Norma - Art School Journey (New: I'm stuck with my landscape study - Norwegian fjord)

[Norma]

I'm a romance author and would like to publish a self-drawn comic. If Marc Brunet's course helps me to draw my book characters and present them in the books and on social media, then I'll be happy too.

(Edit March 2023: Including a Screenshot of my Self-Sim in this post.)

[Kosmonaut]

Welcome to the forums and hope you enjoy the course!

[Norma]

Thank you @Kosmonaut I love the course.

[Norma]

Actually I document my Art School Journey with short videos.

Video about my learning the Loomis Head construction and the failing

[Norma]

This is always my warm up. I have more problems with horizontal lines. So I practice them more. I present no showpiece. If I did, the lines would be straighter. This is just a small, unvarnished glimpse of my warm-up phase.

[Lockenheim]

Welcome to the forums Norma! I look forward to seeing your progress! Dont sweat the gestures, everyone starts exactly where you are. Really great work so far and keep up the practice!

[Norma]

Thank you! @Lockenheim
I'm in the forum for some time, mostly peeking once in a while and be in awe for the greate progress some students are doing (you as well). I mostly share my progress on the stream. See you there tomorrow. Hopefully the Internet connection on Marc's side is okay.

[Lockenheim]

See you there! I love to see your progress and your socials! Keep it up!

[Norma]

Work in progress: I am trying to understand crosshatching and hatching comic-style.

[snakker]

Hey there welcome aboard! What term are you currently on? That portrait study is looking nice

Cheers

[Norma]

Thank you! @snakker I am not learning in a linear way. I am currently deepening my knowledge of the structure of the face, especially the eyes, nose and mouth.

[Norma]

A digital draft for a watercolor picture:

[Norma]

Practicing hatching and drawing braids (wip)

[Norma]

At the beginning I had this big problem with pen control. I would like to mention that I was a complete beginner at the time. I had never drawn before Marc's Art School except for a few doodles. As much as I practiced each day, my pen control didn't improve. I wanted to drop out of art school.

Then I rediscovered my love for calligraphy (through my bullet journaling) that I had in my childhood.

So I found a decorative font in Photoshop, wrote a long sentence with it, lowered the visibility to 30-40 percent, and traced the letters. I've been doing this two to three times a week for months now. My pen control has improved significantly as a result. Also, I enjoy this exercise.

I am a low energy person due to health issues. So I go through the art school program very slowly. But I'm more optimistic now and don't want to give up anymore.

[Norma]

An example how I practice pen control with calligraphy:

[Norma]

I started Marc Brunet’s Art School in July 2021 initially with the purchase of Term 1. In August I bought the complete course. I am an author and a storyteller. That's why my goal at first was to become a comicbook artist. That was maybe a bit too ambitious.

I am a low energy person “thanks” to chronicle health issues. For everything in my life I have to gather strength first. So you can
imagine that my learning process is a slow one. I watched most of the course videos. I can do it lying in bed.

Of course, I also practice more or less regularly. But less than I should and not really systematically. My knowledge has improved enough to sketch my novel characters to some extent. I don't have the slightest aspiration to draw famous actors or superheroes. I know I should have it to study other artist’s styles.

Yes! That’s me: Aiming for drawing comics without admiring some artists in this area. (I read a lot of comics in my life and enjoyed them. Over the course of my life I lost the capability to be a fangirl.)

So I switched my goal to become a book illustrator. That's more realistic at the moment and I love this turn. It fits me and it feels comfortable. I have a customer for the sketches. Me! I use them all the time for book marketing.

Not a long time ago I ask myself, how serious I really am about learning to draw (because everything is going so slowly). And I don't have the inner instinct to want to draw all the time. Rather, I often have to pull myself together and motivate myself to even do it. Am I a wannabe, I wondered.

I grew up in a household where there was no artistic encouragement. Comics and books weren't banned, but they were a waste of time in my parent’s eyes. I overcame this kind of thinking as an adult and started
my writer’s career. My inner urge to tell stories is satisfied with that.

If there had been videos like Marc Brunet's and other great artists on YouTube when I was young, I might be a comic artist with a long backlist of publications today (maybe like Wendy Pini).

I want to draw in theory but I have to fight for wanting to draw in reality. My inner voice tells me every day: Fight for it, fight for it! And I'm always so incredibly proud when I've drawn something again.

So, I’m not a wannabe.

[Norma]

Kiefer Sutherland with his Dad's beart and eybrows. And I smothed some wrinkles. So he is younger and older in the same picture. I worked on this project with filters and some effects - not with the tools Marc recommended in his Term 1 video. (I did not removed Donald's reddish under his beart. For a Photoshop composite for a book cover I would. I was too lazy. )

[Pauline_art]

Hello Norma!

Changing goals is completely fine and understandable. So long as you stay true to yourself and create the things that you love!

Rather than studying other artists' styles, maybe it's better to collect art just for the sake of appreciation. We gotta keep the fans within us alive in some way (not fans of a specific franchise or story but of several, different things). People change with time so our taste could be very different from our past selves', hence why exploring unknown creators or media in general can be a mind opener and something that will benefit our own creations. Just my opinion though!

It's great that you're still pursuing writing and art despite the situation with your family and your health. I've got mad respect for people who choose their own path in life and do what their heart desires.

Wishing you the best in your artistic endeavors!

[Norma]

Thank you so much for your kind comment, Pauline. Writing books is my profession. I earn part of my living from it. So I do, what I love and earn some money with it.

The situation with my family was long time ago. Ever since I grew up, I've lived a life independent of the opinions of the naysayers. Of course it is sometimes difficult to overcome the imprints of childhood.

In fact, it's a good idea to seek out and enjoy art more consciously. I enjoy works of art when I stumble upon them. I should be more proactive. Thank you!

Warm greetings
Norma

[Norma]

This is a composite I made as a background for a book cover last year. It comes in several versions. For the forum I chose the foggy one. I'm sneaking it in here as completion of the quest for Term 1 (combining various images).

The fog I created with a mask and the gradient tool.

The composite:

The image sources: