Month: November 2013

‘Doctor Who’ Personality Quiz: Which Doctor Are You?

‘Doctor Who’ Personality Quiz: Which Doctor Are You?

last-snowfall:

tygermama:

lissinator:

This is the big one. We may have teased you in the past with such relative fripperies as How Would [&]

Heehee…..I got Eleven :3

You’re truly one of a kind. They not only don’t make ‘em like you any more, they never did in the first place!

Somehow, even the most mundane of things can be transformed into a unique statement in your wayward hands.

Your ability to raise eyebrows everywhere you go – while still somehow being entirely admirable – is unparalleled.

OK, sometimes you make bad decisions and perhaps you’re too keen to let your reputation speak on your behalf, but you are a hard person to forget, and that is how you have come to have a reputation in the first place.

I got Ten

The good news is, people seem to really like you. You’re kind and generous and warm company, and you’re never short of the right thing to say in a difficult moment.

However, you’ve been through some fairly tough times, and it can sometimes feel like all of this affection is just raining down and the bouncing back off your defences.

You put on a brave face, but sometimes that feeling of isolation can be hard to bear.

It’s just as well you have some amazing friends to help you deal with it.

It gave me Ten. I am INSULTED.

Apparently I’m the First Doctor:

Some people think you are crabby and difficult to get close to. They may have a point, but what they see as rudeness is just you being careful with the friends you pick.

You have incredibly high standards, but once someone has proven themselves to be worthy of your attention you’ll pull an entire planet apart for them. And rescue them in the event of a Dalek attack.

Also, woe betide anyone that thinks you are frail or weak. There’s a spark in your eyes that could become a raging fire.

jayetylers:

I am acerbic. I can be cruel. It’s who I am, right to the bottom. I’m neither proud of this nor ashamed of it. It simply is. And in my work, my nature has been an advantage far more often than it has been a hindrance.

gingerhaze:

shoomlah:

So I was chatting with the lovely Justin Oaksford yesterday, and he casually asked if I used photo reference for my recent Rolemodels piece- not as a bad thing, but because the pose and the camera angle read well.  Pretty sure I grinned like an idiot when he brought it up because, goddammit, I’m proud that the work shows!  I’ve felt like my work has been somewhat stilted as of late- I could feel myself subconsciously trending towards easier angles, easier poses, easier expressions just because it’s slightly less frustrating for my brain to process- so getting that confirmation from a colleague was pretty damn satisfying.

I think there’s a tendency for artists to take pride in being able to draw out of your head, and, while that’s an admittedly important skill, what’s actually important is what that skill implies- it implies that you’ve internalized reference.  That you’ve spent so much time looking at the world around you, studying it, drawing from it, breaking it down, that you’ve amassed an extensive mental library that you can draw from.  You are Google reborn in the shallow husk of a human being.

But heck, the world’s a big place- what are the chances that you ever get to a point that you’ve internalized all of it?  Internalized it AND ALSO are never going to forget it ever?  Probably no chance at all.  Sorry buddy.  So rather than bemoaning the fact that we don’t have impenetrable search engine cyborg brains- yet– you sure as hell better still be using reference to fill in/refresh those empty shelves in your mental library.  You shouldn’t have worm-ridden books about dinosaur anatomy from the 60’s in there.  Stegosauruses with brains in their tails?  CLEAN THAT SHIT OUT.

So my general process for using reference of any sort is:

  1. loose thumbnails and brainstorming.  If you have an idea, get that raw thing- unadulterated in it’s potential shittiness- onto paper.  Good art is a combination of both instinct and discipline, so you don’t want to entirely discount those lightning strikes of brilliance.  Or idiocy.  Happens to all of us.
  2. research and reference.  Start gathering and internalizing whatever reference is pertinent to your piece- could be diagrams, art, photos, good old-fashioned READIN’, whathaveyou.  Please note that this doesn’t mean find one picture of a giraffe- this means find tons of photos of giraffes, read about giraffes, understand giraffes, and learn how to incorporate that knowledge into your art with purpose and intent (Justin uses the word “intent” a lot so I’m stealing it).  Don’t blindly copy what you see, but understand how to integrate it in an interesting and informed manner.
  3. studies and practice.  Could be lumped in with the previous step, granted, but it’s worth reiterating- if you’re drawing something new, it’s worth doing some studies.  You discover things that you wouldn’t otherwise by just staring at them.  It’s weird how I’m still learning this- “Gee golly, six-shooters are way easier to draw now that I’ve drawn a ton of them!” Yes wow Claire BRILLIANT.  Gold star.
  4. go for the gold.  Finally, I’m sure it goes without saying, you integrate all of that research and knowledge into your initial thumbnails.  If you learned something about anatomy, or fashion, or color, or butts, now you can drastically improve your original idea with this newfound knowledge.  Also, per the images above, this is also your chance to improve on the reference- photos are a fantastic tool, but trust your instincts.  Cameras can’t make informed decisions.

…So that’s my soapbox- it’s pretty easy, and it’s totally worth it.  Research and reference lets you stand on the shoulders of giants- it lends legitimacy, specificity, and allure to your work that wouldn’t be there if you were just drawing out of your head 100% of the time.  To put it simply- it makes your work ownable.  It makes you stand out.

It makes you a better artist. 🙂

-C

Wonderful! One of my least favorite excuses during critique was when the artist would say “but that’s how it looked in my reference photo!” when called out for something in their piece looking awkward or wrong. Reference is a helpful tool, not a rigid map for what the final should look like.