My artistic journey is wondrous. And like any journey, there are highs and lows. While the disappointments never make their way out of my digital notebook, they influence me far more than my triumphs. I pour over those flops, searching for every imperfection and cringing when I uncover them. Now, before we go further, I’m not someone who enjoys wallowing in my failures. Ultimately, I use those blunders to further my skills. And last week I published two images that benefited from that kind of scrutiny, Touching Water and Blocked Sun.
Neither of these hand studies is perfect, but each pushed me past my comfort zone. When I sat down to work on Touching Water, I had a larger composition firmly entrenched in my mind. But the moment I finished capturing the mage’s hand, I dismissed the wizard, letting his features fade from my memory. I’m sure one day, that fellow will burst out of the fuzzy corners of my mind and demand the portrait I refused to do, but that’s a problem for future me.
On the flip side, when I sat down to draw Blocked Sun, I’d just seen a tutorial focusing on Subsurface Scattering and I wanted to explore it. Of course, before I scratched a single line on my tablet, I thought back to all the times I pressed a flashlight against my hands and grinned at the red glow emanating from my hand. As I roughed out the fingers, I realized it would be fun to position my subject in front of the setting sun.
Hunker down in your chair and enjoy the artwork below. As always, if you want a better look click a picture to head over to my DeviantArt gallery and consider buying a print.
