Art studies, a new project about Golden Age of illustration, and books and anime
June Studio Diaries no. 03
I was reading Mocculere's monthly newsletter, and according to something she read on the internet, people find numbered titles boring (e.g. Studio Diaries 03). She switched her newsletter’s title, and I'm doing the same here. But I'd also like to know your opinion on this. Do you prefer the numbered title or the title with a general overview of what's in the monthly newsletter?
Dear reader,
this was another month that went by so quickly I can hardly believe it’s over. However, I don’t like to dwell on regrets or keep thinking “what if” (although sometimes I catch myself doing that).
Who would have thought we’re already halfway through the year? I’m feeling anxious because of that 🫠.
By the way, when I sat down to write this newsletter, I realized I couldn’t remember what I did for half of the month—has that ever happened to you? Luckily, I have a five-year diary, so I checked it to see what I had been up to. Reading through it, I noticed I procrastinated quite a lot this month—some days because I just couldn’t focus, and other days because I was tired.
Anyway, after reflecting on that, I created a new column in my weekly Notion planning: a “weekly priorities” column. This way, I’ll try to focus more on finishing what’s really a priority and not get carried away by random tasks that pop up and aren’t so urgent. Actually, I believe this is one of the biggest challenges when you have to manage your own time: understanding what’s a priority and what can wait.
Getting more into studies
This month, I went to a life drawing class here in Berlin at Drink and Draw with a friend. Our idea was to first take a class and later attend the sessions where you just draw.
It was great to learn how to draw a body in the correct proportion, how to simplify the body’s shapes, and understand how they behave according to the model’s pose. Finally, we learned how to draw the lines without only using straight ones.
Besides that class, I started one of the online courses I bought and had saved for later. It’s basically a course on how to illustrate a fantasy-themed map, by Andrew Kolb. I love maps, and I had already done a course on illustrated maps with Tom Froese. For now, I’m still in the sketch phase of my map. This time, I’m watching the lessons and doing the exercises right away—in the past, I tried to watch everything first and then do the exercises, and it didn’t work so well 😅.
So far, I’m really enjoying the course—it focuses more on the creative part, like how to come up with ideas for maps that don’t exist in the real world. It was fun to find the concept for my map—it will be about a small town located inside a mountain. In the next monthly newsletter, I’ll probably have it finished and will show you here.
A new series called Golden Age of Illustration
I started the Golden Age of Illustration series! I think I finally found the kind of content I want to share here on Substack because it’s something I really enjoy writing, and it has had a good reception from subscribers, even reaching new readers. By the way, the newsletter got its first paid subscriber, which made me very happy 💚💚💚!
In this series, I write about the history of this important era for children’s illustration. Below are the posts I published this month:
I’m back to Instagram
Now that I’m managing to maintain a posting schedule on Substack, I decided to go back to sharing content on Instagram. Since starts are always the hardest part, I turned the Golden Age of Illustration texts into short videos, with more summarized content. Also, I’m testing a different format—instead of just talking to the camera, I’m trying more creative shots. This way, it has become something fun to do.
By the way, I really liked this idea of doing a content series around a single theme. I’m thinking about what else I could create for Instagram and even Substack—something that could also be a series and interesting for readers. Do you have any suggestions?
Pinterest overview
One last thing I’d like to share here is that back in March this year, I did a big cleanup on my Pinterest. I created boards, organized the posts I already had there, and uploaded others I hadn’t shared yet.
After a while, I noticed that my reach on the platform hadn’t improved—in fact, it was dropping. That’s when I saw a notification saying that one of my pins was flagged as inappropriate (it was an art nouveau-style painting of a woman without clothes on the upper part). I deleted the pin.
A month later, the reach of my profile started to grow, and it went from 15k monthly views to 118k! Honestly, I know it’s just numbers, but I never imagined I’d reach that level of visibility.
The Apothecary Diaries
In the last newsletter, I mentioned I had started reading The Hobbit. I haven’t finished it yet because, in the middle of the story, I realized the new season of The Apothecary Diaries had been released. So, I rewatched the first season and started following the second. But I got curious to know the rest of the story. After doing some research, I found out the anime is based on a light novel of the same name, with 15 volumes😍. Since then, I’ve been reading the books.
I’m happy about it because one of my goals for this year was to build a reading habit, and these books have been helping me with that.
The reason I’m so hooked on this story is that the main character, Maomao, is an apothecary who is very practical and rational. Throughout the story, she helps Jinshi solve various mysteries. Jinshi, in turn, falls in love with Maomao, but she doesn’t notice it because she has trouble understanding these types of emotions. Although there’s this romantic subplot, the main focus is the mysteries to be solved. It’s also nice to learn about different customs and traditions, since the story takes place in 1600s China.
P.S.: I’ll still go back and finish The Hobbit.
Homem com H
This is a film available on Netflix about one of Brazil’s greatest singers, Ney Matogrosso. He has a unique voice and unique performances. I love his songs, and the film is beautiful. So if you’re curious to discover a bit of Brazilian musical culture, watch the movie.
Medieval buildings overhang
A random curiosity I wanted to share here is why medieval buildings overhang the lower floors. I came across this YouTube video and found it very interesting to learn why they built structures this way:
This month’s newsletter ends here. I hope you enjoyed it. See you next month!
Charlene ⭐