46. Family

SUNDAY:

Hooray, 6 Post-It notes and three posts later and we've finally reached Sunday's! It's the first in what seems like a long time to be done on the day it was actually supposed to be done on. I went for more American comedy, though this time it's Modern Family. I've been watching it fairly obsessively for the past few days (I think I managed to get through the first two seasons in about half a week) and I love it; my flatmate, Sani, lent it to me ages ago and I only got round to watching it recently, in a dramatically staged coup of friend-enabled American sitcom marathon viewing. This is based on one of the promotional DVD images for the second season and includes all of the key characters, though the accuracy is a bit off in some cases: Luke (bottom right), despite being about 10, has the body of a large 50 year old man, while Manny (middle right) looks a bit like a mob boss, and you can barely make out Haley's (top right) face. Phil's (lying down at the front) hair started to look a little too much like Elvis' (the King), but I sorted that out - I initially wasn't sure how much I liked him but he's really grown on me and I didn't want him to look wildly unlike his charming, charismatic self!

45. Illusion

SATURDAY:

This one was fun to do - a lot of measuring and straight lines. I think I frustrated my art teacher in Sixth Form at school with my tendency to be very restrained and precise in my work, but there is something in it, although I'm also drawn to freer, more spontaneous styles too. This optical illusion is incredibly clever: I found out while looking for a reference picture that it's created by means of a distorted room called an Ames room, though from photographs you'd never be able to tell that there's anything odd about the space just by the way it appears when empty.    

This one was also fun to do, though for a different reason! When the new season of Arrested Development came out recently it seemed like almost everyone I know was excited, while Tom and I knew almost nothing about it. So our friend Caroline lent us the first season on DVD and, though it took me a little while to get into it, now I'm hooked! I particularly like Gob with all his swagger, and he's got some of the best lines. 

Michael: So this is the magic trick, huh? 
Gob: Illusion, Michael. A trick is something a whore does for money... 
[sees children watching his magic] 
Gob: ...or cocaine! 

Thanks, IMDb, for the quote magic! 

44. Two Roads

FRIDAY:

This was another tough one. Tom and I had trouble coming up with possible road names, but I'm happy with the implied contrast between 'Long Road to Ruin' and 'Yellow Brick Road', though that doesn't look much like Oz and now I can't stop thinking about that Foo Fighters song. 

I was trying to think more outside the box with this one, and decided to try drawing Harvey Dent/Two-Face on the coin he uses in The Dark Knight to decide his actions (I've never read any of the comics or graphic novels, and most of my knowledge of Batman comes from Christopher Nolan's filmic vision of him). The idea was to capture the two possible outcomes and their attendant morality, but I'm not sure it came across that well because of the design of the coin and its burn pattern. I was also too lazy to look up an appropriate reference picture to check the appearance of the coin and Dent/Two-Face in the film. In this case artistic license definitely doesn't do justice to the original - another good lesson for me to learn.

43. Dying

I mentioned in my previous post that I've been making up for missed entries, and the volume of those has been high recently: it's now Monday and these Post-It notes were supposed to be for last Thursday. However, though I am writing up the comments today, yesterday was actually the busier day in terms of Post-It productivity, since I had to catch up on the entries for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. That's right: 7 Post-It notes in one day. A whole week's worth. It was a lot of fun, and I had a great time with my boyfriend keeping me company, but it was a lot of work too! Still, though I'm not proud that I let them pile up like that, I am happy that I managed to get them all uploaded last night, even if at 3am I decided to postpone the writing until now. So, here goes:

THURSDAY: 

The theme for this one was a tough one - I didn't want to do anything too sad or trite. In the end, I decided to go with a wilting flower. Flowers have such short lifespans, but even when they die they're so beautiful, and they return to the ground so quickly and start the cycle anew. Trite, you say? Maybe, but it's still true. 

In another attempt to take a positive approach, I decided to draw Daniel Jackson from Stargate SG-1. ***Spoiler alert:*** it apparently became such a significant running joke that the character died or got killed so often (even on a show where all of the main characters had been killed off multiple times in various parallel universes, alternate realities, virtual realities, dreams, simulations etc.), that it was actually meta-referenced in a later episode of the series. Daniel was maybe my favourite character* so it was sad watching him die in the series, but it was also uplifting to think that there might be something more to death in its various guises and that he might still be out there. The reference photo is here: I think I could definitely have taken much more care over the initial groundwork in order to capture the likeness more, but doing this brought back to me just how much I loved the series, and now I'm stoked to watch it all again!


