MANW Week 5 Check-In and Get Organized in February

The Tick Weapons Lab Avatar

Hello challengers! It’s the start of a brand new month, and that means I’m kicking off a new theme. In January, my year-long MANW initiative started with a month of playing and experimenting with different art forms. Out of that, I had fun playing around with new jewelry design techniques, watercolor, lettering, and a few side projects that had been lingering–plus I’ve also generated some plans for what I refer to as Operation: Muchness.

I hope you enjoyed January’s theme. If you got off the horse, keep in mind that’s pretty natural–especially this time of year. Many people break New Year’s Resolutions for a variety of reasons.

When a goal isn’t met, I find it’s usually because the initial goal was too:

  • complicated
  • unrealistic
  • time-intensive
  • frustrating!

Often, goals require preparation. Or, in other words, you have to subtract something in order to add that new behavior in your life. Plus, if your personal life goes wonky, your goal needs to be so simple you can refocus and redirect your attention even in smaller chunks. According to this article, it takes 66 days to form new habits. I’m of the mind that its closer to 100, however, or three months. Why? Well, consider that the best way to achieve a goal is to break it up into smaller, more manageable chunks or milestones. If your new, desired behavior requires more time than expected or winds up not working for you, you’ll know that’s the case within that first month. Then, you’ll need time to make adjustments to ensure your revised goal will work for you.

Regardless of whether or not you embraced January’s PLAY theme, I hope you figured out what was and wasn’t working for you so you could make room in your life for more art.

February’s Theme: ORGANIZE

February’s theme is all about getting your art supplies, files, etc. organized, and I’m going to provide tips throughout the month to help you clean and sort your materials. This tactic will help you assess what you have in order to make room for the new art that you’re making. It’s also a way of assessing your own inventory; this is important to do from time-to-time, if you plan on making money from your art or wish to revive old projects and see them across the finish line.

As a heads up, I’m planning on embracing some artistic challenges this Fall, like NaNoWriMo.org and Inktober for my monthly themes. Organizing now will help you get used to your new processes, too, before you wrap your time making art if you decide to take another challenge later on.

Creative Challenge: Why Organize?

To get started, the first step will be to narrow down your personal goals for organizations. Why do you want to get organized in the first place? What do you want to do with your space? What do you want to obtain? Make more use out of? Get rid of?

If you have a lot of supplies and projects, or you feel you’re so scattered you have no idea where to start, this is a great time to free-write and get in touch with what you want.

More questions to consider:

  • Can you list/name the art projects you haven’t finished yet?
  • What do you need to finish your projects?
  • When was the last time you used your art supplies?
  • What do you keep buying more of?
  • What can’t you never seem to find when you need it?
  • Do you have excess lower quality art supplies that don’t quite work for what you need?
  • Do you have space available for storage?
  • Do you have space to make art?
  • Of the spaces that you do have, how are you using them now?

Thinking more deeply about storage spaces and inventory is one way of setting goals. For example, I have beads I’ve purchased over the years that were for patterns I liked. I also received some beads as a gift, and others because I thought they were cool. Now, my beads are partially sorted into CraftMates Lockables containers for easy access; others are in see-through vinyl bags in larger containers. Right now, I have no way of knowing or remembering everything I wanted to make; I found an extra bin of beads last night, where I separated out the beads by type for the pattern.

In other words, I have three storage systems going on and inventory I haven’t quite figured out yet. For patterns, I have two systems; hard copy and digital. But, I can’t look at my beads and go, “Oh yes, I have enough to make this.” That leads to buying more beads, guessing the colors I need, and a lot of potential waste.

I have a few reasons why I want to organize my jewelry components. They are because I want to:

  • reduce buying supplies I don’t use
  • make better use out of the supplies I do have
  • use lower quality supplies for learning new techniques
  • reduce the time it takes me to set up and clean up
  • make better use out of my storage space

From these answers, you can start to see the roots of an organizational wish list I’ll customize according to the space and materials I have. Before I start re-arranging or setting up yet another process, I now understand what I want to accomplish. That “why” is pretty important, because without it I’m just cleaning and sorting to make more space. Instead, I need to focus on usable space and systems that will help me make more art.

That’s it for today’s post. I hope you’re continuing to make art! If you want to check in, you can comment below and tell me how you’re doing. What’d you think of January’s theme?

    Mood: I am a focused grasshopper.
    Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: Funny story… I drank loads of green tea thinking it was herbal. So, a lot. Whoops!
    Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Hour of yoga
    In My Ears: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 23 – Allegro (Part L1)
    Game Last Played: Dragon Age: Inquisition
    Book Last Read: Research materials for work.
    Movie/TV Show Last Viewed: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
    Latest Artistic Project: Make Art Not War 2017 Challenge and Rules
    Latest Releases: In Volo’s Wake for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. Read my end-of-the-year list of releases for an overview of what I’ve put out for 2016.
    Current State of Projects: Read my latest project update. New project update coming this month!



