Learning Modo + Free time stuff

I have decided to take a stab at learning Modo, since I have heard many good things about it. Here are a couple of tutorial projects I made under the video  direction of Vaughan Ling. The other stuff are just miscellaneous projects that I have done when I wasn't working at the Homeless shelter or delivering pizzas. There hasn't been a lot of time to make art lately, but there has been a little bit of time--and the beats no time at all!

Master Studies

Here are some master studies I have been working on over the summer.  Always a good way to learn..from the masters.

True Detective Film Studies 2/2

Here are the rest of the digital paintings from my True Detective Color/Composition study project. At the end of it all I wasn't able to get one done every single day, but I had gotten much more done than if I hadn't set the daily deadline for myself. Being an artist with multiple day jobs is challenging and mastery of time management is a must. That means you constantly have to say no to friends, family and jobs that may not be worth it if you want to get your personal projects done on time. Every hour and minute of your day becomes important when things like a job, sleep, and eating cut into a significant chunk of it. Just like anything you want to get good at you have to make some sacrifices, but usually those things you sacrifice are things that you would have needed to shake off anyway. Having such limited amount of time also forced me to do these faster. 

When I started this project, the digital paintings would take 3-4 hours to do, and by the end it was 1-2 hours. This had a lot to do with the shots I chose to copy. Predominantly black frames with low lighting meant that there was just less to paint, and fully lit daytime images meant there were more subjects in the image to paint so I had to choose which subjects were most important, add the most detail to that and just sort of fudge the rest, save it, upload it, and hopefully get to work on time or at least no more than 5 minutes late. There is a lot of debate on how important speed is for artists and I think it is ultimately up to the individual and the situation. It was important to me because I didn't really have the luxury of spending more than an hour or two a day on a project like this, but if I was unemployed and didn't have bills to pay, that might have been different. I also think that speed and fleshing out your ideas quickly allows you to not get attached to an idea that only you think is good, so knowing how to draw/paint fast may help you let go of these ideas knowing you could whip up a new one in 15 or 30 minutes.

I think this project's focus was to polish my digital painting speed and to that end I think it worked, but at the same time I think doing too much studies can be a cop out to someone who is trying to procrastinate coming up with their own ideas.  That isn't to say I didn't learn a lot, because I did. I am just saying that a lot of artist get very caught up in technique and forget to use their imaginations (myself included). But it is helpful to learn the rules of something like this, because then when you break the rules, you can do it in a more convincing way.

Oh and I also started making speed painting videos of some of the paintings from this project. You can find them here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKdsIFVKngdotFoi_6j0ttA/videos

True Detective Film Studies 1/2

Well I am at the half way point with my True Detective film studies project. The project has evolved somewhat over the past couple of weeks. I was inspired by Beeple to turn this into an everyday project aimed at sharpening my skills and developing better work habits. I have missed a couple days here and there, but that is because I decided to get drunk or stoned after work a couple of times. The rule I am setting for myself is that I have to do one study a day and post it on my instagram before midnight. I may change the rules to be noon so i can be seen by more people, but for now its midnight. I am currently 3 studies behind, but I will catch up. I am still getting used to working graveyard at the shelter but I aint trying to make excuses. I'll spare you the  personal non art benefits this project has given my peace of mind and body and just show YOU, the reader what I have. These studies were all hand painted in photoshop (just brushes, masking, and filters). I am not using any photo-bashing for these. Just doesn't seem appropriate for the project. Enjoy!
-Austin