Studio Vlogs

Hydro dipping skateboards for the non profit Rjs Kids for the grand opening of the new pumptrack on Vashon Island. If you want to hydrop dip your own item: -Paint the base color -Create a dipping area that is filled with water -Spray the spray paint into the water, spray in designs or add colors to create the patterns -Dip your item slowly in one swoop to collect the color -After you have dipped your item, use a paper towel to clear your water -Repeat! Summer 2023

​It's been the busiest summer in years, but I finally found a few moments to finish up this June studio vlog! In July, I had a booth at a local festival for my art and June was dedicated to getting everything ready. Painting coats in the sun is how I'd like to spend more summer afternoons.

Time to check in again with another week in my life as an artist and graphic designer. We take a trip over to Vashon Island to see the progress made on the Vashon Pumptrack being built by Rjs Kids! I have been working with Rjs Kids for years with graphics, social media and fundraising promotion to help make this dream a reality and I can't believe it's going to open soon! To learn more about this project and the non profit Rjs Kids, check out rjs-kids.org. I also got so excited when the Loveaboards magazine arrived for me to unbox! I did the layout design for this spicy project and we get to flip through some of it...but I will be able to share more of the non youtube friendly content over on my patreon page.  Patreon stickers also arrived for the May packs so we get to look at what they ended up looking life after printing!

Week in my life as an artist + graphic designer: March 2023

Spring is here in Seattle and the cherry blossom festival is back at the UW! I love seeing the long line of trees in bloom and all the people that travel out to see it. After getting out in the sun for a bit with my mom, it was time to work on projects for the week. I finished up the march sticker packs for my patreon page. The theme this month was “music ladies I love” and featured art of Mia Zapata of the Gita and Princess Nokia. As the month ended, I got to take my friend Kelly to the Yaeji show at the showbox. One of my favorite artists, and this tour she has truly stepped everything up. One of the best concerts I’ve been to.

Time to work on a project that has been brewing in my head for a while.

This week I got some blank canvas tote bags and began experimenting with a mix of fabric markers and rit dye to see what I could create. First I drew my designs on each bag. The fabric pens worked pretty well, but I think I do enjoy fabric paint more. Once the linework was complete and dry, it was time to begin dyeing them. I plan on doing more fabric painting experiments mixing materials and methods, if you have any ideas or suggestions please let me know below! These tote bags are the custom art pieces that are included in my $20 patreon tier. If you would like to learn more or join my sticker club you can learn more there. www.patreon.com/makedontbreak .

An average week in my life as an artist First project on the to do list this week is one thats been on my mind for a while: Drawing on a gorgeous photo of @ninjamoniq taken by @thee_odyssey.goddess + @reel_love.productions @reel_love.productions After getting stuck in the rain, it was time to package my new stickers for the Feb art packs for my patrons.

A week of art projects: First up, jumping back into my body positivity zine. This week i'm working on the first illustration for the second issue.

Thank you to Madi for submitting their photo and to @briannalaneboudoir for the photography. The text is from the song "Save myself" by Ashe: "I could have saved myself time and lots of money. I shouldn't blame myself I kind of saw it coming. I could have saved myself from wasting half my twenties. Saved myself from you." If you would like to submit a photo for my body positivity project, feel free to hit me up over on instagram @makedontbreak_designco.

Time to start sketching and coming up with some ideas for new stickers-

Pulling out my sketchbook, making some tea and getting down to work on sticker designs for the upcoming year.

Each month I send out art packs to my patrons, and this year I want to have get things ready ahead of time so it is al good to go. I tried to capture clips of each part of the process; sketching out ideas, working out details in procreate and unboxing the stickers.

Merry christmas everyone!

As Seattle got snowed in this week, I got to work on turning a "frienemies" poster I made into a sticker design! (thank you for the suggestion on Etsy Sam!) I also sent out holiday cards to my patreons, along with a holiday sticker sheet that matches. Thank you for coming by to watch my videos this year, and I can't wait to keep making/sharing them in 2023. Happy holidays!

ho ho ho it's meeeee back with another art studio vlog, did you expect anything else for christmas?

