Walent's sketchbook

[walent]

@neopatogen, not sure how I could do live recordings on Patreon, not sure if that's possible, but what makes you say live sketching would attract more people than a recorded version? I'm thinking a lot of them won't be able to view it live anyway because of timezones.

@Fedodika, haha, I think GoT fanart would help

[Fedodika]

I'd imagine just do both, like have a livestream, have people on (watching try to have minimal guests at first, unless theyre famous of course) talk about whatever subject, more ppl are drawn to that because of the educational nature of it and they'd probably wanna ask you questions live.

Also throw stuff on gumroad or patreon and kinda plug it in the livestreams and do like a preview of the package you have in mind for the tutorial. Anthony Jones made shit loads of cash doing that sorta thing, be awesome to see your take on it!

[neopatogen]

Yep I meant what Fedodika wrote, having both. I've never researched what attracts more people tbh, it's just my personal preference.

[MannionJJ2020]

Stunning work, thanks for sharing!

[walent]

@Fedodika, yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking. Twitch channel is set up: https://www.twitch.tv/gwalent for who's interested. Patreon not yet, still have to do some reading to understand how it works.

@neopatogen: got it!

@Mannion: Thanks!

[Artloader]

Beautiful work as ever Walent! I just can't get enough of your rendering! Good luck with your Patreon thing dude.

[walent]

Thanks again Artloader!

[xelfereht]

Dude! your work is awesome, I seen it around but I didn't know you were on here.
your sketches are so appealing and the predators, ah so sick :)

[Fedodika]

YAAY tradiitonal wallent stufff!!!

[ThereIsNoJustice]

Hey, Walent, great stuff as usual.

I wanted to ask what the deal is with this brush you swear by. I've messed around with it a bit and it seems it avoids a lot of those nasty digital overlaps, and I've made a few more brushes that kind of work the same. Is there anything else going on with this particular brush?

[walent]

Dude! your work is awesome, I seen it around but I didn't know you were on here.
your sketches are so appealing and the predators, ah so sick :)

Thanks, dude! Yeah, you just found my "secret" sketchbook :)

YAAY tradiitonal wallent stufff!!!

haha, yup!

Hey, Walent, great stuff as usual.

I wanted to ask what the deal is with this brush you swear by. I've messed around with it a bit and it seems it avoids a lot of those nasty digital overlaps, and I've made a few more brushes that kind of work the same. Is there anything else going on with this particular brush?

Hey, if by digital overlaps you mean those weird edges on each brush stroke, it's probably because you're using something like a hard round brush to blend. Anthony Jones uses a round brush, but as far as I know he's softening the brush when he wants a more soft blending. That's the soft rendering, meaning you create the blending using brush softness. Not everywhere though, not all areas are soft.

I use 2 brushes at the moment, I think you're referring to the one I use on anatomy renders. That one has a very textural edge, and I use that to blend. This is similar to what Kolesov and Peyravernay are doing, blending with texture. What I love about this particular brush is that I can do a build up with it, meaning that it uses a lot of pen pressure and I can use, for example, 3 brush strokes each with a different color to blend one area and every color will still be visible in the end, in various proportions, just like doing an underpaint in traditional, because the brush doesn't cover every pixel. This doesn't happen when you're using a brush that uniformly covers everything, like a round brush.

There's a catch of course, if I overdo it, it does becomes uniform, the texture gets lost and that's pretty dull, it happens when I stick to one area for too long. So that's another thing I love about it, I can render with just a few well placed strokes, and usually that's my goal, simplification.

Of course, this is me talking after I've been experimenting with this brush for years, so I kinda know what it can and can't do. For example it can't do hard edges, so I use the second brush for those.

Here are some more examples of how I use the second brush on hard edges, and the textured brush on everything that's organic, trees and clouds, sometimes just to add texture to a surface

[AngeliquevdMee]

its a pleasure to look at your work. Don't really know what else to say haha. Great paintings!

[ThereIsNoJustice]

Thanks for that explanation, Walent. I will have to test these other brushes I made and see if they could work similar for that layering approach. Might post them in a resources thread later if they hold up.

Nice studies as well!

[walent]

its a pleasure to look at your work. Don't really know what else to say haha. Great paintings!

hey, thanks!

Thanks for that explanation, Walent. I will have to test these other brushes I made and see if they could work similar for that layering approach. Might post them in a resources thread later if they hold up.

Nice studies as well!

Sure, yw!

[Artloader]

Hey Walent, how's the Patreon thing coming along?

I've always loved he way you do that chunky architecture - particularly that biro pen sketch in post #248!

Keep posting please mate!

[Johnscj]

Damn dude! Your stuff is amazing. That brushwork is gorgeous!