February 1, 2017
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From Watercolor to Illustrated Poem [Photos]

Last week I posted that I had painted a watercolor and planned to use it as the background for a poem I wrote about hope. Today, I’ve got more pictures to share with you and some tips on how I took this across the finished line. If you click on the photos, you’ll get the full-sized image this time around. Huzzah!

One Starry Sky by Monica Valentinelli

Okay, so now that I have my background it was time to plot the lettering. I really like the chalkboard-style fonts, and opted to use a similar technique. First thing I did was plot the grid, then use freehand to draw each line separately. I had Pinterest open on my phone, and used some fonts for reference.

You can see that I made some minor adjustments after the fact–I’ll get to that in a little bit. I illustrated these at the coffee shop. Here’s the rest of the originals, which I illustrated at home.

And lastly, the banner here:

Next, I scanned in each line separately, erased the backgrounds, and did some minor clean-up before turning them into *.pngs. After that, I placed them in layers on my watercolor background. The lines were scanned larger than the canvas, which allowed me to have more flexibility with placement.

Annnnnnnd… Viola! Here is the finished version of my illustrated poem. Sadly, I usually don’t title my poems, but I named the picture “One Starry Night.” So, um… One starry night it is!

One Starry Sky by Monica Valentinelli



January 29, 2017
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Oh My Watercolor! Photos and a NASA-inspired Creative Prompt

Galactic Starry Space

Hello, hello, hello! I hope you’re doing well. Today, I’m happy to share with you part one of a two part project I’m working on. As you may recall, January’s theme for my year-long creative challenge was “Play!” Last night, I tried a new technique I’ve never attempted before–watercolor! A few weeks ago, I wrote a poem about hope and decided to illustrate it. Thanks to my friend and comics professor Ursula Murray Husted, she suggested I do the lettering separately because I’m using cold press paper.

Before I get to my photos, I have a new Creative Prompt for you. It’s all about spppppaaaaaaccccccceeeeeeeee!

Creative Prompt: Using NASA as Inspiration

Today’s prompt is for all you writers out there. Did you know that NASA publishes a photo of the day? Photos are a fantastic way to get your creative juices flowing, because they act as an anchor to generate ideas. Sometimes, they post pictures of moons, astronauts, nebulas–oh my!

Using NASA’s Photo of the Day as inspiration, write about that photo. You could:

  • Tell a science fiction story starring a heroic scientist or astronomer
  • Write a poem about how space is big. Reaaaaaalllly, really big!
  • Describe how you’d live on the surface of a moon
  • Create an alien ship or species that lives on a spaceship
  • Design a want ad for astronauts flying to Mars

Or, if you’re all out of ideas? You could write a fan letter to NASA, instead. I’m sure they’d love to hear how wonderful their scientific exploration and efforts are, and how their photos inspire you!

From Watercolors to Nebulas

Since I wanted to try something new, I thought I’d post some pics to show you how I took my background over the finish line. New is scary–even for me! The first picture is of a background that I knew I was going to add stars to. I chose colors I might see in a nebula, to give the background a little dimension. The color does vary a little bit–I also learned that lighting makes all the difference in the world. Definitely need to keep that in mind for the future!

Step two was to add the stars. I thought about where the stars might be visible, since some gaseous clouds would be thicker in spots than others. To add a little dimension, my first instinct was to add two shooting stars (e.g. comets).

Ehhhh… I wasn’t happy with that second comet, because the perspective felt off to me. I didn’t want to paint over the whole piece, but I didn’t think it worked, either. So, I decided to paint over it and add more black for more contrast. This is what it looks like before I added more stars.

Annnnnnnd, voila! The final version! Believe it or not, this is a picture I took from my iPhone in much better lighting. I’m pumped, because I don’t have to scan it and the photo really brought out the layers of paint I was working with. For part two of this project, I’m going to hand-letter my poem. You’ll see that in a future post!



January 26, 2017
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MANW Check-In Week 4: Celebrating One Month, January’s Accountability, and Turning No into Yes

Congratulations! We’re now in Week 4 of the Make Art Not War Challenge 2017. How are you doing? This month’s theme was PLAY, and I hope you’ve embraced that with vigor. The theme was designed for you to plant the seeds for discipline; I will help you grow as the year continues, by building off of this initial theme every month.

Okay, now that we’re in week four this is a good time for me to check in with all of you and see how committed I’ve been to my pledge.

