A new place, a model's face, and the great ant waste.

 First off, Sorry for the late post everyone. I'm officially moved into my new place with my roommates, minus some small errands (slaying the once dormant ant lineage that ruled our laundry room for far too long), but 99.8% of my stuff is here, and I'm functionally setup. Enough, at least, to write this post finally.

I want to try a new format for my post, since I'm still in the beginning stages and play with how I write out this journey. This will be the first post under this new formatting.If you have suggestions or just want to add something in general don't hesitate to write me a line at phillips.nicholas9@gmail.com. For reference when I talk about last week or this week it may not be in the scope of Mon-Sun. Most times I will be writing about things in retrospect or forecasting future stuff.

Let's get to it!

Loot of the Week: 

I found a YouTube video and channel from a fellow aspiring/freelancing artist, Forest Immel. He's got 3 or 4 up now at this posting and I have to report on his video's about study habits. Very thought provoking and really cool to hear him talk about what he is doing and even better is to see how he interprets info he's gotten from watching pros. 

I've embedded the video here, but go to his channel here and spend some time there. It's really cool.

http://www.kiwijuice.net/

Holy crap. This is a hub site for all the best gumroad tutorials sorted by artist. It is amazing, and very very overwhelming. I haven't bought any just yet because I'm terrified of hoarding information just for the sake of having another tutorial or technique in my inventory. If you're curious about how a certain artist works though, check this out. Just don't get to caught up in all the shortcuts. 

 http://neilarey.com/

Lastly, and it isn't art related, but it is very important to anyone aspiring to sit in a chair and paint all day at the computer. I found some really cool workout change-ups and information that include super hero themed workouts, Supernatural themes, and even Britain's best detective themed work outs. It is very fun, and backed by quite a smart sounding trainer. Check it out for sure if you're feeling a bit stuck in a rut with your current routine. 

Progress Report: 

Below you will see three model's portraits that I have done over the course of two different sessions. Each on is about an hour and all done in charcoal. I'm ashamed to say I am very rusty but enthusiastic as I see many opportunities for improvement. 

Intentions and Critique:

So, I can keep this part fairly short for this post because I know what lies ahead of me exactly. I have a commission of a knight I have been working on that's got a deadline for the first or second weekend in August. It needs my attention bad. Perhaps more urgent or imposing is the 7 days I have left to submit a painting for consideration in the Illuxcon Scholarship. You've seen the thumbnails, or some of them but that's all I've managed to do since most of my studio has been in a box.

My goal for the next 7 days is that painting, and studies directly applicable to the painting each day. Something I've been wanting to try since viewing Forest's video above. I really feel like it will help give solid direction to my studies since I know where that new information will apply. 

That's it for now, I'll post again in a week with pictures of how the painting goes/has gone. 

Until then, happy painting!

Following through, and Social media

*I’m going to keep updates once week, at least for this month as I try to get some big stuff off my plate. * 

For now, I’ll share with you a work in progress I've been piddling on after viewing a lot of YouTube
videos and reading about using the smudge tool in Photoshop.

Also, I took some time to start thumb nailing on my Fourth of July getaway/delivering commission weekend trip. I am working out how to illustrate a couple, not having sex, but retaining that essence while considering the context of the book scene. I won’t go into it just yet, because I’m still exploring. I’d like to find a composition that says what I want without words. 

Lastly, and although it isn't within the parameters of my schedule, I worked on a landscape oil painting for my family while I was out of town. I bring this up as an example that I couldn't/didn't want to stick to my schedule around family, but I found ways to practice the craft with my time. Which is the over arcing thing that needs to happen for progress. 

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I wanted to share with you an interesting poll and journal by one of the concept artists I follow on Facebook, Suzanne-Helmigh. I participated in the poll, and was eager to see her conclusions about time management, practicing the craft, and having a professional career as an artist.

I want you to check it out, so I won’t spoil it here, but go read it: http://suzanne-helmigh.deviantart.com/journal/The-problematic-behavior-of-online-artists-465866999

Personally, I have spent a chunk of time refreshing Facebook while I’m ‘thinking’. This does two major things that detract from my art focus. First, it floods me with influences both good and bad, which in turn I feel forces me to think about things one way: the way I’ve seen it done. Secondly, it creates a comparison bug, and I can’t help but think about my age and where I am in skill level. This is something that will completely drain you if you let it, and the only fix is to limit time wasted on silly tasks like browsing websites without a defined purpose.

As I leave to figure out all the wonders of moving into a new apartment, I will leave you with a couple links that I have recently found while brainstorming for this next painting.

Gurney’s Journey: On gamut masking/mapping: http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2008/02/from-mask-to-palette.html
He expands on this greatly in his book Color and Light

And amazing Armor Tumblr: http://plegarmour.tumblr.com/
http://armorref.tumblr.com/

See you next week!