Short but sweet

There's not much to report on this week, as I've done no art! I've tried to work on my digital drawing of Cersei Lannister this afternoon, and I've spent a couple of hours working on her hair, but I realised I hadn't done it long enough at all. That's and my laptop crashed, so I've thrown my toys out of the pram and not doing anymore today. My mood isn't helped by the fact I had so little sleep last night due to being in the sweat box of a spare room my nan has. So I'm pretty grumpy today, and in no mood to do art to make up for the fact I haven't done any all week.

On the upside I've bought more paper (although it's still not the same stuff, but it's got to the point where it will never be the correct paper as it's been discontinued, so I'll have to make do with what I have).

I finished the Shaw Academy Graphic Design course, and found the last 2 lessons pointless; needless to say I won't be signing up to their advanced course, nor paying to take the final exam to get my certificate of completion. I have seen a short course to do at a university, but after seeing what this online course was like that I've just done I need to go through the university course with a fine toothcomb before committing money to it.

I'm doing a school holiday art course starting on Thursday for the next 6 weeks which will be interesting, I've managed to get some of my colleagues to join me too.

I've also started following a blog: http://drawboy.blogspot.co.uk/ but I'm finding my blog isn't generating much traffic though Blogger, so I'm thinking of moving it to WordPress and see what they're about.

Anyway, I'm not one for sentimental inspirational quotes, but I'm feeling down in the dumps today, so here's one for my Pinterest of the Week: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/494833077785572089/

More of the same Schoolism

I've been working on the same ideas as last week, and I've come up with a few more too. I've sketched the ones I thought were better ideas:

Chimp Selfie

Hungry Worm

I quite liked the concept for Chimp Selfie. Children learn to copy their parents behvaiour, it's part of their learning cycle, and it's quite scary how a two year old knows how to work a mobile phone or tablet. I bet chimps would learn from the hoardes of people that go to visit them in the zoo or wildlife parks every day, so I wonder if the zoo keeper gave a chimp a camera on a selfie stick if they would copy the behaviour of the people observing it? Just a thought.
I'm really conscious that we're more than halfway through October now and I still haven't watched any more of the videos I've subscribed to on Schoolism. I've not developed my current ideas too far, as I'm intrigued to see what the next video will bring, and I want to get a move on with the course.

I've also signed up to another course: Start Writing Fiction with FutureLearn in collaboration with the Open University. Talk about burning the candle at both ends! I figured that I struggle to come up with good ideas for my art, so if I do a course on writing it may help. It's free anyway, so I have nothing to lose.

A new feature that I'm going to do on my blog every week is Pinterest of the Week. This will be where I've pinned something on Pinterest that was of interest to me. I have a few boards on Pinterest, fitness and baking to name a few, but I also have a board for Art and another board for Inspiration. So this week's Pinterest of the Week is:

http://www.sheknows.com/living/articles/1003285/25-pinterest-myths-debunked/page:3

I love the idea of melting crayons onto paper to make ink splats, I have an idea for this so I will revisit this project.

That's it for this week, let's see what the next part of my Schoolism subscription brings!


Liked this post? You may also like: http://kimshibbybob.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/the-start-of-my-schoolism-subscription.html

Quick mid-week update

Just a quickie, my Schoolism subscription starts tomorrow!! So I might not be doing my daily drawing for a couple of months, but I should defo be producing something, even if it's not daily.

Also I've signed up to a free course called Start Writing Fiction with FutureLearn (through Open University). Whilst I love drawing I often struggle to think of a back story for my drawings, which can make them seem a bit pointless. So hopefully this will help me think up new ideas, which will then help me think of things to draw!

I've still been doing my daily drawings this week, and will share with you all on Sunday :)

Portrait WIP progress, inspiring talks, and research

I feel like I'm losing my mojo with my life at the moment. This isn't going to be a woe-is-me post, but I'm struggling to find any motivation to do any art or research the things I need to.

I've forced myself to work more on my WIP this weekend, although I've been extremely busy:

All I have done is add extra colour, I haven't touched up any of the skin, hair or hoody. This week I'm hoping to finish off all of the main colour, and then start refining his face and hair.

Every morning I have breakfast, but I'm getting really tired of seeing depressing new bulletins, so this week I've quickly gone through my news app on my phone when I've got up,and then watched some inspiring videos on the internet. I've seen a couple of things this week I want to share with you:

TED Talks - Kickstart your Creativity

There are 5 videos on here, all of which I thought were good. I didn't think I'd like the last one, but after watching it it's given me a lot to think about. To me art has always been creating something that others will think is good, no matter what it is, but my horizons have always been very narrow: traditional media (pencils, paint, etc) and digital painting. But then seeing this guy embrace his limitation showed me there's multiple ways to create something interesting. I'll try to keep a broader mind when creating traditional art.

