My Art Block- How I crushed it! And so can you...

As creatives we all understand, and have probably experienced 'that' horrible feeling. You know the one, ‘Nothing I do is going to be good enough, BOLD enough, why doesn’t my hand do what I’m telling it to! AHHH I CAN’T DRAW!!!' Yes it's the old and familiar artist block and the horrible feeling that followers...doubt in yourself. 

We all have or will have it at some point in our creative journey (and if you haven't so far consider yourself extremely fortunate) and hit the road block that is artists block. 

So what is it? Why does this horrible thing happen and how can we avoid it. And why the heck am I writing about it?

My artist block last week 

Being blocked creatively for a creative person is seriously debilitating. Our creativity is our power, our voice and our way of making an impact on this wide world. When we can’t express what we need to, we feel like we’re getting hit in the face with Lucille, Negan’s bat... (Don’t know Negan? that’s cool, it’s a bat with wire on it basically. ow ow ouuuwch!) 

But why does it happen? Most of the time I find it's overthinking what we need to do. Letting the left hand side of the brain take over and not listening to the right side. But there are many reasons for all types of people. Here is a link that will depict it better then I could. 7 Types of Creative Block (and What to Do About Them)

What I did... 

I knew I had to paint something to go on my YouTube channel for the week. But last week I had this feeling. Everything I tried wasn’t working for me. Luckily I record everything; pretty much, so I have a few pics and a vid to show on how I struggled.

So I started with an acrylic painting,

 that seems to be my go to a.t.m .

I decided portrait. 

That’s cool. 

Then I tried to paint the position 

I wanted. And that is where it started

 to go downhill. 

 

Here is the video, now I look back on 

it, I could have forced a painting out,

 but I was trying to paint something from

 my head, no reference, and wanted the 

girls face in a certain way, and it 

wasn’t helping. 

Where I left it...

I got quite frustrated at this point. BREATHE! So I took a walk... 'That could help ‘I thought. And so I did. When I got back I tried these. 

Here is Rapunzel I jumped into this 

one with no lines, I just wanted 

to get painting! Anyone..... Can 

you even see what I painted here?

I think I was trying to paint some kind

 of galaxy here... I don’t feel I was 

successful. Nope! Just wanted to get stuck in 

there with the pigment but... nope! 

In the end I gave up. A walk usually does me good but for some reason it just wasn’t working. That was my Sunday gone. I tried to paint something on Wednesday, and was slightly more successful. However I knew that I could do better so I was disappointed in myself. 

So how did I overcome it?

In 2015 I really struggled creatively and I knew I didn’t want to go back to that place. I developed a few hacks to try and get out of that negative head space. So here are my tips and tricks to shove away those artist blues. 

Drink a tall glass of water. This may sound un-impressive, but sometimes the brain needs a drink to keep going! Stay hydrated, using brain power uses more then you may think. 

Take a walk. This is my go to tip/trick. Usually it’s all in the head and airing out the cobwebs in some fresh air does you wonders. Take a trip to the park, cafe if it’s raining, even a museum if you’re in a really difficult head space. Bring along a sketchbook and try some observation drawings. No need to think just copy. 

Instagram, Pinterest, YOUTUBE! |These are great places to see other artists going through the mill. These are my favourite sites to check out because I follow some amazingly talented artists, and I am ever so slightly competitive. (⊙.⊙(*ₒ☉)⊙.⊙)

But you have your own vibes and interests! What sites do you like to scroll through? Just make sure you are looking at images, or reading articles that pertain to your type of work. 

DO NOT COMPARE YOURSELF!!! I can’t stress this enough. You are amazing in your way, there amazing in their way. If you try to be them, you can’t be yourself! It’s very easy to fall into the trap of trying to be like other artists and not being able to get out of this habit. Try by all means, but stay true to yourself and your art work style. 

Inspirational wall quotes. There are lots of good quotes out there. Find one with meaning for you and pot it into a picture frame where you will see it often. 

And lastly I would like to recommend grabbing a very cheap and ugly sketchbook. Why? Because you won’t care how badly you draw in it. It’s a fudge ugly sketchbook! (If you’re like me you like pretty ones!)

Get a sketchbook that you have no attachment to. What do I mean by this? Well if you’re even a little bit like me, when you see or think of stationary or art supplies, you give birth to a little unicorn! It's that amazing.  ∩(︶▽︶)∩  

So try not to make such an attachment. Hard I know, but I find if there is less pressure on you to create something wonderful; with wonderful pens and beautiful sketchbooks, it is a lot easier to get into the flow of creation and create something fabulous. 

So, go check out your nearest pound shop. Buy the cheapest book you can find, one that you can stomach working on, and then dive in. And the great thing is, you don’t care if your drawings are good. All you are doing is filling up the pages to get your creative brain into gear. 

