Let's Chat 💬
A gift, a leaf and a brand new thing to the Newsletter: The Creative Draft Chat.
SubStack recently added a new feature. “Chat” and I want us to give it a go. Also Autumn is finally here, for some can be a challenge, for others a booster of their creativity!
The Menu for This Week
🍂 Artists love Fall …
🍂 SubStack Chat-mode ON
🍂 A Thank You Gift!
A short & a not-so-serious guide to surviving the cold. Let’s be grumpy together!
Pumpkin Spice Latte? Cozy sweaters? Colorful leaves? It’s all good but give me back the sun… If you, like me, are in the Northern Hemisphere, you either are very happy right now or suffering an incredibly cold
It looks like everyone loves autumn. Especially artists. Illustrators are literally raving every year about Fall, October with all its drawing challenges, and Halloween with spooky ghosts. If only the autumn was just that… But how about the constant rain, grey sky, wind, and short dark days? What about those who aren’t that crazy about the cold?
Being a summer person myself, having to deal every year with autumn and winter is a thing that has gotten harder with the years, instead of getting easier.
So in this short post, I wanted us, the not-autumn-people, to get together and come up with ideas for making this time of the year a bit nicer. Here are my ideas of surviving the cold:
Rain... What is rain really? Rain is water falling from the sky. Rain is like getting a shower while fully clothed and when you didn’t ask for it. Rain is water in your shoes making squishy sounds with every step you take (Sting knew that). We all know rain, even though we get different amounts of it. So here Ross and I say: stay aware & be prepared! Get yourself waterproof boots and a waterproof coat. Be PlasticMan. Be prepared. And if those can be fun and colorful, even better! I recommend you my flower raincoat and my fish-shaped umbrella.
If like me, you go to the gym or do sports out of self-obligation to stay healthy, but in cold seasons your motivation drops to the floor and the only thing you think about is sleep, chocolate, and a pile of blankets, then we have a problem. It’s totally normal to feel sleepy during those dark months, animals know it well and that’s why so many of them spend their days sleeping, waiting for the spring to come. The way in which I deal with the general gloominess, sleepiness and lack of motivation to move your body is to go with what’s closest to you. That’s why running in a local park or signing up for the closest available gym helps a tiny bit with the motivation drop.
Hobby your way toward the spring. It’s the best time of the year for arts & crafts. So if you’ve been postponing a personal creative project or were looking to find some time to craft some handmade decoration or a clay sculpture of your dog, now is the time! This is also a way of me saying - you can definitely expect some fun crafting experiments from me!
Books, games, and movies are at our disposal. I’ve been enjoying those cold rainy evenings to catch up on my pile of books on my TBR list, watching my fave series, and checking out beautifully made board games. I plan to deliver a bunch of recommendations in this field in my upcoming Youtube videos.
Embrace the pumpkin and go with the flow. Pumpkin spice latte is a phenomenon I’m trying to understand every year. Each year I try it and forget what’s so awesome about it immediately afterward but I don’t give up. Cause pumpkins are fun. There’s a pumpkin beer, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin cake, pumpkin coffee, pumpkin bath products, pumpkin-scented candles, carved pumpkins, and decorative pumpkins. You’re a pumpkin. I’m a pumpkin. So let’s make a scavenger hunt out of it. Next time you shop or go out, grab the products respecting the pumpkin hype, and become a collector and a pumpkin connoisseur (insert moustache emoji).
I’ve already started my first chat thread so come on over and say hello!
Today I’m announcing a brand new addition to my Substack publication: The Creative Draft subscriber chat.
This is a conversation space in the Substack app that I set up exclusively for my all my subscribers (free and paid alike) — kind of like a group chat or live hangout. To be honest we all gonna experiment with this together and see where it goes.
I’ll post short updates, thoughts, some fun stuff, and updates that come my way, and you can jump into the discussion.
To join our chat, you’ll need to download the Substack app (messages are sent via the app, not email). Turn on push notifications so you don’t miss a chance to join the conversation as it happens.
How to get started
Download the app by clicking this link or the button below. Chat is only on iOS for now, but chat is coming to the Android app soon.
Open the app and tap the Chat icon. It looks like two bubbles in the bottom bar, and you’ll see a row for my chat inside.
That’s it! Jump into my thread to say hi, and if you have any issues, check out Substack’s FAQ.
I haven’t said this as many times as I want to but ….. THANK YOU!
I haven’t said that enough but….. THANK YOU!
I wanted to write a short note so it can reach all of you, readers of my newsletter, and give you a huge thank you for being here and reading me. I started this newsletter as a means to have yet another way of staying in touch with you, and now, after The Death of Instagram, I appreciate it more than ever. I also wanted to give a special thank you and express my huge gratitude to those of you who decided to support this publication with a monthly donation. You really don’t know how much this means to me. It is a lovely gesture that motivates me to keep on writing and carry on sharing over here.
A huge THANKS goes to all of the fellow writers here who recommended my publication to their readers, I really appreciate that! Thank you all for being here, for reading, commenting, sharing, liking and subscribing!
Quick note in case you feel like shopping
A short note only to let you know that there’s a discount on EVERYTHING in my online store. You can choose a print of many different sizes and designs, stickers or a tote bag, all illustrated and packaged by with lots of love and passion for art. Just use the code: XMASS22 for 20% OFF on anything on my shop or GumRoad Procreate Brushes . As always, free international tracked shipping.
