Heartfelt Thoughts - the difficulties of being an artist

Have any of you ever been told either directly or indirectly that you weren't what someone was looking for?

Have you ever questioned your own gifts because of certain events which have happened in your life?

I have. This is my story.

I am Sarah Prewitt. I am an artist. To get more specific, I am a musician, composer, filmmaker, and enjoy drawing and various other art mediums.

In short, I am a very creative person. The Lord God Almighty gave us all the ability to create when He created us in His Image.

We are the only beings who can create. Think about that ... we can create. Purely for the sake of being able to create. A beaver may build a dam and it is beautiful how they do this, however, it is out of a life necessity that they must do this.

We, as human beings, can create purely for the love of someone or something. Not solely out of need. This is a beautiful gift from God.

I have had various times throughout my life while in school, college and after that when people have either directly or indirectly told me that I'm not what they are looking for or other horrible things like that.

This is very frustrating to be told this. It is hard to find out where you fit in the world. To figure out what God wants you to do.

This is part of the reason I decided to write this blog.

I want people to be able to come here and learn about how to express their various forms of art and not feel that just because they don't currently have the most expensive art supplies, musical instruments or whatever that they cannot still create beautiful art.

Ever since, I have graduated college back in 2014, I have been trying to find my place in the world, What I am supposed to do with my various gifts God has given me. I have had many times where I thought I knew what He wanted and then that did not come to fruition.

I have applied to many many different kinds of jobs inside and outside of my field of which my college degree is in. All over the place.

After going to interview after interview, in most cases hearing nothing; when I did hear something back, it was usually, something like, I was not what they were looking for or that I didn't have enough experience for the job.

The thing is, how are you supposed to gain experience at something if you can't show someone what you already know? How are you supposed to learn if you are not first allowed to make mistakes?

Why does everyone in this world have to meet ridiculous expectations and be "perfect?"

I hate this stigma because that is the very reason why there are people out there who are suffering from various issues like self esteem, depression, anxiety and so many other things.

I personally know people who are dealing with these kinds of problems in various ways and forms. They need our support. They need to be able to get the right help they need.

I don't know if anyone will really read what I write here or anything, but if there is any difference I can make in this world by writing this, if there is even one person who might read this and take strength from it, I am thankful for that.

I believe that there is some reason as to why I am writing this. Why I am being so honest online right now, when I am not usually.

I am not writing this to hurt or ridicule anyone. Rather, I want to help people. I genuinely love people. All of you are beautiful creations of God.

Don't you ever ever forget that. You were created in the Image of God to be able to create things which are for Him and honor and glorify Him. Please, continue to do this.

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, please contact me. It would be an honor to talk to you about what the Lord has done and is doing in my life and how you can come to have a relationship with Him as well.

I wanted you to know that despite having a lot of frustrations and setbacks and feeling discouraged in my life, that I have not given up. Philippians 4:13 says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Even though people have directly and indirectly said horrible things to me and about me, I try not to let this get me down and feel sad. I try to get back up and keep trying.

I would like to thank You, Lord Jesus Christ for being there for me all of the time and everything you have done for the entire world by dying on the Cross for our sins and rising again to be our Savior.

I am also thankful for my family, friends and professors and teachers I have had throughout my life and the various people who continue to support me both directly and indirectly.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.
Sarah

Contact Me click here



In light of a recent tragedy in the music industry, I am putting up a link to a petition to stream the upcoming concerts of the band, SHINee. I had only recently discovered their music when they suddenly lost a friend, band member and musician. Kim Jonghyun had a beautiful and unique voice. I really hope that he found the Lord Jesus Christ who can love him more than any of us can. I will continue to pray for the salvation of the fellow band members; Onew, Taemin, Minho and Key and that if they do know Jesus Christ, that they draw close to Him and that they will live lives worthy of Him. I also pray for their families and friends going through this tough time.

https://www.change.org/p/sm-entertainment-sm-entertainment-to-stream-one-of-shinees-dome-concerts-in-honor-of-jonghyun

My Favorite Art Related YouTube Channels Part 1

Hello Everyone!

