Elen's portfolio

[Alhaz]

I am a uni student/hobbyist and self taught. Started to take a serious approach in art the last 3 years and i'm trying to get all the helpfull critisism i can get in order to get better. I live in greece where a career following the art industry seems impossible at the moment but one can only hope.
As for now i am more interested to see in what level i am, what should i watch out and all in all become a better artist before thinking about pursuing art as a career. Thank you for looking!

[Van Douglas]

Love the work. Can't wait to see your progress as time passes.

[Alhaz]

Thank you very much sir!

[Sizzle]

The goods: You have good attention to detail at this stage. Also, you're not scared to just make art. When you go further down the professional road, it gets difficult to maintain that level of "whatevs, just gonna make what I want!"

The current weaknesses: At this stage, your work definitely has the vibe of hobbyist. I love the lighthouse image as is. But to get into the art industry (in my case, concept art) you have to consider all of the details that a modeler would have to extract and build from your work. Then again, you'll have to be more specific about WHERE you want to go with an "art career." There's money everywhere, so you just have to pick what your favorite track is. Comics, fine art, storyboarding, concept art, etc. It's alright to be overwhelmed to at the beginning, since you're considering where you want to go for a significant part of your life (only so long as you're serious about this). The best advice all round for now is to set a schedule for yourself and make many, many studies of art that you like, and of anatomy and still life paintings. Also, check out the loomis books if you need a solid place to start, they're all free, just google it

All the best!

[Alhaz]

Thank you for your input I got my hands on the Loomis books suggested by a good friend allready and they are truly helpfull. The hard part of trying to make art on your own is how to judge yourself. I find myself sometimes reading about fundamentals a lot thus backtracking while i may allready got the grasp of certain things but i just can't tell, or the opposite...There is just so much to watch out that scheduling myself seems really hard. The only thing im regretting is not asking for proffesional help/critisism when i started doing this some years ago. Hopefully this will change!

[Deep Hurting]

You've got a nice, painterly style, and a terrific grasp of color. I love the luminosity in your objects, especially the clouds and water highlights in the lighthouse picture, and the glowing flecks on the skin of the figure in the last image.

It looks like you may want to work a little more on figure anatomy, as the hands and feet on the figure in the last image are a little weird. Most of the big details in the figure are okay, but the behavior of the hair and its interaction with the rest of the figure is a little unrealistic and stiff. The face is stylistically fine by itself, but it doesn't seem to fit the style of the rest of the figure.

That said, the texture on the skin of the figure in the second-to-last image is very well done.

Were these pictures created with digital materials, or traditional ones?

Also, would you mind talking about the symbolism in the fifth image? What's it about?

I'm also interested in the story behind the second-to-last image, if you don't mind sharing.

[Sizzle]

The only thing im regretting is not asking for proffesional help/critisism when i started doing this some years ago. Hopefully this will change!

Then make sure your next several years are without regret. Goals, scheduling, going to bed exhausted from self promotion and studying and client work. Just like working out, it seems painful at the outset, but then when you're in it, it becomes something you look forward to, even when it hurts.

I also recommend people watch this, concerning mastery of any craft:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nsnh21ae6YI

Bill Evans has a quote about taking one small fundamental and attacking it completely until it is yours. It's easy to get caught up in wanting to get the big picture as fast as possible. But then you get a skillset that always comes out like a cake that's runny and eggy on the inside. Anatomy, color theory, perspective, form. You just have to start attacking them at the very fundamental levels, and then go from there

[Alhaz]

Deep Hurting thank you very much for your kind words. Figure anatomy is certainly a weakness of mine but i'm working on it As regarding your questions they where all made in digital media.
The fifth image as stupid as it may sounds symbolises nothing more than myth/fairytale of the big black dog. Nothing special really, more like a work trying some new stuff and some versatility in my usual style that i think it kinda worked. As for the second-to-last one. It's a portaiture of an original character of mine. A young girl so obsessed about the nature and it's beauty who spends almost her whole time hunting and stuffing small animals/insects. Thats her short story at least and i am aware it shows nowhere in the picture but since you asked it was my pleasure to share!

Sizzle your quote could not be more correct. It is a usual mistake to rush things! It is a state i am trying to get out of, yet again i found it a bit hard to conviece myself that "there is enought time" I guess i just need a right schedule and correct studying.

[Sizzle]

It's a funny thing when you open up excel for the next day and plan each hour with studying and breaks. It can be done