Finishing Drills for a Chronic Dabbler.

[ShannonBiondi]

This is a great idea!! I have suffered from this too so completely understand where you're coming from.

Writing up a weekly practice schedule on a Sunday night for the coming week has really helped me stay accountable. I don't necessarily always stick to the practice "topic" I had planned (because sometimes they run over for a few days) but I do tend to stick to the duration I've set for myself so it's good that way!!!

As for finished pieces, my focus is more on practice at the moment but I experience the same difficulties as you with that. In one of the podcasts, Jake talks about consuming more than you produce. I found I was watching a tonnes of tutorials but then not practicing the techniques enough...so I'm trying to change that now.

[Chip Valecek]

@marine the biggest for me is not spending to much time on one thing. Then i get burned out. So maybe one weekend I will do three different horror pieces while working on a full illustration. Then on a Sunday I will do a quick character for fun. I save them all and just post one on Monday and horror on Friday. By doing a bunch at one time when I am super inspired is better then doing one every week and getting burned out. This way when you have a bunch done and you are not wanting to paint then you can relax.

[sketchbook]

@Chip-Valecek I like that ideal of having a couple different styles going at once. That’s a keeper, thanks!

[animatosoor]

@ShannonBiondi I'm always impressed when I hear from artists who stick to the time they've set aside for creating. Kudos for doing that! As for practice time - it's probably really normal for topics to overlap and and overrun the set duration.

Same here with the tutorials - I was so guilty of that as an art student! I was still guilty of that up to about last year or so. :face_savouring_delicious_food:

Sometimes I really wish I could go back in time and smack myself upside the head.

[animatosoor]

I'm going to get the ball rolling and start on this week's idea: "Toy Demon." The first two images are pages from my sketchbook, and the third is the beginnings of a digital sketch based off of the same idea.

[ShannonBiondi]

@animatosoor Haha! Totally!! The beauty of hindsight, right?

[Heather Boyd]

@animatosoor

Sounds good. I struggle with finishing but also well rendered work. I have 3-4 series work I plan to work on during the summer to stretch my Enviroment Design muscles

[marine]

Thanks @animatosoor for the suggestions. I have definitely a full list of things missing in my portfolio! :smiling_face_with_open_mouth_closed_eyes:
Thanks @Chip-Valecek , it is a really good point to work on different work at the same time to avoid getting burned out!

[animatosoor]

@marine said in Finishing Drills for a Chronic Dabbler.:

Thanks @animatosoor for the suggestions. I have definitely a full list of things missing in my portfolio! :smiling_face_with_open_mouth_closed_eyes:

Hahahah, you and me both!

Let's fill all of those gaps. It'll be an ongoing thing, I believe.

[animatosoor]

@ShannonBiondi Lol, yeah! :face_savouring_delicious_food:

[animatosoor]

@Heather-Boyd My struggle is exactly the same. I have gaps in my knowledge when it comes to rendering, and I find myself floundering.

All the best on your series! I suppose they would feature environments in a dominant way?

[Heather Boyd]

@animatosoor

Yeah small character for the most part and larger Enviroment around.

[animatosoor]

I'm in the process of reworking my Mermay entry as a black & white illustration for my portfolio, and,

• also working on this in colour!

Any feedback would always be welcome!

[animatosoor]

My progress so far on Toy Demon. If anyone sees this and has any words of advice on rendering issues, I would really appreciate it!

[Darian]

@animatosoor looking good! is the focus on the red toy or the green creature? I'd say right now, both are getting equal importance (atleast for me ) I think you will have to reduce the saturation of either the toy or the green creature.

[animatosoor]

Thanks for your input, @Darian! I would want the focus to be on the green creature, with the toy being a close second. I'm going to go work on the saturation.

[Darian]

@animatosoor I would say you are close! I'd suggest de-saturating the red a little.. like in the previous image with the blue background, but to a lesser extent

[animatosoor]

Thanks, @Darian! I've made changes to the red on the toy, keeping the highest saturation on the creature.

I also made other changes to the illustration overall, since I wasn't happy with a lot of it at its base - the toy's legs bothered me, the creature bothered me... lots of things bothered me. XD.

Here's an update!:

[Darian]

@animatosoor yes! so much better with regards to the saturation! I like the subtle variations on the toy

[animatosoor]

It's Monday (where I am, anyway), and I'm about to call this done. I'd love to receive feedback on this! I've been staring at it for days, and wonder what I'm missing at this stage.