Hello.

I want to start off by saying that I am by no means a great writer. This blog is simply to share my thoughts about creativity, illustration, and the world. I apologize for my first blog post ever being quite a downer.

I do love a good dialogue, so please feel free to comment or, if you’re shy, you can email me your thoughts at hello@isabellbrumagen.com. I’d love to hear anything even if it’s just a smiley face. :^)

Sooooo…

It’s been a rough week so far, my American friends… maybe even the non-American friends, too. I really hope you’re taking care of yourselves out there. We all mourn together, and it is best to do so surrounded by people you love.

A similar feeling was felt while I spent whole days playing Webfishing around election day. Webfishing is a cutesy chatroom fishing game that I really recommend if you’re feeling alone. I joined public servers out of curiosity, and I found that people on there were overwhelmingly kind. There was this unspoken rule across all servers that no one talked politics because we were all escaping. We were all scared.

This collective grief and fear makes being creative really difficult for me. I am definitely not alone in this. We’re all fearing for our futures, so of course we can’t draw some silly little guys with our thoughts racing. I have seen social media posts of people begging others to not quit their creative projects because “what is the point.” This is such dangerous thinking especially in a time where AI threatens the careers of creatives. If you are thinking about not making art anymore, keep making art. I don’t care how mundane or meaningless you view your work. We are creatures that depend on being creative in any way. Do it for yourself and do it for others for couldn’t. You don’t ever have to post about it. Be “greedy” and keep it all to yourself if you want.

Most importantly, continue to vote for the planet, your trans friends, your BIPOC friends, your queer friends, your kids, your kids food safety, our weather infrastructure, our education systems, the young men and women preyed on by military recruiters, so so so many lives lost due to bigotry, and more.

Again, I’m not the best writer. I went to art school to draw for god’s sake. This blog is mainly for me to just talk, and if you like it, sweet! Future posts will be more positive, I promise. I will also be sharing more art things.

Let me know your thoughts if you want in the comments or in an email.

You’re the best. Take care. <3