Shamefully I must admit. It was new paints that got me out of my week’s rut. I know this is bad but don’t you just love new paints?! ❤(ˆ‿ˆԅ)

~~~

And those are my tips! I will probably suggest a few more tips in the future but those are my main go to tricks to get my creative juices flowing again.

What tricks do you use? Do you have a way to get out of the horrid artists block? Leave a comment and let me know! I sure would love to hear what other ways there are out there that I could try next time this happens.

Until then, stay beautiful my beautiful readers.

~Chow4noW~

Having fun with more watercolour.

So I have been absolutly terrible in posting this month! So I the fix for this is obviously to just post some thing ne? 

TADA! 

So I've been working alot recently on developing my style and trying to figure out the best way to illustrate my style through a recognizable technique. Problem with this is; as you may have noticed, I use a fair few techniques and materials to create my art. 

I have actually been considering creating some you tube videos for inspiration, style development and creating an artistic voice within ones art work.  What do you think of this idea, have you seen any tutorials that you have found useful? Or would you like to see more of this type of this out there? Leave me a comment or get in contact on FB, which is so super easy! 

Heres the link if FB is more your thang! 

So I digress, this post is detailing some of water colour paintings and tests that I've been up to this month. 

Girl walking in the desert with a fish in a bowl of water... How long until she drinks the water? 

Sketch of a butterfly

Space!

  Spray ink background with chalk, white paint and outlines. Inspired by all of those amazing concept prices that are out there! 

Decided to pop this one in because 

It's just too darn cute! And it's apart 

Of a new short series in doing in prep 

For the launch of the walking dead. 

Stay tuned for more of where that came from!

This last one is a work in progress but I really like how it's going! 

What do you think! See any style development here?

You know where to comment, 

                                                                                             Until next time! 

                                                                                               Chow4noW

Back to Once Upon and Iceburg.

Back to Once Upon an Iceberg

And I am in my final week (with potential for recall in EMERGENCY! =P)

For the last few weeks I've updated you on how I've been helping to create this wonderfully cute yet strange animation. And after this post there may only be one more on my 'icy' blog post! Yes that means I will no longer be able to keep you updated an right in on behind the scenes.  But I have seen a few clips and test shots and it is looking amazing and I cant wait until next years release! 

So What Have I been Up to...

...last week I was painting these little guys along with making a few props myself for a boat. If you follow me on Instagram you will already have seen a mock scene of the boat. Have a looky! here is a link  If you have the Instagram, why not follow to get more in depth updates on what I'm up to and where I'm at! 

My work space painting TINY lite props.

And bellow is what I painted! I had a lot of fun with these, especially the made up language. Luckily I had developed this writing from a young age...aka I used to use this type of writing in a lot of my drawings growing up. ✍(◔◡◔)

And here is a collage of pictures showing my making process of a bucket. Perfect for fish! Or so I'm told. And I think there going to be dead fish too.... oh look there they are below.

I also helped to paint these little guys... aint' they cute..  These were made by Becky, from wire, masking tape and sculpy. Arnt' they amaze! 

And last but not least, to get an idea of the final piece, some of the assortments mixed with the boat. The boat its self was made by the wonderful Becky. It's made of a body of foam, fashioned with planks bolsa wood around the edges, and a bolsa cabin. All etched with a wood grain and painted with rosco. I helped construct the roof of the hut and I finished the paint job on this puppy. 

I think it looks soo cute! the design was inspired by a mixture of Inuit and western fishing boats. 

I am going to add a few more shots of where we left one of the stages (for now) and some screen shots. Photographs are by myself and the crew who are all very talented. To see morw of the project and more amazing work! Why not check out the links below and have a look at all the skill. 

Enjoy! 

 Becky! 

Inside of Tuts' place. (unfurnished)

Screengrab of animation

OH TUTS! Why you so cute! You heartless little one you. 

Before I leave I am going to leave you with a few links to the producers and animators websites if you would like to follow this project more! I defiantly recommend it as they have more amazing information and pictures for your drooling chops. 

onceuponaniceberg.tumblr.com

facebook.com/onceuponaniceberg/timeline

lizzieosborne.com/animationshortonceuponaniceberg

How did you like the props I helped make? Think of any other cute tiny things I can make that could help. or have you ever made any tiny props? I'd love to hear from you and what you made your tiny props for.

Until next time,

~Chow4noW~

Making A kindle book cover.

OK! So I needed a new Kindle cover, and being a creative person that I am I thought, 'Hey, why don't I make my own. So I did a little research on how to make books, then used the principles of this to form my Kindle cover. 

S first I selected my material. I wanted it to have an old leather type feel to it, and since I had no leather and I was too impatient for the shops to open the next day, I created my own mock leather. 

