Jim St. - Art School Journey

[daceronine]

Shaded head looks pretty good! you´re doing good progress here, just like remembering how to ride a bike.

Thanks! Productivity is a daily habit to grind away at something regardless of what else is happening in the world. A little bit of motion everyday is better than nothing. After a little bit, it kind of takes care of itself...

Yep, it's amazing how much can be done in just a few minutes as long as it becomes a habit.

I'm not sure if I really want to make comics these days. I don't know what I want to do, but I enjoy the process! It's funny because I was just thinking about this earlier today.

As long as you are enjoying the process, whichever way you decide is good!

The right potrait exercices reminds me of Garou. Probably the hair.

[mitsuki-youko]

My interest in home arts comes from the need to have an organized environment that promotes activity. A messy home is disconcerting and the process of establishing order is meditative and there are opportunities for creative expression. Cooking is just something that I enjoy and is a different kind of art. I'm not good enough to be concerned with plating, but a well executed and balanced meal can be beautiful. Since these are things that I have to do, then why not enjoy them and inject them with expression? And why not also seek to improve those skills too?

mmm! such a good attitude to have. you sound like a well rounded happy/positive person

I have been surprised by how much I can get done in 15-20min, if I just shut my mind/mouth, and start marking. It is also very helpful when time is extremely limited to take that first hour of the day and make something of it. That way no matter how else the day turns out, you've taken care of one of the most important things.

I see! I should give that a try sometime. I've done it before but always felt like that wasn't "enough" and that ends up making me feel angsty xD

[JimSt]

Thanks for the feedback and comments @uggievang @daceronine @mitsuki-youko ! I do take everything you all say seriously and strive to improve. So I decided I'd take an extended look at what is going on with my head studies. I posted late last night/early this morning about what work I did to figure out what I did wrong, but I am now thinking that there are multiple elements that need to be addressed. Trust me when I say I am not done with portraiture - it has been something that I have wanted to be better at for years and these tools are exactly what I have needed. So practice practice practice!

I do think on your full haired characters you arnt giving enough room for their brain so they look a little flat up there. Try to put more space between the hairline and the top of the hair and see how it turns out.

I see what you mean. I think it has to do with errors in how I'm laying in the first set of thirds to establish hairline, brow, and nose base. I'm going to practice more alongside the Week 4 content.

Shaded head looks pretty good! you´re doing good progress here, just like remembering how to ride a bike.
As long as you are enjoying the process, whichever way you decide is good!
The right portrait exercises reminds me of Garou. Probably the hair.

Thanks! I'm also finding that returning after a break makes me very aware of how flawed some of my previous bike riding has been! LOL
I think it would be cool if I could start my third career as an artist, but I'm not sure I want it be "regular business stuff."
He does look a bit like Garou indeed. I don't know what it is but really am not happy with that one...
Oh well, practice, practice, practice!

you sound like a well rounded happy/positive person

When we have a choice in how we perceive the world (and we always do), why wouldn't we want to just be happy?

I should give that a try sometime. I've done it before but always felt like that wasn't "enough" and that ends up making me feel angsty xD

I see that you did try it and with good results! I hope you keep on grinding it out in those "found moments" and it can bring satisfaction as supplement to your longer work sessions. And even though it is a little amount of time, it will be way more beneficial than letting the negativity make you choose NOT to act. Remember, it is the process of cultivation and that takes time and gentle action.

Alrighty, so today is probably going to be busy work wise, as I wasn't feeling great yesterday and was not as productive as I should have been. So catch-up time until tonight.

See ya'll and have a great day!
-Jim

[Mimhesis]

yes, I know what you mean about the woman's right eye looking wrong.

| can see a few things that could be improved, but unfortunately | can't explain it well.
would you mind if | adjusted something in your picture?

sorry if this sounds very presumptuous as a newbie, please don' t take it the wrong way.
I really Just want to help, if | can at all...🙈

[JimSt]

Sure! I completely welcome constructive criticism. Thanks for asking!

