berry-lolita asked: According to your convention schedule, you guys are coming to AWA this year, which makes me so excited! >w

Answer:

Yep, we’ll be at AWA! :) I’m afraid I won’t have any prints though, they’re heavy and don’t really sell well in comparison to my merchandise so I stopped carrying them ^^;

#the gamercat  #gamercat  #stickers 

#art  #adopts  #adoptables  #minkin  #sparkledoe  #cain  #green  #deer  #fawn 

Anonymous asked: Art mom ashley, help me. I want to make my own comic, but I always lose enthusiasm with my work early on and have zero motivation to keep working on it. I don't know why, I have together over 20 pages of different projects I wanted to do, but I just seem to not have the drive to push forward and then I feel like a failure and it just makes it all worse. Any advice, art mom?

Answer:

glassshard:

Well, this doesn’t sound so much like an art problem; it’s more a problem of self-discipline and motivation, no? You have to be very strict with yourself. Pick the project that you feel the strongest about, shelve the others, and set deadlines. Put aside time each day to work on the project, even if it means not doing fun things. Maybe you need to give up watching tv or movies, or playing video games, or playing on your phone to make time for it.

That does sound very motherly, doesn’t it? :)

But yeah, if you can’t muster up the self-discipline to do the work, the work will never happen. You have to ask yourself how much you really want to make the comic happen. How much are you willing to sacrifice?

The truth is, we’re all creative. You’re not really that special just because you have some good ideas or you draw okay. What makes an artist truly noteworthy and successful is their drive and their work ethic. A successful passion project is 5% inspiration, 95% perspiration. Get out there and sweat.

Preach it, girl! This is something a lot of people don’t understand about making comics. It’s a LOT of work and you have to be really dedicated to it.

The internet is filled with partially-started comics that died after only a chapter or two. Sometimes it’s just not possible for the artist to continue for one reason or another, but most of the time it’s because they find out it’s more work than it’s “worth” to them. How much is your story worth to you?

#words  #inspiration 

#other's art  #unicorns  #cute stuff 

#scenic route 

la-inspirez asked: I have never been very good at drawing any kind of nature. Flowers and trees are what im the worst at. Are there any tips you could offer when drawing nature scenes? Yours are so wonderfully done so I would really appreciate it!

Answer:

Well, thank you! To be honest I forced myself into this kind of thing with Strays and I have to attribute whatever skill I have with backgrounds/nature to it. I’ve been forced into drawing nature in that for like 8 years now.

My best advice would be to look up scenic pictures and draw from them. You can’t get much better reference than real life and I often use it myself. Most of the sketches I did on those two brush pen pages were from refs I Googled, I just hyper stylized them.

I also look at scenery that other artists have drawn that I enjoy and try to replicate what I like from it. Sometimes you can pick up tips and tricks just by redrawing something someone else made and seeing how they did it. I pull from things like anime, cartoons or movie backgrounds as well.

I’m not sure if this was helpful, but good luck! :)

sky665 asked: Ooh man! FINAL chapter of Strays is upon us!? What will you do when it's over - do you have plans for another webcomic after or are you guys going to be done for a long while??

Answer:

Yep, last chapter! I do have plans for another comic, but it isn’t completely ironed out yet. That’s okay though, because I would enjoy some kind of break from the weekly obligation I’ve had for years.

#art  #sketches  #scenic route 

themortalscout asked: Hi Celesse! I saw your con list for the year and I wanted to ask if you will ever be coming to Anime Expo (Los Angeles) in the future? I'd love to come by your booth and meet you/get aLL the Strays things! *u*

Answer:

Ah, I’m afraid not. I’m on the East coast (literally at the water’s edge) and it would be a cross-country trip to make it to a con on the West coast ^^; It’s not really doable.