Inspired by Percy Jackson

There are some books that I wish so badly that I could send back to little me... and the Percy Jackson series is one of them.

When I was in 5th grade I was obsessed with Greco-Roman myths. I remember our school library had a few books on the subject but there was nothing like Percy Jackson and the Olympians.  *sigh*

That being said, I still really enjoyed the books as an adult. 
I got so many ideas & images that popped in my head as I read them.
Here are the first two that I've managed to get out onto paper. :) 

A gorgeously grisly gorgon....

and a sad Cyclops.

 (I have an affinity for alliterations lol)

13 Days of Inktober

I got tired of drawing people pretty quickly lol As you can tell... But I loved drawing creepy-cute critters.

Poor little Xerxes got cut off in the scan a bit..
Bonus points if you get the reference ;) 

I also got a fair bit of reading done with month! Which puts me right on track for meeting my Goodreads goal (without having to do any end of the year "adjustting" to it...heh)

They Did the Monster Mash!

(Why is it so hard to find time for the things you LIKE to do? Reading, writing, drawing, blogging... UGH.)

IT'S  OCTOBER! :) Which means there are skeletons, monsters, spiders, bats, zombies and all the morbid, creepy things I love everywhere :)

It also means INKtober. Which, if you aren't familiar with it, is a challenge to do an ink drawing for every day in the month of October.

I accomplished it ONCE. And then every year I say I'm going to do it again... or do every other day. Or do "13 days of Inktober".. and then I fail spectacularly every year.  

This is just my disclaimer. I'm being upfront about my prior record with this challenge before I say: 

                              I'm going to try to do 13 days of Inktober this year! :D

And in honor of my favourite month, and to inspire me to get doodling,  I present the Parade of Fabulous Ghouls.Some of my favourite monster girls..

Beetlejuice has some competition.. there's a new ghost in town

Bride of Frankenstein

Queen of Vampire Bats

Just a Siren, waking the dead..

Morticia

Her Royal Lowness: the Princess of Pestilence

Zombie Vixen

Books are Better Than People

lol This drawing has been in my head for awhile.
Does anybody else have this problem?
People see you reading and think that you're not doing anything.
That you must be bored and you need them to come save you from this boredom.

It's one thing when it's your friends and family.
If I really love you, yes I might put down my book to talk to you lol
But when I don't even know you...
I'm sorry.
 I will try to be polite.
If you need to know the time, or the bus schedule I'll tell you.
But really- I'd rather read my book.

I know I just did a post about calendar pages last week.. and I DO try to switch things up a bit. However, I just loved these pages so much! 

These are my happy colours so that's probably part of why I love it so much. (Neither my scanner nor my camera picked up the green very well tho.. *sad*)



This little guy was inspired by a copy of The Hungry Thing Returns that I found when I was looking for a lost book. (💔)

I also finished  reading Cartoon Faces and decided to try drawing one of my characters using some of the things that Christopher Hart talks about.

I liked it so much I decided to cut it out (and do a little wardrobe change) and add it to my calender page.

I sketched it in pen so the light green guidelines and corrections are still visible... but I think it gives it some character. ;)

Shout out to Christopher Hart for FINALLY convincing me to use guidelines at all.

I currently have another of his  books on hold thru my library... (I've been waiting so long! give me the book! aaah!)



P.S.
This is the same character, drawn before I read the book

June Calendar Pages

(or well... a bit of May & 3/4 of June... My calendar pages are free spirits lol)

This page I made soon after Chris Cornell passed away :(
He was one of my favourite singer. I always thought he had a beautiful voice... 

So there's some of his song lyrics sprinkled throughout this page.
I'll usually just put the title of whatever song or playlist I'm listening to on that particular date, but this time I made a side-bar with all the Chris Cornell songs I was listening during those weeks.

 *Note: I don't have the same associations with the colour grey that a lot of people do. I think it's lovely & soothing (like the sky after it rains) which is why I used it... 



My next page was inspired by the packaging that came with the ARC I received of a book called The Space Between the Stars.   



The bit on bottom right page is from the packaging. I thought it was pretty and made me want to do a space theme. 

*geeky squeal*

I was also reading Armada during this time, so it seemed doubly appropriate to doodle stars & planets. :)







I got the idea for the orbit around the month from AmandaRachLee's April bullet journal pages. 

 "Le soleil est une etoile" is from a passage in an old French Reader I've been working my way through.

Splintered, Unhinged and #notMYmorpheus

So a few things you should know before we start:
1) I love most things Wonderland related
2) Romance in books tends to (in general) just annoy the heck out of me
3) I haven't read the 3rd book yet. 

Okay, first, 
     Splintered.
I really liked Splintered!
I liked the cover.
I liked the twists on the Wonderland story &  imagery and the theme of madness vs. reality.  I thought the author made Wonderland seem both creepy & yet somewhat charming at the same time (which is kind of my thing... cute + creepy = ❤ )  I was drawn into the story and the world.

