I'm doing it.

I'm going to draw the obscure, the giggle worthy, the kitsch, and the awkward until I die, or my hands fall off. I'm going to mold my Etsy page into something else. Something unfocused and messy, something that mirrors this storm of ridiculousness that brews constantly in my brain.

I also purchased both Mouse Guard collections. I can't wait to read them, again and again. I also need to read more, just, in general. I need to make use of the library that's two blocks down the road before it closes like other libraries seem to be doing, which is really depressing.


Evening(or morning as it were)
-Blake

A tale of two cities, er, drawing...styles.

One city in my head is populated with cute, kitsch-y, friendly characters.
Another city is populated with lanky, strange, darker things.


I cannot decide if I should divert attention to the darker one to see what can be done to expand on it.
I feel like my mind swings that way when the pencil hits the paper.

Some of that art just feels more...natural. Some of the cute is like smiling for too long, things start to strain a bit.


Anyone else, artists, had struggles with personal styles?
Chime in if you feel the need.

Thanks,
-Blake

Re-kindling old artistic desires, busy holi-days, and the like.

Busy day tomorrow, a lot of stuff to cram in, but I think it will all work out.
Dropped in after work to see a twitter link to a live Ustream video of David Petersen answering questions amidst some progress for his Mouse Guard books.

David's work, and my interest in it, stirs and old affliction I had with a certain series of books as a younger kid....

I've always been a fan of the Redwall series, by Brian Jacques, since gradeschool, when a friend of mine started reading them, and after asking about them I read two or three of them myself, and it just stuck. I need to go back and read them all some day.

The idea of woodland creatures taking up arms in a medieval fantasy world is just, appealing, on some level. I think it's the caliber of the writing that successful stories in this time period demand. The sentences and dialogue just have such rich flavor! They leave you wanting more.


My Etsy shop is just kind of stewing, like a bog. I haven't decided if I really want to pursue the style of art that's on there currently, or push more of the outlandish things that float around in my head....like balloon monsters with teeth flying after pigeons. Really, that sounds fun to paint and ink...doesn't it? Feathers and teeth and bright shiny balloons!

So we'll see where that goes, after I get my Holiday artwork done. I need to finish some pieces for people I - want - to draw and paint for, because the things I'm assuming they're still interested in, are interesting to me, as art pieces go.


So, there's the update. And as the final drops of Samuel Adams' Cherry Wheat leave the bottle, I must leave and sleep, gotta wake up early and make eggs for the girl, she's got a bigger day than I tomorrow!

Cheers Blog, keep it textual.

I swear

That I will update this. On Wed of this week. I've got some things I'd like to show you, oh weblog.
Till then, go draw on the nearest thing to you...scrap paper, napkin, your opposite hand, anything. It'll be fun, trust me.

DUN DUN DUN, the printer's grand entrance!

Well, I purchased a large format printer the other day. It's the HP b8550. Swiped it for only 120 with rebate/sneaky coupon codes. Based on reviews and blogs and suggestions, it'll serve it's purpose well, I wager.

Thus far it's worked exactly how I expected it to. You'll notice I have some Epson Ultra Premium Presentation Matte paper sitting on top of the pack of the HP paper. That's a gamble I took. I wanted something not glossy for art re-prints. HP's paper is pretty much soft gloss and then gets shinier from there. I did find some paper that was still thin enough and matte (as this printer isn't made to handle the really thick art papers) but it was only available in the huge 13x19 for around 50 bucks. Ew. I don't need anything larger than 8.5 x 11.

So I'll be loading up the Etsy shop with a few ACEO Prints, and will probably offer them on the soft-gloss since there's a lot more glossy ACEOs out there than I thought there would be, so thankfully I won't be going against any grains, at least I don't think.

So here's to sweet deals on sweet technology!
See you around, Blogger

-Blake