Create Every Week #4 - Blow Fish Party

I admit it, I have been slacking off on the creativity side but I did have a play around the other day with this.

I am hoping to up my "kawaii illustrations" game so I decided to combine different expressions with blowfish (fugu as it is known in Japan).

I'll probably paint it with water colours but upload and clean it up a bit so I can play around with digital painting too.

I have been using this book: Kawaii: How to draw really cute stuff and a reference book. Which I'm really enjoying, Ebi-kun too. It has step by step for drawing all kinds of things from people to transport to buildings and how to kawaiify them.

Obviously in Japan everything is kawaii, they have a knack of making everything cute - which other nation would come up with a cute poop emoji? I rest my case.
All the prefectures have their own cute mascots, we have a pigeon, I know right, of all the creatures they pick a bloody pigeon!

But it doesn't stop there, supermarkets, hospitals, schools, even prisions have mascots too - it's a HUGE business. One thing that surprised me when I first came over to Japan was seeing full grown men with cute mascot pens, key-chains and the such like. After being here so long it all seems perfectly normal.

So... what have you been creating this week?

Want To Make Passive Income?

But stuck on where to start? Grab The Passive Income Generator (fondly know as PIG) and find out what the perfect passive income stream is for your unique talents, skills and passions...

Create Every Week - Week #3

We had SNOW!

I know for many people that isn't very exciting but I LOVE the snow and we don't get it very often here.

I wasn't the only one who was stupidly excited about it, admitedly the rest of the lcoals were under the age of 13 hahaaha


Although I had planned to do some drawing this week I couldn't resist grabbing my camera and heading out in the snow and not only the snow, we had a misty morning out too - it was stunning.

I love the snow for so many reasons, being a winter babe probably has something to do with it but I also love...

I love the chance to be the first to walk across an untouched path of snow, it is the one of the times when you can truely be The First.

I love the way that it changes the scenery, making the usual boring and mundane look mysterious and intresting.

I love how it changes the sounds, everything seems quieter and sounds are more intense.

I love the smell, that fresh, clean air that your lungs just can't get enough of.

I love the patterns that nature brings us with the snow, the way that the wind blows it or the way that it covers cabbages in the field making them look like mini mountains.

I love how it changes the energy, kids squeal with excitement, adulats remembering the days they went sledging or the best snowman they ever made.

I love that it is a free creative tool that, when just right you can build amazing sculptures or igloos or snow trolls!

I love the chaos that it brings becuae it makes you appreciaite everything when it's running normally.

I also love that I work from home and don't have to commute in the chaos :D

So here are a few, unedited shots from my 2 and half hour walk! I mamnaged to get my 10K steps in before 10am!

Create Every Week - Week #2

Create Every Week

This year I wanted to challenge myself to be more creative just for me, I do a lot of creative things for work but sometimes it feels like everything is work focused and less on having fun and just enjoying the process.

I know a lot of people do the drawing or painting challenges but I really don't restrict myself to any specific medium, more just to go with the flow and see what captures my attention in the moment.

Week #2 - Photography

I love taking pictures but it is a long time since I did any kind of formal training and I'd love to get out of the habit of putting my DSLR on auto!

I have a Pentax K-50 and it's bright PINK! I went with Pentax because that is what my old camera was and we used them in college, so it's a bit like an updated, snazzier version of an old friend!

Ebi-kun is still off school so we went for a walk, both taking our cameras and just enjoyed the time outside. Not having a focus or theme, just pictures of whatever.

These are my three favourite shots of the day...

I'm not sure what this plant is but they grow in abundance in the neglected rice paddies, they looked so delegate against the winter sky...

..

.

Next up were chestnuts, there were found surrounding a little shrine which was guarded by foxes - statues, not the real thing, I don't actually live in a Miyazaki movie.

The colour of the chestnuts grabbed my attention, I love that rich brown colour, always reminds me of autumn and delicious food.

.

The final one today is taken through the wooden grill at the little fox shrine, the grill actually framing what was inside.

.

The fox shrine is actually an Inari Shinto shrine to worship the god Inari. There are almost 3000 of these shrines dotted around Japan, I am better this is one of the smallest! Most of these shrines have a pair of foxes gardening the gate.

.

So that wraps up week #1 if you are joining in let me know what you are up to! I'm hoping this challenge will keep me a bit more consistent with my posting too!

Create Every Week - week #1

Create Every Week

This year I wanted to challenge myself to be more creative just for me, I do a lot of creative things for work but sometimes it feels like everything is work focused and less on having fun and just enjoying the process.

I know a lot of people do the drawing or painting challenges but I really don't restrict myself to any specific medium, more just to go with the flow and see what captures my attention in the moment.

Disclaimer - I sometimes include affiliate links in my posts, that means that if you click the link and make a perchase I get a small percentage of the sale, at no cost to you.

Week #1 - ipad apps

I am forever downloading apps to play with, some make the cut and some get deleted almost immediately. What I wanted to do is find a way to sketch then digitally colour my sketches - I have product ideas in mind but I need to figure out a process that suits me first!

My favourite app is Sketches which is free and extremely powerful, nothing groundbreaking for far as art goes yet but I do really like it and so it is going into the 'to keep' folder. It's really easy to use, has lots of pen types and works with my wacom pen.

This sketch started in Sketches as a line drawing but then I wanted to use the paintbucket to colour it so I opened it up in Pigment, which a colouring book style of app.

It has several free colouring pages and you can upgrade to get more, you can also import your own images to colour in.

I like how it turned out, still a bit rough around the eges but now I have a process down so I can concentrate more on getting my images more polished.

I've ordered a couple of books on how to draw kawaii things, so expect more kawaii goodness coming this way!

.

That wraps up this weeks Create Every Week post, if you want to join the journey, let me know! I would love some company!