Another Weird Drawing

Yep... some more weird drawings. In this case, I was thinking about some basic abstract shapes for my next painting and came across a picture of a neuron. Coupled that with some eyes and change out the body a bit, and we have this little boy.

The idea was some sort of storm creature that floated around the clouds and absorbed energy from the electricity. Since he has a large mouth, a more efficient way to hunt is to have his eye(s) on tentacles in his mouth. He darts straight for the prey, captures it in the mouth (like a whale) and then it passes under the eye and into the gullet. The stick-like appendages around the mouth are used to collect energy so that he can survive, if there is not enough food to eat. The "hands" contain soft filia to help filter out small particulate bugs in the air. Naturally, the "tail" helps him maneuver around the wind currents.

Latest Painting: Focal Point

"Focal Point" is an original 14" x 18" oil painting created on a 1" stretched, high-quality canvas. The painting is presented as unframed (Sides are painted).

When working on a landscape painting, there is always some area of interest that I want to paint. This is the main focal point. The areas outside of that focal area are the supporting actors in the scene. For each person, that focus point is different and is based on their particular tastes or desires. In this case, for some reason, I really liked the trees farther out in the distance.

All Artwork is copyrighted to Doug Hoppes Studio and is not to be copied or reproduced in any form without the permission of the artist. Sale of this item does not transfer its copyright.

Starting work on newest painting

Now that I'm recharged from the IMC, started work on my latest painting. The story concept that I'm going with is that when we look at a landscape scene, there is always something that interests us. For each person, it's different. In this case, from the photo reference, I really liked the landscape in the distance.

So, the first step was to create the thumbnail for the image. As learned from IMC, I need to create multiple thumbnails and not just go with the first one that I like. Also, for the abstract shapes, I searched various images on the internet until I came across an image that seem to match what I wanted.

The thumbnail shows the basic shapes that were used to give the painting some dimensionality. It also borders the focal area to create additional interest to view that area. Now that the thumbnail is the way that I wanted it, other techniques to focus the eye on the focal area will be to use color. For the area around the focal point, a simple grey-scale painting will be done. At this point, I think that the bands will be red, but not sure.

Things to remember are to: 1) apply different strokes in different directions to create interest. 2) Don't rely on symbols for the water or trees. Mass them the way that they are, 3) Remember to establish a foreground, middle ground, and background. In this case, the water in front is the foreground, the trees and area of focus are the middle ground, and the water/trees in the area of focus are the background. Need to establish the values appropriately.

Weirder and Weirder

So, last night I was playing around with drawing more eyes and came up with this boy. It started out as a simple snake with an eye for a head. Then, I figured that that was pretty boring, so, started adding more eyes.

Next thing you know, I ended up with a mouth, a fuller body and a bunch of eye stalks.

Now, it looks kind of like a mad carrot with a snake body and a bunch of different eye stalks. After that, I realized that it was time for me to go to bed.

Why Do It?

You know... after the IMC, I started thinking a lot about my artwork, the illustration field, selling of my products, studying, etc. Then, I start thinking about all of the things in my life: my wife and doggers, my friends, my work, my activities and hobbies. I realized that, when I'm starting something, I'm a pretty focused individual. I work really really hard to be good at it.

When I started rock-climbing, I trained, read books, took lessons such that I could start climbing 5.10b's. When I started programming, I read everything that there was about programming, programmed in my spare time, took workshops, and eventually became a really good programmer. Same with hiking. It wasn't enough to just hike here and there, my friend and I had to hike at different parts of the world (Kilimanjaro, Machu Pichu, Iceland, etc). In every case, to make sure that I did well, I trained. It's not always fun. Most of the time, it's a lot of hard work. However, there's something in me that requires me to excel at it. Not to be the best, but to be pretty good.

This comes with a price. It means that I focus on it to the exclusion of other things. When I was training for Kilimanjaro, I hiked a lot with my friends, but, on my own time, I worked out, I only read hiking/training books, I only ate properly, etc.

