/uses appropriate icon.

[ellana]

So I got a letter in the mail yesterday. Apparently the local art club that I won a college scholarship from is planning to put together a gallery of work by their scholarship recipients, and they want no more than 25% of the work to be NFS. RSVP date is September 1, and they're estimating a showing in December.

Meaning this could be a really good opportunity to not only get my artwork "out there", but to potentially make a little cash. The only problem is all my art is OLD, and there's nothing I'm proud enough of to sell, and I'd be embarrassed to show a lot of it. (Plus a ton is FAN ART which is a no-go, obviously.) And actually, during high school we worked from National Geographic magazine photographs a great deal. I hadn't quite grasped the "change it up and make it your own so it's not copyright infringement" rule yet. I also REALLY NEED A PORTFOLIO. I have essentially nothing to show, even if a job popped up that I wanted (which has sorta-kinda-almost happened already). So... yeah. This could potentially be a really awesome opportunity to get myself back in the game.

The question is... what sort of media/subject matter would work best? I'm thinking... landscapes, nature, still life... I know a lot of people don't even consider comic/animanga-style to be "art" (btw, I do, as long as it's "artistic"), so I wouldn't even bother taking more than one anime-inspired piece, if that. Then again... should I really limit myself to "safe" subject matter? Or should I try something a little different? (Don't get the wrong idea... all my art ends up being "cute".)

Media... eh... I could get away with colored pencils or acrylic no problem. I'm not as sure about marker work. Maybe if it was really detailed and had "texture". Watercolor I basically fail at. Maybe mixed media. Honestly, I'd rather get a bunch of thick canvases that I wouldn't have to cut out matboard for. Matting and mounting artwork is such a pain, and so many things can go wrong. I have several nightmare stories of the adhesive spray making a mess and getting everything sticky, or of cutting mats crookedly. /s-sob.

So yeah. Thoughts? What I really need to do is set some sort of a goal for myself. Like X_number of arts a week. And I need to finish old trades/requests while I'm at it, too.

Comments

[albireo.livejournal.com]

variety is appreciated in any portfolio, but so is an established style. safe is boring, but sells somewhat. you want to show yourself, and what you're currently capable of, not just pander to safety.

MY THOUGHTS, FROM ME TO YOU..........

[ellana]

Wow, a serious response for once. I'm shocked.

[albireo.livejournal.com]

hey!

i can do serious!

it's just not needed, 99% of the time!

[ellana]

Yeah.

Well.

25% of the time is being a little stingy.

[albireo.livejournal.com]

well maybe i'll see about upping the quotient.

pickypants.

[ellana]

Don't bother. You're scary when you start acting seriously.

[nalina.livejournal.com]

If you have a variety of subject matter/styles, I'd say go for having a mixture of stuff. Safe smafe. |D I personally think having the ability to draw in different styles is a good thing. :3b And, even then, I find there's always something about any drawing, be it original or fan art that has just SOMETHING that is very much your own style. I know all my work is recognizable as being mine, no matter how much I try to be "on model" or whatever. XD

[ellana]

Oh yeah. XD I've tried to imitate other artists' styles before and really, it never quite works. There's always something about the way I draw that has my "scent" on it. XD I still will pick up things intentionally here and there, if I like the way something is done, but I don't worry about making my art look a certain way anymore.

Though, it's interesting. At least where anime/manga art is concerned, my drawings always pick up attributes of what I'm watching at the time. When I liked Dragonball/Real Bout High School, my characters were very squared off and blocky, then the hair/eyes took on a Slayers-ish look, then I picked up the long eyelashes from Dragon Knights for a while, and then when I got into my shoujo kick, everything thinned down/rounded out a little bit, and the eyes got a lot bigger and... sparklier, and the hair softer. XD

Also, I have heard that (at least with portraits), you tend to put your own attributes into the other person somewhat... no matter who you're drawing. I don't know if this is true, but I always seem to subconsciously draw my characters short because I am short. :X

[thumbs.livejournal.com]

You could always experiment to try and find what best suits what you want to create and what style best fits you.

Also, I don't think "safe" is always actually safe. Even though certain things may seem like the generic, usual choice, I think people are always looking for true originality. Especially with art, I think people like to see a piece of artwork and be able to know who the artist is from just looking because it is the style that defines them best.

Not sure if I made any sense, but to try and be more helpful, you could still take usual subject matters and go about using them in a more unique way. Kind of like how Georgia O'Keeffe had flowers but painted them close up and abstractly.

Yeah, I'm not too helpful. D: But not sure if I told you, but I switched my minor to Studio Art, so I could try getting better at it. I take a drawing class this semester. No more stick figures for me. ;_;

[ellana]

Nope, you didn't tell me. :/ Thanks a lot. JK.

Are there certain classes you have to take, or are you free to take just whatever? Not sure what you're really into, but I'd recommend trying something like a pottery, sculpting, or metalworking class if you can.

Yeah, I get what you're saying. XD

I need to dig out the old stuff at some point and see where I was, where I went, figure out where I am now, and just go with it.

