Mouna's Studio

Yay! Thanks for following, everyone! This makes me smile! uwu

Also the fact that 40 is an even number divisible by 2 and 4 and is half of 80 which is 10 times my lucky number

EVEN NUMBERS ARE COOL.

I find that when I’m drawing, especially when doing traditional art, I draw best and most comfortably in certain conditions. My need for certain levels of consistency have to do with my Asperger’s Syndrome and Attention Deficit Disorder. I am in no way saying that if you have either of these, that the list below will /must apply to you— these are things that just happen to apply to me. And if you don’t have Asperger’s or ADD (or just have one of the two), I hope that you still learn something from this. This is about being more productive, after all!

My feet always need to be touching the ground.
I can’t draw in high chairs! When I do, my legs feel far too uncomfortable, and I end up having to wrap my legs and feet around the legs of the chair. I have to adjust myself until my legs feel comfortable, and when they do, it usually doesn’t last for long, so constantly adjusting my position makes for more distraction and less drawing. So, I always draw on a chair or stool that I can sit comfortably in, with both my feet on the ground.

My hands can’t be too dry, or too oily.
With my skin being quite dark, it’s very easy to tell when my hands are dry— it looks ashy and white between my fingers. Maybe this is just me, but when my hands are too dry, it’s a little uncomfortable to draw. To fix this, I would put my usual cocoa butter on my hands. For the longest time, I used the same brand of cocoa butter (Queen Helene’s), and I didn’t really know any other kinds, but that brand is quite oily, and messing up the paper I’m drawing on is something I certainly don’t want happening. After using it, I often patted my hands with a towel so my hands wouldn’t feel so oily. For my hands, I use CareOne Cocoa Butter. It absorbs into the skin faster, and it doesn’t feel oily after using it.

Music I Recognize
Most of us like to listen to music while drawing, but when I’m doing a specific project, have a deadline, or I have a specific idea in mind: I have to listen to music that I already recognize. This means no Pandora, although I adore using it. If music that I don’t know starts playing, I might want to skip it if I don’t like it. Now imagine that happening song after song. And if it’s new music that I do end up liking, more often than not, I will get inspired by this song and I’ll want to draw something based on the song… leading me astray from what I was working on. So, when I’m working on a set project, I make a long playlist on my MP3 player, and have it play as I draw. I also prefer my music to be ambient when I’m drawing at home.

Wearing A Bandanna
This is kinda recent. For years, I always scratched my head, and would do this for long periods of time, causing me to tune out almost everything else happening around me. These days, I could be sitting at my desk, drawing a picture, then I put my hand near my head… and 15 minutes of headscratching would go by, 15 minutes that could have been used for drawing! So, to lessen this, I now wear a bandanna.