Drawing for Kicks

Magneto Sketch

Nothing much to say except that I'm in a phase where I am enjoying drawing so much it's like being a kid again :) I thank God for this career and for an awesome family that supports this geekiness that I have hehe.

The Artist's Dilemma

Emma Frost, inking drills :)

I wanted to write something about being inspired (or the lack of it) but when I think about it, it is something I cannot fully grasp.  When I was in college I often felt disconnected from this whole "Fine Art" thing because I really wasn't interested in self-expression. When I think of art I think of robots and comics and spaceships and dinosaurs. Those things excite me, they fill my head most of my waking hours then even until now. I guess being inspired based on how I feel is foreign to me because I don't think that deep when it comes to art. I know that there are times when what I give to my client makes me feel happy and during those times I like to think I am inspired but more often than not I just do what I need to do and hopefully there's something in what I need to draw that will excite me and if there is none, I switch on the documentaries and everything is alright again.

I've worked as a commercial artist since I graduated in 2004. This meant that happy, sad, depressed, ecstatic or whatever I needed to submit something irrelevant of how I feel at the moment. Most artists frown at this and think that what artists like me do is soul less because of the lack of the "self" in our art but isn't that how commercial art/illustrating works? Our inspiration comes from the material provided by the client and the world that we make out of it. This offers plenty of opportunities for imagination and regardless of how I feel making stuff up will always be fun.

But I don't frown on people's emotional because sometimes they help. I know, because I've been there, just not as often as how people like to imagine us artists whenever we are working. Art is a very fun thing to work with and if our emotions keep getting in the way then it will be very hard for us to enjoy this life and there'd be so much less dinosaurs, comics, spaceships and robots in this world that we live in.

Life Advice from Steve Vai

Emma Frost WIP

Terribly busy as of the moment but I try to devote at least an hour daily for my personal drawing time.

Sometimes, when there is just so art to make and it feels like it has become a chore I find that working on something personal and allowing myself the time to just draw for kicks sets me up quite well for the challenges of the day ahead. Whenever I draw for myself I go back to my high school days living in Obando where I'd spend the early mornings before going to school drawing and the summers I spent indoors poring over Loomis' Anatomy and reading comics. I remember being blessed with friends in high school and college who were into drawing as well and how hard it was for us to acquire references for anatomy because the internet wasn't such a big thing then and whatever we had we photocopied. Fun days, really really fun days.

There is so much wisdom from what Steve Vai said in one of his guitar clinics where he said that when you get frustrated always go back to see the big picture and to that place of excitement for you. That place of excitement for me was in our old room in Obando, with my brother's hand-me-down drafting table and that photocopied book of Loomis surrounded by stacks of Spawn. When I go there, specially when I am neck deep in deadlines, I feel ok and I know that the rest of my drawing day will be alright.

By the way, here's the link to the video from Steve Vai. I don't play guitar that much anymore but his advice here applies to all things in life.