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It's pretty funny coming back here after all this time.
People seem more or less the same and I seem to have changed from a misanthrope to a nihilist.
People seem more or less the same and I seem to have changed from a misanthrope to a nihilist.
Granted I've never been very professional about my chosen vocation and to say I've done a good job of getting my name and talents around wouldn't be entirely accurate.
I've done everything from pin-ups to art shows to coloring comic pages to random card game illustrations this past year and it both saddens and disgusts me that I really haven't much to show for that I'm proud of. Throw in a dozen or so WIPs that never seem to find completion and two pieces that I've been trying to finish since July and you have my year summed up, at least in terms of productivity.
I'm still haunted by some advice Kent Williams gave me in my last traditional painting class and that was to make an image interesting both from afar and close up. Too often digital paintings looked incomplete to him because of that. (He worded it better but that was more or less the gist of it) And so I've been observing more and more from life and references and now I feel I've become all OCD on making the perfect painting (which is really helpful considering I still wanna make a comic book). Granted the whole detail thing is something you've mastered remarkably well.
I've been reading a lot, both on epic narratives to storytelling structure and theory and what not - basically continuing my education by studying all the things I've wanted to study but my school never offered.
I've been drugging and boozing and experimenting and living the sort of reckless life I never really had a chance to experience back in art school. It's fun until you get bored of it.
I dunno what it is that drives most artists. It seems to me that they're possessed with some driving passion that somehow gets them to sketch and paint and create something new everyday that I lack. Whether it's just discipline or love of their craft that propels them I've yet to realize. Maybe some combination of the two.
It's the love of my creations that drives me to wanna make something epic with them. And it's escapism that's always inspired me more than anything else. I think it's taken me more than a year to realize that more than some esteemed illustrator or brilliant concept designer I want to be a creator and put some new creations into the collective world idea pool. And I feel I'm finally taking some genuine steps towards that.
Once I get some more pieces done I'll apply to some more places I've been meaning to get freelance work in. Graduating only instilled in me a rush to get work and get paid when really I haven't even deemed myself ready as an artist to meet the challenge.
I've somehow gotten published in Spectrum I guess, but goddamn I hate that fucking whale.
Anyhow, sorry for the long mess. I think I needed to type it out for myself more than I intended to respond to you. I don't have many visual artists for friends and your feedback means more to me than you could imagine.
You seem to be well on your way and from I what I remember of your major, 3d graphics (or whatever it was >.>) will likely net you much greater financial success. I hope you find a way get your characters and stories out.
Much respect.
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