This week I worked through more holiday portrait illustrations: will the edits ever end? We might never know! I also headed to the Alaska thunderfuck RED 4 FILTH tour, filled the last pages of my sketchbook and unboxed new stickers for december! Thanks for coming along to this christmas eve-eve edition of the art studio vlogs. Next video / part 2 to this video coming christmas day!

The "It's Okay" zine has arrived from England and it time to unbox this beauty and see my submission printed in person!

I also start prepping for the holidays by finishing up my patreon holiday sticker sheet that pairs with a matching holiday card for customization. If you would like get the December sticker sheet, you can join anytime in December to get a pack (link below). If you would like to learn more about the "It's Okay" project (or pick up a copy of the zine for yourself) visit www.itsokayproject.com. Also, if you would like to submit your own art to the zine, check out their "its okay zine" tab on their website for submission information. Thank you to Sara for collaborating on this video!

Whew. Well that was a weird couple of weeks...

After powering through the end of summer, and then piling on projects during fall lead to a true blaze of creative burnout. All I wanted to do was get into bed and zone out into some tv. Things that normally took me a few days took 2 weeks. Once I started to peel myself out of the fog, I slowly pulled my camera out and tried to finish a few looming projects. I finally finished my website, sent out the November patreon rewards and put the final touches on the jacket I was painting. Thanks for coming along for the ride! Heres to taking on less this winter and not pushing ourselves to creative burnout.

OOoohhhHHHhhhhh It’s a spooky Art Studio Vlog

The rain is pouring and I have a nice variety of art projects for the week. Making progress on my ‘Cows getting abducted by UFO’s’ jacket that I am painting (so close to finishing!) Also got started on the first illustration for the second Body Positivity Zine!

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This zine project is dedicated to when you are feeling the best in your skin. Each photo is submitted by the subject, and they have the choice to include text or song lyrics that they feel tell their story. The illustration I am working on today was submitted by Helene from Denmark. The quote featured in the illustration is: vi' ikke kønne nok til at danse which in English means- we're not pretty enough to dance . If you would like to be included in the body positivity project, feel free to reach out to me on instagram @makedontbreak_designco. Copies of the first (and possibly second!) zine will be included in my next shop update. Thank you to Helene for participating in the project!

Happy Halloween youtube-

When a project is intimidating - Just start somewhere.

Start sketching ideas, it’s okay if they are rough.

Start getting your materials ready.

Just start.

I really didn’t think I made too much progress this week but after seeing all these clips together i’m realizing how much happened.

Another October, another round of inktober.

Since I was out of town for the start of the month, I’m playing a little catch up. I love inktober though because it pushes me out of my comfort zone and I usually draw things I would never think of.

Let’s get this notebook filled up–

From Seattle - to Texas - to New Mexico Gather round everyone, your youtube auntie has some slides from her trip she wants to show you. Come along as we make our way to the International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta 2022 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Stopping to see The White Sands, The Valley of Fire and of course the World's Largest Pistachio along the way. If you ever see one of these stickers at a rest stop, please let me know!

Wait, where did September go? Welcome to my artist monthly reset- Time to go through my goal list from September and see how I measured up to my lofty goals. I also sat down, burned some candles, and tried to figure out what is coming up next. It's time to start getting my life together. Book I read in September: “I’m glad my mom died” by Janette McCurdy “The fire never goes out” by Nate Stevenson “Wilder Girls” by Rory Power “City of Ghost” by Victoira Schwab

It’s that time in September where we get hot afternoons, and chilly evenings. Perfect for spending the day on the island and the night drawing with some tea. To do list for the week includes: -Taking the ferry to Vashon -Having a meeting for the Skatepark Pumptrack Project Watching the new Drag Race UK season while drawing my favorite “meet the queens look” from Cheddar Gorgeous.

What season is it? Technically, it’s still summer, but it’s getting cold and I gotta get these halloween stickers in.

I also finally face my fears and look through my out of date portfolio website to create a master to do list of what needs to be fixed. It’s been a long time coming…

Why is designing for yourself so much harder?

Gathering supplies, drawing witches and working on my art goals for September.

Welcome to another studio vlog baby-

Trying to clean up my life and reset at the start of September.

An Artist + Graphic designer take on the monthly reset series!

Time to sit down and think about what goals to set and what plans to make to prep for the upcoming months. Lots of art goals to help get myself drawing and feeling motivated again, i need that boost as the sun disappears in Seattle.

