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11:54 PM, Saturday January 21st 2023
edited at 11:56 PM, Jan 21st 2023

Sorry for such a lengthy reply ahead. I really need to work on brevity; but that would take even more time. I hope what I say at least adds some value ;)

“If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.” – ?

Drawing helps from time to time although I still don't know if resuming my Drawabox lessons will help or not haha.

Endless exercises certainly can be a kill-joy. The 50% Rule is really important to help balance that out. Zapata says he agrees with the 50% Rule and might even increase it to 75% play and 25% learning. DAB is definitely a marathon: I've been at it since last January when I decided to dive in. I know I've benefitted from it, but I hope the hundreds of hours (I didn't count) I've put into it weren't better spent on creating finished art. With 2 lessons and a few drawing challenges to go -- and my track record ;) -- I could see DAB taking me another 6 months. I plan to finish, I'm committed to finishing (I've left too many things unfinished, but knowing when to quit something also takes wisdom and discernment), but once I'm done I'd like to take a break from such intense drawing courses for a while and really focus more on that 75% of art joy with 25% studies and exercises.

I should do the same sooner than later because I'm feeling quite lost right now to be honest.

I highly recommend it. Why do I draw? What do I want from my drawing experience? What hopes do I have for the future? What artistic process/result brings me the most satisfaction? What fears am I holding onto that might not be true? How can I use my skills to honour and please my Maker? Which of my fears can I replace with action? Am I trusting God or myself? Am I being lazy? Am I pushing myself too hard and need to take rest?

None of which I need to know the answers to, but just some prompts to help you get started ;) Maybe pick one and think about it during a pause in the schedule, or come up with your own introspective queries.

I managed to finish all my 7 drawings for the promptathon thanks to your words from months ago. I had that "finished not perfect" mindset all along that week.

That's great!

Day 1: Wow, very nice feet; I thought it was photo-bashed at first XD. I like the humour.

Day 2: The lighting in this image is EPIC. Impressed.

Day 3: Very creative ;)

Day 4: Oh my . . . I must say, the perspective on that goblin head is very good.

Day 5: That foliage looks like a daunting task; you gave it a good go. Cool idea and good perspective on the stairs.

Day 6: Nice :)

Day 7: That (NOT) elephant def gives me the creeps; your use of focal blur is very interesting and effective.

I think your composition skills have leveled up.

Unfortunately, as soon as the challenge ended, I forgot about that mentality. I struggle with my goal-oriented mindset because whenever there is not an specific goal, like, very defined, I can't manage it well and get lost into details.

The joys of being an artist! XD I feel your pain. Why do we have to be such temperamental beings!? I don't know, maybe because we're pursuing such an amorphous goal as "getting good at art." What does this really mean? We may not really know, "but we'll know it when we see it"! I'm trying to be more consistent in finishing stuff. I just want to get on the Finishing Train and ride it for a decade or two. If we could just keep producing work without judging ourselves so harshly, we could go far; but for some reason I keep getting off the train to stop in each passing town to take art lessons, to try to learn some new skill XD I'm loving this metaphor!

For now I want to try to focus my time and energy on finishing the current picture/project or coming up with the next one. (I'd also like to monetize my art at some point; so that is also floating around my mind).

Definitely let me know!! I'll be more than glad to take a good look!

Will do. Thanks.

I'm sure you'll be done with your cylinders by now!

3 days (of drawing) to go! :) I should finish it this upcoming week. Hurray!

We all have good days and bad days. I wish you many more good than bad.

edited at 11:56 PM, Jan 21st 2023
5:42 AM, Tuesday January 24th 2023

My 2022 Sketchbook Highlights post is up :)

7:13 PM, Thursday January 26th 2023

You really stepped up your portrait game, Nathan! I see little use of ink and lines and a lot of thought. DaB really helped you with that I guess.

This simple black portrait really standed out to me. I feel so much power and strength in just a couple of brushtrokes!

This construction was impeccable I must say.

I did enjoy a lot your automatic drawings, you would be a great tattoo artist if you decided to be. The flow and forms suggests so much on its own that it does not need to represent anything. Couldn't choose just one of them.

Same goes with the automatic landscapes. I really think the would look so neat as a tattoo on someone's skin haha.

Those location studies reminded me to some isometric videogames. Really enjoyed them!

