Tag Archives: art

WTFW

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     First off, I owe you guys an apology. I’ve posted twice but you didn’t see that because my app updated and changed the process by which you post updates. Since I usually do these on Monday on my train ride to work, I didn’t notice I hadn’t posted since two weeks ago! 

    Now for the image. I joined a Facebook group called daily art challenge. Everyday they post a new picture and you have to draw it that day. It’s a cool little exercise and since my clients are sometimes resistant to having me post their private art, this can allow me to do so.

Win/win.

     I do have a few reservations however. Actually it always comes back to the same thing; am I simply producing free art for some group? I’ve noticed a few times that I didn’t participate that I was asked to. That a member couldn’t wait to see my interpretation of the photo provided.

     I am always wary of this type of thing. It’s why I avoid contest where the sponsoring company claim domain over the rights to your stuff in perpetuity, whether you win or not. Screw that!!

      I hope I don’t come off as a crank. Artists tend to not notice these types of things until they’re too late. And full disclosure, I sold this to a co-worker who adored it for ten bucks. 

    It is artWORK, after all.

Illicit Response

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     Okay…. I’m not sure about the age of my audience. I drew this pretty quickly, so hopefully no one gets upset. Ready? Here we go…

    So as much as finished pieces gets all the glory, it’s the ground work that makes it all come together.

      I honestly was never one for sketching in the past. If I had an idea, I would just dive right in, no plan, just improvising as needed.

     But as I got further along in my career, I learned that having a plan isn’t necessarily a bad thing! It actually helps to know in advance what you’re doing. It helps in a lot of ways.

    For instance, I already knew ​where my light source would come from. It made layering my skin tones a LOT simpler.

    Having a good layout helps with the speed I’m able to use here. I can reverse the image to make sure I have the balance needed.

    Now that I’m happy with it, I can begin to blend my colors and perform little tweaks that are required for the look I’m after.

     Now all I need to do is clean up my Image and give her shadows a little depth by cooling them off.

    A lot of these things become easier with time. Give them a try!

Mandatory Wishes

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     I finally made my price list for commissioned work. It didn’t take me too long; it was more of a matter of me procrastinating, truthfully.

    No, this isn’t going to be a rant about customers and what they’re willing to pay. Instead I’m talking about artists and what’s​considered fair market value for what they create.

     Let’s face it; some (most) of the artists I know are terrible at marketing themselves. Quite a few are antisocial, which is fine if you’re already famous, not so much when you’re a complete unknown.

     My best and possibly worst examples of this are scammers; people who either modify an artist’ work or copy it completely in order to sell it as their own. These scum have NO problem with confidence or marketing. I honestly believe that a lot of artists could benefit from learning how to do so from these inhuman things. 

     There are a lot of reasons for not succeeding. You should never let yourself be one of them.

Surprise!

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     Yeah yeah, I know. ” What the hell is he doing posting in the middle of the week?” 

    Well two reasons. One, Lee Binks of #leebinksfitness is competing in the Arnold Europe, so I decided to draw her as motivation. I’m cool like that. Go Lee!

      The other is that I was trying out a new sketchpad. However, I forgot an important factor; paperweight. It absorbs ink, but only to a limit, so it was resistant to my usual technique. Ugh!!

    So I got more of a watercolor look. See? So never stop learning or trying something new. It’s okay to make mistakes, as long as you learn from them.

Fun is Work

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     I can’t believe how many projects I have going now! It’s ridiculously draining, lol. No anime, no gaming, just art ALL THE TIME!!

   Isn’t that awesome?

    Of course not every piece has to be super realistic or complicated. Take this one. It’s a picture of a friend, done in Photoshop. I’d promised it to her a while ago. Felt nice to actually make it.

   I suppose I could polish it a bit more, but the comic book feel would be lost. 

  I did have to make a few anatomy corrections; otherwise it looks like her. I was glad to do it because it was fun. 

    Now that the head is the right size, I can send it to her. She was pretty happy and I had a good time. 

    I wish everyday was that way.

Be

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    Yay! I actually got permission to post my digital art! Maybe I was wrong to give the choice, but I feel that portraits​ are kinda personal. 

     I’ve been so busy with repairing my home. It’s a little over one hundred years old and it’s last update was in the 80’s. I’m not trying to go too modern, but things like floor sag and bad rafters come before the pretty stuff. Foundations first!

