Daily Still Life: Start!

Well, it's time to get back to work, and I figure the only WEI I'm gonna beat Wei Wang at art is to paint from life. That's the wei everyone seems to learn how light works and how to create believable form. So, until Daily Duels gets back on its feet, here come the daily still lives!

Still need to work on values and texture. It's pretty tough, but I figure these will get much easier in about a week.

Then there are these guys:

 

The trouble with that portfolio below is that I'm a lot better than it, both because the 2D works are now almost a month old, and because I did each one in a day. But nevermind that, the project I'm working on right now is gonna kick so much ass, you have no idea. I hope to finish it by Monday.

Unbent, Unbound, Unbroken

I'm back from GDC now and my mind is still trying to straighten itself out. I feel a little empty from having the deadline for such a significant goal pass, and I dearly miss the three days I spent hanging out with professionals. They flew by so fast, and I can't help but feel like I didn't make the most out of the experience. That said, even though 6 weeks was not enough to accomplish my dream, GDC was the best place to spend my birthday week. The questions that have built up over the weeks finally got answered, I met tons of badasses and got a lot of feedback on my portfolio (which you will find below); and most importantly, I know exactly what I need to do to get to where I want to be.

I've been keeping a diary of the things I learned over the last 6 weeks, and I think once I actually accomplish my goal, I will post a very extensive "how to." In the meantime, I'm gonna regroup, clean my room, my mind and my "to do" list, and prepare for the next round.

In addition to the emptiness, I feel a lot more freedom. I'm free from the time and money pressure. Now that daily duels is in hiatus, I have the time to polish my new work. Additionally, a lot of things broke last month, so I had to be very frugal to have enough money to get by. This month I'm swimming in birthday cash.

And without further ado, the best of the last 6 weeks:

This is it

Ladies and gents, I decided to pursue my long-time high school dream. This is my last post until six weeks from now, at which point I will have hopefully achieved it. I'm gonna join the race for that most coveted of the gaming holy grails: concept art job at Blizzard. You can keep up with my progress on DailyDuels.com as I will be pouring my heart and soul into every illustration, catering to the Blizzard aesthetic and, eventually, quality. The best of these will be submitted to their Fan Art Program, aiming to get posted for 5 weeks in a row. Basically, I'm going to paint until it wouldn't make sense for them not to hire me. Hopefully, six weeks will be enough for that.

Why six weeks? GDC.

In the meantime, let me share some parting thoughts with you. Drawing, like any art, is just another magic trick. If the mind of the beholder cannot bridge the gap between his ability and the picture (or art work) he sees before him, he finds it impressive and amusing. The wider the gap is, the more impressed the viewer is (another obvious factor affecting the effect of the work is the viewer's prior experience with art works of the same kind). If the viewer has the ability to create a picture of comparable quality, he/she knows the secret to your magic trick, and no longer finds your work impressive.

The nature of drawing and painting makes us very susceptible to self-inflicted physical damage. Drawing requires a lot of focus in order to make something of merit. This kind of mental commitment often makes it difficult to be aware of your physical state, i.e. posture and possible pain you may experience. Since it requires a lot of time also, you may mess yourself up pretty bad without noticing it. Heed the warning, kids!

Resolutions

As Bobby Chiu put it, it's very important to figure out a strategy for 2011. In my efforts to do so, I've been trying to figure out a lot of introspective questions. Sort of like the influence map on DA, but broader.

Chasing that perfect studio is like chasing a perfect girl - if she actually wants you, you start to wonder if perhaps you can do better. The drama of uncertainty is what keeps the pursuit going.

I'm getting close to the point where my art will need more than just foundation to be good. Things I've been working on recently:

• Values:
• Making things read
• Form rendering
• Drawing:
• Double foreshortening
• Twisting forms
• Big shape relationships
• Flow
• Grasping the air

Continuing with these themes, here are some duels, and prep sketches for upcoming personal illustrations.

Cellophane Nights

I've been in an art rut recently, and just now seem to be getting out of it. This is today's duel. I'm gonna focus a lot more on lines and values for the next couple of duels, because those are the things that make a picture. Colour is sort of like icing, and a cheap way of making something read. Or, I guess, in really complicated scenes you need colour to tell things apart, but I'm not old enough to do big complicated paintings anyway.

Or am I? There's a new personal piece in the works, and it's gonna negate everything I've done up to this point.

Dude

The most valuable things in life are positive changes. Even if you are in a really nice place for a while, you will get sick of it eventually.

Cats and Barks

Things have gone astray. All I have to say is that people who say money can't buy you happiness are missing the point.

All the words you hear, like values, edges, temperature etc take at least a month to learn to be aware of. Certain ones, (like form) take years. Mastery comes after a lifetime.

I'm staying at this kid's house in Colorado for two weeks, and we're gonna paint ourselves to death. I will come out of this with a nice portfolio piece showing what I've learned over the last two months (if anything), and many many life studies.

These are my last Bargues because I let my lady borrow the book. Finally, here are the much coveted casts that I've been doing for the past two weeks. I've learned so much from them, and if I had another month perhaps I would actually learn form. But maybe I'll buy one of my own and study it to death instead.

I've got some life drawing too, but I'll post that later along with the awesome duels I'll be doing here. PEACE.