I thought I would write something a little different today. For the past few posts, I have been giving you reviews on various products which I have tried and currently use.

I still plan to do that as well as introduce how I create art in upcoming posts.

Today, I wanted to talk about a few of my favorite art related YouTube channels and why.

Zoe Hong

Zoe Hong is a fashion designer and teacher in the United States. She does very clear presentations and honest reviews. 

I got into watching her videos, not because i am a fashion designer. I'm not actually that into fashion as far as the mainstream of it. I enjoy creating fictional characters for stories and creating concepts for their clothing and things they use. 

I have learned a lot from Zoe Hong about color, texture, how to draw clothes as well as different ways of presenting them and a few other things I never thought about like the kind of material something is made out of and how it reacts with the movements of the person's body. 

Her videos continue to be very informative and fun to watch. Here are a few of my favorites. 

Her Fashion Fabric Design tutorial playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwQq1-SdsNva3Vnrnwzpz8CXReOEyUwJb

Doodle Date

I discovered this channel I believe for the first time when I watched a video they had about drawing with pencils which they had found to be at least 100 years old. 

I really like their channel a lot. It is a good channel to watch if you want to take a break from all of the often negative and depressing things we see in the news all over the world it seems these days. 

The two people who make up Doodle Date are Adam and Steph. They enjoy doing unusual art challenges like trying to paint with grape juice or soy sauce and gathering objects from mystery boxes and using them to create art. 

They have a very unique, hilarious and happy channel together. I encourage you to check out their channel if you are looking for something inspiring and unusual to create in art. 

Please check out some of my favorites:

I hope you enjoy all of these videos and please support these artists as well by subscribing to their channels and doing whatever other ways they have to support them!

If you would like to know how you can support me, I have a list on the right hand side about how you can support this blog and what I do here,

Once again,
Thank you for reading!

Sarah

Royal & Langnickel Sketching Set Review

I received this sketching set as a gift for Christmas. Thank you to the very generous friend for the gifts!

Now, onto the art set. This is a sketching and drawing set by Royal & Langnickel. I have found their paint brushes to be of nice quality, especially for the price. Therefore, considering my satisfaction with their brushes I am eager to try out this set.

First a list of what it includes:

12 graphite pencils - 5H, 4H, 3H, 2H, H, HB, B, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B, and 6B

3 Charcoal pencils - soft, medium, and hard

4 vine charcoal sticks

6 graphite sticks - B, HB, 2B, 4B, 6B, and 8B

3 Charcoal sticks - soft, medium, and hard

1 Tortillon

1 Sandpaper block

1 metal two hole pencil sharpener

Plastic eraser - not quite sure as R&L call it a drawing eraser

Kneaded eraser

Reusable plastic container

The Swatch Test

I have swatched both the graphite and the charcoal media in the pages of my sketchbook below.

As for my initial impressions of the art set, they look to be of nice quality considering that they are intended for I think the beginning to Intermediate artist.

The pencils have a nice black, white and gray color scheme which give them a nice look which looks nice alongside other brands like Tombow, Derwent and others, who also have their own unique looks and colors for their pencils.

I like how the gradients are easily identifiable on these pencils as well. A few of them, the paint is a little uneven on the label, but it didn't completely prevent me from being able to read it.

As for the graphite leads, they appear to be fairly well centered for the most part, which is also nice and indicates a pretty nice pencil.

As the graphite pencils came pre-sharpened, I could begin swatching right away. So I did. When I finished I noticed that there wasn't a lot of difference between the B grades until the 3B and 2B pencils. The others looked pretty similar. This is unlike my other professional brands of graphite pencils. The H grades were clearly lighter than the B grades, but between each of them, there was not a lot of difference except between the hardest to hard grades.

