Patricia - Art School Journey

[patrycja.lerch]

@mitsuki-youko I can't wait to see it too

Now I realised how much work it is. And mermaids I never expected myself to do anything connected to mermaids. Yet here I am. At least I will practise backgrounds and environments.

Thank you @grant_sauer! I will try it out and see how it looks

[patrycja.lerch]

At this rate I am not even sure if this piece can be finished I could be adding and altering everything for eternity
I stayed with blur. I needed time to like it I guess. I lowered opacity inside bubble and I like it. I also added some scratches to it and reflection from mist.

Now when I look at this I think I could have done it differently. I would do everything differently but it is what it is.

I hope I am finally done with it

[Gordon003]

At this rate, you may ask yourself "Will the audience notice the extra effort I will put?"

Have you consider the 20-80 rule? Basically, 20% of your actions create 80% of your results. In other word, you are going to have put and put more effort to get to the perfect work you so desired.

Imo, compared to the last version of the work, I can't see much difference. You can always do a new work to experiment new approach/technique. Hope that helps and good luck with your work.

[patrycja.lerch]

Thank you! I needed to hear it

"Will the audience notice the extra effort I will put?"

Even I can't notice much difference. I try keep in mind that most of details won't even be seen on tiny screens but when I am in process I just keep going. I will consider 20-80 rule for my art as I use it in different fields

I worked so long on this so it feels weird to see that it is done (and probably was done for a longer time)

[Norma]

I have this problem the other way around. I often define a piece as finished that is still fairly unpolished.

[patrycja.lerch]

Starfire fanart inspired by George Perez. I found some nice features to give it a texture. Fists are getting better. I struggled with waist but I think I figured it out. I wanted to give her open mouth smile but I couldn't get it right so it is like that. I like how hair turned out

I am considering buying David Finch Proko course and Marco Bucci Face or Color course. There is a discount now.

George Perez Artwork

Have a good day!

[mitsuki-youko]

oooh this looks like it could be in a comic book

this looks great! i rly like the texture u laid on top of it

[patrycja.lerch]

Thank you

[Norma]

Oh yes, I like this texture too. I spontaneously think about how to conceal the fact that the texture image repeats itself (and we can see this). A long time ago I saw a YouTube video about this topic (how to create seamless textures) but I don't remember the creator.

[gregorya]

You're getting better at the colors and fists. The only note I can think of is that the leg is very thin.

[patrycja.lerch]

Thank you! I was so focused on hips that I haven't noticed it. I will try to avoid it

[patrycja.lerch]

I've bought Proko courses (I wanted to buy Zelda but it will have to wait ) . I started with Marco Bucci color guide since I just did Marc's class on it and I am already in love with it.

Color harmonies excercise. It was a fun one maybe I will push these characters more. I should have varied saturation more on Pink one or change green to light pink

Some social media observation:

• People love fanart, little cute animals and girls

• timing - if you are new it will either get swept away with tones of other art (amount posted on 1 minute is sometimes terryfing) or you will be lucky enough not to be swept and someone will be looking at new posts rather than top

• cropping is irritating especially on instagram; I just learned that image there must be 4x5 otherwise it will get cropped. You can't even move it so it would crop not so important things.
  If background is white it is not a problem but if it is a full illustration it will be cut
  Do you have any advice on this matter?

• Ai, Ai everywhere - just tiring. It's hard to look for anything beacuse of it and filters can't filter everything (if they are even available)

I use most sites I know to see what is the more comfortable for me. I haven't used them in the past so I am experimenting. Still learning all these functions
Tumblr is the most comfy for me; it is easy it won't crop and has bar for tags so they aren't messing with post.
Twitter will go next the only things that is irritating is that it shows a bit cropped image
Reddit well I use this one a lot so I like it t; I think it is the easiest place to be seen (500 views compared to 5 is a big difference)
Instagram - well it is not my favourite and have that cropping issue
DeviantArt I haven't used it that much but you can have nice portfolio there. Too much to look at

Do you have any observations you would like to share?

Quite long thank you for reading and have a great day!

[Norma]

I love how Marco Bucci explains colors. Thank you for sharing your experiences with social media. I'm not really trying to show my sketches at my artist's profiles. I am using them all the time for my book marketing.

I try social media marketing with short videos (YouTube 1 min, TikTok and Instagram slightly longer). Since I don't want to put my head in the camera, I use the OBS Studio program to record my screen while drawing in Photoshop and then cut the videos. I also compress them into time lapses.

Since I don't have any desire of drawing fanart, my videos don't go viral, of course.

For a while, TikTok's algorithm was pushing my videos, but that has subsided. I think that was a honey trap. The YouTube algorithm is currently giving me more stable results over a longer period of time for the videos with the voice-overs. In my experience, it is not so important which topic you talk about, the main thing is that you tell an exciting story. It does not necessarily have to match the art shown.

I don't use the other platforms mentioned or no longer use them.

