I'm not normally a resolutions person, but I do wanna put out there the things I want to accomplish artistically, this year because I feel a particular combination of unconfidence in my work and some motivation to do better. If you follow me, I think there's a good chance you think I'm pretty good at drawing, but like most working artists I see my weaknesses very clearly, so I think its worth highlighting what I want to work on.
Studies
I'm so bad about doing studies. Since graduating art school, me doing studies amounts to like an hour and a half a year where I do em and then call it. I need to actually put some work in this year. What do I want to study?
- Fabric: I am so unhappy with my current process for rendering fabric and folds. I have a great Gumroad pack from SOZOMAKIA, I should just do this.
- Human faces: I have slowly developed my process for human faces that are somewhere between realism and anime people. I want to get better at these.
- Hands: I trace a lot of my own hand, that I pose for specific images. It works okay, but I really need to just get in the habit of doing these enough that I can just bust out an acceptably good hand when I need it. I'm not there yet.
Personal Work that Isn't Fan Art
I used to do so much of this. I fell off way harder than I meant to when I started doing Friends at the Table fan art, because the engagement was just so much better from that, and because the prompts were pre-built. I want to do at least 3 full illustrations that aren't work and aren't fan art. That's not that many. That's still a lot.
If I could make 3 pieces this year I like as much as I like this one, I'd be so happy.
Book
Okay... I have a book... It's finished. The book is ready to go. I haven't pulled the trigger on things and I need to. I need to:
- Pick a printer and get at least the artist proof made
- Get the crowdfunding page built
- Learn how the financial side of that works
Animate
I like animating. I have very little patience with myself when doing it. Part of it is that I set myself overly ambitious goals and start flagging when I'm less than halfway done the first shot. I need to think smaller and just fuck around a little, so I have something achievable in my free time. I want to produce 5 seconds of decent (for me) animation this year.
That's it. That's the list. Professionally I am taking things as they come. Once I finish Girl By Moonlight it is unlikely that I'll be taking on more RPG work any time soon. I love working on RPGs but it is financially unsustainable, for me. I hope I get any of this stuff done.