I know it’s short notice. I know I said in a note yesterday that this wouldn’t be happening.

BUT WE’RE DOING THIS!

Like I said in another note, my cold let up enough that I felt up to streaming, and I had time to prepare. (Or…I will be prepared if I don’t get sidetracked. Lol.) So my official first live stream will take place Today (Sunday, March 29th), at 2:30 Central Time.

This will be a chill, draw-with-me type stream and maybe some Q&A time! If you’re able to attend I’d love it, but I do realize it’s very, very short notice after a lot of conflicting info being sent out, so if you’re not able to, no worries! (Also, it’s Palm Sunday, so I imagine some of y’all will be spending time with family and/or touching grass, which is much more profitable than watching me draw 😂)

At any rate, that’s the official announcement! The stream will go live about an hour from now. Looking forward to seeing you then, if you can make it!

(Just so I have a basic idea of what to expect, putting a poll here—please let me know if you plan on coming!)

I’m really excited for this new step for Elle’s Scattered Pages, and I really hope we can figure out a great time for you guys to be able to attend! Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss any updates on future live streams. Thanks for helping me figure this out, and I hope you all enjoy the loveliest of lovely days! 💕🦋

Also, I mentioned close to the end of the video some goals for the rest of this year, which included the possibility of live streaming! Stay tuned for updates on that—I’ll be releasing a poll for you all to vote on what days would work best for me to stream on soon. 🎉

Needless to say, since I haven’t updated on Artober since Week 2, I didn’t complete the entire month’s worth of art pieces. I went to camp for several days, and that threw off my art groove and I wasn’t able to catch up. Also, I felt myself getting burnt out, so I gave it a bit of a break to work on some other projects I really wanted to devote some time to, and before I knew it, October was nearly done.

However, I met my goal of 11 art pieces. Actually, I made it to 14 art pieces! That’s a lot more than I’ve ever accomplished in Artober before, and I’m very happy I made it that far. More than that, I built trust with myself by meeting my goal.

Now, there are two drawings I made after Week 2 that I never featured, so let’s cover those!

13: Reminiscent

This one just kind of…happened. I just started drawing, and ended up with this nostalgic-looking picture of two characters. My headcanon is that one of them died. (I mentioned on my online writing class, the Habit, which was hosting Artober, that the boy looked like the type that’s not long for this world, and all my classmates instantly gave me lots of crying emojis. 😂)

14: Mask

I could tell I was going to have a hard time coming up with an idea for this picture (for the same reason I had a hard time coming up with an idea for the Dream prompt—and I mean the exact same reason. 😅) I mentioned that to a friend of mine (a friend who, by the way, I blame for the fact that I had a hard time coming up with ideas for these prompts…you know what you did 😜), and she mentioned that I could do fanart for a project we’re both part of. The character portrayed here is holding her older brother’s mask, which is broken. I had so much fun drawing this picture!

That’s a Wrap!

With that, Artober is officially done! Even though there are two days left in the month of October, I can say for sure that I’m finished making art for the prompts.

It’s always so encouraging to me to look back at my art for a challenge like this, and see all that I’ve learned and experimented with. I made headway on learning a new art style, and I broke my old record for most art pieces made in Artober by quite a bit! I built trust with myself. I can say with certainty that one of the most encouraging things in the world is to look back at where you started, and be amazed at how far you’ve come. This Artober is no exception.

Thank you all for sticking with me through this month’s art. A special thank you to everyone who subscribed during this time! Elle’s Scattered Pages grew a lot during the month of October! Seven (now nine! Thank you, new subs!) people subscribed over the course of the month, which means the world to me. 💕

At the end of each Artober, I make a short video just for my own personal enjoyment that showcases all the different art pieces. I decided to polish it up and put it here for y’all to see!

Thank you again for your support through Artober! I hope you all enjoy the loveliest of lovely days. 💕🦋

Lo and behold, Sunday rolled around—the day before I was due to post this—and I had exactly two art pieces completed for this week.

In other words, I very nearly failed my Artober goal, not even two weeks in.

06: Mountain

I admit, when I got this prompt, I was not a happy girl. Landscapes—particularly mountains—are always very difficult for me to draw, and I struggled, even after pulling up a reference picture. I ended up having to completely restart. However, I tried a new technique to visualize the mountain’s faces, and that actually worked if you can believe it! It’s not the cleanest picture ever, but I’m still quite pleased with it! Also, I tried to draw mountains with a similar color scheme for last year’s Artober, and it was interesting to compare the two!

