Well, finally getting to posting here again. The last two weeks have be hectic and I had been unable to post here with trying to keep up with my challenge. Hence doing a mass post of the second half of my 30 Day Sketchbook Challenge. Also starting back up my daily doodle, though will be posting them here in a weekly update which will start this Friday.
Day 15-Favorite Video Game Character
Day 16-Something to represent favorite song
Day 17-Favorite Holiday
Day 18-A couple
Day 19-Something you fear
Day 20-A comic
Day 21-Something You Hate
Day 22-Favorite Season
Day 23-Something you love
Day 24-Something to represent favorite country
Day 25-Something from folklore
Day 26-Favorite Sweet
Day 27-Favorite Scene from a Movie
Day 28-Draw a room
Day 29-Favorite Weather
Day 30-Tell your readers something, which for me is "Thank you!"
Howdy! Did not get onto Blogger yesterday, so slight catch up. Day 13 was doing a group picture which I did of some slimes from an RPG. Day 14 was to do your favorite book character, so did Shiroe from the light novel series Log Horizon... But, I have also started Inktober and doing a bit of a project with my images. The first one if the characters of the first project, which the project is called Witch.
Howdy! Day 11 of the challenge. Prompt is favorite food, which I did of the Pizza Sub from Subway. Which is no longer on the menu there. Thankfully now it is easy to get the big slices of pepperoni, so I can revive it from the dead.
Howdy! Ten days in a row and 1/3 the way done for the challenge. But, still got a ways to go and going to be taking it up a notch in 3 days with also adding Inktober drawings to my posting schedule here. Today's prompt is to draw something you cannot live without. For me, it's my work in progress Artist/writer's Survival Bag. Has all my supplies for me to write and draw on the go so I can work anywhere. Zombie apocalypse rations are optional.
Howdy! Prompt for today is draw your favorite cartoon character... And this took me a while to figure out who to draw. So I settled on Sora and Shiro from No Game No Life. I also did a time lapse video of this sketch. Still working out a proper set up to record my drawings. Partly because it is helpful to see mistakes. You can see the video through this link.
Howdy! Due to a combination of internet issues and such, I ended up not able to post my last two doodles here on my blog, so rolling them into the post for Day 8. Also, setting something up soon which I will announce in a separate post.
Day 6-Draw Something You Never Drew... Which I drew a hermit shell. Never drew a shell before, oddly enough.
Day 7- Draw a family member or family... Did my two Angora bunnies as my father left before I could draw him and could not find a photo of him to draw from(where did his pictures go?).
Day 8-Favorite Color... I combined with a shape challenge, where you include the determined shape into the image you make. It was pumpkin and orange is one of my three favorite colors.
Howdy! Now on day 5 of the challenge. Draw your favorite attire. So, drew my favorite ninja T-shirt, cargo pants, sandals, and my messenger bag full of drawing and writing goodies. Wish I had the Shiroe glasses like the ones I drew. I would be in heaven.
Howdy! Now onto day, which is to draw a friend. I chose to draw one of my cat, Cowboy. I have weird names for my cats, though need to work on drawing cats. Next prompt will be an fun one.
Howdy! It's day 2 of my attempt of the challenge. The prompt was draw someone you love. So, I drew my twin sister. She is working to be a nurse, though loves role playing games including D&D. Well, next one will be fun. Let's see if two of my friends are photogenic today.
Howdy! I am going to try working on post on my blog more often. Hence, I decided with starting the 30 Day Sketchbook Challenge and trying to get a daily doodle habit, I will try to post a doodle on my blog everyday. Might also post other things like works in progress and finished pieces here as well. So, here's the drawing for the first challenge: drawing yourself or your persona.
Howdy, everyone. Man, I haven't done a post in a while here, but it was a rough period I needed to get through and it seems now things are calming down a bit(and hope I did not just jinx that). So, what have I been doing the past two months? Writing a lot, but due to the last few weeks of a small panic attack, I been forced to focus on my fanfiction while moving it from the site I usually post on to another site. However, it is helping me realize what I should be focusing on my personal project once I get it off the back burner once my writing area calms down a bit... And I really, REALLY need to avoid Wattpad contests as the writing promps are a breeding ground for plot bunnies. At least for me. I have also some of my daily doodle(okay, not so much daily) project I been trying to keep up in this post for you all to enjoy.
