the debate

i have been to university and have a degree in film and television production, a degree in which i ended up not enjoying in he end and regretting the fact that i didn't do an fine art degree. for at least 6 months i have been debating going back to university to study a fine art degree. I'm constantly coming back to the idea of going back to university. but the eternal debate keeps raging

because i already have a degree i obviously have a student loan to pay back, to do another degree would create more debt especially since they changed the you don't get your tuition paid for you anymore if your parent don't earn enough rule and now i would have to get a tuition fees loan as well as a maintenance loan. this obviously would create more debt with the student loans company and while i don't start paying it back until i earn a certain amount a year i worry about never paying them back.

at the same time i don't want to be left thinking what if i did do an art course would i become better than i am now, or even if i wasn't to do one would i regret not doing it when i had the opportunity. currently i have a job with low hours, i don't have a mortgage and i don't have any children to support. I've considered going to uni again at a later date but then again if i have other commitments would this be possible or would i decide not to because its too much of a risk.

if money wasn't involved I'd have said where do i sign by now but it is and its something that i need to take into consideration. hopefully over the next week i will find answers and make the decision.

on an other note I have had to place my markers down and put my tablet away for the weekend and probably wont pick them up again for a couple of weeks. over the weekend i need to empty out our room except for the bed and redecorate before the wardrobe men arrive next Tuesday(yey wardrobes) I'm looking to also getting a new curtains and maybe a new quilt covers (I've seen one i like where i work) as I'm fed up of the mismatched look we currently have going on.

hopefully i'll be back creating art sooner than i thought i would.

that's all for now (i has to go to work) and hope to up date you guys soon :D

old sketches

i recently started a new sketchbook and decided to put my old sketches up here. hopefully i'll do better at updating the new sketch book unlike this one which has a lot of old work in it.

this is my oldest work, spanning from 14 till around 21. while its not all the work i have done in those 6 years it is the work i currently have access to. i am tempted to go rescue my triptych and other works that my art classes from high school didn't loose or the work my mother hasn't thrown away. some of it hasn't been seen even on deviant art and i think it would be good to compare my work from than and now in order to see my progress.

all of these pictures are published on my DA account http://wildhaggisis.deviantart.com/ my scraps section. if you want to take a closer look at them feel free. i didn't want to concentrate too much on them due to how old some are. however there part of my sketch book (whether they have been drawn on other paper and placed in the sketch book for safe keeping or drawn directly in the sketch book)

the next picture is a character sketch for my Elfin Lied picture which was done as a request. Sadly i was unable to contact the person who asked for this picture and it still remains in my care. I don't if it but often draw fan art, and when i do i usually have to really like the series. while elfin lied is a good anime its by no means my favorite. at the time of buying this anime i was in the lets watch all anime stage and often buying a lot of series because they where on sale some of which i love, some of which i like enough to watch on rare occassions and some of which i hate. elfin lied fell in the category i liked it enough to watch again but not enough to go out of my way to. i think the fact i wasn't really passionate about the anime effected the overall piece and it could have been a lot better.

this sketch was then copied on to marker paper and after several ugly backgrounds in which didn't work i finally finished the image and settled for this. usually i don't plan my images however i ended up drawing in my sketch book this image which was suitable for what i wanted and because it was on the wrong type of paper for my markers i had to re sketch it onto other paper.

the next picture was started at a similar time to the elfin lied one but i finished this one a lot faster. every Halloween i try to draw a picture... often i fail due to at the time been at university at the time and not completing projects. this was done Halloween 2008. this is a lot of peoples favorite piece. apparently cute chibi's are well cute :D here's a quick process of the sketch to the final image. sadly i dint get any pictures of the actual colouring process, but you can clearly see my thought process and changes made from start till finish

the background was planned separately due to not having enough room and wanting to build up as you can see the sketch fence didn't make the final picture. i often find that its best to edit pictures as they go along as while somethings wok when planning, they don't work for the overall final picture.

colouring this was intersting. i used markers, watercolour and white ink for this one. i felt pretty experimental with the stars due to not all of them came out the same and because the watercolour was dam in some places some bled a little creating a brilliantly hazy effect round there edges.

my main disappointment with this picture now that i look back at it is the lack of shadow under the hat and cast on the pumpkin. and think if i was to do it again that the shadow needs addressing. however overall this remains still one of my favorite pieces of art. i want to do some more chibi stuff in the future. there fun to draw and if i was ever to illustrate a children's book this would probably be the style I'd use.

this is all for my old sketches so far, i'll keep updating them, hopefully soon! it will be fun if i can get hold of my really old stuff XD

happy drawing/writing/whatever you guys do.

Space

Every artist has a space in which they create art. Some have massive studios others tiny spaces within there home which they dedicate to there art. I currently live out a bedroom in some small town in England and while I would prefer a room in which to dedicate as my drawing space sadly this isn't currently available to me. Hopefully in the future I can have my own studio :)

For now my studio space is a small fold out table that is next to the bed.

