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IMPOSTOR! getting over it

The most surprising thing from attending the Fantasy Art Workshop Illustration Intensive was how much it helped with overcoming the nagging self doubt of ‘impostor syndrome’. you know.. that feeling of “I guess I’m just a hobbyist, I don’t get to call myself a fantasy artist” etc etc.

You know.. all those voices in your head that chime up whenever you look at some professional’s work and realize how much better it is.

Turns out though… it’s pretty much all bullshit.  But I also know that reading it on the internet is essentially worthless in terms of actually getting you to accept it.

So you have to do something that’s probably terrifying to some degree.. go find a community art group, attend an event or workshop, go to a convention and hang out with the artists.

You’ll be amazed,  turns out they’re people too… with idols & doubts of their own.  It turns out that there isn’t a switch that gets flicked and you’re an artist.  Everyone just keeps making the best art they can and they Work at it.   But EVERYONE was terrible at some point, remembers it, and for the most part are very supportive of those of us who are still getting there. Which is funny because there is no ‘there’ go get to, we’re all on the same path, the scenery is just different further down the road, but they’re still on the road with miles to go as well.

Which is incredibly awesome.

 

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March-April Review

Olk so it’s now been just about a month since I put brush to small canvas,  I think the first one was actually started on the 13th but 10.. 10 is a nice round number so that’s how i’ll track it.

Short version, 7 paintings ‘done’, tons of fun, learned a lot, only abandoned one without any hope of redemption (#3).

Big Takeaways:

  • I have GOT to find a better way to take photos of paintings, these colors are all sorts of messed up.
  • I’m working with a very limited palette and I’m STILL overwhelmed by color choices, I attempted to mitigate that bit with #7 with mixed results.
  • Making my own greens (I’m not using any tube greens at all, everything is mixed) is so much fun!
  • I’m skipping too many steps to get to the rendering,  I need better defined blocking and resist the details until its set.
  • Finding the shadow shapes looks easy until you’re staring at a nose trying to make up your mind where it begins.

 

The colors on this REALLY aren’t right

This started off as a value study and it went all sorts of wrong, and then everything made it worse.. But I must admit I’m pretty happy with how a lot of the little primrose buds came out.

Limiting my Palette even more (black, white, alyzerin crimson, prussian blue and burnt umber), to try and just be able to focus on getting the proper soft/hard edges in the shoulder and neck,  which I must admit I’m quite happy with.   The wet clothes had a really neat transition from where they stick to the body and crinkle up, and I’ll be the first to admit that it was less than successful in that regard.