This one was just genius. I should try if I had a bit more skill with portraits.

The cherry on the cake Sometimes our simplest pieces create the strongest emotions. That chicken will stick to my mind for some days hahahaa.

Quite a productive year you had! I'll try to be as productive as you were last year but this one haha.

8:22 PM, Thursday January 26th 2023
edited at 9:59 PM, Jan 26th 2023

Thank you for your feedback and compliments.

So sorry, but I didn't have my website set up to allow linking to individual images; so I don't know exactly which images you linked to on that page, but I think I can generally infer which you meant. I fixed it now so you can link to individual images by copying the URL that appears after clicking on an image.

You really stepped up your portrait game, Nathan! I see little use of ink and lines and a lot of thought. DaB really helped you with that I guess.

This simple black portrait really standed out to me. I feel so much power and strength in just a couple of brushtrokes!

I did those brush pen portraits in March and July as a series of 1 minutes portraits. I would draw a face 6 times in 6 mediums in 6 minutes. I used graphite, Prismacolor, ballpoint, an extra-fine nib fountain pen, a flex nib fountain pen, and then finally a brush pen. I got some cool results, but I can't get great results reliably yet. I did many and chose my favourites for this post.

I did enjoy a lot your automatic drawings, you would be a great tattoo artist if you decided to be.

I've come to love automatic drawing. I want to try to incorporate it into finished work. No plans to be a tattoo artist :)

This one was just genius. I should try if I had a bit more skill with portraits.

I don't know for sure which one you're referring to, but if you mean the exploratory self-portrait, I really want to do more like this. All it is is a series of studies of my face blended together into a final composition. I love the initial process of exploring a persons face, but I'm intimidated and a bit impatient and bored by the idea of doing a polished finished portrait; so I've decided that I prefer the idea of making the process the product. I encourage you to give it a try and be open to whatever results come. The first one I ever did was of Karl Kopinski while listening to an interview of him. I took screenshots of his face in interesting positions while he talked and drew them as I listened. I even drew his hands as part of that original. I loved how it came out, but I don't consider myself to be very good with portraits; they have to be so perfect, so precise, that I think you have to trace in the beginning or use a grid to get a good likeness; both of those processes bore me.

We each have our own strengths and interests; I am enamored by black ink on white paper. I can't get enough of it. I do love pencil and other mediums too. You have other strengths; lean into those and experiment/play.

That chicken will stick to my mind for some days hahahaa.

I love that chicken! XD

Quite a productive year you had! I'll try to be as productive as you were last year but this one haha.

I honestly don't feel I've been very productive artistically. I've dumped many hours into DAB and I've seen improvement, but as far as actually creating art, most of what I've shared seems like dabbling to me. I enjoyed making it, but I don't think I could put it in a portfolio. I want to get more serious this year about making portfolio-quality work that can represent me as a professional.

I wish you much success in your artistic & other life pursuits this year.

edited at 9:59 PM, Jan 26th 2023
6:55 PM, Thursday January 26th 2023

Don't be sorry for lenghty replies my friend. I enjoy them as much as I do with the shorter ones haha.

(I've left too many things unfinished, but knowing when to quit something also takes wisdom and discernment)

You can't know how much I feel you on that. That's why I am commited to this also. My older me would have left from DaB and never come back. But here I am, little by little trying to get myself used to the grind again. I still don't know what I might do after DaB but if I start another course I'll try it to be a little less serious and more focused on play like you said before. On the other hand, discipline is always a good way for me to take things seriously so, a little bit of this a little bit of that.

None of which I need to know the answers to, but just some prompts to help you get started

I'm really thankful for the prompts, I'm already thinking about them. To be honest, the main thing drawing keeps me coming back is because to me is like magic. I know it may sound naïve, but I am stunned when something gets depth, form, perspective and our brain falls for it. Also, I enjoy so much that feeling when you know what you are doing after hours or days of practice. That feeling when you are one with your craft and everything seems to flow because you have been at it a million times and know all the possible outcomes but, at the same time, you have the knowledge and know what you have and what you are missing. That last thing is what I've come to DaB in the past, because it helps me to know what I have and what I'm lacking, going into detail and not leaving a hint out. Well, enough ramble for my part, sorry hahaha.

