271-300 (Originally written Sep 2017)

10 months yo! aka going crazy for 300 straight days.

It is strange how quickly something can become a habit. Repetition and perseverance are key for that. Once I'm done with my 'everyday' journey I am going to focus these learnings on trying to get my body and health in shape - as this is something I have neglected for well over 10 months now.

So for this last month, I pretty went to default mode which was vehicles. I have definitely become better with my design choices and I like that I can look back at my designs and identify areas of improvement or just know when something is not right. I would like to be able to do this during the creative process but that's something to aim for I guess.

Kit-bashing appears to be my go-to workflow at the moment - simply due to time constraints but also I like the test of seeing how many times I can use a particular set of models and try and get something different. It's like playing with Lego basically.

My painting and drawing skills have waned a touch so I need to dedicate time to that. I'm noticing the 'whack a mole' effect where I get better at one thing and notice another skill in decay.

A few months back I was aiming to create work that I could use in a portfolio. I managed to get something I felt was a decent representation of my ability about once or twice a month. Now I am adding new pieces on a weekly basis that I feel are 'worthy'. The pain I have now is what to include - what not to blah blah blah. One thing is though my portfolio is totally different from a while back. I unsuccessfully applied to some companies back in June. Then I had then is much weaker compared to now so If I had the chance I would love to see how they would've responded to my portfolio now.

I am pleased with how I can look at work from even a few weeks ago and recognize and feel the improvement in what I can do currently. I am noticing the limitations everydays have but it has allowed me to improve pretty quickly and I feel like I have so much more to develop which is exciting.

I anticipate a free run for the following month with nothing major happening on or off the field so I expect to see a solid month of work. I will likely spend more focus on getting work too - I feel 'ready' as an artist to tackle the challenges of the industry - I just hope employers feel the same way too.

Finally a special shout out to the awesome people who have taken time out to view and interact with my work and journey. It is understated how much motivation it gives you when peers react with your efforts... Much love ❤️.

Till next month.

241-270 (Originally written August 2017)

Another month that flew by. I had a ton of issues with time management for these past 30 days which exposed some flaws on my part.

On the flip side, I found a few workarounds which I'm sure will inevitably help me when I'm a Pro. Time was tight, energies were low and I burnt out more than once so finding ways to get my dailies out to a level which is acceptable (in relation to my current skill level) is reassuring. I'm pretty confident that when I'm running on empty I can still deliver the minimum rather than not deliver at all. In the not too distant past that would not have been the case.

I drew only once this month - Drawing traditionally is usually the quickest way for me to complete a daily so I will take time to reflect as to why I did not do more particularly as I had time constraints. Also, I did notice my drawing skill has weakened due to the lack of frequency of sketching. From doing them daily to now monthly. I miss it so will get back to it shortly.

I did spend more time designing this month as it is an area of weakness and something which should always be kept sharp and I feel it's getting there. I spent more time considering form and placement - at times I fail and shit looks confused other times I feel I get close but this is something I really want to master above all else. I'd be more valuable as a designer with a great sense of design rather than simply having superior technique. Ideally, I'd want both but I know which one I'd choose.

23 out of 30 of my pieces utilised 3D most of the 7 that didn't, came in the first week of the month.

So it appears I find 3D quicker or to complete a piece of work currently. Which is cool as the industry is so dependant on it. Though I don't want to be a slave to it.

I kit-bashed a ton this month, with one model used 8 times. Kitbashing saves time and is great for exploring ideas but I'm not elegant with it yet so some designs do look like random objects clumped together.

Rendering- I have started to use Octane. I appreciate the power and potential of it but it is taking me a bit of time to get used to it. What would take 1hr of fiddling in Keyshot took me and about 5hrs in Octane. One GPU is clearly not enough so perhaps I need to invest. One thing though I fully see the benefit of is playing and experimenting with shaders and I can see the potential of understanding them will suit me well in time.

So, this month was intense. Next month should calm down a touch but only time will tell. I have taken a step back from looking for jobs as the first wave of applications led to unanimous rejections. I think my skills have improved and the portfolio is a bit sharper so I think I will try my luck again and see what happens.