Same is true with my artwork. For the last 3 years, I've only read art books, I spent a lot of time drawing and painting, taking lessons, working on the business model to sell my work, etc. My artwork sells at art/craft fairs. Generally enough to pay my booth fees, supply costs, etc. So, the "hobby" is paying for itself. Plus, I usually have money left over to buy my wife jewelry and gifts and the occasional toy for myself (i.e. an iPad and a laptop).

However, for the last 6 months, I've not been having fun. Why? I don't need the money to eat. I don't need the money for retirement. I have a very good job, that I love, with great co-workers and an extremely good salary. I don't need to have people tell me how great I am to feed my ego. I also don't have that obsessive drive that people have for certain activities (You HAVE to draw every day or every other day or you feel bad, etc.... I enjoy drawing/painting, but it's not a requirement for me to be happy).

So, why do I do it? Because drawing and painting make me happy. Would I still be happy even if I wasn't selling my work? Absolutely. It's the way that I am. I'm a nice, goofy, happy guy. This is due to my nature and who I am. Not what I do. Time to remember that. Time to remember why my friends hang out with me. Time to reconnect with the life that I use to have.

I remember in Greg Manchess' talk at IMC, he mentioned that artwork is not fun. He meant that, I'm assuming, that, if you are working for someone, it's a job. It's not always fun. It's a lot of hard work. Since I don't have this as a job, I CAN have it always to be fun. For me, when I get to periods that it's not fun, it's time to stop. Maybe resume it later. Maybe not. For me, life is about having fun and enhancing the life of my friends/family around me.

Self-confidence and Self-doubt

Well, now that I'm back from my workshop and starting to get back to work on my paintings, I realize that I'm stuck. For the last couple of days, I'm trying to figure out how to do a basic painting. Most of it is related to self-confidence and self-doubt.

Now, as many of my friends know, when it comes to my work, I'm a pretty confident guy. I've been a physicist studying atmospheric effects on laser weapon systems (For Hughes Aircraft), been an engineer designing missile trackers (using Kalman Filtering techniques) and air defense networks, been lead architect/designer building Medicare enrollment systems, Toll Plaza ticketing systems, financial stock systems, and I'm currently writing software for a neuroscience company. I've had a pretty successful career and have been happy with all of my accomplishments. I've worked hard at it and studied a lot.

So, my next phase is to be a successful artist. People like my paintings. I sell a number of them at art fairs and to various other venues. My prints seem to be pretty popular. At this time, I sell enough to pay for all of my shows and my supplies, plus my display systems.

So, given all of that, why am I not confident in my artwork. It was IMC. Seeing all of those amazing artists, I realize that I have a LONG way to go. Seeing the amazing paintings and concepts from people, I view my art as relative simple. I think that it's just not good enough.

We are our own worst critics.

How do I get back to where I was confident again? Simple. After indulging in the emotion of not being good enough and self-pity (I always indulge in the emotion. As Tuesdays with Morrie wrote, give into the emotion, see it for what it is, then release it), I now have a plan of attack. I realized that I LIKE my paintings. They may be simple, but I LIKE them. I'm not one to admire the really complex painting with a lot of things going on. So, given that, what can I do? I can make my abstract shapes a little more complex (eventually adding a 3D aspect to them). I can render the landscape more realistically (do a better job of massing the shapes).

I don't need to follow everything that I did when I was at IMC. I just need to get the pieces that I learned and liked and fold them into my painting style. I LIKE my painting style and my paintings give me a sense of peace when I view them.

Now, back to work.

Eyes again

Yep... more eyes. As I draw more and more eyes, I'm getting used to certain features that are always present in the eye. The curvature of the eye, the various textures within the pupil area, and the various ways that the eye lids look. Now that I think that I have the basic eyes down, I think the next phase is to work on various eye expressions. I started that a little bit with the last image, but I need to explore different ways that the eyes and eyebrows are shaped for different expressions.