Though I did little personal art in February, the art that I did create had clear inspirations. A trend you'll be sure to notice in the coming months will likely be the reoccurrence of video games as an inspiration. February was no exception to this inevitable trend. Having gotten a Nintendo Switch in January, the colourful games Nintendo produces are, of course, going to impact my art.
About half way through February, a new Pokémon game was announced, and with the announcement came inspiration for me to revisit my favourite Pokémon in the form of a gouache painting (left), as well as Perler beads, which I hadn't so much as touched since 2015. While not much of a traditional art, I found beading to be more relaxing than I remembered, and I took some artistic liberty with some of the patterns, adjusting them to my liking. The process of the gouache piece was recorded for my YouTube channel and can be found there. Another source of inspiration for me in February was Corrin (right), a character from the Fire Emblem series who also appears in Super Smash Bros Ultimate, a fighting game including over seventy-five iconic video game characters. Every day at lunch since late January, I've taken to the grade twelve corridor to play this game with friends, so with my regular use of Corrin as a fighter, I was itching to draw her constantly all month. Aside from all my constant homework doodles of her, I also did a drawing in Photoshop for the first time, in which she was the subject. The background for this piece was also inspired by Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse, using some of the same ideas as from last month's pieces. The same goes for a traditional sketchbook drawing I did of Corrin, which I posted on my Instagram.
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Something that I've neglected to really talk about on this blog is what inspires me. In the deepest sense, I could say a lot about the people and life experiences that have affected me as an artist in some way, but I'm not talking about that deepest sense here. That's simply a blog post for another day. This is a series in which I want to take some time to write about the media and artists that have influenced my work or that I thoroughly enjoyed the previous month. You can read my last blog post to see in detail why I think this series is important, but to sum it up, I believe that art of any kind is always shaped by the things around us and that it's important to recognize and document what those things are.
In January, the first movie of the year I watched in theatres was Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Having already been deeply inspired by the art in the Spider-Gwen comics, I knew at least Gwen's on-screen depiction would inspire me. However, the whole movie was filled to the brim with gorgeous and unique art. Every character was uniquely designed and even had their own art styles in their respective worlds, and all of this came together to make a colourful, jam-packed movie, as seen in the gif above. Based on this movie, I made a small series of character portraits, including the portrait of Gwen below, with backgrounds inspired by the bold colours and shapes seen throughout the movie. Not only did this new style of background carry through the series, I also used it in the other drawing below, and in a couple of drawings I've done so far this month (which I'll touch on in next month's post). Another big inspiration for me in January was ARMS, a Nintendo original game about boxers with different kinds of extendable arms. Being my personal favourite fighter, I drew Ribbon Girl, pictured on the left below. The game is filled with bright, bold colours and incredibly unique character design. The concept of the fighters having extendable arms itself is totally original, and inspires me to not fear even the craziest ideas when it comes to character design. The impact that these pieces of media have had on my art is something which I believe will continue to carry on throughout the months to come. I'm deeply enjoying doing the new style of background, and it's something I will definitely continue to use if there's any one thing I take away from January's inspirations. I will continue to document my monthly inspirations and how they've impacted my art, highlighting the importance of having inspirations, as well as the undoubtable improvement that will come along the way! I've had some negative opinions about setting goals in the past. Really the only reason for these opinions was my own failure to meet past goals I had made for myself. Either I always came up short on my expectations or I forgot about the goals and moved on with my life, only to reflect on them later with self-reproach. My S.M.A.R.T. goals from the 2017-2018 school year were hardly met and that was something I wanted to change this year. I totally changed my attitude towards making goals and I'm proud to say that I really stuck with them last semester.
