Category: Art and Illustration

Sketching Shenandoah: What I Packed, What I Used, and What I Brought Home

Watercolor sketchbook spread showing a wildflower meadow and layered mountains at Rag Mountain Overlook beside a large green tree at Shenandoah National Park.

I packed enough art supplies for several imaginary versions of myself, then discovered that the artist who actually showed up in Shenandoah mostly needed a sketchbook, a pen, and five spare minutes. Between mountain drives, campground deer, wildfire haze, and one unruly palette, the trip taught me what travel sketching is really for.

When Watercolor Textures Turn Into Tiny Storytellers

A sketchbook page filled with nine rectangular watercolor texture exercises beside the book Watercolor Textures for Artists and a watercolor palette.

A simple watercolor texture exercise unexpectedly turned into a series of tiny storyteller artworks. These pocket-sized ACEOs grew from painted experiments, old ideas, and the hope that someone might take home a small piece of Jonesborough’s storytelling spirit.

December in the laundry room

A black-and-white illustration of a woman standing in a laundry room, holding up a zine with a thoughtful expression as if examining a shirt. A laundry basket in front of her is filled with zines, short stories, and creative papers. Behind her, more artwork and small illustrations hang from a clothesline above a washing machine and dryer.

I’m in the creative laundry room this month, holding up projects like shirts and asking which ones still fit.

Inside my winter sticker sketchbook

Collage of four hand-drawn winter animal illustrations—bear with a bass, rabbit with a banjo, fox with a fiddle, and a Blue Ridge lettering design—surrounded by colored pencils and sketchbook tools.

A quiet return to drawing this week, working on winter animals and bluegrass charm in a behind-the-scenes peek at how this year’s sticker collection begins.

Notes from the table: what I learned at Johnson City Zine Fest 9

Studio Second Street zine display at Johnson City Zine Fest, set against white brick wall.

I’d been looking forward to the Johnson City Zine Fest since June, when I first heard about it and sent in my application in July. It became the bright pin on my calendar all through summer—a goal that kept me printing, folding, trimming, and imagining how my stories might look out in the world instead […]

You Might Be a Hornblower If…

Young man with curly hair and mustache stands in front of a stone tavern, wearing a brown coat, wide-brimmed hat, and red scarf—evoking a historical fantasy rogue.

I don’t usually make fan zines—but then Mat Cauthon raised the Horn. This one’s for the reluctant heroes, the gamblers, and the ones who turn back.

How to make a zine habit: four in and still rolling

Open sketchbook showing grayscale illustrations of a cat in various relaxed or disinterested poses, including watching a circus train and ignoring dramatic news.

Online zine-making seems to have gotten easier after only four issues, maybe because I’ve streamlined the process (or at least stopped reinventing the wheel each time). The idea and draft It starts with the idea. Some weeks it comes fast, other times I spend a couple of hours thinking it through. The easiest ideas show […]

June Studio Dispatch

A smiling artist in a light shirt and blue tee paints a glowing firefly jar illustration in a sketchbook, seated at a desk with a paintbrush and a ceramic mug nearby.

A June update from the Realmscapes studio: a new zine, a new Realm, and a glimpse behind the scenes as sticker kits and tiny books come to life.

The Birth of a Zine Habit

Collage-style image featuring illustrated pages from a black-and-white zine titled Why Did We Let It Get Like This?, with large teal text overlay reading “My First Zine!”

A behind-the-scenes look at creating my first illustrated Substack zine — why I made it, what I learned, and why this might be the start of a new creative habit.

Back from Break: Notes from the Sun, Salt, and Story Fog

Sketchbook held open in Plaza de la Virgen de los Reyes, Seville, showing fountain sketch with cathedral in background

After a long-awaited creative break, I’m rethinking how I use Substack and WordPress—and reflecting on how artists can adapt in the age of AI. Less polish, more play. More zines. More voice. A travel sketch and a quiet shift in direction.

New Masters Academy Drawing Foundations 1: weeks 2–5 progress notes

A STrathmore drawing book, black sketchbook, pencil, kneaded eraser, red acetate and masking tape

In my last post Why I Joined New Masters Academy and chose the Illustration Track, I covered Week 1 of Drawing Foundations 1. This update picks up from there, with progress through Weeks 2–5. While most of the material so far is review, I’ve found that each week holds at least one useful reminder or […]

Can AI replace creators? Not anytime soon.

An elven wizard holding a quill

AI has sparked fears of replacing human creativity, but true artistry stems from personal experience and metaphor—something AI can’t genuinely grasp. While AI is a useful tool for brainstorming and simplifying tasks, it lacks the depth of human perspective, ensuring that writers and artists remain irreplaceable in the creative process.

