Today's LiveStream with Jana and Hannes!

Hey everybody! Gonna do a post a little later on about monitor calibration. But in the meantime I thought I'd let everyone know that the interview/general discussion I did with Jana and Hannes(algenpfleger) is up for watching on demand!

Click here to Watch!


Was a lot of fun! I'm hoping to get more people on in the mornings!

New Blog!

Hey everybody! Just started using blogger yesterday, trying to get settled in with my new layout and whatnot. I already like the look of this one a whole lot more than the previous.

I'm also trying out ads to hopefully bring in some kind of extra money. Currently Chelsea and I are planning a move to Seattle this summer and are having a hard time with the funds. Trying to get that goin as much as possible. Need to be around the people :D! No more desolate forest living... Moved here in order to make myself improve my art(as in I couldn't afford to live here when I moved here so I had to get better work) and have happily made the transition into more reputable freelance jobs!

Pressure is a great motivator for me. Sometimes it may seem like a crazy idea to just jump into the fire and basically just try as hard as possible to grow. But in the end its all worth it, or thats my opinion anyways. I've been doing this sort of thing to myself for the past 2 years or so. When I started I was living at home and just jumped right into an uncertain job position in Illinois(I was residing in Massachusetts at the time). I figured that even if the position fell through that I would have to go right at freelance as hard as possible in order to make the rent every month. Of course the position fell through and I ended up doing just that :(.

Now I'm living in New Hampshire and have been for almost 2 years. Still working at that pressure but have finally started to settle into some good freelance. My couple years in solitude gotta come to an end, can't just live in my house 12 hours a day everyday anymore! Driving me crazy haha. So Seattle it isss!

Anyways, if you do find yourself in a position where you aren't satisfied and are lacking motivation... Always remember that you can use pressure and fear to just force it out! You may not want to do this for a long time as stress is a killer... But whatever works!

If any of you are having trouble studying or whatever else, feel free to drop be the Crimson Daggers study group! We meet everyday @9am EST, 2 GMT!

and heres a random image I did to test how Blogger uses image uploader!

Metal! Judas Priest - "Hell Bent for Leather"

Quick Work - Team Chow!

I'm all alone this week! Gah, my girlfriend just left with her family to travel across europe for 10 days(2 days per country! haha, doesnt sound too relaxing). I can't wait to take some time off and travel :), only I'd rather sit in one spot and take in the culture and whatnot.

So anyways, since I'm alone this week I plan on really digging into my work. I got a lot of client deadlines looming! But I'm not stressed... I'm focusing on the steps I need to take to finish each piece rather than looking at the whole deal as one mass. I find that this helps me keep calm in the wake of a ton of deadlines haha. Stress doesn't help, thats for sure!

When I'm going through the steps I'm constantly asking myself what I know about composition and how to make things pop. How light falls and how to bring focus to one central part of my image. If I get caught up thinking about what other art it needs to resemble(previous work for the same company), or what I think theyre looking for, it ends up terrible. The main thing I'm trying to do is apply the basics of what makes a good image and what my strengths are.

Thats not to say I can't break away and do something different to learn... But when I do client work I have to realize that they hired me based on my personal work... Not on the fact that they think I can mimic another artist. I used to always try to be what I thought they wanted rather than what I was. Which I believe is true for most people starting out. It seems like when you do things like fantasy illustration it is exactly what you love... But its not exactly you.

In my work I always try to make my characters have a attitude about them. I often make them screaming and freakin out with drool flyin haha. Thats because I love metal and I love speed/intensity. Tense muscles and fast moving pissed off creatures. So when I approach a character thinking about exactly what it is I enjoy most it often comes out super quick. I never try and force myself to draw something I dont have any attention towards.

This of course changes when I do studies and all that. And from time to time I'm forced to draw something I have no appreciation for in my client work. Even though I don't really like certain aspects of it I do try to apply an attitude or body language thats along the lines of my own art. Anything and everything I can do to make the process as enjoyable as possible will lend itself to the piece. Its always best to just really pin point what it is about life that you truly enjoy most... Because it'll really come through in your art and seperate you from the crowd.

Whoa, huge tangent! But I figured I'd get that off my chest.

heres more work done for the team chow! Just a really quick sketch of the previous bird character.