Nice work dude, loving how that mountain of madness piece is turning out and it's a pretty accurate picture of the story. Maybe this might not work or it might take away from the composition but maybe try putting a small odd looking shadow of a creature on the mountains in front of the city, only something very small but it could add some cool drama.
Also on the topic of lovecraft, you ever seen the mouth of madness with Sam Niel? highly recommend it's an amazing lovecraftian movie.
TRIGGERED: Thanks man, I'm tired of lookin at it lol, Idk what I coulda done different, but the idea I had in my head actually looks pretty close to how it turned out; Come to find that idea was good, I just couldn't execute it at the level it needed to be, but I learned so much stuff about process which is really beneficial, even if a piece doesn't turn out the best.
Success in art is only for those who are willin to sit there and hurt for it until it looks smooth and effortless. Got an idea for Beyond the wall of sleep, just gotta do some research on magical effects and what not. Gonna keep the composition simple, a figure in a powerful vertical pose who is completely white and glowing, and behind him a bunch of chaotic space magic stuff swirling to contrast with the solid and seemingly grounded pose of the figure. Maybe throw in some demon hands in there, but well see I'll sleep on it.
Till then, here's some crazy shit: (emphasis on crazy) All from today.
That manga girl with the head is so kawaii :3 haha I always wanted to use that word. The last pic so cool too! Kinda reminds me of a painting by noah bradley :D
So I had another one of those Eureka's today.. probably the last one I'll need to have to get anywhere with this. Now I've been accused before of being shifty in my thinking, and I can see where someone would be skeptical of that sort of thing, but yea I think I've figured out my biggest issue at least.
Once a year, I relisten to a Will Terrell Video called "Why artists fail to get good feedback." And for the past two years maybe, I've always felt like I'm in the same place when I hear it. the phase he mentions of being "good, but not great." So, after I posted that glowing light thing above, which I thought was the most well executed piece I'd ever done since it was so simple, it completely flopped on social media.
And at first I was bummed out, because I felt like I'd been fooled for years like... If i can get something to look realistic and clean people will like it. But that's not true. When I look at it now it looks very generic and has no real emotion. Kinda like if you google image search for "astral projection" or "out of body experience."
I realized so many of my best pieces are done in maybe less than 8 hours, sometimes even less than 2 hours. The skull, you know the one with the white hair. My most successful piece, the ONLY piece that has gotten me some commissions. I did that in like.. 2015 I think? Never topped it with social media reaction. I've learned so many tricks and technical things since then, and my followers grows silently but they seem very... Not excited about anything. And that could very well do with how I'm not really excited about my work.
The most excited I ever was about my work was when I was drawing the pinup women. I really loved doing that but I also felt very awkward about it since I was doing something that is typically seen as risque or whatever. People didn't react to it well, but at least they had a reaction, I got a lot of like "butterface" comments and stuff like that people saying like, "Oh she looks like she has down syndrome." (In Retrospect, they did looks silly, but I wished I would have pushed that even more to the point it was so over the top it was cool.)
So I felt really I guess hurt by that and I said, well I should just do something safer that's more in line with realism so i don't get those hurtful comments anymore. And the period right after that was pretty cool, I felt like I was progressing and people enjoyed my work, but once it hit 2016, it just got really really rough, especially in the later months. I've just had the pedal to the medal for so long and nothing seems to be happening. If anything, I feel like the enthusiasm for my work has shrunk, and people just say an occasional nice thing out of pity, lol.
But anyways, a story Will Terrell shared about a fellow he knew at a convention who had a very beautiful portfolio resonated well with me. The people from the company he was showing his folio to were not impressed by his work, though they said it was good, it wasn't what they were looking for. Then on his way out he dropped his briefcase and many papers flew about of sketches that he had done of a Latin influence and they instantly were mesmerized by his work. He thought they weren't good enough, like they didn't fit the bill.
I get really really jealous when I see people who stylize early on and quickly get work, like an old friend of mine from the Sycra forums named Brobossa on Deviantart. He has so much work, he has to take breaks, man I'd kill for that. I'd kill to have a commission once a month. And he's told me he doesn't practice too much, and in contrast I'm so willing to just beast through anything, but to no reward...
