Other projects: Expressions

Despite my lack of posting on this blog, I do have a fair amount of ongoing art projects at any given time. Here are some of my studies in expressions.

sincerely,

me

Mid winter-Early Spring sketches

I'd say it's about time for another sketch post, wouldn't you?

Jon was playing Super Mario Galaxy 2. The lumas are my favorite. ^_^

A character design I'm working on.

sincerely,

Beth

Destruction vs. Documentation

Last night, I was in an apathetic, destructive mood. Like the "take a baseball bat and mindlessly break everything you own, then set fire to the rubble" kind of mood. No, you don't need to call a doctor for me; I'm blaming this one on hormones. Anyway, instead of decimating all my worldly possessions, I decided to try something more productive, purging old sketchbooks.

This is the first time I've sat down and gotten rid of old sketchbook drawings; I found myself a bit conflicted at times. And, since I seem to be having a really hard time putting all my thoughts into readable, blog post form, I'm going to write a vs. list instead.

1. Shredding badly rendered images is therapeutic. vs. All art, even the bad stuff, has some inherent value.

2. You can't keep every single thing you ever drew. vs. Documenting your progress as an artist is helpful, encouraging and may be interesting to others someday.

3. The world does not need to see ever single mistake you've ever made. vs. Bad artwork is an honest refection of your skills and ideas at the time it was created.

4. Destroying bad art work boosts your artistic average. vs. Bad artwork is part of who you are.

Like I said, conflicting stuff. In the end though, it's all about balancing the two mindsets and coming to a compromise. I got rid of some of the more pointless sketches while still keeping the stuff which reflects my artistic development, good, bad and ugly.

sincerely,

Bethany

Back in Business!!

Greetings, people of the Interwebs! I have overcome my Post Project Blues and am working once again on Broken Robot!! All it took was some epic classical music and the *obvious* solution of putting the storyboard panels back on my wall to drag me out of the Slough of Despond. (Slough is any excellent word; we should use it more often.) Anyway, I have nothing to say, really; just that I am back in business!

 

sincerely,

me

Post Project Blues

I've been feeling kind of down in the dumps the past few days. A lot of things are probably to blame, but I think the big culprit is Post Project Blues.

Last Friday, I sent my first little story project, Broken Robot, to a small group of close friends and family members.To be honest, I felt kind of nervous, but I stomped through the doubts, wrote a heartfelt, semi-sentimental introductory email and sent Broken Robot off to his first audience. Everyone I've talked to loved it and had lots of positive things to say about it.

I should be happy about all this, and I am.

However, in order to prevent burn out, I'm taking a break from Broken Robot for a bit, which leaves me without a project. Life without a project means life without motivation and structure and purpose  It means sitting on the couch, staring off into space wondering what to do with yourself. It means feeling like I've failed at life because I didn't make anything today.

You can see why this state of being could be problematic. It's one of the difficulties of not having an outside job; no projects basically equals unemployment plus apathy. Everything becomes difficult, including writing this blog post.

I'm not saying all this because I have some wonderful "cure your lack of inspiration in 6 simple steps" deal. This emotional phase is part of the artistic process, just like the super motivated, euphoric "idea high" you get when you first start an art project. Realizing this took me awhile, but now that I know it I'm (getting) better about not spiraling into a hopeless despair. And, to be honest, times like these force me to accept that I am more than the sum of my accomplishments. I know that in my head, but I am still learning to believe it.

So yeah, I'm trying to make the most of this "in between time". I've been working on my drawing basics; facial expressions, body types, feet and *shudder* hands. At some point, I want to post some highlight from Broken Robot. Maybe when I start working on it again.

sincerely,
me

Storyboarding done!!!!!

I am pleased as peaches to announce that I finished my initial storyboarding of Broken Robot yesterday! Look how long it is!!! 

So yeah, I'm pretty stoked! I have 102 panels so far, though that number will probably change. There's still a lot of touching-up to do, but it's so good to have a beginning and an end in place.

To celebrate, I had a cup of Black Apricot tea in a fancy tea cup!

Oh yeah, hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day. Jon gave me a bouquet of pine cones! Flowers may wilt and die, but pine cones are forever!

sincerely,

me

Busy, busy

Well, I haven't written for awhile, but this time I have a really good reason; this Broken Robot storyboard thing has kept me super busy! It's been my main project for about a month now and I am sooooo close to being finished, I can almost taste it!! (At least, finished with the first run through, that is. I have a long, long way to go before this makes it to its final form.) Hopefully I'll be ready to show you a sneak preview soon, but till then, here are some "in progress" photos.

Also, I am trying out Firefox instead of Chrome and I think it's making blogging more difficult. I may have to return to the primary colored beach ball of life controlling awesomeness. (It took me way too long to come up with that last phrase.)

sincerely,

me