Dino Chef Episode 1
I did a comic! It’s about a dinosaur who cooks.
Also, I’ve migrated some of my internetting activity over to Tumblr. For now, at least, this-here blog will be where I post more “finished” pieces, whereas Tumblr will serve as a pasture for all of my wild artistic antics. Give me some Tumblr love, please.
A 14-day apocalypse
For the past two weeks, redditor Vidzilla has been creating a series of fictional posts about the apocalypse, as told through the internet. Unlike a lot of overblown apocalypse stories, this series is well-considered and very grounded in the way that information is communicated today. As a sucker for good apocalypse tales, I’m eating this up. Check it out here.
via Neatorama
Idris Elba
I think I’m hooked on this digital painting thing now. Here’s Idris Elba, counterpart to Ruth Wilson in, and namesake of Luther.
Ruth Wilson
I just finished Series 1 of Luther on Netflix. It’s rather good. Especially Ruth Wilson in it. Here’s a painting I did of her.
Midweek Sketch Dump: January 5, 2012
Wanna know the secret to artistic productivity? Spend a week in a foreign country far away from the internet, with nothing but your sketchbook and all the free time in the world. I’ve filled 11 pages in the past week while sitting by the pool and watching people sunbathe. Here’s a few samples of what I’ve been working on.
Thing-a-Week 2011: Epilogue
I started this project 52 weeks ago with humble hopes and ambitious intentions: to dedicate a year to the continuous pursuit of creativity. Each drawing, painting, photograph, and prop has marked a new milestone of artistic development. While some weeks pushed the quality of my work ahead by leaps and bounds, others found me caught in a rut, unable to draw my way out of a paper bag. Still, some weeks allowed me to explore new media, while others let me refine my skills with familiar ones.
Looking back over a year’s worth of art can be an enlightening experience. At times, it’s easy for an artist to feel as if his or her work hasn’t progressed, and to become frustrated or demoralized. But just like losing a lot of weight after exercising for a year, striking changes can be easy to miss if you’re exposed to them on a daily basis. Certainly, not every thing I posted this year is a masterpiece. In fact, the majority of these pieces are far from what I’d consider “finished” pieces. But each thing served in some way to strengthen my creative resolve, be it through raw technical improvement, or simply because it kept pushing me to think creatively in a week where I would otherwise leave that part of my brain dormant.
So, where does one go from here? As the last few weeks have ticked away, bringing me ever closer to the project’s end, I’ve been considering several other options on how to improve upon this year’s format. In retrospect, Thing-a-Week 2011 showed me firsthand the benefit of two very important practices:
- Draw Every Day
- Show Your Art To Other People
That in mind, the most obvious would seem to be Thing-a-Day, but there are a few flaws in such a model. Although Thing-a-Week has pushed me to work under self-imposed deadlines and prevented me from slacking, it’s also created some (perhaps avoidable) anxiety in the weeks where my creative drive was at its most sluggish. Drawing every day is an essential part of improving one’s art; showing that art to others, be it for critique, or simply for the benefit of sharing it with an audience is also essential. But these two facets are not permanently linked — while drawing every day is useful for the artist on a raw technical level, not every work created on a daily basis is necessarily “art”. And while one can create a slippery slope by self-assessing the merit of every individual sketch, it’s just as important for an artist to create a baseline of quality for public viewing. In other words, not every piece should make the cut. Certainly, some avid followers might be interested to view an artist’s progress on the granular scale, taking in everything that comes from his pen, but in most cases, wider audiences are only interested in the more complete pieces. In fact, by failing to draw a clear line between “practice work” and “finished work”, an artist can even do harm to the audience’s perception of his proficiency.
With 2012 just days away, I’m certainly going to continue on this trend of doodling every day and attempting to produce something more substantial at least once a week. But moving forward from Thing-a-Week 2011, I plan to create a clearer distinction between the polished work that goes into my portfolio, the playful work that’s simply for enjoyment, and the practice work that won’t be placed in the public eye. In the weeks ahead, this will be reflected in the structure of this blog and my online presence as a whole; keep following my posts, and be sure to watch my Facebook page for further updates.
