tune in here

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see you there!

This is purely an observation from my point of view but whenever i see a study or painting based on a masterpiece or a screen plate. The results are almost in every case very good.So this tells me that our ability to copy is quite good and its not really required to be a high level artist.Junior level to mid level ones can pull this off easily too. Everything you need to know is already in the image we are trying to copy so it becomes a recipe for us.

the important thing though is to not "copy" it but to understand it and deconstruct a work method from it.And if you understand that then the work based from your own mind will be alot better.

When i see this kind of work , for me its not the level of detail and accurcy that one puts in the copied artwork that impresses me, but the images based on that learned knowledge afterwards. And to tell you the truth not many people understand this knowledge or are aware of how important it is to understand it.But the interesting phenomenon is that still during a copy almost a majority who attempts it do well. The values match, the contrast match. So that should tell you that you HAVE the ability to do it, you just need to understand the work behind it.

Many people jump straight inte detail , full scale and about making something sensational rather then thinking about it, i cant stress this enough but understanding why you are creating somethign and how is absolutely the most important things.

if you find mastercopies or simple studies do paste links in here and you can see that all of these are really quite well executed.

here area few pointers to consider when working with studies, copies

* step back from the painting a couple feet and view it as a thumbnail, which are the key values

* how does the artist work out his composition, what is the visual path

* where is most focus put on

*figure out the lighting and relations in the environment

* how does he pose his models, and why

*dont study small detail things, these are technical details not overall understanding

I put some new materialon the site, check it out!

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i will be attending this event and will talk about mattepainting process.

hope to see you there!


for info on tickets and venue please go here:
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i do get questions from time to time about work art and production, so see this journal as a way of getting some answers.

feel free to post questions in the comments here about anything and everything and i will answer the best as i can.


also please make sure you browse through the questions below so you can tell if what you are wondering has been answered before

thank you

tune in here to see it live, starting at 8 pm London time

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for those who wish to know about these events ahead of time, you can sign up for free and follow my account.

Often times i see many artists on all levels expressing their expectations from their current progress and seeing it as they fail. They feel this way because the type of level that is set is not only high but its constantly changing to grow higher even as they are progressing passed levels of artistic skills.

consider this:
Imagine a horse rider holding a fishing pole with sugar(your artistic level you want to reach) by the end of the string. And you the artist is the horse pursuing it.You are progressing forward but your goal is also being set higher as you progress.

And of course you will never ever reach the level that is constantly changing and i think this is an idea that every  eager and striving artist should be comfortable with. To be comfortable with failing.This is not to say that you wont reach new levels , because you will.The levels you set up when you started out are much lower then the levels you set in your current phase.

The tough part is of course to stay on track and to keep pursuing something that we will ultimately never reach. The winning is not to actually come to the end of your goals and say.....well what now, the winning is  in the actual learning process that is always keeping your curiosity to move forward.

Do you remember when you were faced with a problem and for along time you couldn't figure it out, and when you did you felt the whole worlds weight being lifted from your shoulders.But by the time you get this you are challenging yourself with bigger challenges.And you are also challenging yourself because its part of our human nature.

Often when people say to me they fail i always reply to them, we all fail,but we keep moving forward. To this day every singe work or painting i do i don't see the progress i see the failings rather. But the difference is is that my goals are set a lot higher then an artist who is starting out.And my own goals years ago was a lot lower too.

As you progress your artistic eye will develop and it will keep  setting newer goals for you, dont worry about that part

So if you feel you are failing, dont take it hard, IT'S NORMAL! its a proof that you are and continuing to be an artist.And so don't give up in your pursuit.

The digital art industry is very trend driven and that has pros and cons to an artists development. The pros is that it can give you ideas within certain limits, the cons is that it can keep you developing but only in a very narrow direction. And in terms of failings and developing you as an artist needs to keep pushing to ask yourself whats the next higher goal.

I have seen sooooooo many artist being stuck in their own style and its extremely hard for them to break out because they built their name on it and even though there is recognition their new goals is not really advancing as a wider skilled artist, however they are advancing in that particular style.



so here are a few points that i think is  important to be aware of. Even if you wont agree on these there may come a time when it may seem more relevant.