The graphite is smooth, however and I noticed that it has very little roughness in it. In one of the H grade pencils, there was a little scratchiness in the graphite and therefore, there might be some impurities, but it didn't hinder my swatches terribly.

The biggest change in the pencils gradients which I noticed were the thinness in the lines I could make. This was due to a noticeable difference between the size of the leads. This is true for professional pencils, but it seemed more obvious here. I'm not sure if they used this to achieve a darker shade easier as well or not. However, this can be useful in the future if I want to draw wide or thin lines with normal pencils and not use a mechanical pencil.

Overall, I give these pencils a 4/5

Graphite Sticks

Now onto the graphite sticks. I have been wanting to try these for a long time for an art challenge. I'm very excited that I get to finally try them.

Most of the labels can be read easily, but a few are faded. However, I'm also wondering how one will know which is which with use. I will keep these in the box and carefully sorted in the container for protection from breakage as well as knowing which is which.

The graphite is smooth and with these, I noticed a much greater difference in the gradients and hard to softness of the graphite. You can either use it to get an edge or use the sandpaper block to make an angle or shape to use them. I have swatched them all in this way.

I also used the leftover powder to make a swatch of at the bottom of the paper. This can be useful to save in a separate container for later.

Overall I think I will have a lot of fun with the sticks and I give them a 4.5/5

Charcoal Pencils

The charcoal pencils come unsharpened. I've seen other companies do this as well and I think it's because charcoal is much softer than graphite and therefore can break easily.

I sharpened them using the metal sharpener and it works quite nicely. However, it doesn't bring them to a point right away unlike my other sharpeners. Although, this isn't a terrible problem as I can use the sandpaper. It just makes for an extra step is all. But, the sharpener did not break the lead and it sharpened them easily. I noticed it created some very nice shavings as well.

I also noticed that these appear to be out of a different kind of wood than the graphite pencils. They appear to be ceder wood and the graphite pencils appear to be possibly pine or something like that.

The leads all appeared to be centered prior to sharpening.

As for the gradients, there isn't a lot of difference. They feel much like my Master's Touch Charcoal pencils as well as the darkness of them. However, it is smooth and this is very nice.

As for the charcoal sticks, the labels are very nice and easy to read. The charcoal is very smooth here as well and the shade gradients are not very obvious here either, but still smooth.

Overall, I give both the charcoal pencils and the sticks each a 4.5/5

Now, onto to the accessories:

Pencil sharpener: All metal and smooth on the inside. The blades are nice and sharp and there are two holes, one for larger pencils, the other for standard. So far, it sharpens them easily and well. However, shavings can get stuck at the bottom and you might have to carefully tap them out or blow them out carefully with air. 4/5

Blending Stick: The paper is very tight and this one is quite small.

Drawing eraser: This eraser is very hard compared to many I have. It is white and comes in a sleeve which is a good trait for drawing erasers.

Kneaded eraser: The kneaded eraser is blue in color and is not easy to get out of the cardboard box. I wish they had packed this one better and possibly in a small container as kneaded erasers can dry out with time, so it's best to keep them in a plastic bag or container when not in use. This one is blue in color which they usually are gray. I am concerned that the dye might come out onto the paper at some point.

Sandpaper block: This is a very small sandpaper block containing only about four sheets of fairly rough paper. I noticed that it really roughs up the drawing sticks. I think in the future I will make my own and get a little finger grit sandpaper. It also does not have a lot of area in which to use it unlike others I have used in the past. 2/5

The Instruction Booklet

The book is formatted in a step by step format, primarily. It begins with an introduction to the art materials contained in this set as well as a bit about how to use them and some useful tips. 

One thing I dislike in the introduction is that they show the different gradients for the compressed sticks as well as the charcoal pencils, but they do not do this for the drawing pencils. Rather, they merely show the tips of the pencils instead. 

There are two drawing tutorials in the booklet. One is a leaf and the other is a nature landscape. These are both to teach shading and what the different gradients of pencils do as well as different strokes you can use with the pencils. I thought these to be useful and I learned a few things as well. 