However, the biggest thing in the last two months is I been trying to get part-time or full time work to help cover my student loans and invest back into the career I want. Finally...Well, sort of gotten work as I am working with a temp agency. Not steady income, but it works for me as my expenses are quite low for the time and give me the time I need to also focus on my work as an artist and writer. But, due to finally getting money of my own, I did a little spending spree with my first paycheck I gotten in a long time... No, I did not forget my expenses and in fact, have enough in my back account to cover it for this month.
So, what did I buy? One thing I bought is actually a package of anatomy resources and drawing anatomy ebook from Jazza of the Draw with Jazza Youtube channel. Now, I am good with anatomy, but my issue comes from I have issues drawing humans from references, hence this will help me out as I also work on drawing humans stylized as well. I can draw humans realistically or very cartoony, but have issues getting that middle you see with caricatures. Hence I would love to improve on that issue. Here's the link to Jazza's video where he explains his book and package with links to his products. Draw With Jazza -Easy Anatomy
The other thing and what I am really excited about is I have finally applied for Chris Oatley's Magic Box. It's an online academy for digital painting taught by Chris Oatley, a Disney artist who quit his job to teach others. The course also is helpful with learning to paint with using computer programs, but can also be applied to traditional painting and drawing. I just managed to get on, so will be seeing how the helps me out. It will at least help me build up my portfolio up at the very least.
However, these two purchases is not the only thing I am doing to try and improve on my art skills. Even though I graduated from college, the drawing professor from the college I went to invited me back to draw in his figure drawing classes. I am taking up that offer and, when I have a free Monday or Wednesday, I will be joining his class to draw and keep my drawing skills up. That and get see if I can get some good drawings for my portfolio with now going into illustration. I will be showing my progress with Magic Box and other drawings here with blog posts. Also, I am restarting my illolifeRPG,but starting back out at level 1 since I now that I got an idea where I am going with my career and will be posting updates on my blog for level updates. Well, hope you enjoy this post and Auto out... Dammit, sorry, wrong blog(have one for my fanfiction now). Meant to say, see ya all later.
Well, finally, got through the first round of my new releasing schedule. And now to get everything prep for next month and trying to get a buffer going. If you are wondering what I mean, I write fanfiction and planning to do possible some webcomics and webfiction as well. I always wrote fanfiction as a hobby and now I am using it as a skill builder while getting my illustrator portfolio up to speed and working slowly on my other personal projects to insure I figure out my limits without another bout of burn out.
So, why focus on fanfiction? Well, I actually restarted some with getting out of college. As I said, it was a hobby I love to do. And now, it's my passion along side illustration and writing. Though, I do admit my mouth cashed a check that I am now trying to fix. This being the doing one chapter and posting it before the next. I did not learn my lesson after college stopped me from posting and now it finally hitting me. However, instead of stopping, I have started a schedule to let myself get a buffer while still posting on a normal schedule after going on a small hiatus. I took the hiatus due to my beta-reader getting overwhelmed with her studies and decided it was best not to add to her work load... Even if she loves beta-reading for me. Hence, part of the reason for the buffer is for when she returns to her studies in Fall classes as I got her for summer.
However, the reason I decided to put my focus into fanfiction is to get drilled into me personal set deadlines and also get a feel for a routine of posting content. Since the worse I would get is nasty reviews if I did badly, fanfiction is actually a pretty safe bet though I try to keep my stories pretty good quality. During the hiatus, I went back and fixed up two stories with finding minor mistakes and once I get a good enough buffer, the other one will start to get another reproofing of earlier chapters though that's later since it's longer than the others.
So, what is my fandom in fanfiction? Well, I like to do Naruto fanfiction, mostly crossovers. I was an early fan of Naruto, though not so much of the current Naruto Shippuden series. I write in this fandom since I am still quite familiar with it. Though, a lot of my crossovers spread out into different areas compared to normal Naruto crossovers like Puella Magi Kazumi Magica, , Log Horizon, and so on. I even got unique crossovers started like my Monster Hunter Ninja on my old Auto-nin account started the Monster Hunter/Naruto crossovers on Fanfiction.net. Monster Hunter Ninja is up for rewrite, though it has to way till I finish one of my current three fanfiction. I even do multi-crossovers as my Persona: Pallerel Paradox story which is the Persona game series, Naruto, and the whole Puella Magi Madoka Magic universe. I have three stories up right now and three in reserve with I am planning to write like a book instead of my old style I am using for the current three.
