Gordon - Art School Journey (Term 3)

[mitsuki-youko]

To make this more enjoyable, at the end of each goal/progress, I put a GIF of my overall feeling rather than me explaining for 5 minutes why I feel justified to be upset.

LMAOOO

What made this comm unique is I livestream this comm process with the commissioner himself so he ask a lot of question or comments about work in real time - thus putting real pressure to showcase myself as an artist but in a good.

Noice!! Is it on your youtube channel or is it private?

NOTE #1 - Yes, I may have said that I will never do art comm again. But personal money to buy my stuff without my mum invovlement.... it's worth it.

Haha XD but don't you work tho? like didnt u get a AWS cert for work?

I had a bit of Aaron Blaise inspiration and decide to do some sketch on the animals I found interested.

ur animals are SO cute! I rly like how they are shaped... its almost like a chibi but not quite XD idk how to describe it

The gifs are hella fun too haha

[Gordon003]

Thx for your kind word. Tbh, if I found it hard to even read my damn sprint blog, then it's clear there's a problem.

Answering your question

• I livestream on my private DIscord server. I don't upload it as we say weird stuff sometime LMAO.
• I work full-time as a software developer - thus why AWS cert is linked to that. The money I made from tech work is more for other usages aside from my selfish personal purchase; such as home loan and grocery. While the art money is 100% my decision. XD

[mitsuki-youko]

Answering your question

I livestream on my private DIscord server. I don't upload it as we say weird stuff sometime LMAO.
I work full-time as a software developer - thus why AWS cert is linked to that. The money I made from tech work is more for other usages aside from my selfish personal purchase; such as home loan and grocery. While the art money is 100% my decision. XD

ahh i see haha

[gregorya]

Interesting updates with the gifs and video.
I like the doodles.
Another quote I heard of. The difference between a master and a student is that the master has failed more times than the student. It was from the anime Assassination classroom.

[Gordon003]

Sprint Retrospective #2 of 2024 - (15/1/24 - 28/1/24)

Welcome back! Look like the new way of writing blog got some people intrigued so I will be continue to proceed that way.

Anyway, let go!

Past Sprint's Goal & Other Work

TD (Total Drama) Commission

As i mentioned in previous blog, I currently have 2 art commissions. Doing 2 at the same time is a lot for me as I prefer doing 1 at a time. Hence, I have made a lot of progress on 1 art comm (2 chars in a GIF) and no progress on the other one (2 chars with background).

Ngl, I'm kinda suprised at how quick I'm progressing with the current comm as I'm nearly at the end/final picture of GIF before calling it done. I was mostly expecting to just get the draft done by the end of this sprint, not the whole thing damn it!

I post my draft work and current commission progress here but just want to post possible reasons why I was able to get most of it done despite my low expectation

1. Single Focus - Due to time limitation, I have only really worked on this art commission. Maybe I acknowledged how much work there is and decided to just sorely focus on it.
2. Livestream with commissioner - 50% of the time, I livestreamed this on my Discord server with the commissioner as he gets to watch me do the work and ask question to me. Now, this is called peer pressure and I noted that I have work harder when somebody else is watching my every movement.
3. Fck on perfectionist mentality - There wasn't a time where I have to redo EVERYTHING because it doesn't look right. Only changes I have made is the facial expression because the character doesn't look appealing enough - but it didn't involve me going back to the drawing board - just some modification and viola!
4. Some interest in this comm - Now, commission is meant to be all-business interest-optional type of work. Now, I accept comm ONLY if I'm slightly interested in it. Wouldn't say it's my type of content but it's a bit hilarious.
5. Reward - With the commission money, I'm buying an NBA jersey on sale. Perhaps that motivate me to finish and finalise this so I can wear it with no guilt?

Just one more final image left and I'm done with this comm!

Artist Study

Frustratingly, made no progress at here at all! Rather than blabbering on about it, made some changes to it

1. Switch to a new artist inspiration - if the current one is not inspiring me to do something NOW, then it's not for me at the moment
2. Replace some art study with the new artist study - Those artist study have short-term benefit.