*He's a talented, multilingual, awkward, nerdy, enthusiastic, occasionally sarcastic anthropologist with a quizzical stare and twitchy eyebrows, who seems to attract bad (and good) women and enemy fire in equal measure, but still manages to emerge the hero. What's not to love? (Though admittedly playing favourites is a hard call on a show that good.) Also, he's so cute. Also, and big surprise here, his arms. Did not see that coming. I'm going to stop now - there are too many pictures and I am as shallow as a very small puddle on very flat ground after not very much rain.

42. Standing Still

This post is one of a string, right up to number 46, which were all very delayed, hence the high concentration of double image posts coming up. This one was supposed to be last Wednesday's, I posted it on Saturday, and I'm writing this on Monday. There's no good excuse: I just lost all motivation over the past week, not just for this, but for a load of stuff. It took a weekend of beautiful weather, boating, ice cream in coffee, and excellent friends to b*tchslap me out of being in a constant grump, so thank you for everyone who pitched in and lent a hand - you're all the best.

This sketch is based on a game I used to play that involved one person walking to a designated goal while being stalked by their 'friends', whose goal was ostensibly to tag them and stop them from getting there (all very sinister - prelude to abduction, anyone?); whenever they turned around their tormentors had to freeze - any sign of movement and game over for them. I may have got some of the details wrong, but it seemed pretty fun at the time, kind of like Sticky Toffee, though with less potentially compromising getting-caught-crawling-through-somebody-else's-legs action. 

My forfeit Post-It note is of a scene from the most recent Indiana Jones movie, where Indy gets caught in some quicksand while on the run from the Soviets. I don't know how effective it is to stay still when you're caught in quicksand - probably a lot more than thrashing around trying to get free - but I hope I never find out. I would rather face the snakes I think. Though not spiders. Spiders terrify me. Reference photo here: http://www.unc.edu/~ruerin/indiana%20jones%20quicksand.jpg

41. Teamwork

I don't think I've ever actually been involved in a successful human pyramid, but I'd imagine it does take a great deal of teamwork. What I'm slightly worried about is that, while an apple is a worthy goal for this sort of endeavour, 1/6 an apple is only 1/30 of your five a day. These kids' work is far from over. Incidentally, my sister was once part of a bona fide human pyramid, of which there is photographic evidence. It was much smaller, but everybody in it was wearing a fake mustache, and that's got to count for something.

40. Rated

This one was actually done on the right day, which seems like a rare occurrence recently. I went with 'X-rated' - you can decide what you think that says about me!

39. Dreams

Another late one, another forfeit, another haunting refrain in the night... Well. Two of the above!

This illustration did use a reference photo, from what may be one of my favourite films of all time, at least so far. I think David Lynch is amazing and this film, Blue Velvet, and Dean Stockwell's rendition of In Dreams both have a special place in my heart: my boyfriend gave me his DVD of the film not too long ago and I think I must have watched it about 3 times within about a week or so. Now, having seen Twin Peaks, Dune, and Mulholland Drive, I'm a total Lynch convert.* I'm quite happy with how it turned out, since I think it's such a great scene and wanted to try and do it justice in come small (yellow, square) way. 

This was quite a quick one, which may explain why it's a bit crooked! It's based on the Paradox Stairs (actually called the Penrose stairs or Penrose steps) in Inception: an impossibility in the real world, but something that can exist in the film's malleable dream-reality. I made an initial sketch that was more equilateral, but I forgot to take into account the different levels of the steps and winged it, leading to some inaccuracy. I think I could have got away with another step on the top left since I've just realised that the number isn't equal on each side, but all in all I'm pretty happy with how plausible it looks!


*I initially wrote 'I'm a total convent', but if you heard some of the things I say in casual conversation, you'd know for sure that that's definitely not true.

38. Abandoned

As well as being late to do some of the Post-It notes, I've also recently got into the habit of uploading pictures in a rush and then not actually writing the text of the posts until later. Guilty on both points this time. These Post-It notes were supposed to be Saturday's, I actually did them on Sunday and uploaded them then, and now it's Tuesday and I'm just now writing this.

