The Girl who Draws

A beautiful scrap paper project

2005-07-26T01:56:00.000+03:00

Paper bird
Originally uploaded by Kitty Vane.

Mixed media, 21cm x 13cm

(Sorry for the bad scan, my scanner hates me.)

I made this for the beautiful scrap paper project. I feel like it still need a little more... something. I ain't going to do anything more today though; I'm too tired to think right now.
I'm really happy with the way the bird turned out, I used one of my favorite scraps for it. :)

Another bird person

2005-05-21T00:39:00.000+03:00

I really like drawing these birdy people. :)

Bird Lady
Originally uploaded by Kitty Vane.

I've always thought that cockatiels looked like they're wearing blusher.

I need to start using Bristol board again. Neither my markers nor the scanner like my sketchbook that much and I really need to pick up the quality of my work a bit.

Art and stuff

2005-04-28T17:44:00.000+03:00

I've been feeling some what bloo lately, but there are still things that manage to cheer me up.

Yesterday I met Ruth and we shopped, talked about dolls and had tea and cakes at a nice new café and then I came home and watched a cracking good episode of Veronica Mars (if you haven't seen this series yet, you must see it now!) with J. and today I got my Beautiful Scrap Paper Project pacet and made a quick little drawing of Alfred Hitchcock as a bird.

Hitchcock's Bird
Originally uploaded by Kitty Vane.

I've always thought that he looks kind of avian. :)

The block has been busted!

2005-03-30T01:32:00.000+03:00

I finally, finally broke through my artist's block!
I'm not as relieved as I thought I'd be, which is a little odd. I think it's because this is just a little painting, nothing more, and I need to do something more demanding to get that elated, excited feeling I'm looking for.

Looking back on some old work of mine, I was inspired to give life to some more little people that I have thought up in my head. First there was Mr Wind and then came Mr & Mrs Firestone (no picture of them, yet) and after them there was Mr Longfellow.
Today I painted Mr Rivers.

Mr Rivers
Originally uploaded by Kitty Vane.

Mr Rivers is an accountant. He doesn't get along with people very well and he much prefers numbers than people. He's particulary attached to the numbers 3 and 5, but he doesn't much like the number 9 though.

In a way this is more of a block breaking than if I'd just made something with markers or whipped something up on the comp. I haven't painted with watercolours in such a long time, I don't even remember when I last grabbed a brush.
I bought some new brushes (my old ones were in a horrendous state) a while back and though it was time to give them a whirl now. Especially so as Mr Rivers represents water, and choosing to do him in watercolour seemed like a logical choice.

Neil Gaiman is a genius

2005-03-24T17:31:00.000+02:00

Really, he is.

"As a solution to various problems you may encounter upon the way, let me suggest this:
Make Good Art.

It's very simple. But it seems to work. Life fallen apart? Make good art. True love ran off with the milkman? Make good art. Bank foreclosing? Make good art.

Keep moving, learn new skills. Enjoy yourself.

...

Be proud of your mistakes. Well, proud may not be exactly the right word, but respect them, treasure them, be kind to them, learn from them.
And, more than that, and more important than that, make them.

Make mistakes. Make great mistakes, make wonderful mistakes, make glorious mistakes. Better to make a hundred mistakes than to stare at a blank piece of paper too scared to do anything wrong, too scared to do anything."

I love the way that man thinks and I would like to have his brain.

Photomanipulation

2005-03-15T11:57:00.000+02:00

As I don't actually own a LOMO (or some such) camera, I'm making do with some Photoshopping to get the effect. It's a great way to mask my poor lighting and selective focus and a whole host of other little sins, and seeing as I am mostly using our flat as a backdrop, it adds to the grungy retro/vintage feel of the photo.

Photo comparison
Originally uploaded by Kitty Vane.

The difference between the two pictures above isn't that great, and I didn't actually go for an all out LOMO-effect on them. I did however try it out in full here: Paperdoll Dolls.

I quite like the "bad photo" look, even if it is autoficially generated.

