One thing I know that is constant, is that life is a never ending cycle of learning. I don't know if I've read that somewhere or just thought of it out of the blue, but it's true.
So while I may have gotten a college degree, I make it a point to take some crash courses and attend workshops when I have some time to fit it into my schedule. And mostly when I have the cash to spare. Lol. Saturday, the 27th of August 2016, I attended the Letters and Colors workshop by Abbey Sy and Googly Gooeys.
I was a big fan of Abbey when I first started to venture into lettering early this year so I was in the process of waiting for the right opportunity to meet her in person. I mean, hello? Have you seen her work? Lettering goals! On the other hand, I only heard of Googly Gooeys from Abbey's book: The ABCs of Hand Lettering. And since I'm a huge IG user, I had to check out their profile, and OMG! I was an immediate fan, mostly because I love Tippy's (of Googly Gooeys) color palette! I don't make much of a fuss about this online but I have to come clean. I am incredibly horrible with colors! I can't mix beyond what the instructions we got during elementary days of the color wheel projects, I don't know the right combinations of contrasts and such. The most I can work on are the neutral shades and working with one color in different shades from light to dark. So when Abbey and Tippy decided to team up to teach a workshop, I just had to try and get a slot. Take note that I only just got my first pay on freelancing (I've only decided to do freelancing as a full time job around mid this year) last July, and there were only 2 slots left! I made it just in time!
Abbey and Tippy's teaching methods during this workshop was rather different from the past workshops I attended. But just the same, it was an inspiring experience. It's been really great to see how each of these artists work and getting to understand their styles. I was busily paying attention to the lecture and demos (and checking updates on my baby from hubby) that I barely got to take photos. So forgive my mediocre shots.
(Oh and by the way, I think I have to apologize to Abbey. I've been standing behind her during the entire demo, I feel like I invaded most of her personal space. Sorry, Abbey!) Another major struggle I have is finding the right placement and layout for lettering. Abbey's lettering demo was a really great way to look at this matter from her perspective. The tips here and there during the exercise on thumb-nailing of quotes was also very helpful, and it was oddly satisfying to create one that she approved. Tippy's talk on colors was another refreshing take. Her and Abbey's opinions on color combos in spite of their contrasting preferences were much needed input for my dilemma. I love the kit us attendees got to take home, and I'm really excited to start using them. I'll probably post updates on this on my IG (@jveruditeartist), so keep a look out for that.
This is the third workshop I have attended this year and probably the longest one. Fortunately, it was such a fun experience that I barely notice the time. Being a new mom, I think the only time I realized I was away from my baby for quite longer than usual was when my husband sent me a text at around 2:30pm telling me that baby girl is already crying for mommy. By then we were in the process of doing color palettes, and the next exercise was making a finished artwork out of our thumbnails. By the time we got to the final phase of the workshop, I wasn't able to work on it because I couldn't concentrate. My maternal side has taken over and I needed to go home to my baby who has then been making the rest of the day exhausting for everyone else until her mom comes home. Oh well, that's mom life for you.
Anyway, since I wasn't able to do the final artwork, I decided to do it at home. And voila! Here it is! It's a lot harder to control with a paint brush than using a pen. Definitely need to practice on stabilizing my hand while working.
Overall, it was a really fun experience, and I'm looking forward to attending other workshops by these two amazing artists.
EDIT: Here's the group photo of the participants during the workshop. I grabbed this from Tippy's blog post HERE.
Until next time, folks! :D