Lazy people tend not to take chances, 

but express themselves by tearing down other's work.

-- Ann Rule

On a pretty regular basis, I feel like I have to give a sort of pep talk to some creatives - trying to boost them up. I don't really mind it so much, and I think that Ashley says it right whenever she catches me trying to fall into a slump, "There are a million other people out there that aspire to do what you're doing. We both have to slog through the muck for awhile to get to where the people that we aspire to be, are." I think that a lot of creatives forget that there's a struggle there to get your work out there. Imagine if it did happen overnight - what would that say about the industry as a whole? I think that ultimately hard work is really what makes one go from being a simple hobbiest to a full-on creative.

There's a simple system that I try to follow to break laziness, and keep in mind, I'm a weird numerologist - so bear with me for just a second...

Take anything creative. This can be art, this can be writing, this really can be anything that you enjoy to do. Break it down into a 3-2-1 system.

For example here's what I try to follow every week (albeit I don't post them as often as I should, but that's another thing altogether).

3 - Fan Arts.

Typically this is what I do for my daily doodles. Every day, before I head to work I take a vote on who I should draw for that day during my lunch break. This is not only a way to keep me active at every moment that I have free - even during my full-time job - but to keep my pencil moving and continually find inspiration. I love when I get either obscure reference pieces to work on, or original thought pieces. Although these are a bit on the rarer side, they tend to push the limits of what can be done in approximately thirty minutes.

2 - Digital Paintings.

These are pieces that I try to pump out to keep my table fresh whenever the next convention rolls around. I can also fit commissioned pieces in here - if life and the full-time job don't get in the way that is. As of late these have been fan arts mostly as well, but see my previous post about how to make a piece your own - no matter what it takes.

---------------------------------------

1 - Original Content.

This is really where the week gets difficult, and it's probably the hardest one to keep up with. But I try every week to come up with something that's purely my own - or rather ours (Ashley and I). These are where pieces like the one above pops up, or where Honor:Decoded came from, etc. These are probably the most taxing, but also the most rewarding. Without these, I would find that doing art is more just a hobby and a copy-cat exercise than anything else. What I mean is, without these pieces, it's hard really to express both your creative muscle and really to get the potential for client work. This is more-or-less my portfolio building exercise. Again, it's really hard to cram an original piece every week with working full time, but I really do try. Most of them I just can't show because they are either contest entries that have a deadline or annual entries or just personal pieces (these are luckily the ones that make it to the page the fastest).

This system can apply to just about any creative exercise... for example I was trying to talk Ashley through the process - and she's a writer - so we went through the 3,2,1 as - 300 pages of a book she likes a week, 2 daily prompt entries, and 1 original content piece. This is just an example and again, these aren't hard and fast rules, but they give you at least a primer to get you started.

And lastly... I can't leave you without a teaser for what's coming next...

Hopefully this little chat got you a start to your day - and as always - for more work, check all over my blog and on one of the social media outlets listed to the right...

Until next time.

Taking a long hard look internally can be more important 

when first starting a journey in art (From Fan Art Friday (Leon the Professional)

 
Before you start anything, make a schedule for yourself - especially one that you can follow religiously. I know this sounds like a lot, but there is a scientific method to this called the 10,000 hour rule that goes on and on about the whole adage practice makes perfect.

Well I can say, truly, that this is 100% true. I wouldn't be where I am without a schedule that I rigorously followed for years. Also, the more consistent you are with a simple schedule, the more you can trust yourself for working conditions later - especially if you're considering a freelance career.

There is always a method to my madness... and here's literally the way I got to where I am now:
http://youtu.be/g4qZCTrBoIo
I would suggest that everyone start here so that you know what a gesture is (if you didn't already) and then make sure that you apply the gesture idea here. I would suggest to start with the longest time you can (2-minutes I think?) and try and capture the essence of the figure as fast as possible.

From there I would try out the challenge modes here: http://quickposes.com/
Next you can do real models here: http://artists.pixelovely.com/
And finally, when you get comfortable being able to slap out gesture and even longer pose studies,
I would suggest you do full-renders from these places:
http://characterdesigns.com/
http://hel-looks.com/
http://www.scott-eaton.com/category/bodies-in-motion https://www.youtube.com/user/onairvideo/videos

Of course, these are just for character design by the way.
I would suggest that you experiment with different medias such as vine charcoal, compressed charcoal, acrylic, pencil, pen, really anything that can make a mark. After all, you're not sure what your forte is until you really try a bunch of different things out.