Have a nice weekend!

[patrycja.lerch]

if someone is interested instagram, twitter

In my experience, it is not so important which topic you talk about, the main thing is that you tell an exciting story. It does not necessarily have to match the art shown.

Some people can literally talk about nothing but it will be so captivating that you can listen them for hours.

I don't use TikTok. I would love to make Art Talks on YouTube but I have no confidence and charisma. Maybe I will work this out some day

Instagram favours short videos and it wants you to use all its functions. Nice thing is that you can check statistics on business account but at least 100 people need to engage with your posts to see something that really matters. I will probably have to learn how to make videos

I recently posted fanart and after one day it was casual 2 likes on most platforms (or any other equivalent of it). On second day bigger account on Tumblr reblogged it and people started to see it and others started reblogging it and overnight it grown from 2 to 30. So people want to see art of characters they know rather than something unknown. I think best strategy to grow an account is to post variety some fanarts and your own art. Problem is when people come only for fanarts and when you post something else they don't want it

Have a nice weekend!

[Norma]

I think best strategy to grow an account is to post variety some fanarts and your own art. Problem is when people come only for fanarts and when you post something else they don't want it

Years ago I watched a video about posting fanart on Instagram by the YouTuber Nadiaxel (https://www.youtube.com/@Nadiaxel). She had a successful Instagram channel for her fanart. Then she switched to showing her own work more and the activity on this channel crumbled away. She had to start new with a second profile for her own work.

I am curious if you will implement your plan and be successful with Instagram. Where can i find you on instagram? (I am there: https://www.instagram.com/normas_sketchbook/).

I tried Tumblr and it's an interesting platform. But I never understood how to socialize there. Is there a considerable art community? And yes. When a successful creator reblogged one of your posts it is a big jump forward. Congratulations! I had it once with my YouTube cooking channel. (But due to depression I deleted this channel.)

Regarding the art talks: Some time ago I decided not to let my weaknesses stop me. I do these voiceovers even if I'm the only person watching the videos. There are exercises (tong twisters) and breathing techniques to help you prepare. I'm better now than I was a year ago. I'll never be a successful social media chatterbox or a stand up comedian. But I can present my art decent in my videos. And you can this too!

[patrycja.lerch]

@patrycjalerch link to insta

I am using all these social stuff for a month now

I watch a lot of videos now about growing accounts. Nadiaxel too. I saw people posting fanart and official or a big account shared that artwork and for a long time they did only fanarts of that one thing. Lost themselves in the process and everyone left when they posted personal art.

Sad part is that social media wants you to post often and it is not healthy. I see some artist posting everyday and I am curious if they can even sleep. And there are these comment such as 'Hey DM it to...' 'Hey nice pic send it to...'

I want to keep a healthy approach to this. I try to keep a schedule and I don't mind if people won't be there for my original content. There will be this small percent of people who want to see it and they are more important than feeding the mass. We will see if I will grow it.

The most important part is to stay true to yourself

I cant' understand how communities work on tumblr either. But there are art people who will like all your post and even reblog it. I am still trying to get the hang of it.

I'll never be a successful social media chatterbox or a stand up comedian. But I can present my art decent in my videos. And you can this too!

Thank you! It took me a lot of time to show my art to anyone and then I started posting here. I am slowly getting there. One step at a time

[patrycja.lerch]

I spent a lot time today searching for sketches on paper to take photos. I wanted to scan them but my printer is awful. I need to submit portfolios for art schools. Serching through digital artworks will be much bigger pain; everything is in a different folder. One school ask for portfolio via Behance and I don't really want to post some stuff in here and without these ones it will be quite empty (at least it is my second choice)

The worst part about applying is that deadline is on 8th july and I can take my papers with exam scores on 7th and on this one day all sites will probably crash; they really havn't thought about it

Suggestion - keep your old sketches even if you hate them. It is nice too look at after a longer time. I have found ones from when I started sketching humans about 2 years ago

Color study - pleasant exercise, especially when you pick places where you want to visit. I pushed colors a lot and it looks different from ref. I am applying stuff I learned from Bucci's course and after a while I forgot that I had references

Rogier from Elden Ring - He waited to be made since I started ER but finally it is done. On sketch his left arm is kind of broken I hope it looks better now. I wanted to make lineart but there is too many details I didn't want to do. I omitted some as I didn't like how it looked. His rapier holding hand looks a bit weird. Ribbon things too but I didn;t want to spent too much time on it. I hope I haven't made any tangent I was looking for them for a while

Have a great day!

[alwaysneedsleep]

Wow you’ve come along way from where you started til now @patrycja.lerch. Very encouraging!

[patrycja.lerch]

Thank you! It took a lot of determination and commitment. I had to resign from some things to focus more on art; it was worth it. I wouldn't get there without support from all of you! But there is still a long way to go

[patrycja.lerch]

More studies I try to sneak more colors into shadows. It is so relaxing to do I think I will be doing it more often