A story of an introduction, but HELLO! :)
-
Long post, so here is a link if you're just interested in looking at some art.
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/levisimpson55/Hey there people!
My name is Levi, or as I've gone by on art forums for ages, Blitz55.
Thought I'd do the introduction thing as I'm really liking this forum and it seems like just the kind of place I've been looking for. I can't seem to introduce myself at this time without talking about my story with art a bit so I apologize if it's a bit of a read and if it's a bit personal, but I guess we are here to tell stories, so....
At this moment in time I'm 40 years old and I've been creating art on and off for a while now. Art to me growing up was more of this side hobby I always did with artists friends of mine who were always much better and more dedicated to it than I was. I went to art college for 3D animation kind of by happenstance and enjoyed it but I never took full advantage of it. Thinking back now one issue was that I still had not found that passion to go all in and lacked confidence in my ability artistically. But I did join up with a local group of independent game designers after college (2001) and worked on trying to develop a game with them for the better part of 7 years. Through most of this time I was a digital artist, I've been using photoshop since about 1997 and after college anything artistic I created I did so digitally, including sketching.
Now this part isn't about my art and I'll only touch on it a bit, but it's important to who I am and what art means to me now. Around this time my life got a bit sidetracked and I fell away from art. I wish I could say I was busy doing other constructive or creative things, but I can't. What seemed like innocent drinking with friends or drinking at night in my early 20s turned into an addiction I would battle for longer than I could have imagined, 15 years to put a number on it. You always have the best intentions, but it's amazing how fast life can go by when you let yourself become consumed by an addiction. I stopped creating art, and I was filling my motivation tank with the wrong fuel. I'd lost my way though I was fully functional, I had and have a great job, I never drank during the day, it was my evenings where the monster took hold. Most people who know me would know nothing about this issue unless I told them, which I have only told very few.
So yeah, I needed to say that because art to me now has two different sides, before, and now. It was about 6 years ago I started drawing again, but instead of digitally, I pulled out an old sketchbook and drawing supplies. And I have to say, a blank page has never been so intimidating, no undo, no layers, no history bar or transform tool, and my sliders, my beautiful beautiful sliders for making adjustments, all gone. But this paper, these tools, this was primitive, this was what I needed, I had a connection to this and it felt so good, and smelled good too! But it was here where I started to build the first threads to the rope that would help pull me out of my rut. I would start creating art again, and slowly but surly find my passion, my motivation, and my way out. Also a small matter of meeting the girl of my dreams who happens to run an art supply store and life drawing class, but ill save that story for now.
So this is me now, feeling so much better, living with my girlfriend, looking to buy our first house together while drawing and creating so much more than I ever have. But there is still much more to be done, and while I've enjoyed all the sketching and drawing, I want to start putting it together a bit more and create something more substantial. I'm not sure what, a career in art, or just my own book or story. But I know I need some help in getting there and I do so enjoy art communities, I love the people I meet in them. I look forward to seeing your art and being a part of this community. It's been a while since I've shown my work to other artists and asked for critiques, but I have thick skin, so I am ALWAYS open to constructive criticism, it won't rattle me, or so I think. Haha
If you read up till this point, thanks. I really mean that, I know this is probably just supposed to be a short intro section. But right now, art has kind of been my savior among a few other things, so it's hard for me to keep it short and to the point. I tend to gush.
Oh, should point out that my medium of choice is a bit all over the place these days. I use pencils quite a bit but love to jump over to ink as well with my pens and fountain pens. Then there is watercolor which is so difficult compared to digitally painting. I love trying all kinds of things out these days and have a bag I carry everywhere filled with sketchbooks, pens, pencils and paint. I also enjoy photography and will hopefully start developing my own black and white film soon.
Draw, Draw, Draw, Draw and Draw Some More!
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/levisimpson55/ -
LMAO, that is a wall of text. It didn't "look" that long at first I swear.
-
Welcome to the forums Levi.
I enjoyed reading through your introduction. It was very uplifting!Website: www.tessawrathall.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/tessawrathall_art/
-
@TessaW Thank you, I'm happy it was, it may have been a bit much, but I'm glad you read it.
-
@Blitz55 Long story, but a good one.
I love your tree creatures! -
No surprise to me that art became your saving grace, but the great part is that you've used it that way successfully. Its a really inspiring story. I enjoy your art style, I see lots of Grimm fairy tale influence. Welcome to the forum!
-
Welcome @Blitz55! Thanks for sharing your story!
-
@ina Thanks! I appreciate you reading all of that. haha
@djlambson Thank you, I'll take the Grimm Fairy Tale influence as a very kind complement. Art was defiantly a huge help to me, I just couldn't find a way I liked to introduce myself and my art without getting into all of that. I was a bit nervous that I may have overdone it a bit. Haha.
@Jeremy-Ross Thanks man, appreciate it.
-
Welcome! I’m new to this too and haven’t introduced myself yet so well done for being more brave to give your back story. Love your fine pencil work on Instagram on your mystical creatures. Hoping you’ll enjoy this forum, it’s a really supportive group of people with lots of talented artists who give really constructive and accurate advice.
-
Welcome! Your story is very moving. I really love looking through your fantasy creature pencil creations and some of your atmospheric photography.
-
@Lorna-H I think this is a forum worth enjoying. Seems like a good group. Thanks for the complement on my drawings.
@Heather-Boyd Thanks, and glad you liked the photography. Thanks for the follow on Instagram too
I'm glad the long story hasn't been that off putting. -
Heck yeah!!! Love those foliage gremlins. Game design is so interesting! I am amazed by the level of detail that artists put into the characters, environments, artifacts, etc, when the player often only sees them for a fraction of a second. True dedication to storytelling!
-
@Blitz55 welcome!
-
@lora_chaudavis Thanks, I've really enjoyed drawing the little plant critters lately. All part of a world I try to go to help me come up with things to draw so I'm not sitting there staring at a blank page. There is so much that goes into game design, it's unreal how much you have to think about. But like anything, the more you flesh out that world even if you don't see it all, the better it will be.
@Nyrryl-Cadiz Thank you!
