121-150 (originally written April 2017)
This month flew by. Perhaps because it was a month with a theme (so I knew what needed to be tackled before putting pen to paper) or because I'm getting used to this daily business.
This may be last time I analyse how each daily goes based on how I felt as I am now pretty much efficient on the whole and I kind of know what causes the struggles so I think there is no need to measure it from now on (or at least declare it).
SO, I stated that I would focus on vehicles for this month and I pretty much did. Pushing a few boundaries here and there but everyday was or involved some type of vehicle.
It was cool, a slight level above 'meh', but I feel from a few months back it feels 'easier' now to get my ideas across in the form of a vehicle or just my ideas in general. But it must be said that I think my dailies up to this point have been explorations rather than refined ideas or actual design. I definitely loosened a few more shackles this past month, though!
I think I started off the month strong, I was happy with what I was creating then after a few days It kind of fell off and I struggled for consistency for much of this month, so the doing part was not an issue but the quality was. This did coincide with some busy moments in life so I guess its no surprise things fell off, I just got to find a good way of working through it.
There were a few experiments too, with workflows and combining my sketches with photoshop to see if things came out better and I will surely continue to experiment with things. I am currently in the middle of Jama's Narrative Concept Art course on Learn Squared and some of the teachings I have applied to my dailies. Not only has it helped me speed up my process but it allows for so much exploration. So I'm eager to learn more from him from the rest of the lessons.
Often I will try a technique or 'style' whether that's the way I render something or just the medium I'm using. Then I will try and not do the same thing a few times in a row (although my usual habits still show through). This method is cool especially when exploring what you are capable of as an artist and also to see what you can achieve in a short period of time. But this also creates a lack of consistency and can throw you off. Which is making me think that sticking to a style makes less of a headache. Though I would recommend it(changing up of styles) if you want to diagnose your skill levels and see where you are at.
RE my vehicles they have improved from a few months back but I'm nowhere near happy with how they are coming out. I will likely want to specialise in these as a professional so I need to step up the quality to try and get close the heavyweights out there. But I am positive about the prospect of doing that, which is a big mental shift compared to about 12months ago. So I am closer but far away at the same time. Which is cool- I know what I need to do.
I still shied away from wheels I noticed, so I want to actively tackle that going forward with maybe dedicating some days to just wheels and other elliptical designs.
After 150 days I have only done one study, seeing how many of the top tier artists I see do studies on a regular basis I need to address this too.
So at the end of the next 30 days will see me be at approx 6months in so I am excited to see what that brings.
I will likely freestyle this month but I want to focus on interiors and ensure I dedicate time to wheels and studies. I have fallen back on 3D too so I want to get fluent in that again.
Bring on the next 30.
