Category: dailies

I felt better and wanted to work on a painting. I’ve been in an artistic knot for some time now and haven been happy with my work. One of the main reasons is because I stopped doing long periods of sketching and and not putting in the hours needed to improve on a regular basis.

Granted, I have been busy with a new job and working on commissions. Also trying to to learn Javascript and SEO/marking for my new job. Taking time to work on sketching and painting instead of playing games or wasting time on the net in my spare time.  But an artist must not just draw what they feel comfortable  with and must push further work further.

So here we are. I found a complex CC image of ruins on Flickr and did a painting based on it

Reference image by Clay Gilliand https://www.flickr.com/photos/26781577@N07/12664003153/sizes/o/

I might finish it tomarrow.

For encouragement I’ve been watching tutorial videos on Pluralsight and returned to Oatley Academy’s Magic Box

I got some good advice from a couple youtube video interviews from artists and I would like to share them with you:

The 20/80 rule – doing 20 percent of the foundationial work correctly will effect 80 percent of the outcome. you could also see it as 20 refs, studies, and blocking in, 80 clean up and detail work.

Only be as fast as you can be accurate. Take your time, if you make mistake after mistake, it will start to build into a painting full of errors. Don’t fall into the trap of ‘speed painting’.

I you don enjoy a subject, why paint it, because if you don’t like what you’re drawing, people will get that when looking at the image.

‘Straits against curves’, it’s a cool line technique to avoid a sketch from having sameness

My goals as an artist is to slow down, take note of correct proportions, and search for the ‘character’ in everything I draw and to paint with a story in mind, even if is minuscule.