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22 Oct 2019
stress drawing
22 Oct 2019 10:57 amPossibly because the supply of new Good Omens fanfic has slowed down considerably since July-August's high point (like, don't get me wrong, it's still pretty fast, but I'm no longer guaranteed to find something bookmarkable as often as every 2 days even if I keep up), over the past few weeks my typical counterphobic coping mechanism of constant compulsive reading has given way quite a bit to drawing.
I always have a sketchbook somewhere, but it's not my primary hobby and I don't typically use it every day, just sort of go through phases. The past 3 years I've been doing Inktober with my mom and my sister, and daily drawing does tend to add some extra frequency (this year my dad is participating as well by writing a poem for each prompt, a fun family chat activity that is also just adorable), but nothing close to this year, where I started a new sketchbook on October 10 and have used 62 pages (and about half the sheets) already. In contrast, my last two sketchbooks this size took 16 and 10 months to use up respectively, while at the present rate this one should be gone in less than a month in total (drawing in ink uses almost twice as much paper as pencil, because I almost never want to draw on the backs; and the earlier sketchbooks had at least some pages in pencil, though probably <10% for these more recent ones).
When I was a teenager I used drawing to ameliorate stress quite intensively, though. I tried to schedule an art class each semester my last 2 years of high school (a quarter of my day because the school was on the incredibly stupid 'block system', four 98-minute classes per day) because I'd discovered accidentally that flow was more quickly and easily accessible in art than in my other hobbies...
... I bought a Uniball Signo white gel pen recently along with my last three Tombow brush pens (they're way too expensive to buy in sets) from a recommendation at Cult Pens, my go-to UK pen/pencil/marker/paper megastore that stocks nearly everything and includes the most comprehensive shop filtering and information pages (and the only one I've found that not only clearly labels refill compatibility on every refillable pen and pencil, but also has a link from writing instrument product pages to the compatible refill category and from refill product pages to the compatible writing instrument category. I often refer to JetPens in the US for their fountain pen information, but their refill labelling is far inferior). Their comment was that the Signo is more effective than many white out pens. It certainly smells better, though it's way less opaque than whiteout tape; but I've recently started incorporating it into ink drawings both for corrections and coloring, and it's pretty addictive. Maybe not as much as Tombow pens, though, which besides being far superior to other brush pens for calligraphy, as mentioned by virtually every review and article on the internet, are also really, really nice for coloring.
Contrary to expectation when I first bought most of the markers I have, it seems the more markers I have, the more markers I realize I need, because each expansion of the collection lets you do more, and then as you play with them you realize how useful two more kinds of black markers (Sakura Pigma Microns in every size and a water-based brush pen) and a spectrum of gray brush pens and an entire set of flesh color and pastel felt-tip fineliners would be... and on and on.
Possibly I should go back to colored pencils.
I always have a sketchbook somewhere, but it's not my primary hobby and I don't typically use it every day, just sort of go through phases. The past 3 years I've been doing Inktober with my mom and my sister, and daily drawing does tend to add some extra frequency (this year my dad is participating as well by writing a poem for each prompt, a fun family chat activity that is also just adorable), but nothing close to this year, where I started a new sketchbook on October 10 and have used 62 pages (and about half the sheets) already. In contrast, my last two sketchbooks this size took 16 and 10 months to use up respectively, while at the present rate this one should be gone in less than a month in total (drawing in ink uses almost twice as much paper as pencil, because I almost never want to draw on the backs; and the earlier sketchbooks had at least some pages in pencil, though probably <10% for these more recent ones).
When I was a teenager I used drawing to ameliorate stress quite intensively, though. I tried to schedule an art class each semester my last 2 years of high school (a quarter of my day because the school was on the incredibly stupid 'block system', four 98-minute classes per day) because I'd discovered accidentally that flow was more quickly and easily accessible in art than in my other hobbies...
... I bought a Uniball Signo white gel pen recently along with my last three Tombow brush pens (they're way too expensive to buy in sets) from a recommendation at Cult Pens, my go-to UK pen/pencil/marker/paper megastore that stocks nearly everything and includes the most comprehensive shop filtering and information pages (and the only one I've found that not only clearly labels refill compatibility on every refillable pen and pencil, but also has a link from writing instrument product pages to the compatible refill category and from refill product pages to the compatible writing instrument category. I often refer to JetPens in the US for their fountain pen information, but their refill labelling is far inferior). Their comment was that the Signo is more effective than many white out pens. It certainly smells better, though it's way less opaque than whiteout tape; but I've recently started incorporating it into ink drawings both for corrections and coloring, and it's pretty addictive. Maybe not as much as Tombow pens, though, which besides being far superior to other brush pens for calligraphy, as mentioned by virtually every review and article on the internet, are also really, really nice for coloring.
Contrary to expectation when I first bought most of the markers I have, it seems the more markers I have, the more markers I realize I need, because each expansion of the collection lets you do more, and then as you play with them you realize how useful two more kinds of black markers (Sakura Pigma Microns in every size and a water-based brush pen) and a spectrum of gray brush pens and an entire set of flesh color and pastel felt-tip fineliners would be... and on and on.
Possibly I should go back to colored pencils.
I was just wondering if the electrical-feeling sparks and twinges and losing balance when I move my head meant that I had injured my neck in my sleep and then I discovered I have now forgotten to take my SSRI 3 mornings in a row. Off to lie down in mummy position until my neurons behave normally again. How did I forget them?! They were right in front of me while I was eating breakfast and I've written the days on the package in magic marker!!!
OTOH it should be noted that these are probably the mildest venlafaxin withdrawal symptoms I could wish for. I gather it's supposed to be one of the bad ones.
OTOH it should be noted that these are probably the mildest venlafaxin withdrawal symptoms I could wish for. I gather it's supposed to be one of the bad ones.