My Make Art Not War 2017 Challenge pledge:

  • I pledge to devote one hour a day to my original art.
  • If I don’t feel motivated, I pledge to write down the reasons why I wanted to take this challenge for fifteen minutes or one-to-three pages whichever comes first.
  • I pledge to mark down on the calendar whenever I complete a day’s efforts.
  • As the challenge creator, I pledge to create a weekly accountability post every Wednesday beginning on January 9th. Comments will be open. Hashtag #makeartnotwar2017 #manw2017
  • I pledge to check into social media twice a week for personal use, and once a month with my local community of artists and writers.

January 2017 Accountability

  • I made original art for one hour every day when I could. I had a convention, and I figured out that making art while at conventions is more involved than I imagined it would be.
  • I did not have a problem with motivation.
  • I used gold star stickers to mark down on the calendar when I made art.
  • I have posted the accountability posts and did use the hashtags #makeartnotwar2017 #manw2017.
  • I did fall down on social media usage, because I wanted to keep abreast of political changes and right now I’m regretting that. More on this below.

Okay, so where I fell down was on social media. It’s hard to extricate myself from it, because I do log in for work. The problem isn’t doing that “one quick thing”, it’s the fact that I have had 24-7 access to it on my phone, my dual monitors, etc. So, yesterday I made the decision to remove access on my phone; I’ll put it back when I’m traveling, but for now this is the safest and best approach going forward.

How I’ve Been Using Social Media

In talking to other friends so many of us rely on social media for making plans and remaining in touch as well. I can’t tell you how many conversations I’ve had that begin with “Well, didn’t you see what happened on Facebook?” Even when I do use it, I’m not on it enough to know or read what everyone is up to. I’ve been engaging with Facebook Groups more, though, and I also use Messenger. The nice thing about Messenger, is that it’s a separate app so I don’t need Facebook on my phone. That’s definitely staying.

With respect to Twitter, I was using the service as a news aggregator and… Well, I just cannot have access to the news 24-7, either. The only solution is to disconnect and stick to my original pledge. It didn’t affect my productivity this month, but that’s never the problem. The issue is that it impacts my mood, and that’s when my focus and enthusiasm for my original art tends to go by the wayside.

I’m seeing quite a few of you checking in on the Twitter hashtag–and that’s great! Don’t be afraid to revisit your personal promises, too, because next week’s check-in kicks off a brand new month. Exciting!

Creative Challenge: Turning “No’s” Into “Yes’s”

Some of you may have stopped and started on this challenge. You had every intention of making art every day, of setting aside your frustration, and focusing on yourself. You might feel guilty for taking that time, or might be comparing yourself to other, more established artists wondering if you’ll ever get “there.” Or, you might feel a ton of pressure to be perfect or make a gorgeous, saleable piece of art every time you sit down to create.

Negativity is a Creative Challenge that you’ll have to overcome if you want to establish a routine and sharpen your focus. Right now, what you’re telling yourself is “No, I can’t do this.” The reasons why you’re saying “No.” will vary widely, but that negativity is exacerbated by everyone around you and our current political climate. It does have an impact, even if you can’t see it now; artists are keen observers, because it’s up to

The question you need to ask yourself is: “How do I turn a ‘No’ into a ‘Yes’?” If you cannot say “Yes, I will devote my time to making art and focusing on my craft.” then how can you expect anyone else to publish, buy, or support your finished works?

Your reasons for saying “Yes!” to yourself will also vary; the first step, however, is to recognize that you are saying “No.” Then, it’s up to you to figure out why that is to overcome your personal, often very emotional, challenge. I believe you can do it, and I wish you the best of luck.

Now that we’re a month in–tell me how you’re doing! Comments are open, and I’d love to hear how this challenge is impacting your life as an artist.



January 25, 2017
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MANW Week 3 Check-In: New Creative Prompt & Challenge Follow-Up

Jack The Pumpkin King Avatar

Today’s the exciting check-in for Week 3 of my Make Art Not War Challenge! I have had a tremendous week where a lot of unraveled threads have been snipped, and I’m in the process of figuring out what thread I need to spool before…

Okay, that took the whole “eye of the needle” analogy a bit too far; my point (Hah! Hah!) is that by embracing January’s theme of PLAY, I’m beginning to sort out what I want to focus on this year for the next three-to-six months. I’m also remembering which long-standing projects have been languishing as well, and that’s provided me with a much-needed kick in the butt to sharpen my focus.

I’d like to share with you how my week went, but before I get to that I’d like to plug an article by Gareth L. Powell titled “How To Keep Being Creative In A Crisis”. Loads of great insight here, and I really dug this quote:

“Art is one of the candles of civilisation. If we abandon it, the bad guys win. – Gareth L. Powell

Inspiring, eh? As more authors blog about making art in challenging and difficult times, I will continue to link to their words of wisdom. Remember: if you are just finding out about the challenge now, you can join at any time!