One thing I wished was contained in one of the tutorials was use of more gradients or all of them, just so you could get more of a variety. 

Another thing was in the Supply Lists of both of the projects, they contained items which are not included in this set, nor would I expect a beginner to have these things. 

The three items being:

• Tracing paper
• Stylus
• Graphite transfer paper

I do have these items, but they are a more recent addition to my art supplies in the last year. I do use them quite a lot and feel the need now to demonstrate techniques with these tools in the future as well as where to find them. 

Rating: 3/5

The Instruction Video

I watched the entire instructional video on YouTube. It is located here:

This video is meant to be used in conjunction with the Instruction Booklet, therefore, I advise this. There are also line drawings, which the artist refers to on this website. 

You can print them off if you wish, or free-hand the sketches. 

The video gives some additional tips as well as video footage of the artist drawing the projects. You can draw along with her or pause it or watch the entire video and use the book as reference. Any of these out other methods can be useful. 

Overall, I found the video to be better than the booklet on explanation and demonstration of techniques. This is something especially needed for a beginner. Intermediate artists can benefit from this video as well. There are additional videos on the Royal & Langnickel channel. The artist has a channel as well with many helpful videos here:

The two projects showcased in the video and instruction book, I will draw them and later, I will go into more detail of these in further posts as I believe it will be better to do so.

In conclusion of this extensive review, I would recommend this set to beginner and intermediate artists. It is a good set to start with, especially if some of the basics are difficult to find. It also allows you to try out different forms of media as well. 

Overall Rating

Pros:

• Economical
• Contains most of the basic supplies for drawing and sketching
• Supplies of good quality
• Contains companion lessons which teach various techniques
• Fun and relatively easy to use
• Great for beginning and intermediate artists or those wishing to try out another medium
• Great for travel as a reusable case is included
• Can be an economical solution for professionals who enjoy sketching things and don't want to risk losing their expensive art supplies

Cons:

• Does not contain any kind of sketchbook or at least some good drawing paper. 
• Some of the supplies listed in the booklet are not typically used by a beginning artist and they may not be aware of them. (Stylus and graphite transfer paper specifically)
• This is not intended for professionals. 
• I am not sure if the supplies are available in a pack or individually for replacement if used up

Overall Rating of entire set:

4/5

Once again,

Thank you for reading! 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

What's next for this blog?

Hello everyone!

I have been thinking about where I would like to take this blog next, however, that will not be possible without you, my dear readers.

I will continue to review the art supplies I have. Please forgive me for being slow at that as I am working on art commissions and other things at the moment.

However, I would like to know if you have anything you wish for me to review or anything else, please leave a comment below.

Also, in the future, as soon as I have the means to do it, I would like to start a YouTube for this blog, so that I may deliver you more content. I want to do some how-to videos, art supply challenges, reviews, and more if I think of any ideas.

However, none of this will be possible without you. I, too, will need financial support as well as reader support in order to do that.

I am considering various options in order to do this, which I will update you all in the future. I do not want to have to resort to having ads on this blog for that purpose.

The first way I have in which you may support me is, I have a gift list on Amazon. If you choose to support me in that way, thank you so much in advance! I care about you all and want to encourage you on your art endeavors as well.

I have listed a number of things. They are both big and small so that hopefully a lot of people can help if they wish. You should be able to purchase directly from the list and Amazon should take care of all the rest as far as items getting to me. I will review any and all of the items, I receive this way and update an ongoing post of thanks as well.

Here is a link to the list.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/3FYMYRHERBHI9

If you cannot at this time do this, please do not feel bad. What you can do if you cannot support me in these ways is you can share this post as well as this blog with friends and anyone you know. A few clicks on social media can go a long way.

Another way, which you can help me is by sharing my posts and blog with others who might be interested in reading.

The third way you can help is by subscribing to my blog; either through email, RSS feed, or the social media links on each page. 

Once again, I thank you for your support either way.