Happy New Year 2025 to all you dear readers!
I wish you all the best for 2025, and hope that it will be a much better year than 2024.
I hope that this new year will be much kinder and more positive than the last, or as far as I’m concerned: than the previous ONES.
An unfortunate absence and a colourful return
As you may have noticed, I had disappeared from this blog since the article on my capsulitis and the forced cessation of my activity for over a year.
If you don’t know what capsulitis is, I refer you to the relevant article.
The reasons for the lack of activity on this blog
What exactly has happened since this article on the temporary cessation of my activity?
Wasn’t I supposed to return to work gradually, in Autumn 2024, thanks to intensive physiotherapy sessions?
New, time-consuming responsibilities
For the last few months, I’ve been the sole carer for my grandmother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease and to whom I’m the only relative.
This means that I have to look after the upkeep of her home (repairs, problems with the landline, electricity, plumbing, roof, boiler, etc.), her administrative formalities, her social, health and medical care, the organisation of care workers and carers, the ordering of groceries and their delivery to her home, and so on.
Suffice to say that my days are full and my working time is once again, unfortunately, limited.
Obviously, this blog and the social networks have been the first to take a hit.
And yet I had plans for a bunch of different articles!
Failed attempt to publish in June 2024
I had even taken advantage of my frozen shoulder to write a whole article on the subject of Artificial Intelligences and their impact on intellectual property, killing artists’ livelihoods.
As the months went by and the physiotherapy sessions paid off, I even picked up my pencils again (taking lots of breaks) to illustrate it myself.
Unfortunately, it was impossible for me to publish it as I would have liked, as my daily life was so monopolised by family obligations concerning my grandmother.
However, my statements are still relevant today, and given the worsening situation for artists, I’m likely to rework this article and publish it one day.
In the meantime, confident as I was (I was really optimistic!), I had set up a newsletter, in the slightly crazy hope of giving monthly news.
To date, I’ve only sent out two issues of this newsletter, one in May and the other in… December.
They contained a link to the latest blog post, information about new products and updates for my Etsy and RedBubble shops, work in progress…
I was hoping to be able to talk to you about my current readings, music and so on.
Given that I’m slowly but steadily catching up on the work lost over the last two and a half years, I’d like to think that they will be published more frequently, as will the articles on this blog.
So if you’re interested in my work and this type of content, I invite you to subscribe.
And as you may have gathered by now, I won’t be spamming your letterbox, given the duties I have to perform in addition to my professional activity…
One a month will be my maximum, I think!
So, to sum up: after several months of family commitments, administrative tasks and back and forth of all kinds, I’ve finally got back to painting to wish you all the best for the New Year.
And that’s good news!
Back to brushes for a Happy New Year 2025
To mark my return to painting after a long break, I needed a central theme in my imaginary world.
The inspiration for my illustration of Happy New Year 2025
I’ve been obsessed with the theme of a girl flying through the clouds on a rainbow since I was a child, and since I was 14 I’ve painted it in an astonishing number of variations.
The topic
I’ve often wondered about the origin of this iconography, which has haunted me for a very long time.
After talking about it with my mother and other people, I think the roots of this scene are a mixture of childhood memories:
- A famous Beatles song that I particularly like and to which I owe my alias
- The character of Gwendoline from The Bubblies, an old puppet show that also aired on French television when I was a child.
In short: a worn-out theme for a sort of reboot.
Giving shape to the idea
I wanted the design itself to be simple, with a fine, clear, supple line.
The girl and her rainbow were to add a touch of colour, standing out against the cloudy background, which I wanted to be light and airy.
The whole thing was designed to let the words ‘Happy New Year’ be read out from the clouds.
Initially, to match the psychedelic inspiration of this illustration, I thought I’d dress the character in a whimsical, colourful outfit.
But it seemed to me that the design would have lost its legibility and that black was still the best solution to emphasise the rainbow colour and the lettering.
And it’s a well-known fact: black goes with everything! (says the girl often dressed in black)
Support and techniques chosen for this illustration of Happy New Year 2025
To brighten up the start of the new year, I chose to do this illustration in watercolour with a few hints of coloured pencil, a technique I like best alongside Indian ink.
I wanted something colourful and cheerful to start the New Year off right and bring a bit of rainbow luck to 2025.
A kind of drawn Magic Charm / Augur.
The Drawing
A few months ago, when my right arm was still quite stiff, I did a little sketch in ink in my sketchbook.
There were some good lines, but I’d failed to do the face and some of the details.
So I took a photo of this sketch, printed it out on A5 paper, then transferred the composition and main movement in a very schematic and succinct way onto watercolour paper, using my light table.
