christina's journal

I bought Tomb Raider (DVD) today for a few dollars from SafeWay. However I lasted about ten minutes before I got bored. I have seen it before, ages ago, but thought there might be some nice camera angles and such. Meanwhile I’ve watched Lady Snowblood a dozen times. What is it that makes me want to keep watching certain movies while most are just boring?

Meanwhile there’s little interest in my latest cage blow (as usual). Three ratings, and one of them is mine. I do think my standard has improved though. Still hope that I might be competitive with good players in a year or so. I’m working hard, but it is work.

Latest cage blow. As for the last one I worked it up pretty quickly. I’m definitely getting better at that. This probably won’t score very well with the judges because it’s too simple, but I’m fairly happy with it.

Meanwhile, I had my first haircut in about eighteen months. I was getting sick of the long straight hair look, it didn’t really flatter me at all, and was becoming quite hard to manage. I must admit I look pretty different with the new style though. It’s a reversion to what i used to have, just past the shoulder, with a fringe, but it’s so long since I looked like this. I’m pretty happy with it really.

I’ve just had an insight into my art. I’m usually concerned with what I want to express and not with how I’m expressing it. However I sometimes think that the biggest mistake some teachers make is to be too focussed on what they’re trying to teach and not enough on how they’re delivering it, with the result that their students don’t understand them. I’m clearly making the same mistake with art.

Of course to create works that have nothing to say except for eyecandy is a bit like eating at McDonalds. I guess my best teaching happens when I’m teaching something that I enjoy myself and that I think is valuable for students to learn. Maybe I need to work out what I do want to communicate with art, and then work out how to do it to the best of my ability.

I’m making progress with my art, getting better at it and becoming a bit more creative. This is my recent blow in the steel cage. Not a particularly exciting image, but within a couple of hours I had thought up several possible scenarios, decided on this one, found what I needed and put it together. I think I’ve managed to implement some of the advice on lighting, colour balancing and general composition. Once I’ve got these under control I can concentrate on making more interesting imagery.

Half way through another illustration for Tom and Iliana. This one is taking a while. Hope I get quicker. Also spent some time on one of Rob Chang’s tutorials. I’m getting more confident. The time will come when I’m actually quite good at this stuff.

First image from my next battle. I had a hard time coming up with something, but in the end it’s not too bad. A straight visualisation of a character I  guess. The main image (the woman) is quite an interesting one. She certainly looks a bit feral.

Here are some results from week 1. They are not meant to be finished pieces, just illustrating concepts. The first is supposed to be a straightforward narrative piece. I’ve calle it Sleep

The second is meant to be a more abstract narrative, using symbolism to get it’s point across. I’ve called it Gamer

I’m on leave at last, and intend to spend the next two weeks working intensively on my art. Apart from the workshop material and assignments I’m also working through Figure Drawing for All It’s Worth by Andrew Loomis, plus a couple of VTs, mostly on drawing. Time to get some work done for Tom and Iliana as well. I won’t have a better chance than now.

After some initial hiccups the workshop is under way. I’m ploughing through pages of text and images for the first lesson, and it is certainly interesting. I’m getting the idea that the basic theme is the better you know the territory the easier it is to get where you want to go.

He also espouses certain attitudes to art-making, such as being exploratory and having a bit of fun in the early stages, and using stories to suggest ideas. Hopefully both should help me be a bit more productive.

The first week’s material is not available yet, but it is only 5.45am. Fortunately the stuff will be available Monday (Australian time) so I won’t have to wait until tomorrow. The CGSociety is run by the Ballistic Publishing people I think, and they’re in South Australia, not California, seventeen hours behind.

Naturally I’m wondering what the secret to being productive is. What advice have I seen in the past? Steal ideas? Stick with stereotypes? I’ve seen plenty of comments that productive people don’t waste time trying to be creative. There’s even a well known saying that ordinary artists borrow ideas, great artists steal them. I think there’s an important part of being human that I lack. Pragmatism? Aggression? Self-interest? Common sense? Robert said that the latter is important in deciding what to illustrate. Unfortunately I lack all of them.

Midday – Looks like today’s not the day after all. No course material yet. Just checked the email – it says Monday morning GMT. Guess I have another 10 hours to wait.