07: Falling

This picture marked one full week’s worth of Artober drawings! It also illustrated an interesting point I’ve learned throughout Artober: I’ve learned I have such trouble coming up with ideas to fit the prompts, that I often have the best results if I just go with the first feasible option that pops into my head. So I didn’t question when the first thing I thought of was falling tears. 😅 Remember the roleplay I mentioned in last week’s post? The one with the cat-stealing character named Azami in a privateer uniform? Well, I ended up drawing her again.

08: Dream

You know how I said about the last prompt, that it usually works best if I go with the first thing to come to my mind? Well…I have to admit, my brain kind of broke on this one. Oh, I had ideas—they just didn’t fit the prompt. Or if they DID fit the prompt, it was in a very, very roundabout way that very few people would understand. This was the prompt that got me stuck.

In the end, the roleplay saved me again. I drew three of the characters, including Azami, as children. My idea is that it was meant to portray “a dream of a time gone by”, back when the characters were young and were friends.

09: Folklore

For this one, I took a legend from the aforementioned roleplay (the legend was mainly just a reference to Soldier, Poet, King) and drew it as an elegant-looking volume. Can you tell that I’m probably going to make a lot of fanart for that roleplay during Artober? 😅

10: Chapter

This prompt almost stumped me again. I’d just drawn a book for the previous prompt, so I couldn’t really do that again. Then I thought draw a picture of my writer character, Pandora, starting the first chapter of her book. This also (kind of) doubled as a redrawing of my first digital art piece!

11: Underwater

Last week, I said that if I broke my old record of most art pieces made for Artober, I would count that as a success! Well, with my eleventh art piece, I officially made my goal! My new goal? Let’s see if I can make it to 20! And if I can make it that far…I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but I think I could actually make it to the end of the month…!!!

This picture was fairly straightforward, but enjoyable nonetheless. I drew a simple underwater scene with a mermaid character I made a while back. (I think her name is Ariana, but I forget 🤣)

12: Medieval

For this one, I wanted to draw a knight or some sort of medieval-looking character, and I tried to do my character Sir Laner Dogsmith, but that wasn’t looking right, so I changed it, and I ended up with this guy! Not going to lie, he looks twelve. 😅 He was not intended to look like a kid! That aside, I’m quite happy with the lighting, though!

Week Two: Finished!

I completed the art piece for Medieval minutes before completing this post. There was a lot of frantic catching up, and this week was definitely a crazy week for Artober. But I managed to pull myself back from the brink of failing, and I met my Artober goal for this year!

I think part of the reason for the success I’ve had this year, in comparison to previous years, is the simpler style I’ve been attempting. Many of the pieces I’ve done are a lot simpler than my usual, and most have limited color palettes. This has allowed me to get a lot more art done in a lot less time! In previous years, I’ve tried to do the same level of detail I always do in my illustrations, which is why I struggled. So this simpler style has really been a lifesaver!

Here’s to the next week of Artober! Thank you so much for reading—and thanks to everyone who’s subscribed recently! I appreciate it more than you know. I hope you all enjoy the loveliest of lovely days! 💕🦋

Since 2022, I’ve participated in this challenge, but I’ve never done it exactly as it “should” be done, per se. Instead of using the official prompt list online, I use a list curated by members of the online creative writing forum, The Habit Student Edition.

Also, I (and the other members of the Habit) have never limited ourselves to just ink. Instead, we let ourselves use whatever art medium we like! Because of this, instead of Inktober, we call our version Artober!

I’ve participated in Artober for the past three years in a row, but I’ve never achieved the goal of thirty-one illustrations. The most I’ve ever made in the month of October was ten.

I would love to say that this year is going to be different! But…well, I’ve said that every year 😂 And I’d rather have fun than hold myself to a standard that’s probably going to tire me out and give me art burnout. My only goal is to finish more art pieces than my total from last year. So, if I complete eleven drawings, I’ll have met my quota!

(Although it really wouldn’t hurt if I got a decent amount more than eleven, right?)

And that’s where you come in! You, my friends, are going to keep me accountable. At the end of each week of Artober, I’ll be posting whatever I’ve completed for that week, right here on Elle’s Scattered Pages!

