Monica McFawn

Art

monicamcfawn

More landscapes made with 7 random colors. Sometim

More landscapes made with 7 random colors. Sometimes they turn out a bit abstract but I like that. If you had to be transported to one of these landscapes, which would it be? #landscape #drawingoftheday #creativeprocess #markerart #worksonpaper #skillbuilding #copic #shinhantouch #tombowdualbrushpens

Justine the Unisnail celebrates the progress she’s making. She knows that even during times of uncertainty,
when it seems like we still have so much work ahead, finding joy in progress can lift us and carry us forward. The Supreme Court’s ruling to cement civil rights protection for LGBTQ+ workers is one back-flip-worthy event. It feels overdue, and a single step toward true equality, but this is progress. Join her in a moment of joy and gratitude for all who made it happen. #civilrights #lgbtq🌈 #pride🌈 #stopmotionstudio #stopmotionanimation #rainbowart #unicorn #soundon

Why do you hesitate? I always ask myself this when

Why do you hesitate? I always ask myself this when I slow down with a project. In the past, I’d get frustrated with myself and blame it on a character flaw: I was being lazy, I was procrastinating, I was too scattered to commit to a project. More recently, I’ve tried break down what is making me hesitate before inwardly berating myself...in the case of my children’s book; I found myself balking at designing the pages. I tried to think about why I and realized it’s because I lack confidence/experience in creating backdrops or settings. I noticed how most things I drew were individual animals, with very few fully drawn backgrounds. So I decided I’d begin to practice. Just like with the monsters, I shut my eyes and choose seven markers then draw the background. Here are some of my efforts so far. I feel so much more excited about the book already. Swipe left to see close ups—and some Pegasi who swooped in to check them out 😄 #markerart #pegasus #pegasusart #pegasi #landscape #picturebookillustration #scbwiillustrators #creativeprocess
#copicmarkers

Happy Birthday to me! (6/11) Here’s my birthday

Happy Birthday to me! (6/11) Here’s my birthday haul: a beautiful bouquet from @sailordn ❤️ and four drawings I made to give to myself. It was just a couple years ago that I didn’t draw at all (outside of random doodles); now drawing is my language, my coping mechanism, my freedom. My gift to myself—these drawings—represent the joy of the process for me. One I drew in the morning when I sluggish. I kept making mistakes—accidentally using the wrong marker etc. I finished it anyway and learned to love the foibles. One is me trying something new...as i was drawing I laughed to myself at how terrible and skewed it was. I kept trying to fix it as a learning exercise & the futility itself made it fun. One I drew almost accidentally—I glimpsed a line on a piece of paper and saw something in it. One I drew at the end of the day. Time disappeared. I could have worked on it forever. Not a bad birthday, for being so far from family and @sailordn ❤️❤️#happybirthdaytome #creativeprocess #junicorn #unicorn #creativeprocess #quarentinelife #snailart #bouquet #flowersofinstagram #bouquetofflowers

Marble, Mabel and Mac move towards the light toget

Marble, Mabel and Mac move towards the light together. Three little snails I made while on the phone with @ssaschris, then photographed out on the trail with Eragon 📸🐴❤️ #snailart #paperanimals #paperanimalsinaction #markeronpaper #shinhanart #touchmarkers #springgrass #light #copicmarkers #snailsofinstagram

Christian Cooper courageously filmed his own racis

Christian Cooper courageously filmed his own racist assault by a white woman who refused to obey leash laws in the Ramble, a protected bird habitat in Central Park. He spoke up for the birds, then calmly recorded so others could see the type of treatment people of color face in parks and outdoor spaces. His grace and courage helped to protect the Ramble, both as a habitat for birds but also as space where all people should feel comfortable. ******The Cedar Waxwing is one bird species you might find in the Ramble. They’re uniquely sweet and whimsical birds. They pass little objects—like flower petals, beetle shells—back and forth as part of their courtship. They live on berries, and the flock will line up and pass berries beak to beak down a twig so everyone can have some. I’m glad there are Christian Coopers to stand up for birds like the Cedar Waxwing, but it is simply wrong that he and other nonwhite birders suffer racist incidents while simply enjoying and protecting the environment we all share. *******This week is #blackbirdersweek, created to bring visibility to the black birding and conservation community. Swipe left for the upcoming events, and follow @blackafinstem on Insta and Twitter. In the words of Black Birder Week founder, Corina Newsome: “For far too long, Black people in the United States have been shown that outdoor exploration activities are not for us...Whether it be the way the media chooses to present who is the ‘outdoorsy’ type, or the racism Black people experience when we do explore the outdoors, as we saw recently in Central Park. Well, we’ve decided to change that narrative.” #blackbirdersweek #christiancooper #cedarwaxwing #theramble #birding
#paperanimals #markerart

Don’t let anyone change the narrative. George Fl

Don’t let anyone change the narrative.
George Floyd was murdered in broad daylight as he cried out for his mother. His killers have still not been charged. We need #justiceforgeorgefloyd and we (and this ‘we’ means white people in particular) need to practice anti-racism every single day. We need to have those tough conversations, we need to research and understand, and we need to support in concrete ways, with our wallets, phone calls, bodies and voices. One place to start is @blackvisionscollective #justiceforgeorgefloyd #justiceforgeorge #georgefloyd #justiceforbreonnataylor #justiceforahmaud

Mallory and Sprig meet each other for the first ti

Mallory and Sprig meet each other for the first time. #mermay #mermay2020 #pegasus #markerart #copicmarkers #touchthreemarkers #beachvibes #beachphotoshoot #paperanimals #papermodel