[walent]

@ohnscj hey, thanks!

@Artloader Been trying to launch my Patreon, I've got most of it set up, and started recording some stuff, but I said I'd only launch once I do at least one session and figure out how much work it will involve. I need a few more sketches done. Not sure when that's gonna happen.


I feel like sharing some stuff, since there's not much art to post.

It’s been such a crappy last 6 months for me, like I don’t remember when was the last time I reached such a low level where I am unable to fulfill even the tiniest need I have in terms of art.
I feel like I haven’t done anything with my art this year, I feel it just passed away like the wind, haven’t accomplished anything and I still don’t know where I want to be.
I just know where I don't wanna be. Every year I keep adding to that list. 

Every time I start something, like for instance I was super excited about the Artstation challenge, since it had to do with mermaids and I’ve done quite enough research in the past, it goes well for a few days, I feel like I can more mountains, but after a week or so, I’m like “why am I doing this? I don't enjoy this”
Again, it seems like I do all the research just because I need to do this type of character, like you do when you get a commission. And I get the sensation that I’m passionate about it, but then I realize I never research it without a reason. Never for fun.
 
What I do look at all the time are vehicles and all sorts of mechanical and tech stuff. So I think that's saying something.
I never actually imagined art would be a job for me, I imagined I would have fun all day long and love solving any challenge that might appear. But that’s exactly how I feel now, I need money, so that’s why I do art. And it’s a terrible feeling. I’m seriously thinking I need to change something. And fast!
 
I started my art career thinking I would end up doing some appealing visual artworks that would make me feel super proud when looking back at my creations, Frazetta was what I was thinking. It’s far from happening.

I’m still wondering what got me into doing anatomy in the first place. Maybe Steve Huston, since it was so much fun watching his videos and drawing along. Learning is fun, especially when you have a clear guide and goal.
So I had about 4 or 5 years of studying anatomy hardcore and starting getting the style I wanted, built up by taking bits I loved from the artists I admire, and suddenly people started following me and liking my art, and a lot even called me a figure drawing artist. I never even considered stopping at figure drawing. That doesn’t satisfy me enough.
 
 
I had times when I struggled before, but this time seems like a pretty long one. It feels like everyone around me is evolving and I’m not. I keep seeing stuff on social media and instead of inspiring me, I realize I’m never gonna have enough patience, never gonna be passionate enough about characters for instance, to bring them to that type of quality, say Even Amundsen.
Same with illustrations. Those big scenes you see now and then, battle scenes mostly, because we don’t know anything else, as Bayard Wu does. How the hell am I supposed to do something like that when I’m not even motivated to study armor design? Not to mention composition. I feel absolutely no drive to tackle composition. Yeah, I have a sense for it, but that’s nothing compared to how much theory is out there.

It would've been so easy if I didn't feel the need to create something, to design. I would've stopped at figure drawing. Maybe teaching. 

Nowadays when you look at concept art (I can't even call it that anymore since it's clearly concept design now) the only thing you see is photobash and painting over 3d, if there's any painting at all. So yeah, I'm guessing my only chance of actually doing something with my life is either a personal project, like a game or just Patreon.

I need a long term project. I need something to work on all day long, go to bed and wake up the next day eager to continue from where I left off.

A physical project crossed my mind. I was watching a documentary about Bugatti and one of the designers said they need to create it in clay, once it's been digitally designed, because it's a big difference between viewing it on a monitor and being able to touch it, feel the transition of the curves.

Also watching some talks of Ken Robinson's and one particular thing struck me. He was telling a story of how he went to some place where a very talented musician was playing. After the show, he talked to him and told him he was amazing, and that he would've loved to be able to play the piano as he did.
He replied "No, you wouldn't, you just like the idea. I you would've wanted to play the piano, you would be doing it right now"
Isn't that interesting? When someone is successful everyone wants to be like them, without even thinking about what it takes.

Yeah, sometimes I think getting a job and counting the hours until the end of the program is better than this shit. I also think knowledge is a curse. The more you know, the more unhappy you are. Simple people seem very happy, without thinking too much about spirituality or purpose of life, they just need to eat so they go hunt or work the land.

I keep asking myself this one particular question: "what would I be doing if I didn't need to worry about money anymore?"
I'm seriously not sure if I would continue doing art. At least not at this level.

I recently watched Enter the Void, recommended by Amit. That was such an interesting movie, weird AF, but interesting.
And it gave me a particular feeling that I can't really explain. But it's the kind of feeling I'm looking for in my art. As in sort of a reward for doing it.

Yeah, well the conclusion is I'm either too low on energy to enjoy doing something, or I just can't find what I am suppose to do.