I'm curious for the next month of everydays as I have no idea what I want to do expect to push my work further. Let's see how it turns out.

✌🏽

211-240 (Originally written July 2017)

30 days is starting to feel like a week which is crazy.

This month was a blur and from my perspective just a bunch of random creativity. Which is what I do I guess as I focus on a new piece each day. However, I focused on no themes. I fell into my usual traps and comfort zones- spaceships and weird stuff. I feel I have fallen behind on wheeled vehicles so I would like to address that.

I have been a busy bee this month and I have not been this consistently creative in my entire life which is a good thing but also depresses me a bit (what the hell was I doing for the 4 years at uni?!).

This busy-ness meant my daily pieces became an afterthought or something I needed to get done but not my main priority. Which was an interesting experience. I used a bunch of shortcuts and tricks to save me time and I found that I was smarter in my decision making often shelving some considerable amount of work for something I could get done. I guess this makes me resourceful and should be a great asset professionally too.

Undoubtedly, having my technical skill be much better than it was before is better and I find I spend longer staring at assets and thinking about what I will do with them before I put stylus to tablet. I love this way of working and I want to push this further. Also becoming better at integrating 3D and photos into my work. I have started to take more reference images again and I try to get my 'scene' all in-camera so there is less to do after the fact. At times I have rearranged items and created a mini photoshoot. Nothing fancy yet but a nice exercise.

So in 4 months, I will have done a year of this and I have no idea how that will turn out or what I will be like as an artist. One thing for sure is that each month has surprised me in a different way and on the whole, it is a positive experience. Even though my work does fluctuate in quality ( i have noticed I can produce about a chain of 2-3 decent pieces before the quality drops again) but comparing each month side by side it is nothing but improvement. So for that, I can't complain (but I probably will).

181-210 (originally written June 2017)

Boom! Another month gone. This felt like it went on forever but I think it was down to trying to do more work which is giving me the perception of shit just taking longer to complete.

I feel this has been my most consistent and solid month in terms of the level of quality across the board on each piece. Of course, you can tell the days that the energy wasn't there or just some poor choices on my part. But it gives me the impetus to push the level further for this coming month.

I am pleased with my ability to use the tools I am currently comfortable with and be able to communicate the idea that I have to a readable level. I think it's just a matter of putting in the mileage for each skill-set. That way my only issue will be the idea itself as opposed to a lack of technique that makes a piece fall apart. It will also help with my biggest short term goal; To become a hire-able/employable artist.

In hindsight, the worst and most destructive thing I did, some time back, was close myself off as an artist and not share or interact with other creatives. Just under a year ago I addressed this and the benefits of simply sharing and interacting with fellow creatives are infinite. My hunting ground of choice is Learn Squared, (which has helped me in more ways than I can express) and Industry Workshops was a profound experience for me and of course Facebook, Artstation, etc is a great way to share and discover art and artists that I would never have otherwise. So if you are reading this, and are a creative who feels lost... just (genuinely) reach out, share and interact with people you respect, admire or are just simply new to you. It will do wonders for you. I have met some amazing people and you'd be stunned at how far people would go for you. I would like to thank those awesome people, you know who you are 😘.

On the job hunt side... it's moving slowly but that's normal I guess. I just need to produce better work so employers don't think twice about hiring me. I would for love this to happen soon but I have the patience to wait for my chance.

Got some cool stuff going on too which I hope to share soon 😉.

Things I want to focus on next month are technique, storytelling/composition and presentation.

Till next month ✌🏽

151-180 (originally written May 2017)

6 months in now…it's gone pretty quickly and it's surprising to see how much work has been done but also how much more can still be done.

This started out as a way to reconnect with drawing again and as a challenge with a friend of mine. I'm surprised how far doing a daily piece of work has gone, the obsession behind it and also how it's possible to make something become part of your daily routine, especially when you feel you have no room for it at the time.

It has helped me a ton, particularly in giving my skills the time needed to nurture but I’m even more pleased with how it has helped improve my time-management, decision making, and overall confidence.