As far as getting better with cartooning has gone (my academic goal), I did fall short on the frequency of my sketching. However, I have been consistently working in my sketchbook, developing a style that I love and vastly improving my skills in drawing the human form. I always struggled with drawing full-body poses and avoided it like the plague, but I've found myself now regularly drawing full bodies and even making my own poses without references. I've had many friends comment on the improvement they've seen in my recent cartoon drawings and it's truly built my confidence in my skills. For my personal goal I wanted to procrastinate less. This entailed using the Google apps for making lists, notes and setting dates and reminders on a calendar. I was slightly unsure of my ability at first to follow through with this goal, since I've tried many, many times to quit procrastinating and nothing has worked. Lucky for me, unlike a physical planner, the Google apps harass me (in the very best way) and give me the satisfaction of watching tasks disappear as I actually complete them on time. I've taken great joy in setting out tasks for myself on the calendar and list apps, hour by hour on days when I need to get things done. It's helped me find the motivation I need to complete tasks bit by bit, long before the coming due dates, rather than the whole task the night before. I faced and overcame many challenges as an artist last semester, both personally and academically. While, yes, having achieved my goals to a standard I'm proud of, none of this came without difficulty. Early in the semester I began drawing more cartoon-style pieces in accordance with my academic goal. This goal, however, was partially personal, too, expanding far further than the academy for me, as drawing in a cartoon style has been what I've done since the sixth grade, back when I lacked the confidence to draw realism. It wasn't long after setting the goal for myself that I began to doubt my ability to improve. The only time I was happy with the pose and composition of a drawing was when it was reimagined from a comic book screenshot. So, from there, in an attempt to further my skills, I started using a posing app that allowed me to create poses on blank figures. I made countless drawings with this app, all of which I was significantly proud of. Now, with this practice, I've gained a better understanding of drawing poses and I can sketch proportionate figures without any reference. Overcoming this challenge taught me a lot about the gradual process of improvement and the influence of inspirations in my work. In the past, I've touched on the fact that I draw mainly fan-art, depicting my favourite movie and comic book characters in my own style. I didn't realize the importance before of having these inspirations to help me gradually learn the basics until I can reach the point of developing my own style and skills. This has led me to creating a new goal for the current semester. I want to publish a series, here on this blog, recording my monthly inspirations. These can include comics, games, books, other artists, etc. I think it's important to reflect on what inspires us and how it plays into what we create, and I want to do that here. This will entail writing a brief blog post each month including visuals about what inspired me the previous month. I believe that writing these posts will help me better understand myself as an artist and watch my growth as I look back on them later. Last semester was filled with growth, challenges, great moments with friends, and landmark achievements, such as getting hired at my first proper job. I know that the goal I have set for myself will bring more challenges and, more importantly, more growth this semester. I also hope to continue achieving my goals from last semester and growing in those areas as I still, of course, have room for improvement there. I'm incredibly excited to begin this new blog series and have confidence that it will become a vital part of my journey as an artist.
personality well. I found myself feeling very proud to be a part of VAM Academy as I was viewing my peers' art shows. The show as a whole was a perfect representation of our academy and the work we've done so far this year. This was especially evident in our Unity piece, which centred around the connectedness of VAM 20 students.
After the show, I was still elated. My whole body was filled with energy, even the next day; Anyone who encountered me that day can confirm this. The only thing I would change about the show would be to have more visually interesting trifolds. Although it's understandable why the trifolds couldn't be fully customized, it would have been fun to add even more personal touches to the trifolds to show, in completeness, the personality and style of each artist. Overall, the experience of being at the Celebration of Learning was one of extreme fun. I'm so glad I got to attend and view all of the amazing work of VAM Academy peers and others. Even if the science lab smelled... questionable... I learned a lot and had fun walking around and spending time with beloved friends. Until next semester! Last year, when creating our S.M.A.R.T. goals, I described them as, "terrifying." I thought that they were just something you set to make yourself feel better or just to say that you did. To say the least, my relationship with goal setting is a bit different now. After a school year of missing deadlines, making new ones, and writing a lot of blog posts, I've come to like making goals for myself. Although it took some time, I eventually met both of my S.M.A.R.T. goals last year. My academic goal was to improve how I present my art online. I didn't truly meet this goal until August, after giving my website a total makeover and starting a YouTube channel. My personal goal was to have forty designs in my Redbubble shop. I didn't meet this goal in time either, but I eventually did meet it, and I learned a lot along the way. All of this said, I'm excited to create my S.M.A.R.T. goals this year.
