I really like the gnome trend that is going on still. Some family members collect Arensbak Forest Trolls and some still have some troll dolls from the 90’s. I feel like this is why the gnome theme really works for many of the collectors I know. I really like the whimsical forest creature themes. Just ask the fairies in my fairy garden.
Why am I talking about forest creatures you ask? Well I have been trying to draw more and really wanted to try my hand at drawing a gnome. You would think for as simple as they are as a craft, their basic shapes would make them easy to draw. I found the hat super hard to draw!
I didn’t want to create a dunce cap for my poor gnome and drawing a slouchy hat was not the easiest task to accomplish. The rest wasn’t so bad. I found that after I got the hat and beard close to what I was imagining, the rest of it came together pretty fast.
I’ve also been trying to work on backgrounds, so my illustrations aren’t just floating images. I ended up using a painting technique I probably picked up on Bob Ross, or a paint night at some point. I’m not sure why I picked for him to be a night gnome, but he sort of looked like a wizard. I felt like he wouldn’t likely be spotted during the day.
I didn’t think through a storyline for the character. The fact that his robes made him look like a wizard was one of those surprises of creation. If you would like to use my character for a writing prompt, please do! Tag me if you write something you wish to share. I’d love to read it!
I made a video I shared on Tiktok and Instagram. It was sort of awkward to turn it into a video because I included a background on this illustration. That meant the drawing didn’t fill the phone screen, but I did my best with the drawing I had. It would be a better size for children’s books, and being able to illustrate a children’s book is the ultimate goal.
I still like to share because I think that those without drawing experience think drawing / illustrating is some sort of magic.
My drawing process is more of starting with a basic idea, and then drawing, and redrawing, until I find shapes I like. I erase a lot when I draw on paper, and I erase a lot when I draw on the iPad. It’s just part of my process.
I will say that starting a drawing is hard sometimes. Often the first 10 minutes are chaos, I have to take a few breaths, get my thoughts in order, and do some experimenting.
I really enjoy the flow of drawing once I’m fully focused and in the moment. I should do it more. Lord knows I could use the practice, and I do have a plan to become more disciplined. I’ll tell you more about that later, but if you have any tips on getting yourself to practice more, let me know!
Thanks for reading with me today. I hope your New Year is fabulously awesome, and that you have a lot to look forward to!
Kat @CraftingGlow
PS. The character building title on the video is a play on words. Character building usually refers to fleshing out characters in detail, including personality and other intangible details, but it also feels like building a character when you go from nothing to something visable. So I definitely used the term not in the original sense, but I thought the title fit really well.
If you want more information on how to build characters in the writing sense, there are many books and workbooks on Amazon to help you through that process.
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