Monthly Archives: March 2023

Those darn hands! They’re the first to disappear from muscle memory. Well, there’s only one way to bring them back – many, many, MANY hand doodles in my future.

Luckily for me, one of my kiddos swims which leaves me ample time to sit and doodle.

This very same notebook holds all my drawings, sketches, and doodles from 2020 leading into the subsequent lockdown. (The last page used is home to the Corn-teen image you see in a previous post.) Feels pretty good to dust it off and start filling it again. Let’s hope the hands get better at least!

~ Michelle

and off… and on again… and off again… and on, and on, and on…

Fresh pens, fresh paper, but still working through stale strokes. Hey, at least I keep making them – and – this in itself is progress! Excitedly, the feel of pencil on paper is quickly becoming familiar & comfortable again. The trickiest part right now is translating the penciled drawings into an ink cartoon. Deliver something less sketchy and much, much more clean and precise.

Minimization, maximization – it’s a push ‘n’ pull of which lines stay versus which ones go. “UGH” – another misplaced line! Do I start over? Can I blend it in? Should I Photoshop it?

Looking through past cartoons, it took almost 3 years to start finding that groove I liked. Let’s shoot for a quicker turn around this time, yes?!?

Bust out the theme music – it’s time to get back in shape!

In this case, it’s quite literal: circles! It’s weird what muscle memory actually remembers versus what needs to be re-remember-er’ed.
Which pens did I prefer again? How many hair strands do I actually like? Eyeballs feel like a dime a dozen, but did I like clockwise or counter?
Finally moving the pen around again… feels good when it comes down to it.
And great news – there’s always time for Miss Jacyll-Doodles!

Getting back in shape also means focusing on my mental discipline… squirrel!?!?

~ Michelle

The pandemic hit us all differently, and for ArtZsheL – it came to a grinding halt.

Quarantining with 3 young children and a husband who now had to work from our home bedroom, meant the fictional world of Miss Jacylls was put on the back burner. Parenting the REAL Miss Jacylls in all her glory was on full boil!

Life has adjusted, settled, and we’re all a little older, even my muse. It’s finally time to find out where this takes me now!

~ Michelle