Thank you so much for the review of my last promptathon, you really hit the nail on the head with your answers. The 2nd or 3rd day of the promptathon is usually my peak of performance somehow but this time I am so proud of every piece I made because it meant to hit some key objectives on each one. Even if I struggled a lot in some ways (drawing feet, creating a simple city skyline, buildings in general or even foliage) I was deeply satisfied with the outcome on all them. i think I am that satisfied because I managed not to get frustrated while drawing any of them hahaha.

The joys of being an artist! XD I feel your pain. Why do we have to be such temperamental beings!? I don't know, maybe because we're pursuing such an amorphous goal as "getting good at art." What does this really mean? We may not really know, "but we'll know it when we see it"! I'm trying to be more consistent in finishing stuff. I just want to get on the Finishing Train and ride it for a decade or two. If we could just keep producing work without judging ourselves so harshly, we could go far; but for some reason I keep getting off the train to stop in each passing town to take art lessons, to try to learn some new skill XD I'm loving this metaphor!

I needed to quote all that paragraph because it is pure gold! haha I can't agree more on the concept of "amorphous goal" because I could not define it better. It is a goal not only with no form but also evershifting. For me, I can't think of a way to manage to produce finished art at the same time as I'm learning, my mind has those two things disassociated and I'll try to get to a middle ground some day... I think I might be lacking a lot of skills right now just to be able to get on the Finishing Train. I could get on board in the luggage room but they would easily kicked me out hahaha. Still, I see much younger artists posting finished drawings (I don't mean they are good or bad just finished) at the same time they are learning and it blows my mind.

(I'd also like to monetize my art at some point; so that is also floating around my mind).

That's also a recurring thought I have from time to time since my actual job is not paying much. On the other hand I don't want to look like I'm begging and that's difficult to get rid of my mind if I don't have my art in a high steem hahaha.

3 days (of drawing) to go! :) I should finish it this upcoming week. Hurray!

This time I'm a 100% sure that you'll be finished with it. Congrats on this milestone my man!

9:13 PM, Thursday January 26th 2023
edited at 5:45 AM, Jan 28th 2023

I still don't know what I might do after DaB but if I start another course I'll try it to be a little less serious and more focused on play like you said before.

For now, in alignment with my goal of finishing more portfolio-quality work, I plan to alternate days of working "professionally" and doing DAB. This way I can keep making progress on DAB and following the 50% Rule and drawing for the fun of it, but I can also get some satisfaction in finishing work to the best of my current abilities. I'm going to pretend I have clients that commission me to create illustrations for them (I tried pretending I worked for a studio once before and I got fired for not being able to produce work fast enough XD; you get to set the conditions and deadlines when you play professional make-belief). In DAB I had time-categories for Learning and Playing, and now I am creating a time category for Working. I plan to spend 50% of my time Working, 25% Learning, and 25% Playing, switching between the roles of Professional, Student, and Child :)

To be honest, the main thing drawing keeps me coming back is because to me is like magic.

This is what got me started and also what keeps reigniting my love for creating when I get slowed down in the bog of exercises and grinding.

i think I am that satisfied because I managed not to get frustrated while drawing any of them hahaha.

Yay!! Way to go!

I needed to quote all that paragraph because it is pure gold!

True to form, in the next couple days I sort of fell apart. I was really tired (physically and mentally) and incredibly frustrated with my artist productivity. After a few days of feeling useless, praying, introspection, journalling, talking to a friend, etc. I have finally concluded that the answer to my pain as an artist is just to get on that Finishing Train and ride on a long way without getting off. It is super frustrating to spend so much time and have no finished work to show for it. I've gone through the cycle a few times now of being frustrated that my skill isn't where I want it to be in my finished work, then stopping producing to focus on skills, then get frustrated that I'm not producing and am useless as an artist, and on and on ad infinitum.

If they won't let me on that Finishing Train in a law-abiding way, I might have to go all highway bandit or get a disguise or something; but one way or another I have to get on that train because I believe it is the only thing that will take me where I want to go artistically. I guess I could rent a car or get on a plane or boat, but lets pretend we're in the 1800s, we need to travel by land, and that a train is our only option :D So much fun!

