Life, Story, and 30 Days of Buffalo
Hey friends,
I hope you all had a wonderful week. I’m writing this Saturday morning while gearing up for a (much needed) long Easter weekend spent with family and friends.
Over the past couple weeks I’ve been hard at work trying to get some of my digital illustrations into the physical world through prints and postcards. This week, I started messing around and made a couple stickers.
I’ve gotten some great feedback (my mom doesn’t understand the “your mom” elephants) and am still working out some kinks with the quality and color settings but I’m hoping to have these up on an Etsy shop with a week or so for any of you who might be interested. I’ll be sure to keep you updated!
I also started a new series/challenge on my new Instagram account this past week.
Throughout the month of April, I’ll be posting one illustration everyday that represents some kind of monument, place, or location in my city - Buffalo, NY.
I recently reached out to an illustrator on Instagram that I really respect, and asked for any advice he had for an artist just getting into illustration and he said, “make sure everyone of your pieces has a story.”
This really stuck with me because, well….I don’t really know what it means.
At first, I thought back to some of the clear, Jack Butcher esque visuals that I used to do…
With these, I started out with a message that I wanted to communicate and tried to convey it in the clearest way possible.
They definitely tell a story…but what about the things that I’m making now? What kind of story do paintings of animals and big rocks tell? They’re just things!
I just wasn’t sure, but what better way to find out then to illustrate things of meaning?
I like to use 30 day challenges to push myself towards my big picture goal of consistency, while also allowing myself to explore new mediums and things that I need to improve on.
In January I wrote for myself.
In February I published a blog post everyday.
I drew SOMETHING everyday in March.
The prompt has to be achievable, challenging, and I have to be excited for it.
I thought about keeping it broad at first; “Illustrate anyplace of meaning,” but that created too much friction. I had to think about the places in this world that meant the most to me or had the most impact….and THEN I had to draw them.
I love my city and love to see the way that my daily surroundings impact me as a person.
To me (at least for now), story starts with “meaning.”
I plan on figuring out how to illustrate story by finding that meaning, not in majestic or exotic places….but the places in which I’m surrounded everyday.
Here’s to April.
Annnnnnnd here’s a drawing dump from this past week…
Thank you so much for reading this far.
As always, have a great week.
-Ben