Hope that will force to do some cartoon study.

Drapery

Same as artist study, made no progress into it. Focused too much on that art comm I was working on. Perhaps, it's best to make some summary notes to force me to study on cartoon drapery as I have multiple different notes from different artist/youtubers.

TD Doodles

Was watching NFL Playoff - Go 49ers!

Goals for upcoming sprint

• Finish current comm and start new art comm
• Start studying on a particular artist NOW
• Practice more on cartoon drapery

Oh right, that's all from me this week. Thx for reading and hope you have a productive month!

[Gordon003]

[daceronine]

Haha well you're doing the right thing by prioritizing commission work I'm sure the client thinks so as well.

The animation looks great xD, not sure what's going on, I guess it could go in a very good way or a very bad way, but either way the work itself is fun to watch!

Good luck with the next sprint! Glad to see things seem to be working out!

[gregorya]

Nice work on the commissions. Were you commissioned to make the Total Drama characters into football players?

[patrycja.lerch]

This is great!

[mitsuki-youko]

eyy noice comm work!

[Gordon003]

Sprint Retrospective #3 of 2024 - (29/1/24 - 11/2/24)

One month down... damn that's too quick! Oh well, let go thru this retrospective.

Past Sprint's Goal & Other Work

TD (Total Drama) Commission

Completed the boxing commission right on time!

Next up is 2 TD comic comms - so one of the goal of this sprint is to complete the draft and get approved by commissioner.

Artist Study

Started studying on this artist "Carazar" - https://www.instagram.com/carazarzone/?hl=en

Key notes taken
1. Strong and expressive gesture
2. Simplified Basic shape
3. Focus on simplicity and expressivity over complex detail

Gonna keep studying and trying to incorporate some of his style into mine.

I'm basing my approach on an SPRINT idea - to get the best idea, remix and improve.
- https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/remix-improve-sergio-oliveira-pmp/

Drapery

May did some random doodle there and here but not an actual study/practice session on drapery. Maybe, it's better to just doodle for the time being.

Others

Completed my Total Drama facial reference - using Courtney character.

Will most likely use it as reference for generated TD facial work in commission. Should be easier to practice facial gesture.

Goals for upcoming sprint

• Complete draft of comic comm
• Continue studying on Carazar
• Practice more on cartoon drapery

That's all from me. Have a great and productive day!

[daceronine]

Good work on that comision and studies!

Aye, it's impressive a whole month has already gone by. Heck even know I feel like it was just the start of Feb and it's already the 12th.

[gregorya]

Nice work on the facial references and the studies. The comissions look good as well.

[Gordon003]

Sprint Retrospective #4 of 2024 - (12/2/24 - 25/2/24)

Not gonna lie, this hasn't been a great month for me. Not art-wise but more personal-wise. Gonna keep it short, I have broken up with my girlfriend of around 6 months (ironically after Valentine day) so this whole 2 weeks is basically recovering and coming back to focus more on myself.

The feeling that I have spent a lot of my energy only to go down to nothings just irks me so I was mostly chatting to my friends and family about my future action.

Combined with additional works from my company (i blamed myself, not them, as I seldom dive to work on technical problem till it's finished, much to the detriment of my personal life), this week is basically 0% art this sprint at all.

However, I still want to make this blog to highlight that sometime, we need to focus more on our personal life than our art. If we are not happy personally, how can you ensure that you will do your best work?

But yeah, I feel I have recovered both physically and mentally to be productive both in my career and art hobby. I have fully moved on.

Yeah sorry to not make an art blog but like mentioned, I want to blog to acknowledge that sometime it's ok to not do art all the time. Focus on your primary needs and happiness and your art can flourish and be enjoying.

Goals for upcoming sprint

• Complete draft of comic comm
• Continue studying on Carazar
• Practice more on cartoon drapery

As always, thx for the positive comments and hope you guys have a great week!

[daceronine]

Hey, sorry to hear that man, I know how hard that is (both love and work). It sounds like you are recovering and looking ahead, which is great to hear.