Ironically I did an art project on Georgia O'Keeffe once. I believe she also painted a lot of bones (deer/antelope skulls) and stuff when she moved somewhere out west...? :X

[thumbs.livejournal.com]

As far as I know, I'm required to take two classes of "Design Fundamentals" and four of the following:

Art 118, 218 Ceramics I, II
Art 122, 222 Sculpture I, II
Art 156, 256 Drawing I, II
Art 257 Figure Drawing
Art 162, 262 Painting I, II
Art 166, 266 Photograph I, II

For sure, I need to take Drawing and Painting, but depending on whether or not I take the second classes for those, I may take Ceramics and Sculpture for the other two. I don't know. My advisor/professor/boss has my whole future planned out since I'm his own Tech major, so it's really whatever he feels I should do. |:

[kai-lan.livejournal.com]

Whoo art stuff sorry if I end up writing a whole essay for you lol.

I understand what you mean by people not considering manga/comics "art", which I find really insulting since I'm very serious about the style, and don't intend to change that for such reasons. I think having a variety of works will really showcase your skill, and it won't even matter that you like to draw animanga too. I wouldn't be afraid to draw a few animanga pieces if you also include pieces of realism. I think controversy is what keeps art alive, and really makes it interesting; don't stick to the norm just because that's what people want!

You know, anyone can do what is considered "proper art" if they wanted to. It's your personality and style in your work that makes it interesting and eyecatching. I think it's important to not be too mechanical and technical with art, which I feel alot of people are these days. And being someone who also lives on the east coast/southeastern US, it's alot harder for art styles outside of realistic/natural/etc. to be accepted, as opposed to the west coast.

Even though I don't believe in being too technical with art, I still believe in foundations and fundamentals, which maybe you should look back on to review and try to incorporate in different ways in your new work. If you're going to do anything with portraits, humans, etc. it'd be good to read into figure drawing (no matter how awkward lol). I noticed in your work before (I have not seen your recent stuff tho, so idk your style might've changed! lol) that your figures were somewhat stiff, and there were anatomical problems. To learn about the body and movement really really helps, and makes drawing that much more enjoyable.

I really like the way you work with colour, and you seem really steady with the mediums you've used in the past. Advice I've gotten for portfolios is to stick with the mediums you're most comfortable with. Yes, it's good to have a well-rounded background in different mediums, but not everyone can be an expert in EVERY media. So don't worry too much about it; just do what you're good at. Instead, try different colour schemes and techniques, lighting, shadows, etc. Go crazy with it! You might find something to integrate into your artwork.

But um yeah tl;dr, if you're really serious about this, just keep drawing drawing drawing. Study, draw, study, draw, draw, draw, try something new, draw, draw, study, draw. LOL, just keep yourself committed and keep going even if you think it sucks. Focus on your strong points, play down your weak ones. It's been so long, I'd really love to see more artwork from you! Sorry if that didn't help like, at all OTL;; BIG BLOCK OF USELESS TEXT YES? But either way, good luck to you!

[ellana]

Whoa WALL OF TEXT. Hello. Actually it was very helpful.

I used to take it really personally when people were like "oh anime isn't art blah blah". Now perhaps not so much, but it's definitely still something I love looking at, and like drawing for myself. I've seen some absolutely wonderful stuff out there for the art style, so I can't really agree with the people who say it's any bit "less art" than anything else.

And yeah. As a matter of fact I have never taken a proper PROPER figure drawing or anatomy class. Lol. I mean, I think it was in advanced drawing that we did a TON of figure drawing (mostly lounging), but we never really went over the basics of how things go together and move. I remember when we had nude models I was embarrassed and intentionally obscured "certain things". Haha. ^^; I think anatomy is probably my biggest biggest weak point, tbh. (That and I'm LAZY.) Definitely something worth looking into.

At some point I feel like they started taking the "study" out of art. I hate studying, so I didn't really worry about it too much. And sure, there was lots of stuff to learn in graphic design, but as far as traditional art, my teachers kind of let me go and I don't think I was ready to be let go yet. :/

I think the hardest part is to make yourself keep going when it sucks and you don't feel like it. Hahaha. OTL

WE'LL SEE HOW THIS GOES. XD Thanks.

[kai-lan.livejournal.com]

lol I'm glad my words were useful!

Yeah, I feel like alot of times, depending on the environment mostly, when a young person has a talent, people tend to encourage it without also incorporating foundation because they think they don't need it. While some youths will evolve without much assistance, that is not the case for everyone, which is totally fine. Doesn't make them any less skilled or artistically mature.

If you're not too keen on live figure drawing (I have not done any past stock photos really lol tho I'd like to) some good books you can look into are the Glenn Vilppu Drawing Manual and Force: Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators. Betty Davis's books are also very good resources. Tbh, most of my study in the past couple years has been from books, as my art classes really do nothing for me :|

BUT YEAH OK I'LL STOP NOW LOL. KEEP ON TRUCKING YOU CAN DO IT.