Diary of a Mad Black Artist

[kamikazel33t]

Jolly good show! you are back on the horse! I like your experimentation with different mediums so keep doing what you are doing. dissatisfaction of your work is a powerful tool, it can make or break you so make sure you use it wisely. It should be make you ask questions on why you might be dissatisfied with your piece which if constructive would lead you to ask questions of "what if I do X instead or try Y?" and if you keep on going on with the process without dropping the pencil you gradually start to improve the things you were once dissatisfied with so just DON'T DROP DA PENCIL!

[Ghast]

kamikazel33t-Don't drop the pencil....I like that analogy haha I've been trying my best

I realized something the other day as I sat stewing in frustration that my taste seems to differ so much from many of my peers who also wish to enter the entertainment industry. As much as I love animation for example, and though I can easily praise the technical side of designs and art of famous companies such as Disney or dreamworks, in the end I cannot stand many things beyond that. I mean I would never turn down a job from them but at my core I can't see myself being as happy as I could be doing that typical wide eyed, unending-happy-ending stuff...unless of course all I did was draw villains haha. At the end of it the things that truly make me smile is usually the polar oposite...sooooo anything monstrous, creature related, horrific, etc. Which to be honest, if I were the same as the rest of my colleagues, I wouldn't be at all happy either. Yet with my different taste I cannot help but worry about how this will affect my trying to get into the entertainment industry. I am an artist. I make art. I love art. I love looking at art. I love the act of making art. And at this point in time, despite my worries about not achieving what I have been pushing for so strongly, is it wrong to switch my thinking from "worrying about if my portfolio has a chance in hell with a game or film company" to "worrying about being a good artist, before (or instead of) being a good concept artist"? I love looking at "dated" artists like Bernie Wrightson, or Harry Clark or Frazetta. I love looking at villainous and beastly concept art. But sometimes I think that if I was meant to do these things, wouldn't my work have shown it at some point? I love the figure, and I love working traditionally, but is this the wrong method of thinking when what I want to do for a living seems completely the opposite of what I do? Especially with end of my college career swiftly coming to an end. But for now I suppose I will simply continue to chug along with doing what I do, even if it isn't the same as everyone one else or if it is not up to snuff with the rest of the applicants. Doing something is always better than doing nothing at all. We'll see what happens in the next decade or so...Ces't la vie


More doodles of late. I tried to do the wolf with no reference to see if my anatomy class had actually been paying off, and for the most part I think it has been even if this one isn't the best example. As far as the painting goes considering oils nor portraits were ever really my forte...not bad.

[Dayle]

Hey man, thanks for the comments and encouragement. I'm glad to see you're doing so well with your sketchbook and studies. Those last female figure drawings are really lovely and I really like the 5 minute gestures from back in post 99 (and the Sean Murray studies). The thing that stands out for me most is your confidence in your lines and use of colour. Keep up those high energy levels, very inspiring.

[Ghast]

Dayle-thanks bud and happy to do so.

Between art, classes, music, portfolios (or lack thereof), the prospect of graduating in a year, looking for wok, and trying to find internships when I have no money for housing, life is a giant headache of late. And I'm not even employed or paying taxes yet...life's a bitch isn't it?

20 min paintings from today. It was not exactly an "on" day for art. However I was happy with the spider...Also an update of the painting from earlier.

[Ghast]

Underdrawing for an upcoming oil painting of the tell tale heart. Any critique on this would be appreciated. I think the head is a little off somehow in relation to the body. I was trying a new style of drawing which I was pretty excited about. I never usually smudge but I'm trying to minimize the time it takes on the drawing so that it reads clearly without as many lines and values

[Rotor]

Looking good man.
Your latest stuff shows a growing understanding of how form and value work together.
Always consider the lighting of your setup, there's really no quick way to understand it except from constant observation and application.
When you divide your character into masses and give those masses direction, it expresses form and gesture better.
It feels like I'm typing out of my ass sometimes, I'm still experimenting myself. I hope you can get something out of this.
Keep it up.