This theme was interesting - so many possibilities! I couldn't get over this idea of the baby abandoned in the handbag from Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest (let me just get my confession out of the way and reveal that I've only ever seen the film and not the play, and have actually never read anything by him - a travesty which I hope to remedy soon). The handbag would have had to be a real beast of a bag, maybe sort of like Mary Poppins', which itself is basically like the TARDIS - bigger on the inside and probably just as capable of interdimensional travel too. Anyway, I love the story, though it's sad to think of how happy it is in juxtaposition with how sad Wilde's life became. 

This image doesn't strictly convey the idea of something being 'abandoned'; more like something 'imminently to be abandoned'. This is an illustration of the point in the first Pirates of the Caribbean film where a rowboat ends up facing off against a ship (can't remember exactly which one) as Captain Jack steals the HMS Interceptor. I drew it from memory because I was too lazy to look it up, though my subsequent uncertainty over exactly what happened in that scene and looking at the ship's appearance and proportions, I think I could really have done with some more research and a reference picture: it looks like the ship is riding on the back of a whale and that's what the officer is so worried about!

37. Eyes

I did actually draw this one on the night it was due for, so no forfeit this post. It is, however, not drawn on a Post-It note, like the images in the last post, because I left my Post-It notes at work on Friday (the ones at home I stubbornly insist are too yellow). I quite like the change, though I do really love those notecards. This drawing is of the character in the film Pan's Labyrinth, whose eyes are in the palms of his hands, and it was also drawn without a reference image because I didn't have Internet access that day. I'm very happy with how it turned out, though I honestly haven't looked up the film stills or the character information since. It just didn't really occur to me to (lazy) and part of me is too creeped out to do it now, but my ego also seems to be too proud to face the disappointment of having made a mistake.

36. Precious Treasure

I have a new dongle! (Thanks to T-Mobile's excellent customer service!) This is the first of a few late posts, partly due to my lack of Internet connection (and laziness, which may already be a familiar theme...) - the first drawing was done without a reference picture, and I'm actually pretty proud of how it turned out, especially the hands and feet:  

Yes, it's Gollum with the One Ring. Some might say predictable, I say the logical choice. Also, the movies are great, including The Hobbit, Part I. 

My second, forfeit, drawing is a collection of all the things I would try and take with me if the flat was on fire. It includes the standard things like phone, passport, and money, along with some things which are standard to me, like family photos and laptop, but also things like shoes and a coat, because it would be awful if you became homeless in a fire and didn't have any shoes to stand around waiting for the fire brigade in. I've just realised that I didn't include any keys, but I suppose that, although it seems harsh, you wouldn't actually need them if your home burned down.

Apologies for the interruption to this service

Hello anyone and everyone, I just wanted to apologise for the erratic updating of this blog recently; I know it's not in line with the nature of the challenge and it's also disappointing for anybody who might be checking here regularly, so I'll try harder not to let it slide.

I am actually up to date at the moment, but updates for the last two days have been postponed due to... ahem... problems with my dongle*. After 3 months' loyal and unstinting service my wireless broadband contract ran out yesterday, leaving me once again with no connection to the Internet. I'm writing from an undisclosed location (undisclosed due to the extreme disapprobation I would receive from many different directions were it revealed) where I don't have access to the latest photos to upload them, but I'm looking to purchase a new dongle* as soon as possible so that I can catch up on overdue posts. Until then, please bear with me.

Have a lovely weekend, everybody :]


*Heeheehee, 'dongle'...!

35. Hold My Hand

Since this entry was not just uploaded but also completed late (it was for Wednesday but I crashed and eschewed all creative initiative that night), I've uploaded an extra Post-It note as a forfeit again. I admit that I rushed them, but I'm happy with how they came out despite my lazy effort.

I spent the evening watching Les Misérables, after a friend recommended and lent it to me, and weeping profusely at various points - I'd never seen the stage version or heard many of the songs before and now I'm hooked and want to watch it again (though at 2 1/2 hours long it's a stretch). The theme reminded me of Valjean and Cosette in the forest, so I did a quick image based on that. It's definitely clear to me know that I need a lot of practice drawing hands.