Standing moose drawn for the MA Celebration at NMU

Standing moose drawn for the MA Celebration at NMU (now happening in Fall 2020) Swipe left for the groovy poster. Another McFawn x NMU Design Collab 🙂Congratulations everyone! #nmuma #mooseart #yooperstrong #graduation2020 #graphicdesign

Normally spring is time for the graduating MA and

Normally spring is time for the graduating MA and MFA Celebrations at NMU, but this year we moved the celebration to Fall 2020 in hopes of being able to hold it in person. I made this lil moose for the digital announcement (swipe left to see); the NMU design department collaborated with me on the rest. Congratulations to all our awesome MFAs! I’m going to save my sappier comments for Fall...I can’t wait to celebrate with you all. You deserve it! #nmumfa #graduation2020 #moosedrawing #moose #yooperart #yooperstrong

Sometimes I draw something that seems so weirdly e

Sometimes I draw something that seems so weirdly emotive to me...this bird seems so sweet, but also worried, proud, determined...I like looking at him and trying to name the emotions I see. Seems to change with my mood. 🤔
Meet Finn. He’s another made up bird...what should his breed be named? #markerart #beachphotoshoot #paperanimals #emotions #draweveryday #touchthreemarkers #shinhanart #touchmarkers

Breonna Taylor was a 26 year old EMT who saved liv

Breonna Taylor was a 26 year old EMT who saved lives for a living. As she slept to recover from what must have been a difficult day’s work during the early days of Covid 19, she was shot eight times by police who chose to use a battering ram at midnight rather than a knock on the door at noon.
Instead of covering up for their mistakes, the police who killed her should have mourned her. Breonna and the police were on the same team. They both worked to protect the community at no little danger to themselves. Her loss at their hands should have spurred the department to make sweeping changes to address the institutional racism and violent policing that led them to lose one of their own.
When you draw someone’s portrait, you learn how difficult it so to capture a likeness. The problem is you think you know what you’re seeing but you really don’t. The police didn’t see Breonna as one of their own or anyone to be protected because they didn’t see her at all. We need to see her now and say her name.
#sayhername #justiceforbre #breonnataylor #justiceforbreonnataylor
www.standwithbre.com

Happy Mermay Sunday! Technically Mayapple is a Pe

Happy Mermay Sunday! Technically Mayapple is a Pegafish, not a mermaid, but close enough. ✨🌊🌈I’ve been trying to focus on the positives that have come from this isolation...one is that it reminds me of being a kid, alone with my imagination (as I often preferred it), off in my own little world. I find myself playing with these paper animals with the same deep concentration that I had as a child...and I don’t feel locked down in those moments. Turns out that world of play and possibility is still there, even as the world beyond seems dark. What good moments have you found in this situation? #mermay2020 #mermay #markerart #copicmarkers #shinhanart #touchthreemarkers #coviddiaries #lockdownlife #brightside #imagination #play

Monarch the Pegasus engaging in a bit of sunset be

Monarch the Pegasus engaging in a bit of sunset beach dressage, the Pegasus equivalent of yoga.#pegasus #pegasusart #dressage #markerart #miniatureart #miniatureartist

Matilda, a gorgeous Ochre Sequined Sap Sipper, dri

Matilda, a gorgeous Ochre Sequined Sap Sipper, drinks in the sunset. 🌅. .................................................................................::.:::Just kidding, I made up that bird species to go along with this made up bird. My dad asked me to draw some imaginary birds for his board game...so I tried to just draw off the top of my head. I like the way this one is looking over its shoulder with its 50s crew cut. The paper animals like the quarantine; they get more time for outings like this. #silverlining #paperartist #birdart #balance #ochre #markerartist #womenwhodraw #scbwiillustrators #picturebookart

Who is she? She could be a mother social distancin

Who is she? She could be a mother social distancing in a park with her family, a health worker after a shift, a grocery clerk in a homemade mask, a delivery driver taking a breather, a teacher grabbing a few things from a shuttered school...She’s tired but still standing. There’s hope in that. If you want to spread the hope around, consider @givedirectly #project100, which is working to give direct cash relief to the most vulnerable among us.❤️ #covid_19 #quarentine #coronavirus #quarentineart #covid19art #wereinthistogether #giving

I’m just obsessed with Pollen the Pegasus. Even

I’m just obsessed with Pollen the Pegasus. Even though she’s made of paper, she can stand on her own (see my story ❤️). I kept taking pictures of her. For a couple hours I wasn’t thinking about the pandemic, wasn’t feeling anxious. It just felt miraculous when I balanced this tiny paper model on the table and she stood. There are still happy surprises, she reminded me, amidst the uncertainty. #pegasus #quarentinelife #pegasusart #balance #papermodel #covidart #copicmarkers #markerart #scbwiillustrators

Esther is having an eggcellent Easter in the Marqu

Esther is having an eggcellent Easter in the Marquette snow ❄️ ♥️ #easterbunny #markerart #eastereggs #bunny #springsnow #upperpeninsulamichigan #yooper #yooperlife

Sequester Chester the Quarantine Rat thanks you fo

Sequester Chester the Quarantine Rat thanks you for sheltering in place ♥️ #covid19 #coronavirus #shelterinplace #ratsofinstagram #quarentinelife #quarantine #wecanbeatthistogether #covidart #diorama

Juniper and Lala float together. I drew these kitt

Juniper and Lala float together. I drew these kitties when I was feeling really anxious. Working on all this texture and was soothing. They’re a little unsettling but still cute, I think. #quarentine2020 #mcfawncats #texture #markerart #paperart #meow #quarentineart

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