Well, clean slate. It's the year 2023 now.
I thought it might be best to start this book of officially by showing you my art summary from 2022 and say some things about my art journey!

I don't usually write much about myself though so don't expect a lot. Hehe- ^^"
Now!

Onto the summary of 2022.
I started last year of with an artblock of sorts. I wasn't really inspired by anything. I didn't know what to draw or how to draw it, I didn't feel like doing my usual stuff and didn't like anything I did.
So instead I started to explore different mediums and artstyles, working on my realism and my understanding of anatomy for example.
I kind of fell down the Washitape obsession hole too- Uhm-

It might be best for you to see it yourself though.
I'll also add some additional pieces too.

My first Obsession 2022

One of my most favorite realism artworks that I did with coal took me about 2-3 hours and was a lot of fun to do. It was based on a Pinterest picture of an old man with the most awesome hair and beard!

During my practice with coal and pencils I learned that shading a face appropriately is hard work and everything kind of comes down to the first steps.
The first step is always to break down the reference info rough shapes. I have a progress shot from the black woman I put in my summary to kind of explain what I mean.

The second thing I noticed is, that you won't be able to create a perfect copy just like this. And that isn't bad. Art is meant to express your own view on sth. At least it's like this for me. I just enjoy practicing the anatomy and features and lighting and try to recreate it to the best of my abilities.

I learned a lot about proportions by doing so.
Let's look at a kind of failed example to elaborate:

Yes. This is the picture from April in my Summary.
I used a reference for the facial shape and pose but changed everything else.
I had a lot of fun exploring the use of watercolor pencils and paper.
But I also made a crucial mistake in the process.
The forehead and hairline are way to short and high.
The eyes should be in the middle of the head. Instead they are placed close to the upper third of the face.

General laws of proportion and shapes are best practiced in repetition and variation. And of course things won't always work out, but you learn in the process!

As for my second obsession 2022...
I did a lot of art with different new mediums and two of my favorites were oil pastels and acrylic markers!

You can see two parrot heads I did with oil pastels in July. Shortly before, in June, I drew a wolverine in very unnatural colors. It was based on a photography of a wolverine stepping out of a river.

I couldn't find the photography, but I think you get the gist of it! I just had a lot of fun with this medium!

As for acrylic markers - I had always wanted to try them. I got some cheap ones from a local store and tried them out in a brew sketchbook with very sturdy, dense paper that I dedicated solely to these markers!
I made a lot of great artworks. One of them you can see as my choice for October!
Here are some of the others:

The quality of the photos might not be the best but I learned quickly what I liked the most about acrylic markers. The vibrant colors make it easy to create line less artworks! Even without the Fineliners I could create depth and contrast. This Gabe me the chance to do sth I love without struggling. (I love line less art, but I'm not very good at it myself ^^")

My third and last obsession was...
... Washitape.
I swear I bought at least 100 different washitapes in less than a month. QwQ
Sorry, wallet-
BUT! I found them for rather cheap in a local store.
╮⁠(⁠＾⁠▽⁠＾⁠)⁠╭

Now, Washitape is sth I already explored back in 2021 by doing this little fella:

But this was before I took it seriously.
In 2022 I expanded my collection, I bought my own exactor blade (for a great price!!!) and I got stickers for additional details!

This is a character designed by pastelchromist !
I loved their design so much, I went ahead and gave her a nice chaotic gardening outfit. XD
I also did a lot of world building by drawing characters from my "After Apocalypse" - Universe.
A big help to me in doing that was -seelenschnitt who role-played most of it with me. Thanks a lot. ;3

As you can see- I really got into this one.

What I took with me out of this year is, that you should never be afraid of trying out new things. Of course you might need to invest some time and money.
But if you want to do sth, do it.
Just start small and if you discover that this is sth you want to do for real, go and get into it!

I will leave this chapter with you as it is and I hoped you liked this sneak peek into my art year 2022.

C ya Art Peeps!

PS - I am granting you this look into my little Washitape obsession ~!