My goal for the V.A.M. Academy this semester is to improve my animated style. I've recently started drawing in my personal sketchbook again. Inspired by the many graphic novels I read over the summer, I decided to do a thirty-day challenge, using cartoon styles for each drawing. I've seen so much improvement already from doing this challenge, that I'm going to achieve this goal by doing something similar. I'll do a cartoon drawing of a person or animal each day, for five days a week. These drawings may be in my personal sketchbook or my school sketchbook, depending on when and where I have the availability to draw. Even if I can't complete this goal to the standard I expected, there is no doubt that even just attempting to complete this goal will improve my drawing skills. Not only will I be forced to get creative with references and come up with new ways to draw backgrounds, I'll also learn how to draw accurate anatomy, unique facial features, and keep a consistent style, which will translate to realism. When completed on January 31, 2019, I will have developed skills that I'll carry into the next semester and even further. The personal goal I plan to complete this semester is to procrastinate less. It's a common goal, but an important one nonetheless. I have a tendency to calculate exactly how long I can put something off for, then proceed to put it off for exactly that long, if not longer. This is a habit I tried to quit last year and it proved very possible. I had an agenda that I kept every day, writing down due dates, event times and checklists. It was very successful at keeping me on track until about April when I stopped having time to keep the agenda going daily. I have a solution to this, which will be how I achieve this goal. Google Drive now has three widgets on the side of any document: "Tasks," "Calendar," and, "Keep." "Tasks," is a checklist widget, where I can make a to-do list and check off completed activities. "Keep," is for taking notes, which I've already been using in certain classes and, "Calendar," is self-explanatory. I specifically plan to use the checklist and calendar, as, used together, they act similarly to the agenda I had last year. The crucial difference is the accessibility of using Google widgets, rather than a physical agenda. I use Google Drive daily, whether it's a document, drawing or slideshow. Rather than having to set apart time to fill out a physical agenda, I'll have my scheduled activities and due dates in front of me as I'm working, and will even be warned as a due date is approaching. This kind of visual resource will help to keep me on track, as I'll always know what my workload looks like and how much time I have for a given assignment. I'll also be motivated by the checklist, out of the simple satisfaction I get from checking things off of a list once it's complete. I will check and update my tasks and calendar daily until the deadline on January 31, 2019. I'm hoping that achieving this goal will help me long-term with scheduling and time-management. Less terrifying than they seem, goals are necessary parts of life, on a small scale or a large scale. We set them for ourselves and achieve or fail them every day without even realizing. I believe that any change is a good change when it comes to goals because it shows you what works. I know that working towards these goals will bring obstacles my way, but I also know that getting past them or getting defeated by them will teach me something about myself, one way or another. For those reasons, I'm ready to start achieving my specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound goals. We have finally finished our bench for Airdrie Fest! I'm so happy with how it came out, and because we based it off of Ringo Starr's signature phrase, "peace and love," I think it will spread a positive message about community where ever it gets placed. We're so excited to share it and can't wait to see it with all of the other benches. Here is the finished product:
If you saw my website before August tenth, you've likely noticed that it got a total makeover recently. As I was reflecting on my website's aesthetic and taking inspiration from my peers' websites, I realized that my website didn't reflect my style as an artist. Although my blog posts, gallery, and bio all described me and my work well, the structure and style of my website didn't. More often than not, when I draw and paint, there's a visible colour scheme. Bright pink, purple, and blue are colours that I regularly use for backgrounds of drawings. However, my header was simply a dull blue and pink cloud picture, which came out almost grey when uploaded. I was inspired by my classmate Macki (mackimakes.weebly.com), and how she themed her website around the colours used in her book, so I decided to theme my website around the colours of one of my recent watercolour works. After making a section of the drawing my header photo, I sampled colours from it and used it for font colours, as well as for custom icons on Canva to put above link buttons. One of my favourite changes is that I made a logo using the drawing and changed my title fonts to match the logo. With all of these changes, I believe my website now represents both my colourful style of drawing and painting and my minimalist style of graphic design.
As for bench updates—my friend and I are nearly done. We only have a leg and a few details to finish, then we're ready to put on a clear coat. Airdrie Fest can't come soon enough! We're very happy with what we have done so far and we can't wait to share it with our city. Once it's complete, I'll be sure to share photos here. Although the school year is long over and the next one is coming up in only a few weeks, I feel I've still carried my VAM goal with me throughout the summer. Recently, as I've been consistently uploading videos on my YouTube channel, I've been working on my website more as well, in order to promote these videos. I've made a lot of adjustments to make my website more efficient, organized, and aesthetically pleasing. Because I've done so much work on my website, I've also become more inclined to blog about things. All that said, I think I've really made progress as far as improving my online image as an artist goes. I believe that this improvement in online image will help me succeed more as an artist, whether that be with Redbubble sales or YouTube growth. I want to continue blogging this month and I hope to blog more consistently.
