55 Comments

I love this story and art so much! I'm currently on a plane so I can't watch the process video just yet, but I'm coming back to it later. 📌

50 pounds of art, so legit.

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author

Thank you! I love to think of this post floating high above in a plane! ✈️❤️

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Love this! I’m new to a daily art habit after years of creativity in other fields - writing, cooking - and it’s amazing how quickly I forgot that daily practice is everything!

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author

Thank you, and how exciting to make a shift in your creative practice! (Also, sorry, I thought I replied to this, but maybe I didn't?)

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Jan 25Liked by Kelcey Ervick

It's so easy to forget but so true! Whenever I'm feeling off, it's often because I haven't been in the studio for a while. It always helps!

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author

Right, sometimes I don't want to make something because I'm feeling off, but more often I'm feeling off because I haven't made anything!

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Jan 22Liked by Kelcey Ervick

Thanks for the inspiration!! That's awesome! I have a similar goal for 2024, hopefully it will work out.

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author

Best of luck! One day at a time!

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Jan 22Liked by Kelcey Ervick

Art everyday? Wow! I have an almost daily art practice, but I rarely manage to paint each & every day. I have a few weekly streaks, but I may just try for 39 consecutive days this year & see how it goes!

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author

Yes, I was pretty hardcore about it! I've had to scale back but I've been going strong again the last four months. I've been taking it one month at a time and allowing just 10 minutes to be enough. Good luck!

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Thanks for sharing - so inspirational (I’m trying to make more art this year)!Did you take photos and then upload here? Or are the pics here digital? It looks so professional!

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author

Thanks! I created the post on Procreate on my iPad (that what the process video is from too). The Art & Fear book was made with gouache in an art journal, and the portrait of my daughter and ink drawing of the stack of journals at the end were photos of analog art imported into Procreate. Good luck with your art this year!

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thanks so much, Kelcey!

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I love everything about this post! It is hopeful and shows how to begin. Thank you.

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author

Yay! Glad to hear it! Good luck!

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That process video was very pleasing to watch 🙂, and I love the idea of 50 pounds of art. I, too, was bitten by the bug to produce (in my case) a graphic memoir. I'm an artist but I'd never done anything like that, and it was an exhilarating voyage of discovery. It ended up being an exhibit (here where I live in Victoria, BC, Canada) about my mother's Lewy Body dementia that incorporated graphic memoir (some large scale), paintings, and an installation. The actual graphic memoir in book form is yet to come.

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Oh wow, how amazing that you created it and got to exhibit it! My love of graphic storytelling comes in part from an appreciation of artists who incorporate words into their paintings: Basquiat, Twombly, Klee...I also love Jacob Lawrence's Great Migration Series. Good luck with the book version of your project!

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Jan 21Liked by Kelcey Ervick

I was just barely into graphic storytelling until I read your _The Bitter Life of Bozena Nemcova_ and then _ The Keeper: Soccer, Me, and the Law that Changed Women's Lives_ -- amazing and beautiful books. Your practice, disciple, and creative talent are a gift to the rest of us. Thanks. Jay Bremyer

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author

Aww thank you, Jay! I appreciate your kind words. xo

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Jan 21Liked by Kelcey Ervick

Amazing! I love your illustrated stories and the ideas you share. And, WOW, over 50 pounds of art!

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author

Thanks, Elizabeth! It was...a LOT! :)

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Jan 27Liked by Kelcey Ervick

Wonderful and fun post with fantastic evidence of dedication and serious of purpose even if the style is more lighthearted than the purpose but I prefer more lighthearted anyway.

So like many of you I try to "practice art" but it's hard to everyday or even close to it. But I've been doing lots of that "practice"- thousands of artworks anyway since 2011, including digital collage, portraits, kaleidoscope pics, mandalas, cartoons, graphic memoirs, jigsaw puzzles, large scale wall-sized photos for, hopefully, Art Basel.

Would love to illustrate here what I am talking about but apparently one can't in comments. Wonder why that is, Substack?

Many of us are readers, write, are artists and are even musicians and involved in movie-making. (And in my case, I am also a lawyer, too, and our legal writing is published and appears in libraries and on the web around the world to be read by anyone interested and these days, often for free with scandalously, I think, the copyrights belonging to legal publishers or the various states.)

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author

I prefer a more lighthearted approach to serious dedication too!

And lord knows I've struggled with Substack's interface. I don't understand a lot of their decisions about what can and can't be done, but I figure they're figuring it out as they go too.

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Jan 23Liked by Kelcey Ervick

dear kelcey,

this is beautiful!

someone once told me the "50 pounds of art" story but with no source or citation so i'm happy to see it here in full glory PLUS your actual practical manifestation of it!

congrats and hooray and thank you!

love,

myq

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author

Thank you so much, Myq! It's easy for a story like that one to get lost in a telephone-like game, so I'm glad to connect you to the source. The whole book has good wisdom like that!

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Jan 23Liked by Kelcey Ervick

I love this idea and the visual way you told your story. How did you do this? I’d love to try to visually storytell as well and appreciate the inspiration. Go 50 lbs!!!!

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author

Thank you! I created each section of the story on Procreate app on my iPad using an Apple pencil. (Procreate only costs $9.99!!!!) The video at the end shows the process for the second panel.

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Jan 22Liked by Kelcey Ervick

I love this. Very funny that you ended up with 50+ pounds.

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author

Right?! It's like I manifested it! ✨🪄

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Love the video! Which program do you use?

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author

Thanks! I use Procreate and there's an option to record. I've never really used it but thought it might be fun.

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Love this idea! I was beginning to get a bit bogged down with my 50,000 pounds of art. ;) I shall keep on going. Thanks for the inspiration.😊❤️

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author

Whoa, 50,000 pounds?! The good news is that even a little a day adds up! ❤️

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I love everything you do and it is a pleasure to read your newsletter. Can you share more videos about the process? Is procreate the program you use?

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author

Thank you so much! It's good to get feedback on the video too. Yes I use Procreate (though I import some items done on paper) and finally turned on the Video Record option.

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