Here's what's changed over the last 6 months.

drawing- what used to take a full hour or more is done much quicker now and more efficiently. Thanks to better skill with markers and my draftsmanship. Still, a long way to go to reach Scott Robertson levels though... a long way.

Digital- I used to take so long on photoshop. I am comfortable with it but for some reason, I had the impression that when I did designs in photoshop they had to be super refined and crisp. A mixture of Everydays and learning from Jama via hid Narrative concept course has allowed me to be much more relaxed and loose with PS. I enjoy how I am able to manipulate things accordingly to reach my objectives. Using certain tools exclusively to just knowing when and how to use smartcuts. Some of the digital pieces would have been abandoned about before this or taken me a lot longer thanks to procrastination (which I feel I am able to better manage now). So I am pleased that I can get what I want to (kind of) down in a timely manner.

3D- I have always been comfortable with 3D modelling but took my sweet time on things. I still need to become more fluent in it and I very much stick to the tools that I know and nowhere near a level where I can experiment on my process and workflows. Thanks to Maciej and his twitch streams I have been rocking with Fusion 360 for a few months now and I enjoy it. I was taught Alias and Uni (struggled with it big time but super powerful). Introduced to Maya towards the end of uni. Stuck with Maya and Fusion is now my babes. I find it a nice blend between Alias and Maya on the Modelling side. My Rendering swag is non-existent. I have been using the Non-Commercial Keyshot to visualise my models and I do like it but I rely on painters and post in PS heavily. I need to fix up my rendering knowledge so I this may be something I can use everydays for.

Time/project management- the biggest and sharpest thorn in my side. I would say I can match the devotion and work-ethic of most but where I have fallen apart in the past is how to use that energy. I would devote too much energy to something that didn't need it and shit starts to fall apart. I would and give every aspect 100% attention and end up with it looking like only 10% went it. Now I have gained more awareness in this aspect of my process. I make better choices and this is where Everydays are at their best. They test your abilities in a short time frame so I simply had to learn to give the right things the most attention. Nowhere near amazing at it but this is the answer to all of my troubles. And it all boils to making the right choices, understanding limits and maximising. The greatest people at anything are great because of this in my opinion. Talent: is just the added gloss. For example, there have been some days (a lot this month in fact) where things went to shit or got real messy. Applying the above allowed me to salvage them and still provide a result. This has made me happy because I could never do this. It's great when somethings come together but at times it's good because things just flowed. It's those times where things are not looking good but can still deliver is a sign of quality. So It means I have grown which, as much as I want to be even better I should be grateful for.

Efficiency- a bit like the above but I am to produce more in a shorter time frame than before. More often then not I can complete my everyday and dedicate time for longer projects etc. I can ask for nothing more than this as I want to just create and create some more. This month, in particular, has been pretty dramatic in terms of quality. As my drawings take much less time now I can see myself using those to buy me more time on days where I need it. And this month has thrown up some more refined pieces. So I'll see how this progresses.

-

I began this as a passionate, albeit insecure, creative who just wants to make their way in this field but slightly lost at how to do so. This is still the case but the EQ levels have adjusted a bit and things are clearer and I am more driven and aware that I can achieve what I want to. But there is still a long way to go and its always something I need to remind myself of at times. I have found that my decision making is much better regarding how to 'finish' a piece. By factoring in what I am doing and tools/skill levels and time I will avoid certain things knowing that shit will get crazy or lead to nothing if I do so otherwise. I think this will help me when I do this professionally because getting shit done is extremely important as a pro.

However, getting stuff done, but it also being weak and whack, is no better than doing something that is unfinished but shows promise but is still weak because it's not fully realised.

So my efforts are now geared towards finding that balance of being able to produce quality efficiently and allowing myself more time to refine my pieces.

Looking back on my Everydays, I am pleased with the improvement from Month 1 till now. But not ONE is a refined piece of work. Mainly down to time constraints, but I would absolutely love to try and make these pieces into better-realised work as some have the potential to be pretty good ideas. It's likely impossible but something to aim for and something that will probably lead to some interesting results.

On the flip side, everydays are a great way for testing things out, particularly ideation and seeing how far you can take something in a short time frame and more importantly to see if the idea is readable. I'd say I have had some success in that regard.

