Jonathan Price's Sketchbook
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Sometimes I look at some pro artists who inspire me, and I see what they do, and then I ask myself, do I really need to tell "stories" with my work? Can beauty be enough (assuming I have actually achieved depicting some form of beauty with my work)? I wonder...
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I've been tired lately, but I don't want to put down my pencil, or stylus as it were. Plus a self published author wants me to draw another character for him, so I doodled up a bunch of poses. My son likes my original characters and asked me to draw a couple (and make stickers out of them) so I doodled some poses for them too.
I subscribed to SVSLearn and started looking at some of the videos. I picked up some ideas from the "Breathing Life into Character designs" video, but my overall indecisiveness makes it hard for me to figure out how I can best make use of the wealth of material here...
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Commission in progress. Exactly what the client wanted. -
@Jonathan-A-Price Hey Jonathan - Welcome to SVS! - I was wondering if you could post some links or names of the artist that are nailing what it is you admire most - I feel like I don't know enough about your goals to really give any feedback that has value - in general I would love to see some texture in the paint - you are way better at this than me but I still think I/we can give you some criticism if you are looking for it if we know what you are going for - I think too that you should definitely try to tell a story - I remember a Bobby Chui video where he talks about how artists should be telling a story with their images - that's what people remember - that's what holds peoples attention long enough to read your name at the corner - join in on the 3rd Thursdays (I think this month will be especially challenging) - I think I have made some improvement because of the 3rd Thursdays - there are so many awesome people here that will help critique your work - sometimes an instructor will chime in too - pretty cool - anyways look forward to seeing your work
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@Kevin-Longueil thanks for checking out my work! Hmm...you pose a hard question for me to answer. The artists I admire, I feel like I shouldn't be focusing on because they tend to be pinup artists and character designers, not visual storytellers. Names like Elias Chatzoudis, Eric Basaldua, Mike Krome, Jon-Troy Nickel even, their work draws my attention more than anything else. I guess I can't help where my heart leads me, but I still want to do more.
I have drawn comics that show a lot more than characters just standing there, but I find it hard for them to hold my interest.
My coloring style is intentionally simple, more comic/cartoon based, but learning to paint with texture is something I've wanted to try from time to time.
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Hey Jonathan, I've been looking at your work since you started posting. I've never really commented because I'm not quite sure where you are wanting to go with your work. Do you have a goal in mind? Your work is really good for what it is. But if we knew your endgame we might be able to give better advice. Do you want to illustrate a graphic novel? Do you want to do a pin up book?
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@evilrobot to be honest, I came here to search for ways to figure that out myself. I've lost my way; I draw a lot, and I get hired often (small time customers), but I've become indecisive about what I really want. Even after subscribing here, and viewing a few videos, I haven't found direction yet. But Jake Parker's latest video helped me realize I simply haven't been taking my work seriously enough. I plan to spend the weekend thinking seriously on what I want to do...I'm leaning toward making 100 somethings...in my case, a pinup book, but it has to be something fun enough for me, but not so "fun" that I'm not challenged or stimulated by it.
To put it plainly, I don't know what I want yet, but I do know I don't want what I've been getting so far. I'm taking the "do a lot of work and see what sticks" approach for now.
Perhaps what I need to do is spend more time giving feedback to others and take my focus off my own work.
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Hi Jonathan, Great to see your stuff here. Welcome aboard!
In regards to your predicament, I would like to suggest some things. I don't think you need to spend any time giving feedback right now. And you don't need to be trying to push your own work forward either. You are in the perfect spot for an "artist vacation". What do you do on an artist vacation? You do the same thing as a normal vacation. You SEE stuff, you experience work as a viewer, not as an artist.
So that basically means looking around. Online is ok, but you may want to hit up local art galleries and museums. See what work is drawing you in. Then figure out why it's drawing you in. Look at artists who are where you want to be (both professionally and artistically) and see what they are doing right.
The next step is to do some copies of some of these artists. Try to incorporate what they did well into what you are doing. Don't worry about feeling like you will be a clone of them. That rarely (if ever) happens.
While you are looking at how other artists are working, look at what they are drawing. Pinups are nice, but they have been done a MILLION times before and honestly, it will be hard to move your career forward with that subject matter. Now, can you come up with a different twist for pin ups? If so, maybe that would be a good direction to go in. Or, think about why pinups are the thing that you are interested in. Can that genre be taken further? BTW- if you REALLY want to just draw pinups, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Keep drawing them and enjoying the process. It will be hard to make a career of that, but there is no rule that everything has to drive your professional life.
If you do want to move past pin ups, I would think about your own life and interests. How can you use that as your inspiration and show some of who YOU are. Sexy girl paintings just scratch the surface. Go deeper and think about what might be more meaningful and lasting subject matter. What stories would you like to tell. How will you tell them? This is where you will see massive growth.
Good luck in your process. Enjoy looking at new art and enjoy the new discoveries you are about to make! : )
SVS Faculty Instructor
www.leewhiteillustration.com -
@Lee-White thanks for the feedback! What you're saying makes sense, and it actually kind of mirrors an article I read just earlier today http://www.sethrutledge.com/blog/2016/4/26/dww5g7ki53zbs1yapwv694mqvqljg1 so there must be something to it. Even my wife said I might need to get away from actually trying to make my own work for a while and take in some new inspiration.
That's three sources saying the same thing, so it must be time to act on that advice, and try doing some master studies instead of constantly searching within for ideas. I do have a couple of character design jobs I'd been paid to do already, but after they're done, it's time to refresh.
Thanks again.
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A coworker asked me to doodle up a pic of Prince. I never really do likenesses so I thought I'd try something different. She liked it.
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I'm taking in new sources of inspiration and trying different things. This kind of popped in my head and I just had to draw it. It has at least something more going on than 'cute girl for its own sake'...
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@Jonathan-A.-Price This I love. She looks like a powerful woman who is in charge of something important. I wouldn't want to mess with her no matter how "cute" she is.
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@Leslie-Walker thank you! For a time I used to be all about making strong and beautiful female characters... Not sure when I lost sight of the strong part, but I'm getting my groove back.
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Thought I'd share the full color version of the Rider girl I drew last week. Someone critiqued that I need to pay attention to the values and I'm kind of inclined to agree, but I couldn't figure out how to keep the steam effect as powerful as it turned out while trying to create a greater sense of contrast.
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Long time no post. Been working on a 100-somethings project, decided to focus on doing 100 unique fantasy women. Meanwhile, been re-watching Lee White's Making Money in Illustration videos, trying to figure out where my work fits and what I might need to change in order to enhance my business.
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Hey man, I am really enjoying the work you are posting! I can't offer too much feedback because honestly I am still not good enough at drawing people to give advice but keep it up.
I hope to see more of your stuff in the future!
Consider following me!
https://www.instagram.com/bohmartistry/?hl=en
https://twitter.com/BohmArtistry -
@Jack-B hey, thanks! It's all good, I appreciate you checking out my work. I'm sure it's pretty hard to provide feedback when disciplines are so very disparate from one another. I'm just sharing and basically trying to improve with every piece. I am really just looking at what others are creating in my journey to figure out where my art belongs...if anywhere.
