Hello Friends!
As I mentioned last time, I’m shaking things up here at Friend of Note & this week I’m concentrating on improving my efficiency and being more industrious with my time. In an attempt to maintain aspects of my old routine, I started the day off with a quick #MondayMerger. Although, what I discovered was how unnecessary it felt this morning! I was already geared up to get stuck into my latest illustration and yet when I had to go through the motions of drawing & colouring something entirely different, it became such a drag that I felt as though I was simply burning time. Certainly, the opposite intention of this practice.
So we got a little something… but unsurprisingly it’s in a state far less polished than some illustrations.
It was pretty easy to conclude that #MondayMerger is best kept for when I’m in-between projects, to keep me drawing if ideas have run dry. It becomes less useful when I’m simply creating one to tick a check-box off a list. I plan to keep up with my Monday Minutes (this blog) as they help me get my plans straight for the upcoming week, but I will likely skip on the drawing exercise if I’m keen to get right into things!
Upcoming Week!
This week I have 50 sewing machine stickers to print! So, that is my top priority!
After that, I am hoping to get stuck into a mini launch I’ve decided to run with! ooooooh ;)
I’ve shared how I wish to set about creating a Christmas line for this year, and I’ve got a number of ideas on the burner for that one. However, I felt it might be a good idea to give the products a practice run by launching a small Halloween line in September, in time for October. Now, I’m not a particularly big Halloween fan myself, but I appreciate a good theme and thought it would be fun to create 4-5 illustrations that will be used to potentially create decorations, stickers, cards and invitations. Milk each illustration for what it’s worth, you know? I’m kidding, but it will be a good exploration to test different markets. I’ll be keeping the illustration designs under wraps for the time being, but watch this space!
Neglected, but not forgotten
You may be thinking I have completely abandoned my plans for YouTube or TikTok, but rather, I am attempting to find a way that the creation of these videos can be baked into my work process. Up until now, the voice recording, editing, etc is typically left to the end of a product, when I’ve already mentally moved onto the next piece. This is how I have ended up with a handful of unpublished, incomplete videos – my interest evaporates. So, I’ll be circling back to this soon, just need to improve my processes first!
A few favourites
That’s it for me today but let me leave you with a few recommendations from the last few weeks:
- Album: Plantasia – Mort Garson (an amusing discovery courtesy of the Gaol)
- Podcast: Dua Lipa At Your Service – BLACKPINK’S Jennie (Side Note: really like this website)
- Single: Birdy’s – Paradise Calling
- YouTube: Apple Cheeks – Watch This if You’re Art Blocked
- YouTube: Emilia Clarke & Olivia Coleman Ask Rapid Fire Questions (I forgot how much I love these two! They’re fan-girling over tea is just adorable)
- YouTube: Allana Davison – What I Eat in a Day (Always a divisive, and at times, problematic topic, but I appreciated it for the routine element)
- YouTube: Allana Davison – My Weekly Reset Routine (Inspired me to want to get back into a good routine!)
Talk Soon!
Fiona x