I have been working in the admissions department at my old art college. I get to travel all over New England and beyond to visit high schools and meet with prospective students. Two weeks ago, my travels brought me to Long Island. While in my hotel I realized that Donato Giancola's studio was in Brooklyn. For those of you who don't know the name, he is a major figure head in the current Fantasy/Sci-Fi genre illustration realm. He is an oil painter by trade and as such is commissioned frequently for private collectors and fine art galleries. Needless to say he is a busy man and it is reflected in his skill and craft. He is also a super nice guy and was gracious enough to invite me to his studio after I emailed him on a lark.
I sat in his studio for hours watching him work and during that time I realized that what I was watching was someone living the dream, my dream. He works 9-5, monday through friday on artwork with weekends and nights free to spend with his family. I'm sure its probably not as whimsical as it sounds, but it sounds damn good to me. So after leaving his studio, muttering nervously my goodbyes, I drove home in silence processing what I had witnessed and how I could achieve the same career.
Then, like a slap in the face, I realized how stupidly simple the solution was. I need to treat my artwork as a second job. No more beating around the bush with it. I need to commit hours, a specific budget of time to achieve my goal. I currently have to work 8:30 - 5 and sometimes more on my current job to pay bills and survive. To transition to the dream job, I need to work at least part-time and commit the equivalent time on developing my portfolio. Then, once I start getting work, the same amount of time needs to be devoted to doing said work and building a career every step of the way. Then, once I am confident I can support myself on solely commission, lop the other job off like an infected limb. Pardon the grim sentiment, just being overdramatic :)
So to help manage my schedule, I downloaded this program to keep track of my hours. It acts like a punch clock that forces me to manage my time and keep me on the straight and narrow. Its also great to keep track of your time because you can then accurately convey to a client how long a project may take.
All this long-winded, life jargon aside, I am still chiseling away at my D&D campaign website. I decided to start working on the illustration for the Exordium article that details a small historical account of a battle that happened in the history of my game.
I was inspired by Justin Sweet and wanted to emulate the speed and dynamism of his ink drawings. I also was thinking of Kekai Kotaki's conceptual art and how he uses pure black and white to carve into silhouettes. So I started using Photoshop to thumbnail quickly. I must apologize, for I failed to think about saving the works in progress and I ended up loosing some of the thumbnails all together. But here is the evolution of the Exordium piece through a limited scope:
I started off with an idea for how I wanted the two main combatants composed. Sir Eric, a regal knight, battling Nanuk, a large, barbaric tribal leader. Here I was just experimenting with the process.
Then I continued to manipulate the composition in an effort to push the action and dynamism.
Then through it all I realized that there was so much more to the narrative that I wasn't even thinking about. I decided to zoom out to show the scope of the battlefield and it just exploded from there. My roommates came out and posed for me which was a blast. I had them stand shoulder to shoulder and run as fast up a hill as they could. This was to aid me in accurately depict men fleeing from Nanuk's wrath. It was fun and I continued to push it to a point where I felt comfortable enough to draw it out.
So I have been drawing it out over the past couple weeks and it continues to suck up a ton of my time. 20+ figures and a battlefield will do that to you. I'm planning the painting to around be 6' long which will act as an awesome centerpiece for any exhibitions or showcases I might do in the near future. I hope to get this drawing finished and I shall post it up asap.
As a side note, I heard about this art test that Jon Shindehette over at WOTC was promoting on Art Order. I desperately wanted to finish it, but I found out about it a week before the due date and with all my admissions work I failed to finish it in time. Its a terrible excuse I know and I am really ashamed. I hope to streamline my process so that such deadlines will not daunt me in the slightest. I am just not there yet. I did learn a lot through doing this piece and I'd like to finish it at some point.
Wow! Thats a long posting. Guess I've had a lot on my mind lately. Just wanted to show that I have been working, just not posting as often as I would like. I must improve this!
