play stop repeat,
aka my teachers keep telling me to play more & i think i'm disappointing them

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may 2026

i can't really translate the word "braaf" to english. according to google it can mean good/nice, well-behaved, goody-goody, obedient. my illustration teachers have been calling my work "braafjes" for the entirety of the year, which can mean predictable, typical, boring. i know they don't mean it in a bad way, and i know they genuinely want me to get better at this thing, but it is confusing sometimes. they want me to play more.
i ranted about this in my journal, and then i read some older notes back from when i asked what they meant (only dared to do so after 4 months of college. woopsies). i keep forgetting it! so this page, accompanied by a physical inspiration booklet im making, is a bit of a mnemonic device i guess.

journal entires about this:
may 2026, rant
13 june 2026, jury

forget

  • the idea of: THE illustration
  • the idea of: good and bad illustration
  • the idea of: showing everything i can do
  • the idea of: classical painting and drawing
  • the idea of: drawing for the text

remember

  • what do i want to illustrate?
  • what do i like?
  • composition!
  • what if i do this? what if...
  • deal with reference images differently: look and walk away
  • deal with text differently: read and walk away
  • go outside, make form and shape studies

play...

by restricting

  • time
  • materials
  • color
  • format
  • shape
    by use of format, drawing rulers, stamps, etc

by collecting

i made an inspiration booklet, i want to keep adding prints and notes to it.
i plan to make one per big project next year, like its a big moodboard.

with & by combining materials

    materials i own:
  • oil pastels
  • soft pastels
  • aquarel
  • acrylics
  • ink
  • colored & regular pencils
  • charcoal
  • gouache
  • & access to a printing studio for monotypes, linocut and drypoint etching

nothing is a mistake. there is no win and no fail. there is only make.

may 29 2026. a little reminder from my friend that i literally can't fail or lose anything, as long as i make things. made me think of this quote that ive had in my tubmlr page since i first made it. perhaps i should put it on a poster and put it up on the wall behind my desk.