Other places for great tips are these few places:
https://www.youtube.com/user/ProkoTV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NygkJEc3yu4
http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/

Other than that do Master Studies. Look to old masters like these: http://greatilluminators.blogspot.com/ and try your damndest to copy them.
I highly suggest that everyone first get a handle on traditional media first before really diving into digital, but it can be a good playground to start to experiment while you get your footing.
There are some things that help along the way for learning digital and here are just a few pointers that I can toss at you all.

When first starting out, think about digital painting the same way that traditional painting is done: Large to small. Use extremely large brushes and try to use a very simplified color. On my blog, look around for the tutorials that I do after some of my pieces and perhaps that will help to shed some light on my methodology. It's kind of more of a practice, practice, practice. I still feel like I have a LONG way to go. Deviantart has infinite tutorials on how to get onto the digital painting path, just look it up.

OH and I almost forgot... the brushes. http://matkaminski.blogspot.com/2013/10/typical-brushes-that-i-use.html also... Brush making Tutorial

So, once upon a time, I thought it would be very beneficial to learn digital painting. I thought I would never catch up to my peers as there are soooo many people that are really, really badass at digital painting. I was literally struggling to even learn the basics of digital painting. I had my little bamboo and I would just sit and try to paint something... anything.

For quite a while it was something that I went out of my way to avoid. I felt somehow that the tablet would be something that could be learned later, or somehow I would magically just "get it" one day. I would try all sorts of different things. Scanning a drawing and then painting over that - didn't seem to work. Painting with big strokes - that didn't seem to get me where I wanted. Scribbling to get an image to magically appear out thin air - that definitely didn't work.

I would just give up time and time again to just draw again. With a good 'ole pencil. The crazy thing is that you can track my progress on this blog.

Anyway, point being that through perseverance you can really get there. I am finally feeling like I'm getting somewhere. I know that with all creative endeavors, it's a fleeting thing, but this should at least stand as a testament that I'm getting somewhere.

So all this is to say that, somehow I got to a point where I could teach people a little something!

I got asked by my teacher at the beginning of the semester if I would like to guest teach the entire class. Boy was it intimidating, but ultimately, I know that teaching can not only make a person better, but I was willing to - nay needed to - share the knowledge that was passed down to me.

Somehow, the entire class - everyone! - seemed to have made improvements in the small time that I taught. It was invigorating. So I thought that I would follow suit with everyone and join in on the portrait study that I had them work on. I love answering questions and I'm constantly joking that if I don't know it, I'll find someone who does. 

Tenacity is an insane thing. And I hope to keep continuing on this crazy tradition. Not only has my fiancee really pushed me constantly to get to a better level, but I've surrounded myself with all manner of creativity. The space that we occupy is littered on almost every surface with art of some sort. She is my catalyst. Couple that with the fact that since the beginning, when I first asked Grace Liu some time back what it means to really work in the art industry, I've been constantly inspired to keep pushing forward.

All I can say is that no matter what, just keep pushing - it might take time, but you can get where you need to in time. Just keep at it!

Also... I've done both of these studies before, and I thought it would be interesting again to show the progress.

July 20, 2014 & January 14, 2014, respectively.

Title: False Starts
Medium: Photoshop CS3 & CS6

Scale: Varies

Notes: I think the most important thing to realize here, is that this happens to everyone. The sketching. I used to think this was a bad thing to not finish what you start. And I still think it sometimes. The point though, is to realize that sometimes the process is just as important as what you ultimately get out of the final piece. 

John Lee goes on about this type of thing over and over here. I would honestly suggest that you read a bunch of this to really get some good advice!

More pretty sound advice from Jeff Simpson at the Collective here. (thanks Erica!)

All-in-all, the point I'm trying to make is two-fold:

1) Do whatever it takes to get your final piece out. I mean, WHATEVER it takes. The industry from what I understand has such a huge turnaround rate that I think it's important to note that you might have to make finalized pieces in a day. I once read an article (can't find it at the moment) that talked about if you have a week to finish a piece, it better be a damn good piece. If you have an hour, then you give them your very best in an hour. Point being, always try your damn best!

2) Sometimes just purely sketching is just as important as finalized pieces. Just make sure that all of your sketching is actively pushing you towards some goal or you are just sketching for the sake of sketching. While this may work for certain artists (mainly because they lack a specific end-goal) you should always be actively researching things, making them look representational (and I could start a whole rant about how stylized and abstraction should be first influenced by correct basics, such as proper anatomy, proper color theory, etc.), and overall, making them appealing. Not specifically to everyone else, make sure that YOU enjoy your output. If you can't love your own work, how do you expect anyone else to?

ANYWAY... just some thoughts I had while sketching.

Finally... more advice on exposure from Gregory Manchess.