#MailArtMovement Postcards

I’m participating to the #MailArtMovement, hosted by
@ceramink_ on Instagram, where artists from all over the world exchange handmade postcards! Here are my postcards! – I’ll post more as I create them.

Want to participate too? It’s open to everyone, join the movement!

Note: I’m covering part of the text behind the postcards (as well as addresses for privacy reasons) just to keep the surprise element for the recipient, in case they see it online before it gets to them. But if you are the recipient, feel free to show it in full on social media! (at the exception of addresses, of course)

Globe-Wide Silliness

It’s a postcard! My very first!
The little bugs are going on a trip from one side of Canada to the other.

I’m participating to the #MailArtMovement, hosted by
@ceramink_ on Instagram, where artists from all over the world exchange handmade postcards! Art is a wonderful way to connect together. 🤝🌎

Please enjoy these closeups of the bugs! Which one’s your favorite? Me, it’s the reluctant red one.

A Bug from Canada

My goal with this one was to present myself and my hobbies in a fun way – here am I as a little pink bug, with my passions floating around among silly little bugs running everywhere!

I also designed the “AIR MAIL” sticker with its flying delivery bug, and drew the fake stamp to go on the card, inside the envelope!

Galactic Delivery

What space postal services would look like… if it was populated by fluffy bugs.

Buggy Pattern

My first ever abstract bugs!

Time for a (not so) little blurb on my process:
I don’t tend to find abstract art particularly enjoyable to create (but admiring it, that’s a totally different story!). If I don’t have a plan, if I don’t know what I want the result to look like, I never feel like I reached my goal – that’s what happens when I try abstract art. And because the key is to disconnect and drop control for a piece to be intuitive, I feel like I didn’t put my soul into it because I’m not actively making thought-out choices.

But with these bugs, it was different! I kept the composition abstract, I kept it flowy, without yet incorporating the characters. I sketched it out without much control, I let my brain free, except that I made sure there was as many rounded shapes as possible because I knew that’s what would allow me to make bugs appear later on: “intuitive, but think round.” was my mindset. After a few iterations, I opted for this wavy pattern, with inverted semi circles. Then I stepped back into with my usual mindset, with the goal of giving life to little characters with playful personalities. That’s when I made all the fluffy linework, which was very fun and challenging to make double-sided to have bugs on both sides of the lines! Then I finished it with some color, and yet again it was a mix of intuitive and conscious choices: first a layer of blues, chosen on the spot, then a layer of transparent accents strategically placed to pop out the rounded delimitations. Tada!