girlfringe diaries #19 ★ happy fall season, drawing preparations & one year of my Art Diary project<3

Guys, it’s finally fall!!!!!!! 🍂

Welcome to the PRETTIEST time of the year, the one that makes me romanticize everything: the smell of rain, the sound of my chunky boots on wet streets, the way even the dullest corners start glowing orange. This is MY season, when my creative drive and inspiration reach their peak and when I get to create art in the aesthetic that fuels me the most: that dreamy blend of cozy textures, layered patterns, cute accessories and trinkets, all sprinkled with nostalgia, a hint of whimsical magic & just enough dark fantasy to make it mysterious.

I have so many fun artsy things planned around this time & i’ll be yapping about that in a bit, but first let me tell you about my daily life this September🦇☕️ I felt like autumn is really autumning this year so I decided i’m saying yes to every single fall activity i can find: I’ve been wandering through the city taking photos of the first golden leaves, I popped by my fave record store a bit too many times, bought some books to prepare for the upcoming cosy nights I’ll spend reading, went to drawing autumn picnics & the highlight of the month, seeing Justin Warfield from She Wants Revenge live !!!!! Abolute perfection.

And let me tell you that my October’s plans are even better, I have a whole list ready: more concerts around Bucharest, every fall market I can find, joining a pumpkin contest with my bestie, endless cozy shows and Halloween-themed movie marathons, baking as much pumpkin as I can & of course, preparing my spooky outfit for this year <3

Now, let’s get into my art plans for this season! ✨

As you probably know, last fall I came up with my most favorite personal project ever, Art Diary, which is basically my own version of an autumn drawing challenge, inspired by the big ones out there like Inktober or Drawtober.

Here’s the gist: I make my own list of prompt words, draw each of them, create a little process video reel for every illustration, write a blog post here on ‘Girlfringe Diaries’ where I just yap about the whole creative mess from start to finish for each illustration & the best part, every illo gets a mixtape in form of a spotify playlist <3

So of course I’m bringing it back this year !!!! This time, I’ve planned 20 prompts total, stretching across the whole season, because I wanted it to be more of a “fall” challenge instead of just an October thing. Like I said before, fall is when I’m the most inspired & most in love with creating so I want to celebrate it by turning Art Diary into something more bigger and moodier this year.

For October, I’m going full dark fantasy mode: witches, spells, apothecaries, potions and all things Halloween. Think whimsigoth girl energy: magical, moody, a bit girly & a bit eerie. I want to play with deeper tones, shiny accessories and that beautifully haunting color palette that just feels like October.

For November, we’re switching gears into more of a dreamy ‘80s retro-pop nostalgia zone mix with small town mystery vibes, heavily inspired by my favorite fall TV shows: Twin Peaks, Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries. I will also be celebrating the final season of Stranger Things (a show that basically shaped my aesthetic forever), so expect record players, old phones, vintage jackets, warm lights and that cozy-but-weird vibe that only retro fall can give.

Soo that’s the plan! Get ready for a mix of whimsy, witchiness, nostalgia, and sparkles because I bring back whimsy 🕸️🍂

And because today Art Diary turns one year old 🎂 here are ten of my fav pieces I made last year during the project. If you missed it, you can always find the drawing & yapping posts here on my blog <3

Girlfringe’s Art Diary 2024 Recap 🍂 🧣🦇🕸️🔮🕷️ 🧡