Tag: illustration

Literary Whiteboard Lettering, Week 3

~ Swapna ~ 1 Comment

It’s always the short weeks that feel the longest.

With Labor Day off, I only had 4 boards to do this week. And I felt rushed through 3 of them. Now that we are getting deeper into the school year, I’m feeling time and obligations pulling me in every direction. The time I spend lettering in the morning is helping me stay grounded.

This week’s boards:

Day 11: Flowers for Algernon 

Day 12: Oliver Twist

Day 13: The House on Mango Street

Day 14: The Princess Bride

The Princess Bride board was the only one that I actually had time to perfect this week! Love that one!

Favorite thing this week was hearing students and teachers share their opinions of the books and authors they’ve read from this week’s boards. I’m loving how much this project is encouraging discussions about Books! 

The Time for A New Obsession

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As a teacher and mom to a 10-month-old, it seems like it would be impossible to find time for a new pursuit. I don’t even have enough hours in the day to sleep! But with the stress of teaching and parenting, art and lettering are what keep me sane. I make time for it, and I take advantage of natural lulls to nurture it.

Right now, I’m writing at 3am, sitting on the floor of the nursery, as my daughter finally dozes back to sleep after 2 hours of playing with my hair. During those two hours, in between a diaper change and sleepy attempts at coaxing her back to sleep, I was building relationships and studying artists on Instagram. Before going to bed at the very grown-up bedtime of 10pm, during the short time I get with my husband when we’re both awake and the baby’s asleep, I got a quick sketch in while we watched TV. For the past three months, I’ve been learning tips and practicing during conference periods, pumping sessions, nap times, and late night feedings.

That’s pretty much the way of it–as I wait, as I try to be patient, as I force myself to stay awake so I can be with (physically, if not mentally) my family, I create. Summer’s been good to me, giving me time to practice every day and start to find my own style. Now that school is starting again, I’ll have to play with time some more. 

I think that’s the nice thing about finding a new obsession: the passion fuels you to stay awake, urges you to ignore the dishes and the laundry, and instead do this thing that is so much more fun. The challenge now is to keep this passion going as more obligations come up, and to remember to not just make time for my passion, but to make time work for me. 

Find your passion. Obsess about it. Bend time to your will. And ignore the dishes just a little longer.

Introducing…The Nerd Lady!

~ Swapna ~ 1 Comment

English teacher by day, creative soul by night.

Nerd. All day, every day.

This is the story of how I combined my creative outlets, my escapes from the real world, my passions, and my hope into something greater. I am DFW teacher, a reader, a writer, a lover of sci-fi and fantasy, a disciple of science and faith and the magnificent human imagination, and above all, a nerd. Lettering and drawing have always been my hobbies: stress relievers when life gets overwhelming, gift givers when Target and Amazon fail me. Now, I want to share my nerdy illustrations and lettering with others.

As an English teacher in the modern world, I have seen the educational world begin to discard the art of literature in favor of more practical reading writing. I hope to use lettering to show the beauty of words from classic and modern literary works.

As a mother to a baby girl, I am becoming increasingly aware of the biases presented to young girls in the stories and images that they see every day. Although I have seen many more books, illustrations, and clothes that aim to build up young girls’ sense of adventure and discovery since I was a child, I still feel there is work to be done. I hope to create artwork that I can share with my daughter and other young girls to encourage them to be strong, brave, curious, and (of course) nerdy!

As an introvert with few words and a big heart, I love to give personalized gifts to my family and friends that highlight their passions and personalities. Here, I will share the work that I create for my loved ones. I hope to share my skills in custom wedding and nursery artwork soon!

Although I am new to the art world, I have been blogging on and off for over fifteen years. My most recent venture into the blogosphere was with “No More Than 150” (foolishly rebranded to “So This is My Life Now” when I got intense writer’s block during my pregnancy), a blog in which I attempted to write in 150 words or fewer. A fun experiment, but I couldn’t keep it up for too long. My proudest pieces are the ones in which I broke my word limit and wrote from the heart. Read my favorite pieces below:

This time, my blog will be my home base for sharing my art pieces. However, I can’t avoid writing; I’m sure I’ll end up sharing about my journey as I go forth into completely uncharted territory for an English teacher. Join me on my new adventure!Go to “Portfolio” to see more examples of my work. If you like what you see, follow me on Instagram @nerdladydraws!