Youtube - InPursuitOfArt

Art School, University or Self Taught - My Worthless 1st Class Degree

https://youtu.be/741QcPO04As

If you have read my previous posts you'll know about my inner struggle with deciding to start a university degree or not. My partner has not been keen for me to start this for several reasons, the biggest being worth, and I agree with him. For the amount it would cost me would put me into quite a bit of debt. Also I'm not sure Uni would teach me necessary skills (there is a part in the video above where the guy started learning about perspective AFTER Uni!). Also, I would want to go to Uni for the networking, but the course I would do would be homelearning, so aside from forums I would have very little change to network unlike a brick-and-mortar Uni.'s

I've been looking for another opinion on whether Uni is worth it. Every job I come across in the field I want to work in requires a degree OR strong portfolio, of which I have neither. I have read a lot of stories though where people are in a job they love and didn't go to Uni. In my mind I used to have the view of going to Uni = instant job prospects. That might've been the case 20 years ago, but not anymore in the UK. My best friend has a Uni loan for law, and all that happened after she graduated was she working as a cash manager in a bargain store. Now she works in a care home. It doesn't seem right that's she qualified to work in law, but could only get sh*tty jobs. I don't want to spend a lot of money, and invest a lot of time into something that may prove useless, especially when I can spend that time practising and networking. So I think my mind is now set regarding this issue; I won't be going to Uni to further my art education.

Anyway, just to break up the rant above, we picked up the trailer tent on Friday! We've had it out today, and given it a good clean down. Tomorrow we're off to buy some canvas cleaner and waterproofer, also some other bits-and-bobs like pans, cutlery, etc, so we can just go on holiday at a moments' notice!

First set-up, ha!

Also, I lost another pound at Slimming World last week, that's 8lb off in total! I've not had too much in the way of chocolate today, although I didn't go to my parent;s for a scrumptious Easter dinner :)

I've managed to do a bit of research this weekend too. I can't find ANYTHING in the way of art conventions in the UK, I don't think I'm searching the right parameters. However I did manage to find some pricelists that studio's charge, and they vary wildly. I need to look up more places so I have something to base my prices on, that and the fact I need to start working out what I need to stay above the breadline.

Also from the above I've noticed company names seem to be quite snappy, or fresh, or memorable, something which mine isn't, so I'm thinking of changing the name. Mine is so 90's, and I think people would forget it in a heartbeat, so now I need to choose a new name!

Company name.

So next week I should have a more snappy name to brand myself with, finish the WIP and research some more. Have a good week!

Moving on - job opportunities, further education, and practice

Since finishing Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain I haven't completed many new works of note.

It's been easy for the first blog posts for this blog, all I have done is post my previous work from years gone by. However to keep this blog a regular feature I now need to produce more art in a shorter time frame. Ideal for practising, but hard to do when I have a full time job, a house to keep, and also like to fit in other leisurely activities (keeping fit, watching films, etc). It doesn't leave much time for creativity.

I was very nearly ready to give this up again when an excellent job opportunity came up in my area; a trainee baker. I worked in a bakery when I lived in Australia, and I hugely enjoyed it. However this opportunity wasn't meant to be, as I didn't get the job. Everything for a reason, as my mum says...

In my first post I mentioned about taking a university course. My views on this haven't changed, I still want to take a degree in fine art, but now the issue is money, as I'm saving for a house. I think I will leave it a few more months and see what I want to do then. My work situation seems to be taking a turn for the better, I won't mention any more than that for now, but depending on how things go will determine whether I go ahead with the university course.

In regards to practising I haven't done much since finishing Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain, and you know what? I have absolutely no excuse for it. I've carried on with CTRL+ Paint, but I've only covered 2 videos, imagining things & Expressiveness in Drawing. Below are a few of my very quick sketches:



Imagining

Man in hat, exaggerating the beard and drawing a different hat, looks a bit like Gandalf!



Man in hat, exaggerating the hat but diminishing the eyes

 

James (my partner), exaggerating his hair & sideburns, diminishing his jaw

James, normal



James, exaggerating his nose, diminishing all other features

Since drawing the above I popped into my local stationery store and noticed they were selling a beginners artist paint set. In a near little foldaway case is an artist pad with 4 sheets of canvas 'paper', 6 acrylic paints, brush, pencil, eraser, sharpener and pallet, all for the affordable price of £4



Well loved

I have 3 ideas for my 4 sheets of paper: a landscape picture (Uluru), a self portrait and an F1 car. I'm not sure what to do for my fourth piece. I have already completed my landscape painting, my canvas is too small at 5 x 7", at least for any detailed work. I enjoy painting. Painting block colours and working out nearly everything to do with drawing is quicker than my tablet (but this is due to lack of practice in any medium). Painting and trying to blend colours with acrylics is much harder and takes a lot longer, I find rendering on my tablet much easier. Anyhow, below is my painting of Uluru, aka Ayres Rock, Australia. It only took an hour, and it was just so I could practice painting as I've never painted before. I think my painting sucks, but every single person I have shown has said it's good, even my mum who is my next harshest critic after myself:



Uluru, 5 x 7"acrylic on canvas paper

I'm currently working on a self portrait painting, same spec as above. I really am finding it difficult, but it's a good learning curve. When I paint the F1 car next I'm going to paint using a different technique. I enjoyed painting the above so much that I've bought more paint, more brushes and an actual canvas. I have an idea for that, but it's hard to explain.

On this blog post I want to try and make myself more accountable for my art, so I will propose the following tasks for myself for the week ahead:
Finish my self portrait.
Actively participate in an active art forum.
Critique at least one piece of work.
Try to promote my blog at least once.
Start a graphic design piece to add to my portfolio.

Also my local cinema is screening some interesting shows in the coming months, art at the Vatican, and Van Gogh's work. I may have to book myself a ticket!

PS I keep posting a comment which is a duplicate of my blog post and I have no idea how to remove it!