Creative Challenge Recap: Making Art at Cons

Last week, I did mention that I had a creative challenge to work through. I was invited to be a special guest at Midwinter Con, and my goal was to keep making art while at the show. Here’s how the days broke down:

  • Wednesday, January 11

    • – I did not make art. I was forced to slay dust bunnies instead.

  • Thursday, January 12

    • – This was a travel/booth set up/see people day, so no art here, either.

  • Friday, January 13

    • – I set up and participated in a LARP about an eeeeeeevil corporation, which was the culmination of characters I helped design. Not sure if this counts as “new” or not, but it was the result of my creative efforts.

  • Saturday, January 14

    • – I did here! Part of the day I spent with my cousin on creative photography and discussing my business plan. I also started narrowing down how to focus my creative energy on my original projects as well. Plus, spending time at the signing table allowed me to conjure concepts for new worlds, stories, and games.

  • Sunday, January 15

    • – Another travel and tear down day. This was a long one, and didn’t make art here.

Though I didn’t make art on certain days, when I came back home I did feel as if my focus never waned–not once. Since MANW was always on my mind, it was omnipresent and, because of that, I spent Monday recovering from the convention(1). I wound up buying some software that would allow me to design flat, two-dimensional bracelets, necklaces, earrings, etc. and used it to create two fan-made patterns. (One was for Dungeons & Dragons, and the other was for the Packers.) For flat stitches, the software will allow me to plot out intricate designs and “see” them before I stitch them. Pretty cool!

All in all, I think the creative challenge to continue making art at conventions can’t be forced or helped if travel gets in the way. The two most important things for me was to never lose sight of my goal, and to get back on the proverbial horse as soon as possible. I needed a day of downtime after a convention, for example, and I found there was no better way of spending it than making art.

Your mileage will vary, of course, but if you can’t make art while you’re away please don’t beat yourself up about it. If, however, you find yourself not making art when you get home, too, then that’s something I’d keep an eye on. If your lack of productivity goes past a week, then I’d say that’s definitely a cause for concern–especially if you don’t have a lot going on.

I’d love to hear how you’re doing. Feel free to check in on the hashtag or use the comments section. Can’t believe we’re in week three!

Creative Prompt: Visualize a Castle

The story behind this creative prompt is my love for a book that I feel was billed as a romance–even though it really wasn’t. Season of the Witch, by Natasha Mostert, touches upon a concept in spiritual alchemy where you build constructs in your mind. Natasha uses that gilded palace in an interesting and suspenseful way while other fantasy writers, like Melanie Rawn in her Exiles series, utilize mental constructs to teach magic, defend from magical attacks, etc. [Similar to this, is the “mind palace” which was featured in Sherlock.]

This exercise has two components to it. The first, is to take twenty minutes and find a nice, quiet space to visualize a castle of your dreams. If you don’t have one of those, I recommend noise-cancelling headphones to help you focus. Then, when you’re settled, draw a castle in your mind and add in the five senses. If you picture a tower, go inside the tower. Does it have staircases? Elaborate carpets? Stained glass windows or heavy oak doors? What does that room smell like? Fresh rain, rose petals, or cinnamon? Once you’ve visualized that room, move on to the next one and the next one until you’ve pictured an entire castle of your own making.

For the second part, bring your castle to life. You can do this in any number of ways via scrapbooking or cutting techniques, illustrations, lush descriptions, etc. The idea here is to build a castle in the real world that you’ve visualized. Remember: this doesn’t have to be something you complete on the first try, either. It could take you up to a week or more, and that’s okay!

Why do this? Here’s a secret: by creating a place in your mind, through your art, you are giving yourself the gift of space. This might be a place you dream about buying, building, owning, or traveling to one day. Or, your castle could be a safe space you retreat to because it’s uniquely yours. It may sound incredibly silly, but having a safe space is important for your well-being on multiple levels. This exercise allows you to create one and give you that sense of ownership and control–which is a must when times get tough!

(1) Every introvert understands what “recovering” a.k.a. “de-peopling” means.

    Mood: Caffeinated
    Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: Yeah, I don’t think the addiction will bypass anytime soon, not until Spring at least.
    Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Bah, humbug.
    In My Ears: Movie soundtrack playlist. Currently on Harry Potter.
    Game Last Played: Dragon Age: Inquisition
    Book Last Read: Research materials for work.
    Movie/TV Show Last Viewed: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
    Latest Artistic Project: Make Art Not War 2017 Challenge and Rules
    Latest Releases: Read my end-of-the-year list of releases for an overview of what I’ve put out for 2016. Check out Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling and, if you like it, consider leaving a review.
    Current State of Projects: Read my latest project update.



January 18, 2017
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