Basically, the biggest issue is I just didn't enjoy doing 90% of the stuff in my gallery. Just complete nightmares of forcing something out of me that I'm not. All these stupid like fears and judges in my head of what things need to be and I just need to let go, and become detatched from outcome. So people feel that when they see my stuff, they feel a bit of that anxiety and stress and shit, and it's very offputting. But now I know what I have to do.
It's a pretty dark feeling when you learn all this shit and still nobody cares; But I get why they don't care now, it makes sense now.
Those sketches I posted maybe two days ago with the goofy faces? Yea, that... I need to develop that since well... that's the easiest thing I know how to do, it's the most expressive, the most unique, and I don't hate it to be honest, I actually kind of like it. I only really cringe at failed attempts of realism, not my stylized stuff. I problem solve a lot more on that and it's almost no stress at all. Just let the style do what it wants. And I even found this fellow on Youtube with the same sentiment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aimx8YENurE
I almost feel like marking down this day in my life, like and I'm really hoping this isn't just hyperbole. I feel like it's an end to a dark age. If i could go back in time I'd tell myself this quote from Todd McFarlane, "Yea my anatomy's broken but it's cooler than anything you can draw." He's soooo right. Mike Azevedo can draw a pig in the woods and it's cooler than anything I've ever done! It's just style man, that's what sets you apart.
My buddy showed me an oil painter who paints photoreal portraits the other day and I just didn't care. I wasn't impressed at all, if anything I felt kind of stressed out looking at it. Like it was really grueling to create. If I had to start over, well I'd probably not be able to do it again but if i had to, I'd tell myself to draw from the mind 90% of the time and focus on a word like:
Cool, scary, sexy, funny, exciting, expressive, epic, savage, stuff like that. Focus on one or several of those words when you draw instead of words like, "Good, realistic, industry standard, (Like X famous artist,) employable, or any kind of box you could put it in like concept art or illustration."
Don't even worry about improvement, because you'll never be the best, I mean, just have fun you know? Focus on what you think is cool when you were a kid. I shoulda listened when people told me that, but to be honest I thought I was listening. Every artist I love right now stylizes, every single one; Serge Birault, Even Amundson, Mike Azevedo, Paul Richards, just crazy fuckin lines. I still love the realistic stuff too like Ruan Jia and Boug, but I gotta you know, focus on something else for a while. Ugh, I wish this all wasn't such an emotional maze, but more of a direct and clean cut solution to developing, but then it wouldn't be worth doing.
So for the month of March, that's what I'll do is just draw whatever the fuck i want. No filter, just anything my hand puts on the page. Could be an alien, could be a face, could be a machine, a lamp, whatever. I'm gonna get all the bad out of me, the stiff lifeless shit that plagues my gallery. It's all bullshit! And I don't know what it's gonna look like, but I'll figure it out and you can join me.
One. Seriously consider not using social media reactions as a good way to adequately judge the merit of your own work. See point three below
Two. Stylisation is great. My downs syndrome comment was a harsh way of saying the stylisation you were doing at the time wasn't really something I personally would find enjoyable to look at nor would be likely to get you much work "in the industry" since that is what you were lamenting about a bit at the time.
The work you did since then focusing on basics have very clearly and significantly increased your technical skill in a way that just doing those pinups hadn't for a long time. So don't be so quick to dump on something that has shown tangible results.
It's good that you want to follow your own way, that's what everyone should do all the time really as long as they are honest with themselves at all times.
Three. I've been saying this basic message to you about not caring what others think of your work for well over two years dude. Glad you finally seem to be realising it yourself!
Haha thanks Amit; Yea I have my theories about social media, and I get what you're saying. It took social media for me to realize it, and I think that's where a lot of people come to that conclusion is from the entity itself. And by no means am I throwing shade on you for that comment, because believe me, you're not the only one who made that specific comment on it lol. Everyone needs a little tough love, I'm no victim, just a koala.
So I spent most the day just reading stuff... Mainly Paul Richard's Babe Lab, it's quite a gold mine of information on drawing theory, and it's all naked ladies so it's easy to pay attention. The theories he has about simplifying and abstracting shapes seem so less cryptic and intimidating now. I just gobble this stuff up since I finally can relate to and appreciate his work; Do give it a visit if you're interested; It can apply to pretty much any style of drawing.
