Change in Focus

Or rather, and likely very familiar to anyone else living life with ADD/ADHD, the ability to suddenly have a focus.

When I first launched my shop here at ScienFae, I anticipated that I would be creating mostly word art. After all, I’m not a real artist who draws things. In fact I’ve always been in absolute awe of real artists who draw things. One of my absolute favorite things about the Museum of Natural History in New York is how many artists it also attracts — there’s always at least one person parked in front of their current favorite exhibit with a sketch pad and charcoals or pencils. I even tried it myself a few times, but I won’t be displaying those attempts here because while I do have them, they aren’t what anyone would call presentable, let alone good..

I have a lot of talented visual artists in my family, including my father. I’d come to terms a long time ago that I wouldn’t be one of them. I found plenty of other outlets for getting what I saw in my head out in a way that other people could understand and appreciate. I turned to words, and costume construction took a part in this, too. It’s part of why I’ve always preferred to make something that isn’t “screen accurate,” where I get to express my own take a little more. I’m a writer before I’m anything else, and since I’m not also an illustrator, cosplay became a way for me to do that illustrating.

Practice Practice Practice

Now look, I know logically that one isn’t innately good at any art. It all comes down to practice. I’m good at — feel confident with? —my writing because I’ve been doing it since I was in sixth grade. The artists I see at the museum and in my workplace are good because they practice. Cosplayers I look up to are good because they’ve been sewing as long as I’ve been memorizing dinosaur facts. In fact all I have to do is look at my first Keladry of Mindelan tunic and compare it to my most recent to see the results of practice (and having an equally well practiced photographer).

It isn’t fair of me to say that I’m just not good at visual, illustrative arts. What I am — was? — is frustrated by the time it takes to practice. I had various tools over the course of the years that just simply turned out not to be the right tools for me to learn with. When I got my iPad in December, which I originally intended to use for digital hand lettering, I found that once again it wasn’t the right tool to help me with what I was pursuing at the time — my markers were still best for that — but it was the right tool to finally help teach me to draw. I don’t know what finally clicked in my brain, what neuro-pathway finally lit up, or if it’s just easier to close an iPad when I get frustrated and still return to it later, instead of ripping a page out of my notebook because I never want to see it again.

All this to say that…

Expect to see some changes here. I’ve been able in the last couple weeks to really focus on what I’m able to offer as a business. What I can realistically expect to sell as I start attending conventions again as both a badge holder and as at an artists alley table. And that thing is stickers. Not only are they things that I can still incorporate my word art into, they are items which I can design in sets as my attention span flits from curiosity to curiosity. Already in hand is a lovely set inspired by one of my long time loves: Jurassic Park. You’ll also find an assortment of sarcastic foxes in the near and foreseeable future, Disney quotes, and next up an assortment of plush prehistoric friends. I’ll continue to offer hand lettering posters and small desktop pieces. And here on the blog, you’ll find a more in depth look at what I’m working on and the inspirations behind it.

So enjoy checking out the sticker shop as it comes online over the next day or so, and I look forward to seeing orders start to come in. I hope these stickers bring you all as much joy as they do me.