Asking for Some Help

My wife and I have been having some roommate problems the past few months.  In a nutshell, one of our roommates broke off a long relationship to be with her significant other’s best friend.  She has claimed medical problems, quit a full-time job, and is now living with that person, who is willing to support her financially.  By doing so, she essentially left my wife and I scrambling to find another roommate, because our lease isn’t up until March.  We’ve failed to do so, and may have to break the lease after all and spend money that we don’t have to find a new apartment by ourselves.  Though my wife works full-time, I am still new to this city and have been having trouble finding work.  My little Etsy shop isn’t enough to cover all our necessary expenses, so I’m asking for a little help.  I know times are tough, but every little bit helps.

I’m an aspiring artist, as previous posts have shown, and I can do costume work and craft projects.  If you or anyone you know needs a Renaissance shirt, a pirate shirt, or just a big, poofy-sleeved semi-historical looking shirt, feel free to talk to me about making one for you.

Are you looking for artwork?  I would be open to doing commissions.  You pick the subject, and I try my best to create an original work of art for you.  I work in ink, watercolor, and acrylic.  I also paint miniatures – if you know someone who plays Warhammer, or Warmachine, or any other tabletop war-game featuring plastic or pewter miniatures, I’m willing to paint your miniatures for you.  If you need terrain, I do small “crooked houses” – perfect for a goblin village.

The following links are to my Etsy story and my Zibbet store – browse around and see if there is anything that appeals to you.

http://www.greyedout.etsy.com

http://www.zibbet.com/greyedout

In the next few weeks, I’ll try to post regular art and project updates.  I have some ideas for a possible webcomic, which will help test my artistic skills and allow you to follow my progress.  Stay tuned, and thank you.

Considering New Directions

This should be subtitled “An Introspective”.

The past few months I’ve been listening to many episodes of the Drawn Today and W.I.P. podcasts, both of which are focused on fantasy and sci-fi illustration and narrated by groups of illustrators themselves.  I’ve always been partial to podcasts while I paint or sketch, rather than music.  It’s one of the few times that I can listen to something and absorb the material without being distracted.

Recently I’ve been considering making an attempt to become an illustrator, and by recently I mean over the last few weeks is when I started considering it.  Giving it thought.  Analyzing, very loosely, some of the pros and cons.  I graduated with a degree in technical theatre with a costume design emphasis, and while I didn’t get a fabulous grounding in the arts, I feel as if I’m at least a small step ahead of the curve thanks to costume and theatre design courses I’ve taken, and sketches I’ve had to do for projects.  I’m not nearly as well-versed in the art techniques as someone who solely focused on getting a fine arts degree, but I’m willing to learn.  I also believe that I can work on costume design and improve my costume illustration skills at the same time as non-costume illustration.  After all, says my brain, costume design feeds into fantasy illustration, and my progress toward freelance illustration work certainly would benefit from costume design opportunities.

I talked with Kathryn about the idea the other day, and she agrees that there are many ways that the two careers can go hand in hand.  I’m glad I have her support in this.  It’s not going to an easy road, but I believe that hard work will pay off, and that art and illustration is a skill that can be learned.  From reading the Drawn Today, W.I.P, and Muddy Colors blogs, I’m noticing a trend – that inspiration is everywhere, and that reference is OK.  I do need to work on drawing more, every day regardless of whether I’m feeling inspired or blah or under the weather.  I won’t improve if I don’t. And the number of subjects that I need to work on improving is almost mindboggling.  But at least I’m aware of that.

I’m going to be trying to update this blog more regularly, and even if I’m not able to post about cool places to be in Atlanta at least I’ll be trying to do some art posts every week.  I don’t own a scanner, so for now I’m taking pictures of my sketches with my wife’s DSLR.  You’ll be able to get an idea of where I’m going and how I’m progressing, and what techniques I’m working on.

A few examples of recent sketch work.  I’ve got a long way to go… but it should be a fun trip.

And a small painting of the skeletal hand that I did today: