Day 83

Overall a pretty productive day I'd say, despite not spending a lot of hours on art. It felt productive as I directly worked on a weakness of mine, which is having too many value groups.

I posted yesterday's comparison painting on a couple of subreddits and the most valuable (hehe) critique I got was that my value choices were a lot better in the old one as I kept the value groups, unintentionally, a lot simpler. I had forgotten this basic rule since I was so obsessed with getting all the planes right and blending smoothly. 

I was somewhat depressed for some time after realizing that I had gone back a step in that area, but then I realized that I also went ahead in others. Art involves so many skills and I feel like the ability to juggle them is not being talked about enough, it's something I struggle with.

Anyhow, I tackled the weakness by drawing on top of a couple of photos and separating the shapes by a 5 value scale (5 is brightest, 1 darkest). It's a pretty good exercise that gets recommended by a lot of artists. The cool thing is that you also become more familiar with the planes of the head. I went for this exercise because I wasn't feeling courageous enough today for a new painting, figured I'd at least do something useful.

I also did two caricature drawings.

The first one went pretty good, but I burned out and left it as it is.

The second one went a lot worse, I unintentionally turned the guy into a khajiit from Skyrim, but I had a lot more fun! I just did whatever and it made me so happy to know that it actually made the person chuckle when he saw it, despite him having a bad day. I had a small positive impact on someone's day with my drawings and that feels great, since I often feel very lonely in my craft and I sometimes question if it is worth the effort.

I also want to mention that my life outside of art isn't going that well, I find it very difficult to combine my passion for art with the responsibilities of my studies, I absolutely dread it, but I am already in my graduation year. The uncertainty of art, my inner struggles and generally having unsupportive people around you is... difficult. I feel stuck in life. My problems outside of art also bleed into my art and vice-versa. 

I should really reach out and find a therapist, but I find it hard to find the courage to talk about my problems face to face with someone. 

A few art notes:

• I know how to apply line weight works traditionally, but am unsure how to apply it digitally in a manageable way. Gotta work on a solution one of the days.
• I should probably keep doing the 5 value draw-overs, but should also apply it to quick painting studies. I am afraid that I will simply forget this value approach if I don't practice it regularly.
• Don't burn yourself out. Life itself is already hard enough for you.