Art by
Teresa

Methods

Drawing

I don’t use a lot of fancy materials for my art. In fact, I often use a normal, boring ballpoint pen. Sometimes I’ll use one I found on the ground, or one I forgot I was still holding when I left the post office. In any case, I just use whatever is available to me at the time.

If I'm not drawing in my sketchbook then I'm drawing on receipts or envelopes or Styrofoam cups, just whatever is within reach really. In class, I draw in the margins of my schoolwork because I concentrate better when I am doodling. Some people walk around aimlessly while talking on the phone, I tend to draw. The nice thing about drawing is that you don’t need much to get started. Unlike paintballing or yacht collecting, all you really need is a pen and some paper.

Photography

For taking photos, I just use the native camera on my iPhone most of the time. I’ve used all kinds of cameras but I find I get lazy and don't take as many pictures with anything other than my iPhone which I can keep in my pocket. In fact, most of the pictures on this site were taken with iPhone, some with a digital camera, and a very few of them with a DSLR.

I wouldn't really call it a method, but I like to take a lot of pictures and then delete about 95% of them. Then I forget about them for a while until they really start to pile up then I'll make a photobook.

Photobooks are a really nice way to do something with photos. Without them, all my pictures would just end up sitting in my computer forever collecting dust and feeling neglected. So about once a year I try to make a photobook and send them out to family members as proof that I am alive.

I like to use the online service Dreampages. This one is in Japanese but there are a lot of other options out there. Also, pictures look 10 times better and more professional in a photobook even though it is super easy to make.