Show and Tell

[Teir]

Just recently going through a few old artistic attempts of mine and thought I'd share ..here's my favourite. Not sure how good the quality is going to be on screen.....

[dwndrgn]

I like it. Reminds me of the dark elf in that Salvatore series...can't remember the name though. Sadly, I've no artistic ability other than being able to copy another image. And that image better not be realistic, can't do that either. I end up with horses with tiny legs and huge heads and such... I'll leave that to those people with talent. Abstract I can do like nobody's business, is it art though? Maybe, just not good art! Perhaps I'll share someday.

[kyektulu]

Do you mean Drizzt Dourden dwndrgn?

I like it to teir your work is very good, I love the shading it is excellent.

Are you ever going to finish it?

[Rosemary]

I thought it was very well done,Teir.

I can understand how dwndgn got a mental image of Dritzz, with the long white hair and the mauve on the face.

[Teir]

Originally Posted by kyektulu

Do you mean Drizzt Dourden dwndrgn?

I like it to teir your work is very good, I love the shading it is excellent.

Are you ever going to finish it?

Thanks guys
Finish it? probably not I always start sketches and things and always leave them in limbo. The thing is i can only draw when Im in the mood. Then the mood passes and if I don’t finish it within that time frame the artwork may sit like that for years till I pick it up again. I know that if I continue it just so that I can say its complete, Ill end up stuffing it and being unhappy with the drawing…if that makes any sense.*SHRUG*
Pfft! You should see the rest! My sketch books are full of not quite finished stuff……

[Teir]

Originally Posted by Rosemary

I thought it was very well done,Teir.

I can understand how dwndgn got a mental image of Dritzz, with the long white hair and the mauve on the face.

Its actually from a Michael Moorcock cover

[Salazar]

Cool picture Teir, great realism

[An8el]

Originally Posted by Teir

Thanks guys
Finish it? probably not I always start sketches and things and always leave them in limbo. The thing is i can only draw when Im in the mood. Then the mood passes and if I don’t finish it within that time frame the artwork may sit like that for years till I pick it up again. I know that if I continue it just so that I can say its complete, Ill end up stuffing it and being unhappy with the drawing…if that makes any sense.*SHRUG*
Pfft! You should see the rest! My sketch books are full of not quite finished stuff……

Sounds like you're really talented but not quite able to sustain what you're doing. It's a little like being a drummer and not being able to keep the drumming steady. You'd probably want to get to where you can sustain the qualities of what you were doing, whatever "mood" you were in. It just takes practice and being able to consciously know what you're doing and why some things work and what to leave out, etc. Of course the trick is to make art without freaking about the creative, spontaneous ability vrs. the deliberate, disciplined, editing ability - many sides of a fluent artist .

The way around it is to start copying other people's art - anyone's. Art is taught that way in European art schools sometimes. Just try to learn an interesting-to-you artist's style, but don't get hung up in it. Just pick another artist and learn their style, etc. etc. until you can imitate just about anyone you want. Not just copying, but make a new piece and be able to make it "look like" that particular artist did it.
Then imitating your old paintings will be a breeze, just picking up where you left off, no problem.

so don't throw those old books of drawings away... they're still great "fodder" for when you're getting the skill to deal with them.

have you ever thought of making copies of them and messing with them toward "finishing" until you get something you like...?

[Teir]

what you see above is a 'copy'. I find it hard to concieve my own sketches but easy to re-create images or the techniques of others, their shadowing for example, even though i do sometimes take my own artistic licence with a few details. Its strange that i know i can achieve such effects but i need to see them first. Its true what you say about learning the techniques though. In the past i enjoyed painting Monet, and now i find i turn to his style of brush strokes, especially when painting water.

I spose that I am lazy. I use art as a way to relax. For this reason i dont study it or pursue it unless i feel a hunger to do so. I am a photography student and anyone who has followed the same path will agree to how stressing the process can be - when negs dont turn out, when the timing was off, when the lighting isnt in your favour, when models dont turn up, when deadlines are seemingly beyond pyhsical limits. I did not want my sketch work to follow this path, for some reason I needed it to be for myself. I can only blame my lack of discipline in 'traditional' art on myself and my own stubbornness against having my techniques challenged.

To be honest, i do not overly mind that works do not always get finished. i can always go back to them if i want to. I apreciate the advice on making a copy of them and working with that....excellent idea

I would NEVER throw away old sketches or drawings. How dare you suggest such a thing?

[An8el]

Originally Posted by Teir

I apreciate the advice on making a copy of them and working with that....excellent idea

I would NEVER throw away old sketches or drawings. How dare you suggest such a thing?

Yeah, I think there is made high quality inks and paper for Canon copiers/printers. So that you could print out a bunch of copies that you could actually add to and have it not look so much like it was electronically reproduced. Sometimes a well-stocked copy shop will have these features available.

I didn't come up with the idea of using copies myself. My brother, who's a sculptor, came up with the idea - (He was working in sand, casting.) He would make a face, etc. and then hammer it into wet sand and hand-shape the rest of the body, neck, hair, etc. to come out unique. He'd get a face he would like when he was doing a series of "warrior women" and, sort of like paper dolls, dress them in different headresses until he got one he liked - then he'd make a limited edition cast of more of her.

People burn their own art - what a waste! An artist ex used to destroy the art he deemed unfit to be preserved with the idea that then nothing could get away into the world that he didn't want to sign his name to. Funny, huh? I think of all of it, bad and good art, as fodder for cool potential.

[kyektulu]

Well Teir thats why it is called a sketch book, just for quick ideas and insperations. My sketchbooks are the same although I do tend to go back to some of my half done work a week or 2 later and finish them off.

[Dachux]

[code]

Originally Posted by An8el

People burn their own art - what a waste! An artist ex used to destroy the art he deemed unfit to be preserved with the idea that then nothing could get away into the world that he didn't want to sign his name to. Funny, huh? I think of all of it, bad and good art, as fodder for cool potential.

it's quite interesting topic As far as it with me, I don't get really dispirited or dolorous when I am giving my works away or they get lost (in fact I have never lost one - but I can confess - I have destroyed some). I have this sense in me that next time I can do it even better. Yes, you can take everything from me, even burn and cut my works, but my craft and skill no one can take away. And it is the most important. I think true artist must have that kind of sense, that not his works have power ower him, but he always has a challange to express him eternal times nomatter what happens.

there is other side of coint - it's nothing big untill you spoil or destroy your own work The problem starts when someone else has done it... I think, it's unforgivable...

[Teir]

*nod nod*
i get quite possesive with my stuff and anxious when someone handles it (this is me - "hey! carefull dont crease it!!!! " )

[Rosemary]

Sketchpads were an essential item wherever I went when I was young. Sketches of drystone walls or ancient castle ruins. Landsapes and the wild sea. Horses or fields of sheep.

It really didn't matter that much what the subject was, as long as I could capture it in my sketchpad.

Somewhere, a few of these memories are kept, besides the ones in my mind.