I gotta be careful not to get addicted to figure drawing, lol. After all these months of putting down paint, ink, and whatnot in a permanent fashion, the temporality of sketch and erase is crazy-comforting. It's just another tool in the box, a powerful one at that, but just a step. The ability to sketch over and over and over until you get it right and put it into a final form, I can't even begin to tell you how much that existed me. Once again, another 'duh' moment for people who have taken any sort of art class. But, an 'aha!' moment for me :)
Yesterday was a good mix of stuff. I didn't get to the serious work I had planned, or at least not as much as I wanted to. It was a hella grim day for me fighting my depression, but, I followed some routines I've been building to fight the darkness, and they got me through. One of the biggest of those was just being around friends in a place that I consider my second home...but, I'm gonna write about that in a different post. The other, of course, is art.
After my computer stopped working (smacked it against something hard this morning and it started working again) I went straight to sketching. I figured it would relax me, get my mind off of things, and allow me something productive to focus on. As always, worked like a charm.
These were some of my favorites. I kept a couple, erased the rest. But, I can't stress enough how important it is to flow through these as fast as possible and keep only when you just can't bear to lose it. Because, you're going to lose it in a couple years anyways. This paper isn't meant to last...and if you don't fix the charcoal it's gonna smear everywhere and eventually go to gray anyways. I'm sure there's a deep life lesson somewhere in there but...got my mind on other things, hehe.
For sketching I usually adhere to the minute rule..unless I see something more. Than I just use the skeleton of what I create in that minute to expand the concept. Why waste the opportunity to practice shading and details? I wouldn't want to do that for every sketch, that would kill the flow. But, for some, definitely. I still try to keep everything under 5 minutes. So far I've found setting time limits like that really keeps me moving...of course, but in a good way. The more time you have the more you seem to overthink things, at least I do.
As it got darker I decided to play with a new ink I'd picked up. This was my second blue. The first one (which you've never seen because I haven't used it really) was cool if you needed something really thin and bright, but right now that doesn't fit what I'm doing. This one, though, deep, dark, thick, really hits what I like to do right now. I might have to head to the art store again today to pick up another color of this brand. Ugh, the world of art supplies is deep, endless, and will take a long time to figure out how to navigate to the things that fit me just right.
I can so see this color being epic on armor, or as armor. Which means I need to practice some of that...and get a color to complement this blue. That's part of what I was thinking about when I did the above skull. If I had that blue...where could I put orange to complement things? Or, what other color would work to make this pop out even more? Everything I do seems like a major lesson right now, hehe. I almost feel like there's a teacher standing over my shoulder tapping their foot. Oh, I could also use this in my Geisha series...but again, need a complementary color or something analogous...lol.
Today might get kind of interesting...my coffee shop has a wall in the alley I've been eyes for a couple months now as a place to paint something. The weathers been crap, I've been broke, and I haven't been inspired...but, today it's a beautiful day, I have a bit of cash, and I feel pretty inspired to do something big. I might stick to my safe zone of skulls, but, still, my first wall might happen today. I just need to go get paint, hehe.
As I pretty much always end my posts, there's a crap to of stuff I need to get done today. Figuring out how to monetize all the work I've created, my skills, my personality, that's all at the top of my list. I'm not Kevin Costner, and this isn't Field of Dreams, so I gotta get my ass in gear.
Thanks for stopping by! Bit by bit I'm getting better...in both art and mind. It's a slow process, like all good things, requiring patience and determination. Remember that when you're frustrated. Even those shitty times where nothing seems to be going right. As long as you try and move forward, you are moving forward, even if you can't see or feel it. The work we put in on the hardest days pays off the most. It teaches us that we can make it through, that we can overcome, that nothing and no one will keep us down :)
Wessel
Previous posts:
My Creative Journey 46
My Creative Journey 45
My Creative Journey 44
My Creative Journey 43
My Creative Journey 42
My Creative Journey 41
My Creative Journey 40
My Creative Journey 39
My Creative Journey 38
My Creative Journey 36 + 37 + Watch me Paint! Ep. 16
My Creative Journey 35 + Watch me Paint! Ep. 15
My Creative Journey 33 + Watch me Paint! Ep. 14
My Creative Journey 32 + Watch me Paint! Ep. 13
My Creative Journey 31 + Watch me Draw! Ep. 7
My Creative Journey 30 + Watch me Paint! Ep. 12
My Creative Journey 29 + Watch me Draw! Ep. 06
My Creative Journey 28
My Creative Journey 27
My Creative Journey 26 + Watch me Paint! Ep. 11
My Creative Journey 25 + Watch me Draw! Ep. 05
My Creative Journey 24 + Watch me Draw! Ep. 04
My Creative Journey 23 + Watch me Paint! Ep. 010
My Creative Journey 22
My Creative Journey 21 + Watch me Paint! Ep. 09
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