[daceronine]

Something I forgot to ask, but are you flipping your canvas frequently? If not, I strongly recommend doing it a few times through the work, it really helps find noticeable details that we miss due to "staring" for too long.

[JimSt]

@daceronine I have not been flipping. I will work on developing that habit. I know it helps, but for whatever reason, I just don't do it regularly. Thanks for the reminder!

[mitsuki-youko]

When we have a choice in how we perceive the world (and we always do), why wouldn't we want to just be happy?

mitsuki-youko:

dayum that is very true XD

I see that you did try it and with good results! I hope you keep on grinding it out in those "found moments" and it can bring satisfaction as supplement to your longer work sessions. And even though it is a little amount of time, it will be way more beneficial than letting the negativity make you choose NOT to act. Remember, it is the process of cultivation and that takes time and gentle action.

Yes! thank you for inspiring me!

Alrighty, so today is probably going to be busy work wise, as I wasn't feeling great yesterday and was not as productive as I should have been. So catch-up time until tonight.

Hope ya feel better!

[Mimhesis]

Thank you for allowing me to draw on your artwork ^^

I hope I didn't make it worse.
I tried to adjust the right eye, on the "shorter" side of the face the eyes are usually drawn shorter and rounder.
I think you drew it too narrow and too long.
I also shortened the Lip and lowered her eyebrows a bit.

Hopefully I haven't expressed myself too complicatedly.

[aeshep58]

I really love the hair on your portrait study! 2-1A hair is still something I struggle with a lot of the time. Looking forward to seeing it painted if you plan on it.

[JimSt]

@mimhesis Nice! Those changes really help balance it out and make it less obvious that the structure was flawed to begin with.

[Mimhesis]

I'm glad I could help

[JimSt]

Thanks again everybody for coming by and for offering constructive criticism and advice. I decided to keep on working on getting proportions with symmetry rulers, grids, and rulers and without. I have a lot of room for growth and will continue to work on these things. No excuses, but due to retinal scarring I have one functional eye for focusing on details. So I need to spend more time ensuring checking for symmetry as I go. It's a habit I am going to have to build because I just haven't done it.

I also decided that I need to spend more time just drawing outside of these exercises and that's why I wanted to work on my comic. But that just feels too structured right now. So I decided that I would figure out some art briefs and just do those as regular exercises to push me further. And then my programmer was like "ok, let's turn that into random generator." And then I unlocked a memory of Jazza's Arty Games and checked it out and it was perfect, so I'm hoping to get some more practice in by generating whatever content that thing tells me to do. And here's the first environment challenge it gave me.

Today, I pondered...

What if I engaged my art as a passion rather than a scheduled block of time on my calendar?
What if art was the only hobby I spent all of my attention, time, and $$$ on? What if I let go of my fear of creating "bad" art? What if I let go of my fear of judgement (I mean I kinda gotta needta do that anyway, right?)?

And then I drew this guy... forgive me... lol

So yea, I'm gonna shuffle some stuff around on my calendar and in my brain and see what happens if I really work to eliminate all the other distractions and put art in the forefront of my life (well as much as I given that I have a full time job to maintain. I think one of the big blocks I'm going to have is in my own mind. Wish me luck!

Cheers!
-Jim St.

[daceronine]

Yo, first of all hope you are doing better. Not sure if it's a temporal or permanent condition, but either way I hope you can move along from or with it.

Good work on all the faces, see you are practicing the Loomis method and trying to experiment with different style of faces.

I feel a mix is doing art for fun while still trying to maintain some semblance of discipline for learning to progress is needed. Just studying is bound to burn you out and make art a chore, while just doing drawing for fun will provide little overall progress. It's hard to find that balance though.

I personally try to do one piece for studying, and one piece for fun/personal project. That way I switch things enough to keep it fresh.

Truth be told, I've also slowed down because I wanted to enjoy the process and other aspects of life, so I had to calm down my drawing schedule. Which I think is fine.

What if art was the only hobby I spent all of my attention, time, and $$$ on? What if I let go of my fear of creating "bad" art? What if I let go of my fear of judgement (I mean I kinda gotta needta do that anyway, right?)?

