My name is Sarah! I am a surface pattern designer in training and am on a mission to document my design and business journey. I am an environmental scientist by day and am entering this field with very little art experience, so I'm excited to take you along with me from the ground up!
Fun channel. I applaud your goal! Probably someone else already said this, but if you want to replace your income from an employer with comparable amount of self-employment income, remember to account for the additional self-employment taxes. Add about 30% to your old salary.
These are really good :) I cannot express enough how much figuring out tip#1 was a huge help for me. Having my supplies in a box meant expending too much energy to get them out before painting, while just grabbing them from a dedicated shelf made it so much easier. Now I definitely want to implement tip#2 :D
Master studies help me when I'm depressed. I want to do art, but can't drum up the ability to work on my own, so I use studies to help me at least keep up with or learn new mechanics. Master studies are powerful. Thank you for doing an entire video in support of them. Helpful note: if I post a picture of a master study anywhere, even in a private message, the first thing I say is "master study of X" and either tag them or provide a link to their original work.
Oh wow! I'm also an artist who is a full time environmental scientist (also majored in ecology)! Between the full time job and all my other obligations, it's been pretty hard to get paintings done. Ah well, we must push on!
Thank you so much for this review. I was in Immersion 2024, unfortunately I didn't see your review before I took Immersion. I fully agree with everything you said! For me the investment was worth it, I have signed my first contract with my dream company. But I didn't follow Bonnies 'rules' as I designed designs for digital printing (very colorful). If I had known before that designing digital prints was much easier in PhotoShop I would have taken a PS course in stead of Immersion. On the other hand I wouldn't have gotten my contract without Immersion as someone there noticed my work. I have fully used the community in Immersion which was of great help to learn everything I wanted to learn. The last week was connecting week with Flourish members but this wasn't a success. By the time people started connecting and handing out each others mail addresses, the pulled the plug from connecting. This was the moment the business from Bonnie was in danger and she felt she had to protect that. For me as a student this didn't feel right. So overall I'm happy I took Immersion, I learned loads of things to get a step closer of becoming a fulltime designer. But now I need to learn more about PS because I see more future there.
As someone who is currently in the middle of a personal challenge to paint 12 paintings by the end of June my advice is to spare yourself from any such insane notions.
Have you heard of Sandi Hester? She is am amazing artist I've been following on YT for years. I think you could probably learn everything you need about "loosening, messy, gestural" feel or skill you're talking about. Definitely check her out! I've learned sooooo much from her ❤
Love your transparency and authenticity! Am really interested in the tech you use and what your process for making a video looks like now... I'll go search your videos to see if you've already made them!
I love gouache! I have been avoiding painting bcs my (I suppose acrylic-like?) paints are a nightmare to clean and use. I've found myself enjoying the process much, much more now 😆
I got acrylic-gouache paints for Christmas and I have yet to use them. Mine are by Liquitex. I'm going to give your DIY stay-wet palette a go. That should solve the issues that have been stopping me. I have just been using regular gouache in a dry palette just like one would with watercolor, it's just so convenient. In university, I used to keep my acrylics in the fridge with cling wrap over it. 🤣 Thanks for the tips!
Oh, that poor Silver Black Velvet has seen some *things.* 😅 Please pleeease consider getting the Masters Brush Cleaner. It's technically a cleaner, conditioner, and preserver. 10000% worth it. (They also make an artists soap which is great but NOT meant to clean brushes with) Once you clean your brush out with water completely, when you use the Masters - you'll be in horrified awe at how much *more* paint comes out. It spares your brushes lots of heartache.
Regarding clean up. Acrylagouache is still acrylic paint and needs to be disposed of properly. I know many companies say just soap and water clean up, but it is microplastic contaminated water now. That water shouldn't go down drains. Golden Acrylic has a cleaning system, with buckets and chemicals, but dumping paint water in kitty litter and then disposed in regular garbage is also acceptable. Lots of acrylic paintwater disposal videos on RU-vid for more. Oh, and chemical names for colors usually mean made from that chemical so cobalt and cadmium unless called (hue) all kinds of metals that you also don't want down the drain especially septic, because it can contaminate your drinking water. Make sure any plates or palettes or mugs or jars are never used for food after painting, washing isn't enough. Don't let the kitties drink or closely inspect the paint water. This is the main reason I've stayed away from acrylicgouache.
OMG!!! From your first pattern….my jaw DROPPED with the second floral. It’s gorgeous and I would wallpaper it for sure!!! I love the colors you chose in it. It’s my fave of all of them. Also, the larger ice cream cone scale is better than had they been small. However, it is really just two different looks depending on what you’d use it for. I’m a fan. Please keep sharing the progress and inspiration!
Being a GenX artist, an organized space is different than a clean space. I have a mindset to change by not trying every craft and by getting rid of items I haven’t used for literal years! An organized CLEAN space ensures you have time to create.
You are badass, thank you for sharing these ideas. Appreciate #7 especially, I think a person's energy, focus, responsibilites, motivation can vary so much from day to day, week to week, month, year, etc that a person really has to feel it out literally daily. I like your ideas because they do help a person train themselves to "do" even when our minds are not feeling it and it is true that if you start engaging in art making even when you don't feel like it the motivation comes after you have begun and sometimes you do get some new ideas and insights from the short work burst of 10- 20 min because that was all the time you had that otherwise you might have lost had you given in to the mental fatigue. thank you again for your time and effort to put this info out and help others
I find that if I go too long without making things, I feel more drained. In spite of painting or drawing when I'm tired, I find that even if I spent 8 hours a day 4 days into the work week, if I spend an hour or two of that night drawing, then at the end of the week I feel better than a week where I didn't make anything. Creating relaxes me, I have so much fun making things that it really helps keep me alive.
Love this video x and how adorable your companions are! ❤ I try to avoid master studies out of fear of not developing my own style! Watching and listening to you makes complete sense x I’m of to collate some pieces to use for some ms practice xx thank you x