If you are curious of my fanfiction, you can check me out at Mahou Shoujo-nin on Fanfiction.net. My posting schedule is set on monthly schedules on Saturdays with Persona: Parrellel Paradox getting it's next update on June 14, Digimon: Sinned Tamers going up the next Saturday, and Log Horizon: Alien Chronicles on the Saturday after that. I also started a Patreon campaign for my fanfiction. Any donations would be great, but I am not expecting any and mainly using it for the fact it's feed you can choose posts to be open to all or Patrons. This makes it a lot more easier to let everyone know what is going on since Fanfiction.net doesn't have means to communicate past PMs to direct fans. Now, to get back to work, though on some illustrations after my writing binge I been on. This includes finally getting to those covers for my fanfiction I been wanting to do.
Last week was pretty stressful for me. I am not going to go into what cause the stress and all that. However, it had made me realized I hardly done much art and writing as I want and need to do. But, upside, it began to push me more into a clearer direction of where I want to be. That and the job market the politicians see is clearly not what Main Street is seeing. However, when I am stressed or nervous, I find just doing something mindless helps me out. Though, my doodle from yesterday is quite nice, especially now that I am getting used to these red correction pencils. I don't know yet if I will go ahead and ink these two or take advantage of the picture now on my computer to do a digital piece with them. This is actually one of my thoughtless sketching and I somehow got to manga-ish elves. Even though a drew them at different times, they oddly fit each other.
But, the biggest thing that happened to me last week(or should I say weekend) is went to a local writing and illustration guild meeting. I was very nervous, not knowing if I would be accepted or not. I was even working on my laptop and a draft of a fan comic I am working on for an experiment, just trying to calm down. However, as the meeting began, I found myself feeling a lot better. It was a very loose meeting, much like I was at the spinning and weaving guild I go to. When they looked at my portfolio(both my graphic design one and the few illustrations I had)... I was instantly relieved with finding they liked my work. I mean, really liked it. As we went on, I found myself talking with the other illustrators and it felt like I was always there to begin with, not just someone who was there for the first time. Next month, I will be joining this guild officially and I am seeing I am more geared towards being possibly an illustrator and writer than graphic designer. Sure, I can make good logos, but outside that, the only things I like to make graphic design wise is vector images and layout books. Though, I never knew at least if I had some talent in illustration since I never got much feedback online.
Real interactions with people is always better than what you get on social media and art websites. When you can see their faces as well as words... You can realize better what they are really saying than just the words they said. I am a very shy person. And it does not help I get nervous very easily when I am alone. That why I been trying to find friends and such, both online and real life, to have support and find out how other artists work. Sure, family can support you, but they only go so far in able to help you. Hence networking with other artists and such are so important... Though, over the last few weeks, I have discovered the term "networking" is not as scary as it seemed when I got out of college. In fact, Will Terrell's latest people sketching video, Episode #15 explains it so well. Networking, though some relationships you build in this network will be professional, most of them are actually friendships and allies with other artists. In fact, I find calling networking more like making friends than making business contacts much easier on me. When you have friends who are more experienced and less experienced than you in what you do, then you find yourself able to learn from those friends and also pass on what you know to them. So, why not find some people, both online and offline, and befriend them. Even if they are not of your job field, you never know what kind of inspiration you will get from even non-artist friends. And, when you have at least a few artist friends on your social media, you find a good bit of humor that will always brighten your day mixed in with some wise advice and great pieces to look at.
This post is a late response to the video above. It's Will Terry's video, "Are You Frustrated With Your Art?" that is on his YouTube channel. I agree and disagree on several things, but the reason this is a late post is I had to decide if I wanted to rant a post or write something people could learn from. Latter took over. However, anyone reading this should watch that video as Will Terry does hit some major points. To simply summarize my rant with both agreeing and disagreeing to the video: schools(all levels) are rushing through the
process of teaching and mainly just skimming instead of teaching a subject in depth, schools are throwing away important skills and job
training to just keep putting the same stuff(just harder and harder
levels) into kids and adults', and last schools believe in the "Random
Character" method for preparing us which is great for beginning in
school, but it results in us being worst off once getting into high
school, college, or jumping into the pool that is life. That's sums up
what my opinions are that are resulting in not just artists becoming
frustrated as they try to get to their dream, but also people of all job
fields.
