Lemon in a box

The rules of the game are simple, but the fun isn’t!

Hanging out with a 10-month-old sometimes means making up “games” such as…

… to get a couple of minutes to clean up the house. Or have a sip of coffee 😁

Yesterday my little one was entertained for at least 5 minutes by a plastic container and a lemon.

It felt like such a ✨ parent win✨ that I had to dwell on it for a bit (after she went to bed) and draw this imaginary game box design.

It took me about an hour of drawing on my phone in ibisXPaint while watching the Olympics.

Lemon in a box

Baby knows best

Or at least she knows how to eat with a spoon in the most fun way…

The baby recently started accepting that food on a spoon is ok. It took about three months of trying mushy vegetables and porridge for her to realise that she in fact likes food.

Letting her practice eating on her own is obviously the next step. So it’s part of mealtime on especially patient days…

It’s very messy. But apparently this is the way to eat with a spoon.

And don’t try to teach a strong-willed 8.5 month-old something different!

Drawing process

I sketched this comic out on paper and then used that as the basis for a digital drawing on my phone. I’m still using ibisXPaint whenever I sit down to draw (not often enough!) and I still really like the app. I used a pencil type brush for the line work and some “watercolour” for the colouring.

I didn’t realise until I was invested in this comic that I had given myself a massive challenge with drawing hands 😳

It took a lot of alterations and looking at my hands and the baby’s hands before I liked the result of the drawing. Some very good drawing practice that I didn’t anticipate beforehand (hand, heheeeh) πŸ˜…

Baby knows best

Yelling farts

Life with a three-and-a-half-month-old involves many farts and much yelling. Sometimes at the same time.

At least in our house it does!

This morning I made another “nap doodle”:

Better out than in!

Not very creative to draw a baby while sitting next to my sleeping baby… But I had fun drawing her little round face with that teethless mouth.

The noise, noise, noise, noise!

Before having a baby I didn’t expect such a small human to be able to make so many (and so loud) noises!

But I actually thoroughly enjoy the cooing, sputtering, sighing and sneezing as well as the gurgling and farting.

Call me childish, but farts are never not funny to me. And I guess it’s generally cool to hear sounds coming out of a cute person you made.

Even the yelling is ok, especially when we figure out what’s wrong and it doesn’t go on for too long 😬

Yelling farts

Jonna’s January starter pack

Take a page from my mom’s book and make it through January in woolly and cozy style.

Today is my mom’s 71st birthday, and since we can’t see eachother at the moment because of covid, I made this doodle of some of her favourite things.

A few of mom’s favourite things

I called it Jonna’s January starter pack, because they happen to also be things that are very nice to have in this cold, wet month.

Get this style

To be like Jonna, you need at least something woolly, it could be slippers or a scarf.

A massive cup of high-quality tea is also obligatory. As well as talk radio and homemade bread with cheese and jam. And lots of plants!

Not pictured but also key: all-weather walks and communicating with friends and family via videochat/Snapchat/Instagram.

And for extra Jonna points you can add a wide knowledge of plants and Danish literature, or some sewing and baking.

Happy birthday Mom! πŸ₯³

Jonna’s January starter pack

Good parenting 😬

My first comic of 2021, and the first since baby. Woohoo!

After starting to draw again yesterday, I was apparently on a roll and managed to sketch out a comic.

Btw you can check out my previous comics via the tag: comic.

As you can see, me and my BF are just as goofy as ever even though we’re now parents.

Drawing process

I worked a bit differently this time. Normally I draw a sketch and then redraw it either on a new piece of paper or digitally, sometimes several times.

To make my drawing process quicker, however, I picked up my pencil sketch from yesterday and made a couple of adjustments, and then made the clean black line directly on top.

I don’t mind that the final result isn’t perfect and still shows some pencil and smudges.

I actually think I prefer working like this, because my initial sketches are always cooler than the redraws, I think. Don’t know why, but I’ve heard other artists say the same about their work. The first doodles somehow have more life.

Sorry for the blurry bits of text, photographing the pictures was a bit rushed.

Materials

I used a random, cheap black ballpen and my Faber-Castell PITT artist pens in the colours Warm Grey V 274 and Warm Grey III 272. And I use a sketch pad with cheapish, yellowish paper πŸ˜ƒ

Good parenting 😬

Baby nap doodles

I’m back! Ok so I’ve barely produced any doodles since producing a baby from my uterus. But today I decided to try to draw at least a BIT while the baby sleeps.

Nap doodles!

It’s an idea, let’s see if I can make it happen. Here’s a 10 minute doodle of some babies.

I don’t really know how to draw a good baby even though I look at one 90 % of my time 🀷🏼 I guess I’ll have to practice!

Post baby posting

I probably won’t write very much for each drawing. But it’ll be a success if I can draw some doodles, because I know it makes me happy. And I hope they also bring you a laugh or even some creative inspiration.

For a while after the baby came, I didn’t even think of drawing. I guess I didn’t have the energy or mind space.

Now she’s 3 months old and thriving and I really want to get back into drawing. It’s good for me to have down time that’s not screen-related – even though I still love my YouTube and Instagram scroll time.

Precious naps

I’ve realised that the challenge with having a hobby as a parent, or just getting anything done, really, is that nap time is so short and precious.

During baby’s naps I can eat or go to the bathroom. TBH I often take a nap myself. Or try to read the news, which is sad but obviously as important as ever. But really hard when your brain is occupied with poop, enough burps, milk, “is she cold/warm/bored/tired??!” and many baby smiles πŸ₯°

Fun fact πŸ‘–πŸ‘–πŸ‘–

Today I put on jeans for the first time since before Christmas. I dont know what it is, but wearing them always makes me feel somewhat accomplished, even before really doing anything.

Maybe they were part of the reason I got a doodle made πŸ˜… I only have one pair that fits my postpartum body, though, so I’ll probably stick to sweats most days still.

Thanks for reading all the way through! I definitely haven’t gotten less rambly now that I’m a mom, lol! But if you’re following this blog, you probably don’t mind the word vomit πŸ˜†

Baby nap doodles

Baby butthead

I made another comic about the baby teasing us from inside the belly πŸ˜€

It’s a quite messy sketch from my sketchbook that I made about 3 weeks ago.

Back then she still moved around a lot, but now I think she’s facing down (towards the exit!) Which is a good thing, because today there’s exactly one month to her due date.

At my last checkup the doctor wasn’t sure if she felt the baby’s head at the top of my belly – or if she “just has a very round butt”!

So she might be playing tricks on us!

I get a lot of wild kicks quite high up, though, but then again – they could be punches πŸ˜€

Last night, we went to a birthday party* and the baby had a dance party in my belly all the way home, so I almost couldn’t concentrate on my driving.

I’m not great at drawing babies, but I guess I’ll soon have a tiny model to look at and maybe improve a bit on the anatomy πŸ˜ƒ

*Seeing people is “allowed”, because Covid seems to be under control in Denmark at the moment – but we all kept our social distance anyway. We’re not trying to be reckless! Just thought I needed to clarify. We’re in fact trying to be extra careful from now until baby time.

Baby butthead