girlfringe diaries #17 ★ spring & summer wrapped: colorful illos, picnics and fairy dust
SPRING MOOD (AM I BECOMING A DAISY?)
I entered the warm months with the biggest & most open heart, I can't even explain how much I needed the sun (am I becoming a daisy?) This entire season has been a mix of good chaos (I heard the stars might have something to do with it, lots of retrogrades and eclipses), but behind it all, there’s been a lot of quiet drawing, little sketches and projects taking shape in the background.
Spring itself was a gentle blend of slow mornings and fresh starts, of giving myself space to recharge while slowly setting things in motion. I wandered on long walks, loaded a fresh roll of film into my camera to capture spring in all her soft glory & just soaked in the little things x
SUMMER HAPPENINGS
Then came summer !! and honestly, it was one of the best I’ve had in years.
These past months have been overflowing with personal moments that I’ll treasure for a long time: I spent a lot of time in my hometown, surrounded by family and old friends, which left me feeling both nostalgic and recharged with good energy; I also did plenty of traveling around the country, revisited my uni city where I lived for five years and finally got to pick up my diploma. After years of skipping it I finally went on holiday at the beach and let myself get lost in the waves & salt air (I spent HOURS in the water like the little mermaid that I am & got my nose and shoulders fried, ugh), also filled my phone camera with the loudest and most amazing concerts. More than anything, I just allowed myself to enjoy life again, especially after the heavy start of the year and the most draining winter.
ILLUSTRATIONS I FINISHED THIS SUMMER
So at the beginning of spring I had such big plans for the months ahead. I pictured myself being super productive with art, starting two illustration series and a zine. In reality, I only managed to finish six individual illustrations. But honestly? Those six turned out to be some of my all-time favorites.
Even if I wasn’t super present with a huge amount of content, the pieces I did create really capture the spirit of this season: colorful, lively & full of little adventures. The first illo (which I think might be one of my favorites ever) instantly takes me back to my daily metro trips around Bucharest with my bestie & the two of us struggling to find the right exit, lol. Another one reflects me trying (and very much failing) to learn how to play guitar. Others remind me of buying flowers from my favorite flower shop, the dreamiest picnic date I had with my boyfriend, getting ridiculously excited over the Sims 4 fairies pack (which I played for hours). And of course, there’s the one inspired by Chappell Roan’s new song ‘The Subway’.
On the more technical side of things, what I really love about these illustrations is that I finally landed on a brighter, more vivid color palette, something that honestly felt a little intimidating before. The mix of pinks, oranges and greens paired with playful patterns like checkerboard, polka dots, plaid, cow print and leopard is starting to feel like a signature style for me <3
I’ve also been experimenting more with character design & the picnic illustration actually marks the very first official time I’ve drawn a man, which is hilarious cause I used to be exactly like that tiktok meme: drawing girls with intricate detail and complexity, while men ended up looking like stick figures, lol :-))
These two shifts (exploring color palettes and diving deeper into character design) were both goals I set for myself last year, so even tho I didn’t create as much as I initially hoped, I’m happy I managed to tick some important things off my 2025 art bucket list.
PROJECTS I’M WORKING ON BEHIND THE SCENES
As I mentioned before, one of my main goals for this year was to finish two illustration series and a zine… which honestly ended up being happily interrupted by me enjoying my free time outside the house, lol.
My first project idea for 2025 was a zine I’ve had in mind for ages. It always felt like too big of an idea to take on but I finally started working on it in March and it’s such a dear project to me. I honestly don’t know when I’ll get to finish it since it’s overlapping with a few other projects I’m working on right now, but I want to give it the time it deserves, to finish it slowly and properly without any rushing + it will be my first zine in a long time so I want it to be extra special x
It’s called ‘Love Letter to the Women in My Life’ and it’s a celebration of all the love, strength & support I’ve received from the women in my life who mean the most to me <3
Here are some draft snippets from my sketchbook:
As for this summer, I planned to dive back into a series I first thought of in back in 2023, but this time I wanted to make it more complete and fulfilling. The whole idea is rooted in my childhood and all the 2000s nostalgia that comes with it. I imagined it as a big series with two separate directions: one dedicated to all the little things that I loved as a kid (pop culture, music, movies, girly accessories, nostalgic games & overly decorated bedrooms; basically everything that screams childhood-teenagehood in the 2000s) and the other focused on recreating my favorite childhood cartoon characters: W.I.T.C.H., Winx Club, Totally Spies and other iconic girlies who basically raised me x
Even though I didn’t get to finish these projects by now, they’re still very much in progress behind the scenes and I honestly can’t wait to share them with you. If you’ve seen my 2024 October Art diary, you already know I love turning illustration series into a bit of a celebration where I also post the process videos, a blog post with the entire creative thinking behind every piece and all the documenting steps that come with it. So because I want to give these series that same kind of treatment and love, consider them a slow work in progress, haha.
UPCOMING ART PLANS
One big thing I’ve learned in 2025 is that no matter how many artsy plans I make, life has a funny way of getting in the way. Adult life just… sidetracks me. Even tho one of my personal goals for this year was to spend more time offline (and I can proudly say I actually succeeded), at the same time I’m still trying to figure out how to balance it all: day job, commissions, personal art, free time, swimming sessions and gym, my endless movies & books list and the other 500 hobbies which I often end up neglecting because I get lost playing Sims for hours, lol.
Still, for the rest of the year I want to focus on finishing the projects I mentioned above and also to jump into the annual October drawing challenge. I haven’t decided which one to pick yet (there are so many good ones to choose from), but I’m leaning towards a traditional illustration challenge. I don’t usually draw by hand outside of my daily sketchbook scribbles, so I think it would be refreshing to change things up and get back to basics for a bit. We’ll see x
Something I’ve realized is how differently my creative energy flows across the seasons. In spring and summer, I feel drawn to create sweeter, flower-power illustrations, which I think is the case for a lot of people. And even though I love dabbling in these fun and bright pieces, honestly during the summer I don’t feel as strongly about my art. It’s not really my cup of tea when it comes to creating, the hot weather exhausts me, drains my energy and makes it much harder to keep that creative juice flowing.
But when the colder months roll in… oh boy, that’s when I feel like MYSELF & at my most creative version. My darker and moodier color palette comes back out, ideas start flooding in so bad I honestly don’t know which one to tackle first, I feel recharged, full of inspiration, full of LIFE !! I don’t know what autumn does to me, but I think it’s something magical involved, haha. I’m telling you, the moment I feel a cooler breeze or spot the first leaf turning yellow, my mood lifts instantly, I’m already daydreaming about that crisp fall air, the sound of crunching leaves underfoot, oversized scarves and sweaters, cozy afternoons, cinnamon everything & of course, the spooky season. If you can’t tell… I !! am !! very !! excited !! about !! fall !!
Also, the colder months always pull my art towards that magical mix of cozy yet spooky, mysterious vibes, with those 80s retro girly-whimsigoth-halloween aesthetics, the ones that I think best capture my true personality and that specific cinematic vibe I’m trying to convey through my art. I think that certain vibe is what truly makes me excited to create and I’m so here for it in the upcoming months!!
But I get ahead of myself, it’s still august babes :-)) so until my next post, here you have the most summery fun pop playlist ever x
