An art question meme

[motetus]

Since I can't take part in the writing meme that's going around, here's an art one that I saw on goblin_dae's Tumblr last night, which I'm sticking here because I don't care for Tumblr. Ask me questions, I will answer!

1. When did you get into art?


2. What art-related sites have you ever signed up for?


3. Show us your oldest piece of art you have on hand.


4. What defines your artistic style?


5. Do you practice other styles/have you tried other styles in the past?


6. What levels of artistic education have you had?


7. Show us at least one picture you drew or sketched recently that you did not put on a public site.


8. What is your favourite piece that you have done?


9. What is your least favourite piece that you have done?


10. What do you like most about your art?


11. What do you like least about your art?


12. Have you ever considered taking commissions?


13. Are you looking to pursue a career in art?


14. What do you like drawing the most?


15. What do you like drawing the least?


16. Do you draw more fanart or original art? If fanart, what fandom do you draw the most of?


17. What would you absolutely refuse to draw?


18. What is your purpose for drawing?


19. What medium/program do you use the most in your art?


20. How would you rank your art? (poor, mediocre, good, etc.)


21. Do you believe there is such thing as “bad art?”


22. List at least one of your “artspirations.”


23. What do you think you could stand to improve on?


24. Do you have a shameful art past? (recolour sprite comics, tracing art, etc.)


25. Draw a picture!

Comments

[the-little-owl.livejournal.com]

I'd like to know 12 and 22!

[motetus.livejournal.com]

12. I've pondered and rejected it pretty quickly, because a) I think I'd have to get a lot better before I start accepting money for my art, and b) if I'm not drawing something I really, really love, getting myself to finish it is like pulling teeth. But I like to think I'm pretty open to suggestions from people I'm friends with, and it really doesn't take much to persuade me to draw something!

22. Huh, this is where I realise I have no idea what is meant by "artspiration" - is it someone whose art inspires you? If so, uh... I pick theopteryx - I love her style and use of colours, and looking at her stuff encourages me to try to loosen up a bit and stop obsessing over tiny details.

[the-little-owl.livejournal.com]

I was wondering about the term "artspiration", too: if it meant an artist and their work or a single work of art. And thank you for the link; I didn't know this artist before, but I'll have a look at the journal.

As for No. 12, I hope to persuade you to draw more Romans & Gauls one fine day, when you're not snowed under in big bang illustrations and other exchanges.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

4, 10, 21!

These memes are so much fun.

[motetus.livejournal.com]

4. Ahahaha. Slavish attention to neatness, facial likenesses, a bit of photorealism, and little teensy background details! My style does vary a bit between line art with simple colours to paintings, but those things are usually always present. I do not think everything about this is a good thing...

10. Right now, probably how I can come up with an idea for a scene in my head and not go "no, that's beyond me" or be unable to proceed until I have references for everything. One of the happiest moments when painting all those Inception Big Bang illustrations was realising how much I could pull out of my head. And I also like how I can capture the mood I want most of the time - I think judging from the comments I usually get, I'm not too shabby at this!

21. Yes. Let me introduce you to my early art! I think it's like writing - a lot of it is subjective, but there's definitely stuff that most people would consider bad. But having had zilch in the way of an art education, my way of determining what's bad is "does it make me go "eww" and back-button?" so perhaps I am not the most qualified person to ask...

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Which parts of you style do you think are a bad thing?

And I agree about art & writing & the fact that, while it isn't exactly objective, there are nonetheless things that most people will agree are bad.

[motetus.livejournal.com]

Definitely the neatness and inability to stray from accurate facial likenesses into something more stylized - I do not want to give this up completely, but I think it makes a lot of what I draw very stiff and lifeless. I think I could do with loosening up a little and not being such a perfectionist (I think my art makes it pretty obvious that my day job is in science!).

[weekend.livejournal.com]

8 and 22, please! :D

[motetus.livejournal.com]

8. Agh, no, I don't want to decide! Um, I'm going to cheat and pick two. First is Everyone Goes to the Beach:



Usually when I look at my art a few months after finishing I spot a million things that could be improved, but this, aside from a few tiny tweaks, is pretty much perfect to me. I'm really proud of how I pulled off that simple colouring style despite never having done something like that before, and I still love the humour and charm of it.

