Time for an update!

Here's a short update from Umea, Sweden! As I'm now settling in the area of my dreams, I figured I'd upload some projects that I've finished the last year. After all, I've graduated! The last half year of 2015 has been pretty crazy: full of  goodbyes, hello's, lots of travelling, new places and even an engagement. How crazy is that!?

Suddenly though, after graduating, after moving to a foreign country, there's a moment of silence. Of wonder. Really feeling like a foreigner, not having full control over the language spoken or an understanding of the way things work, and of course the loss of a stable income and missing many, many fantastic friends. I'd forgotten how challenging it was to adjust to the Antillean culture when I was younger, too. Not getting a personal number here slowed things down significantly as well, but just before Christmas I managed to get into an employment agency! And since then, the ball has been rolling... an adventure on the move! So exciting!

However, taking a step back, I'm very glad with what I've accomplished last year 2015, so here's a small overview of the designs I created in my final year at the Art Academy. May the future bring even more exciting projects, propelling me to grow, to learn, and to be the best I can be! :) That's is my theme for 2016!

Final Paper

Internship report

Masterwork

Excerpt (Exam Piece pag. 4-8)

Applied Comic Assignment - Angouleme

It's been a busy few months. Maybe even a bit too busy. Most of the work required to finish my last year at the art academy has been done, and now my focus is set on the final two assignments. I've discovered that I enjoy working with references, and even though my attention is divided between many other fascinating things, when I'm drawing, I find myself at peace. Knowing that, I'll probably always be drawing, and I do never hope to stop. 

 More to come soon! :)

Below: Applied Comic Assignment
of my experience in Angouleme, France.

Productively Creative - part 2

"Where there is work, there is progress. And where there is progress, there is change." I thought to myself whilst staring at the oatmeal circling around in my microwave.

It's time to change my approach. I've learnt alot over the last few weeks about the effect that exhaustion, exercising, color, smell, cleanliness and positivity can have on creative thinking. A lot of it is based on small research I could find, and still very vague. None the less it offers insights and inspires me in my search for my optimal working environment.

In the second chapter I've been looking at various work schedules of famous creatives, such as Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo and Joan Miro. Followed up by questions I've sent to current creatives in the field of Comic Design. Specifically in my own little country: the Netherlands. The variation in working schedules is astonishing. Yet a pattern still seems to be emerging. Most of them find their most productive hours to be in the morning. Something I recognize very clearly. Some however, don't have much of a schedule at all and that works for them: the breaking of routines.

My initial idea for posters of every single schedule is waning. It needs to change. Who would hang a poster of somebody else's schedule on their wall once they've found their own? When I've found my schedule, wouldn't I prefer to have inspirational quotes on my wall? It's been a project that's been lingering in the back of my mind for two years now. I can design an image of the schedules of these people in the book, so it can always be looked up when there's interest, but the posters should be inspiring, not constraining. Especially since routines change alongside life. The posters should represent my discoveries, things that work. Inspirational quotes from inspiring people. Things that motivate, maybe like: "Your work is special, the world needs to see it!" inspired by Hanco Kolk. Or "Good work delivers a great mood," inspired by Abe Borst.

Maybe there could be a poster of an inspiring quote from every person in my book. That means the posters should be smaller, much smaller than the original 30x130cm, An important aspect to the size of the posters will be the size of the book too. The design of the posters should also somehow be related to the design of the book.

The book size has been something I found pretty hard to decide on. The first thought that came to mind was a book in the shape of a light bulb, but the entire book isn't just about ideas and it seems like an annoying shape of book to read. To be more specific, the book would deal with creative environment and habits that stimulate insight and creative routines. A square would work better, and it could give artworks both horizontal and vertical and equal amount of white space. It could be the roundness of a clock too, but I think a routine symbolizes discipline, which more so makes me think of a square.

For the cover I'd love to do a photo manipulation.
Clocks. Light bulbs. Clock hands. Brains. Idea coming out of a cuckoo clock?

...

To be continued!

Productively Creative!

It’s been a while since I’ve updated this blog! So without a doubt it’s about time again to write out some of my thoughts. In this case I’m going to think a bit more about the paper I’m working on for school: Productively Creative. Related to that, is my work routine.

My work routine is highly irregular, and I don’t want that anymore. I eat whenever I think of it – if there’s food in the house. I draw whenever I feel I must, or whenever I feel like it. There’s no set timing – everything is flexible and moveable. Now I suppose there’s nothing wrong with that as long as you get your work done, but the truth is that at the end of the day I’m usually disappointed. I wanted to study some Swedish too, or play a game of chess. Or I wanted to get two pages out instead of just one.

