day #365 - the end of an era

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I thought I was on top of it; I had finished early and was looking for a movie to watch already 3 hours ago. And I don't know how time went by. A phonecall, some networking studying, some online shopping and here we are, already past the time for an early movie. Regardless, today is a special day. The blog is over! I finished 365 days of daily painting and recording it, whatever that means. A big part of the process I will have to keep doing mainly for myself. Perhaps taking daily photos of my work and saving it on some folder. This has provem useful many times when I trying to date a piece I've been working on. Also making a small diary of today's achievements. It's still useful. But this will be done for my eyes only. I also don't know if I will be continuing my obsessively daily painting. How would life be if I had days off? Now for example that I'm moving out and I have to daily chores that until now were completely taken care of, perhaps I'll allow my
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day #80 - Rush

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So where do I start today? Probably this is the most creative day in months, probably since last year same period that I was on a comic-making retreat with friends. We are talking about creative rush. So much, that I forgot to do my daily gesture practice (of which I did 5 minutes just now for the sake of it). I'm very very happy about all this. So where do I start? Today I went online in my new-found discord "tribe" and started streaming my iPad screen. I decided to start doodling with my favorite brush in black and white and filled a sheet with various nice things such as the "hoarder Samurai king and the tired knight who came to get his stuff back by force" or the "the ostrich-rider in the desert".
What do I particularly like about these two? First of all the fact that it's some creative random outpouring like I so much enjoy (I didn't know what I was making, I was just doing light-and-dark play). This is my favorite drawing style. Randomness. Then I love the mirror at the side of the archi-bishop's throne. I like the desert landscape composition; probably my favourite type; the cloud (or tall mountain) outline contrasting the more alive shadows; the awesome spaceship-on-a-stick; nice shine and details. In particular for this piece I like the "detail control" - going from very detailed to very sketchy without appearing unnatural. well done to myself.


I'm most excited however about the headliner piece. It started with a sketch, an ambitious one, and I I tried to apply a palette that I saw in my minds eye last night (I couldn't sleep, I was very agitated but at least it was a creative insomnia).  While it was coming out decently, by the halfway point I was so dissatisfied that I was ready to call it a day and give up. The ground was a mess of colors and values. Then I decided to start simplifying the ground. I redid it with one color, killed all the values and details and started again from there; now I love it! This time it turned out amazing; I'm so happy about it. I also like the intentional atmospheric fog that I tried creating - separating the hind leg from the front one! Finally I love how the plain down in the valley is so monochromatic, I'm proud for not making a mess with colors!

Finally, the most exciting thing of the day (reaching a height of 200% excitement) is that I took part in a workshop on the discord server about comics and it was a play of collaboration. Eventually I didn't get to make my panel, but while waiting I indulged in sketching Wendy's ...Wendy smashing a McDonald's icecream machine.  I the process I managed to get interesting expressiveness in my character, both facially, but by exaggerating the body posture - something that I haven't thought of doing I my posture/gesture studies! I've reached new heights of expressing dynamic movements! Very fun! I'm also excited, because I've managed to create a somewhat consistent character and here enemy. While I was drawing, I could superimpose the cartoony expressiveness of the body in the french comic Naviis, something that I find very exciting! I hope that all the comics books I've read and movies watched, will be equally useful - if so, then I'm on a very good path for success; I've seen literally thousands of movies!

Finally, regarding the last minute gestures, I'm very happy; I probably have worked more than 8h today in total (didn't count) so I was already warmed up with the rest and I feel it shows; the fluency and looseness is there! I wish I was already so warmed up!

Overall a very productive and creative and uplifting day!

PS. Despite the newfound community, I still have minimal interaction with it so for now I can attribute my "fruition" to the sense that I'm being watched, and that I have to perform; something that in general causes me stress, but if things go well and I relax a bit, and feel I'm "good enough" then it works only as an aphrodisiac, not a handicap. Of course "being liked/accepted" or "feeling good enough" is not the healthiest motivator, but then again, it works wonders!

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