christina's journal

I have a feeling that I’m entering the log phase of my growth as an artist. I’m working pretty hard on fundamentals at the moment – drawing mostly. In addition to the video tutorials by Dave Finch I’m also working through Fun with a Pencil by Andrew Loomis. I’m making progress. I think my steel cage composites have improved too, in subtle ways. Better composition, better use of colour. Still not very interesting images, but that comes next.

Here is my 70th steel cage blow. It has rated quite well so far, 4.67 after 6 ratings, which means 4 fives and 2 fours. I actually don’t think it’s that good, but at least I finished the battle about as well as I could. It’s pretty tight, and the result will probably depend on Stuart’s final blow. No doubt judging will take a while, and the upcoming workshop is going to take all my time and energy for a while, so probably won’t be back in the cage ’til September.

Working through the drawing tutorials, and I’m getting the feeling that it’s definitely doable. This is drawing in a more realistic style than I’ve been using for Tom and Iliana – more like typical comics than cartoons. At first the amount of detail required seemed overwhelming, but I’m getting on top of it bit by bit.

I posted on the CG Society forum about whether the workshop I’ve enrolled in will make me a better Photoshop warrior (with links to battles) and Rob Chang got back with Absolutely! So, after the BR I hope to start kicking some serious butt in the cage. Excited.

After several weeks of feeling pretty low, physically, I’ve recovered most of my energy. A mild but persistent URTI has been getting me down a bit. Anyway, I’m working at illustration and some photography again, and work is reasonably under control. I’ve even been getting out and about again, after being a hermit for a few weeks. Not enough singing practice but the URTI has put paid to that.

I’ve just enrolled in this workshop with Robert Chang. A bit pricey, but exactly the sort of workshop I’ve been looking for these last couple of years. A good time too – will be on semester break for the first couple of weeks.

Second blow. I stopped battling about six months ago because I got very discouraged when any interest shown at the start of my battles had almost completely evaporated by the end. I was rating my own and my opponents images come rounds four and five just to have something there. While the appeal of good designers is obvious, it is supposed to be a bit social after all. Anyway, I’ve started again purely because it challenges my creativity. I still check to see if anyone has rated or commented though. And still get disappointed. Actually I did get a few ratings on my first blow. That’s usual though – it’s the last few that no one looks at.

Quick and dirty exercise in animation. Rough drawing, even rougher animation. It’s a start.

So here’s my first blow in my current battle with Torack. Not very exciting, but quite interesting to make. Perhaps I should have put a figure in the landscape somewhere. I did actually try that but wasn’t happy with the result. Not expecting to win this battle, but at least it should get the creative juices flowing a bit.

I’m getting a bit sick of the way I live. I need to be able to get stuff done rather than spending all my time working on what I can’t do yet. I think I’m getting a bit closer to that, but only time will tell I guess.

I’m actually happy with the progress I’m making with Flash. Results will follow soon I’m sure. However I can’t let other things go, just because they aren’t so interesting. Still have work to do, housework to do, and I need to keep up with my photography if I want a decent income from it. I can use Flash for my other illustration work, in fact I’m working on a technique of producing still illustrations via animation. An idea I had a long time ago but haven’t realised yet. I’m working on it. Managing my obsessiveness is the issue.

I think the big difference with illustration/animation is that it is creative. My photography isn’t very creative, especially the stuff that sells. Work is no longer creative. With the illustration I can master the technique without exhausting the possibilities for novelty and ongoing development. Essentially I see being creative as my lifelong challenge, and not just learning tools and techniques. The big advantage of illustration over photography is that I’m not dependent on the real world. I can draw characters rather than having to hire and work with models. No expensive sets and props required. Very easy.