Ever since I got this course, art has definitely absorbed much of my hobby/free time. I still game but not as much as I barely watch any entertainment media. It usually comes down to what you enjoy and varying things a bit.

Definitely need to let go of the fear of making "bad art" though. Not all pieces we do will be great technically, or at our current skill level, but I don't think that makes them "bad". If you do something because you enjoy and want to do it, technical level doesn't matter much, and the result is still "good".

I keep bringing up "One"'s work for one punch, only because I think many would argue it's technically not that great, but at the same time almost everyone can agree it's awesome. Passion for your work always comes through.

That guy with the ibg toungue reminds me of the old MAD magazine's stuff xD. It's really something.

Best of luck man!

[mitsuki-youko]

No excuses, but due to retinal scarring I have one functional eye for focusing on details.

RIP.. is that... lasik-able?

And then my programmer was like "ok, let's turn that into random generator."

HA! I have def gone there before: https://github.com/mitsukiyouko555/decisiveV1.0

Had a ver 1 and 2 of this and used it for a few days before i decided i wanted to specifically decide what i wanted to do and stopped using it XD

What if I engaged my art as a passion rather than a scheduled block of time on my calendar?

That is def a good attitude to have gotta have fun right?

And then I drew this guy... forgive me... lol

that looks hilarious XD

he looks like trump mashed with a lickitung pokemon XD

[patrycja.lerch]

I hope there is that can be done with the eye. If not I hope it doesn't trouble you too much. I know how it is to have one functional eye for art. Mine got better, I hated that time

You need to have fun. If you focus only on studies you will burn out.

Nice work on practice! And I love that man

[JimSt]

@daceronine @mitsuki-youko @patrycja.lerch My eye has been this way since I was 16. There is a scar on my left retina near the fovea, which is the center of vision. There is no fix, except for cyber-eyes, which I eagerly await. This results in everything in the middle of my field of vision being blurred like a gaussian spherical blur effect. Based on other's descriptions, it seems similar to what some experience as macular degeneration. My brain has compensated for it and most of the time I barely notice it. But anything requiring depth perception or two eyes, I rely heavily on my peripheral vision and constant scanning of the environment. It sucks, but I think it generally makes me more aware of my environment.
I think it may be causing me some difficulty in making symmetrical marks. Which is why I started using the Symmetry Ruler in Clip Studio Paint and making the grid visible. Crutches to help the differently-abled, if you will. So as I try to get better at accurately capturing likenesses and realism, I think I'm just going to need to spend more time on some things that I don't have to worry about when cartooning (where lack of symmetry is probably way more expected). Probably zooming out and flipping things will help and I'll need to do that early in the process and figure out intervals from there.

Good work on all the faces, see you are practicing the Loomis method and trying to experiment with different style of faces.

Thanks! I also am finding it somewhat limited. It is great for laying in that foundation, but after that I'm struggling a bit. Honestly, Loomis reminds me of the "Now draw the rest of the owl" meme. I discovered the Reilly Abstraction/Rhythms and am trying to learn more about that because it feels like it fills in some of the gaps. But I also need to spend more time drawing from reference and applying these tools to that. Loomis, Reilly, and other tools are abstractions, reductions, simplifications, and averages of real people. And with those real people we have an infinite variety, which is kind of why I started messing with how changing some of the Loomis landmarks would impact the face.

I feel a mix is doing art for fun while still trying to maintain some semblance of discipline for learning to progress is needed. Just studying is bound to burn you out and make art a chore, while just doing drawing for fun will provide little overall progress. It's hard to find that balance though.

I personally try to do one piece for studying, and one piece for fun/personal project. That way I switch things enough to keep it fresh.

Truth be told, I've also slowed down because I wanted to enjoy the process and other aspects of life, so I had to calm down my drawing schedule. Which I think is fine.

I think figuring out what exactly I am looking to accomplish is going to be key here. Without a specific goal in mind, I'm likely to wander aimlessly between doodles in the sketchbook wastelands for all eternity.

