the desire to create

I have been toying with the idea of developing a back story for one of my designs. I sort of have an idea of her personality which I portray through the drawings of her. I feel this is somewhat necessary to create an emotive piece.
But some people take it further than that and really come up with a narrative for their characters. This isn't something I have ever had interested in. Until now. I have a character that I really like. Her design, I think, is rather unique and I enjoy drawing her. If I so desired, I could create a story for her, with other characters, in a unique setting and start a comic. However, this would take a lot of time and planning. And some ability to tell a story through art. I'm not sure if I have any of these things.
So I likely will do nothing. But I'll keep drawing her, even if I'm the only one who knows what she's thinking.

confusing struggle

I have been drawing and painting for as long as I can remember and it has always been an important feature in my life. I never wanted to make it my career, but it's something that I still take pretty seriously.

But after all this time, I still don't feel comfortable with my art. I don't feel confident in my skills. And I'm unsure about why I even want to draw.  I don't really do it to make a statement, I don't really have any creative ideas, and I'm not trying to achieve realism or anything. The closest thing I can think of to explain my motivation is that...I just want to make pretty things. I just want to draw things that are nice to look at.

But if that's the case, why do I take it so seriously? I wish I could just have more fun with it, and not worry so much about how it's going to turn out, what people are going to think of it, or whether it conveys my "style" properly.

I feel like I would enjoy art more and be more inspired if I wasn't so concerned with these trivial things.

Acceptance

I realized that I had found a technique that worked for me. And things were looking up, art-wise. I was regaining confidence and thought I should "experiment" with more dramatic subject matter.


But then I realized that...  I am not dynamic. Everything I do is soft, and pretty, and totally static.
But I think that's okay! Maybe that's just what my art will be and people will enjoy it for that reason. My most recent finished drawing went really well. I finished it quicker than I thought I would. And I didn't over-work it. I didn't even color it. I thought I still might, but I don't really feel like it. And I think it's still good.

I do have plans to color my latest in-progress drawing. But if it doesn't turn out how I want it, I may just stick with the black and white. We'll see how it goes. But I am feeling mostly optimistic about it.

BLOCKED

I am suffering from some art block right now. A lot of things in my life are changing a bit, and it has been busy and a little stressful. And so I have had little time for art. I have been doing regular updates for my pony tumblr, AskNettle, with some success. But personal art has been placed on the back burner for the most part.

I did complete this drawing recently:

I liked my original sketch, but I lost interest in the drawing about halfway through. I struggled to complete it and the end result was that it was technically finished, but not something I'm extremely proud of.

I think sometimes drawings are like that, where they just happen without any real impact on your life. I will just move on to the next thing, and hopefully that one will feel more like an accomplishment.

method progress

So since I have been doing everything with a black and white underdrawing, I feel my overall look has improved A LOT. I think I am now drawing the way I draw naturally, on paper.

I still need to do my sketching with pencil and paper, but the coloring goes much much faster now and maintains the look of the original sketch almost perfectly every time. (provided I had a good sketch to begin with). The other thing that's great about this method is that I have a choice halfway through to either be done, and be satisfied with a black and white drawing, or I can continue with overlaying the colors and having a finished colored piece.

Here's a WIP shot of something I started today (about 2 hours ago)

Also trying to do more exciting subjects and composition. Here's SEG (Space Explorer Girl) in action, shooting some tentacles or some nonsense. So this piece will hopefully feature an interesting comp, using a different perspective and some cropping, more dynamic lighting with higher contrast, and maybe some nice colors, if I decide to color it. (I probably will).

The amount of background detail I include will depend on my patience and how the figure and beast turn out. It may or may not need a lot of detail.

Patience is another thing I have to work on.  It is usually limited and I tend to be "done" with drawings before I am actually satisfied them. Then I feel crappy and go "bleehhh, I'm a bad artist, boohoo..." So I need to stop doing that.

I think I have to shorten that arm....

Cteno II -Actual Progress!

After kicking my work rooms ass , and turning it into a much more organized and productive space, I was able to sit down and spend a couple hours on my Cteno sculpture.

Here's how it's looking now!

Obviously there are still some wires sticking out, as her tail is not fully formed yet. But the main components are there.  I am trying sculpted eyelashes for this one, we'll see how it turns out.

I am pretty happy with my progress. The first sculpture was about to stand alone, but this one is going to need a base. Haven't quite figured out what I'm going to be using, but I have a couple ideas.

I'm excited to finish it, and I'm already considering doing another sculpture in a larger size. I'm really tempted to do another Cteno, but honestly, I'm starting to creep myself out...

She's just so fun to sculpt! so gooey.

creative outlets

So, I have decided to take a cue from some other artists online, and have created a tumblr account. I don't know how well I will be able to juggle all these blogs and accounts, but each one serves a different purpose. This blog will remain a place for me to spew my thoughts and processes, works in progress, sketches, etc.  The tumblr is more for random stuff, short comics, photos, and whatever else.  It also allows people to ask me questions which I will try to answer with a drawing or comic. The idea is that it will improve my speed and creative thinking. And give me something else to do when I'm art blocked, or just bored.  And unlike the blog here, it's more social, so I might have the opportunity to interact with other artists.

In other news, I did a complete overhaul on my work room! I DID get a couple things from IKEA, mostly for organizing.  I have a couple more things to do, but when I'm finished I may post some "before" and "after" photos.  It's a pretty serious difference, and I'm hoping it will be a pretty serious improvement in my productivity.