Second is one of the Inception Big Bang illustrations:



I love this for the way I pulled off the lighting, the dark, dreamlike feel of it, and how I managed to avoid cluttering it up with my usual detail, but mostly for how it came out EXACTLY as I'd pictured in my head with the minimum of struggles. (though I did prefer it when I had Eames looking a bit older and scruffy - I had to de-age him when bauble pointed out that he'd be a lot younger at that stage of the story)

22. This stupidly talented person, who was after all the person who inspired me to take drawing seriously and buy a tablet (or two... or three, because every time I try out her new toy I end up having to buy one too).

[seascribe.livejournal.com]

At first I thought the ones that you'd struck out were ones we weren't allowed to ask and I was very confused. But I see you are just being organised. 17! I want to know 17! And also 7.

[motetus.livejournal.com]

7. Oh god, no. All I have right now is my perverse bang WIPs which I cannot show, and a handful of bad watercolours, most of which are unfinished and will probably stay that way, and I have no idea how to scan them and the wife is away for the whole week so can't remind me how. Except for one that I scanned a few weeks ago. You're going to make me post that, aren't you?

Okay, when I said my watercolour stuff was dreadful? It was a lie. It's REALLY FUCKING DREADFUL.



Um. Yes. Awkward silence time. It's er, supposed to be a minor Batman character - yes his eyes are rather creepy but probably not that creepy, I kind of went "oh fuck it, I'm not saving this" by the time I got to his gun and clothing, and oh god I can't believe I'm putting this in public. It's this drawing that made me realise that a) hot pressed paper is really not a good choice for a beginner and b) I should practice painting skin tones small rather than something that takes up the whole page. I'm getting better results now, but... still a long way to go before I feel comfortable posting my non-digital art.

17. I try not to refuse to draw anything, but I suppose it is very unlikely I will agree to draw really, really explicit sex (I'm not against drawing things like penises, I'm doing that now, I just think that if you're not very clever with lighting and angles it looks obscene and embarrassing really easily) or things that are a definite squick for me (uh, scat, vore, bestiality, the usual hardcore stuff).

[seascribe.livejournal.com]

Hey, it's not that bad! I quite like his beard.

[motetus.livejournal.com]

You're a very sweet liar. ;)

The annoying thing is that the pencil sketch looked pretty fucking awesome. Even the wife complimented me on it before I mucked it all up with paint, and he never says anything nice about my art!

[carmarthen.livejournal.com]

5 and 14!

[motetus.livejournal.com]

5. I guess I do? I don't think my painting style varies too much, but I've definitely tried different ways with line art and colour over the last few years. Trying hugely different styles doesn't end well for me though - I have spent so much time trying to draw more stylized art, and all I can see is how proportions aren't perfect and faces are off, and I DO NOT KNOW how other people can do it and somehow end up with things that look amazing!

14. Faaaaces! (not Channing Tatum's) They are just so interesting and expressive, and my skill with them is wildly disproportionate to my skill with every other part of the human body, just because I spend so much time drawing them and nothing else. Also animals, which will surprise no-one.

[clari-clyde.livejournal.com]

1, 15, 18, 19 and 24.

[motetus.livejournal.com]

1. 7 years ago I started taking it seriously. Before that I didn't exactly draw much, but I was pretty good at pencil drawings that were copies of photos - I wouldn't call that being artistic though!

15. SHOES. Feet are okay, but there is something about shoes that I struggle with. They can fuck right off.

18. I guess I just like creating things? Though if I were to be completely truthful, the main reason I started drawing was to be able to feel I was participating in fandom, as I couldn't write fanfic.

19. Photoshop CS5!

24. I think the worst thing I've done was trace over hands and faces (reference photos, not actual artwork) for an initial sketch, for the first year or two of working in digital (that is the problem with Photoshop, it makes doing things like that so easy). But it never felt good doing that, and I realised I was never going to improve by doing that. Reference grids helped if I was having difficulties after that, and eventually I weaned myself off those too.

Also I once drew Emperor Palpatine/Yoda slash. That was pretty shameful.