Morbid
I found that rendering skulls is the most basic skill gauge when it comes to how good you are at picking up values. The subject has everything from round to irregular shapes and can have a lot of forms just by a difference in lighting angles. You can attach other objects into the composition and it conveys a different meaning.
I think this will be my skill check subject in the future.
What else is new?
If anyone has been particular about the art I churn out, there are subtle differences in technique in rendering things. For this one, I wanted to let go of the minor details and focus more on the overall impression more. There's jewelry but not really jewelry there. There are flowers but these aren't really flowers, just random strokes that resemble floral patterns.
The QR code I use as a watermark leads to my @artofadamada account on Hive as a landing page whenever I share my work across other social media. I doubt I'd get a significant reach as I am now but if I can get more people curious about where that QR code leads, hopefully it converts to more sign ups on the platform.
My other social media pages: DeviantArt, Instagram, X
Saw the pic earlier on twitter...
But for some reason I can see it clearer here...
The skull looks hairy...
Intended?
Yes
I am pretty sure that's why skulls have been a very commons study with artists for a very long time XD
except me because apparently I don't do anything normally
I think that's the fuzziest skull I have ever seen and now I want to pat it.
He's an old man that became a clown crowned in glory but dead. Let's call him Charlie.
For me, looking at your work lately, I feel like a magician watching another magician, knowing all the secrets, while still trying to figure it out.
The not so secret sauce just for anyone else that's reading the comments and interested:
Recently I've been learning more about composition from a photographer's point of view instead of a 2D or 3D digital artist perspective. I'm just at an art phase where I enjoy the new stuff I'm learning but still frustrated at how mediocre my outputs have been trying to apply what I'm learning.
It's not fishing for compliments, just regular art frustrations learning the craft. My other side hobby is collecting images from different artists and exploring their methods as a magician trying to figure out another magician's trick. The world of art is huge, and I glad to live in an age where I get to see more styles.
I used to love that airbrush. Past tense just because I haven't been working on it in a long time. And layers were my best friend. Often I drop a glop of color down on its own layer, then shape it just by erasing some or moving some and blurring the edges, then attaching it to the layer below. That made adding depth much easier as well. Shading was just a matter of using the airbrush on its own layer, then adjust the opacity, blur the edges.
Far too often I'd go for the microscopic details. And that happened after one person noticed a flaw I missed when blurring edges. Majority of people did not notice. I knew every pixel. Even when it looked like I didn't put much thought into it. lol
I never once took lessons. Trial and error.
I do enjoy looking and trying to solve the puzzle. I never used to do that when I was working on my own stuff. Had zero influences.
I look at what the mainstream artists on Twitter post, then the niche art styles, then the masters just to compare. Sometimes they inspire and sometimes they burn motivation because the skill gap is vast and the acquisition of taste tends tend to downplay whatever progress I made to improve at the technical level.
Well that was the case before until I learned to suck it up and draw better, it's not like I get any better doing nothing. I still get demotivated at the miniscule progress but it's something I can endure more knowing I'm just moving at my own pace and this in turn helps me appreciate other people's pace. Like you, I do enjoy figure out whether I can replicate techniques or find alternatives to do it if the program I use has limitations as a challenge. The world of art is huge and it gets larger the more I learn about other artists. This euphoria in doing art for the sake of it is something no money can buy.
It's good you're able to still cruise along.
Demotivated is a powerful word and I use that one to describe my situation, yet in reality it's not quite enough to fully describe all things contributing to my decision to shut it all off. Fine with the decision, of course. It is what it is and life goes on.
Around here I wouldn't mind supporting more, but far too often something catches my eye and I find out it was just a prompt. Finding effort became a chore and a bore.
The first thing that comes to mind when I read this is how an artist struggles putting whatever they experience in their heads into corporeal form. I hope you find your muse and give them a good fondling.
Hive is a small place for art and it feels like an echo chamber but the echoes don't have personality except for artist that do art above the prompts. Even if it's not AI generated, some artists here put effort, have technique but don't seem to put some soul into their work because there's no vote if it's not a prompt. So I went outside the chamber, logged into twitter, see the creativity out there where people don't get as much attention or monetary rewards for sharing their stuff online and lo and behold, inspirational diversity. I don't really mind the trend here as my faith follows the you do you religion.
Part of that is just my way of avoiding things I don't want to talk about.
Hive is a tricky one. The peaks and valleys in crypto control or influence the people. Strange pattern to be stuck in. I still see a lot of potential. Plenty working on their own things. Nothing wrong with that.
I understand why the creatives are elsewhere. It's quite simple. They want people to see their work and they know there's a better chance elsewhere. Can only deal with the silence here for so long before it becomes deafening.
Quite a good article. Good afternoon for today and peace be upon us all.
👌