With that in mind I sketched this. I've seen some illustrations similar to this before and love the tangled-up effect and the intricacy involved, though I often underestimate how tricky they must be, despite looking straightforward to draw. The anatomy, shape, and detail of these hands aren't perfect, but at least I got some practice in, as well as having fun doing it! I've read in a couple of places that you should draw and do what it is that you find difficult to draw or do, rather than avoid it - it's the only way to improve. It's a good lesson.

34. Stars

I spent a little while wondering what I could draw for this theme, until the answer hit me like a high-speed wombat convoy (not bricks, everyone always gets hit by bricks): today I won the LimerichallengeTM of the day for the first time (I was runner-up once before - see entry 29. Happiness)! Aside from making me very happy (and slightly smug - just look at that smugface there), as the day's winner I got to put two stars on the competition scoreboard over in my friend's office - I can't believe I didn't hit on the connection before! For info., the limerick theme was based on the keywords 'esteem' and 'waffle', and the entries were incredibly varied and often hilarious!

33. Expectations

Sometimes they can be misleading. I'm a bit conflicted about expectations at the moment - I'm not sure whether to lower them or embrace the robust phenomenological experience of disappointment. None of my limericks were awarded stars today. Those statements may be completely unrelated. Hah, got you wondering now!

Disclaimer: I did actually have a remote-controlled car once, and it was fantastic. However, that was before I decided that I really like socks. I do really, really like socks (snaps to Dumbledore). Also, I recently received a lot of birthday presents and, though none of them were remote-controlled cars or socks, they all totally blew any expectations out of the water, so no worries that this is in any way connected to that!

32. Night

This is me starting a Post-It note. At night. Yes, I am the procrastination queen! Though in my defence, I did first have to turn out two limericks and my extra note from Saturday's missed post! I really like how this one turned out and am actually slightly surprised since I did it so quickly. It looks very detailed, though it's not really, and the shading is quite rough too, but I think the compact space does a lot to pull it all together. My laptop screen seems to have shrunk and my wardrobe seems to have grown, though I suppose that means that Post-It note me has more space for her ludicrously extravagant and numerous clothes, and more space on her wall to put up her Post-It notes!

31. Flowers

I'm late again with this post, so I think that means I'll do another forfeit later! I don't mind - there are a lot of things you can do with flowers! I didn't know this before I started this drawing, but it turns out that flower-bearding is actually a thing. Who knew?! I think it's actually incredibly cool, and if I had a beard I might entertain the idea of doing something similar! On the other hand, here's the reference photo: https://www.shaveyourstyle.com/typo3temp/pics/Shave-your-style-London-ShortBoxedBeard-Ashley4_ea59a2e2d7.jpg, and I think that this guy is also giving great beard (thanks Top Model for imbuing me with your inimicable vernacular!).

I also thought I'd upload a photograph of all the previous month's posts up on the wall in my room: my current camera has an amazing panorama mode which comes in so useful for things like this! The extra item taped up below them is two tickets for The Rocky Horror Show when it comes to town, given to me by my amazing office-mate for my birthday - so exciting!

Aaaaaaaand, here it is - my extra drawing!

I think I should have been more careful with the line-art before starting to outline it, but I'm still happy with how it turned out. The flowers were particularly fun to do.

30. Under the Rain

The Shawshank Redemption is one of those films that garners praise from multiple corners, but which genuinely is a thrill to watch, at least in my opinion. I always overlook how much I love it until I have the opportunity to watch it again. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it - I'm about due to see it again, actually. The scene in the rain near the end - reference photo here - is amazing and the perfect way to capture this theme.

In unrelated news, I've figured out how to adjust comment settings on Blogger, so now hopefully anybody should be able to leave comments on posts. Please do, if you'd like to - I'd love to get your feedback! Also, a massive thank you to everybody who's been following Post-It Note Diaries on its 30 day (so one month, sort of) anniversary! I hope you've been enjoying it so far! I definitely have, though it's certainly been tough to keep it up sometimes (sooooo lazy)!

29. Happiness

This was a theme I could get more excited about, and I wanted to make it more personal this time! At work a friend of mine's office has organised a daily limerick challenge and she's persuaded a couple of us from other departments to get in on it. Every day there's a winner and a runner-up, to whom stars are awarded to go on the star charts, and at the end of the month the winner takes home the coveted LimeritrophyTM! This is the moment earlier today when I found out I'd won my first star for a runner-up limerick! It's a long way to go to challenge the leaders but the sheer monumental happiness made all the hours of slaving over rhymes and metre totally worth it!


