35 Comments

Omg how I loved this post. In particular, the writing the text video. But honestly, all of it. More of this please!! And the fact that you are a self-trained artist is so inspiring for me to know! My style isn't as realistic as yours, but I would so love to have the skill to do the beautiful realism you do. Skillshare, youtube and I shall keep hanging out!

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Medha, your comment and kind words mean the world -- I can't begin to thank you enough. And yes! Skillshare and YouTube have both been amazing resources for me. Another one I didn't mention here is Creativebug, I'm not sure if you've heard of it? But my entire journey into acrylic inks began with a few classes they offer by the artist Missy Dunaway -- so they're another platform I'd definitely recommend checking out.

Thank you so much again for reading and being here. It's always such a joy to connect with you, and please know I've been thinking of you and your dad 🤍🙏

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Thanks so much. It got pretty tough there for a while, but things have settled a bit. Am working on something fun to send out soon. And I HAVE heard of creativebug! I'm pretty sure I access to it as part of my library membership! I shall most definitely be checking that out. Thank yoU!

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There’s magic in the process and a process to the magic! Loved this behind the scenes, Candace!

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"There’s magic in the process and a process to the magic" -- I just love how you put that, Priya! So much so that you've almost got me tempted to rename this post "Magic in the process" :) Thanks so much for reading, and for your beautiful words ✨

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Fascinating look behind the scenes! I’m still trying to absorb the fact that you don’t consider yourself a poet! The fact that you are a self taught artist is also an interesting tidbit! Your illustration is what drew me to your newsletter. The essays with hand lettering are icing on the cake! I would buy a book of just your illustrations! Of course a book of illustrated essays would find its way to my bookshelf too! Thank you for sharing this peek into your process!

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Sheila, I can't begin to thank you enough for your comment -- I'm so humbled by your kind words and encouragement 🥹 And it makes my day to hear that you would buy a book of just my illustrations, that is definitely something I will keep in mind then ;)

Thank you so much again for reading and being here, and I so look forward to sharing new stories and artwork with you soon! 🤍

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Gorgeous. I love this insight into your process 😊 Long live the hand-drawn illustrations - energetically the hand has a direct connection to the heart (according to yoga), so that feels precious ❤️ And you've given me some food for thought about my own writing - like how to make use of the white spaces...

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Vicki, I can't thank you enough for your comment, and for your beautiful insights about the hand being connected to the heart. When I wrote about why I love hand-drawn art, I'd been more focused on the tangible aspects of it, but I love that you brought up the emotional and almost spiritual elements of it as well -- that's something I'm going to be thinking a lot more about. Thank you so much again, and I'm wishing you an inspiring week of writing! 🤍✨

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Marvelous. I always love to peek behind creative processes - whether it’s a film or music or artwork. Your passion for the alchemy of words, images and beauty shines through.

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Julie, you've got me tearing up over here! Thank you so much for your beautiful words of encouragement -- they mean the world to read 🤍✨

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Oh man, my creative process requires a piece of charred wood from the fireplace and a square shovel. Sometimes it also requires a longish visit to our restroom at the end of the path, where I sit and ponder. Boy howdy do I feel like a hick now after reading your post. You must have electricity and everything.

Is there any hope for people like me, O Candice, Great Goddess of Making Beautiful Stories?

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Switter, as always, you've got me cracking up over here. Thank you for bringing such a welcome note of humor here, and thank you just as much for your kind words 🙏

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Loving this series, Candace. An invitation to view the process behind an artist's work is always a privilege. Thank you!

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Thank you so much for your comment, Sandra, and for letting me know you've been enjoying this series -- I've loved working on it as well, so I'm so glad to hear it's been resonating with you! 🤍

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I loved this peek behind the scenes! Thank you for sharing. (The video was positively hypnotic, but then I love watching timelapses and such of art being made.)

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Thank you so much for your kind words, Susannah! I'm delighted to hear you enjoyed this post, especially the video -- I feel the same way about other artists' timelapses as well :)

Wishing you an inspiring week in your own creative adventures! 🤍

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You didn’t really talk about whether you photograph your work or use a scanner. I’d love to hear about this part of the process.

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Thanks so much for reading and for your question, Tom -- I mentioned very briefly in the illustration section (step two) that I use a scanner, but I only touched on it in a couple of lines, so I'm sure it was easy to miss.

But yes, I scan my illustrations, with a pretty straightforward Canon document scanner (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003VQR1TS/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1). I even used to travel with it in my backpack, back in my nomadic days 😊

If there's anything else about the process of scanning and digitizing my artwork that I can share more about it, please feel free to let me know!

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Cool, thanks for the detail. My wife is an artist, but I'm often asked to assist in photographing her work and I'm always trying to figure out how to do it better. The problem is her stuff is often too big for a "regular" scanner ... Anyway, thanks a lot.

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This is fabulous! And lots of surprises here, the biggest of which is that you don't think of yourself as a poet. I think your stories are prose poems. But whatever they are called, they're wonderful!

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Thank you so much for your lovely words and encouragement, Jeffrey. It means a lot to hear that you think of what I share here as prose poems, and now you've got me thinking that maybe I should start viewing them the same way :) Thank you again! 🙏

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Such a beautiful and magical process, and you have explained it so beautifully. Love it totally :)

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Thank you so very much, Parul 🥹 I’m delighted to hear you enjoyed this!

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Thank you for showing us a glimpse of your creative process. Love it!

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Absolutely, Alyssa! I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed this post, and thank you so much for your kind words 🤍

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I really appreciated your details about the process

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I’m so glad to hear that, Stephanie! I’m always a fan of details, so it only felt right to dive into them here as well 😊

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Fascinating, really enjoyed this look back stage. Question: do you always draw your illustrations before painting?

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Thank you so much for reading, Marianne -- I'm so glad you enjoyed this post! And yes, I do tend to lightly sketch out my illustrations first with pencil before painting them...I find it's helpful to have a bit of a guide in place before diving straight in with color :)

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A fascinating look behind the scenes! I’m still trying to absorb the fact that you don’t consider yourself a poet! The fact that you are a self taught artist is also a very interesting tidbit. You definitely have the eye of an artist! Your drawings are what drew me to your newsletter. The writing & hand lettering are icing on the cake! I would buy a book of just your illustrations. Of course a book filled with your illustrated essays would be awesome too!

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Thanks for this! And once again, I feel like I'm following right behind you.

I have been a writer most of my life, I have credentials, I have been published and paid to write. I don't doubt my skills.

But art - I abandoned it for over a decade, I thought I wasn't good enough and will never be good enough. I returned to it 3 years ago and I decided to take it more seriously (Youtube, skillshare, etc). And for a while I have been cultivating both these passions separately. And now it's the time to marry them together. I've been considering many ideas - a picture book, a graphic novel, an illustrated novel.. And try to quieten the voice that asks "what's sellable? what can be monetised?"

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