Before I put a lid on this wonderful little project, I’d like to give one last shout-out and a huge thanks to fellow artist Caitlin Crawshaw, who will also be completing her side of the project this week. In those weeks where one of us got lazy, the other has been there to encourage and goad us into keeping up with the project. She’s also made some fantastic progress in her own work, which you can track on her blog right here. Thanks Caitlin!
In the mean time, I’m off to warmer climates for the next week for some much-needed R&R. Rest assured, I’m taking my sketchbook with me.
Previous Thing-a-Week posts:
Intro
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10.1 | 11 | 12 | 12.1 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 28.1 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 34.1 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 51.1 | 52
Thing-a-Week 52: Festive Finale
This is it, friends: the final week of a yearlong crusade to constantly create art. Over the course of the past year, I’ve sharpened my skills and tried my hand at a variety of new media. Keeping in that spirit, I feel it appropriate that I cap off the project with work in a medium that I’m using for the first time: gouache.
Kelsey got me a set of gouache paints for Christmas, and I immediately used them to create a pair of Christmas cards for our parents. After spending just a few hours with the paints, they may have already become my favorite medium. For the uninitiated, gouache is essentially an opaque watercolour, halfway between traditional watercolours, and more opaque media like acrylics. This leads to extremely vibrant colours that are simple to blend, and lend themselves to a number of interesting techniques depending on how much water is added. Many traditional illustrators use gouache in professional work, and I’m not surprised; I’m anxious to see what I can pull off with them myself.
So, this is it! I’m planning to post one last retrospective in this series, looking back on the year that was and commenting on what I’ve gotten out of it. After that, I’m off on a well-earned vacation. I’ve got more exciting things planned once I return, but you’ll need to wait to find out more! And as always, be sure to check out Caitlin’s blog — despite being in South Africa, she’s soldiering on with the remainder of her posts for the year.
Previous Thing-a-Week posts:
Intro
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10.1 | 11 | 12 | 12.1 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 28.1 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 34.1 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 51.1
Thing-a-Week 51.1: This Is Why We Fight
I started this one last week, but just now got around to finishing it. This here’s the girl from the new Decemberists video who I decided would be a good study.
Previous Thing-a-Week posts:
Intro
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10.1 | 11 | 12 | 12.1 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 28.1 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 34.1 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51
Thing-a-Week 51: The Final Countdown
We’re into the home stretch here, people. This post marks the penultimate week in my yearlong Thing-a-Week challenge. I spent the afternoon at the Royal Alberta Museum again, making the first of what I plan to make into a very art-filled week.
Despite being in South Africa, Caitlin is also back to posting frequently. Go check her stuff out too!
Previous Thing-a-Week posts:
Intro
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10.1 | 11 | 12 | 12.1 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 28.1 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 34.1 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50
Thing-a-Week 50: Artsplosion
With only three weeks left in this project, my creativity has kicked into overdrive. Not only have I been keeping up my daily drawing habits — I’ve now been spending several hours a day dedicating my free time to art. As a result, this week’s “Thing” isn’t so much singular as it is a collection of all the items I’ve been working on for the past seven to ten days. I eventually want to start working toward more “complete” pieces again, but focusing on quantity has been a great way to train myself not to spend hours agonizing over little details, instead just producing lots of good work quickly.
With that, in no particular order, the art week that was:
"When I grow up, I want to become Richard Branson"
A quick response to a Sketch War I'm currently involved in
A pair of gesture drawings to practice anatomy
Cartoon doodle character study
Sun bears are ridiculous creatures. They are nature's joke on the forest.
Previous Thing-a-Week posts:
Intro
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10.1 | 11 | 12 | 12.1 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 28.1 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 34.1 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49