P.S. I've had a couple of worried comments about the previous post, and just to put anyone's mind at ease, it's not reflective of anything that's going on with me at the moment. I've changed the text to make this clearer - I was so tired when I wrote it last night that I was basically tripping.

P.P.S. I've just realised that that last comment doesn't exactly inspire much confidence in my sleeping habits! I'm working on it, I promise!

28. Sorrow

I didn't know what I wanted to draw for this theme, though I like how this turned out - it was more difficult to come up with an idea than I anticipated... I didn't want to do anything too personal, hence a more general idea. Time for gremlining bed though - late one again!

27. Foreign

A relatively early post tonight: I'm so tired I'm turning into a gremlin, so it's time to get an early(ish) night.

Another valuable lesson from my favourite seminal feminist* film: judge not whether somebody has just moved from Africa by the colour of their skin. Screengrab here! Mean Girls is probably definitely one of my favourite films, and I'm fortunate to be living in a flat at the moment where we constantly quote it at each other! I can't even begin to go into the list of my favourite Mean Girls moments, but browsing through the IMDb quote board I found out that Michigan Girl also says the following when they're all apologising for being undercover bitches, which I'd completely forgotten about: "Alyssa, I'm sorry I called you a gap-toothed bitch. It's not your fault you're so gap-toothed." Classic. Clearly it's about time I watched it again. 

*"Irregardless, ex-boyfriends are just off limits to friends. I mean that's just, like, the rules of feminism!" Word. 

26. Tears

Following on from yesterday's illustration, everybody knows that what bad guys need most in order to effect their diabolical plans is the tears of small children. That and a pinstripe suit. Apparently my idea of a twisted villain is a really thin, greasy haired man in a pinstripe suit. Sort of like Professor Snape crossed with a small-time banker/conman. It's kind of strange because the Thin Man from the Charlie's Angels films sort of fits that description, and I think he was one of the best things in the movies.

25. Trouble Lurking

There is a story behind this one, and don't worry, it's not what you think. It's arguably weirder. A while ago I was thinking about unusual superheroes and came up with the occasional really odd one. My major contribution to the superhero tradition was Wardrobe Man, a nefarious antihero with the seemingly prosaic ability to turn himself into furniture. Now it might seem dull and useless to the uninitiated, but anybody who's seen Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is fully aware of the espionage potential of being able to hide a person innocuously in a room for even a matter of hours. Wardrobe Man is the ultimate child-snatcher: what child is going to resist a wardrobe that might be a doorway into Narnia? Spare Oom? Spare Cash For Kids, more like.

24. No Time

Another double one for this theme, since I didn't actually do any Post-It note drawing at all on Saturday. In my (possibly ineffectual) defense, it was my birthday! I had a hands-down completely amazing day, though I did regret not doing my daily drawing and was very happy to do two to make up for it! The theme actually reminded me of my frequent post timing, whereby I often pick up a pencil and start at gone 11pm, but also of Cinderella at the ball, so I decided to run with it after one sort-of Disney-related post (3. Light) and do two related drawings. It didn't hurt that after a wonderful day and evening I felt just like Cinderella at the ball! 

This top one is supposed to be Cinderella leaving the palace, hence the Post-It note stairs (note her missing glass slipper and rather large, Ugly Sister-esque foot - definitely swollen after all that dancing already!); I thought it might be fun to start trying to think outside the box a bit in terms of what to do with the Post-It notes and how to present them. I also photographed them stuck to my window at night, which was again trickier than I anticipated and involved all manner of crouching and waving the camera around to avoid the flash and my own shadow!

The second drawing is the coach turning back into the pumpkin - I remembered that lovely scene where the fairy godmother turns the mice, the pumpkin, and everything else into Cinderella's retinue and looked it up for inspiration. I love the shapes of the pumpkin tendrils as they turn into the wheels. It's so bittersweet when the clock strikes midnight and everything returns to it's original shape. I like this one a lot, though it is very, very heavily referenced (Gus and Jack included as extra though!). I looked up the music as well while I was painting last night and it is wonderful. Now I'm really keen to watch the film again - it's been such a long time since I last saw it. Bring on the Disney classics!