Oh, and to summarize what a Random Character is, instead of going in the gaming term, I'll tell you what broad sense I am using it for. It's referring to someone who is learning to know everything, like a Jack of All Trades, but do not have the actually experience in any of it enough to be helpful. Basically, for the artist version, that guy who keeps collecting all sorts of drawing books and looking up tutorials, but never doing any of the practice and such to get that knowledge into skills. Hence, it's better to be a Jack of All Trades where you at least got the experience and defined enough skills to possibly go from a Master of None to a Master of Something. Though, sometimes it's not the person's fault for this to happen, but either way it does cause a lot of frustration when you do try to become good at something.
I can do complex figures again!
Now, everyone has had rough spots in their lives. It can be just something simple like the coffee maker dying. Or it can be something big like that painting you been working on for so long being destroyed right when you are almost done or you lose your day job. However, there is no way to really escape the frustration that comes after it. I dealt with a lot of frustrations through my life and I think everyone can agree they at least been mad at something before. However, a lot more people are finding themselves dealing with this now than ever for many reasons. We'll just stick around what artists starting out deal with for this post.
Doing Line Art Is Much Easier, too!
One of this does relate back to the video at the start of this post. This is also common for not just artists, but a lot of job fields. It's the Catch 22 people find themselves in either with getting out of school and trying to find a job or switching careers. You want to get that job, earn money, and such, but you lack work experience or the experience and skills for the job? So, what do you do? Apply all over the place or go back to school? Well, the apply all over the place(for both your degree type job and others), you might get you a lousy job, but hey, we got to start somewhere. You can at least begin to earn some money to get supplies and such to practice and get your artistic talent off the ground. Though, this in itself can become a frustration as that lousy job wears you out or it's an okay job that eats up a lot of your time. The other choice of going back to school is like stepping into political cartoon area and I rather also not rant. So, I will just say that college degrees are becoming too much of a cost just to get a job. Also, for artists, there are now alternatives that are affordable like School of Visual Storytelling and Chris Oatley's Magic Box that you can also do while working either a part-time or full-time job easier makes more sense than college. In fact, Noah Bradley has started up his Art Camp again with this time two Art Camps to choose from or do both for a good rate for a 12-week online course. Not saying college is bad, but it's system is bleeding students dry while making the teachers who really love doing their job and doing it right suffer as well.
Coloring was annoying at first, but got better.
Hence, you can already see some frustrations in that last paragraph many people could be thinking. "Why did I get this job?" "Why can't I get work?" "Why did I go to college for this?" Why did I spend all that money for college?" There are plenty more, but I rather keep this post from turning into an essay. However, this is to point out you cannot escape being frustrated. It will and always will happen even when your are prepared for it. It will range in size and complexity, but it will always. However, there is one thing that I see and realize I almost fell into after work dried for me after my first big freelance gig(and still have not got any since). That problem which also leads to many quitting their dreams and future careers too early and putting them in regret is the fact they will not face what is bothering them. Which is actually an important process that a lot of people learn from without knowing till later on in life.
Now, what do I mean by not facing the frustrations? What I mean is basically figuring out the problem. I do not mean going straight to solving the "problem." There are plenty of artists who have rushed into trying to solve what they think is the problem, only to get into an even worse position. If you do not know roughly what the problem is, then that right there is a frustration on its own, but if you do not figure it out and keep pushing along. It will just haunt you and bother you till A: you work hard to figure it out(making mistakes and all) and improve, B: you quit and give up what you were doing to never come back again, or C: same as B but, like me sometimes, you come back and try again and keep a cycle till you get it. All of them are hard, but the one that will hurt the most will be B as often people will regret it and make themselves more miserable.
Almost Done, Needing Some More Details
However, when you begin to try to figure out the problem first and then solve the problem, you will find yourself often times snowballing into a whole new way of doing things. A great example is someone I follow who is not an artist. His name is Paul Wheaton and he is known as the Duke of Permaculture. His Youtube Channel is his name and here's to it: Paul Wheaton. He also runs the forums known as Permies.com that also leads to articles Paul Wheaton has done. Now, before moving on, Permaculture is "permanent agriculture" which focuses on using what we have and using basic science and ecology to live within one's means. Basically, it's a hod podge of many different ideas and concepts for living, food, and so on. Now, Paul Wheaton was originally an engineer and his buddies and he would always complained about their biggest frustration: pollution. Well, after it nagged him for a while, Paul Wheaton decided to do something about it and began researching about pollution and so on. This lead him looking at energy usage being the cause of pollution and went to those energy efficient light bulbs, so he did an experiment on them. He found the CFLs were a joke, the now illegal in the USA incandescent lightbulbs were not just better, but helped with the bigger issues of energy, and that light was just a TINY fraction of energy usage. Most of the energy we used came from heating, which the incandescent happened to give off freely in the winter. I am going to summarize the rest, but Paul Wheaton basically kept figuring out the problem, but as he solved it he discovered more problems, but also more solutions. It's kind of a never ending process, but its a good one to be in! It means your on the right track!
