A few of my colleagues have been wondering why I haven’t been updating my blog. This isn’t a matter of I’m being lazy but rather because I’ve been without the internet for far far too long. Clearly, against my will (because let’s face it, I love on the internet.)

Why is this you ask? Well firstly my access was cancelled a little bit before I moved. And then I moved. My new place supposedly has a high-speed network but it’s rather deceiving and doesn’t like me. Every time I try to connect to it I need to find a corner in my empty living room and even then I get two bars… not even enough to run Facebook. QQ

So for the time being I’ll be logging on from work or from school until my stupid internet matters are resolved. Meanwhile enjoy my cog-eyed owl.

I had a conversation a few days ago with my good friend Hawk about a tweet I made about my work ethic. I commented about how I felt that I didn’t have talent… that is to say I can’t draw… that is to say that I wanted to comment on how it wasn’t talent that I had but the fact that  I work ridiculously hard. Hawk commented that yes, I did work hard but that I was also talented and that I couldn’t argue this mainly because he has a fan following who sends him art to critique. Some people just don’t…have it I guess.

The more I thought about this… the more I wanted to look back on my old work and I realized just how far I came. Art does take a certain mindset… but I still don’t know if I could call that talent. The more I thought about it the more I dwelled on the psychology of art…and math… and science. It brought me to the core of why I draw and paint and that’s mostly because of my social upbringing. I’m not sure whether it was because my elementary school teachers wanted to teach me about being “unique” and “creative” or whether it was because I spent too much time looking at colourful children’s cartoons and books.

Somehow that all lead me to high school. I was really good at finding creative outlets in writing, in performance and in drawing. The odd thing is is that I never took art in secondary school, in fact, I detested that teacher and I ended up just drawing on my own free time. Before I embarked on the idea of art school I wanted to become a journalist, however that field is all sorts of ridiculous and I inevitably decided against it. I looked at my other passions, and ultimately decided on art.

Talent, I think, doesn’t define someone’s natural ability, but rather, their ability to understand the technicalities and their adaptability to certain problem-solving techniques. An excellent example of this comes from reading Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain By Betty Edwards. As stated, it’s all about adaptability… and practice.

I’ve decided to embark on a personal project that I’ll be working on the next few years. Some of you may know that I’m really interested in comics and graphic novels and it’s something that I definitely want to explore as an illustrator at least once. As of late I’ve also been musing on an idea that will challenge me as an artist and a storyteller and decided that I want to do something challenging and compelling.

The idea I have is to write and draw a story about 8-12 pages long each year until I graduate. The catch is that each story will be completely void of dialogue. I want to do a yearly story to see my progression from when I started to when my life closes a chapter to begin a new one. I want to know if I can draw something that can tell a story easily without confusion without any need for explanation within the story itself.

I’m writing this to motivate myself…to hold myself and make a promise to myself that THIS WILL BE DONE. Let’s face it, a lot of artists will have these personal projects and they’ll start on them but never finish. I want to break this habit and just…go for it. Quite like how I did with my last project which was a portfolio for school. With that comment, I’ll leave you with one of those portfolio pieces… as a representation of what I don’t HAVE to accomplish but NEED to accomplish.

R.

Today… despite a few weeks of negligence, you, my beloved readers of few… deserve for your patience an image post!

This is a little owl I drew on the first page of my Moleskine sketchbook. I love this little guy… so much so I think I’ll make a larger illustration of him.

I bought a new brush pen and wanted to do a calligraphic sketch with it. I decided on jellyfish… they’re so interesting and quite intriguing to draw.

I wish I had more things to show you guys but unfortunately I’ve been boggled down with moving back to Ontario, looking for a new apartment, looking for a job, and trying to pay off some debts. If any of you are interested in any commissions, paintings or otherwise, please let me know! I could always use a little bit of work while I’m out of school plus the money will help with that whole…surviving thing. Just send me an email at thebarrelmonkey AT gmail DOT com for rates and service inquiries.

R.

It seems that I’ve already begun to neglect you, my lovely blog with very few readers… but it’s fine. I didn’t have much to say anyways. I finished my self-portrait but do to epic luck, my camera is out of batteries and thus, I do not have a photo to show you all. I’m not sure how much I like this painting… I feel I could’ve done a lot better but I lacked some materials that I had consequently left in Ontario. Matte medium, oh how I miss you.