Navigating the future of illustration (and my own)

I fell off the illustration bandwagon this week while working on a novel. But I did manage some drawing practice, learning “Weight Drawing,” and had a realization while reading Heller’s The Education of an Illustrator about how AI is just another evolution in the industry, much like photography and digital tools were.

How to layer gouache: my third week with SketchAwesome

This week, I faced my challenges with gouache in the SketchAwesome program, navigating tricky color mixes and layering techniques. Though it’s not my favorite medium, these exercises offered a welcome break from structured practice and helped me find joy in creative exploration, complementing my ongoing Illustration Quest.

Exciting beginnings: my self-taught art journey, week 1

My first week on a self-taught art journey has been filled with unexpected challenges, inspiring discoveries, and a renewed sense of creative freedom. Join me as I explore foundational skills, face new trials, and uncover what it means to truly learn the art of illustration.

The start of a new journey

When I retired, I thought I’d finally dive into art, but despite tutorials and new supplies, I felt stuck. I realized I needed guidance, not just inspiration. So, I’m creating a self-taught course to grow my skills. Follow along as I document my journey and share insights for fellow creatives!

How to make a good art composition: start the right way!

Before making thumbnails, even before making decisions about what you want to include in your drawing, the most important thing a beginner can do to improve a composition is to ensure that the drawing will be made in the same proportion as the reference or view that’s being drawn. A viewcatcher makes this easy.

Taking on Inktober

I started the month of October with the goal of completing the Inktober challenge this year. I’m now reporting that I didn’t make it past the first week. By the time I got to Day 5 it was already feeling pointless. On Day 6 I didn’t try very hard, and on Day 7 I was […]

February through May Compilation

2026 Post Script: I wrote several blog posts in 2021 that were lost when I transitioned the blog from annettezimmerman.com to realmscapes.world. I’ve been able to find the images that were in the posts, but not the actual posts themselves. For my own archive, I’m posting the images here with what I can remember about […]

Ink It!

Why practice? This week’s post is going to be short. Instead of going through a tutorial explaining how I used this week’s limited supply list, I’d like to start a conversation about the P-word.You know what I’m talking about. PRACTICE My inner voice says: I don’t have time to practice. Every artwork I make has […]

Lost and Found: An Art Adventure

Step 1: Materials Selection (#materials)Step 2: Discovering Inspiration and Choosing a Guide (#guide)Stop 3: Preparing for the Journey (#prepare)Step 4: The Sketch (#sketch)Step 5: The Background and Major Landscape Features (#background)Step 6: Adding Details (#details)Step 7: Learning From Your Practice (#learn) Are you ready for a 6 Supplies Challenge? Today’s post is the first of […]

How to Make a Randomized Materials List

Hi there! Today I’m going to show you how I make my materials selections for the art adventures. If you want to try an adventure of your own, you might want to make your own selection generator. It’s nothing more than a series of three lists and a way to randomly choose items on them. […]

Make It Moody

Do you like limited supply challenges? Me too! They help me practice while making me stretch as an artist. This week I’m excited to announce the first of a new series of posts called Art Adventures. Each week I’ll post a new adventure called a Mission. Each Mission’s goal will be to apply a specified […]

Art Adventures!

Do you like limited supply challenges? Me too! They help me practice while making me stretch as an artist. This week I’m excited to announce the first of a new series of posts called Art Adventures. Each week I’ll post a new adventure called a Mission. Each Mission’s goal will be to apply a specified […]

How to combine watercolor and colored pencil

Hello there! Happy November to you. Today I have a quick post about a portrait study that I just finished. A couple of weeks ago I discovered a wonderful artist on YouTube – Kendyll Hillegas. She’s an illustrator who specializes in food. I checked out her Patreon channel, too, and once I added her to […]

How to Make an Artist Trading Card

Last week I posted a brief essay on the history of the artist trading card. You can re-read that here if you like. Briefly, Artist Trading Cards (ATC) started back in the 1990s when an artist from Zurich decided to catalogue his art on trading cards that could be swapped with other artists. It’s become […]

What Are Artist Trading Cards?

If you’ve seen my Instagram lately, you know that I’ve been focused on making “little” art: 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inch cards created with watercolor, ink or colored pencil. These are Artist Trading Cards (ATC), a fun hobby I stumbled across in 2018 and have recently returned to. Today I thought it would be […]

My Frustrating Attempts to Learn Watercolor

How was your week? I hope it was a good one. This week I’ve been learning how to improve my watercolor painting. It isn’t going very well. Do you ever feel like sometimes there is nothing that goes right in your artwork? That’s how this whole experience is going. When I draw, it’s easy to […]

Did You Know It’s World Watercolor Month?

