I Sketched for 30 Days Straight | Vienna Art Vlog

So here's the deal. Despite being a full-time artist, I feel like I'm not creating enough, and it's because there are so many different parts of my job that require my attention every single day that sometimes it's just hard to find the time to make art. And I know that I have complained about this in the past, but lately I've just been feeling very motivated to actually do something about it. So how to combat this lack of creating? With a challenge, of course. I challenge myself to sketch every single day for 30 days. And for context, I'm a painter and I've never had a consistent sketching practice before. I don't know anything about having a sketchbook. I assume it's pretty straightforward, but I guess we'll find out. I kept the rules simple for myself, and that is to just sketch every single day for an entire month. So please grab yourself a cup of tea and join me on this month-long adventure of discovery and fun. So when I first moved to Vienna back in February of this year, I took a trip to the art store and I bought this little sketchbook because I wanted to draw more. And guess what? I have not touched it once. Until now. I did not know how to start a sketchbook, so to break the ice, a little smiley. And for my first sketch, a pondering frog. Perhaps you noticed already from the perspiration on my brow, but it was very hot in the studio this week. There's no air conditioning in the studio, and I work on the second floor, and you know what they say, hot air rises. But after a couple days of sketching slash melting, my studio roomie Lucas scored this AC unit for free, so we had to give it a try. Oh, maybe it's got some like party lights too. Yeah, like a fog machine. On this day, we also did a drawing from life session at the studio where we took turns modeling and sketching each other. A couple of friends organized this once a month, but this was the first time that I was able to participate, and I really enjoyed it. This was actually my first time ever doing figure drawing from life like this, and it was a challenge. The first few poses were for three minutes, and I'm really not used to drawing with such a short time constraint, so it was certainly a humbling experience. When it was my turn to model, I had no idea what it was like to hold a pose for 10 minutes, so I needed some coaching. And there was this construction worker hanging out on the balcony blasting music from his phone while everybody was just silently sketching, so yeah, here's some footage of that. Since I don't usually paint human figures in my work, the life drawing session was a bit of a wake-up call. So the next day, I took it upon myself to do some reading. I'm trying to use more books as a resource for learning. A lot of my art practice is pretty intuitive since I'm not formally trained, but sometimes I find it helpful to have things broken down for me to get a better understanding, like the proportions of a human body and face. I'm gonna work from home today, and so I would like to officially welcome you to my new home studio. It is a bit of a mess right now, as you can see. My husband and I only just moved into this apartment a month and a half ago, so everything is a work in progress, and I'm sorry if the audio is echoing a lot because that is due to a lack of furniture. Currently, I only have this one desk, which I actually love. I got it off of Wilhaben, a second-hand platform, for only 30 euros, and it's exactly what I was envisioning for my home studio. A big, bulky, wooden desk with a bunch of stains on it so I can feel at ease creatively and maybe get a little messy and not have to worry. What I love about this room is the fact that there's a lot of natural light and I have a view of some trees, which is honestly such a delight. If you watched any of my videos from when I lived in Toronto, my home studio there had a view of a brick wall, so this is a big upgrade for me. Also, as a side note for anybody who is at all invested in my gardening journey, first of all, cheers, and second of all, I hate to inform you that there will be no gardening video this year because the cleanup phase of this new project took so long that by the time we were finished, it was too late in the planting season and we couldn't plant anything, so it's looking a little bare bones out there right now, but with that being said, next year's gardening video is gonna slap. Okay, back to work. I am going to challenge myself a little bit with a portrait today, so wish me luck. A couple of my friends at the studio invited me to join them for a sketching session at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, aka the Art History Museum here in Vienna, which perfectly aligned with my self-conducted challenge, and I had the best time. This museum, it's so incredibly beautiful and grand, and despite visiting many times in the past, this was the first time that I've ever brought a sketchbook, and I just loved the experience. And after my friends left, I had to take some time to visit the work of the old masters. A big part of my job is to document my process. I love sharing the work that I create, but that doesn't mean