23. Cat

I know I've said I've been late with some of these before but I've really taken the biscuit in the last couple of days. This post was supposed to be made on Friday 7th but was actually made last night (Sunday 9th), along with Saturday's and Sunday's. Now it's Monday evening and I'm going back to fill in the gaps with some explanation! 

I did actually sketch a very quick outline for this drawing late on Friday night with the intention of it being quite a speedy piece to be finished off the next day since I was so tired. I'm actually quite happy with how it turned out, though I admit to dramatically skimping on the detail that might have elevated it more. 

This second drawing stems from my new rule: whenever I'm significantly late with a piece i.e. working on it substantially (ideally at all) and posting it the next day, I have to do a forfeit of another Post-It note. See - self discipline! Hopefully it'll lead to improvement through more drawing (more practice) or, alternatively, stop me cheating deadlines. The cat in this piece is Maru, possibly my favourite Internet cat - the reference photograph can be found here! I really like the way this one turned out and I think the photograph actually adds to it, rather than detracting anything, by blurring it slightly. It was so much fun to do - I love Maru and his boxes! He's so consistent and he never seems to get bored of them; the smaller they are, the better it seems!

22. Nature

Ahhh, it's so late! I can't say how late (because I'll get in trouble), but suffice to say this was another very quick one! I was originally going to go with drawing some actual nature, but I left it too late for the light and it seemed a bit of a poor irony to draw plants from pictures in this connection. So here we are - two happy little naturists instead! They don't mind that their modesty's on show, they're NSFW and proud!

21. Vacation

This is another quick one, but I really like how it turned out. It's for my boyfriend, who's itching to run off on holiday somewhere! At this point I think anywhere will probably do, though if it's anywhere below 25 or above 40 degrees special contingency measures may have to be taken. I've never met anyone who wanted so much to visit countries where he'll either freeze or crisp within seconds of getting off the plane (Canada, I'm looking at you)! Just kidding. He completely deserves a holiday actually, just to get away from my terrible sense of humour!

20. Fortitude

A few of my friends know I've taken up skating, in the roller derby sense, and as fun as it is, it is also pretty tough. I fell over three times this week*; twice on my ass, which, for the uninitiated out there, is definitely one to avoid! What we're being taught it that no matter how embarrassing it is, or how much your ass, shoulder, or knees hurt, you've got to keep getting up, and keep skating.** It's a good lesson for life, even though its knocks are sometimes a hell of a lot harder than crash-landing on a derby track (though that can be pretty awful too). I guess that when we fall and can still get up we shouldn't worry about the embarrassment so much and just be more grateful that we're up again.


*But zero times last week, before anyone gets antsy! Maybe it was just due...
**Unless you're actually seriously injured, that is. No-one wants to be scraping you off the floor with a bread knife.

19. Gray

Late again - I need to get into a better habit of doing and posting these on time. This was just a quick one that I drew the outline for last night, after staying up very late watching Inception with my flatmates, and then finished and uploaded this morning. It's now a quarter past 11 as I'm writing this and I still have the next one to do! I decided to go with the London skyline (my home town!) this time rather than any of assorted other ideas - "greys" as in aliens, a picture of a picture of Dorian Gray (thanks Alex, again!) - since I wasn't sure I could do them justice in the time before I folded and went to bed. It's a popular misconception that London, and indeed the British Isles as a whole, is predominantly grey, but it's actually rather multicultural in parts. Also, we do have other weather sometimes.

18. Rainbow

I don't want to get too political - the views I express on this blog are by and large my own, unless indicated otherwise, and everyone's entitled to their own opinion - but this one's for my lovely flatmate and his equally lovely boyfriend. Thanks, guys!

17. Blood

"You green-blooded son of a b*tch! Do you have any idea how much this is going to cost me in dry cleaning?!" The Spock-Bones love/hate relationship is one of the things I love most about original series Star Trek. 

Weapon belongs to TOS second season premiere episode "Amok Time" (amazing fan-art here), Spock-baiting banter belongs to Dr Leonard McCoy, and both belong to Gene Roddenberry, with my immense gratitude! 