I did this by basing my canvas material using acrylic. 

I then continued to add layers with the desired colours. 

After I had the colours and thinkness coated onto my material, I finished by texturing a slightly wet top coat with wire to really create that skin feel. After this I applied a gloss, then when this was dry a dry rubbed white watercolour into the grooves to create that extra depth. 

Once my material was created, I then cut out some foam covers and bound them with a softer car between them. I then folded the corners around the outside and secured them to make the main frame of the book cover. 

With the majority of the cover now made, I set to decopaging the inside with torn up paper and images.

Left it to dry. Added some stretchy cord to hold the kindle and pen and...

Vola! 

One Kindle cover.

That was lots of fun! I can see myself making more of these. 

Until next time,

~Chow4noW~

Chana!

x

Events Over Decemer

Well Its been two months since I last posted anything anywhere on the web. For all retrospect on the Internets behalf I've all but vanished off of the face of the planet. But Ima human so sue me its been CHRISTMAS!  And not that I don't have somethings to post! So be prepared to see allot of me and my work. I can only presume that why your hear anyway. =p

Without further adieu! A few things to look forward to: some digital drawings that I've been keeping myself busy with, naturally it was that time of year so I will be showing some of my crafting (elf shop style) Christmas present that I made for all of my friends and family.  (and as soon as I give out the remainder of my presents I can post!) Events and trips that i've been luckily enough to attend and I think to finish up the month a few snippets from some of the latest animation i'm working on. (Yay animating again!)

So now that's all said in one large paragraph and totally unorganized, I will leave, for now, a preview of the next few posts.

Until next time,
Chow4noW

Reviewing Old Character Sketches....

So I'm branching out into character design now, still refreshing my brain and hands how to draw again. So to start with my character designing I thought I should review some old characters that haven't really ever seen the light of day, as ush'.  So here for now are some of my older characters and soon hopefully I will be uploading some new characters. Characters Characters characters, as if I haven't said that word enough. /'''\ (Ⓘ.Ⓘ) /'''\

The first three images were for an old friend of mine that I bumped into on the bus one day and she asked me to draw a few poses for one of her characters she was thinking of making into a comic. I'm not quite sure what happened to that idea, but here are some pictures of Beatrice McGuires (aka BT.)  character that I drew for her.

Below are some of my own designs in various stages. 

 

Some of these images and more work like this can be found on my deviantart page. 

Chana! 

x

Does this make any sence to you?

Its a peacock tail.... see? All the... individual... feathers... .

No, ok. Well it is, it may help to think of this as a very simplified rigging pattern to help me work out what feather to rig to what feather/tail extremity.. ... In context with this?  ....>>>

AHH! Yeh, you can put your hand up now.  Youknows.



These were some screen grabs of what I've been up to recently, (thought I'd share) I'll add my next faze up here at some point too.

Here are some useful links too for expressions. 
Adobe
Rigging Puppets  <series
Detailed Rigging&Expressions <series

Ok... getting a little paranoid.

I said I'd upload my character colouring video and such, but now I'm worrying about the creative commerce licences... or, whatever licence it is. The final product for this video has high expectations and I'm unsure of just how much exactly I can upload for your viewing pleasure... sooooo, I have the speed painting video on line and the post promised saved to the drafts,  but until I find out more I'm afraid it will be kept on the shelf, so to speak.

Soz guys. But, I have another pretty picture of a flower I took...
Not Photo edited by the by.

Not good enough? Gosh, you're hard to please. Ok, I drew this, and its only half finished, the other week. This is just so I can take a break from the computer once in a while but still keep my dawing skills up there.... with ... this guy..>

 

Here we go! Plz Excuse phone photo quality. 

x

More puppets!

LAAAA!!!!!

In addition to the prep piece I made below from water based clay, (this stuf cracks up by the by if you dont treat it or make your model secure, BEWARE! =3)

I also made my puppets from URO clay, which can be used to create cute things such as Dolls house appliances e.t.c, or like how I did, for puppets!




So where did I begin? Exactly where  I should, with the armature!
 I measured my wire against my planed drawing, spliced the wires and then added all of my nuts and bolts and such. I think if you consider yourself fairly adept, you should find your own way of doing your puppets. And learn from your successes and fails , its a large part of learning and improving your skills.

I found CESAR DACOL JR particularly useful when doing my research on armatures. 

After gluing, twisting, mulching and swearing,  I began to mix then model my clay beginning with the head and implanting the eyes.  

I continued to manipulate my clay to the way I wanted it for my characters.

Here are a couple of stages within my modelling so you can see my process, if it helps.

 And finally they were finished. They move and everything. Here they are ready for filming on my un-made set.

x