Inspiration and discipline.

revised version of my Ten Commandments...

Thou shalt not waste time criticizing others instead of doing your own work.
Thou shalt promote thyself.
Thou shalt go to bed by 1.00am.
Thou shalt not argue on the internet.
Thou shalt remain calm.
Thou shalt not procrastinate or make excuses.
Thou shalt not fear to embark on ambitious projects.
Thou shalt paint.
Thou shalt learn web design.
Thal shalt not suck.

Alternatively, some more affirmative and inspiring statements courtesy of Christine, aka http://crayonmaniac.deviantart.com/
which I feel the need to copy out (if only in order to avoid painting for a little longer):

Litany of the Artist

Sometimes I feel illbut I paint
Sometimes I am depressed but I paint
Sometimes I am lonely [and thank God] I paint
Sometimes I have no inspiration but I paint anyway
Sometimes I curse and swear because I paint badly but I continue to paint
Sometimes I have not ime to spare, but I find some way to paint
Sometimes I am utterly broke but I paint
Sometimes I am sad and lost but I paint
Sometimes I no longer know why I paint but I paint

Each time I am so grateful and happy I can paint

Every time I feel saved because I paint.


http://crayonmaniac.deviantart.com/art/Litany-of-an-artist-150713076

Miscellaneous other good tips I have heard in the past:

1. Buy low, sell high/ shop around for good deals on art supplies.
2. Be prepared to work a lot.
3. Cast net widely, look for work.
4. Be prepared to drop everything and work 24 hours straight
5. Draw, and don't moan on the internet, whatever the temptation. Channel online activities to what is good for business.
6. Be positive.
7. Motivate self. Enjoy self.

More New Progs

I've found a load more art programmes to install on an DVD from ImagineFX issue 50, including (ironically) another ArtRage.

One that I didn't have was Paint.NET, which I've just installed and had a quick play with. I'm not sure it can do anything useful that Photoshop can't, although there's a nice lasso thing, and an option to fill spaces (or paint) with various patterns, which may come in handy. It may be quicker to use for colouring - in flat areas the scenes I've been doing for a certain web comic. I also installed a trial version of Corel Painter, but I haven't ventured into that yet. I may as well upload the nonsense thing I've just done in Peint.NET, meanwhile, as well as a snowman resulting from my second experiment with ArtRage, which may have a certain naive charm. (The real snowman is no longer with us, sadly.)

Demon design

Just finished this piece (coloured in photoshop), inspired by the character contest on the ArtOrder blog of Jon Schindehette http://artorder.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-challenges.html

I pretty much followed the brief for this female demon character (although it didn't say whether she should have hair or a tail). It's my first entry for one of these challenges. It will be interesting to see the other entries.

ArtRage discoverey while fodjucking.

I was rearranging the office end of the living room today, and started to sort out the chaotic draw of mostly unlabelled CD Roms and computerie stuff. (Incidentally my mother once coined the phrase 'fodjucking' for the compulsive activity of moving and shuffling things around and sorting through boxes and draws of stuff - with the vague intention of de-cluttering- instead of getting on with more urgent work). Anyway in the course of this particular fodjucking session, I found the programme ArtRage 2.5. (A proper one, not pirated). I didn't even know it was there, it must be a late present from the elves. I've just installed it and had a play. My first foray into ArtRage resulted in an Abstract Expressionist masterpiece. It seems a very good programme for replicating some traditional painting effects (I gather there is a much newer version out which has received mixed reviews). In the future I can see myself using it in conjunction with Photoshop to produce some more characterful digital pieces.

Sometimes these magical materializations vindicate the activity of fodjucking.

The Dr Evil of Dinosaurs.

On James Gurney's blog, he recently included an odd quote, apparrently from the National Geographic website, that 'If dinosaur evolution were an Austin Powers movie, T. rex would be Dr Evil'. http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2010/01/devil-dinosaurs.html

For a start this statement fails (as Gurney pointed out) because the T. Rex was only an animal striving to survive, like any other. Secondly, it seems to me, a T. Rex lacked long-enough arms and sufficient digits to do the Dr Evil trademark hand gesture. Actually it seems that what they've found is a tiny T. Rex, not the Dr Evil but the Mini-Me of dinosaurs, if anything....

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/09/090917-tiny-t-rex-dinosaur-raptorex.html

CG Hub

I discovered CG-HUB today, and created a gallery there. It contains 22 digital pieces so far. It can be viewed here: http://dashinvaine.cghub.com/

Christopher Burdett on Getting Serious

Monster man Christopher Burdett has posted an article on getting serious in the illustration business, which is worth linking to so I can find it again... http://christopherburdett.blogspot.com/2010/01/2009-year-i-got-serious_06.html

Some good advice to bear in mind, eg having an efficient portfolio website containing only the best examples of one's work. I've got to get on with my Adobe Dreamweaver & Flash course (and get my head around CSS, which is more exacting than Latin) so that I can give my website http://www.dashinvaine.co.uk/ an over-due revamp, and turn it into a more viable showcase featuring better and more recent work on. (I should probably set up a second site especially for my historical writings, and keep my two spheres of activity more distinct.
The subject of specialization also arises in Burdett's article, in terms of illustration style and subject matter. At the moment I have projects on which couldn't be more different. In some ways it is good to have a variety, and to supply more than one demand. Hmm.