I've been obsessed with drawing ever since I was a little girl. I mainly loved drawing animals and my favourite pastimes. I rode horses from a young age, so some of my favourite things to draw were horses and ponies. I also loved drawing wildlife. As a homeschooler from Grade 4 to Grade 8, my parents took my brother and me on awesome adventures mid-term while all the other kids were stuck at school. Living in beautiful South Africa meant many off-roading trips around SA and surrounding countries like Botswana and Namibia, and on these trips I loved drawing the wonderful animals we saw... cheeky vervet monkeys and zebras were two of my choice subjects.
As I reached my teens, I developed a great love for design. This meant my drawing started to change quite significantly. I originally thought I wanted to be an Interior Designer when I was "big", and so I would spend hours and hours designing floor plans and 3-D perspectives of homes. I was quite enamoured with bright "feature" walls, and I would always include them somewhere in my design.
In my late teens, my design flair evolved into a love of Fashion Design, which is what I eventually studied for three years after Matric. I really enjoyed designing garments and drawing interesting outfit combinations on figures. To be honest, I didn't think I'd eventually be designing socks, but this is where I am now and I love it!
I think the thing I love most about designing socks is choosing the colour combinations and planning patterns that translate well onto this seemingly small and strange little walking canvas. When studying Fashion Design, I always gravitated towards design that was wearable and accessible for as many people as possible, which is why I love socks, I think. Everybody wears socks at some point. Whether they're worn frequently or not so often, socks are a staple in everybody's wardrobe... so why not make them fun?!
When I'm designing socks for FEAT. sock co., I really love absorbing inspiration from lived experiences and adventures I've been on. The only thing that saddens me about the process is that it's all digital, and I really miss drawing by hand. I still LOVE hand drawn illustration... I love doing it, I love seeing it, I love buying it! It's the first thing that grabs me in a shop or on a website... I just can't walk or scroll past something hand drawn without taking a good look. I'm like a moth to a flame.
So, in an effort to keep drawing and practicing one of my first loves, I decided at the end of July that I wanted to try and draw every day for a month (possibly longer). Strangely enough, I made this decision before happening upon this exciting post by a British Illustrator I really admire, Savannah Storm. When I saw Savannah posting about #drawgust, I thought to myself: "This is perfect! Just what I've been looking for." There's a new drawing prompt everyday which meant I hopefully wouldn't feel tempted to say, "Ah, I don't know what to draw today. Let me skip it today."... because that's generally how the slow decline of a goal that requires discipline begins.
I decided that I had to stay committed to the challenge, and the results have been so amazing for me. My level of inspiration and my ability to more easily pick up a pencil and simply draw at a moment's notice, have increased dramatically. I believe this is a result of committing to the act of drawing every day, regardless of the outcome. There were many days when I thought to myself, "I hate this. I'm terrible at this! Why do I even bother?" But the result was never the point... the point was creating every day, and letting the process grow and refine my ability.
I saw this quote online yesterday, and it is so very true of what I've been learning during this #drawgust challenge...
There has been an exciting new project that has evolved out of this challenge that I will share about soon. But for now, I encourage you to remember what you love, or really acknowledge a skill that you want to flourish in, and commit to it through a daily/weekly/monthly challenge. You owe it to yourself. Maybe it's drawing everyday, but it could be writing or singing or surfing. When we let one of our deep-seated passions go ignored/unrecognised, we really let ourselves down. I guarantee you that it will be difficult at first, and your insecurity in this area might rear its ugly head. But I can also guarantee you that your skill will grow and become more and more refined as you submit to the process.
Below are some of my #drawgust pictures. I hope you enjoy. But if you don't, I don't really mind, because the act is more important than the result (or what anyone really thinks of the result).
