Find Joy in Little Things

Hi everyone! It has been a while and since I did any illustration. I had to take a break from drawing because of my injury but now I am slowly getting back to my drawings little step at a time. In this time I have learned so much and been reading so many books which all helped me to think about life with fresh eyes. For now I just want to say I missed drawing so much and excited to express myself through art. I also wanted to give some break from social media which helped me to rethink my time and make a healthy balance between work and life.

Here I got inspired from something I have seen in daily life and that sparked the playfulness inside of me. Wonder, curiosity, imagination and playfulness are all necessary for everyone to find their inner voice and help to heal our inner child. I believe through creativity we all can channel our emotional energy which can help us to understand ourselves and others. So I wanted to share this illustration that I have been working on and thought maybe this can help us think about what our inner child needs. I have been listening her for a while now and I am so happy to finally meeting her with more courage and kindness. Maybe this will help you to meet your own true self as well...

 

Some Old Lovely Sketches

Hi there! Now I am trying to blog everyday which is like a journaling to me. Sharing this journey with you makes me feel I am not alone in this challenging path. You know its a isolated and a lonely journey as we freelance illustrators have. I do enjoy being with myself but to be honest I am a social person so it is hard sometimes to not having that interactive environment. The last time I joined an Art Convention to have network and sell my art prints made me feel so alive and happy. Because I can see people's reactions and hear their thoughts about my work and meet other artist like me. It felt more real to me than having to connecting through internet all the time. But now I think by sharing my journey with you will be so rewarding and will make me feel close to you as well. Also, I will like you to know me and my thoughts and experiences in this adventure. So hello and welcome to my life with ups and downs... I am so happy to blog more regularly, building a relationship with you and recording my journey in this illustration career. Thank you for following my work and being beside me it really makes it more meaningful.

While I am working on my Circus themed illustration and my Chocolate Factory's 3rd piece (from my Children's book portfolio work that I have been working on) I wanted to share couple of my old sketches. When I look back I realized that I really enjoy sketching from old photos or people who have this way of look that you can feel they have an interesting story. It makes me so excited and I want to interpret their story in my perspective. In other words, I want to draw them in a way that how they make me feel and how I imagine their story is. Its just the old photos has this mystery, something makes us wonder. Maybe one day I will gather some old photos and make my own children's book:) That will be so fun!

So here is a mix of sketches that I did way back from old photos, some old tv shows, a girl from a different culture that made me feel connected and so authentic, lastly my own self portrait:)

Have a nice day, enjoy the life around you and be curious about people's stories. They can inspire you who knows... Everyone has something to give you... And we have so much in common.  

A Turkish girl in the Circus

Hi everyone! I have been working on two illustrations at the same time which helps me to have a break, look at the same work with fresh eyes and I can work on variety of works. This one will be one of the series of my nursery room wall art. I tried to show you my process while I am working on it. This is a challenge from instagram called #portfolioclub. It is the first theme of the month. I am behind of the schedule but I will be finishing this no matter what. I have been quite enjoying it because I love Turkish elements and combining it with something unsual like circus. Because circus is not related to Turkish Culture so I knew this theme will be interesting. Next I will decide on the characters and start to draw a rough sketch and a line work for the final illustration. I am still thinking should I work in traditional or digital. I might make a rough and a small size traditional one to see how it goes:) 

If you are interested about the materials, I used Copic Markers, PolyChromos Color Pencils, NeoColor Oil Pastels and Faber Castel Pencil.

I am very happy to share the behind the scenes of this illustration.Hope you enjoyed it and wish you have a lovely day...