Tag: drawing

Back to the BASICS

When my stylus pen stopped working, I thought I had to wait to get another one before getting anything done…until I realised I’d always had another way out.

I’d just got some new illustration commissions and I was so excited to get right on them. It didn’t matter that I was going to be doing a bit of travelling for my other job ’cause I would still have my laptop and WACOM tab with me to continue the drawing and painting at night. Life was good. Nothing could go wrong.
At least that’s what I thought until I realised my stylus pen was not working. Way to jinx it, Emmanuel 🙄.
For a while it felt as though I really had no other option but to buy another stylus, and I’d heard it was really expensive. Come to think of it, as I write this, I haven’t really tried to find out the price of a new stylus pen. I probably should get right on that 🤔.

Anyway, the illustration commissions were at a standstill for a while until I realised that, hey, I used to do this illustration thingie for years, long before I even got a WACOM tab. Until I get a new stylus I could go back to my old way of doing things.
This old way involved drawing with a pencil on paper, inking the lines with a dark pen, scanning with a scanner, and coloring on a computer with software like CorelDraw or Photoshop. I call this technique DISC (draw, ink, scan, color). It’s been ages since I last tried this, but now it seemed like the only option. And it was a good one too!

And as I did, I realised why I used to enjoy doing this back then. With the WACOM tab, I was limited by the size of my computer screen, but now I had a more spacious field. With the WACOM, I had to keep my eyes on the screen while drawing on a blank touch pad, but with the raw paper I could see what I was drawing as I was drawing it.
Don’t get me wrong. I’d pick the WACOM method in a heartbeat if it were available. It’s much easier and faster to edit and color  digitally. Now there was no more Ctrl+Z-ing the mistakes ’cause this time I had to use an actual real life eraser. Once the pencil work was done I could ink it and make the lines clearer before finally erasing the foundational pencil lines. It was a bit longer, but I enjoyed it too.
This whole experience taught me some things:

  • The pencil lines were the first on the page, but they would be erased when the darker inks are drawn. They remind me of all the people that have added to and helped me along the way into becoming the person I am today. I am grateful because people like these are God’s gift to me. Others may not see these support systems when they see me, but I’m learning to appreciate them because I’m here because of them.
  • It teaches me to appreciate process. Finished products are the result of processing and building, of drawing and erasing, of planning and replanning and editing and so on. While I can still have the finished product in my mind’s eye (and rightly so) I should be patient with the process. As God adds to me and shows me things that should be erased, as I realise my pencil (the way I’ve been doing things) is getting blunt and may need to be sharpened, I am learning to appreciate the process. Process builds with patience.
  • I am also learning that there is always a way out. Sure I didn’t have my WACOM tab to draw, but I had a pack of A4 sheets and a scanner. I could always fall back to that. I’m learning that, no matter how much of a dead end things seem, there is always a way out. Sometimes what we need to learn is not to let lack make us forget what we actually have.
  • In my walk with God, I’m also learning not to get so used to new ways of doing things, or to results, that I forget the core principles. The reason I can excel in creativity or represent Christ in any way is not because of charisma, but because of what Christ is doing in me. The Gospel of Christ — that Message of what God did to put His life in us so we can be and do all He made us to be and do — is the core on which I stand. In the times when I’m becoming overwhelmed or side-tracked by how things may look, I’m learning to look to Christ. He is at the Centre. The Gospel is the core. I’m learning to go back to the basics, and to stand there and grow from there.
  • And I really should go find out the cost of a new stylus pen. Procrastination isn’t doing me any good. It could actually be more affordable than I assumed, and maybe I’m making myself suffer for no reason!
    But seriously now, suffering or not, I’m actually learning a lot and I look forward to the finished work.

Thanks for reading! Have you ever had to adjust your way of getting things done? How did it go for you? Please share in the comments.

Thank you!

P.S.: It’s my first post this year, so ‘Happy New Year’ greetings are in order 😁

Drawing by His hands

Earlier today my sister’s family came over. And while playing with my 3-year old nephew, practising his writing and drawing, this conversation ensued.

BOY (my nephew): I want to draw Jesus.

UNCLE (me): Ok, here’s what we’ll do…
GRANDMA (my mum, not wanting us drawing Him wrong and blaspheme): Why don’t you draw something else?
ME: Don’t worry. I used to draw Bible characters.
BOY (who copies us every chance he gets): Yes, I used to draw Bible CARROTS!

And that’s where I lost it 😂

We’ve since drawn so many things together, from Jesus to angels to hands to cartoon carrots… I mean characters😉. It’s really my hand holding his, but he’s confident in knowing he drew them too. And when it’s something difficult we want to draw he asks me to draw with his hand.
It reminds me of how God works in us and through us. He does magnificent things through people that trust Him and place their hands in His. Things far beyond their abilities or limits, by His very Spirit alive in them.

Sometimes after he’s told me to help him draw something, he rebuffs my direction and turns humans into 5-eyed formless monstrosities, but he’s exploring his Creativity like I once did 😁 Looking at the mess he then asks for my help and we start again or modify it.
Reminds me how God is patient in teaching us. Our certainty that we know what’s best at the expense of what He says sets us back or delays us from getting to His good result many times. What looks best may not always be good or of God, you know.

And sometimes when we’ve decided what we want to draw, let’s say a face, we (I) may start with an eye. He asks what I’m doing ’cause it looks nothing like the face he had in mind. I just encourage him to be patient, that I know what I’m doing
Reminds me of God too. Some steps He leads us in may not look or feel like the end He told us about or that we were expecting. But have you trusted your life to Him? Is your hand in His; is He your Lord? Then you can trust Him to be with you through it all.
That’s the person who knows God is with them in the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23).

This person may pass through a valley of crying and turn it into a spring (Psalm 84).

Just like his/her Father Who makes rivers out of the wastelands (Isaiah 43).

Drawing with His hands.

My nephew’s in his inquisitive phase too so we’re answering questions almost every second. It’s fun and exhausting, but makes me grateful for our Heavenly Father who hears my every question, spoken and unspoken, and guides me into His wonder.

In His much larger world, some questions fade away. Some persist and lead me to more in Him. Some questions I may never get the answers to until I see Him face-to-face.

And you know what? Then He’ll be all that matters, because He always has been.

POST-SCRIPT

I cannot express just how much it means to me how you all pushed out my story, The Curious Case of Doctor Maundy. Thank you so much ❤️🤗. I hope it blessed you. And I hope to be even more of a blessing. God bless you, everyone.

Here’s a little secret just for you: God willing, there are even more amazing and deeper stories coming. Already been doing some research on the subject matter. Anytime you remember, say a prayer for me please.

Also, I hope these have sparked something grand in you. All of this is just a tip of what God can do.

In this and in coming weeks I plan to share some lessons I’m learning on my writing journey. If you haven’t already, follow this page so you’re the first to know.

And finally before I go, I recently had the privilege of writing a feature in The Journey to the Extraordinary for the #21stCenturyBibleStories series by the amazing Osetemega Iribiri. Check it out by clicking this link, and also share your stories in the information at the end. Don’t forget to follow her on Medium. You’ll be really glad you did.

Thanks for coming by!