Long Time

So, I went to an illustrator's convention...and I feel meh about it. There were two talks out of the seven I went to that were worth it. After I got back, I did not feel like creating anything for a while. I was so put off by the entire experience, I didn't create anything for a month or so. On top of wasting a lot of money I could have used to upgrade my tools. So no, I will not be attending Illuxcon in the future.

Finally I feel like I'm back in the groove of things. Painting all day every day off feels good.

Warhammer 40k is copyrighted by Games Workshop.

More Work

Important Lesson

WARM UP.

Sketch. Loosen your shoulder. Get the juices flowing. This is very important.

I never gave any credence to this lesson because I never needed it. Things would flow from my brain onto whatever media I was using at the time. BAM! Voila! It's great!

I recently moved and I had to take a little over a month off from doing anything art related. I was very unhappy. I attempted to try something a couple days ago and it was complete shit. It's like I forgot what I was doing. It made me not want to try it again for a little while. I can see why people would be afraid to pick up something they haven't done in a long while. They don't want to see that failure staring back at them.

It could be anything. Cooking, music, art, dance, filing, running. It's tough for anybody. I couldn't understand why someone can't pick something back up and want to do it every day. I probably made them feel bad and for that I'm deeply sorry. All you can really do is encourage them.

So stop beating yourself up for making something that isn't perfect. It's a warm-up routine. Nobody has to see it but you. Work on it for about 10-20 minutes and then throw it away or keep it in a sketch folder.

And get better. No excuses.

My sketch. About 10 minutes.

A Way To Work

Here's some examples of the way I concept for the beginning phase of a polished piece. I typically create a base layer so I don't have to draw everything all over again and then change little things I think the client might want to see differently. The zombie one never got off the ground, but Flat Like Fred was finished.

Dragon and Bear

Dragon colored and expanded. Not too sure about the coloring to be honest, but I can change it at any time. I'll probably come up with different color sets. Oh, plus a bear! Grrrawr!

A New Idea

A rough for a new idea I've had kicking around for a little while. Can you tell what it is!?

Clothing Practice

Okay. Its been a little while and I've been updating the pro blog like a mad man while neglecting this thing. I suppose I'll try and give some helpful advice.

If you have a digital camera, take a pic of yourself. Try it out naked, you'll be the only one seeing the pics. Make sure you get a front and back.

Open the pics in photoshop and trace your outline and any relevant musculature you like. Fill it in with grey about 70% for the lighter skinned peoples (look in the color chooser people!).

Once you have that, create a new layer and basically draw whatever style of clothes you feel you need practice in. This way you don't necessarily need to worry about the proportions and angles of the body, you can concentrate on the stuff you need to work on. Make it rough, make it sketchy, give it a painterly feel, make it a great addition to your portfolio to score that elusive job. Just get better.

And that's it. Practice.


PRACTICE.

I felt I needed some practice with modern soldiers.

Complacency: A Lesson Learned.

For those wondering what the lesson is:

"NEVER BE COMPLACENT!"

I can't believe the mistakes and general sloppiness I fixed in this piece. I'm sure there's more to do, but I can't see it right now. Give me a couple weeks and I'm sure I'll pick it apart again.

Something A Little Different

Apologies for the long break. Wait, no apologies, I got married! I couldn't be happier and lets go ahead and assume it fuels my creativity.

New challenge from theartorder! Illustrate a scene from a classic Grimm fairytale. I chose a different setting a little further into the future. Can you tell which story I picked and what scene is illustrated? There are a few visual clues.

Portrait

A digital portrait of my sister in law. This, along with the Hugo piece, is part of a Christmas present they still haven't received...

Practice Practice

Slowly but surely making progress in the photoshop department. I've decided to copy old master paintings so I can relearn painting basics in the digital format. Up next, I think I'll tackle a Frederick Leighton.

Goofing off

As I play more and more with photoshop and my little graphics tablet, the more I like building an image from scratch rather than scanning and painstakingly inking it. Here's something I did in about 35 min.

Neat

Here's the first drawing I've done with the tablet.

Wacom Tablet

I purchased a graphics tablet! I've been wanting this for years and I finally got one (that I could afford!)!

I received it yesterday so I haven't had a lot of time to play around with it.

It's weird.

The sensation of not looking at your hand while drawing; It'll take a lot of time to get over that. Think about it: You've grown up drawing dinosaurs and whatnot. You ALWAYS had your hand within your line of sight, sometimes it even got in the way. Now you hardly glance at it.

Unfortunately I have to teach myself a new medium. This is exciting and yadda yadda, but it's frustrating to put out crap when you know you'd rock it if it were paper.

Time to draw.

Sometimes I don't feel motivated to do...well, anything. I'm sure everyone has this at some point, but I never expected to be feeling this way. It's like drifting in a little yellow raft on a glassy, green-tinged ocean that goes on and on in every direction. Nothing to do but lay back with your legs splayed over the sides and stare into the cloudless sky.

Inventor

This was a sort of fan-image I did for Beaton. You know how there's a portion of a drawing you like more than the others? For some reason this guy's hair gives me a happy feeling.

Packing up the apartment. Looks like it'll be a humid one today.

A little late, but here at last. It's been a wild week what with visiting friends moving to California, keeping the house spotless for the people coming by to possibly take over our lease and nervously anticipating a reply to my recent job application.

I need to get back on schedule with these updates.

Advancements have been made in the job department! Well, not forward progress, but at least I've been allowed to apply for the position. I think. I was told to submit it and see what happens. I hope this job has equally awesome people to work with and half the crap to deal with.

Now we have to find a place to live. The other place had its ups, by it had a couple big downs. Looking at three places tomorrow.

Have a grumpy evening!

Cleaning everything I can think of today. Potential lease-breaking savior taking a look tomorrow. Now if only I had a better idea of my job situation/security.

Have a grumpy day.