I also have some book and podcast recommendations that I loved in August to share. If you have any recommendations of what could be added to this routine, let me know! It will be October before we know it-

Feeling excited, overwhelmed and behind.

My to do list is staring at me, so I better get started. A busy week of graphic design client work and trying to get my drawing skills back.

Thankfully, at the end of the week I got to dawn my pokesuit and head to Comic Con [ ECCC, Seattle, 2022]

It's easy to put things off, especially when it's an art project you are doing just for yourself instead of client.

Sometimes, you put them off too long...

Another art studio vlog-

It's a challenge to juggle a day job and doing art projects, throw in client work and the timing of it all can get very tricky.

So far this month it's been a lot of meetings during my lunch break, and fitting in tasks from my to do list wherever I can.

Hopefully in the fall, I can slow down a little bit-

A race to the finish line to Strawberry Festival 2022

Painting jeans, counting products, making packing and getting everything ready to have my first art booth at Strawberry Festival on Vashon Island, WA.

I also had to take a break from the chaos, to celebrate my birthday in Westport WA.

A last minute chance to have a booth at a summer festival inspired me to begin a Jean painting project-

I spent the week trying to get some last minute products restocked for my booth at the festival. Since I don't have a lot of time to wait for products to arrive, I decided to hand paint some denim!

Thank you to Cartwheel Vintage and Consignment in White Center Washington for donating Jeans for me to use for this project as well as the other people from the "buy nothing' group!

Time to drive around Washington and do a pre summer reset.

As projects pile up, it felt really good to get out and try to get inspired again.

Las Vegas - Day 3

About a year ago I saw the "inside a mind" video about Omega Mart, I decided I was going to make my way down to Vegas one day to check it out.

Meow Wolf is such an inspiration, it was the surreal experience of my dreams. We headed to the art district before making the mission out to Area 51.

DAY 1 + 2 OF LAS VEGAS

Exploring the city with endless walking, finding plenty of spots to put my stickers along the way.

Sorry everything is so shaky, but hey I got out of my house guys!

It's time to prep for the trip to Las Vegas!

I'm getting dolled up, packing my bags and flying to Las Vegas for a weekend of exploring the city and putting up as many stickers as I can-

A very special package has arrived! My copy of the 2022 Illustrated Women in History Zine created by Julie from the UK!

I submitted my illustration of Mia Zapata for the zine and I'm honored to be included with all the other artists.

This week I worked on the second edition of Art Club sticker packs, created graphics for Mode Music Studios and saw the Cherry Blossom Festival at the UW with my mom. Overall exactly what I needed.

If you want to learn more about The Illustrated Women in History Zine you can check out these links: etsy: etsy.com/shop/apalelandscape website: illustratedwomeninhistory.com instagram: instagram.com/illustratedwih/

As the flowers say as they pop back out of the ground, "i'm back bitch"

Spring is coming and I took that as the inspiration for my second Art Pack Club stickers, plus an exciting new product came in the mail as well.

I also got to head to The Comeback in Seattle to watch Ru Pauls Drag Race (S14 - The Mulan Ru) and rode the emotional roller coaster with the rest of Seattle as Bosco was in the bottom this week. Daya Betty was there live to perform as well and talked through the episode during the breaks!

Late nights with some tea and a long to do list of graphic design tasks to get done-

Stickers arrived for the next set of patreon art packs that will be going out this week and I got to see Trixie and Katya live at the paramount when they came to Seattle!

Overall, far too busy of a work week but it was worth it being able to cross all this stuff off my to do list.

CHAOS HAS ENSUED-

These are the clips that survived this long couple of weeks.

Between some back to back deadlines, we got to do a long overdue band practice. I also got to open some fun art mail that arrived including zines and new art prints! I feel like I blinked and it went from a snowy wonderland to flowers popping out of the ground-

welcome to another studio vlog It feels a bit surreal, but I got the opportunity to design graphics for Leafly!

Leafly is the world’s most trusted destination to discover cannabis products and order them from legal, licensed retailers.

The project I got to create a design for was "Terpenes that Match Pantone Color of the Year" The idea was to show which strains match the new 2022 Very Peri Pantone color of the year that was just announced.