Aug. 29, 2013 - FLOW FLOW FLOW! Gestures and Naga

 Unexpected Flow??
It's late again, as usual, but during tonight's sketches, I set out to try to achieve the "better" quality and flow that I am usually only able to achieve during mid to late session.  To my surprise, I think I was able to achieve that o.O.  Perhaps I was a bit calmer tonight than previous nights, perhaps I'm able to turn this mode on or off easier than I thought.  Hmmm, who knows.  I'll have to make extra note of this.  Very interesting.

 Here's NAGA AGAIN!

I had reference, but I ended up doing my own thing XD.  Not bad for having ditched the reference.  I can say that I am really digging these pupil-less eyes.  I feel that the flow from from my previous gestures also carried over.  So nice!

During my entire life it always only felt that my better drawings have always been "Happy Accidents" that i will never been able to recreate.  It's nice to finally be able to see that not only can these happy accidents be recreated, but built upon to create bigger and better things. 

Slow and steady doggy, slow and steady, gotta keep up my training!

Aug. 25 - 28, 2013 - Gestures and Monster Girls

I DIDNT FORGET!  Things have just been busy.  I'll try to get these out on time better again, but for the time being things might be a bit sporadic.  Apologies in advance.

As mentioned in a previous blog, I am still trying to do 1000 gestures this week...  buuuuut, as I said, the business factor has played a bit of a part in it.  I will surely try as much as I can though.and here is what I managed to do on the 27th.  It's definitely more than I'm usually able to pull off, but still nowhere near what i needed to get the 1k.

I wrote Exaggerate in the top in an attempt to remind myself it's ok to go over the top a bit with gestures.  I'm actually rather pleased with the turnout of these.  I felt a bit looser on the later ones and the quality of those are a bit better because of it.

It seems that every time I start drawing i have to climb myself out of a "not so good" phase.  It takes a while before I really get the flow going.  I need to keep this in mind.



I showed my good friend shaunzy the monster girl challenge and he wanted to do it himself, then melly hopped on board also.  After a bit of talking I decided to restart the challenge so we can do it together.  So that's what I did!  I'll still probably keep the other one going for added practice, but who knows.  Here's the few I redid.
Harpy

 Centaur

 Slime

I am proud of the slime one.  I had done this one after the mass gesture drawings that day and I felt really on top of my game.  Although it's still really simple, I was particularly proud of the head and hair.  But i think the whole thing turned out rather nice.  The centaur one turned out pretty awesome also I think.

 Then some more sketches for the 28th.

 Had a lot on my mind this day, but a few turned out rather decent.
 I need to pick up my game if I am to even reach half of 1k gestures.
Amongst these, I only hit 83.   Maybe 1k is a bit high, but I will at least shoot for it.

Aug. 22, 2013 - gestures

These felt stiff for some reason.  I think I need to try exaggerating the features.  I've seen a lot of folks saying to do that with gestures.

Aug. 21, 2013 - Sketches & Fear of Success Research

I remember reading somewhere that changing the background color is a good thing.  So I tried this.
These were more 1 min sketches..  I began noticing that i keep trying to think in contours rather than forms and i'm trying to change it up a bit around the 3rd line.  I tried thinking in simple shapes, and doing a thing with gestures.  Im not exactly sure what i did but i think a few of them turned out nice.

The black might actually be a bit hard to see, so here is the regular white background.  It's the same images as above only with different background.

A little update on that fear of success thing.
This morning when I woke up I took a bit of time to see if this "Fear of Success" thing was a real thing, or if I was just being silly.  And sure enough, it is!  It was hard to find anything exactly in my situation, this particular article and video I found were rather interesting.  http://artists-edge.com/fear-of-success-failure-article/ Again, it's freakin late and im tired.  remind me to touch on this again later.  XD

Zzzz

Aug. 20, 2013 - Mermaids, Psychology stuff Fear of Success?, and Character Development.

MERMAIDS!

MERMAIDS YEA!  No reference, haven't drawn in a bit, and i did these rather quick.  Nothing too special.



BUT YA KNOW!
I had an interesting realization today.  As you know I have been trying to finish up as many of my other projects as I can before I fully dive into this whole art thing and try to take it on more seriously and such.  Although, unfortunately, a few personal and family issues have really come between me and achieving that goal and things just kind of melted into a scrambled mess during what little free and alone time I have.  The realization still came regardless. 

While my goals were noble and had good intention, I think there is something else going on behind the scenes that I'm glad i caught before it snowballed out of control (I doubt it would happen again, but let me explain)  There is a psychological thing that was taking place here, one not too different from the one that distanced me from art for so many years.  That is simply the act of distancing myself from my real goals.  Putting other various things in front of the real goal that I want to achieve, getting better at art.  And in the end, that is nothing more than an excuse to not continue my studies.  Perhaps it's a sign of fear?  A fear of failure?  Or even a fear of success?  While I doubt it is the latter of the two, maybe that is a real issue that I have yet to really consider.  Fear of success?  I have been stuck in a rut, art wise, for years.  Kind of spinning my wheels in place only to not move anywhere.  Understandably, I never really tried to get better during this rut and just kind of accepted things the way they were.

