finish this challenge, but going forward, I think I would maybe look for a more varied prompt list to work from, just for me personally.
Day 11 - Lime
For lime, I wanted to do something distinctly different from what I did with lemon - which was a palette knife acrylic painting - and since the response to my continuous line strawberry drawings had been good, I decided to go that route again and make some lime slices. So the slice was drawn on paper with a Sharpie Marker and then scanned into Photoshop to be made into this simple repeating pattern.
I liked the colour combination because it felt really fresh and Summer-y, and so I actually made a few other citrus inspired variants and uploaded them to my Redbubble and Society6 stores.
Day 12 Cherries
I struggled to pick a style with cherries - I feel like there's so many ways to interpret them! In the end I painted them in acrylic, and I wanted to create quite a rich, deep palette, and then to pair that with a kinda unexpected, more modern background. Did it work? I have no idea. Did I have fun making this one? Yes
While I do really, really want to make acrylic painted Digital Paper Packs, I still haven't yet, so at the moment, this design is just available in my Redbubble and Society6 stores on a wide range of products, and on a few different background colours.
Day 13 - Pears
Pears are quite possibly, no, quite probably my least favourite fruit (except for pear flavoured Fruitella sweets, does anyone remember those? Those were heaven). So I wasn't really sure how I wanted to draw one, having never really looked much at them! In the end I brought out my inks (which I have almost no idea how to use) and thought I'd give it a shot. Honestly, I actually kind of love how this came out! I went in without any plan, but I like where I ended up!
Unfortunately, I accidentally closed the design in Photoshop without having saved any stage of it (I know, such a rookie mistake), and I haven't actually yet gone back in to re-create it to upload it anywhere, but I think I will!
Day 14 - Grapes
So, mixed results on this one, I feel. I wanted to paint them in acrylic, but I really wanted to try and capture the finish that red grapes have on their skin - that almost white, or matte vibe to them. I think that challenge might have been a step to far for my skillset, as I do feel these kinda just came out looking chalky. For creating the pattern, I wanted to try and do something a bit different and take advantage of the fact that grapes work on stalks, as well as as individual grapes. I feel like I ended up with more alien trees than fruit, but that could be kind of cool I guess! I haven't developed this idea any further, but that's not to say I won't in the future.
Day 15 - Peaches
Typical me, I spent ages looking forward to drawing peaches, with their super cute bum shapes and delicious colour palette, only to promptle produce a line-only drawing showing them in a non bum-shaped way?! Oh well, best laid plans and all that. So yes, these were line drawn with Sharpie Marker and scanned in to be coloured digitally and made into a pattern. I had this idea of this almost neon gradient and thought, why not, but I'm still not sure about it. It does definitely scream SUMMER though!
I uploaded this design, on the bright gradient, as well as on several more muted colours to my Redbubble and Society6 stores.
Day 16 - Mango
I very much had it in my head that I wanted to draw my mango with oil pastels, I wanted to get the intensity of the fruit, the colours mashing into one another. In retrospect, I think I forgot that I hadn't used oil pastels in years, so my skill wasn't where I thought it was and I wasn't really able to get the full effect of what I was going for. Still, I had a lot of fun and I will definitely keep playing with oil pastels. I haven't developed this idea any further.
Day 17 - Grapefruit
This was by far the day I came closest to skipping so far in this challenge. I've been having some hand pain - which I think it just me injuring it slightly through a combination of repetitive strain and general tension - but on this particular day I really couldn't hold a pen or a paint brush for any length of time. I sat down to do a detailed, ballpoint pen drawing and after about 10 minutes I had to pack it in. There may or may not have been a few tears of frustration. So, I fell back onto a quick sketch and to make up for the lack of drawing involved, I took time to put my quickie pattern onto this mockup from Creatsy.
Day 18 - Papaya
My hand was feeling a bit better on this day, but I still didn't want to push it and try and hold something for too long, so I decided to do a quick, kind of expressive acrylic painting. To be honest, although I know I've eaten papaya I've never held one or cut into one, so it was kind of fun and strange to be painting one. I actually completed the painting early in the day, but then completely forgot to photograph it until the evening - and the light then sort of washed out the painting a bit, but still, it's a papaya.
Day 19 - Avocado
Looking back on this day, I can clearly see my fruit fatigue setting in! Does it meet the brief? Sure. Did I enjoy making it? Nope. I honestly, just wasn't feeling this one at all, which is weird because avocados are a favourite of mine and I was really into doing some sort of pink and green theme, but nope. Not feeling it. I'm struggling to even write about it now because I'm so meh about the whole thing - needless to say, I haven't developed this idea any further!
Day 20 - Pomegranate
Feeling a bit more like myself with this one. I know that pomegranates are all about the stunning interior, but I just wasn't feeling that detail yet (hand problems) and so I decided to - for only the second time in this challenge - crack out the watercolors. Oveall, I'm actually pretty happy with how this one came out - watercolours are way out of my comfort zone but I feel like I did an okay job with this one to be honest. I think the little seeds are a nice touch - although my partner, Kenny, thought they were axolotls at first, so, mixed respons there.
I am going to be making this into a pattern and uploading it onto Print on Demand, but I'm writing this on the morning of the 21st and so I just haven't had the chance yet.
Conclusion
While I'm still really glad I started on this challenge, I think I am enjoying it less as time goes on - and maybe thats to be expected? Maybe I'll catch a second wind and get really into it again? Who knows. I actually think if I was going to do a challenge like this again, I would do it all in one medium - so acrylic paint probably. I think then at the end it would be fun to see a cohesive sort of "collection" of all the fruits, rather than the sort of mishmash of styles I have floating about just now.
