July 2025 blog | writing and sketchbooking

July flew by and I honestly remember very little of it! One of the few things I can use to nudge my memory is my sketchbook, which surprisingly has around 8 spreads in it from the month! (For reference, the past few months only have 3-4 pages, if even that). This is likely thanks to the fact that I got myself figure drawing everyday (ish) for a good week or more. I have also had a separate sketchbook that I have been using for exclusively figure practice since November of 2020, and I finally finished it…! So that meant the figure practice spreads spilled onto my main sketchbook. I may or may not tour that figure practice sketchbook. Not sure as it’s not exactly pretty.

In other news (that I wrote at the end of my previous blog post but technically happened this month and I will keep going on about it) I finished the first draft of my fantasy book. Since then I’ve been planning like mad for the next book, but also going back and trying to fill in gaps I left in the first book (and realising the first book is so long that it’s going to have to be split into two, so technically I’ve finished the draft of TWO books! lol). I’ve been so excited to start writing the next book out but have realised recently that I’ve got myself in the mindset of ‘you have to have this well planned out first before you start writing’, and while I enjoy planning I think I’m unintentionally taking the joy out of the overall experience for myself. In August I’m going to get myself writing the story and worrying about if it makes sense later (lots of authors' books will go through several if not dozens of drafts, after all, and I expect mine will change a lot).

I attempted to give myself a break once I finished the first book. That was difficult, since I wanted to get straight to it.

Eventually I did move onto another project as a ‘break’, which is…*drumroll*…a witch-themed comic book!

I’ve had this story idea in my head a few months now. At the moment I don’t feel ready enough on the art side to draw a comic (the forced figure practice makes sense now, heh?) but that’s not important at the moment, since it’s the writing that comes first. I spent a good few days of July planning and writing up an outline for this comic/graphic novel (what’s the difference?) and I’m excited to see where it goes.

Let’s just ignore the fact that I very suddenly stopped working on it by the middle of July and eventually went back to my beloved (fantasy novel) instead, yeah?

Unlike my overcomplicated baby of a novel that I’m a lil too protective over (it’s been over ten years, it’s weird talking about the plot to others, especially when it's a bit of a mess at the moment), I’m not the same about this story, so here’s a summary of the plot: A young witch in University is trying to find her way through grief, loneliness and uncertaincy at the sudden death of her boyfriend. What nobody knows, though, is that she still talks to his spirit and can’t seem to let him go. Through the story we follow her as she tries to move on, make new friends at uni, and figure out how to find other like-minded people and give them a safe space to be themselves.

I hope to start doodling ideas when I feel ready, the progress of which will go onto my Instagram. I want to show my progress with this story since it's going to be more visually interesting. I imagine myself making character sheets, concept sketches, backgrounds and, of course, the panels themselves. I will keep my blogposts updated if and when anything happens!

Summer days

I also filled a few spreads of my travel sketchbook this month.

The first couple are from a walk up to the Kymin in Monmouth, a monument/some buildings at the top of a mountain overlooking the town in Wales. We had a magical experience at the monument (the actual thing was something to do with admirals in the army conquering places - too patriotic for us) where loads of red admiral butterflies flew around us and landed on us multiple times! We then walked further on and took in the view, which included Sugar Loaf mountain. I then attempted to do rubbings on the information board they had…which did not go very well.

Another day we went to Tewkesbury Medieval Festival, which was probably one of the hottest days of the year (it was hard-going). My day’s figure drawing practice came in the form of quickly drawing all the people in armor re-enacting the battle.

I sold at Hollyhock Market in Stroud, and so filled a few sketchbook pages there too while I sat at my stall. My daily figure practice was a life drawing session of the people and objects at the market, and then I noticed how terribly I draw feet/shoes so decided to practice with some Pinterest references.

I made more sketchbooks out of second-hand books for the market!

Birthday

I had planned to do lots of plein-air sketching on my birthday when we travelled to a place called St Fagans National Museum of History in Wales. It has a castle, extensive gardens, and buildings from different eras that have been dismantled from their original locations and re-built onsite. I took looots of photos, but there was so much to see I never had time to sit down and draw! So I plan to use my photos as reference instead, and make a Draw with Me video out of it. That should happen in August!

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Upcoming

I will be selling at Alright? Illustration Fair at St Mary’s Priory Church in Chepstow on the 16th August 2025!

I will also be participating in my first stamp rally at this event!

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Thank you for reading! Quite a short one, with little 'finished' art to show. What can I say? July was a writing month more than a drawing month.

If you’ve read this all the way through, consider supporting me and my work by going over to my Etsy shop and having a browse if you like zines, stickers and prints mostly based around nature and travelling. You will also find my pet portrait commissions there! letsgetartyshop.etsy.com <3