that I don't sometimes experience resistance when it comes to filming. Knowing that I have to set up all of my filming gear before I even start making art often prevents me from even starting in the first place, but recently I received a special something in the mail that has made a really big difference, so please allow me to introduce to you Mofst's invisible tripod stand. During this whole sketching challenge, this little thing has made my process so much easier. It has three different modes. Floating, which I personally use the most for filming my sketches. It allows me to capture the small details no matter where I'm sketching, whether it's in the studio, in a museum, or at home. Vlogging mode is great for filming updates for my Instagram broadcast channel, Studio Tingz. Hey guys, happy Wednesday! And standing mode, which is best for filming close-ups and really capturing that pencil-to-paper action. It comes in lots of cute colors, and it's small, lightweight, and can easily fit in your pocket. Mofst stands for Mobile Office for Travelers, and they aim to create portable, compact, easy-to-use origami-style accessories designed to improve the carry experience and enable people to be more efficient in flexible working situations. I have also been using their smart desk mat as a laptop stand, and you better believe I will take anything that will make my editing experience more comfortable. So if you're looking for a better filming solution for your artwork, or just very nicely designed accessories for your business, I highly recommend checking out Mofst's products. And if you click the link in the description, you'll even get yourself a little discount! So thank you to Mofst for sponsoring this video and actually improving my workflow. Being back in my shared studio here in Vienna has been one of the best parts of moving overseas. In Toronto, I was working from home, and though I was fortunate to have a separate bedroom to work out of, it was pretty lonely. I love that in the studio I have my little corner to work from upstairs, but I also can hang out in the common area from time to time. I'm finding that it's really important to me to have this change of and have a community of creative people around me. I feel so hashtag blessed for this space, but I think I'm still finding the right balance of working from home and working in the studio. Sometimes there's just too much to do at home, or I'm feeling lazy and I don't want to commute, and then a week goes by and I realize, oh, I haven't been to the studio once. Oftentimes when I do work from home, I'll start working and then I end up not moving for hours on end. I love getting lost in my work and entering that state where time just passes by, but when it happens too often and I forget to move my body or socialize or even eat, it's not a good thing. And when that happens too many days in a row, I end up kind of burning myself out. That happened on this week. I woke up one day and I felt completely unmotivated to work. I've been in this situation many times, and I know that the best way for me to refuel is to spend some time in nature. So that's what I did. In the past couple of years, one of my favorite creative activities is to pick wildflowers and make a bouquet from them. I love the entire process from foraging for the flowers, even if it's just on the side of the road, to creating nice compositions in my favorite little vases. And it makes me so happy when I see fresh flowers around the apartment. And after this refuel day of looking at slugs and handpicking bouquets, I felt really motivated to do some life drawing of my creations. I did it. I sketched it every day for 30 days. And trust me when I say that I really wanted to do a sketchbook tour at the end of this video, and I recorded it. But then it was 20 minutes long because I had so much to talk about, and so I decided to save that for another video. So you can look forward to that on August 25th, 2025, okay? Honestly, this was the most fun that I've had creatively in a really long time, and I'm feeling really motivated to keep going and also to paint more. Like, oddly, doing so much sketching really made me miss painting, and so I thought, hey, wouldn't it be fun if I maybe did another challenge where I made a painting every day for 30 days? That would be crazy. So let me know if you like this type of video, whatever this is. I always appreciate your feedback, and I always, as always, appreciate your likes, comments, and subscribes. Thank you so much for spending this time with me. I hope you're now feeling inspired to do some creating of your own. If you do, as a result of watching this video, I would love to see it, so you can tag me on instagram at Brooke Cormier, and that way I can see what you're making. That would be really cool, actually. I hope that you're having a completely and utterly fantastic day, and if you're not, then take a beat and turn that sucker around. I hope that I can see you in the next video, where we go through all of the things that I made this month, and it'll be a great time, so I hope to see you there. In the meantime, take care of yourself. I'm Brooke Cormier, and I'll see you next time.