Drawings from last week 4/16

Last week was a little bit rough productivity wise but then ended on a high note kinda. Recently I have been supporting family friends who have been going through a real rough time. It’s been great being able to be there for support, at the same time its hard watching people that you care about go through and deal with sad life issues. It affects your creativity and your output. I haven’t felt as inspired as a result and so I didn’t do a lot of drawing last week. Thankfully at the end of last week I was asked to participate in the Liberty Science Center After Dark show. It was a chance to show work and meet people and engage which is one of the things that I said I wanted to do more of this year. It was a nice end to the week.

All this is to say, life has ups and downs, but keep going. It’s hard until it’s not, and it’s sad until it isn’t. Take breaks when you need to to focus on important tings like family. Sometimes you’re not going to feel like making any work because of well, life. That is ok.  In the long run, just keep going and the creativity and inspiration will be there for you when you are ready to find it again.

Instagram: Moebocop

www.moebocop.com

Drawings from Last Week (Elephant God) Week of 4/9

When I started this blog I was originally going to write about how to’s and process and etc. However, it seems now that instead of a process blog, this has become more or a place where I want to show my work as the week goes by. So for the rest of the time that I spend posting this year, I am going to put up WIP sketches, and notes from my sketchbook . I will share my brainstorming notes and life drawings as well as the occasional thought or two. I find the creative process fascinating (not just the final product) as it gives some insight as to how the mind works. Starting with the below, these are sketches from last week. These were for a an idea that I had called “Elephant Gods”. 

The concept was about a fictional elephant diety, who also wears a t-shirt that says “No Poaching”.  I realized though that if he was a god per se, he wouldn’t really be wearing a t-shirt, so I just made him a king of some sort. The idea is not supposed to really represent anything other than to have the juxtaposition of the two things (something opulent like a crown and jewels, with something plain and pedestrian like a t-shirt). Below are the sketches that led up to the final piece. I spent a week drawing the idea multiple times until I finally landed on an idea that worked. Sketches and final piece posted below. I have already started on the next idea which is a rework of an old Metroid painting, I will get to post that too once it’s done. Enjoy!

Instagram: Moebocop

Vero: Moebocop

www.moebocop.com

Quick figure drawing practice (Line of Action.com)

Go here: https://line-of-action.com/

There you will see one the the best practice drawing sites I have ever come across to date.

From the site’s description: “gesture drawings help artists to place emphasis on movement, action, and direction, which can be overlooked during a long drawing.” Line of Action generally refers to the main curve of a figure’s stance during a gesture drawing. 

To practice and understand this, this site has a wealth of drawing and sketching resources that are so useful.

First you will notice the site is broken down into different categories:

Figure Drawing, Animal Drawing, Hands and Feet Drawing and Faces and Expression Drawing.

Clicking on on of these tiles will take you to a timer selection option that will let you choose from the following:

Ex: (Choose  Animal)

Then you can pick from a category: (All animals, Cats, dogs, etc.)

Length: Do you want long form or short interval drawing?

Time Interval: [How long do you want each drawing to stay on screen]

Once you click “Get Drawing” you are served a number of images at the intervals that you selected (30 seconds per drawing, 20 seconds per drawing, etc.). You will then be able to draw from each interval until time image changes.

Neat, right?

There are also reference images (something that I totally need to use more of) of humans, animals, hands, faces, feet etc. Additionally, there are tutorial sections for “How to construct” the drawing to start getting action underway.

-There are also blog entries under the lessons and tips sections here: https://line-of-action.com/lessons-tips/

-There are links to affiliated drawing resources and tools in case you want to head over to Amazon to purchase more guide books on anatomy. 

Lastly, there is a forum that you can use to follow conversations and find more tips and resources on drawing. This is truly a great resource. I hope you use the site for yourselves and that you find it as useful as I do.

Instagram: Moebocop

Vero: Moebocop

www.moebocop.com

Do you want to be popular on social media or do you want to be great at what you do?

Being an influencer and social-media-famous is one thing, but how does it apply to honing your craft and improving your skill/being to being a great artist? I have been thinking a lot about the difference between the two. For me focus should be on working hard to improve my creative ability. With social media platforms it’s easy to get addicted to the stimuli. Instead of people appreciating the work for it’s merit online, it slowly has become a popularity contest/business marketing tool. However, what value does this have for purely growing your skills?  

Even I am subject to it. For myself I had to actually stop posting work so much, and took a month off from social media. I do believe in showing my work. However, there is a difference between showing work to inspire, and sharing your work to become popular. Incidentally, I am not talking about people who post and share work for business. What I am talking about is the seductive nature, much like selfie addicts, constant pictures of food, etc. etc. I get it. It’s just not a good use of my time for me* to do all that.

I am more interested in becoming a better artist (a great artist in fact). For me the most important part is consistency, which is something I have been working at for years. This is going to be accomplished by doing more work, and learning through trial end error, etc. Not doing work for popularity, but by stretching myself. I have stopped painting work based on popular themes, such as robots and monsters and such. I have actually started choosing to paint more regular objects and personal themes. 

By making the ordinary stand out, it goes a long way towards being extraordinary. 

All this is to say, for me, I am going to do work for the purposes of expressing my voice and sharing how I "see" the world. I do it for me and hope that it speaks to you. For your own work, If people identify with what you are sharing then that’s great you might make a few real friends along the way as opposed to fake ones.

Instagram: Moebocop

Vero: Moebocop

www.moebocop.com