Personal Work - Soothsayer

Nothing like non-work related art to pass the time.  This one has been sitting in the archives for a month so it is about time that I start completing the rendering.  I'm fairly happy with the upper torso, but need to work on the legs, background and pretty much everything else.


On the personal side of things: Justin [my roommate]'s parents have been staying over at our house and I have been spoiled by all manners of Indonesian cuisine.  I'm eating so many chillies my gastrointestinal tract is crying bloody murder... but it's soooo good to have proper home cooked cuisine from across the Pacific ; w;  Beef Rendang, Babi Hong, Chap Chai... my mouth is watering again.

Nothing like non-work related art to pass the time. This one has been sitting in the archives for a month so it is about time that I start completing the rendering. I'm fairly happy with the upper torso, but need to work on the legs, background and pretty much everything else.

On the personal side of things: Justin [my roommate]'s parents have been staying over at our house and I have been spoiled by all manners of Indonesian cuisine. I'm eating so many chillies my gastrointestinal tract is crying bloody murder... but it's soooo good to have proper home cooked cuisine from across the Pacific ; w; Beef Rendang, Babi Hong, Chap Chai... my mouth is watering again.

Vocation versus Avocation

It is one thing to study war

and another to live the warrior's life.

-Telamon of Arcadia, mercenary 5th century BC

No, I am not equating the life of an artist to that of an ancient warrior, but rather mentioning the analogous concept brought forward from the quote:  Practicing/doing art is not the same as being an artist.  Let me clear the air and state that the study of ones craft and having a profession aren't mutually exclusive, but the act of improving a craft alone does not make it your profession by default.  A "student of art" practices when they want to [or when they're told to], an "artist" does art whether they feel like it or not, rain or shine, day in - day out.  Not that artists practice every single hour of every single day, but they have established a routine in which they hone their craft, regardless of whether they have the whimsy or drive to do so.  They just do.

The reason I bring this up is that this is the path that I am facing.  Art started off as a hobby, an avocation I would amuse myself with during boring lectures and long weekends.  Becoming an artist at a game studio changed that.  Now a vocation, art was no longer a fun activity, but a necessary task that had to be performed at least five days a week in order to place bread on the table.  It was a change, but one I was more than willing to make.

When I set upon the world of art production on my own, the daily structure of practice had eroded to an activity I would do when I mustered enough energy to plug in my wacom tablet and fire up the computer.  In short, it had taken a backseat to TV, games, and whatever activity caught my mind's fancy.  It is therefore imperative that I get back into more regular artist training, treating it more like a boxer who performs a daily set routine of cardio exercises.  A professional boxer doesn't see the point in asking himself every morning if he "feels" like running a few K before hitting the gym, he just does it regardless of his disposition.  I didn't feel like writing this post and submitting my art a few minutes ago, but now I'm glad I did.  Here's hoping to more drawing and posting in the days to come.

The Art of Art Mastication

Also see, "Biting off more than one could chew".  I'd like that to be the reason why I haven't posted at all during the last few weeks, but it doesn't help much to scapegoat when one is the only person in the chain of command.  I've come to the conclusion that in order to push myself, I have to be the most demanding when it comes to discipline.  The real culprit lies in the fact that I haven't truly paced myself, not because I have taken on too much work.

On the sunny side, this means the situation can be remedied.  I am my own boss, have been for the past 9 months, but I must be an unrelenting one.  Not to the point of driving myself to an early stress inundated grave, but to a level of productivity that is tough albeit sustainable.  Much like how an athlete reaches a state of zen/flow when entranced in their sport, I need to establish a pace where I am constantly trying to catch my breath and yet feel compelled to do more.  A "Goldilocks" pace would be an apt [albeit cliche] name, and so far I feel that I am closer to attaining it.

As for transit sketches :D ~

Fountain pens suck on this paper.

Actually, I'm just being pissy, the paper is fine for watercolour in particular.  I just lack the patience to have the pen deposit it's sweet carbon filled liquid in a timely manner.  The bouncing on the bus doesn't help too, but it really does force me to wait and pay more attention to what I actually want to put down [waiting at traffic lights falls under the classification: "Golden Sketching Zone"]

I actually swapped around with a few pens/pencils for the top sketches since I had lots of stationary time... ooh, that would have made an awesome pun.

Project Valkyrie 004

Time to get the updates rolling.  Last week caught me by surprise in terms of project timing.  So far I've gotten all the non-moving angles for Brunhilde prepared:

Rotate Baby!

I had to fix her angles a bit, since it seems like I forgot what a 45 degree angle is supposed to look like.  The shots weren't lining up with the gun barrel and so I tweaked them.  There's still some rough patches in the rotation but I'll sand those down once I get back to actually making her walk.

Also got the retinue of basic enemies here:

I'll be tossing in sergeant zombies along with a Boss Zombie as well.