Photography

2005-03-14T23:38:00.000+02:00

As I seem to be regressing back to my old hobbies (sewing, painting ect.) I have rediscovered the joys of photography.
I first got into it when I was in secondary school (around the same time as I really started sewing) and that's when I got my first camera, a fully automatic Canon something or other, which is now in a sorry state of repair as it is old and very, very used. Now days I mostly just use J.'s digicam and edit and correct the photos in Photoshop afterwards.

I am by no means an excellent, or even a very good photographer, but I really enjoy taking pictures. It's such an immediate medium and I really like to set up little scenes to photograph. I have very little knowlege of lighting my shots and I actually prefer just to make do with what light I got and snap away. I'm only now getting to grips with getting my photos into proper focus too.

I'd love to get my hands on a LOMO camera or a Leica (sorry no picture of this), but they cost a small fortune and theres no way I could ever afford one. My other alternative is to get a Holga camera or something like a Smena Symbol camera or something equally primitive. I want something that's cheap, simple to use and that takes low quality photos. As I'm never going to be a superbly good photographer, I have no need for one of these super fancy high end cameras. I want something cheap and nasty that can hide the multitude of mistakes in my pictures. There's also something so wonderfully raw and simple about using a crappy camera, the pictures have a wonderful mood to them and there's no pretence of them being perfect, and that falls prefectly into my wabi-sabi philosophy.

A-hah!

2005-02-28T16:58:00.000+02:00

I think I've figured out the cause of my art blockage, if not quite the cure.

I've been looking at a lot of very good art lately, and a little seed of doubt has crept into my mind... what if I'm not good enough? Suddenly I'm afraid to draw anything infear of it ending up bad and I'm terrified by a blank piece of paper in front of me as all I hear in my head is "Don't even bother, you'll never make it!".

I know I should never, ever, ever compare myself to other artists as I am not them, and never will be and to be completely honest I don't want to be them either, but I just can't help it. I have that voice in my head now, telling me that this or that person is so much better than me and I shouldn't even try as I'll never be as good as they are. Forget about being the best I can be, right now my mind is telling me to be the best there is and I know that that's not possible.

Ah, if only you could have a mute-button for your head. I tried the telly remote (No, honestly I did. This is how low I've sunk...) and not surprisingly, that didn't work. :( I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet and try and change my mind set, sans a remote control.

On beating the block

2005-02-09T17:11:00.000+02:00

While I'm still struggling with my artists block, I think I have made a little progress in beating it. I made a few Post-it note doodles yesterday and one more today. I've been asking people to give me titles that I will then draw on my lovely Post-its. It helps me break the fear of the empty page pretty well, and since the doodles don't have to be brilliant nor perfect it gives me room to just let go.

that's not rain
Originally uploaded by Kitty Vane.

not again, trevor
Originally uploaded by Kitty Vane.

For more Post-it funnyness, go to 23pants.

Hahaha, or Pointless Googling

2005-02-05T01:14:00.000+02:00

Ok, after reading another blog I decided to see what would turn up if I Google my blog's name.
Apparently there aren't that many girls who draw as I expected there to be.

Now it's your turn, see what you can come up with. :)

On artist's block and beating it

2005-01-07T23:09:00.000+02:00

I have an artist's block. It's called Amy.
It doesn't do the dishes, it doesn't do the shopping, it doesn't watch telly. It does nothing but sits there, reminding me that I haven't drawn anything in ages.

Damn you Amy!!

I know a thousand and one ways of beating artist's block, and I even have a book on the matter, but none of it really helps when you're blocked. All you can do is sit it out and hope that the block will shuffle off and never come back again.

Hopefully Amy will be leaving me soon...

The other blog

2005-01-01T22:17:00.000+02:00

To start off the new year I made a new blog for my doll-things. If you're interested, it can be found here:
Small Hands

On fame and riding on it

2004-12-30T18:44:00.000+02:00

While in fabulous New York, I got Madonna's childrens book "The English Roses" from the fantabulous FAO Schwarz.