Had a ver 1 and 2 of this and used it for a few days before i decided i wanted to specifically decide what i wanted to do and stopped using it XD

Knowing what you want to do and having a conviction to do so is the whole battle - one that I am ill-prepared to wage.
So I just try to have fun doodling...

that looks hilarious XD

he looks like trump mashed with a lickitung pokemon XD

LOL! I definitely was going for insane weirdo, so... check?

You need to have fun. If you focus only on studies you will burn out.

Nice work on practice! And I love that man

Truth. I need to figure out larger art goals to make sure I have fun with a purpose.
And thank you for your kind words and loving my depraved lunatic!

[uggievang]

I need to figure out larger art goals to make sure I have fun with a purpose.

It takes time and experimenting to really truly find out what you want to do I'm sure every artist goes through this. With experience and time your preferences change and what you enjoy doing now will differ from what you will enjoy doing the the future. For example I always wanted to be like a game concept artist but over the years of learning and experimenting with portraits backgrounds and drawing people my likes have focused to favor illustrations. I do think having a temporary goal is a great idea tho but I would prob make it a bit smaller so its more reachable for example. I want be able to understand emotions and heads better. that is my current goal. it doesn't mean that's the only thing you will do because verity spices up life. The most important thing to do is enjoy the process. if you focus too much on the end goal it can all become miserable believe me I've been there and that put me into a 3 year break from art. You are on the right path just stick to it and if you do need a break from time to time take it just don't lose the reason why you pursued art in the first place.

[JimSt]

@uggievang Thanks, that's some solid advice!

The past week was pretty busy, but I've still been grinding away when I can. I hope everyone has been doing well. I've been trying to stay current on everyone's progress, but I fell behind over the past couple days, but I'll fix that as soon as I post this. I have not yet been able to focus solely on Art in my spare time, but I also have not been playing any video games lately. But I also think it's probably a fool's errand anyway, as long as I'm making stuff and improving, I'm going to be happy. There's no reason for me to stress about progress or taking things seriously. The habits will take care of all of that. My energy is needed elsewhere. Waves of Manifestation, my friends. Waves.

I continued with spending more time on Week 3 with the vague goal of "feeling like I had mastered it." So I focused back on doing Loomis Balls, with plans to repeat construction of the facial features. And I had a couple sketch sessions in there too.

While doing that over the last week, I became painfully aware that my flaws are from the fundamental shapes. So I started practicing freehand circles and then this morning I added freehand lines. While there are several circles present in the post, there were tons more that got ctrl+z-ed. And what's there is not bad, but clearly needs improvement. But what kept popping up in my brain was "slow down." Not just my learning speed, but my drawing speed. When I try to draw too quickly, I make mistakes and there is a frantic energy to it that rarely makes a better drawing. Sure at some point I'd like to bang out 30 character designs or a full page of comic art in one day, but there's far too much that I need to learn and be concerned with before speed. Be intentional.

So this is me telling myself (and you!) that I need & want to slow down, and giving myself permission (yet again) to stick with things until I am comfortable with them before moving on to the next Lesson. And right now, I'm feeling comfortable moving forward into the Three Point Perspective studies.
It is entirely possible that after spending 6 more weeks toiling away at heads, I may never master the exact placement of the retina on that second eye (godsdamn it!), make a perfect circle, or draw a perfect straight line (without assistance). But that's okay. Learning is iterative and there is zero reason to completely halt progress, because all of these things will continue to present themselves as I work through the rest of the course. I mean I've seen what ya'll are doing and you haven't stopped drawing heads or faces. Besides, it's not like I don't have some foundation (albeit shaky in some circumstances). So yea, I'm going to jump into Week 4 and start working on my very lackluster 3pt perspective skills.

Alrighty, I hope you all have a great rest of your weeks!

Cheers,
-Jim St.

[mitsuki-youko]

So this is me telling myself (and you!) that I need & want to slow down, and giving myself permission (yet again) to stick with things until I am comfortable with them before moving on to the next Lesson.

Thank you for the reminder XD cus I, too have this very problem

Haste makes waste is such a good phrase and embodies most of my problems.. XD