And to think a week ago I could only draw stick figures! Of course, I’m using reference photos and following step by step instructions, but still! πŸŽ¨πŸ–ŒοΈπŸ€©

Worked on lesson 6 of SketchLoose free beginner’s course last night. And used a blow dryer for the 1st time to accelerate the process! πŸŽ¨πŸ–ŒοΈ

I am super loving this artistic side of me! πŸŽ¨πŸ–ŒοΈ This is day five in Toby’s free beginner course, “A House in Japan”.

My Escoda VersΓ‘til watercolor brushes have arrived!! I got the round brushes in sizes 10, 6 and 2 to get started :) Looking forward to painting EVERYTHING I see!!! πŸŽ¨πŸ–ŒοΈ

Today on Draw With Me, Charles Dickens' Ghosts of Christmas! Happy Holidays! πŸŽ„πŸŽ‰πŸŽ¨πŸ–ŒοΈ

🎨 My first watercolor! I love how my sketch turned out, but the paint part was hard. That sky looks terrible, LOL! I kept practicing with other reference photos and eventually figured out what I was doing wrong (a mix of bad brushes and too little water).

Today I joined a live Draw with Me with Danny Gregory on youtube, for the first time. The hour went by really fast, I had so much fun! Did my artwork with ink and crayola markers πŸ˜€πŸŽ¨πŸ–ŒοΈ #SBSDrawWithMe

A colorful page features various sketches including a fish, jar of mayonnaise, Bob Ross, socks, Spam, festive items, and text about a white elephant gift exchange.

Open raw files from any phone on DxO Photolab

TLDR; It it possible to use DxO Photolab to edit raw files produced by ANY camera that is not on their supported list, even from mobile phones such as Samsung and Xiaomi. It involves using two free tools, and the terminal/command line. Skip to the workaround for instructions. Even though I shoot raw exclusively on my Canon cameras, I’m completely fine shooting jpegs when the camera’s internal processor is good enough for that.

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Moving on from this. Colored pencils are beautiful, but slow! I think my next one will be a base of water markers with the pencils on top. πŸŽ¨πŸ–ŒοΈ

A color-by-numbers page depicts a drawing of Mulan, partially colored with pencils scattered around.

First day doing the free course over at Sketch Loose and my first urban sketch ever! Learned to simplify shapes and draw from a reference image πŸŽ¨πŸ–ŒοΈπŸ˜ Can’t wait to learn about watercolors!

I have just discovered the concept of loose lines sketch and look at this! I have filled a page with vegetables, pens, a water bottle and two plant pots! I CAN DRAW! Stick figures, no more! πŸ–ŒοΈ

Finished reading: We by Yevgeny Zamyatin πŸ“š

One of the first dystopias, came out in 1924 and inspired many down the line. A totalitarian regime, literal glass walls, state-assigned lovers, where mathematical logic rules over individual behaviour. If you could only choose one, Freedom or Hapiness?

Finished this page with water markers! Next up: colored pencils! 🎨

A woman with long dark hair and a jeweled headband is affectionately leaning on a content-looking tiger amidst a lush garden setting, depicted in a color-by-numbers art style.

I’ve been living for the past 15 years with a massive question mark: to blog in English or Portuguese? EN is my main language for everything, web, books, movies, work and even marriage! PT-BR is the language of my IRL family and friends, probably the only folks who want to read my stuff.

Week 18: New Phone

πŸ€§πŸ’‰ Did a prick allergy test! Allergic to all kinds of pollen and stratospheric levels of dust mites allergy! Doctor thinks the immunization shots would be nice in my case. 🌢️ Bought a Peugeot Paris pepper mill and I’m in love! I didn’t know what I was missing. Never again will a grocery store pepper grinder enter my kitchen. πŸŽ„ We got an Escape the Room Advent Calendar book this year again.

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Did an allergy prick test yesterday. Tested positive to a ton of stuff – some known: birch pollen, dust mites; some suspected: almonds, cypress pollen; and some surprises: all other kinds of pollen, nuts, cats and DOGS!

Week 17: November

I fell off the wagon completely after my blogging partner (mom) went back home, and this weeknote is three weeks long, lol. πŸš— I started my driving lessons! AAAAAAAAAH! 🎨 Gifted myself a Disney coloring book, a set of 120 Castle Arts colored pencils (wonderful), a box of 150 Crayola Super Tips water-based markers and 24 Crayola Colors of the World markers. 🫟 I debated long about buying the more expensive alcohol markers, but I just don’t know if I’ll stick to coloring books for more than 2 months… So I bought the cheap crayolas and that will scratch the itch!

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Watched Alien: Earth πŸ“Ί Full of plot holes and nonsensical things, moderately entertaining. The best actor was definitely the octopus-eye, such a character! πŸ‘½πŸ™πŸ‘οΈ

Already gave myself my own early xmas present: a Disney colour by number book and a box of crayola markers! πŸŽ¨πŸ–

No desire to blog this week, but just wanted to write for posterity: started driving lessons last week! Drove all over town and on the highway too! Anxious and insomniac AF over this, but also having fun.