# Ask Me About Art



## LotusBlossom (Apr 2, 2011)

Boss said:


> What do you think of Vladimir Kush's art?


 I really like his work. I loved that butterfly ship picture, but didn't know who did it, so thank you for putting a name to it! I also love the lushness and smoothness of his style.


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## LotusBlossom (Apr 2, 2011)

paradanmellow said:


> First of all, great thread!
> For a MBTI forum this seems to be very welcomed imo, because personally I never found someone in these types of forums to be so hands-on about visual art XD
> 
> 
> ...


Thank you! I love art, talking about it and reading up about it and looking at works of other artists and discovering new stuff about it.
LOL

yes, I only just recently got the hang of that whole varying the saturation thing! Thank you for the link!


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## Longdove (Jan 4, 2011)

Kayness said:


> I'm so glad I had helped! It willl be a worthwhile investment and will make digital art-ing more enjoyable than if you're just using a mouse. After years of using tablet I can't imagine going back to just using a mouse now.


Even less than a mouse, I have been using just the laptop's touchpad, haha it hardly is ideal for precision, drawing a freehand circle usually ends up having the end result look like a squished tire. I'm very excited about working on a much more realistic canvas, I have so many art programs but I have hardly made any use of them for the longest time because as soon as I went about to create something with the touchpad, it was so off from my intention that I got discouraged and closed it every time, thinking that I was the one at fault, and not rather my instrumentation for going about getting some art done.


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## paradanmellow (Jul 18, 2010)

Kayness said:


> yes, I only just recently got the hang of that whole varying the saturation thing! Thank you for the link!


so is it a more difficult concept then? :O


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## LotusBlossom (Apr 2, 2011)

chimeric said:


> How difficult was it to get established?


I wouldn't call myself established yet. I'm waiting for the day where my art appears on covers of shitloads of books and stuff before I call myself established 



> How hard is to find work? If you're willing to branch out into web design, logo design, animation, etc., is it a challenge to make a living?


The initial step wasn't hard, there was a comic con, and I went and there was a social comics company from Australia, I signed up and gave them my deviantart page link, did a colouring test and they liked it and I've been working with them ever since. Then I'm in a few more continuous side projects. The thing is that these are also terribly irregular, so I've done some one-off commissions in the meantime, too. I've done logo design, but they're in pin up girls style so it's not too much of deviation to what I'm already doing. The income can be unstable yes but I try to manage my money well and not spend a lot, and so far it's OK.



> Is pretty much all of the demand for digital art? If so, are carpal tunnel and getting really zombied-out every day issues many artists deal with?


Digital art is really popular these days because once you get the hang of it, it's actually a lot more convenient. I actually have a form of RSI on my right arm up to the shoulder, the onset of which made me stop doing any real art from 2008-mid 2010 (combined with other factors too, I was a lot unhealthier psychologically than I am now). I went to the doctor soon after the symptoms first appeared, but they didn't help and the diagnosis is inconclusive. It's gotten better over the years though. I talked to another artist friend and he said he had the same thing going on as well, but that's just the two of us.


> Are there other career paths you've considered? If so, do you ever regret not following them?


 When I was a kid living in Thailand (my birth country), I wanted to be a cartoonist at this hugely popular weekly publication called ขายหัวเราะ (link to Wiki - in Thai). The cartoonists there are my childhood idols and I wanted to be like them! But then my family and I moved out of Thailand when I was nine and lived out of the country ever since. It's not really that much of a loss though, because I just want to be able to make some form of art and make a living out of it.


> Lots of questions. Ignore as many of them as you want.


Thanks!


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## Surreal Snake (Nov 17, 2009)

How many different kinds of digital art are there?How does one learn it?Thanks..


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## LotusBlossom (Apr 2, 2011)

paradanmellow said:


> so is it a more difficult concept then? :O


 It's one of this subtle nuances in the way light interact with the objects that I, and I imagine a lot others, never knew to notice. 

I think that over the years, we build a system of preconceptions as a way to make sense of the world (e.g., grass is green, sky is blue, etc.) - some artists would call these 'symbols'. In order to faithfully render my visions, I forced myself to break down those preconceptions, remove those 'symbols' and observe the world as it really is, and though eventually things become clearer, there were some things that didn't fell quite right. I couldn't quite achieve those luminous glow in my paintings the way I liked. I figured it out eventually but it took longer than I would like.

this excellent tutorial explains it really well:
PSG Art tutorial


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## 2GiveMyHeart2 (Jan 2, 2012)

Have you ever had to create an artist statement? If so, what references would you recommend?


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## paradanmellow (Jul 18, 2010)

Kayness said:


> It's one of this subtle nuances in the way light interact with the objects that I, and I imagine a lot others, never knew to notice.
> 
> I think that over the years, we build a system of preconceptions as a way to make sense of the world (e.g., grass is green, sky is blue, etc.) - some artists would call these 'symbols'. In order to faithfully render my visions, I forced myself to break down those preconceptions, remove those 'symbols' and observe the world as it really is, and though eventually things become clearer, there were some things that didn't fell quite right. I couldn't quite achieve those luminous glow in my paintings the way I liked. I figured it out eventually but it took longer than I would like.
> 
> ...


yep, that's very much how it is! well said - always later than we would have liked it to be XDXD but things learned on your own are the ones you know forever so it was worth the struggle; and thanks for tutorial!


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## LotusBlossom (Apr 2, 2011)

Surreal Snake said:


> How many different kinds of digital art are there?How does one learn it?Thanks..


