Raw chocolate cookies

I love this recipe because t’s easy to make and it’s actually healthy, with no added and processed sugar, oil and can easily be gluten free. So I went ahead and illustrated it for They draw and cook, where both passions meet into one cute and useful product.
I enjoyed making this illustration as much as I enjoy making the cookies so I think I’ll have an entire series of illustrated recipes. I am working on the second one already, so wait for it!

Pastel

Years ago I discovered pastels and I loved using them, my University thesis was an illustrated book and all the illustrations were made with pastels. The very first illustration commission was a pastel. When putting my website together at the beginning of the year, I found a couple of illustrations I did back then, and I remember enjoying it a lot, I used to get lost in the process, I used to get lost in time and space until the image was done. So I decided to try it again. I’m a bit rusty but I’m very happy I gave It a shot. I think I’ll be doing this more often.

As for why the calf. It is a tribute to all those calves that unintentionally were made veal. I stopped eating meat about 10 years ago but I kept eating dairy products. If I had known sooner that veal is a direct product of the dairy industry I would have gone vegan much sooner.

Happy Easter!

I’ve been trying to move the posting day to Tuesday or Wednesday for a couple of weeks, but I didn’t want to stop posting and now I have the perfect opportunity. 

I animated a Happy Easter card a couple of weeks ago but I wanted to post it in time for, well, Easter. This is actually my last animation, I don’t know if I’m animating anything soon, I want to, but I have many things planned.

Animated version

I’m already at week 3 of the Artist’s Way and it’s been an actual roller coaster, some days are good some days are horrible. But so far, I haven’t missed a single day. I’ve been looking for other ways to help the process, The Random Word Doodle Challenge is a good exercise (today is day 9!).  I re-read “Steal like an artist” by Austin Kleon, it's so inspiring, I find new things every read. Also, I’ve been reading “Art & fear” but for some reason I get very sleepy when I do.

Not long ago I read "The Crossroads of Should and Must" by Elle Luna, great read and it goes a bit more in depth than her post. If you haven't read her famous post you can find it here . If anyone has any more suggestions, please let me know. 

Thanks for reading, stay safe during the holidays and once again Happy Easter!

Excersice for the brain = Creativity

Everybody want to be creative. It doesn’t matter if you are an accountant, a lawyer, a teacher or an artist. We all benefit from creativity, and in my search for a better creative life, I’ve noticed that creativity is something we can cultivate, like exercising a muscle.

There are many ways to do that. From reading books, watching movies, going for a walk or, if you are more like me, you can find challenges on the internet that will make you accountable for your creative workout.

There are many challenges, like @Sketch_Dailies on Twitter or the Character design challenge by http://characterdesignreferences.com/

But for me I needed something simple, with no pressure and fun. So after browsing the web for a while and trying other challenges, I came across Boost Your Creativity: The Random Word Doodle Workout on Skillshare (I swear I don’t work for them). It’s great for everybody, you don’t have to draw professionally and it´s fun. Besides the actual doodling part, I liked that sharing our work is very encouraged.

The first day, when I was done doodling, I was about to close my sketchbook and not show anyone my horrible doodle. But then I remembered a quote by Joseph Chilton Pearse “To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong”. I couldn’t agree more so I shared it and all the ones I’ve made so far, no matter how ugly they are.

Which brings me to the second part of the post. I was browsing in my Kindle library and came across a book I got and never got around reading it. The tittle was just perfect for this sharing work situation “Show your work!” By Austin Kleon. I read it in a couple of days and I recommend you do too.

It’s funny how we tend to find what we need as we go through life…