Inktober - Didn't get too far, but here's what was made.

Life can really get in the way of the things you really want to do. So can laziness. Whatever, here's what I got done for the month (there are more drawings, but they don't fall in line with this series):

I started with 'not so great to work on, but great to look at' yellowed newsprint paper with a grid. I picked it up from some school supply store in Downtown Brooklyn on the way home. They have a bunch of old watercolor sets, paper, paints, pencils, etc. from the 70's and 80's. I bought a few things just for the packaging design.

These drawings were an exercise in symmetry, which I have a lot of trouble with. My brain has a hard time doing mirror images. The grid definitely helps. Angles and proportions are tough in general, but it's good to challenge yourself.

I read somewhere that Leonardo DaVinci would test his drawing abilities by drawing the same thing from different angles and perspectives. It's a good way to know an object inside and out to help you recall information when you're drawing from your imagination. Pretty cool. 

The American Museum of Natural History: Drawing studies of the Great Wooly Mammoth Skeleton

The Great Wooly Mammoth: Drawings and Studies

I went to the American Museum of Natural History sometime in mid-July to draw some bones with my old personal trainer and friend, Warner. He didn't have much time to stick around and draw with me for too long since he had a booked schedule at David Barton Gym, but it was fun nonetheless to draw with a fellow artist.

I stood drawing for quite a few hours. My back began to hurt after a while, and I barely got any real drawing done. Doesn't help that tourists feel the need to stand right in front of you when they can clearly see you are drawing what is in front you of. I wish there was an easier way to go about this, but to my knowledge, there isn't! One day, though, I'd like to have the museum all to myself to draw every single thing that is in there. All of it is quite beautiful. It is by far my favorite museum in New York City.

Here are two of the most "finished" drawings I was able to complete during my visit. The scans came out strange and two toned for some reason. One side looks warmer than the other. Not sure how that happened.

These last few days living on my own has really helped me find out what I really want to do in life. I want to get into online marketing. I'd like to be a few things, actually, all of them relating to the internet. I've been teaching myself to code learning HTML5, CSS, Bootstrap, and even began the daunting, intimidating behemoth that is Javascript. I've been using Codeacademy to learn these different languages. My roommate, Allan, has been learning to code for a over a year now. He has encouraged me to try it out myself.

Eventually I would like to show some of my progress and web creations on here to show that I'm not wasting my time learning this. There seems to be quite a lot of opportunity for coders, UX/UI designers, and internet marketing folk. I want to immerse myself in that world, and change my lifestyle of uncertainty into something much more manageable and career oriented. Illustration is a wild profession that I just can't break into. The more years that go by, the more I realize it is not for me.

It's quite relieving to realize that. I am at peace with it. It took quite a bit of rejection and "going nowhere" to finally get the message. I appreciate art. It will always be a part of me. To make it a profession is ridiculous, especially when there are people far more talented, and far more driven to succeed than I am. I'd like to say that I gave it my best shot, but I know in my heart that it is a lie.

Be authentic. Be realistic. Know how you can be useful to others. I finally figured it out, and now it is just a matter of getting started in that new direction.

To those of you still chasing a dream, good luck!

Love At First Sight

He just can't catch a break.

New York City Subway Train Drawings | Breaking in a new sketchbook.

Here are a some subway drawings I did over the last few weeks. Most of these were done on the ride to and from work on the E train. That's a whole two hours of drawing each day! I go to work five days a week, that makes it ten hours of drawing time a week (not including my time spent in the studio), so by the end of this month I would have drawn for forty hours. Pretty valuable practice time! Let's see if there are any results over a long period of time.

Christmas Gift

Curious Girl meets a Frog Sepia Ink on Card Paper 2012

A good friend will receive this card.