Author: Mel
I'm a painter, curious student of life and traveler.
What are you up today?
Cannot keep myself from not drawing dogs. They are just too cute.
Have been drawing a lot of funny rabbits until late last night. Now I am paying the price by being over-tired. But why stop when you are having fun?
Hakuna Matata
Didn’t know that these fellas are called wathogs. Learned something new 🙂
Pelicans are back
Yes, the pelican book is still on. It’s very much a work in progress. The manuscript is pretty much finished, and so is the storyboard. And I still like it, after 2 months of break, so that is a good sign.
The next step is to create the first proper illustrations. That’s on the agenda for tomorrow, so I can finally get started on that phase.
One of the reasons I’m doing these watercolour sketches at the moment is to loosen up a bit and explore different approaches until I find a style that feels right. I am also still set on ink and watercolour. Need to experiment more with it. But for now I love my Caran d’ache pencils. What do you think?
Desert Mouse
I really love the vibrance of these Caran d’ache Luminance pencils.
Day 6 of drawing random animals from my Pinterest board. What do you use for inspiration?
Coocoo
Not quite the sound a Lemur makes (what sounds do they make?) but still think it fits the sketch.
25min from start to finish. I am really enjoying this loose drawing with no strings attached. 20 years later I finally get the idea of having a sketchbook.
Dog in Boots
If a cat can wear boots, then so can a dog. Read the Puss in Boots to my little one the other day.
She enjoyed the illustrations more than the story I think.
I want coffee
This print is now officially approved by my partners co-workers and is now on their office wall.
Want to make a statement too? Find the print here.
An Animal a Day
Curious little fox wishes you Happy Monday!
Good Morning
From this, to this.
Fun with Watercolour
I am actually having a lot of fun with my sketchbook. First time in ages that I took out my watercolours as well.
Do you have a sketchbook? What is your favourite medium?
Just having fun..
Checking if I can still draw… After all good intentions of sketching daily, I did not open my sketchbook once during the last 6 weeks of travel…
Now back home, I got my desk cleaned up, spent another 30min looking for my pencil case, and eventually started out with a number of 5 min animal sketches. This one was 25 min from start to finish.
Slow down
After doing way too much the last months, I slowed down these past two weeks and it feels great. We need to be reminded of the importance of slowing down more often, simply for our personal well-being. But it is way too easy to trapped in the running around life style.
So this is where the inspiration for my current Etsy posters is coming from. Slow down, take a nap, tomorrow is another day. Because if you burn out, it will be much much harder to get back on your feet again.
Looking forward to a relaxed Easter break full of snowman building and cozy time.
Happy Easter!
Oh deer!
Mid-week mode. After a snow storm faced with pure sunshine…
Snack Time
Seems the more I draw and the more creative I am, the more my blog suffers. But I have been drawing a lot, working on the story board for a new book. Doing some new Etsy posters.
Still plenty of things on my to-do list for this week. But first, a snack!
Have a wonderful day!
Weekly Planners without a Plan
New week new motivation. I made more planners and only semi so so followed my plan. Has been a very productive 2 weeks though.
I have been adding more of the weekly planners on my ETSY.
I also finished several 2026 calendars just right in time for February! Check them out here!
Have a great rest of the week!
Tuesday mode
Trying to start into the new week full of motivation and with a veeeery long to-do list. So in order to tackle the new year I am trying to be more organized (my main job is being a professional organizer that needs to meet deadlines aka project manager).
As if I don’t have enough things on my to-do list, step one was to make the to-do list look nice, which then turned into the creation of a whole set of weekly planners and a year calendar in the making. I suppose that this is a whole new level of procrastination.
Anyhow, you can also get your own printable weekly planner here on my Etsy. I’ll be uploading a few more online this week.
Use promo code PLAN2026 and get a 50% discount on all weekly planners 🙂
Melanie Franz 