I decided last week to take a mini Uni break or leave of absence for session 2. The reason I chose to do this was down to three reasons. 1. I had enrolled in a third-year class (haha oops 😅), 2. A reason I have confided in a few close friends and 3. I have been having a bit of a hard time lately with a lot of things that have weighed pretty heavy.
🌻 Good News + Book Illustration Preview
The good news is that I am slowly making progress and maybe that extra time will be good. I do plan to get back into my third book and update my Writing A Children’s Book series. Below is a sneak preview of the first draft of some of the characters.

📷 Recent Photographs
Lastly, here are some of my recent photographs. I am looking forward to taking heaps when I head to Sydney in August. 😍
You can view more of my photography via Flickr. 😘
💬 Questions
- Have you ever had to take a school/work break for yourself?
- What was the last thing you photographed?
12 Responses
Wow your photos look amazing! Which camera do you use?
I have a Canon EOS 700D with a 100mm Macro lens.
Loving the characters you’ve designed and developed, they look so cute and definitely Kassy-style 😉
Incredible photos as well – I need to step up my photography game!
Ahhh, the characters for your new children’s book are ADORABLE! I’m in the early stages of sketching out the cover for book two in my series, so I know how exciting it is to watch things come together!
I never took a break from school (I actually maxed out at 19 credit hours most semesters!) but I’ve taken plenty of work breaks. Eventually, everything in my head becomes foggy and disorganized, and it’s hard to do what I need to do! Of course, I still have to go to my office job, but I will put my writing and streaming on hold for a week and just play video games or go on hikes. The break helps to clear my head, and then I can hit the ground running for the following week 🙂
I’ve been photographing my new puppy like crazy! I need to post some pics of her on my site (although there are some on my Instagram already) 🙂
Photography isn’t my strong suit, but I did get nice shots of a few things/scenery from my time abroad. I must say, my favorite one of your mini-gallery here is that of fire ants because of its clear quality despite how much magnification needed to render it at a such clear quality…Though I’d personally buy a poster/framed portrait of the dog picture. Magnificent!
Sometimes we all need a break! Please try to relax and take care!
Doggy! XD As usual lovely photos!
Breaks are good. I’ve only been able to snag a week here or a day there for the last several years. My last big break was when I was between jobs for nearly 9 months. It was the best 9 months ever… I wish I could afford to take more breaks like that more often. 🙂
I’m curious about your children’s book and I love the graphics you’ve created for it, too!
I hope your uni break brings you some peace! I had to pull out of a semester during my undergrad when life completely went crazy and while I ultimately believed it was the right thing to do, it was still SO hard. I kept feeling like a failure for needing a break and had a really hard time not letting it feed the negativity that was going on around me at that time. Blegh. So not good. So I truly hope you’re enjoying your break and are not letting it add any negativity to your life like I did with mine. It’s okay to take a break. We all need them every once in a while!
I do look forward to your Writing a Children’s Book Series! I’m still so all over the place with my illustrations that I haven’t really thought of them in any other light than creating them to accompany my blog posts, but I do hope someday to branch out and start using my artwork to create a children’s book or graphic novel. Those characters are you shared a sneak peak of are so cute!
Ooh such beautiful photography. I bought a DSLR a couple of years ago but have sadly only ever used it for day trips. Someday I’d like to use it again… I just feel like once I work on that I’ll fall out of my illustration habit and I don’t want to risk that right now. Do you ever have a hard time juggling multiple creative outlets? I don’t know why it’s such a struggle for me.
Anyways, hope you’re doing well. <3
Yes, I need to take one from my job/work soon! I’m so burnt out, haha.
Those pictures are amazing! What kind of camera do you use? I haven’t taken any pictures in awhile but I’m thinking of copying Cat and taking pictures of my figures.
That is awesome that you are making a children’s book series. It looks really nice from the pictures of the characters you showed.
It’s totally okay to take a mini break! Take a break as long as you want and do what you need to do to get yourself back into gear. I mean, that’s what vacations are for XD. Love that you’re making so much progress over your next book – your characters are drawn out!! It’s great that all of the characters are unique in their own ways. You’re so talented with your photography!
Love the characters you’ve designed! They’re amazing! I can’t wait to see more of the book!
The photos look fantastic too. I really wish I’d taken photography in high school. At the time, I thought it was pointless, but I’d love to be able to understand how to create a great picture and what angles work etc. It’s something I used to think was really easy, but it’s so hard! I never know where to start with pictures!
Hope everything’s okay, Kassy, and the break does you some good.
I love the characters you’ve designed, Kassy! You definitely brought your identity and character into making them <3 I can’t wait to see how things come together in the end!
Your photos look wonderful! I wish I knew photography, but I just don’t have an eye for it, it seems XD Which camera do you use, btw? The quality is amazing too!