It's weird living here during a big war. It feels like the reality itself is falling apart while people just adapt to everything to the point where they stop noticing anything. The war is ignored. The prices are high. The websites don't open without vpn. The sky in my window is black. Nothing is going to change. Well, except maybe it can get worse (and it will).
I started having nightmares at some point. They are more and more frequent. There is an explosion and we are hiding in a bathroom or urgently packing our things. It was a couple of them in a year. Then - once a month. Now it's at least one every week. And reality is no better.
Here I was practicing some color theory and shadow casting at the same time. I also added a little muscle to this guy. I swear, I made a little happy squeak when I had this idea and realised that I can actually do it since I'm the one drawind it. I'm so simple...
It's a worm, which sounds like "chervyak" in russian. And it's name is Vyak. It's almost like if a worm was named Orm. Yes, I'm very creative, yes.
I saw an exercise where you have to draw some random line first and then make it into whatever comes to your mind. So I drew a line. Smooth and round and it ended up looking like a caterpillar. I made it again. This time it looked like a worm. I feel like I'm doing it wrong somehow...
It's summer 2026, I'm 23 and for the first time in my life I actually understand how to use a sketchbook. It's for sketching stuff. I'm not afraid to draw over bad old drawings I don't like, I bravely "waste" paper and I draw for fun whatever comes to my mind even if I don't know what to do. And art is so fun now! I didn't know I like to draw!
I called them Gl'eb. The dog doesn't have a name yet but you always can suggest one.
I had a long pause when I couldn't bring myself to draw, so I decided to sit and make something. At first I found this goode on pinterest and drew it using the reference. And then I just drew some flowers. It took me a couple of days to finish the piece and it helped me to break through this little art block.
The first pride themed art I've made ever! At this point I realized how good my pencils are and how to actually use them!
There was three more drawings of cats, and this one is the best of them all.
Last year I got tired of being overweight and I started my long journey on the way to a more healthy body. So we bought an exercise bike. Is it a place to store our shirts? Yes, it is. But I actually use it at least once a week, to move at least a little. I'm a lot stronger and every pair of underwear I liked is a bit oversize now, so I'm making some progress! What helps me to stay motivated? My weird brain, that somehow makes everything entertaining. I was training on a bike, as usual. I was listening to some relaxing instrumental music and I closed my eyes to rest from bright light coming from a window. And suddenly I saw it. A tiny snail, crawling up on the Mount Fuji. "Katatsumuri soro-soro nobore Fuji-no yama". This snail is small. And I am small too. Like a mouse. I'm a little mouse on a bike. And I climb the mountain and the peak is so far away it doesn't seem to get closer even if I climb for a day. But at some point I will meet my friend snail. And we will have a break together, watching the sunset. And for now that is all that matters. I imagined it and I didn't notice when tears filled my closed eyes. So I had to open them and return to reality. But that snail? I will meet it someday. I wont't stop climbing.
This winter we went to the nearest shop for some groceries. Walking in I noticed a boy. He was standing there, patiently waiting for his mother. With a cabbage in his hands. Just few minutes later I was standing like this too. Waiting for my partner. Calm and patient. Slowly sweating. With a cabbage in my hand.
This one is sort of inspired by my friend Felix. He is also sort of a forest creature. He is scary, but kind and fair. Just don't harm anyone and he won't come to you.
Don't know about the little bear, but a dog here is drawn from a reference. After a long time of not drawing I could finally say that I like what I did. I like her, she is so happy!
It's a cat of one of my internet buddies. According to her photos she is really silly. Now she is like a screamer. I get a bit scared when I look through pages and she always appears out of nowhere. I'm never prepared.
I was practicing on meme cats. that's the best one.
Just a cartoonish dog.
Oh! This one had two versions. I was kind of burned out in december. I'm technically at university, but I only have to show up to online lectures and exams two times a year and it only lasts for three weeks. I'm usually low on energy so that period left me exausted. I stopped drawing for a while and this dog was the last thing I did. My new year's present from my partner was new colored pencils. Soft and bright and quite expensive. And I recolored this picture. I started with flowers, they were so bleak they were almost invisible. But then the flowers got too bright in comparison to the dog and I fixed her too. I was soo happy (I still am, the best gift ever).
I was tottaly absorbed in Heated rivarly after I watched it. I swallowed the book in a day. I had to do something with all the energy and I made this: the Shein's room according to Ilya's imagination.
For some reason my partner and my friend both decided that this dude is happy. But he is not! He is irritated but patient.
It's a cat of my old friend. We don't text each other anymore, but I read his telegram channel and leave comments occasionally. Though I'm not sure if he realises that it's me. He made second chanell to post pictures of his cat, her name is Olive, but in russian it's implied that it's a little olive, so it sounds cute. And that's her on this picture. But she is not that rectangular, I don't know what went wrong. I guess I was trying too hard to position her on a rectangular page I made her rectangular too.
I love bears. That's actually a part of my personality at this moment. Cause when you go through hard episodes of your life and lose parts of yourself at some point you have to rebuild yourself with what you have. I had this love for bears. Amazing animals.
I force my partner to sit and draw with watercolor sometimes, as a part of our enrichment routine. I rarely make plans, it doesn't have to be good, it just has to be fun. This one was fun, so great job me.