I had become comfortable with being the "useless never improving artist."  And now that I'm actually challenging that way of thinking and actually seeing improvement, I'm unintentionally/ subconsciously retreating back to my old "comfort zone" of the "useless never improving artist" by throwing up these walls (random tasks) and setting distance between myself and further improvement. 

I'm convinced these habits can not only be stomped, but completely overcome and conquered, but it's not going to do so unless I step forward and stop them in their tracks.  I am cutting back on my previous projects to direct more attention to my art projects and studies.  As for the personal and family issues, all should be sorted out next week so I should regain a good portion of my time.  Till then...  MORE SCRAMBLING!


--Character Development--
Time hasn't been on my side, but that doesn't mean I haven't been working on characters development!  I've had a lot of time to really stop and think about my characters and how I want them to function around one another.  I have had a lot of great ideas and have taken many of them into consideration.  I am really liking what I am coming up with on the Doggy Doggy and Doggy series.  I wish I could share more than what I have, but I really want it to be a surprise.  WE'LL SEE THOUGH!  I might throw out a few character designs on here, when I finally get them drawn out, but oh man.  I'm excited.

Aug. 15, 2013 - Left handed day and cookies

So I missed the Left Handed day which was Aug 13.  I usually like to do a thing for left hand day but I completely forgot.  So I did it today!

As terrible as I am with my left hand, I can still see how my training has payed off.  While these figures are by no means perfect, they still have some kind of shape to them.  This was an interesting few sketches.

So... I had the entire night set aside for drawing right?...  Well, shaunzy introduced me to the dumbest freakin game ever that literally consumed my entire free time for the past few days...  I think I've just about done everything there is to do in it, but oh man haha!!  It was fun while it lasted! 

Cookie Clicker
http://orteil.dashnet.org/experiments/cookie/

Aug. 14, 2013 - Sketches

1 min sketches.

So sleepy, but I did a thing.

Aug. 13, 2013 - Sketches, Gift Art, Vilppu Chapter3 (complete)

 Had a pretty great day.  I managed to get quite a bit of art done.  I think I am finally getting used to my new schedule and other non art related duties.  I feel much more at ease with things, which is always a good sign.  I felt a bit rusty when doing these sketches, but hey, just glad to be in the right mindset again.

 The first batch were 1 min sketches.

 The first few were super rusty, but I think I got a bit of my flow back as things went on.  Nothing too spectacular but practice is practice.  A few box forms managed to show up as well.


These next few were 5 min each.

I was attempting to be quick but thorough.  Really take in the figure and understand the 3 dimensional forms that create it.  I'm not sure how successful I was but I got some decent figures done.  A long while back, my buddy Mokuu suggested I try some more focused studies.  For a full week take do mass studies on the arm, leg, hands, feet, etc.   I was a bit intimidated by the task, and even tried it a few times on the blog here only to kind of fall through, the head studies I did a while back  Perhaps I try something like this again.  I think I might be ready for the challenge!

And this box form without reference.

I don't know, I still don't  reaaalllly understand these things...  Buuuut...  I think my brain might be wrapping around it a little more.  Baby steps, baby steps.  Still dont like boxes, but i know this will really help in many areas of my art if i can really get this down.  Not so much "BOX FORMS" but just understanding boxes.  A bit more on the vilppu section.  But first, GIFT ART!

A few good friends of mind had art requests... SO I DID THEM :D! 
My buddy Larz picked up the new lego game and suggested I do a picture of the main character Laval.  SO I DID!

I really enjoyed this one because it gave me a chance to play around with colors and the idea of the box forms again.  Looking at it now, there are a few things that I could have done better, or differently.  I tried to use a coloring method my buddy Shaunzy taught me.  I couldn't remember all the details of the technique, and I lost my notes in the death of my hard drive.  But What I did remember I think it turned out alright.



Next gift aft was for my other good buddy Raz! 

I'd been farting around on this one for the past few days and Just wanted to crank it out.  It his a wolf type Net Navi from Megaman Battle Network!  I wrecked my head a bit on the design, it ended up being a little darker than I originally wanted.  But I really like the end result!  (I know you read this blog so I hope you like it dude! :D!)  It was originally supposed to be a bit bigger of a project, but I kept getting hung up on silly little details so I just finished this up like this and will likely add on to it at a later date.  I also played around with different outline colors for the main outline.  It gave it a really different feel and I kind of like it.  Usually i would just "ink" in black, but perhaps i should play with other colors a bit more.

I still however, still have problems with with creating things for other people...  I touched on this briefly on a previous blog.  I thought a great way to get over this is to simply do more stuff for people.  I don't know exactly how I will go about doing this, but the more I do, the more I will get used to it.  Just a random thought.  We'll see what happens.


Lastly, VILPPU!!!  I ran a search on the family PC and found my vilppu videos!  I must have thrown them on there for some random reason and completely forgot,  but I have them back!!!  I just finished up what was left of chapter 3.  I am happy.

It's really late and I started getting really sleepy halfway through this thing so i'm gonna go to sleep.  But things are much better than the last few posts.

