So, I noticed it's getting near my 100th post...by far my longest running blog/online journal of any sorts even dating back to when I was in high school.I was playing around with brushes in Photoshop, and then checking out blogs and seeing if my favorite artists had anything new. I'll say this, I used to REALLY follow a ton of artists, and I used to try and ape their style. I think for most people that's just natural growth unless you're some sort of savant and you're naturally born with your artistic voice. For the rest of us, we have to work at it.
The thing is, when you're trying out those things, at least in my case, it's helping you realize your own style, picking out the things that feel natural, that work for you, and then you're deleting the rest from your brain. For me, I think that my natural style has always been peeking out, but it's only in the last year that I've really embraced it. I'm thinking less about HOW I'm drawing as much as WHAT and WHY I'm drawing. I'm lucky from the standpoint that I get to view a lot of artists at different stages of artistic progression. It helps me think about my own work. So most of the day, I'm living in my head, I'm making art in my brain before pencil touches paper. So, in a lot of ways I'm becoming more and more 'spacey.'
I look to a lot of places for inspiration, movies, music, walking around places, watching people's mannerisms helps a lot. But there are still people that I really appreciate, and respect. Besides the Gaijin guys, there's Eric Canete. I don't know if people understand or respect just how brilliant he is. I look at his work, and it makes me feel warm inside, and that feeling drives me to do more work, because of what he's doing. There's also people like Benoit Springer, Bengal, Sean Murphy, Raphael Albuquerque, Kristian Donaldson, Connor Willumsen, and a bunch of others. I love seeing their work on a regular basis, it makes me happy. I suggest you all check out their work if you haven't. For any of my you guys that I didn't list, you know I'm looking at your blogs and work, but I actually get the chance to tell you on a regular basis, most of these guys I've never been able to talk to, or meet in person.
I think only a handful of people actually view this blog, and even less probably read the words I throw down, but I'm really thankful for you all viewing my progress through this crazy unending journey we call "Art." I better get back to the drawing table...or mish-mash of laptop tables as is my case.
