2022 Art Recap Part 1!
January to June Recap of my art from 2022, and my thoughts about it. It's been a bit of an all over the place year for me, but I've made some work I'm really proud of!
December came and went, and so did 2022. It’s been a bit of a mess of a year in many ways, but I’ve also made an incredible amount of art, and a lot of work that I’m extremely proud of. I thought I’d do a little recap of my art year 2022, look back at the highlights, the experiments and the art I’ve made along the way.
Since I made between 200-250 “pieces” of art last year, I thought I’d break it into months, and try to show some highlights for each month! (And to not make this too long, I’ll split it into two parts. I will send out the next one soon!)
January: A Month of Paper Scraps and Collage
The month of January started with just absolutely falling back in love with papercut collage. I had a bit of an intense period where it was basically the only thing I did, and I made so many different collages (mostly flowers and birds). The collage above is like the second or third I made, and I love it so much? It just feels so playful and fun, things I try to cultivate a lot in my work.
My absolute favourite collage I made is still this dandelion one. Dandelions are just such a fun flower to make art of - the leaves are so fun and the spiky yellow flowers add so much energy to a piece! Highly recommend!
February: Some More Collage and DOODLES
I’ve felt quite confused about my direction in art a lot this year, stressing about consistency and growth a bit more than I would’ve liked. But I feel like the best way to deal with that is to embrace what feels easy and fun, which I did, and focus more on learning than on cohesive Instagram grid.
Around this time I started doodling a bit more. I had been very into art without outlines for a long time, but that changed this year (more about that later). I don’t know that it really is doodling, but I like to call this kind of drawing my doodle style, because it feels way more relaxed and just doodly than laying down flats and spending ages adding texture. I actually recorded the process for this page, maybe I should use that for a video sometime!
Instead I took this moment to explore a style I had fun with during 2021 and made a loose landscape. I absolutely adore this vibrant almost neon green! I can really see that I was longing for spring at this point (February is a rather dull month in Sweden).
March: Loose Florals in Clip Studio Paint
I think that loose landscape made me start exploring some other loose styles, and I developed this loose and painterly style of florals. I actually made these in Clip Studio Paint on my PC rather than in Procreate on my iPad as usual! The watercolour brush technique worked kind of well in CSP! In my experience more real media-esque brushes tend to run so slow for in CSP compared to Procreate (despite my PC being like a million times stronger than my iPad). I don’t know what it is about Procreate but painterly, more “advanced” brushes are just so much more fun there for me.
Around this time I started ACTUALLY doodling a lot in what I called my “ugly sketchbook”. It’s not a new concept by any means, but it was new for me. I used a thick fineliner and just drew whatever came to mind. It was incredibly therapeutic and fun, and I definitely need to get back into the habit of it! It also gave me many ideas for different things to draw, like this goose with a sword. (Anyone else experience that ideas often only come to them WHILE they’re working, and never at other times?)
April: Flowers and Doodles
I had started exploring digital collage in April. It was fun!! Looove the colours in this piece so much? And the textures? It’s actually a remake of an old sketch, but this turned out so fun!!
And then we have one of my favourites from the year, which isn’t “even” a full piece, but rather a collection of doodles. But how I’ve loved making collections of doodles this year, it’s just been brilliant!
May: My Favourite Piece of the Year
And so came the month I made my favourite piece of the year - these strawberries. They actually derived from another piece, where I just went in with no plan and started drawing red flowers in a similar style to this, and the next day just felt “it would look good with strawberries instead of flowers”, and made this! May was a good art month!!
These collage Nasturtiums are also a favourite.
June: Playful textures and a Cat in the Night
I used a prompt generator for art one day, and got some random prompts, but accidentally drew whatever it was so it looked like their hair was a cloud, which is when I got the idea for this sky god character!! THe bit I love best about this though is the scribbles on the clouds in the front. DAMN I love a good pencil scribble. (I highly recommend Schrill’s pencil brushes for any scribble needs.)
Another favourite for the year, with some kind of negative drawing. It’s something I used to do more a while back, and have tried quite a few times traditionally. I used some MaxPack watercolour brushes for a vibrant watercolour wash as the base, and then a pencil brush to fill in the dark parts! Such a fun way to work!
Conclusion:
The first part of the year was very experimental, and a lot of fun. Lots of art!! I feel very proud of the growth I experienced during these first few months, and I definitely want to bring back my ugly sketchbook! So freeing to draw just for yourself.
Did you make something you’re proud of in the first half of 2022? Either way, I’m really happy for anyone who made any art at all during this time!!
Hope you enjoyed!
Hugs,
Jessica Elena