I liked that the main character was a skater girl who made morbid artwork (altho I like bugs so I felt sorry for them..). 

And Morpheus was a great character- beautiful and interesting. Jeb was kinda eh... I had some issues with him and the love triangle annoyed me (remember I tend to get annoyed by romance anyway) but I didn't mind him too much... most of the time.




Now, 
      Unhinged. 
Okay first, dude on the cover, you are NOT my Morpheus. Sorry but no. 

#notmymorpheus

He's pretty and everything... but Morpheus is complicated, seductive, badass, powerful, arrogant & provocative...  And the cover guy just comes across as a simpering pretty boy who'd never challenge you. Like he just really wants to carry your books and he might cry if you say no. 

The German version at least has some attitude soldering underneath..


Moving on from the Not Morpheus issue...

Everyone in this book had all their obnoxious qualities turned up full volume.
Alyssa seemed kind of dense, annoying, juvenile and way too twitterpatted with Jeb.
Her mother's obsession with Alyssa being "normal" and wearing jeans made me want to scream (maybe cuz I'm a girl who doesn't wear jeans & hears this nonsense? hmm insight..)
Jeb became more flat, barely a character and left with all his most aggravating qualities.. Ugh.
The love triangle got even more ridiculous.
(I seriously thing this whole series be better without Jeb. Just Alyssa coming to grips with her Netherling side.. deciding which world she wants to live in, whether she should trust Morpheus etc.)

And WE NEVER GO TO WONDERLAND! For the ENTIRE book.  Lots of high school and no Wonderland. *pouts*

I'm still planning to read the last book. I'm hoping it is just a case of Middle Book Ennui...
Morpheus is still a great character. (and he gets a car! which is just cooooool...) And we get some interesting back-story about Morpheus's and Alyssa's mother and some of the other characters.
The ending gets more interesting and leaves me hopeful that the 3rd book is better. 

a drawing I did while reading Splintered and Alice in Wonderland

So have you read this series? What''d you think? Is the last book better than Unhinged? (please say yes..)

Since I've Gotten a Library Card

I had a library card before… Maybe 15 years ago? Then I had access to the university library…. After I graduated I honestly was too sad at the thought of going back to my tiny public library again lol

A few months ago I decided it was time to get a library card again.  And since then...

1. I read a lot more.
     It’s only May and I’ve already read nearly as many books as I did ALL LAST YEAR.  I also have fewer reading slumps because I am motivated by the fact that I need to turn my library books back in.

2. I take more chances.
     I read books I might not have otherwise read. Like “oh this one looks cute & creepy- let’s try it.”  

The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall

(And when I went to add this to my goodreads, I discovered it was the second book of hers I’d liked. So I definitely have to check out some more of her ghost stores!)

This is easier with library books cuz if I don't like it, it's not a big deal. I just return it. 
 
3. It’s changed the way I buy books.
     I’m not going to lie- I haven’t reduced my book spending too much since I’ve gotten my library card… >.>
BUT the way I shop for books is different. Before, when I would buy books I would go back & forth:
      Did I want to buy an old favourite that I didn’t own yet?

      Or did I want to buy a new book I hadn’t read before? 
                          AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!

Now I can focus on collecting books I really want to OWN. 
And I don’t have as many books that I regret buying. 

playing around w/ fun lettering a lot lately :)

4. I’ve made a significant dent in my TBR. 
     Like Percy Jackson! I have The Last Olympian checked out right now. :) I had been meaning to read this series for years but I wasn’t sure I wanted to commit to buying a new series.
(Of course, now I know that I want to buy every single thing Rick Riordan writes but hey.. )



 
5. I have real life conversations about books! 
     I talk to people online about books all the time...
goodreads, facebook reading groups, my blog, book tube etc. But in real life? not so much.. 
(okay, well I do still talk about books but it’s more like me ranting about how Morpheus is WAY better than Jeb while people’s eyes glaze over…)
 
HOWEVER, since I’ve gotten a library card:

• I talk to the librarians about books I’m checking out.

• I talk to people who notice that I’m frequently lugging a giant stack of library books around town…

• I talk to my little nieces who now love going to the library w/ me and have discovered that one person, Mercer Mayer, wrote a lot of their fav books.

So who else has a library card?

April II: reading & blogging & gorgons, OH MY!

My April part 2 calendar journal is another one that I ended up doodling as I went along. 

One thing I really like about this tho, is that I can adjust the size of the days to whatever I need. 

With my pre-made ones I often finding myself either trying to fit A LOT in a tiny day square..
                 or looking at lots of empty space because I didn't do much that day.

The gorgon was a little rough draft doodle for a drawing I'm (still) working on.
I liked her enough that I thought she deserved to be kept :) so I cut her out & glued her on that day. 

