Coffee and Teams

I love coffee, but something rather unfortunate happened recently:

     I lost a member of Team, this is Marylin and I accidentally knocked

her over and created a crack. Sometimes teams separate, it can be because

the team has completed its goal and no longer needs to be in alliance, or

for disagreements. Regardless, hopefully the members can remain friends.

As for me, I really enjoy teamwork. It seems strange, but sometimes

completing  big accomplishments and receiving praise as a team feels better

than doing it all solo. I'm not on any art-related team right now but I am,

so very much, looking forward to it in the future. Stuck in a studio with a

group of artists and a goal...sounds fantastic. Until then, I will remain in

my dungeon, continuing the pursuit.

     I am aware that, in my time, I'll be part of numerous teams but, right now,

the one I am most excited about is the one in which I will commence my giant

library of cutting-edge animation.

New Introduction: This is Miss Smith, replacing Marylin.

Have a good day!

The X Sites

I compiled these helpful sites into a list, each one has proven to be worth visiting many times:

http://www.ctrlpaint.com

Ctrl+Paint is a free learning resource dedicated to the basics of digital painting. Here, Matt Kohr does such an excellent job in providing comprehensive lessons about digital painting that can be useful for all levels of artists. Some of them are short and quick, while others are longer and more in-depth. With the convenient organization and quality exercises this is a fantastic online resource to begin learning about digital painting. 


http://www.artists.pixelovely.com/

This is a site I have been enjoying for a long time. One of my favorite things to draw is gestures/actions. Here, there are quite a few amenities to help those of similar interest. The figure drawing practice is what I like the most about this site and the reason is because real photographs are used and there are some options for what type of models the user prefers. If you cannot attend a live figure drawing class, this may be the next best alternative.


http://www.illustrationfriday.com

Illustration Friday is a weekly drawing challenge and participatory art exhibit brought to us by Illustration Age(http://www.illustrationage.com) This site is really fun, every Friday a topic is posted and we have until the next Friday to come up with our interpretation of it and upload it here. Tis a nice place for light work and community building!


http://www.freelanceswitch.com/

FreelanceSwitch is a community of expert freelancers from around the world. If you are a beginner or are experienced, this is a wonderful site, full of valuable knowledge to gain some seasoning in the industry. There is so much rich opportunity here, such as opinions from other freelancers, forums, job boards, and referrals to other helpful resources. There is almost too much to cover here, but this site is like a piece of gold, now go grab it.


http://www.chrisoatley.com

Chris Oatley is a very kind artist who, genuinely, wants to build up the community, he does his part in this through teaching. He has lessons available online that people can purchase, at very low cost. He also puts out articles and newsletters that are quite interesting and helpful. It is inspiring to see people who put in loads of work, so this is an artist to look up to.


http://www.maijintheartist.com/

The art of Drew Lewis: this is a dedicated artist specializing in sci-fi work. If you feel stuck at your desk working and not having much contact with the outside world, he puts together articles about activity throughout the entertainment industry, so its nice to read what he has to say. Allow his articles to be your life-preserver.


The remaining sites are not art-specific, but still enjoyable:

http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/

I love audio books and this site is FULL of them, and completely free. Also, many of them are old classics that can be listened to and learned from. What is so nice about this site is that, if you are an audio book fan, you do not have to maintain your own organization or library, they are already well-organized and easily-available.


http://www.make-me-successful.com/

This is a site that can be helpful to anyone who is chasing greatness. The articles of Amtej Dosanjh are hardcore. They can really help people push towards their goals and decimate barriers. If you want an inspiration boost, definitely check these articles out. Keep it up.


http://www.yakitome.com

Pronounced as 'yack it to me,' this is a text-to-speech site. It is really convenient if you want to enjoy some writing, but your eyes are occupied. Just paste some text on the site and it will be read aloud. This is helpful for when I want to read loads of articles, but also want to work, now I can listen to them all with time-effeciency.


https://www.denzelajackson.blogspot.com

Yes, this site too, where else would you get all these sites in one place? I put up a new post every Friday with the hopes of meeting new artists and enjoying more of the community. You can subscribe and follow via e-mail and become aware of every new post!