And now for... exciting news! My friend Angelina and I are painting a bench, which will be displayed at Airdrie Fest on September seventh and will then be placed in an Airdrie community! We pitched a design idea to the providers of the bench, and were granted the supplies to start painting. I'll leave the design a surprise, but it will be named "#PeaceAndLoveBench." We're approximately a quarter of the way through painting, and we're both very excited to be given this opportunity. In particular, I'm really glad that I'm getting to contribute to my city with art once again. Last year my classmates and I were given the opportunity to paint a tile each for the Canada 150 mural in Airdrie. I can't wait to see the bench get placed in a community where so many people will be able to enjoy it. Stay tuned for more bench updates in the near future. I struggled for a long time with doing acrylic paintings on my own. In middle school, I went to painting classes outside of school. There I made a lot of paintings that I was really proud of. However, when I stopped going to the classes and attempted painting on my own at home, I was never happy with my work. I didn't feel confident enough to try realism, and I always failed to replicate the styles of other artists.
In the past six or so months, though, I've been painting with acrylic on various unconventional things. As I started doing this, I began to try realism. I mainly painted flowers and clouds at first, but I eventually branched out and tried animals. Animals were what I typically painted in middle school, so when I was able to paint a portrait of my dog that I could be happy with, I knew that I just needed to practice to improve—the skills I learned in the classes were still there. Eventually, I was regularly painting realism on canvas. I stopped sketching as I didn't feel I needed the comforting lines that watercolour offered anymore. As I've continued, I've really seen myself improve. It wasn't initially my goal to improve my acrylic painting, but I'm glad that I got back into it and did. I want to keep challenging myself, so I've started a YouTube channel, where I upload videos of myself painting. I hope that it helps keep me accountable and motivates me to paint more often, and more difficult things. Romeo and Juliet is a classic tragedy that we have watched, read, and recreated this semester. It entails romance, sword fights, and, ultimately, the deaths of the main characters. We were tasked with animating a single act from the play as a group and reflecting on the final project individually.
The act that our group animated takes place after Juliet has found out she’s going to be marrying Paris, by her father’s command. She is with the Friar, expressing her discomfort about marrying Paris. Friar helped Romeo and Juliet get married, so he understands why she is upset. Understanding her pain, he explains to her how she can get out of the marriage with Paris. He offers her a vial, containing a mixture that, when drunk, will make Juliet fall into deep, lifeless sleep, making her appear dead. Juliet is overjoyed and takes the vial home. She recites a soliloquy, wondering if perhaps the Friar is trying to kill her to keep his namesake, or if the mixture will even work at all. She feels grief over Tybalt's death and fears that she may be trapped in the tomb, lying beside her deceased cousin, but ultimately, despite her doubts, drinks from the vial in the name of Romeo. In the morning, Nurse finds Juliet asleep, appearing to be dead, and cries out in agony. The first scene of our act takes place in the Friar's cell where he and Juliet are having a conversation. The third and fifth act take place in Juliet's bedroom, where she drinks from the vial and is found sleeping the next morning. The conflict of our act is Juliet trying to decide whether to drink from the vial and get out of marrying Paris or to count her con list as caution and go against drinking the mixture. Although she temporarily overcomes this conflict by choosing to drink the mixture, she later feels conflicted about whether or not it was the right decision to do so. The theme of our act is the lengths to which someone will go to for true love. We have seen Juliet marry secretly and have forbidden kisses, but this is a point in the story where Juliet goes from saying, “Oh bid me leap!” to literally mocking her own death so that she can be with Romeo, which eventually leads to her fully taking her life. This is a sacrifice that very little people, especially in that time period, would make for love. This act shows us that Juliet is truly in love and is legitimately willing to make any sacrifice to be with Romeo. Juliet’s actions in taking the vial despite her conflicted feelings about it also support the overarching theme of the entire play, which is, in my opinion, overcoming conflicts in the name of love. Some of the visual elements we used in the animation of our act were costumes to resemble the characters, curtains to create the illusion of a bed and, most importantly, a perfume bottle to represent the vial. The vial and the mixture it holds are the backbones that make Romeo and Juliet a tragedy. Without Juliet faking her death, the ending of the play could not have taken place. Therefore, we felt that it was important to include the vial with a visible representation, acting as a symbol for the theme of the act and the theme of the play itself. Through watching, summarizing, and animating this play, I have learned a lot about literature. I have learned about reading and writing using iambic pentameter, as well as how to read and understand inverse syntax. This information, along with applying it to a visual project, has helped me better understand formal writing and write better formally myself. This shows me that Romeo and Juliet, a literary classic which was written centuries ago, is still incredibly applicable to our everyday lives. |
About this blogOn this blog page I'll be posting about my progress in achieving art goals, and how I'm learning new things and improving as an artist. Archives
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AuthorLeah is an eighteen-year-old aspiring Canadian artist who enjoys drawing, painting, and photography. |