Having read the book, I really can't tell what all the hooplah was about. Sure it was written by Madonna who is so famous that she doesn't even require a last name, but the story really is a bit lame. It does teach an important message about not judging peole by looks alone, but the way it goes about it is somewhat trite and in the end it sounds like something that a bitter (but pretty) teenager would write to vent about being ignored.
Now I have noting against Madonna, I secretly like her music (I know it's not cool to admit to it in public) and I applaud her on her courage to constantly change her image and style. But her writing does not live up to the rest of her work, it's simply too humdrum.
Had she been an ordiary person writing the same book, I don't think that it would have gotten as much attention as it did with Madonna behind it. I actually doubt that it wouldn't have been published had it been written by someone who didn't have fame on their side. Unless of course it was also illustrated by the very talented Jeffrey Fulvimari. His illustrations are just wonderful and they save M's book from being a total loss.

Still on the subject of fame, you can apply for next years illustration grants now.
...but only if you already have had some of your work published and have already made a name for yourslef. So the people that could really use the money, the ones just starting out and thus in need of any help thay can get, don't qualify for a grant.
And that's just plain unfair and totally teh suxorz!! :(

Memes and new journals

2004-12-19T20:56:00.000+02:00

I love memes. I'm quite addicted to them infact.
Still, I have been trying not to post any in my journal... untill now that is. This one was just such a nice one. :)

Your Dominant Intelligence is Spatial Intelligence

You've got a good sense of space and how the world around you looks.
You can close your eyes and "see" images. You have innate artistic talent.
An eye for color and shapes, you're also a natural designer.
Since you think in pictures, visual aids and demonstartions help you learn best.

You would make a good navigator, sculptor, visual artist, inventor, architect, interior designer, or engineer.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Not that the answer was a great surprise to anyone.

I've been thinking of setting up a seperate blog for my doll ~~obsession~~ hobby. I'll post a link here if and when I do.

Dear Santa,

2004-12-14T02:02:00.000+02:00

I have been a very, very, very good girl!
And I want a doll.

Current obsession: Dolls

2004-12-13T01:40:00.000+02:00

My love for dolls has been rekindled.
I used to collect Barbies till about a few years ago, when they changed the face mold and started making fugly, cheap looking dolls. Now I have set my sights on expanding my currently very meager collection with a Blythe Doll.

My love for dolls started when I just a little kid, and I got my very first Barbie (it was an Aerobics Barbie, complete with a turqoize leotard and pink sweat band) when I was about 6 or 7 years old. Since then I have had over twenty Barbies (a few quite rare ones too), a Barbie house and a swimming pool set, a Barbie horse and a whole bunch of other sets and accessories. Since then my collection has shrunk quite a bit (I gave some of my "not so special" Barbies & the house, the horse and the pool away to my cousin) and I bought my latest Barbie (a Generation Girl, Mari to accompany my GG Lara) nearly four years ago when I was still in college (I had to eat noodles and porrige for a week to afford it).

When I was little I used to spend many a happy summer sitting by my gran's sewing machine making clothes for my dolls when all the other kids were froliciking out in the sun and when I got my firs sewing machine at 14, I just kept going at it. Now that old spark has been lit again. I can't wait to get to stitching little dresses and bits. I know that a craft shop near here sells little tiny doll-sized buttons and such and having a vast selection of excellent fabric stores at hand also helps. I actually couldn't sleep last night as I was drafting doll clothes in my head! :)

My ultimate doll dream would be to get a Volks Super Dollfie but seeing as they cost upwards to 600€, I'm afraid that that will stay a dream for quite a while yet.
Thankfully the Volks SDs aren't the only +30cm fashion dolls around. After an intense Google session I realized that there is a whole array of dolls available out there. I even found an Olivia Doll! In the end I narrowed my search to Pullip Dolls and Blythes. After another bout of surfing, I settled on Blythes. I just love the quirky cute look they have, and even if they're not as bendy and posable as Pullips, I still feel like I'm more of an Blythe-girl.

