behind the scenes

Get Behind the Scenes With My Instagram Stories

Do you follow me on Instagram? Yes? Hooray, thank you! I hope you enjoy my posts there. I like posting in-progress shots of my work, pictures of me at conventions, and pics with my art buddies.

BUT.

There's more that you might be missing!

Instagram has a cool feature I've been playing with called "Stories." Much like the famed Snapchat, Stories lets me build a little fun narrative. They're usually snapshots or tiny videos of what I get up to throughout the day that give you an extra special behind-the-scenes peek.

You can get quality humor like this!

You can get quality humor like this!

And amusing, melting self portraits like this!

And amusing, melting self portraits like this!

And don't forget great snaps of my Studio Assistant!

And don't forget great snaps of my Studio Assistant!

Bits and bobs about my process as I go...

Bits and bobs about my process as I go...

... and weird closeups of the tips of my markers!

... and weird closeups of the tips of my markers!

These stories constantly update throughout the day as I add to it, so you can see what weird art-related (and sometimes totally personal) shenanigans I get up to! Some days I post more than others, and I'm sure some days I won't post at all. These stories also disappear after 24 hours, so it's always immediate "right now" content... and you might be missing stuff if you don't check in daily (that's the scheme, see? Good thinking Instagram. I don't even want to talk about how much of my day I spend watching others' stories...)

Here's how to see 'em!

Here's how to see 'em!

So if you're on board, head to your Instagram app and check the top of your feed! There's a horizontal row of profile pictures with a little sunset-gradient circle around them. Those are all the people you follow whose Stories you might be missing! Alternatively, you can go to my profile and click on my pic (as seen above).

Hope you enjoy, and maybe it'll inspire you to try it for yourself, too! See ya there.

Draw This: Celebrate

Three different quick thumbnail sketches to decide on my composition

Three different quick thumbnail sketches to decide on my composition

So the SCBWI does this monthly thing called “Draw This" for illustrators. They give out a monthly prompt word, and I thought "Well why not, this sounds like fun!" The prompt word was “celebrate” and since the 4th of July just happened (and annoying illegal fireworks going off until 2 AM in my neighborhood is STILL happening), I thought I’d do my piece of kid with a sparkler, enjoying the 4th with his dad. So let's see how it came together!

Drawin' it in more proper-like, but they ended up creepy eyes...

Drawin' it in more proper-like, but they ended up creepy eyes...

Fixed the eyes, and put in some sketchy shading to decide how I wanted to render it!

Fixed the eyes, and put in some sketchy shading to decide how I wanted to render it!

Inked this bad boy up, so now we're ready to go to (digital) watercolor!

Inked this bad boy up, so now we're ready to go to (digital) watercolor!

Done! Fun fact: I've never actually held a sparkler in my life.

Done! Fun fact: I've never actually held a sparkler in my life.

If you're an artist and you like both watercolor and digital paints, you should definitely buy Kyle T. Webster's brushes! They're magical.

UPDATE AUG 1: I was really surprised to get an email this morning telling me that I actually was one of the competition winners! I've never won anything, so this was a SUPER amazing day for me. Thank you, SCBWI!