Hey, hey, Hive!
Been a blip in my arting habit recently. Fortunately, a small one. The dreaded art-block! I just couldn't... anything. I got stuck during this painting and, because my brain has the "autismus" as V calls it, I couldn't get over it. So I took to the Hive Pizza Discord and called for an arting session. As it was written, so shall it be done.
Ba da boom, a Doodles event was made with much thanks to @huzzah for organising all the details. We ended up drawing together and it was much fun. It was what I needed to just force myself past this block and finish this painting. Without further ado, here's the culprit:
HALLOWED
This is the bastard of a painting that blocked me up! Doesn't look the best as a result, but I'm proud of it because I pushed through. I made it the best I could even though I wanted to scrape it, delete it, and eliminate it from existence in all 11 dimensions it could possibly occur! Burn!!!
I didn't give in to that temptation and instead braced the hardship of completing it. And that's why I want to share it, no because it's the most amazing painting ever, but because it could help another artist.
» SKETCH
This sketch had it all. Rodney Matthews' inspired mountain, dragons, elf maiden, nudity, and a sword! It was high fantasy. The elf maiden fighting for her life against the dragon she'd been sacrificed to.
» SETTING
These dragons obviously had to be fire-breathers, because I was going with the trope, so my colour palette had to show that. And to make some balance and contrast, I used cool colours for the maiden to show her purity and innocence, and also to show the opposition of their two races.
» LIGHTING
Usually I start with the shadows before attempting the lighting. Usually. Not this time. And guess what? This is where I got stuck. The lighting on the elf maiden was awesome, I loved it, it blended into the scene. But it was too stark. But I wanted it that stark. And so on, in a loop that had me bound in a block.
» RESTART
After the Doodles event, I came back to the painting, hid that lighting layer from view, and pushed forth with the shadows before returning to the lighting, like I should have done from the beginning. I had the same problem as before when I did eventually get back to the lighting, but this time I could off-set some of it by... funnily, making it more stark all over the painting! I went mad.
» GIFNESS
» ART INSIGHT FOR THE WEEK
Art blocks happen. They happen the professions, to the amateurs, and definitely also to the intermediary artists. It's all part of the profession, and also part of the culture in a sense (look at Vincent van Gogh). It's part of how our brains handle things as well. Writers get it, musicians, too. Even scientists get blocks!
The biggest thing is learning how to get past it. Or, sometimes, even just finding out how to get around it. Sometimes abandoning a project and starting a new one does the trick, other times you just need to grit your teeth, bite the bullet, and plod on until you've broken the block. There is no recipe for how to deal with it, so try everything.
And here's the secret no one likes to tell: sometimes the way to break a block is to stop doing that thing. In our case, stop painting and drawing for a while. Just forget about doing it and try something new.
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