Skill vs Talent

Thanksgiving is over and I have one thing to ask all of my readers about. Do you see a difference between being called skilled and talented and which would you rather be called? This is from a little debate a few of us had at the dinner table. Someone said I was talented and I said that I'm not talented, I'm skilled. The difference to me is that talent is effortless while skill requires constant practice. I felt that being called talented takes away the acknowledgement of how much I practice. I've finished a sketchbook every other month for the past year and a half. I consider that a lot of practice when you consider all the time I've spent sick in the hospital unable to draw. Anyway, where do you all weigh in? Alright, on to the sketches. The first two are just some practice sheets. They're from early July when I was getting a little better at drawing faces. The third is a recent sketch of a picture I found on the internet. Thank you for reading about my brainsplosion.

Facial Progression

 Gladiator/Team Action Guy

 Wonderful World

Slacking and MoMA

I know, I know, I've been slacking. BIG TIME slacking. It's been a week since my last post. I have been sketching and working with my tablet so I'm keeping myself busy. I still sketch in my sketchbook as I like the tactile sensation of it. Also, I can't take my tablet with me to the local cafe. Those trips are practically the only time I get out of the house during the week. The weekend is the only time I spend more than a handful of hours out of the house. This past weekend I went to MoMA. Nothing inspires me more than looking at another artist's work. They had The Starry Night there. They had a Pollock. A huge, room-spanning Monet (Monet is one of my favorites). They had an entire room of Picasso. They had Rothko (another one of my favorites) and Hopper. By the end of the day my feet were killing me. I wore my converse, worst decision ever. My toes are angry with me. Anyway. I'm on my desktop posting this and my latest sketchbook sketches are on my laptop. I guess I'll just have to upload something digital. Thank you for reading about my brainsplosion.

Ultalisk

Long Time No Post

So I fell a little behind on posting. It's been about 5 days since I last posted and, well, I have an excuse. I think its a rather good excuse too. I got my computer fixed and my Wacom hooked up. I've spent the past few days getting used to the Wacom and let me tell you. It's soooo much fun. It's been a while since I've used Photoshop so it's been taking some getting used to. Each time I draw something I learn something. I can't wait to post some of my work. Anyway, here are two more ink drawings from Magic cards.

Troll

Cliffrunner Behemoth

Derwent Pencil Rant

I've gotta take a second and tell everyone about Derwent Pencils. As far as graphite encased in wood is concerned I love Derwent. I like to make hash marks more than I like to shade so I use the Graphic line because I feel like the lead is less smudgy. But for people that like to shade more than hash I'd recommend the Sketch line. I recently ran out of 2b pencils and it was torturous. I love using 2b pencils, it's my favorite hardness. I finally got out and bought a few and drawing with them is like curling up on a couch with a hot chocolate. It's like riding a bike, like playing with your dog, like good food. It just feels awesome. Had to get that rant in there.
Alright, below I'm including two works I've done in ink. One of the ways I passed the time between not having a healthy supply of pencils and having one is using pens. I think ink can make me a more confident artist and every once in a while I use them. The first is from a picture I found on the internet and the second is a panel from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. 2. If you haven't read it I highly recommend it. Don't let the movie ruin it for you. Thank you for reading about my brainsplosion.

Reflections

Teaching Horror

New Scans And Good News

I just scanned in my last sketchbook. I don't mean the last one I'll ever do, I mean the last one I have previously completed. I spent a lot of that sketchbook practicing figures so not really much to upload from it. I'm happy to say that although I am practicing my figures and faces in my new sketchbook I am also breaking it up with some pretty sketches that I can upload. I also have a quick health update for everyone. I have officially been moved from the post surgery transplant clinic to the medicine transplant clinic. Basically, this means I'm doing much better. They've already removed the picc (peripherally inserted central catheter) line from my arm and talked about reducing my medication. Hopefully soon I'll be returning to normal life and get a job and go back to school. Alright, that's it for the health updates. Here are the sketches. The first is a Magic The Gathering card and the second is from a fantasy and scifi drawing game. Thank you for reading about my brainsplosion.

Hovermyr

Sushi's Revenge

Blame It On Halloween

Shame on me. I haven't been sticking to my 3 sketches every day regimen. Blame it on Halloween and snowstorms. That doesn't mean I haven't been sketching but interviews for a new job and trying to complete the classes I left incomplete are taking up some time. That's right, new liver, new life, new job, old school. Also, in pursuit of making my own comic book/graphic novel I've been using a good amount of my time doing writing exercises in the hopes that after a year I won't be such a piss poor writer. That's no excuse though as I have had plenty of time to sit down and draw. Oh well. Here are some pretty pictures. The first was a sketch I did while watching America's Next Great Restaurant. It's some logo ideas for the last couple of contestants. The second is just a landscape picture I found on the internet and sketched. I believe I was watching Game of Thrones just to give you an idea of when I drew this. Thank you for reading about my brainsplosion.

ANGR Logo Ideas

Butte-iful