Last month I stated that I want to do more vehicle interiors as well as wheels and studies. I did a few but not enough so I'll do some more over the next 30.

One final thing. 6months ago I never dreamed or fancied think about working as a professional as my skill level was so far away. I need to improve a lot more but 6 months later I had the balls to apply for a concept artist job. It was not successful but a massive change in mindset form half a year ago. So this was a milestone for me. I think I will apply to some more jobs and see what happens.

In 6 months time, I’m curious to see where I am at as an artist and professional by how things have gone over the last 6 months it is looking positive. ✌🏽

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.

91-120 ( Originally written March 2017)

Another month complete, and this one is a blur.

In terms of focus I had no particular theme overarching the month so I was essentially free-styling and exploring.

I got some decent pieces out and as usual many not so decent pieces but that's ok because I feel I was efficient on the whole with a few days of struggle but I put that down to me not keeping my shit together.

Only 10 of my pieces this month were ink and paper and they were done in bursts. So no pattern but seemingly based on mood and also I was likely in a place away from my PC. So the remaining 2/3rds were digital and a mixture of vehicle/mecha objects and then some keyframe stuff and the rest being experimentation.

But I must stress this wasn't by design. I felt I took a step back this month and just created without any agenda and from this I observed both positive and negative behaviors. However, going forward I am going to use this 'method' again. It's like clearing the cache from your brain.

For this month I said I would leave vehicles, especially wheeled ones alone. Part of it was to not let them become a chore and also to see if not doing something for a short period of time and then going back into it yields better results and also another remedy to improving creative thinking and execution.

So the coming 30days I am going to loosely commit to focusing on vehicles. Let's see if and by how much I have improved. I super whack at wheels so I need to address that to get that to a useable level. If not higher.

Interiors? I might tackle these a few times or could save for the next 30.

Overall, I feel things are (very) slowly starting to click. I am getting quicker at bringing ideas through (or smarter at not overdoing certain things).

I don't feel I have mastered my time management but I have noticed that I can plough through a lot more in the amount of time that I had during when I started this, likely down to leveling up on my technique rather than better scheduling, though I do pick my battles better now.

But of course, I am a million miles away from where I want or think I can be as an artist yet I am pleased with the progress.

I got a few monkeys off my back but also starting to see the double-edged sword dailies are, or at least from the perspective of trying to become a professional.

I can imagine that when I'm professional I would see dailies as exploratory and a way to blow off creative steam. As a non-pro, this is the case too but it is detrimental towards doing complete projects and working on finesse. Which I feel ultimately are the ones that qualify as portfolio pieces and thus lead to clients and studios hiring you. This is playing in the back of my mind but I'm aware that's probably based on anxiety more than anything else.

Last month I said that I would like at least one of my everyday's to be able to go into my portfolio - as a sign of progress and also to kill two birds with one stone. I would say I have not succeeded over the last 30 days but if push comes to shove I can fall back on a few. So the next 30 I want to bring that level up and have something potentially folio worthy.

Bring on the next 30!

Everday's review 61-90. (originally written Feb 2017)

These last 30 days have been interesting. I feel my work has improved, particularly on the presentation side and I have moved forward in manipulating form too.

There are still some things that I have yet to shake off, so I will see how things go further down the line. As I want to see if these are elements that can be ironed out or simply a result of my 'style'.

This month was dominated by 'wheeled' vehicles, mainly because last month I stated that I was afraid of drawing cars, I still am, probably because I am not in control of my skills when doing them. I fall into traps and then they don't turn out so great and then that feeds into the insecurity.

However, doing these wheeled vehicles has helped in dusting off old cobwebs, I found my old ship curves and ellipse tools and used them more confidently (before I hated these things as it's against my gung ho approach to drawing).

But also in problem-solving and smart cuts (smartcutting?) With some of the cars, in particular, they took a lot longer than the approximate hour my usual everyday's take and this had a knock-on effect on my daily routine. Mainly due to insecurity, for some reason, I am content with doing a crappy spaceship for a daily but not a crappy car, whether it turns out crappy is irrelevant for some reason though. I guess I need to feel like I have put the time or care for me to feel ok with. I need to sort this mindset out.