Blythes cost anything from roughly 50€ for the regular ones to over 300€ for the fancyer, rarer ones. I have narrowed my choices down to three dolls ("French Trench", "Velvet Minuet" or "Very Cherry Berry"), which wasn't easy, lemme tell ya! All the Blythe dolls are so pretty, and they all have their perks. I knew that I only have roughly 100-150€ to spend (I could spend more, but that would take away from other things) on the doll and that did help me narrow down my choices.

I browsed the Blythe auctions on eBay yesterday and had a very, very hard time curbing my enthusiasm for buying one, or two, or six. :) We have to keep off the VISA until the NY trip, as it will serve as a kind of emergency money for the duration of our stay in The Big Apple. Which means that I'll just have to be patient until then.
And I do patience so well!

I also surfed various Blythe-owner pages and I was take aback by the stunning outfits and accessories that people have created for these dolls. This in turn made me want get a Blythe of my own even more, as I know that I could try my hand at making just as stunning outfits myself.

...And here you were, expecting some deep discussions on the nature of art and such. :D

2004-12-05T16:42:00.000+02:00

I 'm still on the fence about wether to apply for the comics course or not, so much so that I'm sure that the fence post has lodged itself in my intestine by now.
If I am to apply, I'll have to get my portfolio together and sent tomorrow.

...I guess that I still have this evening to make up my mind.

The difficulty of making decisions

2004-11-29T09:03:00.000+02:00

Why are decisions so hard to make?

I heard yesterday that I could apply to the very same comics course that I applied for last year, but was turned down due to stupid bureaucracy. The lady who will practically be in charge of this course has asked my friend (who got in the first time round) wether I would be interseted in applying again. They did want to accept me when I first applied, but the bureaucracy of the school did not agree. Apparently this time, they might be prepared to make an exception just to get me on board.

My first reaction was "Great!", but after the initial excitement wore off I'm not so super sure anymore.

The course, as it was done the first time, wasn't quite up to the expectations it raised. Now there's speak of better organisation and more adept teachers. The school where in the course is held is one of the really good art/design schools left. Unlike some schools that have a tremendous reputation but actually offer very little substance, the Lahti Institute of Design actually delivers what it promises, most of the time at least. At the very least I'd have a paper saying "this is what I can do" instead of just me saying it, since unfortunately now days it seems that it's the paper that people listen to more.

I had a talk about the course with J. -who, unlike me, has his feet wonderfully grounded at times- earlier today. He said that it might not be the best decision right now for me, as I shoud address the gaps in my skills in order, i.e. first get my visual expression perfect before I start to work on my writing and such. He does have a point, as I really can't fly before I lear how to walk (or however that adage goes). While it might be great (who am I kidding, it'd be brilliant!) to be able to hone every skill to prefection one by one in an ordely manner, it'd also leave me with lots of... umh... well, "empty" time. If I were to concentrate on just the one thing at a time it would take a long, long time for me to work through everything. Going on the course would give me a concrete frame to work with, a timetable and goals to aim for. Not that I couldn't set those myself... but it'd be good to have someone who knows what they're talking about telling me that this is the way to do it. And who's to say that I can't work on my drawing skills and on my writing at the same time?
J. also said that I'd propably work myself to the ground trying to acheve something that I hold ideal, even if I'm not equipped with the actual skill to really achieve it yet.
And he's right. I would tear myself up trying to create something that I see in my head but just can't bring to life.

Let's add the ability to set myself realistic goals and not beat myself up if I for some reason or antother fail to reach them to the list of things I still have to grasp.

In the end it also comes down to money (well, doesn't everything?) and me having something concerte and tangible to do with my time. Without any real timetable and guidance I'm afraid that I'll just float aimlessly in the general direction of my goal and never really reach it. I know that I'm not doing so great financially right now, and going on student welfare won't change the matter none, but with a goal reached and skills learned I could have a chance at something better. Or that's the dream at least, but as I pointed out earlier, me and my dreams rarely hold tightly onto reality.

...
Sorry to put y'all thought that lengthy pondering, I just needed to think out loud to facilitate that afore mentioned difficulty of making decisions.