     Maybe I should just enjoy this period of my life. After all, it hasn’t been this quiet in a long time. No impending doom, just everyday things. I should be content.

    Ha! Who am I fooling? Even though it’s true, that’s just not my nature. After a decade of nothing but one emergency after another, there is no way I could fully believe that calm waters are ahead. But is that experience or paranoia?

    I gave up on happy. It abandoned me. My world has been mostly grey with occasional flashes of color. I’ve come to accept it, even appreciate those rare instances.

    Was I wrong? Could it be?

     Here’s the truth; I WANT to be. I really do. I know it’s a little like giving up on life the way I live. But I’m not sorry. It’s my way of… I’m getting my affairs in order. That’s all I’ve been doing. Stalling in the hopes that it isn’t necessary, but keeping my distance from life so that I won’t mind parting with it.

    Dammit.

   Okay. I need to start doing more than getting by. I need to find joy in little things. Like my art. It doesn’t need to be complicated because now I know what I want!
  I want to be.

 

Inflict

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     Finally! Back to the digital art! I know some of you thought I’d given it up. Truth be told, a lot of people don’t want their stuff posted. 

    Add to that the fact that I find portrait work sorta boring and you get mostly sketches. No biggie.

    This image is a little special though. Because although this IS from a person, this pose technically never existed. I had to modify the stance in order to create something a bit more dynamic.

     I get that some consider digital art to be little more than photo manipulation. I always try to change some aspects of the image I create, just to prove that I’m not just adding a Photoshop filter and calling it a day.

      To me it’s a way to conveniently create large scale media. While I acknowledge the need for some high speed flip art ability, too often it ends up being a reason to pretend art is just a thing easily made. 

    So yeah; if you hadn’t seen the previous steps, you may be tempted to think I used an animate filter of some kind. Nope!! Just good old knowledge and talent applied.😊

     So the next time you see the words “digital art” on my page or any other, remember the effort it took to pluck an idea out of your head and put it together visually. After all, the process matters as much as the end result.

More Good News for Bad News

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    My time for art has been rather tight lately. If I’m not doing stuff like the image above for clients, I’m editing videos and doing photography. It all adds up, so I try not to think of it as work. That would kill the vibe, lol.

    In the meantime, it’s always a joy to find an hour or two for my own personal projects. This weekend was such a break. I went to my local Starbucks, sat down and begin this picture. Actually had a guy get upset when he was informed that the person in the picture was a girl. Silly dude, strong girls rock!

So since this is the month for it, expect a few more strong women 😉

Uno Problema

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     I was going to remark about the wonderful weather we’ve had recently, but since the cold came back, why bother? Instead I’m just trying to do my thing and put some art together. Is that cool with you guys?

     Sorry the photos for this don’t start at the very beginning. I was so engrossed in what I was doing I almost totally forgot! I’ve decided to break out the pencils occasionally, just to stay fresh. Plus I’m intrigued by Crossfit right now, so I decided to draw one of its athletes.

     I have a request for a rush project, with no concern for my price!! So happy!! It doesn’t mean that I’ll gouge the client; that’s how you get a bad reputation, something I intend NOT to cultivate. Still, it’s a signpost letting me know that I’m heading in the right direction.

Wish me success!!

[un] Sound

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       What a horrible year! Or at least January was. February has a lot to make up for. Luckily the check I got from one of my old credit cards was a nice start. So let’s get rolling…

   This one is purely for fun. I bought this tanned paper notebook a while ago and have rarely used it. Plus my prismacolor pencils have been languishing at home, so it was time to dust those skills off.

     The usual tactic here is to use the shade of the paper as one of your colors; it’s a pretty cool effect, but I could care less about it. 

      I’m after time on this one. Not as a sketch, but a complete picture. 

       Honestly, I do images like this to keep the fun aspect of art alive. People always want to see their ordinary lives in art and I could never understand the reasoning. Why? But now I feel that what they’re trying to do is capture a feeling visually.

    So each layer of color adds emotional context. And if you miss that then there’s a good chance that your technically sound picture can feel dead.

     No artist wants a disconnect in his images. The thing with being self taught is that you have to realize this yourself; otherwise you’ll draw a lot of dead faces and mannequins, lol.