Artist's Date 2

I know, I know. It's been much more than one week. But with real life always cutting in, I'll need to do as Rivercrow suggested. Don't start all over again and again. Pick up where I left, or I'll never finish. And I really NEED to finish this.

My artist's date this time didn't net any visible results. But it will have results in the long run. I've always been very hesitant about putting pencil to paper and just drawing. It has to be perfect. With as few erasures as possible. Which is very stupid. My logical brain understands that I can't create perfection every time I sketch. It's my right brain that freaks. And that very reaction is why I started AW in the first place. So this date, I got online and spent at least an hour going through basic lessons on drawing. I don't remember any of the art lessons I might have gotten as a kid. I feel like I'm trying to build an artist starting with the second floor. Like I skipped the foundation and the first floor completely. Things that are obvious for other artists, I can't quite wrap my mind around. The logic behind these things make sense. The actual execution is where my brain goes "My give up!" Putting in a foundation just might help me get past my fear of imperfection. That and dealing with loads of self-doubt.

In the next few days, I'll post the answers I got to from a few of the tasks, like naming 5 dream professions, from the first few weeks of the program.

A great feeling

For the first time in a long while, I didn't give up when things got hard. And my persistence paid off. I got past my block yet again and added a new design to my store. Even better, I sold my first shirt to someone I don't know. Not that I would ever complain about friends buying my stuff. It just felt like real validation that a total stranger bought one of my designs. I really need to figure out the best way to market designs and not just for my sake. For now, someone in Tennessee will be wearing my first anime inspired design. I did the happy dance. :)

More flowers

I seem to be partial to the little yellow one. Well, that and they are the ones I got the best pictures of. I don't have any new updates on AW, but I wanted to at least post some more of my photos from the first Artist's Date. The field I got these nice shots in is right behind my apartment complex sandwiched between the apts and a Costco. Behind it is a big dirt and gravel hill probably created when they built the Costco. And near it is a pond where several ducks live, but it's near a freeway. Too much trash made any nice photos impossible. This is why most of my shots are close-ups. Even a couple of my close-ups will have to be touched up due to random bits of trash I couldn't see when taking the picture, but were quite obvious in the photo.

Most the walk was overcast, but just at the end the sun came out to help me get the brighter shots. Everything I've posted so far didn't require color or brightness adjustments, just upping the resolution and cropping. For all my whining, I really do like my little Sony Cybershot. It seems to capture the real color very well. The only bad part of this photo trip was the mosquitoes. The spring has been fairly wet. They were out in full force and I was quite tasty. Next post will be an update on my AW progress and hopefully a new design at my store.

They finally arrived!!

I ordered manga pens, paper, and art boards ages ago from my local comic book shop. I'd given up actually getting them. But when I went to get my subservice (monthly comic subscriptions), there they were! The cool thing about the paper and art boards is that they come preprinted with rulers, print marks and cut marks in that light blue that won't show up when photocopied or scanned. It makes planning bleeds and multi-page images so much easier. Now all I need is to get the characters in my head on paper and get some story ideas for them. You know, the easy part. :D

Here's the company that makes the pens and paper. Their site also includes drawing tutorials and an online store. They have some great sets of colored pens that I would love to get.

Artist Date number one

Here's a small sampling of the pictures I took this evening on my artist's date for week one. I'll tell you a little more about it tomorrow. For tonight, I wanted to at least post some images.

btw

I almost forget to mention...I started AW again Monday. And so far, so good. Three days in a row of not missing or blowing off the Morning Pages. I've discovered that doing the pages before going to sleep instead of just as I'm waking is more effective. It clears my brain of all the thoughts that would normally be running through my head when I'm trying to get to sleep. I wanted to use today as my artist's date, taking some pictures. There are at least three fields in walking distance that are overrun with beautiful wildflowers. I want to capture them before the killer summer heat comes and kills them all. Next week date, I guess. I did spend a little quality time with Illustrator tonight. I put a new design up at the store. It's pagan with an Asian flare. I debated about coming up with some text for it. I think I like it just the way it is. I think I'm also going to add a section for anime designs. Not just Pagan specific, but some stuff for anime fans in general. I have design idea in mind. I just have to get it on "paper" and uploaded.

Goals

As usual, I've set a goal I can't meet. But this time I won't let it be the reason I give up. I planned to add at least one new design a week to my Cafe Press store. I now know that if I miss one week, it isn't the end of the world. Things will get in the way. Higher priorities will come up. And as is the case this time, a creative block will slow my progress. I'll work through it, not give up. Now off to play with Illustrator and hope it will get those creative juices flowing.