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Omi Gates

@omigates

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✏️Magazine Illustrator enjoying the lovely artist community here
🥷Fighting advanced #salivaryductcarcinoma a rare and aggressive #salivaryglandcancer

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Severed undersea communications cable, inspired by @colummccann.author's new book Twist, which we're listening to on @bbcradio4 @bbcsounds 📻 and prompted by @inktober's, erm, prompt 🤷‍♀️ #sever 😁

Hopefully all our cables are intact when I press post and this makes it to Instagram 😅

#communications #whatif #underseaart #inktobersever #inktober52sever #inktober52 #radiodrama #radio4 #bbcradio4 #bbcsounds #inkart #art #illustration #inktober #creative #ink #infinitepainter #illustration #drawings #artwork #sketchartist #inktoberchallenge #artstagram #inktoberart #inktober2025 #inktober522025 #inktoberartchallenge #inktoberallyearlong #myinktoberstory #digitalart taken in Herefordshire by @omigates

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There's always one 🤪

This is for @inktober no11 "Stunt"
Also @ifdrawaweek Swing for Spring & March of Birds

@jennifer.gallery thanks for some great prompts!
and @gracerajendran for some great adminning 😁

#inktober52 #inktober52stunt #ifdrawaweek362 #art #illustration #inktober #creative #ink #birds #natureart #natureartist #natureartwork #infinitepainter #illustration #drawings #artwork #sketchartist #inktoberchallenge #artstagram #inktoberart #inktober2025 #lineart #penandink #inktober522025 #inktoberartchallenge #inktober52challenge #inktober #inktoberallyearlong #myinktoberstory taken in Leominster by @omigates

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Daisy Chain 🌼
Inktober prompt 10 Daisy

Combining nature with metal in my drawings is something I planned to explore, so seeing Inktober's "Daisy" prompt was all the motivation I needed to get started.

Drawing the chain was a challenge to start with and I had some links that were mind-bending optical illusions before I got the shading right 🤔Addictive though, and really satisfying when it went right 🔗

#daisychain #conceptart #infinitepainter #illustration #drawings #artwork #sketchartist #inktoberchallenge #artstagram #inktoberart #inktober2025 #lineart #penandink #inktober52 #inktober522025 #inktoberartchallenge #inktober52challenge #inktoberdaisy #inktober #inktoberallyearlong #inktober52daisy2025 #myinktoberstory #inktober52daisy taken in Leominster by @omigates

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That's it for my self-study balance notes. I enjoyed looking at it all again and I hope someone somewhere finds it a bit useful.

In my next post I'll be sharing something I've been working on that's very close to my heart 💜

#balance #basicprinciplesofdesign #arttutorial #studynotes #art #drawing #howto #journal taken in Tenby, Pembrokeshire by @omigates

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Hi guys, posting from the seaside 🚂🤓🙌🍟🍦🩴🦀🐚

This one's self-explanatory, so we'll take advantage of that and have a less wordy caption 🤐 while hubby and I go find some fish and chips 😁

#art #balance #balanceinart #lovetodraw #basicprinciplesofdesign #arttutorial #studynotes #drawing #howto #journal taken in Tenby, Pembrokeshire by @omigates

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Today's slide explores the three key ways to create balance:

Symmetry - elements are mirrored equally through a vertical or horizontal line.

Radial Symmetry - elements spread out from a central point.

Asymmetry - careful arrangement of visual weight.

The asymmetrical form allows for more variety in a composition than symmetrically balanced designs. It provides the same comfortable feeling as symmetry, but is more natural, and more subjectively balanced using weight - more on this in my next post.

When you create an asymmetrical picture, you still need balance - unless you're trying to make the viewer feel uncomfortable or create tension.