2004-11-24T01:14:00.000+02:00

(1.00 am add-on)

So, I didn't go out and get a new swimsuit. Which, given the option of braving the cold and the snow and oh yes, the cold! outside or staying inside, wrapped up in a blanket and watching the telly was not a great surprise. I did pop by the grocery store as we had very little grub here (read: no chocolate... or bread or milk, or any other essentials) and as it was my turn to go any way (J. and I take turns to do the shopping).

The last episode of Sex and the City aired here today. I'm gonna miss that show, I've been a fan of it from the beginning. And no matter what critics might say about the actual content of the show, I still loved it.
The clothes on that show were awesome! Every time one of the characters wore something really spectacular, the staff were overwhelmed with people asking who the outfit was by and where it was bought. Apparently the stylist (they didn't have a costume designer as such) didn't believe in repetition, so all the clothes were only used once, and the most notable of them were auctioned off for charity. I especially enjoyed Carrie's vintage look, the "New Look" dresses, the quirky accessories, all lovely. That B&W striped skirt she wore in the second to last episode was gorgeous! And lets not forget her amazing collection of shoes!!
Oh, and the whole plot of the series was good too, say the critics what they may once again. The sugary tug-your-heart-strings plot of the last episode was a perfect Happy End.

I think we all are allowed to have one or two vapid and totally useless past-times, and watching soaps, teen-cartoons, or any programs geared at shallow teens for that matter, and medical dramas on telly is one of mine. :)

...I also think that you get to believe three crazy things before people start thinking you're nuts.

Stella's Star

2004-11-23T01:56:00.000+02:00

Stella's Star
Originally uploaded by Kitty Vane.

(12 pm update & re-write)
I finished work on the second Stella picture yesterday evening. I wanted to continue the story I begun with the first picture, as I have yet to actually write the story itself and am actually avoiding it the best I can. Writing doesn't come to me naturally, and I really have a hard time coming up with stories, or rather the middles and ends of stories. I have lots of beginnings for stories that are just sitting there with no where to go.

My neck and sholder muscles are all tied in knots, as apparently ergonomy is something that happens to other people.
I'm thinking of going swimming tomorrow and I'm hoping that that will help untie some of the knots in my muscles. The thing is, I'm not sure wether I have a swimming costume. I threw out a lot of old clothes when I moved and I'm not sure if the swimming costume was among them or not. And even if it didn't get thrown away, I'm not sure wether it will fit me any more as the last time I wore it was years ago... Thankfully the swimming pool holds women only pool-time, when you can swim nekkid should you feel like it.
And you never know, I might surprise myself and go out to buy a swimming costume later today! :)

This is what happens when I am bored

2004-11-20T18:45:00.000+02:00

I had this brilliant idea just before I fell asleep last night. Then after waking up and orientating myself to the fact that about 30 cm of snow had fallen outside while I was fast asleep, I got to sketching and painting and now here we are, "The Early Bird shirt"!

The Early Bird shirt
Originally uploaded by Kitty Vane.

It's really beautiful outside, all white and glittery. It was quite a snow storm we had earlier and it is still coming down gently. This is my first winter in this apartment, and for some reason the coming of the first snow is an important occasion. Everything looks so different under it's white coat of snow. There really is something magic about the first snow of the winter. Everything familiar is so alien all of a sudden, all the shapes muted under all that snow. It's like a different world outside now. :)

Stella (coloured)

2004-11-18T01:54:00.000+02:00

I finally manged to get some colour on Stella! I had a bit of a hard time of it, but it is done now. :)

Stella coloured
Originally uploaded by Kitty Vane.

I was originally going to colour this by hand but then some problems cropped up and in the end I decided to strech my Photoshopping skills instead.
I applied a paper texture to the picture because, as I feared, it would have looked too clinical without it. I haven't used textures before so this was a good excercise in the art of applying textures too. I did have to look the method up in my Photoshop Bible, but I did manage to use the paper texture pretty well, even if I do say so myslef.

I'm rather pleased with the way this came out, even if I do feel like cheating using Photoshop. I know that there's nothing worng with using it, but for some reason I feel like I should have still done this by hand.

