Some helpful things on a finishing note

The last few things I want to link are other people's blogs regarding various things. I have them all inspirational and very helpful, and they're well worth a read.

Deadlines Versus Perfection
Great advice on finishing a project up, and for trying to over come obsessive needs for perfection. This really helped me speed my work up by letting me know that it was ok if my work was perfect.

Five things to do with your ideas.
A great break down of an organised and effective way to go about producing work, which will ensure you get the best results you can.

Speed Painting
I always find it immensely interesting and helpful to see how others work, even if I don't use their techniques myself.

Accepting critique like a pro
This was the big one for me. Until recently I've been awful at receiving criticism- not because I'm big headed and don't think anyone else knows better, but because my self esteem and confidence levels are so low. It helped me realise that people aren't out to put me down when they give me critiques- they're trying to help me improve. This blog was so valuable, I can't begin to tell you what a difference it has made in my work. I know crave criticism, ask for it, and receive it well and carry out what is suggested (as long as they're good suggestions of course).

Shrinki dinks!

So as the London MCM expo is fast approaching, I've been looking for things to make to sell. I'm going to be doing A4 and A5 prints, but I want something a bit more personal to sell too. So I've come up with making these shrinki key rings, and book marks.

Unfortunatly I didn't have time to make any book marks to show, but I have had a go with the shrinkies, and I'm really happy and quite impressed with how they've turned out.



They start as small sheets of plastic, which you draw and colour on. You then cut them to shape, punch a hole in it, and then stick it in the oven. It shrinks 7 times, and thickens 7 times, and you're left with these cool little charms.

Business cards

So I ordered a pack of 10 free business cards, and was so impressed with their quality. I ordered 10 different designs, so that I could choose the best ones for when I order in bulk.
(Please excuse the bad quality photos, I'll be bringing the cards with me to assessments anyway).




I then ordered a pack of 50 a couple of weeks later, and here's the result (I'm very, very pleased and will be using Moo again in the future). Again, apologises about the quality of the photos, my camera couldn't seem to focus on the shine.















Even the little box they come in are fantastically made, and will be really handy to display them in. I was also really impressed with the eco friendly options provided- I feel very strongly about using recycled or sustainable items as much as I can, and so I really appreciated this option.

Tyr

The final piece of Tyr, the betta. Really happy with the outcome on this, and even happier that I received some fantastic critiques about it over on DeviantArt. I'll definitely be pushing this further, following the comments, which was mainly regarding the atmosphere and background.

Website update

Just a few updates on my website. Nothing major has been changed, just the text on the left, and some different pieces on the front of the portfolio.

Improving?

This has made me feel quite happy. I've still got a long, long, long way to go, but I don't think that's a bad amount of improvement in under a year ^^



The original can be found here (click), and I think once I have the time, I'll rework the whole thing and give it a proper background. It's my most popular piece on DeviantArt, so I'm going to make sure that it's worthy of that.

Base colours

Just some simple base colours. I wasn't going to do any more on this until uni finishes, but I enjoyed drawing it too much. So I think I may render it at a high a quality and include it in my portfolio (as long as I gain permission from the owner of the character).

Some work for others

This first one is some gift art for an online friend, of this character.
It was great practice with anatomy, and a really nice break from my main uni project.
I've decided that it's not a bad thing at all to do work for free- it'll still get my art and name around and hopefully generate a bigger interest. So for certain amounts of time after uni ends I'll be open for free requests. It's also a great way to practice working to client's briefs, and to get used to drawing other peoples characters in my own style. Because of this I've also been considering doing some kind of fan art- I've been told countless times that industry companies and professionals like to see that you can draw a character and still keep it recognisable in your own style.




I'll be colouring this when I have some more free time.

This last image is going to be another fish portrait for a very inspirational lady who rescues unwatned, sick and injured tropical fish and other animals. These particular fish are called Texas Cichlids, and this is the reference image that I'm using (with permission of course).


I've had quite a bit of interest in these fish portraits, like this one here:


And it's gotten me thinking about trying to take pet portrait commissions. I've been thinking of a business plan for the past couple of weeks for when I leave uni, so I'll be writing that up in detail over the next few days.