catching-dreamz

Hi all!! 

Blessed belated New Year, and I hope all your Januaries are going well! As I'm sure you noticed I jumped off this year with once again trying to find the right style for my lifeblood project, Masque. And, it pains me to say, it's not going particularly well....I realise that essentially taking 2016 off of drawing humans and largely going back to animal illustration, which is how I got my start and honestly what I enjoy more, I've kind of fallen out of practice and lost a lot of my conditioning toward bipedal, flat-faced characters...I'm very out of shape. 

This is painfully obvious as I work with my Masque characters, especially the main four, because while I can sometimes get a design or style that I like for one or two, I either cannot replicate/keep within that style for the others, or it is IMPOSSIBLE to recreate the style within that same character on another drawing, keeping to the same rules. Raoul has especially been giving me trouble. I'm notorious for creating very androgynous looking men, and while Raoul is supposed to look a bit feminine I still want him to be a convincing young dude...and I just can't get that balance right. It's incredibly frustrating. Erik always seems to come up looking much younger than he's supposed to and Christine ends up either looking like a child or a middle-aged woman....not the innocent 20-something she should. The only character who seems to come out how he's supposed to is Daroga, but because I put so much effort into coming up with how to achieve that I can never freaking duplicate it in another pose! 

It's all very frustrating. I realise this is largely due to the fact that I've not had a figure or life drawing class since about 2012. That's a long arse time. Meaning, I need to start devoting my time to doing some realism studies, no matter how much I hate it, to see if I can find something that I'm naturally inclined to. The problem is, the only real time I have to draw is when I have no internet connection, and it's not not like I can ask some random stranger on the train to pose nude for me during my commute home from class. 

I'm not honestly sure what the intent of this journal even was....maybe to see if anyone else has these same issues? Finding a style that you like aesthetically and that you can duplicate with a reasonable amount of consistency?? 

I've been doing some introspection lately and kind of been having the bug for a rebranding: changing my name, style, plan, etc. 

But I realise, it's not a reboot that I'm looking for, but a change of scenery...getting back to my roots.

I've been noticing more and more that my drawings are going unfinished. I'm doing a sketch, usually inking it up, and then getting stuck in the colouring phase: either losing interest after flats or fighting with different ways of shading until I just give up. 

And I look back at my older sketchbooks, which rarely have an unfinished piece, and wonder what I've lost or what's been making following through so much more difficult. 

The more I think about it, the more I realise that my loss of interest is actually how far I've strayed from the traditional media that I've always loved. As I get more involved in digital art, I feel less control over the medium and tools at hand, I'm finding myself getting more and more frustrated with all of the different stamp brushes, and templates, and "cheats"...ways to take the individualism away from the art and the artist. What ever happened to a coloured pencil or a paint brush and paint? 

I look at even my current sketchbooks and see how much more impressive my traditional pencil-on-paper sketches are than those I create digitally. I like the full control of the pen pressure, the permanence of every mark...it makes you try harder and therefore aim for a better result, knowing you can't hit "undo" and try again. 

Unfortunately our modern society does not pay much attention to traditional illustration. Often digital is seen as more professional and more marketable, which is why I switched over to begin with. But by switching in order to make myself more marketable I feel like I've removed a bit of myself from my work...a bit of myself that I would much like to get back. 

So, long story short: I'm feeling the need to get back into traditional art. Sitting down and devoting my time and energy into a piece in the moment, with no opportunity to redo a piece that I fudge up. 

This isn't to say that I'll be stopping digital art: Only returning to traditional in order to rekindle my love of creating, which should help improve my digital work as well. 

So I'd expect more variety within my gallery, at least in the immediate future, until I figure out what the crap I'm doing! 

Hi all!! 

In the tradition of new beginnings that come with spring, I've felt a new life the past few days. I have spent all day reorganising my gallery and uploading portfolio pieces that I've previously missed...and I'm feeling good! 

I've got new inspiration to organise and get stuff done, and I'm fighting to take back the control of my life that I've been losing these past few months with grad school.

With my membership to Girls Drawing Girls we've been getting weekly theme challenges and I've taken it upon myself to committing to getting at LEAST one piece of art done each week, to be more active and to build my name among the community. 

Spring semester is coming to a head and life has been insane, but I am still making time for art and am SO excited with what I've been accomplishing! 

-I've started working more on the figure and stylisation.
-I've been organising my Totemz series and hope to start making them available soon. 
-Masque is still on a temporary hold but I have every intention of hitting it HARD this summer! 

And, with my time finally beginning to free up I am re-opening commissions! So, if you'd like any art from me now's the time!! 

Cheers! 

Greetings all! 

Greetings, all! Long time no journal! 

As I'm sure you can gather by 1) me not updating my journal since July and 2) Masque having little to no updates since then, that life has not been going exactly according to plan since my move back to Chicago..albeit in a delightful way.

Rest assured, Masque is still in pre-production and I have been working on concept art and scripting in my spare time, but I haven't had nearly as much spare time as I was expecting, because.....

1) School is running me ragged! My master's program has been very intensive, and I've been writing a major paper every other week! 

2) I've been working on commissions! I'm finally starting to get paid for some of my work, and it's been awesome! I've been primarily doing indie childrens books or pet portraits and animation-style animals, and having a blast with it!! And I am still open for commissions! 

3) I've joined with my other half! My move home was greeted with a happy surprise: my high school (and undergrad) crush and one of my best friends asked me to go exclusive. This was ten years in the making, and we're wasting no time! haha Practically joined at the hip! Even joined his DnD campaign, which has been a blast.

Now, while I am still working on Masque and will upload bits and pieces as they're completed until I can commit to finishing it in its entirety, I am currently focusing my personal time on a new series called "Catching Totemz", with deals with spirit guides and otherworldly things. My boys will of course be involved, and I've got plans for Kreepi to make a grand return to our ranks as well! 

So, life is good, life is busy, and my art plate is delightfully crowded! I'm loving everything that's going on right now, and looking for new projects every day...Masque is still impending and I hope you all enjoy my randomosity in the meantime! 

Cheers! 
~K