Monday, December 03, 2012

Artstic Self Improvement


Well CTN-X was an amazing time!  It was great to meet some fantastic artists I've only talked to online, I was truly surprised and humbled by the amount of people who stopped by and bought a book or some art or just came and said hello. It was very inspiring, motivating and humbling all at the same time.  I came away from the expo feeling confident and excited about my art but at the same time realizing I have a long way to go to get to where I want to be artistically.  There is so much talent in that building that you can't help but feel overwhelmed.  That's why I've decided to get better.  And this is how I'm going to try and do it!

I've made myself a set of weekly goals to improve my artistic skills.  I've identified what I feel my weaknesses are and each week I will try and tackle them head on. The reason I'm posting this is because I think other artists may benefit from the same goals, it will help hold me accountable if made public, and I would like others to share their thoughts and processes on how to get better.  So here they are.

1. Sketch/do art for yourself everyday.  
Simple enough right?  Getting better is all about time and INTELLIGENT pencil miles.  No more autopilot.

2. Post art twice a week here
Posting on here gives me motivation to keep going.  

3. Go cafe sketching at least once a week
This is mandatory intelligent pencil miles.  It's hard to go on auto pilot when interpreting real people as character designs

4. Figure drawing 
I found this amazing site where you can figure draw from the comfort of your own home.  The image from this post is the first time i've used the site.  A little rusty!

5. Environment studies/sketches
This one is specific to me.  I need to get better at environments

6. Try something new/get out of your comfort zone
As artists I feel we need to make a conscious effort to push ourselves to try new things and fail.  Failing is how we learn so even if it's as simple as trying a new pencil or new kind of paper try and accomplish something different.

7. Color/ Lighting studies
Again specific to my goals but you have to study to get better right?

And that's it.  Simple as that.  I will try and do all of the items on this list at least once a week or more depending on what I want to focus on that week.  Wish me luck and I'd love to hear suggestions on what you think helps you artistically grow.

9 comments:

Erik Caines said...

Some great and inspiring goals bro! Feeling much the same here. Looks like your off to a great start!

Chromi - Estevao Chromiec said...

very inspirational!

Unknown said...

I get inspired just from reading this post! Thanks for sharing your goals.

Dan Seddon said...

Hey man, it was great meeting you at CTN. This is a great post also, I think I need to follow these goals aswell. Thanks for sharing, and I look forward to your new posts

Gina Florio Sous said...

I made a list like this for myself not too long ago. It's hard to keep up with it... but I feel like it's a big accomplishment just to identify what you need to work on in the first place. Even if you don't meet the weekly requirement, you always have them in the back of your head, so you're subconsciously working on them even when you're not.

Also, I feel like the first one is the most important one! It's so important to keep yourself fresh by doing a little sketch for yourself every day.

Murray Huber III said...

Try this link:

http://lovecastle.org/draw/

You can set the time and pick what subject you want displayed.

Unknown said...

Go fer gold dood! I'm a rootin for yah!

Kristy Kay said...

This is awesome :) Thanks for sharing!

Shyam Wanare said...

it inspire me sir.