What is Threads?

It seems like a lot of people are on Threads. But I really don’t want to join. I don’t want to know what it is. I spend too much time on various sites and I don’t have the time to throw at another one. Plus I heard if you leave Threads they close your Instagram account. Is that true?

Can anyone out there persuade me to join?  Is there an advantage to it? It is apparently a writing based site, it sounds like tou can’t post images to it. But I love art and wouldn’t want to leave it behind. Let me know if I’m wrong.

Blue rose

Digital drawing done about ten years ago. I just came across this and it brings back memories of challenges I used to do on a now closed website called Sketchfu. The site was overwhelmed by art and Young people writing stories. The site owners couldn’t keep up with all the activity and a few of us users were asked to moderate the site. Eventually they stopped working on the site and the moderators were no longer able to contact them. The site was taken down, but many people downloaded their images, like this one, before it closed.

Blue roses

Another Sketchfu. I think that there would be a reference photo and artists at the site would try and copy them. These roses must have been put in dye so that it would be sucked up into their petals. I’ve also seen multicoloured roses and other flowers where the stems are split so different sections get a different colour.

Chocolate orange

Another Sketchfu drawing from the now closed site. This is a picture I drew from memory about ten years ago. I used to love eating these at Christmas. I think it was probably a challenge to draw something sweet. Strange how some things suddenly became fashionable but then lose their appeal again. I don’t think I would buy one now.

House?

Old digital drawing I did of House, the actor Hugh Laurie.

I remember him from his comedy act with Stephen Fry, and also his appearances in Blackadder with Rowan Atkinson (who also plays Mr Bean).

I’ve watched most of the episodes, I’m fascinated by his characters ability to diagnose the most unusual diseases, and his inability to socialise with people.

Drawn at the old Sketchfu website several years ago.

LOTR drawing

Frodo, drawn on a website called sketchfu a few years ago.

I liked it because it had simple tools to draw with, but you could get reasonable results. Unfortunately it was closed down a few years ago. I think the owners were overwhelmed by the amount of chat on it, the art started to become secondary to people writing fan fiction and stories, the site was getting full and they couldn’t afford to extend it. Then they started up a new site called Muzy and Sketchfu seemed to be forgotten. In the end I managed to save a lot of my drawings before the whole thing was closed down. It was very sad, a lot of people lost a lot of art that they had spent a lot of time over.

Introducing an illustrator

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As part of my illustration course I’m meeting fellow artists and more about their lives.

I thought I’d share a lady called Zoe Ainsworth-Grigg’s website so you can see what one of the other students do.

http://www.zoeainsworthgriggbooks.com

She’s a children’s author and illustrator, you can see some of things she’s involved with on her site.

I might share more about my new friends as the course goes on.

Enjoy x

Doodles

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I did these a few months ago. The designs had to include red and black. I was going to send them off to a website but I forgot, got to involved in other things and lost track of time, so by the time I did remember it was too late. Adding more white to both images helped I think because you can see the images more clearly. I’ve always thought two cats would make a good yin yang symbol, and the teapot? Because we live in the heart of the potteries.

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