I have been trying to figure out my own style. I love anime but I also like a touch of realism. This past month has been just trying to finish a piece. What is in my head does not always come out well on paper. Having a bit of an artist block as well was not helping. I also have not drawn seriously in a while so I was doubting my own skill. I would draw sporadically throughout my life when I had extra free time that didn't involve horses. Feeling a bit stumped I was worried I should have drawn more in the past.
I took some of my pictures and turned them into paintings for practice. I realize. I hate drawing tons and tons of cherry blossoms. I will revisit next year to see if I have improved. I also need to SLOW DOWN! I am so used to creating art as fast as I can because of time constraints but that is not the case anymore. Really hard to change that mindset. As evidenced by my rather rushed cherry blossoms. I did both digital and watercolor. I would say digital was easier.
After that adventure, I decided to paint something I was interested in painting and took it slow. I took a picture and used it as a reference. I decided to do it digitally to save paint as I was going to do a LOT of experimenting with color and I knew I would make way too many changes. I am pretty happy with the results.
This still didn't solve my problem of creating my own piece from my mind or finding my style.
My husband suggested I paint one of my favorite artists' works. I decided I wanted to do a watercolor painting versus digital because I find not making a mistake challenging. There is no undo button in traditional work.
I looked to Kelogsloops. I have always admired his work. I looked at his gallery and felt both very inspired and discouraged at the same time. His art is incredible and he encourages artists to study other artists including his own. I usually paint the subject with a minimal background but a full-blown piece seemed a bit daunting. I finally chose this one. I thought it had a lot of challenging elements but not so many details I would get frustrated over. It also had cranes which were something I had never drawn or painted before. PLUS he used gold for some details which gave me a great excuse to finally use my iridescent paint.
I will admit. I was really surprised at how I was able to do it. I realized my technical skills are not horrible. I struggled with the hands at first but I figured it out. Also recreating the colors and blending them was immensely helpful. I did a few things differently to just try it out. I decided to line my work with a black pen. I still have mixed feelings about a dark outline versus not. I really enjoy taking a very close look at his work and my own skills. I decided to just go for it and create my own piece. I went for digital as I knew the concept wasn't solidified yet though it has been floating up in my head for a while. I didn't want to waste any materials. The beauty of digital. I also pictured it in my head as being digital if that makes any sense. I listen to a lot of music when I paint as I enjoy creating imagery to go with it. so I listened to one song on repeat for this piece: Chasing My Dreams - Palosueno Remix • Lonely in the Rain Practice takes patience...
" Solemn Focus"
