Just want to escape reality by talking to you guys

Lounge Art Discussions
#1

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Covid really take toll on my workplace.
Since the middle of 2021, it has been very difficult to get money from customer.
Which of course also affected by covid lockdown.

Every month I’m wondering if I can even get my salary. Good thing my boss is nice person.
If there’s no money, he tanked the cost himself. If he can’t he borrow from here and there. But of course this can’t go on forever The company is really in a dire situation. It’s literally can go under anyday. Together with my job.

I though i would try become freelancer on art thing. But then i realized, my drawing is just so mediocre. . . compared to other people. I have nothing unique in my drawing, nothing to stand out, while it doesn’t looks that bad. . . it also not that good. Maybe becaus of that i hardly ever get order.

When something is mediocre, you hardly even want to see it, just doesn’t care about it, or invisible to you in the first place.

How many of you guys doing art as a job? is it main job or just a side hustle? or just a hobby? and did covid affect your job or life?

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#2

For me it’s just something I have to do…not for making money… Would be nice to make money from art/(and poetry which I also love) but that’s not likely so I just keep learning and doing. Fortunately I can since I’m retired.

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#3

I think you should let your potential customers decide if your quality is good enough for them.
Just put your services out there and see if you get any takers.

 

This is a hobby for me. And I’m fortunate enough to work in a company that is expanding. If anything we got more to do when covid arrived.

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#4

Ya art is one of those things that starts off with
no need for money. And then you put yourself out there and see what sticks in terms of making money. Try different forms of selling it. Bonus side income.

A lot of industries are like that nowadays music or game development. But I think there will be better ways to monetize digital things. More marketplace-type websites. see : Graphic Objects | Creative Market

Have you looked into term Ikigai. It’s about finding practical use for the kind of strength/abilities you have. It might not be your preferred art style but still helps you develop your skill.
But also keep in mind if you build it they will come. If there’s something you like a lot and it hasn’t been create or think there isn’t enough of or you found a better solution and it involves art then that could be worth pursuing

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#5

Its a hobby for me. though I do take commission from time to time, have kofi and few designs on some sites. Nothing substantial.

TBH art is an escape for me. I know when im feeling really bad its more like cause i have not done something creative or stimulating be it making random cardboard boxes, or drawing.

I know a friend who does it as a job[in a sense that a substantial amount of time is spent to earn money from it] one is in a company as graphic artist and another is more of a freelancer taking monthly commission. I think she get enough commis every-month as she mostly fill her slots around first week of the month.

Her art style is close to yours. She focuses on cute artwork and offer twitter pfps. I commis her to design me a cute cat pfp as i was too lazy at the time to do it myself.

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#6

• lenovoaxioo: I didn’t find your drawing mediocre. Did someone say that to you? Or are you the one saying it to yourself?

If a person said that, it’s that person’s opinion: other people might like your drawing, why not?

If you’re the one who thinks your own drawing is mediocre… you’d need to know what, exactly, you didn’t like about the drawing. The scenario? The shading? The colors? I don’t believe you are 100% wrong in this art, as you think…

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#7

i have, and the result has been spotty. The one coming is pretty satisfied, but there’s pretty much no new people.

The market is being pretty saturated is not helping too, more so if you are dealing a very common things. I haven’t found my niche yet, and because my art as i have described i’m even struggle with visibility.

#8

Everything aside from the lineart . . . the coloring style, the background composition, the lighting… all of them are just something i just kinda copied from other artist. I just, don’t know how to come up with my own composition. What to use, where to use, how to use I haven’t able to decide them by myself.

That at the end of the day, making what i draw both looks only half decent and like a cheap knock off. Which, it is.

Just like a singer that stuck just parroting other singer and can’t up with their own song.

#9

i was watching Charleslisterart on twitch.tv and he says that creativity is a muscle and that your ability to create and come up with ideas increases the more you do it.

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#10

It’s just a hobby for me. I don’t take commissions if someone wants me to do draw for them I just do it for free. Also

I disagree. Semi-realism does not make good profile pictures. It is the anime or the sketchy style that does best. But semi-realism if of course a skilled genre. Also they cost more and most people from my experience like cartoony, simple or not complex profile pictures. Also I’m learning vector art. 50% of the time when I make animations, (not in Krita, they’re practically too hard for me) II use reference art, specially in vector you can copy-paste things and just modify them and no one will ever know(unless is hardcore unique). So sometimes I use @.berricake’s face structure in it, always I make the eyes referencing off hers–so am I not a good artist or am I not improving? Referencing is just part of the learning process. And don’t worry about how unoriginal you are. Everyone starts there. Making the most cliché things. Till now whatever my life has taught me, it is that practice is the key. When I started in digital art, I knew nothing except how layer works. No blending modes no shading nothing. And when I look back I realize how much I have learnt.

When I draw something that doesn’t fit my standard of quality. I tell myself it’s better than stickmen and it’s enough.

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#11

As far as ‘copying’ that’s what I just did with my landscape painting (but with perhaps a bit of my own style/marks) – I think that is an important part of learning and then you can push beyond that to your own composition and paintings…

#12

Try this: if you’re going to copy something, don’t copy it completely. Introduce changes, even small ones. An example: when I copy a pose, I often change one hand or my entire arm.

You can start with this drawing. The character has a sad appearance and seems to want to leave the place where she is (and can’t). At least that was the impression I got.

