Return to the blog....again

I've been a horrible blogger for the last few months.  I have been busy, however, with a great many things.  In November I attended Illuxcon, which was a fantastic opportunity to meet some of the best (traditional) artists in the illustration industry as well as see their work in person.  The convention also offered some lectures that were invaluable to someone looking to work their way into the business.  I could go on and on about what I learned there, but I think I should just stick to the main thing that is on my mind right now.

On my second day at Illuxcon I went to a lecture featuring Jon Schindehette of The ArtOrder and Wizards of the Coast fame, and Christopher Burdett of, well, Christopher Burdett fame.  During this lecture, Jon mentioned a few things to think about when building a professional portfolio.  One of the things that really stuck for me (probably because I heard it many more times that weekend) was that you build a portfolio with work that you want to do in the future.  By that, Jon meant that if you want to do spot illustrations, fill your portfolio with spot illustrations, if you want to paint monsters, then fill your portfolio with monsters, if you want to do book covers, fill your portfolio with book cover styled work.  So I got to thinking.  What is it that I'm best at right now?  If I were to be working professionally right now, what would I be able to offer clients?  Currently, not paintings, digital or traditional.   While I believe that I have most of the basics down, I don't think I have the ability to produce consistent work which is very high on a priority list for art directors anywhere (I would hope.)  So for me that rules out book covers, game cards and just about anything else that would use painted art.

....Well, now what?   Recently my wife mentioned that while my paintings were nice, my preliminary drawings were much better.  She should know...she has a BFA after all.  So, after some thought, I decided that my highly educated (and beautiful.....and talented....etc.) wife was right.  Plus, for me personally the drawings were much more rewarding to create than the paintings were.  That's not to say that I haven't gotten anything from doing said paintings, I have in fact learned a lot from them over the last few months.

And so we come to where I am now.  What can I do with black and white drawings in the current world of illustration?  Well, I have a pretty good idea, but I'm not 100% sure, then again who starts out completely sure about anything?  The best that I can do is produce the best work I can, show it to prospective clients, and hope someone happens to have a project that it fits into.

I apologise for my feature length post, but putting these thoughts into writing has actually narrowed my focus... funny how that worked.  I'll have to keep that in mind.

At the risk of making this post so very much longer, I have to stick to the promise I made to myself that I would keep this blog "illustrated."  I recently came up with a drawing exercise for myself that involves faces, props (a term I use loosely) and technique. The rules of this exercise were as follows;  Draw 8 faces, 2 start to finish directly from reference with no alterations, 2 start to finish from reference, but with props added, partially from reference, 2 with props added, started with reference and finished without, and 2 without reference whatsoever.  The original medium that I was to work in was paint, as this was before the big epiphany, but has since shifted to pencil and ink.

Looking back at these drawings, I see a definite shift in style (?) if that is the right word, as I let go of the reference.  That will have to be worked on I think.

I hope this long winded post is worth it in the end for you.  I know it was for me (at least writing it out was.)  If you've made it this far, thank you for sticking around, and I promise I'll try to keep the word / art ratio tilted a little more toward the art in the future.