It folds out again to be bigger then that if I need it, however because of the seam I would have to buy a piece of wood to sit on the table so that the seams of the table don't show on my work. For now I have to make do with what I have. Please excuse the horrible curtains. Its not my house and I'm currently with my boyfriend paying board for the spare room. Pity it has awful curtains.

This is only some of my art materials. Because I use my markers a lot I don't put them away, unlike my acrylics and watercolours. On my desk at the moment I have several pads of Bristol board which is my favorite paper out there for markers, my sketch book, my scratch book (warm up book that's full if lines circles etc.), a shoe box which has my pencils drawing pens rubbers etc. in, boxes are good for organisation, my list of things to do book, which I document all the projects I'm working on and how much work still needs doing for each of them (that's the black one with a fairy on the cover). There's also a couple of photo references books which are useful from time to time, two boxes of markers (one for my kurecolour ones and one for my promarkers) my trusty colour wheel and a glass of water for my paint brushes.

You can also see my latest line art Chains (working title) on the table. I haven't started colouring it yet as I'm waiting on an order of markers and even then it all depends on whether the blues I've ordered are light enough to when I can start colouring it.

I also keep things such as my glasses, my watch and a box of tissues on my desk. While there not art related I keep my glasses and my watch there so I can find them easily in the morning, and well tissues... they come in useful for when I have a cold or need to take some of the water off my brushes so no art studio should be without them :D

this table is also used to set up my laptop and tablet on from time to time. my laptop is used mainly for collecting reference photos and often i use it to print a reference out and look for references and obviously look at tutorials and artists work i like. when it comes to digital art however i use the more powerful PC down stairs due to its nice big screen.

I have learned to utilise the space I have available. With a simple board that has been supported by the legs of the table I have more room to keep things. Here i keep my printer which I use to print off references sometimes, and writing for my art work. There's also all my Imagine FX magazines stored in box's here, a messy pile of manga and a book on illustration.

Most of my books whether they be art related or not are stored under the bed along with my DVD's, hopefully when the new wardrobes get fitted a lot of these will move some of these (especially the DVD's) onto shelves

My other materials such as paintbrushes, other types of paper, watercolours acrylics etc. are in boxes put away in the built in cupboard which is going to be replaced with a built in full wall wardrobe soon... finally been able to hang up my clothes is going to be awesome.

These are all the art books and magazines that I currently own except for one book on illustration ( I recently got that one). A few of which because i don't use them I'm thinking of selling along with my film books.

I think its important to read books not only on technique but other artists and art theory to gain an in site into the art world. Though I would recommend reading them from the local library over buying them as some art books can be expensive.

Anywho that's a look at my space which I create art, its nothing fancy but its where I work from for now.

Happy drawing writing or whatever you guys do.

Tara McPherson and practicing colouring

There's this artist I really like, in fact I think shes on her way to becoming my favorite. I only found the artist Tara McPherson http://www.taramcpherson.com/art/around a week ago after reading this months copy of Imagine FX and fell in love with her work instantly. I love her colours and images, usually with nude drawings I feel very uncomfortable, maybe because the female characters seem rather weak to me and vulnerable... and in some cases sex objects (especially nudes on deviant art). But in McPherson's work this isn't the case. when looking at her characters I always get the impression that there strong, there's an innocence about them and the sense that there completely comfortable.

One of my favorite images by her is her Weight of Water Part Three

I would highly recommend looking at her work. She has inspired me a lot and i hope to create better art because of her work. I have been unhappy with my images recently, I've tried moving more to realism over what most call Aime however I'm still not satisfied with it. I think its because I need to work on my style more and add a lot more emotion and story to my pictures rather than falling back on over used themes. Its nice when you finally figure out whats missing from your art work. Its really inspiring.

While reading McPherson's blog I found this video. I find it fascinating to watch other people paint. I think it gives a brilliant in site on how an artist creates and especially helps those still learning. What I like more about this video though is the fact shes painting the walls of a gallery. There is a much more friendly atmosphere because of it. Its also links everything together with a definite feeling this is McPherson's gallery showing.

we will rock you from choque cultural on Vimeo.

While reading her blog I stumbled across this http://www.darkhorse.com/Features/Games/983/Tara-McPherson-Coloring-Book which I thought was kinda cool. While it was suppose to be done online I was having problems with lag due to my laptop having issues of over heating etc. so I decided to print it and colour it with markers for colouring practice.

It was a lot of fun to do, especially since how much I love McPherson's work. Its nice once in a while to colour someone else's work as it lets you think solely about colour rather than fixing mistakes you have made in your work etc. I want to colour more line art because of this.

Anyway that's all for now. I will probably do another update later with my sketches.

Thanks for reading and happy drawing/writing/whatever you guys do.

one of 3 pieces i'm currently working on

i was suppose to be working on the layout of my illustrated book (working title:- Entrapment) and i ended up doing this little sketch

i liked it so much that i decided to take this sketch to a finnished image. sofar i have resketched it and inked it. over the next week or so i'm going to colour it, well once i order some more markers to colour it with, need more light blues for this one.

anywho this was a short update

thanks for stopping by! happy drawing/writing/whatever you guys do