To be honest though, I just wanted to come to this pleasant little blog of mine to pass off some thoughts that some people may or may not share with me nor agree with. Who knows?

In the past year I was doing a one-year course in Art Fundamentals. Now, I’m not saying I’m an AMAZING artist, far from it, but I like to think that I exceeded several people in terms of versatility. A lot of my fellow classmates were strong in certain areas but not quite others. For example, a friend of mine did amazing life drawings of our models but needed more improvement in applying his skills to painting. It’s not like he didn’t try though, by the end of the school year he showed amazing improvement and it’s because he applied himself in the field he was weakest in. If you work in one field over and over, you will be good in that one area, but how will it affect the other areas?

What I’m trying to get at is… versatility. As in, I know a lot of artists who have sadly, only ever drawn cartoons or anime. They aspire to find a career path with it but in fact, have not drawn from life. At some point, I’m sure it’s because they believe that trying to draw something from life, in a realistic style, is too difficult. However I found that this lack of education has become so accustom to them that when they do approach life drawing that they unfortunately transform it into the style that they had learned.

Life as an illustrator isn’t easy. The art life is romanticized. It is not painting in a big bright house on a porch, over-looking the sunset. The business is hard and competitive. If these artists who are looking to work in the industry of their choice, the unfortunate reality of it is that if they have no versatility in their work and cannot show a diversity of styles… well it’s quite like hearing someone sing with a monotone voice. It’s all just one, flat note and an assault on the song and to your ears.

Or another problem I find is that some people do leech off a style but clients want to see YOU in YOUR work. Even if your clients want something done very specifically, they are buying your individual style.

So to my fellow aspiring illustrators; please keep in mind that you need to work hard to achieve your goals and with that you need to keep your individuality but also keep your work fresh, diverse and make sure that you’re able to be versatile with your work.

R.

I’ve been rather productive on and off the past week, working on my self-portrait and as well as sketching out ideas for the paintings I’m to be doing for my mom. I’ve also acquired a new Moleskine sketchbook so I can sketch while I venture to places, as opposed to carrying out my primary sketchbook which is heavy and bulky. As much as I love that one, it really isn’t that great for travel.

Anyways, here’s a preview of my self portrait. it’s about 80% done. I still need to add some background colour as well as add more depth into the figure itself. More shading/highlighting, you know the drill. Anyways, here you go!

Oh dear, what’s this? A post? How absurd for the owner of this site and blog to actually POST something. Unfortunately for those looking for an art post, I have no art to show. Partly because I am currently working on some pieces that are incredibly unfinished and also partly because I am writing this blog whilst having a coffee in a Starbucks. If this is the case, what, per se, will I be writing about?

In this post I will be laying down my ideas of what I DO want to write about. People, projects, ideas.

Well you see, despite this post not having any images of any recent illustrations, I will in fact, talk about the art and illustration world. I would like to highlight the importance of art in our modern society and culture. I would like to highlight artists that I have come across who’s work has captivated me, or highlight the projects of my talented friends. Another thing I would like to get back into is Illustration Friday which I had participated in in the past but I do wish to challenge myself creatively and think that this is a great project and exercise to get into.

So why am I telling you all this? Well mostly so I can motivate myself knowing that I promised this content not just for me, but to my viewers (what little there are.) I hope that those who ARE reading this blog can hold me to my goals. I hope that when I look back to those first few posts, I will be able to see a growth in not just my art but with my ideas as well.

With love,

R.

As many of my friends know, my google account was compromised not too long ago which actually, despite the annoyance, gave me a clean slate as I no longer have an attachment to my blogspot account. This has enabled me to recreate the blog in my domain which has unfortunately been stagnant and unused for quite a while.

I hope to be able to update more frequently and be able to bring more to the table. Although this blog will mostly run as an art blog, I will occasionally have posts involving my personal life as well as thoughts, ideas and current events. I enjoy writing as much as I do blogging, but I will be sure to separate my posts by using the tagging option.

Enjoy!

R.