ILLUSTRATION

A MEDIUM OF LEARNING

I have a love/hate relationship with illustration. This is not because it does not serve a greater purpose for practice and finding out where my skillset is at the time, but simply because it takes a long time to finish an illustration for me.

This area is more for learning for me. I do illustrations on a spontaneous mood for wanting to do it, or when I feel I want to measure my skills or learn a new skill.

This is not usually a service or contract work I do for people, It is usually something I do as a next step from a sketch process if its just personal work. I think its because the main work I do in the art work and industry as a whole, does not usually include illustration in the pipeline.

There is far better artists out there who do these for character profiles, book covers, prints, DND rulebooks, or simply the joy of it. For me, I lead with my horrible sketching skills, and turn that process into a 3D model, a vector art piece, a design, or a general layout for a 3D environment piece in an engine, or a 2D layout as a while.

These are here to simply show off past work, but other than that, I simply just do these in my free time, when there is free time.

I also to spend a lot of my time on twitch before it became a toxic space. One of those streamers I used to watch a lot while working on pieces and art was MoonMoon.

I actually got to know some of the other artists in his little streaming community, but left after realizing I am paying a subscription to just hang out with other artists. The problem with these communities is the weird cult following for the subject of that community. Its less a community, and more of a focus on one individual.

To each their own though. I love Moonmoon's content and sense of humor. He comes from an age on twitch where being relatable is actually important. Hes terrible at keeping an upload schedule, hes terrible at promoting his stream, and he just talks nonsense and plays his games, and he has some similarities to me and many others.

The piece above and to the right were pieces made for him by me, yet it feels weird that I made fan art of someone who literally just plays video games for a living. Hes super funny though.

Most of the illustrations i've done are usually character or human studies. Once i got into sculpting in 3D, it was easier to conceptualize creatures, clothing, etc. in a 3D space, and much easier to just do the retopology and use those details in normal maps and materials.

Like I said above, I do these more to test myself, and less for my production pipeline when working on projects. Sometimes there is a time and place for this, but for the most part, I just do them to get better, or to try out new techniques, or play with brushes.

I think I was spoiled with different digital mediums. Where most artists B-line to master their style, technique, and commit to one medium, all my work is usually for a specific purpose, or use in other mediums. illustration is just a step for a greater project as a whole.

The top picture was originally for a promotional poster that I was contracted to do for Fireball whiskey and a bar I was working for.

They never paid me. Now its just a cute demon girl.

Some pieces, I hate more than others. I think most creative people have this thought process as well. These 2 value studies were a good example of this.

Most professional artists would tell you not to post your worst pieces, but I disagree. I think these pieces are a strong reminder of where you started, and what you are capable of now.

I mean, look at them though. They are busy, ugly, unfinished, etc. Shadows don't make sense, and are closer to a digital sketch then an illustration.

But at some point, this was the peak of my ability to create. Live, grow, blah, blah, blah. You get the idea. A good reminder that progress and growth has been achieved.

I've also did illustrations of a lot of people I knew over the years. Most are not in my world anymore. Passed away, grew apart, flat out hate each other, and so on. I never regretted these pieces, but in my friend circles, they call it my artistic curse that every time I do a piece of a friend or someone I know, something bad happens between me and them.

Because of this reason, I do not do art pieces or illustrations of friends anymore, unless they like, die or something. (here's hoping they don't, obviously.)

All these pieces are reminders of the past, and a reflection of my personal growth, and the things I need to work on in my personal life as well. They still stand to show my capability to create illustrations, and give myself a little reminder that I am still an artist, even with an unhealthy dose of imposter syndrome.

I also play with SFX from time to time. Knowing your way around photoshop and its vast amount of layer modes, filters, modifiers, adjustments, etc. can really elevate illustrations and pieces with ease.

It is crazy to me how others can float back and forth between organic work on canvases, and digital in photoshop or other software. I feel the more I keep going the direction of digital art, the less and less I spend in my sketchbook, easel, and oil paints.

This is especially a thing even in my sculpting. From going from clay and polymer to digital sculpting in 3D is not only my preferred way, but I have not touched clay or polymer in probably 10 years or more now.

I don't think there is a right or wrong way, just the way you feel most comfortable and brings you the ease you want when creating.

I used to rock spray cans and hit walls in street art, now I play Kingspray on my Meta Quest 2, and paint in VR. Whatever makes you happy all, go do it.

The piece to my right is a mixed media piece. It has elements of digital brushes, sculpted material, dodge brushing, textures meshed in there, and a bit of kitbashing as well. Is it still an illustration? is it a 3d sculpt? is it a kitbashed collage? No idea. I made it though, and here it sits.

When other artists talk about "getting their own unique style" I worked to try and find mine at some point, but I don't think I actually found mine.

I don't know what it is, how to achieve it, but I think that sort of milestone is only achieved at a master level to be honest. I know a lot of artists who have achieved this, and their work is unmistakable and you can see the little details that make it theirs. Mine? ... It is kind of all over the place.

It really depends on the idea, thought, and what it looks like in my head. sometimes its a simple piece with stylized colors, direction, etc while others require a sense of realism I can only achieve with 3D and some brush paint overs.

Some of the work looks unfinished, but to me it is finished, while others will take 3 months of tiny details, editing, changing, revision, etc. So for me, my style is whatever I am making at the time.

I am a sculpture, illustrator, concept artist, graphic designer, 3d artist, technical artist, animator, pixel artist, the list goes on. To lock down my own style, would be a question of, "what medium?"