After reading all that, drawing hot girls is so much more complex and interesting, almost like math problems to show the most form, depth and personality. Paul's work really is mind melting, the amount of stuff that comes out of that bald head of his.
(02-26-2017, 01:17 PM)Fedodika Wrote: I realized so many of my best pieces are done in maybe less than 8 hours, sometimes even less than 2 hours.
I want to point out something basic, but true, for me, and probably most people, which is, with proper knowledge, repetition/memorization, and experience, comes speed. (think about how you learned your abcs or anything) Most artists eventually tend to form a work-flow with processes they've learned or know have worked for them in the past, which also helps them to become more consistent, and faster down the road.
I think it would be a mistake to have a focus entirely on speed or even have it affect you, but I don't think it's a bad practice to test/time yourself every once in a while to see how fast you can get something done using a work-flow to see if you can improve anything in it. In the end, you really just want to create an art piece that genuinely looks good to YOU. However you reach that point is really up to you.
(02-26-2017, 01:17 PM)Fedodika Wrote: The most excited I ever was about my work was when I was drawing the pinup women.
If it's true that you were the most excited about doing pinups, why not continue doing them? But also, use all of the fundamentals you've learned and are learning, and incorporate them. Create a work-flow. Make the best god damn pinup you can! Basically, study and learn everything using pinups as your centerpiece subject matter.
I'm the same honestly, I massively prefer to look at stylized work(usually anime in my case) over anything else, even if technically the artist is way worse, stuff like the old master works for the most part they really don't interest me I much prefer other artists like Cushart Krenz or Kawacy.
That being said I do think there is a balancing act between stylizing your work and studying which is something I've been trying to find a balance for atm, in my case I've been trying for 3 hours of studying then just 3 hours of doing whatever I want from imagination each day and trying to relax with it(seriously imagination work used to stress me out so much).
I do think studying is still really important because even the most stylized work usually has elements of realism, good example for one that blew my mind was when people started pointing out how some anime artists would draw the bottom eyelid line and the shadow of the top eyelid.
But at the same time I don't think you need to apply this to realistic pieces first, instead I think you just need to take the information you learn from studying and figure out how best you can apply it to your work or if you even want to apply that specific thing to it.
I think Vilppu said something similar about anatomy actually, it's very important to learn it but once you do it really doesn't matter.
Dennis/TRIGGERED: Thanks for stopping by guys, basically to answer both of you; I just want to draw what feels "natural" and is "fun" for me to do. I've become detached from outcome, and I just want to explore different things at my own whim. I like doing pinups, so I'll probably do some of them here and there, and some aliens or dragons or whatever, just anything I feel like doing. I'm tired of having to be one thing, when I want to do everything. I really wished I could be a specialist, but my mind just doesn't work like that.
Also, don't read too much into what I say, I'm kind of shifty, since I'm constantly trying to figure out a huge puzzle, and since I post everyday, you're experiencing how rapidly my approach and mindset changes from a day to day basis.
I spent a lot of time reading Babelab today, and if anyone knows of any similar sites besides Muddycolors/gurneyjourney that has that sort of advanced drawing analysis/theory behind it, that'd be cool to see! Most resources people put out are either step by steps that don't explain much of the thought process or a really boring gumroad video where the person barely speaks english, has no charisma, and I feel like I haven't learned anything after spending 10$ on it and wasting an hour of my life watching it :)
Had a really interesting day today, went and jammed with my buddies house and a short show they did. Met these cool hippy guys who travel all around the southeast, makin tons of money buskin in the streets playing hillbilly songs. really cool haha, here's some gorrillas I tried to stylize, and had a fun time, gonna do some more of these tomorrow!
For the past couple weeks I've had a ridiculously tough time uploading attatchments, idk if it's just me but sometimes the uploader thing is so slow I just post stuff on tumblr and link it here.
Drew lots of walruses today, it's tough to make something so wierd and flubby look cool, but I think I pulled it off at least a little. The key to stylization is proportions. I tried drawing a walrus man with normal proportions and it just looks shit, then i tried something more dramatic with small cartooney stuff, and looked way better!
loving your linework man, its got a certain style too it. also i love the random butts you draw amonst your portraits...you gotta do what you gotta do :P
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