hello all :~)

[christmas.unicorn]

new here and adding more info/ramblings in a comment to come. crit away!

[Artloader]

Welcome to Crimson Daggers Christmas.Unicorn!

Nice start to your sketchbook - is that last piece done in acrylics? I've been toying with the idea of dabbling with acrylics myself but not gotten round to it yet.

If you're into painting heads, I can recommend Proko's free YouTube videos:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1EPNYWeEf1U

Looking forward to hearing more from you and seeing more of your work.

[christmas.unicorn]

@Artloader, yep it's acrylics! i love how smooth paint is so i've been experimenting with it recently. i'm currently using cheapie ones but honestly i think skill is more important than quality of supplies. ill check out that vid today probably!

ALSO: here is my ramblings/intro as promised. i'm currently an art school freshman and the whole thing has just been a complete whirlwind so far. i had to take a 3d conceptual art class, which totally blew my mind. i also had to take a technical drawing class, but with probably the hardest and worst drawing professor in the department. my peers are SO talented and honestly it intimidates me. in my drawing class i was solidly average.. and as someone wanting to go into either painting or illustration i feel like i should have excelled in such a class and i feel guilty and weird for being where i'm at. i'm also worried about getting into the major i want, ect. ect.

somewhere along the line this year i stopped making personal art completely, and i was only doing classwork. i was still drawing for hours a week, but all of it went to the drawing class. i technically didn't stop making art for any period of time, but i stopped making art that matters.

i've only been making art since the summer of 2015 and i also feel "behind" compared to my peers. i'm with kids who've seriously been drawing since middle school, who've been in art programs for all of high school. i know it won't really matter when we all kind of plateau out as amazing artists in 10 years but for now it's been bugging me.  

a week and a half or so ago i read a book called Art and Fear. it was honestly excellent, and it was so reassuring knowing that other artists go through the same sorts of things with self doubt and comparison and being too damn hard on themselves. i picked back up my supplies, and have been making stuff like mad since. i'm also on winter break right now with basically unlimited free time, giving me a great opportunity to get some real work done.

any thoughts/comments on all of this would be appreciated greatly.

now for what i did yesterday: 






honestly loling at myself for this half abandoned thing. i should not have started with my darkest dark being burnt umber straight from the tube lmao. i guess you learn.

[John]

Hey Christmas,

First things first, happy holidays to you! Wishing you a good one where ever you are.

my peers are SO talented and honestly it intimidates me. in my drawing class i was solidly average.. and as someone wanting to go into either painting or illustration i feel like i should have excelled in such a class and i feel guilty and weird for being where i'm at. i'm also worried about getting into the major i want, ect. ect.

Swear to god, I know that feeling. I have friends who are really gifted at drawing. Gifted. Like this art thing is built in their system from the get go. You know those types that can afford to play video games and still draw really good stuff? People who can afford to squander their time and still bang out a good piece? Them. Standing beside those people will make anyone quit. I mean, I did. 

"Why bother". "If they couldn't make it, there's absolutely no reason that I could". I believe those thoughts may have crossed your mind at least once. To tell you honestly, there are moments where I still think about those thoughts whenever some 14 year old kid can render as good as anybody in the business!

Years have passed and somewhere along the way I realized I never stopped drawing. Doodles here and there. Bored out of my wits and just started drawing.. all those little nuances snowballed at a point where I thought to myself that maybe I should get a bit more serious about it. There was a point recently or just months ago where I checked to see where my art peers from back in the day are right now. Those peers I looked up to either stopped drawing, or chose to not show their work online, or just posting under a pseudonym and still trying to make it (which I hope is the case for all of them across the board).

It's a bit crazy to think that, maybe, it's never about the talent. Or artistic inborn gifts. Maybe all it takes is a little bit of resiliency. Not that I'm speaking from a place that I've finally made a career out of art. Actually I am far from it.. Just saying that to feel that way is real and pretty normal. And if ever you think that it's just you? Let me reassure you that you're not alone in this and you don't have to be.

Welcome to the Crimson Daggers! Let's paint some stuff!