I then redrew the entire scene using two mechanical pencils to obtain fine, clean lines: a 2H in 0.3 and an HB in 0.5.
Those who know me will know how much I love miniatures, illuminations and details.
That’s why I often prefer technical drawing pencils to wood pencils for my final rendering.
Once I’d finished my drawing, I decided to tackle the rainbow line and the lettering for the words ‘Happy New Year’.
Unlike the drawing of the character, for which I was looking for a precise, clean finish with fine leads, this time I used a wooden pencil.
I drew several instinctive lines using the lightest, broadest and most supple strokes possible, almost parallel to the paper.
The aim was to relax my arm as much as possible to gain in suppleness what I lost in precision, and in this way I was able to create lovely curves and volutes.
Once I’d defined the stems of the rainbow, I erased them lightly with a breadcrumb eraser before tracing each one according to its colour, delicately, without pressing, with Dalbe watercolour pencils.
I then sketched the shapes of the clouds that would contain the New Year’s message, before adding the letters.
For the lettering, I took inspiration from those of the late 1960s and early 1970s, in keeping with the theme of the illustration, inspired in part by the famous Beatles song from 1967.
Finally, as with the rainbow, I erased the lines with pencil and lightly traced them with a blue 7.0 HB pencil.
Drawing and painting materials
- Watercolour Paper
As I hadn’t touched a brush since declaring my capsulitis in November 2024 (only pencils), I preferred not to use my favourite watercolour paper (Arches Hot Pressed 300gsm), or even choose a large format.
I therefore cut a sheet of Saunders Waterford St Cuthberts Mill watercolour paper, Hot Pressed 300gsm in half to obtain an A5 format of 148 x 110 mm.
After transferring the design onto the paper, I soaked it in water and stretched it on a wooden board using gummed kraft tape (which only becomes sticky when it comes in contact with water).
I then left the surface to dry overnight before painting.
- Watercolour
As always, I used extra-fine watercolour for this illustration.
I mainly use Schmincke watercolours, which I like for their pigments, luminosity and poetic granulations.
My palette is enhanced by extra-fine Daniel Smith watercolours and hand-crafted creations such as those by Corvus Colour (Norway) and La Palette de la Merlette (France).
Most of my brushes are small and thin.
My favourite brands are the Raphaël and, even more so, the Da Vinci in Kolinsky bristles, which retain just the right amount of water and pigment to remain precise.
I’ll tell you which ones I used when I explain how I did the actual illustration.
Creating the illustration Happy New Year 2025
To keep things simple and legible, I chose not to go for naturalism at all costs and to work in simple flat areas of watercolour, superimposing layers in places to add light, shade and volume.
Background and rainbow
My first job was the background, using a flat brush (a cheap one, size 8), a very pale blue with very few pigments.
Then I went back to the wet area (i.e. on wet paper) using a round brush with a little more pigment to add the shadows of the clouds.
I used the same technique for the lettering, going over the shadows with a brush loaded with periwinkle pigments.
Once the clouds were dry, I used a very fine brush (Da Vinci Maestro Plotter Brush, 1203K series, extra-long, 4, 1.70) to draw the demarcation lines between the different colours of the rainbow, before painting them one by one with larger brushes (Raphaël Précision with a round tip, 8504 series and Maestro Watercolour Brush, 10 series, 3, 2.05).
The character
I then moved on to the character, first painting the skin a very pale, barely pinkish red, over which I applied a light layer of ochre, again with very little pigment.
I worked in successive layers, letting each one dry so that I could lightly portray shadows and volumes.
Then I moved on to the clothes, which I finished off by hatching with a brush to add substance to the ribbed wool jumper, using a Raphaël Petit-gris series 835 brush, size two, and a Da Vinci Pinceau aquarelle Maestro series 10, size 3.
Finishing touches: coloured pencils and Pigma Micron 0.5
For the finishing touches, depending on what’s needed, I use either gouache highlights or coloured pencils.
In this drawing, I wanted a soft, almost childlike rendering to illustrate the restart of my business and the start of the new year, which brings with it all the possibilities and all our naive hopes.
Caran D’Ache’s Luminances are my favourite of all, because their subtle rendering works perfectly with watercolour.
I use the Portrait 6901 set, which allows me to add a few touches of emphasis without weighing down the final result.
To enhance the visibility of the face, I used Pigma Micron 003 to lightly detail the eyelashes and pupils.
Obviously it’s far from my best illustration, but if you only knew how happy I was to be able to sit down at my drawing table!
Colourful projects for a Happy New Year 2025
I sincerely hope to be able to get back into the swing of things, produce new designs regularly for my shops and canvass new customers with an updated portfolio.