So, I splurged

2004-11-17T02:03:00.000+02:00

I went out and bought two Rotring technical markers (and three Copic markers) today. They did cost an arm and a leg but they are worth it.

I really love going to the art store. The place is full of wonderful things and it's a pleasure just browsing around. There's everything you could ever want for making art, stuff you didn't even know you wanted and more besides. The staff are super helpful and very professional. It's so nice there.

I'm stuck with the "Stella" picture. :(

I want to colour it with markers, but a few problems have popped up. One of my markers ran out of ink. Had it been any other marker than that particular one, I think I could have coped, but it's the colour I wanted to colour the walls with. Now this in itself wouldn't be a big problem, as I could just pop by the lovely art store again tomorrow and get some more ink, but unfortunately ink costs money and I just spent about 70€ on art supplies today.
Also I'm not sure if I can achieve as even enough covering as I want with markers. And I have no idea how I could create the even "blueness" that occurs in the evening in the picture without doing the whole thing in blue.

So, I've been thinking of doing it by computer. I used to colour everything in Photoshop untill I got my markers. Now I don't find the idea of using the computer to colour my pictures as appealing as I once did. Computer colouring lacks the texture and life of a hand coloured picture and usually comes out looking rather clinical. Adding a texture to the picture might work, and some added noise wouldn't go a miss either. I think I'll have to just give it a go and see how it turns out. Who knows, it might turn out better than I expect.

The other alternative to Photoshop is using watercolours. I haven't painted with them in ages and I don't have a good enough brush to use either, as most of my brushes are pretty ratted with use and age. Watercolouring would give me the texture I want and it would also be good for me to try my hand at it again.

I really don't know what to do right now. I did an inked line drawing of the picture, and I guess I'll scan it tomorrow and set to work on it with the Photoshop...
I'm too tired and head achey to really get into this now.

Stella sketch

2004-11-16T01:58:00.000+02:00

Stella sketch
Originally uploaded by Kitty Vane.

(I know that there are some lines missing on the bottom left side of the closest building, and it has already been corrected on the original.)

I finally managed to put to paper the picture that has been in my head waiting to be let out for months now. It's still a pretty rough sketch, but I'll start work on the inked version of it tomorrow and next week I'll set about etching it.

I found this great, more or less A4 sized (it's roughly 20 x 30 cm) copper plate at the local art store. It was cheaper than having copper cut to size at the hardware store, and the plate had a protective plastic on it too. I've been thinking of doing a bigger printing piece, as before I've just worked with postcard sized plates. It will be fun to try etching and especially aquatinta on a bigger scale. Applying the acrylic aquatinta on a big plate will be a pain in the bottom as it's already extremely frustrating in postcard size. Still, etching all the different shades will be easier, or atleast I hope it will be! That's the fun part of printing, you never really know how it's going to turn out untill you're holding the actual print in your hands.

Speaking of art stores, I've been thinking of finally buying some Rotring technical pens, as my beloved Staedtler Marsmango (it's a cheaper, less durable version of the Rotring Rapidograph) has started to leak and splodge. Rotrings cost an arm and a leg and some toes too, but when used properly they will pretty much last forever. The cocroaches (seeing as the radiation has mutaded them and they will have arms and hands) will be using them after the world has ended! :D
Still... I feel a little antsy about spending nearly 60€ on two pens. I'm on a tight budget right now, what with going to New York and everything and I've made some expensive buys lately too (like new winter shoes, which were a neccesity as my old ones were falling apart). J. said that it's OK for me to splurge on art supplies, as I do need them and getting good quality ones rather than just going for the cheaper option is better in the long run any how. I know he's right, but I still can't make up my mind wehter to spend that much money.

Why are artists always so broke any ways?

Feedback on "Anne and The Giant Bird"

2004-11-12T19:42:00.000+02:00

deviantART: Comments: "i'm in love!! the colors the mood the setting and the giant bird!! Head over heels!
and such an excellent colouring job. Thanks for putting a smile on my face "

I have been getting such wonderful feedback on "Anne and the Giant Bird". It has quite overwhelmed me to be honest, I didn't know wether people would like it or not. I'm not totally satisfied with it and I kinda expected the same reaction from others as what I have towards the picture.