[Fedodika]

Hmm, Into the Void is a very intense film lol. You're looking for that nihilistic, painful, dragged out sensation lol? Maybe you got something different out of it than i did lol, but it did get me interested in one day trying DMT and meet the aliens. But the film is a pure work of art, because the director really believed in something and he felt something very hardened by passion and time.

You seem really burnt out my man, and instead of telling you to draw this or that or whatever, just try existing for a while. Just be there. Be present you know? Ekhart Tolle talks about it a lot of just feeling the pleasure of existing and being aware of breathing and the bones and muscle in your body.

I think you'd benefit from some sort of social interaction as well. I mean, even if its just regular people or people you barely know. It can be tough if you're introverted and i pick up a lot of that from you after hearing your voice and reading your thoughts. But from my personal experience, doing caricature in town once a week and forcing myself in this situation where anything can happen has really made me know exactly what i want in life.

You could also try well, finding a cause you care about (that isn't art.) It could be political, it could be religious, or philosophical. Maybe you want justice for a group of people, maybe you want to prove a god does or doesnt exist, maybe you want to set all the animals in the cages free. What do you really care about? And if you don't have anything to you than art, what good are you as an artist?

You know, surely you believe in some thing and that thing would be something you could argue for with some one person to convince them. Have you ever spent time debating someone for something you passionately believe? Doing that for years really REALLY helped me know what i want in life and what i want to achieve. Its a HUGE time sink, debating people online, but man you end up researching and learning about the thing you're debating out of passion. Because you WANT to be right. And if you're a logical guy, that can really pull at your heart strings.

I'm not successful at art at all, but when i do; I feel i will never run out of motivation because success has been kept from me for so insanely long, I'll infinitely cherish it when i get it. And all that time of not being successful made me look to things i was passionate about in the meantime for little victories while i toiled away in futility to develop as an artist as hard as i could.

There's a WHOLE WORLD outside your chair. There's a whole set of senses outside of vision. There's an infite number of things you could dabble in or master that are not art. See value in them even if it seems unattractive at first

[Matthew M]

I'm not sure how well informed my comments here may be; I imagine that there's a specific type of burnout from tackling the same set of problems for an extended period of time.

I think there are a few pit falls, or traps, associated with being someone who makes art. Principally in mind is the the identity of being an "artist", and not making art. Similarly important, I think, is the drive to produce a high quality outcome. We focus on the outcome, which for the most part, drives us to further our skills. The question then, is what happens when we cannot produce an outcome that is in any way fulfilling?
Well, probably not much, which is the issue.
Again I'll preface with the acknowledgement that having tackled a problem for an extended period of time comes with the habits and workarounds that tend towards productivity.
I think that rather than focusing on the product, or working for the outcome, we as artists should strive to produce art not for the outcome, but for the love of the process. While adopting this attitude sidesteps some of the drive that pushes you to excellence, I think it also dodges some motivational issues related the outcomes and the finished product.
I'm sure you've read it, or at least heard of it, but in case you haven't I must recommend
Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by David Bayles and Ted Orland.

[darktiste]

If i could give any output is that if you focus on seeing problem and you don't know where to start it might be a burn out.But i would like to stress the importance to be careful about what i just said i am not an expert in that matter.

I got 3 post i made i would like to share with you maybe you can figure out a solution with what is being shared inside them.

This one i think gonna help you answers why you still doing art.
http://crimsondaggers.com/forum/thread-6221.html

This one will stress the importance to have alway a positive attitude
http://crimsondaggers.com/forum/thread-6483.html

This one will give you some ammunition against stagnation
http://crimsondaggers.com/forum/thread-5494.html

There will alway be that void that try to suck us in and tell us we should just go back to sleep.We are all resistant too change to some extent.
But you surely remember one of those morning you just wake up and the world was your playground and nothing could have stop you doing anything,Sure it not alway that feeling that wake us up in the morning but the first minute of the day it important that you remember that you should be free to have bad day it a risk you should take those who don't take risk i think i can say i am sure they regret not taking the risk.It ok to be lost are we really sure of anything anyway? I don't think so.You surely change in that 6 month maybe you didn't do what you expected but that not something you should beat your head over because it would be a waste of energy.Take time to be yourself be true to what you love learn to love life be generous and ask less you will see life is generous too those who take everything with a grain of salt.You don't need to love everything about the day but you should alway make sure to love enought of it or else you should ask yourself what you can love about it.I hope i help you in anyway your a great inspiration for us.To see someone with enought humanity to be able to share is struggle just show that you willing to set aside the ego and ask for help and that something i admire.Wish you only good vibe for the next year that is coming.Take this end of the year to be where it count and do what you like.