Halloween Characters and Thoughts on Pinterest
Originally Published on my Patreon Page…
October 8, 2024
Welcome to October!
How is it that I had never before heard of the “ber months”? But now it is all over Instagram, YouTube and I imagine all other social media, with content creators, illustrators, and artists sharing everything related to Autumn. Also never before have I felt time go by as fast, some creators are publishing Christmas things already. Work wise I come from the Fashion Retail Industry and I’m used to companies pushing seasonal product incredibly early. But even so, I never felt the seasons turn so quickly. I wonder if this feeling is related to how much social media I’ve been consuming lately. I think I’m using social media as tool and with a purpose (with my very few illustration publications and some research to learn from other creators), but the effect seems unavoidable, I feel rushed. How is it that all YouTubers were wearing heavy sweaters and had their homes ready for Autumn on September 1st? The season had not even changed! I’m older…and I have this nostalgia for the seasons turning slow, enjoying the change of weather, slowly starting to layer my clothes. Now, I feel like I missed the boat on Halloween!
This rush has me re-thinking my approach to art. I have been watching some Skillshare video classes on how to correctly use Pinterest. My goal was to find a class specific to Pinterest Ads because the Pinterest Handbook is long and technical. I can follow technical, but with this rushed feeling that I’ve been experiencing, I wanted something already chewed and digested. Turns out not one video touches on Pinterest Ads. But regardless, I watched a few Pinterest related classes and learned that Pinterest is “a search engine, a visual search engine, and it really should be treated as such.” Since Pinterest is now a business tool for me, I have to listen to what experts recommend: pinning 20 to 50 pins per day! And of the 20 to 50 pins, only 20% to 30% can be my own work, not more than or Pinterest will think it’s spam. Based on this new learning, I’m placing a hold on spending any money on Pinterest Ads and seeing how this pinning rule works for me first. Coming from a time where search engines and social media did not exist, it is easy for me to pause and reflect on how I want to use this tool. I’m really a late subscriber to Pinterest as a business, I had no idea of the situation this puts artists in, so I’m re-thinking my approach to promoting my art. I find myself in this fork on the road each time I publish a new illustration, because I want it to be seen. Do I want to spend my time following the Pinterest and Instagram recommendations for my posts to be shown? or do I want to spend my time illustrating? My #1 priority is to illustrate, that is what I love. Everything after this, comes with the territory of the business part, and for now I will continue to learn how to effectively and efficiently use these great tools. After all I do not have a large body of work yet to be so concerned. It may seem like a not so popular decision as a business if I’m looking to make a living from my illustrations, yet, I always prefer quality over quantity. Besides, slow living is becoming a trend!
Since June I have been working on two new illustrations of two characters, a vampire and a monster. These characters came about in 2020 as thumbnails. While I’ve made some modifications to the characters, the main shapes for each still holds. It may seem like a long time for two illustrations but I don’t do any of this full time.
Here are some notes I left to myself on my Studio Notebook. I usually notate my main ideas or bits of information that I may find useful in the future when working on new illustrations. Other than that, my process is a quick check list that ranges from thumbnails to final art to photoshop prep for publication and everything in between. I label my notes as “process” related and just “notes” for thoughts.
Process 1 (Vampire): Started this process on 6/23/24 with the idea of re-developing my version of Lumiere into a vampire. As I copied my thumbnails from my idea sketchbook into my work-in-progress sketchbook, I realized that the standing pose was boring. So I also copied thumbnails from some gesture drawings that I made when I had an idea to create a Halloween party illustration. The poses seemed fun, dancing to the twist. For now I’m now calling him my Halloween “Twist Vampire.” This completes my thumbnail pose explorations. From this pool of thumbnails I chose 4 poses to develop further. And for this development I will take an SVS course called “Posing Characters” to refresh my skills on the subject.
Process 2 (Vampire): 7/10/24, I’ve been applying all the homework from the SVS Posing Characters Course, to further develop each of the 4 poses that I started in June. The exercises have helped me differentiate between even more interesting active poses and do away with the ones that do not express the Vampire dancing. Note to self: refer to Key Take Aways section of my class notes for a quick recap of what I found valuable and key to apply to my own process. Later note to self: none of the dancing poses worked with the body shape of this character, so I used the one where he is trying to scare someone, in this case a kitty.
Note 1 (Vampire): 8/18/24, with this illustration I had the internal realization that “when a drawing is final is when every line is a pleasure to draw, every line is so nicely defined and flows through the entire illustration.” I had the best art teachers in high school, they insisted on a process that I have not been taught since. Start with thumbnails until ready to select the choice that best suits the illustration, including composition. Enlarge to a drawing and fix with overlays all the areas that are not well defined or that show issues, etc. This takes many overlays (maybe why people prefer digital). This part used to annoy me, because I did not want to be drawing the same thing over and over (it wasn’t supposed to be the same thing). But today I realized, my annoyance may have more to do with the fact that the drawing still had to be developed. So when it is final, there is this internal click that only brings joy in what seems repetitive work but it is not. I had to put aside the illustration in between stages, after enlarged, after the first overlay, continuously walking away and picking it up until today’s joyful discovery and internal click. Up until today I was worried that this illustration may not have been the best choice to work on next.
Process 1 (Monster): 8/26/24, this monster came about as a character for my Halloween party illustration idea. I re-visited the character and the idea, but time and time again I placed this drawing aside, the pose was great, the monster head looks fun, but I found that the clothes did not quite work, I felt something was missing. Just in case I enlarged the image to see how I could develop it later. Today is later, and a nice surprise! The beast image is now a Varsity Monster dancing the twist. It just came together in my mind, the vintage letterman sweater, the saddle shoes and striped pants. The drawing now looks complete. I can begin the color phase.
And as of today, I’m still working on the Varsity Dancing Monster. It could have been finished one week after I published the Vampire illustration but for whatever reason, I cannot find long enough time to sit at my art desk to finish it. Mainly I’ve been doing a lot of computer work.
One last note on Pinterest. Since I decided that I would give the 20 to 50 pins per day a try. Why not make it fun? There was a time in my life when all I wanted to do was research, google was my friend. So why not use this opportunity with Pinterest to search for new bloggers, new books, or why not use pins to support all that I still have to learn? Of course, it is important to be discerning, so like I always do with research, first I gather, then I sort and then I curate. Let’s see how this goes!
PS - there are apps that help with Pinterest, scheduling posts, etc. and the Skillshare classes explain ways to go about this pinning requirement. But I don’t want to be someone just pinning mindlessly to meet a requirement. I don’t want to be a fast consumer, I want to be a mindful person, doing art, creating a business.
PSS - As a thank you, I've attached a 4 x 4 png of my vampire illustration which you can print for yourself as a sticker. Goes without saying for personal use only. Note: Gifts were specially created for Patreon members only.