16. Questioning

It took me a while to come up with an idea that I wanted to run with for this one, but I'm happy with what I turned up and how it turned out! It might not be all that original, though I like to think of it as more of a prequel to this well-known epiphany, which in turn will inevitably lead to displacement ("Why were we even looking for those droids in the first place?"), recriminations ("Nobody ever tells me anything!"), and job dissatisfaction ("Why did I even join the Empire?"). Questioning things can be a slippery slope, especially if one of your main functions within the Imperial hierarchy is to do as you're told.

I thought I'd take a bit of time here to explain yesterday's post. The idea came from a conversation yesterday evening at board games night (supremely good, clean, geeky fun) when I asked for suggestions and my work buddy Alex immediately volunteered Trappist monks, who take a vow of silence. This was equally quickly disputed by Chris, who maintained that the Trappists are actually known for brewing beer. The beer-silence dichotomy was resolved later with reference to Wikipedia, but I thought it would be fun to combine the two ideas. I completed it last  night but then was so tired that I posted it to make sure it was sort of on time (I often veer into the next morning when finishing these) and went to bed, intending to write up something to accompany it the next day.  However, Alex saw it early and persuaded me to leave it blank as a kind of meta-reference to the theme, which was actually a genius suggestion on his part since it brings the concept of silence to what is otherwise an only tangentially related picture of two monks with pints. Job done, team.

15. Silence

14. Smile

This one was fun to do, but tricky because of the hands - I used this reference photograph as well as squinting at my own hands and it took quite a few tries! I'm very happy with how it turned out though! I read somewhere when I was much younger that you only use 17 muscles in your face when you smile compared to 30 or 40 something when you frown, which I suppose is one circumstance when not trying hard is a virtue! On the other hand, if you try to literally "turn that frown upside-down" with your mouth, you end up with a full-face work out and an expression like you just swallowed a cat and were then told you won the lottery. I know, I just tried it!

13. Misfortune

This is another one that I did actually draw the outline for yesterday (roughly - I went over it and spent a bit more time colouring it in today) but was so tired/lazy that I didn't finish it and am now uploading it horrendously late. I wasn't sure what to draw for this theme either, since I didn't want the misfortune to seem too serious or self-inflicted, and because I think that a lot of, though not all, instances of misfortune have an attendant silver lining to some degree. Hopefully this treads the line between humour and sympathy sufficiently, and, who knows, he might meet his next paramour when he comes to!

12. Insanity

People say that insanity is having lots of voices in your mind which become impossible to ignore, or so many that you lose your grip on which one's really you. I don't know much about it, but I think that maybe, for some people, those voices might be variations on their own, speaking their own more sinister thoughts until they crack. Having said that, this picture seems to me to suggest insecurity more than insanity, which is something I guess a lot more people are familiar with. Though like I said, I don't know much about the latter, so maybe there are as many different kinds of insanity as there are people in the world. There are certainly as many degrees of it.

11. Memory

This was another really quick one that I did actually draw yesterday (went over it again today) and am uploading late. I was so tired last night I could barely see (or hear - the cold blocked up my ears!) so I decided to just go to bed. This was the most difficult theme yet - I couldn't think of what to draw all day and had to quickly think of something at the last minute. I didn't want to be too flippant or too personal, and I couldn't think of how to draw that memory is an integral part of how we live our lives and who we are, linking us to how we lived and who we have been. This is the best I could do, being lazy. Memory bubbles left blank, because the memories are my own!

10. Breathe Again

I'll admit I was only going for a quick sketch today since it's already gone midnight (no change there in terms of posting times then!) and I have a cold. My nose is doing a very good impression of a tap and I'm sulky like a grounded teenager so I think I should probably go to bed soon. At least my breathing isn't adversely affected!

9. Drive

Back to Post-It notes! I initially thought about drawing Ryan Gosling from the film Drive (or feminist Ryan Gosling. Or indeed any-way-politically-inclined Ryan Gosling) but my reference photo postcard turned out to be from The Place Beyond the Pines instead and I thought it definitely wouldn't be pertinent to use it. I decided to go with something different instead, and eventually landed on an old-style VW camper van. I can't drive, but if I could I would definitely want to drive one of these, dodgy suspension, creaky upholstery and all! Incidentally, my other office-mate left today to return to the US and her leaving card had a sunshine-yellow VW van on it because I thought it wouldn't make her too sad and because the illustration was just magnificent. I might see if I can get a copy for myself to put up on the wall! Anyway, I hope she'll be happy over there - she deserves it. We're all definitely going to miss her here.