Escape From The Land Of The Suck

[tomcat]

What can I say??, I understand where your coming from with the frustration but you can't give up hope, I'm just starting to work at my art (after a good long time of not bothering). You cannot give up, I've been there, there's nothing down that road but frustration and dissapointment, your so much further along than I am, some of your pics are amazing, keep it up.

[MT-Mystic]

thebigchild293: Thank you.

tomcat: Yeah, you are right. I look at some of my work from several years ago, and it's clear that I have improved. If I keep working, I will probably get to where I want to be in a few years, maybe. Doing the work is grueling and disappointing, but not as bad as the disappointment of giving up. Thanks for your encouragement.

Some more speedies. I'm trying to do one throwaway image a day, and I'm finding some of them spark ideas for future compositions (That last one was me trying, and failing, to be Tom Scholes).

[MT-Mystic]

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[CarstenJ]

Hi,

your speedies are very good and expressive, one can feel the atmosphere in there, especially from the last one.

[MT-Mystic]

CarstenJ: Hey thanks. A lot of them are failures, but I feel they are improving, and I plan on using some of them for compositions I wouldn't have otherwise conceived of.

I'm working on some other stuff as well - I'll post eventually.

[MT-Mystic]

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[MT-Mystic]

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[MT-Mystic]

Did a design for Threadless, after many years. Was fun to do something graphic like I used to do, and not have to worry about form and light and perspective...

[MT-Mystic]

Yeah, they kinda suck, but I end up composing things that I otherwise wouldn't have, and the practice of just making something without having to worry about making it look "good" has really helped. Usually I do these when I am making excuses not to make art. Relieving the pressure of trying to do something as good as the artists I aspire to (and whose images constantly haunt me) really helps me want to have fun doing work instead of committing seppuku or throwing myself off a bridge after insulting the feared artistic gods for so long with my feeble, blasphemous mediocrity.

Now I just need to get better at actually turning these sketches into full-blown, marketable illustrations. Which I am struggling with... Oh, and I guess salvage something of my heretofore futile and wasted life.

BACK TO WORK.

[MT-Mystic]

So four years ago, I asked one of my friends for an idea for a painting, and he said "sulphuric swamp." The first image is what I did back then, and the second one is my recent reworking, trying to use the same basic concept.

I feel I have certainly improved, which is encouraging... BUT I STILL HAVE SO FAR TO GO BEFORE MY WORK IS WORTH A DAMN.

I don't know if I have enough years left in my life to Escape From the Land of the SUCK!!!!!!

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUU

[MT-Mystic]

URRRGH, why am I such a terrible artist?

Oh right, cause I have no talent.

[jondawo]

We all go through the same thought process during our learning process.
I can assure you almost everyone has wanted to give up on more than one occasion.
However, if you have an over-arching positive attitude towards your work you'll improve more quickly than if you are constantly putting yourself down.
You can try taking some breaks to stop the burnout and maybe do some studies to build confidence when you're feeling down.

[MT-Mystic]

jondawo: I have a real hard time maintaining a positive attitude when I feel like such a failure. It's beyond burnout; I've been doing art for something like 12 or 13 years, and it all feels like... for nothing. I can't remember the last time I felt proud of a piece.

[MT-Mystic]

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[MT-Mystic]

First image is the speedpaint that inspired the piece.

Second image is the thumbnail.

Annnd the final. Not particularly happy with it, but it's better than the work I was doing in the past. I keep telling myself that - it's getting better, it's getting better... still SUCKS, but it's getting better...

[MT-Mystic]

I was about to abandon these characters halfway through, but I forced myself to finish them. Not happy with how they came out, but better than nothing.

[Carrie Sprod]

Nice sketchbook!

The characters are interesting, but there seems to be a few things not quite right, the main thing standing out to me would be the anatomy - the arms and legs seem stiff and aren’t sitting right. In the instance of the big guy, his right leg appears larger than his left.
My advice would be to try and sketch them up quickly using some reference, just so you don’t leave them at a stage you’re not happy with. Or next time you are doing a series of characters, get friends to pose in the positions for you before you start working it up into a final painting - might save you a lot of headache and time in the process.

Love the textures, light and colour in the environment sketches!

[MT-Mystic]

Carrie Sprod: Sound advice, thank you. I do have issues with anatomy still, even though I've spent so much time and energy working on it. I think the real problem for me is having nice, gestural, natural, meaningful poses. I look at figural drawings by a lot of masters, like, say, Sargent, and after years of studying and scratching my head, I have no idea how they do it!



I have taken life drawings classes, and my work has improved, but still, no light at the end of the tunnel... GRRR.

I do use figure reference, and I shoot ref of myself sometimes as well, but my body is very... un-ideal proportions, and is less than helpful. I'd shoot reference of friends, but I don't have any, haha.

Anyway, thanks again for taking the time to comment!

[MT-Mystic]

New portfolio is coming along slowly...

Not a piece I'm happy with, but I finished it.

Thumbs and final.

[ezekrialase]

That last piece turned out great! Keep on doing the figure studies and draw more is my advice. =P

[MT-Mystic]

ezekrialase: Thanks. You're right - draw more, that's always the solution.

Former roommate.

[MT-Mystic]

Few more speedies I churned out before heading to bed.

Super abstract, but I can see what they could potentially be. The frustrating part is actualizing that potential! Grrr...

[MT-Mystic]

Study of a friend. Second one is the alternate background I was playing with, but didn't end up pursuing.

[bobtail]

Man, stop beating yourself up! I think you're a lot better than you think you are. I'm going through a similar thought process at the moment - feeling kind of down about not making the progress I wanted/feeling like I'm not as good as the people on here who I aspire to (looks like we're similar ages too :p). I know it's been said before on this page but you've just got to keep pushing and keep a positive attitude. You are making really good progress! Don't ever give up !

[MT-Mystic]

bobtail: Thanks so much - you are very kind I have a hard time keeping a positive attitude. I'm always haunted by people like Whit Brachna and Algenpfleger as I'm a similar age to them and they've achieved so much more than me, but it's neither healthy nor productive to have that kind of envy. I do think about quitting regularly, but for now, I guess I keep going Thanks again for the encouragement!

The first and third one have some potential. The second one is urrrrrrgh.

[MT-Mystic]

I'm pretty sure art is killing me.

[MT-Mystic]

Updated version based on the previous sketch.

[MT-Mystic]

Just discovered Sparth's custom shape technique. First two are me being a moron. Third one is me finally figuring out how this could be useful...

[Blue Banks (Rams)]

Hey I really like how you play with different styles and looks. Keep it up man! Good stuff!!

[MT-Mystic]

Blue Banks (Rams): Thanks!

So I have seen a lifetime's worth of concept art, and a lot of it is very visually compelling, but a lot of the time it just seems so much... the same. Robots, tanks, burly dudes with bigass swords. I am not as good as the pros, and I don't know if I ever will be. But maybe instead I can try and do something different?

I was playing around after being pretty depressed for a few weeks and tried to do something out of the ordinary. I think the combination of more realistic lighting/modeling, cartoon caricature, and morbidity has some potential (kinda like Limbo). I won't lie; I felt sick painting in the blood in the tub. That's the first time my own painting made me feel something like that. I might consider pursuing this style... though I doubt it'll get me (much needed) work

I guess that's the tricky part: trying to do something original while trying to be... employed.