It's hard. Mustering even competent-levels of productivity on the blogging front has been challenging, especially since I have other work I ought to be doing (proper CG rocket exhaust, Xenopermian drawings/paintings, other stuff I won't allow myself to mention...).
So I have to admire people like Glendon Mellow, Trish, and, really, anyone in the Art Evolved crew (linky below right) who not only writes, but manages to post sketches/completed work, too. Apart from being awesome, how do they do it?
In my previous post, I failed to mention (unacceptable!) I have a pretty kickass crew of friends (acceptable!); so things are looking up. Nevertheless, I've allowed my ability to become depressed to push down my output in general, and if there's anything that I hate more about this aspect of my psychology, I'd like to be introduced to it (not actually an offer).
But thanks to some great people and technology (like an awesome girlfriend, full-spectrum illumination, and possibly some old toy trains dug out for the Xmas tree), I've managed to shake the funk enough to get back to drawing. And now, possibly, blogging, too.
So here's what's on the agenda: I need to get organized, but I think my range needs to be broadened. I do a lot of dinosaurs and extinct animals. I need to do other things as well.
I also need to do less work digitally. I'm not abandoning the Cintiq, nor Photoshop, but I really do love watercolor, and as intense as it is actually painting with watercolor, there's a release from it that I don't get from open-ended media which have no definite sense of completion; a watercolor is done once the page is full. With digital, or even oils to an extent, I don't get the same sense of finality, of being finished with something.
Recently, I've been fantasizing about the ideal studio. As of this moment, it's a dark room filled with banks of computer equipment in a corner (quite loud when powered up, but a necessary component of my work), and surrounded by books (which isn't so bad), or it's a noisy cafe.
But if I had unlimited access to resources, I'd like a small, octagonal building, maybe 25 feet in diameter, surrounded by windows, flooded with natural light. Room for cabinets for laying artwork out flat, a modest art library, an easel or two, light table, scanner and a laptop. And room for watercolors.
Maybe someday.
5 comments:
With a train that runs around the length of the studio. O-scale would be perfect, I think.
"So I have to admire people like Glendon Mellow, Trish, and, really, anyone in the Art Evolved crew (linky below right) who not only writes, but manages to post sketches/completed work, too. Apart from being awesome, how do they do it?"
Oh, you. Thanks! *^_^*
How I do it: I made a commitment before launching the blog to post at least twice a week for the first three years. Half of my success so far is discipline, the other is my OCD.
Trish, I told myself I've blog three times a week when I started blogging back in something like 2005. That pace has not kept up the last two years, and I regret it. Like Scott, I've become too goddamn busy to keep that sort of schedule.
But I do miss blogging. And I miss being able to keep up with paleo literature.
Trish: I made a similar commitment. Thing is, I couldn't fulfill it.
We'll see how this goes. I've got some backlog of art I plan to post, some good, some okay, some bad (I like the warts). That's grist for the mill.
I made a similar commitment a long time ago to post art every Monday. After 3 years, occasionally I let myself skip one recently. And I actually see a spike in traffic every Monday, whether I post or not, so it lets me know the regular schedule is working.
And thanks Scott. Blogging is sometimes an unappreciated art. I'd love to keep reading your regular posts! You have an intelligent and witty voice and kick-ass art.
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