Wednesday 12 November 2014

bordering cars + online mentor chris oatley



Since Trojan Unicorn my views changed quite a lot. It was highly inspiring to talk to all these sucessful artists, learning about their path and seeing them not only as the great artist you admire, but meeting them as a person, as someone who was once where you are now.

Another realisation was that almost all of them not only are willing to give you advice and help you evolve, but that they really want to and seem happy to help. For the longest time I was really shy approaching professionals with the thought in the back of my head that I don't want to steal their time with my silly questions. That has always been a problem of mine, but mostly it's okay nowadays. But after thinking about it for a while, it suddenly made a lot of sense.

We are all one big community. We do help each other out, passing forward knowledge and providing others with the tools they need to succeed and grow as an artist. Why? Cause at some point there was someone who helped you out, the mentor you needed, the critique that was really helpful, the technique that really made you step up. You want to pay back for that. And also, it is a really nice feeling to help. Since I came to that realization I have been talking to so many amazing people simply because I wrote to thank them for youtube videos and tutorials or to ask follow up questions.

Also, I decided to pick my mentors from all the nice people that share their wisdom online. These are amazing people that help me on the way of improvement, give me hope to suceed, provide me with tips and tricks to all kind of topics and sometimes just keep me company while working.

One of them being Chris Oatley. If this is the first time you hear about him, I'd highly recommend checking out his website http://chrisoatley.com/ There is so much knowledge there for free, I learned more listening to interviews and watching his tutorial than in 2 semster of uni.


Last month I enrolled for the "magic box" course at the Chris Oatley Academy. It's an introduction to Chris' style and approach to digital painting. The best thing about it though is the forums, which are very active and full of very helpful people which give awesome critique on the assignments or even personal work.

It is very affordable and the amount of content provided is huge. You can learn more about it here http://chrisoatley.com/digital-painting-in-photoshop/ On the bottom there is a link to a sample lesson.

Thursday 6 November 2014

bordering birds


Since I am doing a lot of sketchbook pages in that style I had to name it, not sure about it 100%, but for now, I call them bordering things. So here is the first of a few, bordering birds.

After being to the Trojan Horse was a Unicorn Convention in Portugal I finally got back into the game, got motivated and am back on track. I really forgot over the years why I started out as an artist in the first place... I was filling up folder after folder with life drawings. I started and finished many sketchbooks that I don't care much about. I had the feeling I need to practice and improve. That did happen, but very very slowly. I wasn't in there with all my heart.

THU2014 got me back to the right mindset, reminded me of what it was like when I wasn't doing things for my portfolio or only touched a pen to improve and practice but to paint, draw and sketch cause that is what I love. For a while now I will be crawling back into my comfort zone and produce nice things out of the happiness and  joy of creation itself.

Also: Colours!! :D