I really want to get a few of my old things back up and running on this blog like the monster girl challenge, more figure studies, analyzing my favorite art styles etc.  But like i said, its late and im sleepy. so till next time!

All of July's sketches

Because I can.

Here is all of July's sketches!

I just unhid all the layers.  AND BAM XD!
I saw an art dude do this and thought it was cool, so i'ma do it too.  *nods*

Aug. 8, 2013 - Birthday Present and Unexpected Setbacks

Internet broke for a week, first artstuff then update on other things.

New friend of mine, Mayrune, had a birthday recently and thought I'd draw her something!! :D

I originally started this image long before my internet went dead, but for some reason it is always really difficult for me to do art for people I believe are "better"than I am at drawing/ creating things.  I scrapped the first sketches because they weren't "good enough".  It's the most bizarre thing.  As a content creator myself, there is nothing more amazing than to receive a random art gift fanart from anybody!!!  So why do I then expect the people I am creating a piece for to be overly critical and see the flaws in my own work, when I would never do such a thing with a gift to me??  I know this is just me being silly again, but I need to get over this.  I feel both the quality and speed of my work take a hit with this silly mind set and in the end it doesn't help anybody.  While this piece didn't turn out as well as i think it could have, And because I love when people do things like this, here are these for your enjoyment :D!

 I did do some drawing in my time away, I will attempt to sort through those and upload them here as soon as I can.

Aaaaannnd this
Unexpected Setbacks
Brother moved back in and babysitting duty has increased 10 fold.  Babysitting takes up so much of my time and energy it's unreal...  I'll leave it at that.

So as I said before my internet was out for the past week.  I attempted to upgrade my internet to slightly faster internet but turns out the dude lied to me and I now have internet the slowest internet on market! (aside from dial up of-course)  Thankfully though, it isn't under contract so I can either switch back to what i had before, or change to a different provider.

So now, doing anything outside of art isn't really an option especially with internet blistering speeds of  1.5mbps down and .2mbps up. 

I've never been one to harp on things like this any more than needs to be, but man this has been a week.  Just gotta take it one step at a time.  Do what I can, and not worry about what I can't.  Hehe, at least I got my internet back.  :P

MORE TRAINING!

Aug. 1, 2013 - This Month's Plans

Things might be a little slow this month for the blog.  There are a few things that I REALLY want and need to finish that are kind of lingering over my head.  So this month I will focus a little less on art things while I hopefully finish these other projects.  With those out of the way I won't have to worry so much about other projects and can more peacefully invest my time into my studies and drawings.  This, however, doesn't mean the blog will be abandoned.  I will still try my hardest to at least get some kind of daily study or drawing session in, though it will not be as main of a focus as in previous months.

It has always been incredibly difficult for me to focus on two different tasks as I have been doing for a while here on the blog.  While all of my progress has in fact been made during this split focus, I think it would be best if I really finished off some other things so I will at least not have that extra bit to worry about.  I can't promise anything, but that's this months plan.  GOING ALL OUT!!!...  In a slightly different direction.  At least for this month.

Art is still the most important thing right now.  If I feel that this new focus is harming it in some way, I will revert back to my prior way of doing things and just finish things that way.  We'll see what happens!

P.S.  OH and uh.  I also did a few playtests of that "game" I'm working on.  I kind of like what I saw.  It isn't perfect, and there are still some kinks I need to iron out in the combat system.  Combat is not the most important aspect of this "game", but it is there, and I want it to be simple, clean and at least fun and/or engaging.  Unfortunately, this isn't one of the projects I will be able to finish this month, or next month, or a few months down the line.  I have no idea how long it will take before this thing is ready, but I am legitimately excited for it.  It isn't quite like anything I have seen before, which only excites me even more.  I think it has potential.  I apologize for being so hush hush about it (and I probably wont talk much about it for a while).  I just want to be extra careful with the idea.  Just know that it's... different... :P

July 31, 2013 - July Overview - "Doggy Doggy and Doggy"

Well, I accomplished my month's goal!
The simple goal of drawing more than last month, which wasn't a hard goal at all to reach.

I also managed to finish off a few animations, get some real work done on my game (I'M MAKING A GAME), keep up my studies, did a lot of character development for a silly animation series I have planned with the current working title of "Doggy Doggy and Doggy" (it will likely change)

The idea is loosely based on the silly little birthday animations I did myself the past two years.

and


I had way more fun doing these than I thought I would, and for the past year or so I have been debating on actually turning it into a thing.  One of my problems with it's current state was telling the 3 "me"s apart, or if you should even be able to tell them apart.  After sitting down and debating things a bit, I think it would be a bit more interesting if they were in fact a bit different from each other while still carrying the same whimsical personalites.  An example that I am working with is tweaking their knowledge and intelligence on various aspects and of-course their physical appearance will have different features.  BUT OH MAN IT WILL BE GOOD!  I am so excited to start this thing up.  There are other things I want to finish before devoting more time to this silly thing, but till then I'll keep developing the other characters.  Good stuff to come.

And this is kind of relevant also.   This is where I kind of started playing around with this "style"  I'll write more about things i have planned as the project nears, but I am excite.  Cheers to another great month!