Art & Inspiration letters from NIGHTEͶ (Nathan Guilhot)
This is not just a newsletter — it's my personal magazine documenting my creative journey.
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Good morning Reader! ❄️
I hope your week is going strong so far! A bit all over the place on my end, so it’s nice to have a break and talk to you about how my art has been going recently :)
Today I’ll cover some very nice progress on my new illustration, and some reflection and things I learned along the way!
Let’s dive in!
ribbit
Snowy World and Tiny Lines
Last week I shared with you the slow progress I made on my next big illustration. I was barely starting the final sketch, and decided to turn the scene into a winter landscape — something I had never drawn before! Go read last week’s issue if you want to learn more about it.
Now, I’m happy to say that I not only completed the sketch, but I’ve also completed the ink! :)
This is just the sketch! More on that later
There were a few things I wasn’t expecting for this illustration, but one of them was about to create a lot more work than I thought. While looking at the illustration, my girlfriend casually pointed out: “Wait, trees don’t have leaves in winter!”
See, trees are often very useful to obscure the view and hide complex objects behind them. So they not only add a lot of life to a scene, but they are also pretty handy. But now I had a whole extra layer of details that I needed to render!
This was a big leap, but I’m genuinely happy with the result of this change. And I’m glad I realized the mistake before it was finished!
Now this is the ink!
This actually made me look more closely at the trees in my neighborhood, and sure enough, a few trees have leaves during this season!
But this made me realize and appreciate that urban designers often mix and alternate leafy trees with pines that stay evergreen all winter. This, I speculate, is done intentionally to avoid any place feeling barren during the winter.
This is definitely something I enjoyed reproducing in my fictional park :)
Why I Keep Drawing More And More Details
Left: Sketch, Right: Ink! The fact that I need to tell you which one is which says a lot haha
You’ll notice that between the final sketch and the ink, there are barely any differences despite the details I talked about. At a glance, I’m sure you’d have trouble telling the difference!
On the surface it felt like doing the same tedious task twice, but I’m actually very happy I went the extra mile.
My biggest goal for each of my illustrations is to be enjoyable for a very long time, to reward people who like to stop and appreciate the minute details in every corner... Encouraging you to pause for a moment and enjoy what is in front of you :)
This is a very important statement for me, and even more important now that many more people can hang my art on their walls!
So this is why I’ll continue creating those detailed worlds for you to enjoy 🌿
And you know what else I learned from this illustration? Most don’t, but some types of trees actually keep their leaves during the winter. They serve as refuge for birds, protecting them against the winter cold and wind among their clumps of leaves.
And this adds a whole new layer of poetry to this scene, don’t you think? :)
I’m excited to share more of my progress next week! My goal is to have the colors fully ready then :D
Time is (fake) money
Here’s something fun I tried this week!
You see, I often experiment with tracking my time, whether it’s for my day job or for my creative work. Most of them didn’t stick very long, but using a timer is always a great help to stay focused, so I use them on occasion.
I was trying out a new app to do so (Toggl Track if you’re curious), which is clearly more tailored to freelancers and micromanaged employees — which I’m glad not to be a part of either of those. But one option got me curious: What if I added a hourly rate to drawing? What would it look like?
I quickly set up my different projects so that drawing would have roughly the same hourly rate as my day job (around 16 euros before taxes and all).
The goal is really nothing serious, and not at all linked to real money. Rather, it was a way to have the fun feeling of seeing numbers go up, akin to a video game for example.
It’s way more concrete to see that you’ve gained $2 than adding 10 minutes to a timer 😄
So, all of that to say, I can share with you how my weekend has been going:
In total, I worked on this illustration for 5 hours, 21 minutes, and 28 seconds during the weekend (give or take haha). So the equivalent of $88!
Sure, it could’ve been a bit higher, but considering that most of it was very intense inking, I’m pretty satisfied with it :) And I don’t think I would have been that focused without this fun gamification!
I just wanted to share this little experiment; no idea yet if it’s going to become a longer habit!
Last call! The shop is closing soon!
Sunday! The shop is closing this Sunday!
In case you missed it last week: because I will be away for the holiday, my newly opened print shop will close its doors on the 14th of December until the end of the year!
It’s the last time I can ship orders fast enough before Christmas, so this is the last time I’m doing this callout in case you were thinking of offering my art to someone :)
Now is the time to place your last-minute orders! Just a heads up!
And I take this opportunity to thank you once again for your support :D
Really, it was so scary for me to open this shop and start taking orders from (mostly) strangers on the internet, but you’ve all been wonderful!
Over these past weeks, 19 prints have been sold, packed, and shipped in total! This is far beyond my expectations, but now my hope is that everyone who receives them will enjoy them on their walls!
Thank you all once again ❤️
And this is it for this week! I hope you enjoyed the art, and that you will enjoy it even more next week when I’ll have more colors to show you :)
In the meantime, please have a great rest of your week, enjoy the winter and holiday vibes!
Take care, - Nighten
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