In the past few months I’ve started sketching more frequently. A lot of my friends draw, and at a Christmas party, one of them taught me how to draw a little fairy as an addition to my writing pages in my journal. And after that party, I did what I typically do when I’ve been inspired: I made a Pinterest board. I doodled on the car ride down to Savannah, sketched some columns during a visit to  the Bonaventure Cemetery, and have been drawing a lot more since. 

While I was visiting Savannah over the break, my mom took me to the SCAD bookstore. That bookstore is absolutely insane. There were four floors, each full of enough craft supplies to last several lifetimes. Leatherworking, miniatures, stage makeup—they had a section for every art or craft you can imagine.  It took everything in me not to buy some of their metalsmithing supplies.  But I decided to stick to my sketching, and I mixed and matched pencils, erasers, and pencil sharpeners to make a little drawing kit for myself. The eraser I chose  is one of the best purchases I made. It’s super small, and makes great highlights in my shading. 

I’ve definitely been inspired by sketches from Pinterest the most, but I’ve also tried  some still lifes. Most recently, I visited a museum exhibit on the Book of Esther, and while I was there, I sketched one of the Esther scrolls. Because I love details, I later also found some Hebrew from one of these scrolls, and copied it into my drawing. It was tedious, but worth it for the final sketch. 

I really like putting on music and just sketching whatever comes to mind. TV Girl, The Smiths, Arctic Monkeys, and Phoebe Bridgers are my current favorite musical artists, especially for drawing. I’ve found that I love drawing eyes and musical motifs, like guitars. So far I’ve been working with different graphite pencils, but I’m planning to experiment with color the next time I sit down to sketch.