When I hit a wall of technical insufficiency, I'm not sure what I'll do; but I sure don't want to stop finishing again like I did last time. I think I'd be more content with butchering the piece of art through ineptness, but I don't want to stop. Yes, I plan to constantly set aside time to expand my visual library through studies and sketches and to keep trying to level up, but I want to prioritize actually finishing art. I'm so desperate, so hungry, to build a portfolio that shows what I can do now. I hope I don't fall apart again too soon XD.

For me, I can't think of a way to manage to produce finished art at the same time as I'm learning

I hope you can conquer this sooner rather than later. We'll be learning for the rest of our lives! Get on that Finishing Train :D

That's also a recurring thought I have from time to time since my actual job is not paying much. On the other hand I don't want to look like I'm begging and that's difficult to get rid of my mind if I don't have my art in a high steem hahaha.

I know what you mean. I also don't feel most of my current work is at a professional level; so I'm not confident to offer my services professionally; that's why I want to focus on trying my best to create finished, professional work as best I can to build that confidence. As Steven Zapata said, the world doesn't run on perfect art; it runs on finished, professional, good-enough art.

Remember, finishing art is also a skill that must be exercised; it is the skill of applying all the tools we've been developing (got that metaphor from Zapata and Vilpuu). Form, perspective, colour, value, composition -- these are the tools of our craft; a professional artist knows how to use these tools to create finished work. By all means, keep studying and striving to improve, but I encourage us to learn when to take off the Student hat and put on the hat of being a Professional.

This time I'm a 100% sure that you'll be finished with it. Congrats on this milestone my man!

I did!!!!!!!!!! Thank you.

Let's keep moving forward and finishing stuff!

edited at 5:45 AM, Jan 28th 2023
9:20 PM, Thursday January 26th 2023
edited at 9:45 PM, Jan 26th 2023

Would you be interested in us trying to keep each other accountable for creating finished art? We could set a goal like one piece of finished art every week by Friday at 10 pm ET or something like that. If we could finish one piece a week consistently this year, imagine how good it would feel to look back at the end of 2023 and for each of us to have 50 FINISHED pieces! Hopefully at least 10 of those could be sufficient for a portfolio.

I remember how satisfying it was to finish these line illustrations. I set a challenge for myself to create one finished line illustration every day for a month or two. I ended up doing about 40 in total and got quite a few that I was really happy with; many ended up on my website.

Whatever you decide, I plan to do something like this for myself and thought it might be more interesting to do it together with someone like you if you're still committed to going pro. I know we have limited, student-level knowledge, but we could try to give each other feedback and critiques on what we think is and is not working in the piece: perhaps one compliment of what we think is working and one critique for an area of weakness or some aspect we think could be improved.

I'd love to know your thoughts.

edited at 9:45 PM, Jan 26th 2023
5:28 AM, Saturday January 28th 2023
edited at 5:29 AM, Jan 28th 2023

As a token of my commitment to finishing work every week, here is what I have finished this week. Self-critique:

  • Difficult Questions

    • Compliment: I am very pleased with the overall composition of this piece.

    • Critique: I initially used only graphite and then remembered the other pieces in this series have ink outlines; so I drew ink over the rendered image. I feel that the ink sort of ruined the image because I rushed and was sloppy with the lines.

  • Chasmic Curiosity

    • Compliment: I think it has very interesting shapes and a shallow little story going on with the guy peering into the chasm. I enjoyed making this. It has pretty consistent lighting.

    • Critique: It could probably use more context regarding the specific environment (i.e. desert, forest, snowy, lighting, etc.); though, I do think it feels desert-like and rugged with no vegetation. I would like to further develop the environment / landscape with more forms.

  • Location Exploration

    • Compliment: I appreciate that the terrain feels rather solid.

    • Critique: It is so random that I don't know what to do with it XD; I suppose I could try to take it further and tell more of a story with it with characters and life, etc.

I seriously want to produce higher quality content, but I think I can consider these "finished." I don't necessarily equate "polished" with "finished"; I think a finished piece can look raw and beautiful; in fact, that is my objective.

edited at 5:29 AM, Jan 28th 2023
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Like the Staedtlers, these also come in a set of multiple weights - the ones we use are F. One useful thing in these sets however (if you can't find the pens individually) is that some of the sets come with a brush pen (the B size). These can be helpful in filling out big black areas.

Still, I'd recommend buying these in person if you can, at a proper art supply store. They'll generally let you buy them individually, and also test them out beforehand to weed out any duds.

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