And My Finished Piece For The Concept Cookie Mother Earth contest.
Now, you are probably wondering why this Paul Wheaton and permaculture has to do with being frustrated, art or not wise? Here's the deal. A lot of people become frustrated, but the keep staying frustrated and do nothing about this. They just live with it and push on with what nags them dragging them back like a ball and chain. However, when someone goes and actually does something they are
frustrated about and try to solve the problem, we are either called
weirdos, geniuses, and a whole hod podge of other things like Paul Wheaton, mainly other artists, and more people beginning to blaze new trails for fixing problems and trying to help others figure it out as well. Even later he gained the title Duke of
Permaculture and the Bad Boy of Permaculture, but back onto the point. If you stay mad at the "bad guys" as Paul Wheaton puts it, nothing will happen and you'll either stagnate, change course and maybe regret it, or so on.
I can do a real life example with images you are seeing on this post. Each process has it's own little problems, but if you do not learn how to deal with each problem, you can really see it in the finished piece. But, sometimes, learning of and fixing the problem is fun. . So, instead of throwing your pencil or brush away with tired of messing up... Look at work and begin to dissect it down and try to figure out the problem. Sure, you may have to ask for help and even be embarrassed to ask for it, but it's better than becoming so frustrated that you go nuts! As you become a great problem solver, who knows what path it will lead you on. You might become a great artist, a permacultist, or even finally make your dream reality or find your dream without knowing it. Me? At this moment, I am still figuring it out, but I am enjoying every minute of it, even the frustration that comes with it as you can at least laugh at such events once you gotten pass them.
Burnout is a bad and good thing. It's bad as you end up feeling horrible and unable to do anything, especially with struggling to try and get back on track. However, it is good as it let's you realize what your limits are and even begin seeing your path differently. In my case, though, it took me a bit of time to get things together, I am now finally beginning to get a grip of what I want to do, what my limits are, and what I need to work on to get there. I am still figuring out a schedule that will work for me, but I am getting there. I also learned that social media networking and marketing might not be my calling just yet.
I went to a business expo which has helped me realize how much of the businesses of the main city I was looking to work at already has good services for graphic design(even meeting one business and thinking of sending my resume to). However, I also happen to live in the boondocks between a city and two towns, all three recovering from the downturn and will need more graphic design services as more businesses are beginning to pop up.
However, as I looked around the expo and during my burnout, I realized my specialty of vector images and logos is not as needed in this area than the editorial designs for brochures and other things. Luckily, I have some experience with such designs, but I need to begin working on it more. But, I found a small publishing house that I might see if I can join. One thing I love to do is illustrations. I am always doodling(even back when taking art classes with taking notes) and drawing. One of my personal project goals is to make a children's book I thought of during my last semesters in college, but having a hard time getting story and images to match up since I always done both separately with writing stories for a hobby and doing art for my career choice. Hence, with reading up on Chris Oatley's blog, I have decided on a smaller project of making comics to get into how to figure out how to get story and images to work together.
I also been following School of Visual Storytelling, especially since this year they began doing free webinars to teach the basics which the refreshers for me have been a big help. I joined their March Thurd Thursday contest which my entry is the image at the beginning of this blog post. I was not eligible for the prize and I did not get into the top ten... But, I still feel accomplished. I did this illustration after my burnout with trying to figure out social media and it is my first big leap to getting back on the track I want. I showed this illustration to the illustrator that was there with the booth at the expo and lifted my spirits with hearing her comments on it since I did not see a lot of people vote for my illustration. I am a homebody. I actually HATE driving and try to avoid it unless I want to go somewhere or have to go somewhere. However, if I am going to improve as an artist, I got to begin reaching out to others around me, not just online, and finding out what's out there for me... Though, the upside of living on several acres, half to two-thirds covered in forest, makes it easy to do landscape painting without leaving from one's home and access to the main bayou is nearby and I might do some paintings on the river once the weather has equals out.