How was your April? :)

Favourite Books: Frankenstein

(1st post of a series in which I intend to doodle covers of & babble lovingly about my fav books)

MY Frankenstein... inspired by the book's description, apart from the colour of his skin... cuz I hate yellow..

I know that not everyone loves this book as much as I do lol

I first read it in a high school English class & I remember my classmates grumbling about how boring it was. 

Meanwhile, I read it in less than two days.  
(Even tho we weren't supposed to >.> The torment of being expected to not go on to the next chapter of a book you love just for the sake of a lesson plan? *scoffs*)



Frankenstein is one of my least favourite characters. (to be clear Frankenstein is not the name of the "monster", it's the name of the man who created him) 

I liked him in the beginning- when he was a young bookworm earnestly studying old alchemists like Cornelius Agrippa & Albertus Magnus with no idea that their "science" was hundreds of years out of date.  :)

But then he grows up into a weak, selfish, ridiculously dense man & I can't stand him anymore. 

 The creature on the other hand, is pitiable. He was made to be beautiful but turns out horrifying and is then hated & abandoned. Unlike the monster movie Frankenstein, he is very intelligent which just makes him suffer more.

He even managed to muster up some sympathy & affection for Frankenstein at the end.

And he quotes Paradise Lost!!

*sings* Who is the monster & who is man?

Regarding John Green

I love John Green. 

I mean, I devour Crash Course videos.

my notes on Crash Course Philosophy

I watch his vlogs. I love hearing his thoughts on subjects.

I have John Green quotes in my journal.

I read books he recommends.
But I haven’t read any of HIS books.

Is that awful?
I feel bad lol. I feel like I SHOULD read one of his books.

But every time I see them I’m just like:

I know I do not want to read The Fault in Our Stars.
I'm kinda leaning towards reading Paper Towns....
                  eventually.

Are there any of his books you'd recommend?
(BESIDES The Fault in Our Stars..)

Calendar Journal Pages

(Jeepers! I thought I had only missed posting last week but I'd actually missed two weeks? o.O)

Once upon a time.... 
          I actually kept proper diaries/journals. I'd sit down at the end of most days & write about what I did, thought, & felt that day. But I felt less motivated to do that as I got older & eventually my journalling became very sporadic. 

My journals became more lists, poems, quotes & notes and less a record of my days.  



I still missed having that record tho, & at one point I started making lists of all the important things that had happened that month. 

Sometimes it was hard to decide what was important enough to include on these lists. And I wanted to remember things like when I last talked to someone, or if I mailed something... so I started keeping really plain calendar pages in the back of my journals too. 

And then I discovered  Kate Crane's art calendar journals. My calendar pages been like that for years now. 

 Sometimes I don't have time to do the background or anything in advance & then my calendars are pretty basic & just doodled as I go along.

 

 

Lately, I've been splitting my months up into 1-2 weeks at a time & getting more inspiration from planner pages (even tho mine are all done after the fact & not used for planning at all lol)

Do you keep any type of journal?

We need more..

Recently I read two illustrated novels back to back:

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland 

w/ Camille Rose Garcia’s illustrations 

& 

 
 A Monster Calls

 
And I’ve come to the conclusion that there needs to be more novels like this.
I don’t mean picture books or comics or graphic novels, all of which I love, read & own.
I mean just proper novels with illustrations.

journal page w/ a few of my favourite things: like the awesome illustrations in A Monster Calls <3

 These were both library books that I think I'm going to have to buy now lol

Another illustrated novel I am dying to get my hands on is:

Frankenstein 

illustrated by GRIS GRIMLY

Because Frankenstein is one of my favourite books and Gris Grimly is one of my favourite illustrators. :)
And evidently, this version keeps the original text of the novel & just adds Gris Grimly's awesome illustrations. 
(Which would make it probably an easier read for people who aren't already obsessed with the book like I am. Garcia's illustrations helped me get thru Alice in Wonderland- a book I've started & not finished more than once..)

Do you know of any other illustrated novels I should check out? 

 

 

Intro

I am Anne. :) With an "e".
(a silent "e".)

or, more formally, Anne~Juliet.
Which is how I sign my artwork.

aka
Morbid Little Girl which is a nick name I've had for a long time.
It's also the name of my creepy-cute character that you will see doodled around here.
(more about her later)

Like the name suggests this blog is going to be about my books :)
Books that I fill, books that I make & books that I read.
I keep journals which are a crazy sketchbook-bullet journal-scrapbook-diary hybrid.

misc. pages

I also like to do make my own journals (for myself or friends or my etsy shop).

journals I've made and/or filled

And lastly, I read books. A lot. Non-fiction, children's lit, (and some YA), science fiction, fantasy, classics & historical fiction.
I'm currently redoing my wall of books so there might be some sheflies in the near future.

Harry Potter shelf

If any of this sounds like something you'd be interested in, stick around ;)