What I Remember
Added 2018-05-17 09:51:37 +0000 UTCHey, I hope you're doing well! :)
I just finished a little yoga session and sat down at my desk with a nice cup of green tea. That sounds like I'm leading a much much idyllic life that I actually am, haha. But it's just what I needed after an intense couple of days of working on this illustration.
I don't know if you're the same way, but when I go into berserk painting mode, there's no way of stopping me. I get crazy focused and only when I'm done, I notice all the tension in my shoulders. And that's when I need to take care of myself and get some exercise and rest.
Anyway, let's talk about the artwork! As you've probably seen, I've been doing a few studies to improve my environment painting skills and I'm enjoying them so much! But the thing I had to admit to myself was that I wasn't enjoying making up my own environments at all. There are so many beautiful places in the world that I want to paint and right now, and I honestly have no interest in creating my own. That may change and I'm sure it will, but for now, that's just how I feel. So I made a habit of looking around on Google Street view (I read that they're ok with artists using the images for reference) to find villages and cities that I want to visit someday and that would be fun to paint. What you see here is an alley in a beautiful town in Japan. Someone on Instagram who has been there has actually already identified it. :)
So, I hope you're not dissappointed that I didn't dream up the scene out of my imagination. But really, there's a reason why I'm not a concept artist and why I never wanted to be one. I get so much more joy out of painting my own version of something that exists than creating something new. And I decided to stop feeling weird about it, because that's what portrait and landscape painters have been doing for centuries.
The .psd, step-by-step images and brushes will be included in the next round of rewards (~3 June).
Thank you for everything and welcome to the new faces!
Comments
Thank you for the insight! There are some times when I'm pretty good about regular yoga and meditation, but then I fall out of the habit again. But you're right, those small relaxation exercises throughout the day can already make a big difference. It doesn't always have to be time-consuming and a huge commitment.
Djamila Knopf
2018-05-22 10:04:23 +0000 UTCIt is so hard to turn off those voices that tell you what you should or shouldn't do. But honestly, in the end, the only thing that matters is that you do what you love and enjoy, no matter what. If we can all stop trying to live up to somebody else's standards, we'd be so much happier!
Djamila Knopf
2018-05-22 10:02:27 +0000 UTCI love what you said at the end, about not dreaming things up because you don't want to be a concept artist. THAT is EXACTLY how I feel, yet I feel so guilty about it and I especially worry that people get disappointed when there is a curtain reveal of the reference, or tons of references frankensteined together. I wonder if I am doing it to myself, that I can't create out of my own head, so I put people up on a pedestal that do. But then because I can't I think lower of myself. But rather than imagining what a tree should look like, I just like to find a picture of a tree better. Then I can change it up but I still have that picture originally. And with faces, so on. Other people do it so why can't I let myself be happy doing it?
Dana Edwards
2018-05-22 01:05:37 +0000 UTCI'm pretty much the same when it comes to the berserk painting mode. It really helps to learn how to relax your muscles and drop all the built up tension. I know it's sometimes hard to take breaks while painting and one is so absorbed in the process that it's difficult to actively think about dropping the shoulders and mainting a healthy sitting postion. One thing that has helped me greatly to relax and avoid cramping up too much is consciously releasing all muscle tension throughout the day whenever you think about it. By that I mean relaxing the muscles to an extent that if someone else was to hold your arm and move it around they'd feel no resistance from you at all and your arm would feel very heavy. It's a technique best trained with a partner since they can always check if they feel any resistance from you trying to move on your own rather than beeing moved by the partner. It's a form of training used in Kungfu but Yoga might have similar techniques to release built up tension. When you actively think about that throughout the day it'll slowly become part of your subconsciousness and even though you wont be able to think about relaxing during painting your body will remember to always return to a neutral postion that won't damage your posture. The painting is very beautiful and the green on the wood blanks on the right side of the picture helps a lot to bring the piece together. The atmosphere really comes through imo.
Christian Klement
2018-05-22 00:10:06 +0000 UTC
