A Year of Art 2016 and How I Grew as an Artist

I have had an amazingly productive year this year! I worked very hard in growing this year.

From the earliest,

Making sure I was on as many social medias as possible.

To just yesterday,

Adding new prints to my Etsy Shop!

I did challenges and projects. Started trying to organize my life by buying a planner. Changed my logo. Bought a different planner. Made business cards and started this blog.

2016 also had some downs. With my mental illnesses and incapability to let go of what pains me. I did have days where I did nothing at all. And that's okay to feel that way. It's important to feel validated by what you are feeling. It's totally okay to sleep all day and do nothing.

Anyway, 2016! A year of art!

I started Arlie Opal, September of 2015. My dad had just died, I lost my home, moved to a city that is less desirable and quit college for a second time.

I had nothing to say for myself. I felt like a failure. I had moved all the way to Portland, Oregon to start over and feel new. Become someone different than myself. But I realized after my Dad passed that I would and will always be me. I can't escape who I am no more than I can change it.

And at the end of the year, I decided to go back to my roots. I have been drawing since I was 4 years old. My Dad was my #1 fan. And I had to get back to that. 

first painting in watercolor (6-9 years old)

With every change I tried to make, art and mental illness followed me. So now, I've stopped trying to fight it and decided to adapt. I became Arlie Opal. A promise to myself and my father that I would be the artist I've always wanted to be. I mean I've done art all along, but this was the first time I really worked for it. 

And I worked hard. Staying up and just painting, studying, anatomy lessons. All of those things mounted up. And here I am. A year and a few months wiser.

2012 (23 years old)

Here is my year of progress and learning, I mention below each picture my overall goal for the month:

January

(yea i know there is a typo on this one)

This painting is one of the most popular of my works from this year. I tried to branch out with my creativity to show emotion and concepts.

February

Really this was an excuse to experiment with color combinations and of course to draw Gilbert.

March

I really wanted to fine tune my detailing. Trying to find a balance between simplicity and detail is a constant struggle for me. I love textures and patterns so trying to become simpler is hard.

April

I've also struggled to come out with my own style and way of doing things. I study constantly but a lot of my work still needs improvement and Arlie Opal style. Another struggle I hope to figure out in 2017.

May

Another watercolor painting where I tried a new approach and technique to paint. This month was MerMay. I love mermaids, always have, so I wanted to really create serenity. I started experimenting with color combinations and figured out to add more depth to the figure. i.e. the reds around the cheeks and elbows. 

June

I entered a contest here. Another attempt on creating my own stylized pieces since April. Also still practicing with blending techniques on my watercolors.

July

And of course, what I'm semi-known for. My realistic fantasy pieces. Portraits of fantasical ladies. Where I have finally figured out how shading works (sorta). Obviously I still have a lot of work to go, but this is one of my favorites from this year. I'm hoping with my new journel, I can finally schedule bigger projects like this.

August

Another portrait. I did this one to practice hair techniques which I have added to my own personal style of painting. I love the hair here and even gotten positive feedback from fellow artist that I admire.

September

This month was one of my insane months. I did an art challenge and attempted to draw one thing everyday. While the challenge did make my typography loads better, it added on unneeded stress to the end of the year. Doing a challenge in September so close to Inktober was not very good planning on my part. I'm hoping with my new planner that I won't have such an issue next time.

October

Inktober! I just got my new Art-n-Fly solvent based markers in and was super excited to start a new challenge. Little did I know that I would have a huge disability coming from watercolors to markers. Learning curve, which I eventually with practice figured out. This drawing also combined some cool techniques I've seen other artist use.

  

November

November was insane scheduling for me, so I didn't do much art this month. Just tiny little snippets. It doesn't mean I didn't learn though! Not only did I learn how to schedule better, but I also learned more with my markers and how to balance Christmas commissions. I learned to open 3 or 4 commission slots rather than overloading myself and getting stressed out.

December

And the last of the year. I do love the markers and the convenience it brings. And obviously I will always have watercolor. Next year I hope to look back at these and feel like I've really given all I can.

ALSO HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT!

I have just purchased my own domain and plan to move my blog to arlieopal.com soon. 

I have no idea how to build websites anymore, but I'm hoping that it will at least look better than this one haha ;-.-

Tell me in the comments below how you feel you've grown this year! I'd love to see your art as well if you have a social media!

I will try to post a new blog every Wednesday!