I’m not sure yet which day I’ll choose to upload, and I can’t always say I’ll have a neat row of seven art pieces to share. (This week I have five, because October started partway through the week!) I might drop off the face of the earth halfway through the month!

Actually…that last one is pretty likely. The only way I DON’T drop of the earth is if I complete Artober, or at least keep plugging away at it for the whole month, which I’ve never managed before. But that’s why I think doing weekly updates on my progress will be helpful for me! I’m hoping it’ll help keep me motivated to keep going!

So, without further ado…let’s jump into the art pieces!

01: Flame

The very first prompt of Artober was Flame! In truth, the hardest part of Artober for me is coming up with art ideas that fit the prompt, and that gave me particular trouble on this one. However, I came up with this in the end! I use Artober as a chance to try out different styles and techniques, so I tried a few things that I don’t usually do with this piece.

02: Float

Oddly, I got an idea for this prompt very quickly. I’m not sure how or why I thought of this, but a little glass terrarium with an ocean, clouds, and a floating island popped into my head almost instantly when I went to work on this prompt—even though environments usually are not what I prefer to draw. It was good practice, for sure!

03: Hesitation

This was probably the most difficult prompt I’ve had to work with so far. How do you draw hesitation? 😂 After a long time of staring at a blank canvas, I left and went to chat with a friend of mine. Our conversation had something to do with a roleplay we both participate in, as well as official British-style, Revolutionary-War-era uniforms and how they look like pirates or privateers.

That was oddly inspiring for me, and gave me the perfect idea for this prompt. I decided to draw my character Azami from the aforementioned roleplay, about to steal a cat. She’s also wearing an official uniform, and looks like a privateer. 😂 I went with a very simple, animatic-like style, and I’m very pleased with it!

04: Cozy

It was late evening when I made this one, and evenings are always so cozy. That inspired this scene. I really wanted cookies and tea after drawing this. Digital painting is hard, though. I’m still not happy with how the cookies and the plate look. (Is it weird that my favorite part of the piece is that checked curtain in the background? I loooooove drawing curtains!)

05: Invention

Another difficult drawing to get an idea for. But thankfully, the roleplay that inspired the Hesitation prompt came to my rescue once again. I drew another friend’s roleplay character, in a rather stylized version of her underground potion-making bunker! I went a lot more loose with the shading on this picture, and it looks pretty messy, but I think I’m actually okay with that! In past years of Artober, I’ve wanted everything to look ✨perfect✨, and it held me back a lot. So I’m glad I’m able to do more rough, painterly drawings this year!

Week One: Finished!

Like I said earlier, Week One only had five art pieces because October began on a Wednesday. That means that I’ve officially accomplished the first week of Artober! And I’m almost halfway to my goal of making eleven art pieces.

Here’s to the next week of Artober! I hope you all enjoyed this post, and I hope you all enjoy the loveliest of lovely days! 💕🦋

Hey everyone, and Happy Valentine’s Day!! I made the video in a slightly different format since I’m ✨sick✨ and I did not want to video edit or record voiceover. Hope you like it!

Yes, I’m back after dropping off the face of the earth again 😁 In this video, I’m showcasing most of the art I made in 2024, as well as making an important announcement–I’m going to be published as an author/illustrator in an anthology!

(Here’s our site! Please check it out if you haven’t already–the more support we can get for this project the better! )

Also, I put a bloopers section at the end so please make sure to stay for that!! (It’s my favorite part of the video, to be honest 😂)

Just a quick speedpaint video 🦋 The artwork is of my original character Romulus! I was going to upload this video as a short but WordPress [and Substack] wasn’t letting me embed it into the blog post…so it looks like I won’t be able to make shorts anytime soon. 😅

After being inspired by the YouTuber Rinspirit_Art, I decided to make a very special gift for all of you–a shimeji! Shimejis are tiny chibis that wander around your browser or your desktop and keep you company!

Here is the Dropbox link to where you can download my shimeji!

Today I decided to make a quick animation. This video is short, but please enjoy!

This was my very first video! On a whim, I created a video tutorial in the software Clip Studio Paint. It was originally intended as just a random project, but I decided to take it further. This video, believe it or not, is what inspired my blog! My favorite YouTube channel (Love2DrawManga)’s first video was “How to draw manga girl eye” and I decided that I would do the same for my first tutorial, so my video is about how to draw a manga eye. I hope this helps you!