Back in 2020 when the 'Vid was wrecking havoc on the world, my job of 13 years was a casualty. Thrown into the unemployment line for the first time in my career, I had to find ways to keep my sanity when not frantically networking and searching for jobs. I returned to my roots as I had been sketching since I was old enough to handle a pencil without poking my eye out.
So I got book covers, album covers, etc. and my pen and paper and for two minutes I would look at the item and NEVER down at my paper. This would result in a spontaneous "blind" sketch. After the two minutes I could look at the result in order to color and complete the work. I first was taught this approach back in college and quite honestly it can produce some of the coolest results.
When my youngest daughter was just six years old we had exhausted playing I Spy, 20 Questions and games of the like. So together we came up with a silly new game where you would combine two animals into a new animal and yell out their new name. She really loved it and I have considered making this into a kids book. One of our favorites was the Octopotamus.