At home my asymmetrical balancing often makes hubby feel uncomfortable, especially when I do the dishes. I like to pile them high and balance them precariously, sometimes, admittedly, just to get a reaction 😏

#balance #basicprinciplesofdesign #arttutorial #studynotes #art #drawing #howto #journal by @omigates

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Having had no formal art education, hearing a phrase like "Basic Principles of Design" will cause my facial muscles to twitch and induce a frantic Google search when no one's looking 😅 In fact, that's precisely how I spent the week a few years ago when I was due to do a post on "balance" for the SYC art community.

I have 3 more slides on balance, covering symmetry, asymmetry, and visual weight, which I'll post over the next few days.

I love creating balance in my home as well as in my art, which reminds me of when I was first married - nearly 30 years ago! - and I was very particular about how things were placed about the house.

It was a freezing night and we were tucked up lovely and warm under our duvet when my newly-wedded-husband said to me, 'You know the spice jars?' referring to a wedding present of 12 or so jars that I had stood in a row "just so" on our kitchen shelf.

'Yeah...'

'And, you know the basil?'

'Uh huh...'

'I may have turned it slightly,' he said and grinned at me in the darkness. I looked at him like who would DO that?!

I examined my feelings for a while then flung back the covers, ran down the ice-block stairs, and located the basil, which, of course, was right where I left it, facing the right way, slightly at an angle, like all the others. I could hear him chuckling away upstairs. He had yet to learn that I was a woman with a penchant for revenge.

I'd like to think I'm not that much of a perfectionist these days, but I know for a fact that a picture hanging wonkily on a wall can still get me out of bed on a cold night. Don't ask me how I know 😑

#balance #basicprinciplesofdesign #arttutorial #studynotes #art #drawing #howto #journal #pranks taken in Leominster by @omigates

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Today is Rare Disease Day and I'm excited to be a part of Genetic Alliance UK's "More Than You Can Imagine" Anthology 2025 🩷

This is my thanks to everyone who has supported me over the last two years and who continue to be a source of comfort and strength as I battle this rare and aggressive cancer. I appreciate you.

I've added a link to the anthology in my bio and it's free to download. I'm honoured to share page 34 with little Eli 💙

#salivaryglandcancer #salivaryductcarcinoma #rarediseaseday2025 #RareDiseaseDay #community #cancerawareness #rarecancer taken in Herefordshire by @omigates

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Spring is coming! Little flowers are popping out all over the place now 😊

Reminding myself how to #animate in #krita and how to do reels. Hopefully it won't be too awful 😅

Animation test. #animation #flowers #springflowers by @omigates

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📌 I have two bits of exciting art news that I'm bursting to tell you... but I can't yet 🤐😏🤭 Just leaving that there so you'll visit my account again 😜

✏️ This is the last in my pen & ink study-notes mini-series. It's been fun to revisit these; just basic info that you all know anyway, but I had a lot of fun designing the slides. I've been tweaking my Balance notes and plan to post them soon too.

🥷💜

#arttip #arttips #art #artistcommunity #artistshelpingartists #shareart #penandink #pendandinktechniques by @omigates

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✏️ Continuing to share my study-notes on pen & ink techniques. I love the 3D-effect contour lines make, and the visual depth in the mutliple cross-contours makes me weirdly happy.

🥷 On a personal note, my recent PET scan showed some suspicious nodules in both lungs. I'm frightened but trying to stay optimistic.

I've found myself doing this thing where I name my happy thoughts and imagine them as marbles in my pocket. Little orbs of swirling happiness that I can roll around in my fingers, or take out and hold up to the light.

Specific things work best, like a drawing I'm working on, or some writing, an outing I'm looking forward to, that sort of thing.

I know it's not a new idea, to think happy thoughts, but imagining those thoughts as tangible things, that I can rummage through and choose from, gives me a sense of control over my mind.

A bit off topic 😅 but it's good to share - art tips and coping strategies ❤️‍🩹

#arttip #arttips #art #artistcommunity #artistshelpingartists #shareart #penandink #pendandinktechniques #cancerawareness #cancerwarrior #salivaryglandcancer #salivaryductcarcinoma #arttherapy #friends #mentalhealth #happythoughts #copingstrategies by @omigates

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