As a continued practice and smart working will improve my attitude towards my work and thus my quality as opposed to just throwing time and energy at them and hoping for the best.

These last thirty days have involved more software. Photoshop for obvious reasons but also I have invested many hours in Fusion 360. At first, my aim was to build some earlier everyday's into more realised designs, that is still the case, but as I found blocking in shapes pretty easy in Fusion I decided to create bases so I could paint over them. This helped a ton on the vehicles, I didn't need to worry about the wheels in perspective or lighting and I could just think about the forms. I enjoy this approach and I think it feeds my sensibilities better too.

Then lately I booted up keyshot after a long while, and that toon shader is my new favourite tool. I have a crappy printer, and as I use marker paper its semi-translucent property is great for having underlays. And the toon shader can appear like a line drawing. So I tried a printout and it was ok. But as I have a Cintiq I discovered that I can just place the paper on and draw on the screen. And the Cintiq acts as a lightbox too so that was convenient.

As I become more efficient digitally the everyday's will be more in that medium but I do not want to let the drawing aspect slide. I love using markers, or rather I love it when I get them to do what I want, so I need to give my drawings the time they deserve. After all, drawing objects traditionally helps my design sense much better than digitally. This is down to a lack ctrl+z I feel.

One thing I am pleased with about the everyday's is how efficient it has made me. I'm nowhere near the level I want to be and more importantly where I feel I can be, but I have gotten rid of many mental blocks that I thought I never could.

And it has helped my insecurities a ton. I have come to the realisation that in order to grow and do well in this industry is to equally embrace and disregard your insecurities. I know in my head what that means but not sure how to articulate it. Also not giving a fuck about failing, embrace it and just keep thinking about improving, as a human it's impossible to do the next bing better than the last EVERY TIME. But the next best thing is consistency or at least for me it is and that is more than possible because it allows you to forecast the dips and peaks etc and plan accordingly. I am an average artist who can become decent with the right work ethic and in order for me to do that is to be consistent. Everyday's take away from many things if you are short on time but it does keep you consistent. And that for me is a good framework and foundation to build off of.

Some of the more refined pieces this last month look ok if I say so myself but what I am more happy with is how long they took me. A couple of hours. Now, in the pre-everyday-era (P.E.E) some of the more refined pieces would have taken me a week maybe longer, thanks to procrastination, insecurity and not using my tools properly. I am currently in the Midst of Jama Jurabayev's Learn Squared courses and through that, I have learned how to be efficient and use my tools correctly. I am happy for this because it means I can push further forward into trying to realise more accurately what I see in my mind. If I can do that better, I will get where I want to be.

Unintentionally I focused more on vehicles last month. I have loosely followed themes before but never over a long period until now. I will do this again. I may hold back from wheeled vehicles for the next 30 days and then go back to them to see how it gestates. Or I may not. But my aim for the next month is to be more efficient. Smarter in my workflow and to see if one of my everyday's could be considered a portfolio piece. I need that job more than ever right now so I need to ramp up my quality.

Ramblings complete. Bring forth the next 30 days.

Everyday's' review- days 31-60. (originally written Jan 2017)

Impressions:

These 30 days were pretty enlightening. Compared to the 1st 30 days, where there was a lot of procrastination and overall whackness, the next 30 days felt completely different. Firstly I was extremely limited for time so on many days all I had was roughly an hour of free time and this was spent on Everydays. This is thanks to having a job that requires me to work over the Xmas period when everything is just chaos.

This annoyed me as for all their benefits none of my everydays will ever be a portfolio piece. Therefore when I spent the only time I had on an everyday, felt like time wasted and a step further away from becoming a professional Concept Artist.

So I began to use some of my everydays as a way to practice for more developed projects. Time will tell if this works.

Technical:

My drawings have become better especially from 60 days ago, my ability to showcase hard surfaces better is improving but still a ways off from being good. I keep falling into 'style traps' or comfort zones, so this is an area that can be worked on.