[Ghast]

Rotor- Hey any advice is better than no advice. Thanks dude means a lot
Albe22rta- Thank you? I think???

Another moment of my trying to draw with fearlessness. Not really an original concept, but I hey it was an excuse to draw tigers and women. Trying to just pump out ideas and just DRAW regardless of if I use references or not. I referenced a tiger, so what? I'm through worrying about trying to ween off reference. At this stage I wanna be like a sponge and just suck in as much visual info and artistic tactics as I can and just enjoy the process.

[Juniversal]

That's the spirit. The best thing I did for my art was let go and accept that I wasn't going to perfect. Accept that my proportions would be off. Accept that my shading and values would suck and accept that there's no getting around that "awkward stage" without drawing it out of my system and really embracing it. I saw pretty swift improvement in my art not long after (in large part because I was actually drawing more and finishing the drawings (mostly studies) that were imperfect but learning from and improving on them.

[Ghast]

Juniversal- Thanks bud thats what I'm aiming for. When in doubt take the next small step right?

Models that can't hold a pose for longer than 15 seconds when a 20 minute pose has already be agreed upon should either not be employed, or in hell. I don't care which, I just don't want to see them. Thats what I will think every time I look at these arms. I should specify that the rest of the non arm works had wonderful models. They posed was quite the opposite. Great figures, lots of interesting poses, the woman was covered in tattoos which I sadly omitted...color was not on my side that day...it will be eventually just not at all this past week. ALSO. I'm dicking around with my favorite pokemon...

[kamikazel33t]

That's the spirit mate! keep at it, your doing wonderfully. Really liked this image, I can somewhat immerse myself in the emotions he is feeling.

[LtPlissken]

Where did your highness disappeared for the last few weeks? We are starting to worry.
You have to draw what you most like, if you don’t like to do pretty flowers and beautiful
elves, if you rather do villains and evil bestial things, than you better do that, cause you
can best and most excel in the things that you really love and like. So hesitate no more,
grab your battle axe, split Cinderella’s head into two, and draw it. With lots of blood.
I hope that you are doing fine and that your motivation is rising high. Get back to us
with a magical surprise.

[Darsy]

Hey the lightning in the painting is preety good and I can see the improvement. I also likes the fact that you used some blue colors to paint the face of the maester, it works very well. Maybe the spider could have some more detail but it's okay anyway. And the arms/anatomy studies, yeah way to go man. Also liked that nervous guy. Keep it up!

[Npc Rebellion]

Hey man! You posted on my old SB back in 2011 and I figured I'd return the favour haha. Fantastic to see you're still going, and your work's looking great, I'll keep an eye on this thing. Keep posting man!

*edit* also man, after reading a little more of your stuff (lovely long posts), I still know how you sometimes feel. It's all pretty scary, and it takes a lot of self belief. But you find the people who make it are literally just the ones who don't pack in, like you hehe. Most of us live in a society where art and non-professional artists trying to make it are not supported, so it gets hard! If everyone always doubts it, and thus you, one can't help but feel down about it sometimes? But your drawings and paintings are gorgeous, really, they are, you just gotta keep going. That's the thing that really does it. Be it at a chug, or a steady pace, or at a blinding rate, if they keep going that's probably what they're gonna be telling the wanna-bees at the Q&A sessions at the promos when asked how they got so good, "I just kept trying". So you're doing all the right things, you're keeping going and producing the right stuff, toiling with it and bending it, going to the classes, and endeavouring to make your art look fantastic and doubting it and even yourself if you don't think it does, like any good artist would. I hope this was helpful! >< Keep posting and keep us updated with your work!

[chevy28360]

Incredible progress mate! The improvement you've made since the first page is tremendous. Keep pushing forward, because it just keeps looking better and better!