Art and the "tome of countenance"

First things first, though – it might be a little late, but may I bid you welcome to the year 2015?

After all this is my first entry this year and I hope to update my blog more frequently this time around.

I know I’ve been slacking off a little last year, but it honestly wasn’t a good year for me. Sure, I successfully managed to get my certificate from the design school in summer 2014, but otherwise things haven’t been so good. I’m unemployed ever since then and although I have been trying to spend the time working on my novel and shaping up my artistic skill, I also spent way too much doubting myself. Doubting, wether my drawings are any good and whether I’ll ever be able to work as an artist.
I kept telling my family I want to study art in 2015, but it was mainly due to the fact that I felt - and still feel - like I’m not making any progress at all and hoped an art school might help.

Yes, my drawing style may have changed, but I don’t know whether this means it improved or not. That why I still do plan on studying (although I still don’t know where or what precisely) but the fear of being just a dreamer with a hobby called art and writing kinda... Well, let’s just say, it isn’t the best thing to keep yourself sane, especially if you're having a bad time in general recently.

So then I thought - how can I know, if I am any good, if the only people who see my art are my family and my few friends? How could I become famous, only keeping my work to myself?
Last year I thought my blog was my first step of going “public” and it already took a lot of courage for me to take this step...  But the lack of feedback built some kind of uncertainty, because I never knew if anyone looks at this website at all. I told my mother about this – and my brother as well, and it was him in the end, who said I should consider joining facebook.
Now, those who know me probably know I always purposely avoided this social network. I never liked it much of it and truthfully... I never had a high opinion of facebook altogether. This still hasn’t changed, I’m still in doubt  whether this was such a good idea... But time will tell, I suppose.
At least this way I’m able to reach more people and that’s also why I keep writing my entries in English, although German is my native language. Thankfully I had a rather warm welcome on facebook though, due to my brother and his friends showing me their kind support.
I know I already thanked you all over there, but I want to repeat my words: thanks for welcoming me in such a friendly manner and leaving me a few likes already <3
A “like” may not be the same as a comment, but at least it’s a direct way of knowing people appreciate my art.
...So, to wrap things up:

What will happen to the blog and what will be published on facebook?

I think I’ll keep sharing my future blog entries on facebook to notify everyone there’s been an update here.
Finished artwork and work processes will still be published here exclusively, however I’ll use facebook to share WIP images and sketches that you wouldn’t see otherwise.

What do you think of this idea?
Do you like it or do you perhaps have some suggestions or wishes? Please let me know! You can either leave a comment here or over at my facebook page.

And now, finally, to end this entry on a positive note, here’s some sketches I did recently.

And if I say “sketches”, I really mean sketches, although some of my friends might disagree. These drawings are really just some “finger exercises”. Since I’ve been working a lot on my digital art recently, I wanted to give traditional art another try so I wouldn't get out of practice (also because I got some neat new colored pencils for Christmas and I couldn’t resist to try them out <3).

All those drawings show my own characters from my stories called "Tales of Yokai", which are inspired by japanese myths and legends.

To those of you who're new here:

To find more about the stories, take a look at this here - or if you want to read a few pages of a doujin about my youkai, take a look here.

• The first colored pencil study features Seiichiro, a land lord and haunted samurai of "Tales of Yokai".
  I'm still in the process of developing my own style, so trying to draw him traditionally rather than digitally was quite the challenge. The whole drawing took no less than a few hours and although it isn't perfect, I'm happy with it - after all it was the first time in a while that I drew at all.
  
• The second picture stars my infamous crow youkai Karasu. As the description says I attempted using a limited color palette. I used only purple-ish colored pencils, with the exception of his eyecolor to get a nice contrast and some additional black to enhance the shadows. (Quite the difference compared to my digital works. I usually refrain from using pure black).
  
• And finally, Umeko, my kitsune (fox spirit) of "Tales of Yokai". Considering that I usually have a hard time drawing feminine characters, this came out quite well. I still gotta practice drawing her braids, though.
  

Well, now that really is all for now.

Hope you enjoyed it - and see you again later, with hopefully more art!