Try changing the weather: from day to rainy afternoon or night. Or just make the setting “less than perfect”: add some texture to the wall, add some imperfections to the wood.

There are empty areas at the bottom and on the wall on the right side: take the opportunity to put something interesting in them. Maybe a notebook on the table, posters on the wall. Just suggestions…

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#13

If you want to get better, redo the same but do it better than before.

Not all criticism is right but most of it is true.

#14

When i said i copy other, i didn’t mean by copying other people drawing. Taking someone’s creation and replicating it. So that “copy other homework but change it a bit” advise is kinda missed the point.

And. . .Thanks for pointing about adding imperfection make things less clean. It bogged my mind i didn’t think that far.

It’s more like this, instead of writing a book using brand new idea you come out yourself. You just read other people book, taking page from here and there, and then peice all together. Hence, like what i have said before.

For the longest time, drawing is something i just do by scribbling line in my book with a pencil.
And when doing a scribble, of course you hardly ever thinking about colors. So, aside doing lineart. I’m totally lost.

What color is good for this and that, what color combination is good for this and that how to light the scene? where should i put shadow when i don’t even know how to put a proper light?.

What i struggeled the most is I haven’t able to come up with ‘my won style’, ‘my own way of doing thing’ and getting ‘my unique trademark’. I just. . . doesn’t even know where to start. That’s why i kept stuck in just copying other people. Making it just inferior version of what i have copied/referenced.

And with that, this frankenstain of haphazardly put together colors and environment is born.

Sketch, Done

Digitizing it, and fixing all kinks. Done.

The skin? what range of color did i use for the skin? wel. . . honestly, I don’t know. Chek what other people choose.

Now, what should i put outside the window? I don’t know. What other people put out of the window? oh look at that. Maybe that works.

What about the table? i don’t know. . . maybe that pic works? alright. . . use it.

How about the clothes? what a good color for it? your guess is as good as mine. I don’t know. Just look some random photo and copy it.

franken
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And. . .it’s done. . .with only <25% (the line and the pose, even the clothes design is copied so probably less) of the idea of the coming from me.

#15

It’s okay, nothing wholly “original”, everything idea that comes, it does have some inspiration, not even books and definitely not artwork. J.K Rowling (and J.R.R Tolkien) used many ideas from Folktales in their books. There was this German Folktale of elves with pointy ears coming and cleaning and that idea became House Elves of Harry Potter, while Tolkien used a folktale to base his Elves of. Rowling even plagiarized the idea of “Horcrux”, as it belonged to a Russian folktale (there was a court enquiry but oh, influence). Both series are very famous and yet are not wholly “original”. Even Shakespeare had inspirations. Taylor Swift. Me. You.
Everyone.

I can also try contemporary literature. Sarah J. Mass, if you read YA or NA, you would’ve stumbled upon her name at least at some point. Her book “A Court Of Thorns and Roses” was a retelling of the Scottish ballad (another folktale) “Tam Lin”, it also contained some aspects of The Beauty and The Beast.

So don’t worry about your artwork not being so called “original” and it’s different from literature in many aspects. Hope this helped :upside_down_face:

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#16

People who are not artists have wrong ideas about art, and sometimes those ideas end up influencing artists. One such idea is that the artist has an “obligation” to create something out of nothing.

No book or article on screenwriting, drawing, or creativity I’ve read has taught you that you have to create something out of nothing. In a book about screenwriting, the author said that it was worth taking an existing idea and using it in another way.

If I’m not mistaken, the telescope was not invented by Galileo: he took something that someone else had created and perfected it. It’s the same thing.

#17

A lot of peple do it that way. So i dont know where you are getting that doing it this way = not original work.

It’s transformative , each part used in reference are transformed taking bits and pieces of them to create whole new different piece. That is new and in your vision. Art doesn’t mean you need to create everything out of scratch. Alot of people you see that seemingly draw out from their imagination had a huge visual library - built by referencing, taking photo, going to places, watching people , watching movie.

How would you be able to draw an ant if you havenot seen an ant? How would you draw it convincingly like an ant if you only seen it once [unless you have photo memory] - a reference image is the way to go.
Alot of artist do it the way you do, even the ones who call it their profession and do it as a living. Even in character designing people look at references to pull out and add into their character.

You are in the right path, dont be too hard on yourself :slight_smile:

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#18

We don’t live in caves isolated from the rest of the world - our styles develop largely from being exposed to other’s work. The uniqueness comes from the combination of influences - so the broader they are, the more unique the combination will be.

I think what I said in this thread is relevant:

If you want to learn about palettes and lighting, James Gurney’s book ‘Color and Light’ is very comprehensive.

For developing ideas, I would suggest slowing things down when you start: Try writing down keywords related to your project, scribbling rough ideas, drawing/painting thumbnails with different orientations.

The mirror tool is useful for doing quick design variations. I posted example of that when I did the masquerade challenge:

Keep using references, but maybe broaden your search - get interested in your subject matter. I looked at loads of stuff to help me visualise my contest picture - films, photos, historical illustrations, classical paintings, articles around rococo design, cat anatomy etc.

It sounds a lot, but it won’t go to waste once I’m done because I’m expanding my understanding and internal library. Plus a lot of the stuff I end up reading is just really interesting!

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#19

I think improving anatomy would go a longer way first that colours or compositing.

And nothing is original. Even if you think you had a cool idea no one knows about there has been another soul that beat you to it that you have not heard about yet. Discussions about originality are senseless.

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#20

Exactly!