* be comfortable with failing, keep moving forward
* let yourself be influenced by art and artists but dont let it limit you.
* never ever post image solely for getting recognition, recognition will come from progress automatically, you are doing this for yourself not for others. Do however post for getting feedback and critique.
* be honest about your failings, i personally respect an artist more who does this then one who boasts on how quick they painted something(and yes i have been there too, but i have moved on and learned from it, and i do post works that i am utterly not happy about, and it snot to show off,its only to show that every artist fails)
* do things because its hard not because its easy. One thing is guaranteed the easy path will not learn you anything. The hard part will give you knowledge that will last your lifetime. And you will gain much more respect when mastering something that is truly hard to accomplish.
* don't do the same things all over.
* avoid digital art cliches that doesn't give you new artistic knowledge.
* dont let yourself be let down by artist who get great exposure,and you dont.  just keep learning, this is ultimately about your own improvement on a much wider artistic skillset
* If you do strive for recognition then marketing yourself, networking and social media is a must for a strong freelance guarantee of work. But this doesnt mean that you are the most skilled artist In fact there is no such thing. No matter where you are in your learning stage, there will always be someone who is better. And this is something that i find that is a important to be comfortable with.
* lastly and most importantly, DONT GIVE UP!

So once again, keep failing but keep moving on!

check link for countdown

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cheers

I will be illustrating a graphic novel, a truly great and dark story written by the harrow brothers, Please feel free to check out our FB  page for upcoming updates and releases on this cool project.

i can guarantee you , there has been no such thing like this before


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Many people are under the assumption many of the high profile artists in the digital art community are mainly good because of talent. This is not completely true(in my opinion). What does make them great is the simple fact of constant and regular practice. But if you still like to cling to the word, then talent is just in other words an ambition and motivation. This word,"talent" has been branded with something that you think is something that can only be inherited and if you dont have it you are doomed to fail. Many people has lost potential careers because of this.

well folks let me put that myth to rest because i think anyone with ambition and motivation can learn any tool and any skill.And if you are not learning it, it is because you are not working hard enough on it.its simple as that.The practice will open your eyes and you will develop to see things in different ways, once again this has nothing to do with talent.  Once your understanding of all the levels of art gets wider you will be able to do more because you have seen it, worked with it and practiced it.

a good example on how to test yourself is to simply to do master copies, and the majority of artist who do it are very successful. And many artists in production and in personal art use reference for their work. In a sense learning and replicating some aspects of a reference weather its design, lighting, palette or texture.And by doing this all that information is being stored in your visual memory and gets added to the experience bit by bit. Slowly that will build up and your visual vocabulary becomes that much bigger. You have become better not because you had a secret power you were born with but just because you took all that visual information in and learned it.

so don't be afraid to tackle things because of this word, instead , observe learn and be inspired.

And yes a good visual eye takes many many years to develop and impatience is something that frustrates many people who are developing their skills, and so they give up claiming that they dont have "talent". Once again the success comes from ambition motivation and just a fuck ton of practice. Your whole artistic life is ment to be constantly practicing.

but take one day at a time and with persistence you WILL see results.

i think a lot of high profile artists would agree with this, because we all went through these stages and we have reached new levels of artistic understanding.And we still strive for learning more.


so it's fun to see people react to this  so here is more text to read  yay


* this is not about disputing the existence of talent, its about the idea that practice is everything when it comes to any kind of development. Talent is simply our brain being more efficient because we are learning and we are enjoying it.

* yes true prodigies exist(savants or people who have developed a keen sense to learn) BUT how can we really know how they got there, Take Mozart, a prodigy, a genius , composed music since he was 5-6? but he also lived a life of touring and shows, and his father was his stern teacher.Imagine a life of music everyday in and out, you breath it you live it. Your brain will see patterns, learn melodies, remember keys, memorize harmonious combinations etc etc. Of course you will be very quick to outrun other people because they had not been exposed to the same factors of learning.

* we can tell that someone is doing something good with ease, but its hard to know for fact how they got there.The girl who plays piano beautifully is "talented", but what we dont know is that she played that piano and that piece a thousand times.My own sister who was great at drawing said she gave up because i had more "talent" but she didnt know i was up almost every night drawing.

And yes hard work does pay off, if you are keen to be fast , you haveto do it more and you haveto love doing it. Someone who hates it will never learn or develop, neither the one who does not take initiatives.

why more traditional artworks get less response then the usuall photobashed stuff  does? medium level artists can pull of collages pretty easily but they cant pull of more painting heavy pieces...

its just sad to see that artists out there who put lots of effort into the paintings never get the credit as the guy who bashes 3 photos together and puts lens flares on top

the last cinematic i was involved in is finally out, check it out!

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tune in here

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can be downloaded here:

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the charcoal ones are last in the list

enjoy!

tune in here to catch it live, 4 AM EST/21.00 London time

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a cave i helped to design during a short stay at film department.

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here :
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i am continuing to sketch on the millennium falcon i started last week
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upon requestss here is a page where you can find Download link to my latest brushset!
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and last thank you for watching!