Hot in Rome
Summer is quite elusive in Amsterdam, so I took a short trip to enjoy Rome for a few days, and pick up some good inspiration! Also if you like witches, keep on reading!
Some of you might know, if you follow my personal Instagram account (check it here), that I’ve been sharing a bit more of the behind-the-scenes stories and some of the more personal-related parts of being a creator. Mostly what inspires me.
This week I just posted a story video of my trip to Rome. I spent a few beautiful, warm and sunny days there. And I took the chance to not only visit but to stop and take my time to make a few sketches. I will be sharing those soon
Also, I’m becoming a sort of an indie game conoseur! Not so much of a gamer per-se, but when it comes to artsy games when I see one that catches my eye, I want to share it. Not only entertaining but also inspiring!
The Menu for This Week
🌳 Drawing Date in Rome
🌳 The Wytchwood Adventure
🌳 3000 Trees to be Planted
Summer in Rome
My Roman short holiday story & sketching dates
Who is a summer person? I definitely am. It's my favorite season, it's when my birthday is, and it's just the best time of the year!
Since I moved to the Netherlands, I've been an avid sun chaser. In case you're not familiar with the dutch weather, let me tell you, there's no summer here. You will see me wearing the same outfits in January and July. The clouded grey sky is the default here, and so whenever the temperature rises above 25 degrees Celsius (77 F) I leave everything behind and run as fast as I can to the nearest park to get some sun before it disappears again.
This is all to tell you I had the best time in Rome! It was my first time in the capital, and even though it was the shortest trip of only 4 days, it was warm, beautiful, and totally inspiring! Rome is filled with history and art, and I had to fight the urge of taking my sketchbook out at all times. I did have various occasions to sketch outside and in the museums, which I absolutely loved.
My sketchbook is full of sculptures, beautiful plants, and landscapes now, I can't wait to make a sketchbook tour for you guys! But in the meantime, I made a video about the drawing dates in Rome. I hope it can serve you as a company while you work or draw and as a reminder to take some time off, for yourself or your passion projects - anything really that will help you disconnect and refill your creative fuel! Remember that to be able to do that, you don't have to leave the country or go to another place, just look at your surroundings with fresh, tourist eyes!
Let me know in the video comments, what was your impression of Rome, if you visited the city, what was the place you last went on vacation to, and if you ever go out with your sketchbook to draw?
The Wytchwood Adventure
Beautiful game for calm & magical afternoons
I've never really been a huge fan of video games, apart from a few I enjoyed in my teenage years, but lately, I'm absolutely in love with hand-illustrated games.
In my previous newsletters, I already shared these two beautiful illustrated games: Roki & The Wild at heart but I totally forgot to share with you my latest discovery I played last winter, so here it goes!
Wytchwood is a crafting adventure game that was released only in December 2021. You play as an old witch exploring different landscapes and environments, such as countryside, seaside, old woods and swamps while collecting magical ingredients and creating special potions and spells. The storybook art style illustrations will appeal to any art lover.
The game is very easy to learn, something that is very important to me, as I don't feel like going through complicated instructions in order to start having fun, so in that aspect, it's really easy and intuitive. There weren't too many dialogs, which for me sometimes slows down the game and in excess, results boring.
For me the game was easy, but not boring. Meaning, I didn't need any help at any point or was hesitating about what to do, the gameplay was smooth, sometimes maybe even repetitive, but as you go exploring so many beautifully crafted and created landscapes, each one with characteristic illustrated elements, you just can't get enough of it! A huge shout out to the lead artist behind the illustrations, Jesse McGibney, as without the art this game wouldn't be what it is.
Available for Windows, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch.
Our Planet Week 2022
We are planting many trees, and you guys will decide where!
Finally, something we've all been waiting for, the results of our joined effort during the last edition of Our Planet Week are here!
Before sharing how many trees, we'll be planting and where they will go, I wanted to thank you all so so much for taking part in the event! It wouldn't be possible without you!
Our cap for this years' trees to be planted was six thousand, that's the generous amount our partner One Tree Planted offered to plant in the name of Our Planet Week. This year we get to plant half of it, which means 3 thousand of brand new trees will be brought to the planet thanks to us! This put Our Planet Week movement close to 10.000 trees planted with the event. And it’s thanks to you!
Every year we count the illustrations created according to Our Planet Week rules manually, and this year we did it several times. So many of you participated and created beautiful art in response to the 6 prompts we had this year, but unfortunately, many of those entries weren't properly hashtagged or fell outside of the event dates.
If you're new here or not familiar with Our Planet Week initiative, check out our website and Instagram. There we explain how the event works, how you can participate, and what the tree planting process looks like, done by the very best tree planting experts!
If you'd like to join the next (4th) edition of Our Planet Week, please follow our Instagram account, that's the best way to stay ahead of everything we plan and share:) I warmly invite you to participate so that next year we can plant more and more trees for our beautiful planet thanks to our art!
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