My hopes for a happy New Year 2025
As I said in my December newsletter, I don’t have any plans or resolutions for this year: I just want to catch up on the backlog I’ve accumulated over the last two and a half years of various problems and a frozen right shoulder.
Cultivating and sharing my expertise
Works in progress
I’d like to finish all the drawings I’ve started over the last three years, and rediscover the fluidity of my line and my ease with brushes.
If you only knew how many illustrations are waiting to be shaped, transferred to watercolour paper, or coloured!
I also hope to be able to bring to fruition a children’s book project that I’ve been working on with the author Virginie Gobert-Martin for several years now.
Our presentation deck for publishers is being put together, and I hope we’ll be able to approach them soon.
Streaming and YouTube Video
As well as this blog, I’m not giving up hope of returning to YouTube and Twitch to promote my work.
Alas, video editing is a long process, especially when you get out of practice.
Just yesterday I mistakenly deleted the entire audio track from a Studio Vlog in progress…
I had to redo the whole thing, which took me a good two hours.
Meanwhile, I’m still planning to stream drawing and painting sessions on Twitch, and I’ve created some new screens for that purpose.
However, I’m a bit frustrated by the ban on streaming while listening to music.
It’s normal to respect copyright, but for me, who draws 99% of my inspiration from music, it’s extremely difficult to work ‘ empty’.
I’d like to see a system where artists are paid according to the tracks played during streaming sessions on Twitch or in Youtube videos (I said directly to the artists, not to Univer-sale).
Honestly, I’d be prepared to pay for it, or to have part of the revenue from my videos taken from me if I ever got monetised!
Selling my work on my shops
My shops, which suffered from my lack of availability, are gradually rising from the ashes, partly thanks to you, as more and more of you are placing orders, whether on Etsy, RedBubble or Society6.
I’d like to thank you for that, because it really does cheer me up and encourages me not to give up!
On the downside, you should know that I’ve been forced to raise my prices on Etsy because of the increase in shipping costs, particularly abroad.
I’m sorry about that, but without it, I’d have nothing left over from my sales once I’d deducted the costs of production, the platform, shipping costs, money transfer costs, my social security contributions, etc.
Some might say that I should just restrict my shipments to France…
But absolutely not, that’s not my plan.
I want to keep offering my work internationally, despite the time and expense involved (12 days for the USA, a week for Spain…).
Thanks again to all my customers all over the world: USA, Australia, Spain, Switzerland, Monaco…
I really appreciate your patience and your enthusiastic feedback!
I’m particularly delighted to find out where my illustrations are going and to see how my E-rank sales map is evolving.
It’s all the more pleasing because in recent years I haven’t been very present on the networks to post anything new or promote my work.
I guess my keywords and/or my style are working.
And frankly, although I’m working hard on my SEO, I’d like to think that my work is finally finding its audience.
All the same, please let me dream a little…
What to do with Social Networks in 2025?
These days, I’m gradually getting back into social networking, but I’m seriously wondering about the M*ta platforms.
M*ta-no, Méthanie !
What should I do?
Keep slaloming between the bots that censor the slightest bare shoulder, resist the fascists and hoaxes?
Continue to have my work stolen unless I protect it beforehand with Glaze on my computer, then post it on Fb and IG?
I’m telling you right now, it’s terribly time-consuming to protect each and every one of your photos and illustrations before posting them on the platforms.
To leave? But where to?
Casa seems to be dead; I’d also tried another application that nobody even talks about any more, Artfol…
I’d already deleted my account on X ages ago to go to Thread… which is also owned by M*ta.
What are the alternatives?
I have to admit that I really like the principle of Instagram Stories, which have enabled me to remain visible on the networks during this long period of professional inactivity.
Where else can you share your work without having it stolen by image-generating AIs?
Is there anywhere where the algorithm doesn’t make you invisible in the midst of fake accounts and unwanted adverts?
Sometimes I think about relaunching my old Tumblr, but is there still an audience on it?
In the end, there’s still my Blog and my Newsletter that I’m trying to re-launch, but that only reaches people who already know me.
How can I introduce new people to my work?
Suffice to say that this is not an easy thing to ponder, especially for someone like me who is invisible, who is starting from scratch for the umpteenth time in my career and who has no community.
These questions are clouding my plans and making me fear that 2025 will be far too timid on the professional front.
Hopefully, things are looking up for you and you’ve found solutions that are sustainable and in line with your principles.
By the way, if you’re having a brainstorm about moving on, don’t hesitate to share your thoughts in the comments, I’m curious about your opinions and will be delighted to read what you have to say.
Until then, take good care of yourself and see you soon for more illustrated dreams!