I guess I'm still too wrapped up in the picture and I only see the mistakes I've made, instead of all the good bits that turned out well.

deviantART: Messages: "Your gallery is wonderful ... seriously beautiful artwork. You really deserve to be creating books. It is sad in a world drip-fed of Harry Potter derivative magic that real magic like yours isn't acknowledged! Get hassling some publishers!!"

Anne and The Giant Bird

2004-11-12T16:25:00.000+02:00

Anne and The Giant Bird
Originally uploaded by Kitty Vane.

Thanks to Flikr my images are finally showing up here in my blog. :)
The image can also be viewed here.

I worked for two days on this picture.
Well, not for two days straight, as a girl does need her beauty sleep and chocolate breaks, but for two days time wise.

Anyways, I decided to practice drawing backgrounds as I haven't really drawn them before and it is a weakness of mine, not being able to do proper backgrounds for my images. This started off as a random collection of pencil sketches that included the Giant Bird (who you can also see adorning my profile), some trees, a preliminary sketch of Anne and some other odd bits and bobs that didn't make it into this picture.

I'm very happy with how this image turned out over all. I'm really satisfied with the way the grass turned out, but the leaves on the rees (and the top of the trees in general) bother me. They're not as good as the rest of the picture, and they seem too bulky compared to the detailyness of the rest.

Or then I'm just too tired and too close to the picture to see it in a more objective manner.

All that being said, I am pretty proud of myself. :)

Edit: I did a little more work the part where the tree trunks meet the leaves since that was really bothering me and it didn't look right as it was. I'm much happier with it now.

The green eyed monster

2004-11-09T23:21:00.000+02:00

I see amazing artists and wonderful art every day, and it both inspires me and makes me envious. I feel like I'm missing something vital that they can do and I can't. Then I get this urge to be able to draw just like them! Which is good because it makes me work harder to improve my skill and to draw more, but it is also bad because I really should be working on my own style and not copying someone else's.

Here's an example:
I saw this girl's work a while back and I think it's perfect. It's sketchy, expressive and free and beautiful.
And I want to be able to draw like her.
Although, Emmy's (the girl I mentioned earlier) style does resemble the work of a well known artist, Katja Tukiainen, a bit.

I guess we all copy others in one way or another, add aspects of their work into our own. We cut and paste a mix of our own style and the style of the artists that we admire. I think that the hardest part is to know how much you should copy and how much you shoud keep of your own thing, while making it all look totally new and original.

I do like my own style, even if I have days when I think it's all really crap. I know that thinking that others are better than me isn't good, as you should be confident with your work and basically think the world of yourself. You have to like what you're doing.

Since envy is a driving force, of sorts, I think I'll do my best to live with the fact that there are artists that are better than me.

The beginning is a good place to start

2004-11-08T21:25:00.000+02:00

People seem to have this strange need to justify the exsitence of their blog, like having one is somehow embarrassing. I have no desire to explain why I keep a journal (or a blog as it might be) and I am most certainly not ashamed of having one.

...Well, that's not exactly true, as I do want to explain why I set up this journal.

As a kid I declared that I want to be an artist, and ever since then I've not wanted to be anything else. (Ok, that's not entirely true either, as I did want to be a librarian, but that dream died when the overhead projector-like machines that were used to check out books went out of use.) Now that I am considerably older, I'm setting my sights on becoming an illustrator. A children's book illustrator to be exact. I set up this blog to record my artistic aspirations and to muse on the life of a starving artist in general. (Not that I am starving mind you.)

The site where I have my galley does have a journal, but I don't feel like it's the right palce for more indepth and personal ruminations.

And that's the long and short of it really.

The End.

...Well, not really the end yet.
I actually created a blog here last week, but due to some ruddy glitch I have no access to it. As the Help here wasn't being very helpful and my patience with it ran out, I set up this journal.

The End, really.