If any of you are attending CTNX next month, let me know and
Have a good day. =)

Archive Fest

Archive ideas so when we cannot come up with a new one, there is a list waiting to be utilized because waiting for some material can be painful =(. That sounds quite simple, but I have still messed it up... I have noted ideas only to return to them in the future and not even understand that which I had written. For example: I walked by an outdoor recreation center with a really nice gazebo and mini-fencing, I felt the hunger to draw a party in that setting. So I noted "Outdoor party with white fence," and left it at that. Some time later, I viewed some of my notes and saw "Outdoor party with white fence." I  did not understand the vision and received no inspiration or inclination... That was a bad attempt at preserving an idea. Therefore, now I allocate with a bit more detail and clarification. Maybe a quick photograph, or I'll stop what I am doing and sketch until I feel that the idea will be re-understood in the future.

I have another version of ideas I keep. They are really vague visions of something that I don't see in its entirety, but still has potential value. I feel the best way to showcase this is to present some examples:

To me, this looks like a fat caterpillar/reptile with a dome-shaped hat or maybe a laughing worm with shoes.

A falling person, but the scribbles around give me an idea of falling down the eye of a tornado or into a cloud.

I see a bunch of settings that can be put into this. Someone lecturing, telling a joke or two people arguing? Any can do.

This one doesn't seem to have as much freedom as the others, but it can be tweaked to fit different versions. 


Each one of these took a very short amount of time to manifest, but we can get cool ideas from them in the future. Also, they are quite beneficial when we want to do some warm-up sketches to loosen up, why not take dual-advantage and make new and wild ideas?? Yee?

Purchase My Insurance

A common disappointment we all seem to face is thinking that we are not good enough or improving fast enough. This feeling comes and goes, but when it does come, it can really make an artist feel down. It can be a triggered thought or just come about suddenly. Occasionally, this happens to me when I look at much better artists' work. I tend to analyze myself against them and wonder if I work hard enough to get better or if I will ever match the artist, then it all starts... But having gone through this pattern countless times I set up reassuring thoughts that I can use like insurance.

3 Remedial Tactics:

1. Look at your own progress: When feeling down about your own work, I suggest taking a step back and looking at how far you have come! This can be done by simply flipping through sketchbooks or through your gallery. Maybe it is your attitude and confidence that has improved. I use to dislike drawing anything without loads of lineart to separate every plain, now I work with or without lineart, at my leisure(I am extremely glad that I have moved past that). Here is an example of how I use to sketch figures right after I first learned anatomy in 2009. Below it is some sketches I did in the last few weeks. I have more knowledge of the figure's mass, but my seasoning helped me create more interesting presentations:

2. Look at other artists' progress: The reason I think this is a good idea is because some fantastic artists seem to be perceived as never drawing like the average joe but having always drawn very well. But when I look at their past work it shows me that at some point in their progression, they were at the same level of quality that I am at now. Styles may be different, but each one needs to be refined to get better. I believe that if we work hard enough, we can stand next to our idols. Here is an excellent example of long-term progression:

art by Stanley Lau(Artgerm) of http://www.artgerm.deviantart.com

3. Swim in the positives: Something that I love so much is that there is ALWAYS work to do and ALWAYS potential improvement. At no point will we ever reach the maximum level, something can be improved. Some may perceive this as depressing, but I think it is wonderful that the teeth of accomplishment can always sink deeper. We have the freedom to go as far as we will.

This is a very common feeling, but check out these determined artists who committed to improvement:

art by Alexandria Lomuntad(akirakirai) of http://www.akirakirai.deviantart.com

art by Kurunya of http://www.kurunya.deviantart.com

"We all have 10,000 bad drawings in us. The sooner we get them out the better." -Walt Stanchfield