Bests of luck and best wishes. Looking forward to seeing the next sprint!

[mitsuki-youko]

sorry to hear about your breakup
but its good that you have the "if life gives me lemons, make lemonade out of it" attitude.

looking forward to see whatever your next post is about - art related or not

[gregorya]

Sorry to hear that. Hopefully, you'll get better.

[Gordon003]

Sprint Retrospective #6 of 2024 - (26/2/24 - 10/3/24)

First of all, thx for the kind comments regarding about my personal life update. I'll be lying if I said "I'm fully moved on, guys. Now back to work!" as my lifestyle have to adjust by the fact that a part of my life has been taken away; for good or bad purpose. So I feel sluggish as I'm slowly coming back to myself by the minute.

The good news is that I have a cruise ship this weekend. First time ever so I aim to make it just RELAXING - NO ART WORK!!! If i do art in the ship, it's because I saw something interesting - not bc i want to study.

TD Commission

The bad new from the cruise ship is one of the commission has a deadline which is St Patrick Day. Luckily, I finished it.

Aside from the head, most of the drawing are by my interpretation, not from actual TD work. This is based on a mix of Total Drama reference and other artists who does TD in their own way - Hence the art study of Carazar.

All in all, I need to adopt a "Fck you. I'm doing my way" altitude when doing art to be not only more myself but also be expressive and efficient too as I'm not relying too much on reference.

Have also started the 2nd comms which is a comic comm. I have livestreamed to them on Discord all of my draft and it has been approved. However, don't think I can do livestream at 1am anymore as it's affecting my sleep schedule and consistency so it has to come to an end unforunately.

Carazar Study

None. Blame my inconsistent sleep schedule.

Cartoon Drapery

Again, nothing. Blame my inconsistent sleep schedule. Perhaps, it's best to stop studying till i need it again.

Others

Decide to do random fashion doodle.

Also had a chat with art friends; both on discord and IRL. As an artist who does cartoon, I always have question on finding my personal study - like I still want to do TD but MY WAY OF DOING TOTAL DRAMA. Some way where somebody see a TD work and can see "Yeah, that's Gordon003 work alright.

Via our discussion, I realised that I do have my own TD style but I sometime stop myself from going further as I don't see it as TD. All in all, I need to:
- Keep trying random stuff (no matter how stupid it is)
- Have a look at other established styles (Simpsons is my 2nd pref)
- JUST FCKING DO IT!!

Overall, it was fun chatting with my art friends to get their own perspective and see for myself how to apply it to my work.

Goals for upcoming sprint

Gonna keep it simple and focus on 2 stuffs
- Art Comm
- Art Study

As always, thx for the positive comments and hope you guys have a great week!

[Gordon003]

Thx for the kind comments @daceronine, @mitsuki-youko and @gregorya

t its good that you have the "if life gives me lemons, make lemonade out of it" attitude.

I have that altitude because there's nothing you can change from something massive before. What happens happened. Only thing you can control is now and the near future. Never heard that phrase before but I get it now.

[daceronine]

Hey, good to hear you are moving ahead. I agree that there's not much to it other than pick up and keep moving ahead as well as we can. Been going through some rough stuff myself, so I can symphatize on how it can be tough, but it's still the best to do.

Good work as usual too, I think I recognize that sequence for the com of the girl getting "slept" from a past post? looks familiar.

As for style, I get what you mean about people recognizing your stuff at a glance, though I don't think it's something to worry about too much. I believe "style" comes naturally as we slowly practice and combine things from different authors we admire. We start off emulating other artists closely, but as we move along in our journey we naturally diverge into what we like to do.

I noticed this with the stuff I do, as I started emulating Toriyama, but been slowly drifting unintentionally as I try other stuff. It Still looks a lot like Toriyama style, what with the banana hair and what not, but I also is starting to become a bit different as well.

Same with what I see with what you do here. I'm not all that familiar with the TD style to be honest (didn't even know it was it's own category), but I can say you have a knack for doing girls in a particular way even within what I've seen from it xD