Only comic today.
Roughs are complete. Time for final lines!
Why only the comic?
Yesterday, after I've finished two hours of studies I did not have the time nor the energy to properly do the comic. I want to be able to do 3 hours of self improvement focused drawing but looks like I don't have the discipline for that yet. So I will scale back for a while. For now I will alternate between studies and this comic every day.
There is also one more thing that I want to write about. Over the past few days I've begun to realise something. I find almost no enjoyment in drawing lately. Once in a while I am having fun doing it, but it's getting harder and harder. Between drawing commisions and trying to improve my skills I stopped drawing for fun. Right now it's more than a job and an obsession than passion. This is not good.
I realise it's partially because I've begun to invest a lot of energy into becoming a better artist. Only way to do that is to do studies and exercices as often as possible, and that means forcing yourself to draw even if you don't want to. Same goes for drawing commisions. It's not something you can do whenever you feel like. Not if they are your only source of income. Also being an anxious, obsessive fuck does not help. Whenever I am doing studies, I am anxious about not drawing commisions and going broke. When I am drawing commisions I worry about not being good enough to get paid so I think I should do more studies. When I am not drawing I am anxious about not drawing which in turn makes me not want to draw and so on. It's a vicious circle.
Sad thing is, I really don't know what to do about this. If any other anxious art fag is reading this I would really be gratefull for any advice.
I havn't drawn properly for two months, using excuses like "no energy" or "no time". Now I just feel like a waste of space - my advice is don't drop the ball!
ReplyDeleteHow do you feel about your finished pieces? Do you enjoy seeing them?
Don't get me wrong! I have no intentions of quitting, or even slowing down! I just want to find a way to draw as much as I possibly can while still having fun. I like having my cake and eating it :)
DeleteIt's hard to say how much I enjoy me finished pictures. I like most of them, but at the same time I can't help but think about the ways I could have done them better.
Well I know of a few artist that have stopped altogether because of these very same problems. While it's always a shame to see talent sit and rust there was some things that can be done about it. Such as limiting your drawing time to about 30 minutes to an hour a day and only draw things that come to mind. Don't worry about a subject, just draw. It's also important to remember to NOT go over your time limit that you have set yourself. If you find that you could have done a better job then work on it again the next day.
ReplyDeleteWarning; wall of text, TL;DR version at end.
ReplyDeleteWhile I'm not as great an artist as you, I do try...and what I've found is if focusing on one medium or theme, it's easy to get burnt out. I actually have cycles I go in when it comes to art, not always in a specific order, but I switch between photography, 3D modeling, digital drawing, hand drawing, and writing. I'm currently coming down from digital agenda (3D modeling and digital drawing) and am probably going into my hand drawing phase again.
I know a couple other artists that do the same kind of thing, but to go beyond just mediums, the themes with which you work are important too. You're working almost exclusively with erotica (we could generalize it into art with humanoids), when's the last time you've done non-erotic/nude or character/costume design? What about objects like weapons/vehicles/technology? I think perhaps maybe you should take a break from humanoid drawing and do something like monsters...or just something to tap into the other areas of your mind. Maybe you should try something like scenery painting based off of what you take away from reading a book or listening to music. Force yourself to do it if you have to, so much that you hate doing it and want to go back to stuff like this.
As an example; I did a couple tattoo designs to break the habits I had, they were so popular suddenly everybody and their mother's started asking me to do tattoo designs for them. I'm starting to hate tattoos, even though I'm still working on what I hope to be the last design for a while. And I'm really looking forward to getting into something else, I've been thinking of getting back to some of my more technical roots...I want to start doing weapons, and buildings, all of course focused on my life-project (writing a series of books and conveying everything in text is hard, that's why I do so much art related to it).
Something else you might consider is art appreciation, sometimes you have to take a break, watch a Animation/TV series, read some novels/comics, play some video games...try to think of some fan art that you would enjoy seeing that hasn't been done yet.
And for changing medium, you could pick up a copy of ZBrush and or Maya (there's also open source/free 3D modeling programs out there, you could use Google's SketchUp), I would recommend ZBrush for it's free flowing sculpting controls (after you get used to the system of course). Or pick up a camera, go touring for stock imagery, look for things you've never noticed before (macro/super macro photography is fun). Try serious writing, unless you're dedicated to what you're working on you'll want to kill yourself or somebody to escape the horrors of it.
Hopefully this wasn't too long winded and you were able to get some use out of it.
Now, for the TL;DR version - Sounds to me like you need to change things up one way or another, don't abandon the art, just try a different take at it.
I'm always good to extrapolate more on this, and or have a discussion.
You're one of the reasons I recently bought a tablet and started to draw. Hope you don't stop, cheers.
ReplyDeleteAlso suffering through something of this calibre.
ReplyDeleteIts more that i'm fighting the drawing than actually creating it. Its interesting, but painful, especially since i draw about 8-10 hours a day.
And most of it is commissions and main comic project. the cycle of doing personal work means stress on being in the red due to rent and loans thusly incapable of doing personal work, doing commissions stifle personal creative growth thusly the stress of not having good work to actually sell.
ULTRASADFACE.
But! beyond this, beyond the negative, towards the solution... i've been writing, keeping a journal, letting myself vent through a different means of creative endeavor. its very straightfoward, and practically just rambling through written word. it gets abstract thoughts and stresses turned into an identifiable human language, and solving/prioritizing the issues becomes much easier due to this.
On the subject of mental turmoil, i've found a sketchbook really useful, merely just to scribble idly anything. But the concept is to find something idle that makes you feel wholesome, without obsessing over getting better at it, be it a hobby, videogame, meditating, exercising, dunno. But i noticed once i completely turned drawing into a craft, what was my main expressive and therapeutic medium disappeared.
I cant say this is the answer, even for my own case. cause im still a mess every now and then.
But with that said, this seemed to help me get through my recent bout of despair.
Also! youre a wonderful artist, and your genuine interest in creating good smut is well appreciated. Most people stop aspiring once they find out people masturbate to their work.
But enough gushing.
Whether my wall of text was of any use or not, best of luck with solving your issues.
Please, don't get better at drawing - this way, someone will eventually hire you for an actual salary and you will stop creating this delicious, delicious penis food.
ReplyDeleteArtysta głodny jest bardziej płodny :D
My advice to you, even though I will be hated by everyone here is don't do the comic. I did comics, tumblrs and webcomics, all not very long because I got sick of the repititiveness. The difference between your studies that you do and the comic is that you will improve through the studies, but you'll hardly learn anything at all drawing that comic. I'm not as good as you and not as disciplined, though, so I generally give up much faster.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I don't know your financial situation or the reason/circumstances of why you earn your money with your art, so this might be entirely unhelpful, but I also think having a normal job and doing art on the side for free and for fun can do wonders to one's creativity and generally balance out your life. Even though I'm not even close to your artistic skill even I get asked often whether I do commissions/why I don't do them, but I always turn down any monetary offer, because I don't want to ever get bored/ get sick of drawing.
I'm not a artist i'm a sculptor a woodcarver in fact. But there is an advice i can give, work with more than 2 pieces at a time and cycle in between.
ReplyDeleteFrom what i can say it helps a lot, better than resting between pieces.
in my line of work constant work is required to finish a piece even the most simple figurine takes a day, so not being stuck with the same piece for a long time helps a lot.
keeps your spirit up and when you get focused on another piece you can get intresting ideas of your other pieces.
at least 'tis my style o' work.
hope it will work for you too