I enjoy designing & coming up with ideas more than the act of drawing and making things look cool, perhaps this is because I know I can refine things through mediums like 3D or just Photoshop so I definitely neglect finesse and presentation- but this is a condition I have suffered from for years.

Execution:

Having a lack of time showed me what I can do quickly, and for that, I am happy as compared to last month where I procrastinated a lot, this month that went down a lot and my efficiency went up. This was helped by using a lot of references for my everyday's, thinking through what I want to draw the day before, and picking up a diary and listing out themes for a set week. The diary list worked for a week but then I left that behind, I think I will use that as insurance for future days where time is limited or I am just burnt out.

Learnings:

- I think better than I draw, but the drawing does not justify what I am thinking. 
- I am still overdrawing certain things and this chokes out key forms or details of an idea. 
- I enjoy themes and using references help a lot in being creative and manipulated forms.
-I am still biting off more than I can chew. 
-I am neglecting my portfolio for everydays. (I may try doing a few days worth of 'everydays' in one day when schedules get rough.)
- With a lack of time I become more efficient- by efficient I mean I can still get something out, quality though can vary. 
-I have improved, but I think this is just muscle memory as opposed to leveling up.
- I am scared of drawing cars. 
-My reviews are long.

For the next 30 days:

- Be more efficient. Better technique.
- My drawings should read better to a standard more suited to the industry.
- Plan ahead more.
- Themes: I may go for a weekly theme or target and switch it up the next week. That way I have 7 solid days on one thing and that should help me level up... in theory... by theory just an idea I pulled out my ass.

In an effort to clean up my Artstation page I'm going to make better use of the blog. Here is Month 1 of my everyday journey towards the end of 2016. A journey that lasted a full year and one that really convinced me that I should pursue design and concept art as a career. At the end of every 30 days, I wrote down my thoughts and feelings of the month as a way to process and reflect back on the things I did for the month. They are on my facebook but they are likely better housed here now. 

  

  

(written on 17th Dec 2016)

EVERYDAY'S 30 DAY REVIEW...

Verdict: MEH

The good: Got through 30 days, got used to pen and markers again, some OK ideas that can be taken further.

Caught the bug for doing everdays, even when wanted to not do it, I still did it.

Exposed myself(hehe) by showing work that I never ever would normally, so It can only be good at tackling insecurities..right?

The bad: Technique is weak, messy, not refined enough. Overworking the image and poor use of form. Scatter-gun approach to designs. Nothing to get excited over.

Things to do for the next 30: Pick four themes, and choose one for that particular day. Also, do studies to improve form and technique. Invest in a scanner as taking pics of drawing is annoying af.

The last 30 days have been very interesting. Embarking of everydays has been an eye-opening experience. Learned some good but a lot of 'bad' things about myself. I also kept a little diary of each day and how I felt things went in regards to my approach within these dailies. I felt I procrastinated a lot but it appears I 'felt' things much smoother than I imagined which was a surprise for me.

But the days when I struggled they were very energy-sapping. There were many factors such as responsibilities and work but one thing I am happy with was that everydays became part of my day and I JUST HAD TO COMPLETE THEM. Another thing that was a big step for me was posting this nonsense. As someone trying to break into the industry, I have always been apprehensive about posting my work and only doing so when I feel it is 'worthy' which means I don't at all pretty much. So posting these helped me get over the 'being precious about my work' syndrome.

Although these are always done within an hour or less these things that I have been posting are pretty crude and poor at times, in both technical and design terms. In the past, these like a million other drawing would never see the light of day but posting them regardless has calmed me down a touch. after you post your worst it can only get better right?

Also deciding to design and draw in traditional media has been rewarding too, it's unforgiving and no CTRL+Z and for the most part, as I haven't drawn this much in easily 5 years, I'm still getting used to it.

For the next 30 days, I want to be more structured and deliberate with my designs, and technique. To do this I will choose one of four set themes for the next 30. This should help blank canvas mode and go a bit crazier with some ideas. For days where I feel cooked or can't think, I will probably just do a study.

I will still focus loosely on vehicles and other mechanical type shit. I expect the next review to be much more positive and show a step forward but I want to increase my efficiency.

Let's see how it goes.