Hello there! Are you enjoying your summer? We’re in our mid-summer weather pattern now, full blast, with beautiful sunrises and sunsets and thick humid heat in between. But our morning walks have been lovely – there’s just enough of a gentle breeze in spots near the creek that make me wish I could stay out […]

Hello everyone! Today I want to share a few things with you. The weather is just gorgeous here in Tennessee, too beautiful to pass up an outdoor sketching trip, so I thought I’d share some pics from that. I’ve been working on improving my watercolor skills and have a whole list of free online courses […]

Camp Nanowrimo and the 100 Day Project

Today I’m going to steer away from the serious art thinking that I’ve been discussing in the last few posts and switch to some fun things. We all can use some fun in our lives, right? April is almost here, which means Camp NaNoWriMo will be starting soon, as well as the 100 Day Project, […]

How Storytelling Can Help Your Art

To me, storytelling and art go hand in hand, but I didn’t always think this way. In fact, I never heard of storytelling prior to three years ago when I moved here. It was in 2017. We’d been searching for a new home that would suit us for life in retirement and found a beautiful […]

How to Find Your Lost “Why” in Art

Are you struggling with your art? It’s fun to draw and paint, no doubt about it. It’s nice when your artwork can also earn a few dollars. But what do you do when your creative work is no longer satisfying? Worse yet, what can you do when your creative time becomes a source of frustration? […]

How the Bauhaus Influenced Modern Perceptions of Art

Hello!In last week’s post I mentioned that my little art studio has been displaced during our basement finishing project, so I’m stuck in the living room unable to really do anything more than some light drawing and studying. We’re still “enduring” our project; the three weeks completion time now looks more like seven, and I’m […]

A Visit to Knoxville

I visited the Knoxville Museum of Art for the first time last weekend. My husband and I had tickets for an evening performance of the Knoxville Symphony and decided to extend the trip so that we could see some of the city sights. The art museum was one of the places that I’ve had on […]

Review of the Derwent Superpoint Sharpener

Happy Holidays! I hope you are having a lovely holiday season. Mine has been absolutely wonderful. My family is happy and healthy, and lately I am full of gratitude for this time with them. My son presented me with a couple of great gifts yesterday, and I am so impressed with their quality that I […]

Choosing a New Studio Name

What’s in a name? A lot, actually. Or not enough. Or maybe, if you’re lucky, nothing much. That’s when you know you’ve got a good imagination. I can hear you asking: Anni, what the heck are you talking about? I’m talking about pen names. Store names. Art studio names. Blog names. If you’ve ever had […]

Texture Studies

This month I’m focusing on developing my graphite technique. I began with a drawing of a rose but am not happy with the blending result. To gain additional practice with blending, I decided not to use any tissue or tortillon aids and create the drawing using only pencils and erasers. I used the same technique […]

This Week on the Drawing Board

It’s Friday! At one time in my life, Friday was the highlight of the week. I loved Friday because I knew that the night would be spent either at the local bar, a friend’s place, or maybe with a movie, because I didn’t have to get up early the next day! Now that I’m retired…well, […]

A Portrait Prep Challenge

In art, as with most hobbies or sports, or really just about anything, I believe it’s important to have challenges. I’m not referring to competition; I’m referring to the kind of challenge that tests the perception we have about our personal ability to do something. The kind of challenge that makes us prove to ourselves […]

Make Art that Matters

There are artists, and then there are the people who can draw, color, or paint. Which category do you want to be in? The purpose of art is to communicate a message. It can be obvious or subtle, but without a message, without the emotion that creates the message, there is no impetus to shape […]

Learning to Illustrate a Story

Last week I wrote a short story about a koi and an otter. I think it would be fun to illustrate it and put it on the blog. I already have a few ideas in my head about what I want the pictures to look like. But how do I get those ideas out of […]

Friday Fundamentals

Fundamentals: a central or primary principle on which something is based My intent for this blog isn’t to include a bunch of tutorials. I think there are many well-qualified experts who have already produced enough tutorials, and I’ll list some of them when applicable. However, I do think it’s important to have some guidance when […]

The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project https://www.the100dayproject.org/ This is the fifth year for a social collaboration called The 100 Day Project. It’s goal is to get you into the habit of making something for 100 days in a row. What can you do in 100 days? Just about anything you want. Every day after you create your […]