 Digital art is divided into 2 main categories, each of which can be divided into many further subcategories. These are not complete but the ones that I can think of at the min:

*2D*
*painting/drawing/illustration:* this encompasses a lot of styles and this is the kind of stuff that I do. 
*vectors: *path-based graphics. The biggest difference between this and painting/drawing/illustration is that vectors can be enlarged without loss of quality to the graphics.
*photomanipulation:* photomanipulation is just using lots of different photos, changing colours and overlaying textures to create a new piece of art.
*fractal art:* don't know much about this one
*digital photography*
*matte painting *kind of like photomanip in the way that it's photo-based, but the goal is different. Matte painting are used as backdrops in films as opposed to standalone artwork.
*texture mapping:* 'unfolding' the surface of 3D polygonal models onto a flat surface and then overlaying a picture or a texture:








This is done after rigging. There's also bump mapping, normals mapping etc which simulates lots of intricate irregularities on surfaces:









*3D:*
*polygonal modelling:* using programs like Maya, 3DsMax, Zbrush. In the 3D animated films and games industry, you get guys who do just the characters modelling, props modelling and environment modelling
*rigging:* adding 'skeletons' to the polygonal characters. Again in those industries there are guys who do only this.
*animating:* manipulating those skeleton joint handles.
*lighting and particles: *again there are guys who do just this. i'm not familiar with this though.

Where do you want to start?


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## Tad Cooper (Apr 10, 2010)

I was wondering what the best sort of art to study is if you want to go into set or costume design for film/TV/theater?
I'm currently looking at buildings and still life, but wondered if there was other areas more specific?
Thanks!


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## Surreal Snake (Nov 17, 2009)

Thank you.Just processing the information now.Much to learn.


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## thetruehell (Oct 31, 2011)

How do artists look to their work especially paintings, I think that they put lot of emotions and hard work on it, and then sell it to the best bidder, it sound hypocritical to me (no offense).


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## LotusBlossom (Apr 2, 2011)

tine said:


> I was wondering what the best sort of art to study is if you want to go into set or costume design for film/TV/theater?
> I'm currently looking at buildings and still life, but wondered if there was other areas more specific?
> Thanks!


 For costume design, I think fashion design might be close to what you're looking for. I'm sorry but I'm not sure about this. have you looked at your local college to see what courses they might offer? There's a local college here that offers a diploma in 'technical and production management'.


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## Tad Cooper (Apr 10, 2010)

Kayness said:


> For costume design, I think fashion design might be close to what you're looking for. I'm sorry but I'm not sure about this. have you looked at your local college to see what courses they might offer? There's a local college here that offers a diploma in 'technical and production management'.


 Thanks, I'll look into it


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## sprinkles (Feb 7, 2010)

What can I do to avoid frustration and lack of motivation, and just being depressed with art?

I've been working on this Io moth and it just isn't turning out. It's all wrong. I've put what I'd call ridiculous and approaching absurd amounts of work into the stick and the bottom wings so far, and it seems like it isn't worthwhile for what comes out...

Makes me not want to work on anything.


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## Haytham (Feb 19, 2010)

first your art is AMAZING specially the pinups and the cartoon you,it 's sooooo cute 
i was wondering if u could recommend some artists that dealing with existential subjects like human suffering, despair, loss of meaning anxiety....etc, stuff like george tooker and edvard munch u know!


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## LotusBlossom (Apr 2, 2011)

2GiveMyHeart2 said:


> Have you ever had to create an artist statement? If so, what references would you recommend?


 Sorry for the late reply. Artist statement is something that I know I have to create at one point but it's something that I kept on putting off due to my poor thoughts organizational skill (all my thoughts seem to come out as a jumbled mess and I can't tell one end from the other). 

Here's mine:
Kayness' Art Blog: Artist Statement

I'm not sure what you mean by references, if you mean testimonials, I think this is best left for your CV.


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## LotusBlossom (Apr 2, 2011)

haytham said:


> first your art is AMAZING specially the pinups and the cartoon you,it 's sooooo cute
> i was wondering if u could recommend some artists that dealing with existential subjects like human suffering, despair, loss of meaning anxiety....etc, stuff like george tooker and edvard munch u know!


 Thank you!

A few other names I would recommend:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zdzisław_Beksiński
Francis Bacon (artist) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
and this series of paintings by Walter Sickert:
The Camden Town Murder - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Van Gogh's really art is really good for that, because he suffered from years of mental illness, anxiety and poverty and created many of his pieces while institutionalized. Some of his paintings are really turbulent and troubled:


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## LotusBlossom (Apr 2, 2011)

sprinkles said:


> What can I do to avoid frustration and lack of motivation, and just being depressed with art?
> 
> I've been working on this Io moth and it just isn't turning out. It's all wrong. I've put what I'd call ridiculous and approaching absurd amounts of work into the stick and the bottom wings so far, and it seems like it isn't worthwhile for what comes out...
> 
> Makes me not want to work on anything.


I can see how much effort you put into the bottom wings! They are very detailed. 
What don't you like about it? Whenever I find myself in a situation like this, I either just drop that piece of art and not return to it until a lot later (can be up to years) or more often, never, OR radically change the painting, like repainting all of it.


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## sprinkles (Feb 7, 2010)

Kayness said:


> I can see how much effort you put into the bottom wings! They are very detailed.
> What don't you like about it? Whenever I find myself in a situation like this, I either just drop that piece of art and not return to it until a lot later (can be up to years) or more often, never, OR radically change the painting, like repainting all of it.


Well, problem is that they still look rather flat. The edges especially are difficult because there's no prominent line due to the wings being so thin, yet there should be a distinct sense of depth to it regardless. Plus it is hard to emulate the slightly scaled texture of moth wings, they contain millions of tiny 'imperfections' which I managed to emulate a little bit, but not to the level that I would have liked.

Edit: it looks a little better now that I have more of it done, though. I did some work on the body and the fuzzy part near the head - fuzz is hard to make. >.<


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