I feel reasonably productive, most of the time, but then come the days where nothing happens. As if someone blew out my candle, and I have find the lighter AGAIN. I might qualify for someone who fears to make something bad, but I feel like that’s not the case now – because I’m certain I can do the assignments given to me. I’m not dealing with a fear of failure, but probably more so a loss of discipline.

Now how come I can be crazily disciplined on some days, and completely at a loss on others? I’ve been on a strict food diet for three months two years ago. I ate at exactly the same times every day. Went to bed around 10 every day, and started producing drawings even while sitting in the train. Thinking back to that time I’m convinced that a regular production schedule that becomes nothing less than a HABIT is what’ll make my production skyrocket. The need to create has to be a habit. It used to be when I was a kid, then I started working as a graphic designer and it vanished. One of my hopes was that going to an art academy would help me find that love again for drawing – and it did. Now to make it a habit! In my paper I’ll discuss various routines of other artists/writers and I’ll try out some routines for myself – and based on that finally create one that I think suits me best.

So what do I already know my routine consists of?

     Sports. I love it, I feel great afterwards, and it’s lifted my spirits in general throughout the last half year. This means that my evenings 6-9 are generally not hours I can spend on art. I’ve found myself in two rhythms: either I work and totally lose myself in it from 10 to 3 midnight, or I work from 2 to 5 in the afternoon. Except in the days when I woke up early: then I found myself working from 8 to 4 during the day and I clearly made more hours. For some reason I could never keep this up and fell back into another pattern.

     Healthy food and regular eating schedules.
I have to admit, the three months I stuck to a food schedule were brilliant. I had more energy, I felt much better, so yes, I would to love to have that back in my life somehow.

What do I really want to include in my optimal routine?

     Weekly Disney Drawings. Let’s face it, I want to be an official Disney artist. The thought of it makes my skin tingle with excitement. Now that I’m working on a Disney comic for Egmond with Wilma van den Bosch this actually seems possible, and I want to give it my all. The Disney Lineart series I started back in 2006 is still very popular and I’d really love to expand on it in my free time.

     Running. It feels great to run three times a week, at least. I’d love to improve my conditioning so I can run further and faster than I ever did before. One day I hope to join a marathon – something I never EVER thought I was able to do. Knowing that I can is a great eye opener to my physical abilities. Like Socrates said: “it is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable."

     Less distractions. One of my biggest problems is something that I also consider my greatest strength: interest. Everything around me is utterly fascinating! I’d love to study astronomy, or neurobiology, philosophy, engineering, chemistry, social studies, chess, oh yes, and definitely languages! I can communicate in about 5 or 6 at this point, but I’d love to polish them up too, so I often find myself watching a movie in French, randomly opening up my Spanish textbook and making exercises or reading tons of non-art related articles on the internet. One after the other. Fact is, I can’t do that whenever I feel like it, because it gets in the way of things that are more important: like graduating. Like improving the one skill that was always with me from the start: drawing. I hope I can find a way to balance my interests whilst still creating art on a daily basis.

I hope it makes sense in a way, maybe I’m missing something in this post, but it always feels great to put my thoughts on paper and read them back later. Maybe tonight I’ll conclude I’m absolutely bonkers, but that’s fine too.

How am I going to shape this paper?
This is something I’m actually quite excited about. The routines of my chosen artists should all be designed onto posters. Separate posters, so you can pick one out that inspires you and hang it on your wall. They will be folded in a book, and you can take them out.

Another project that has been lingering in my mind is to make smaller posters of inspiring productivity quotes. I’ve always wanted to make my own posters so I could hang them in my workspace to remind and encourage myself. This might just be my chance to make that happen.

To be honest I’ve come to the conclusion that I find it ridiculous to keep track of what happens to me during a work day by taking photos or drawing sketches every hour, or per change of activity. I’d much rather draw a one panel comic/cartoon at the end of the day to summarize what the routine I’m trying out feels like. Maybe I could ask other artists to do this too? To make a one panel cartoon/drawing about their daily schedule? I’d prefer that much more.

Measurement of a successful schedule is a combination of happiness level and hours spent productively. Hours spent productively are the hours I’ve spent on my school assignments.

Feels great to have that clarified to myself! :)

And of course, I have been drawing too. Here are some updates!

 

Vacational update!

A lot has happened the last few months. From moving out of Sweden back to Holland; staying with my parents and helping them search for a new place to live, trying to get into running, preparing for my my final paper for next year, trying to find a place to do an internship, and much more!

I 'm not the best blogger on the face of the earth, as I seemingly don't have a very large desire to document my entire existence, but looking back it is nice to see how far one has come.

Plus, there's something really therapeutic about writing down your thoughts and emotions, as if it helps you straighten out the chaos that happens inside your head.

However, as an aspiring artist, let's start picking up the habit with a small update of artworks!

Model drawings and original stuff:

 

My monthly dosage of Fan Art, because it's so much fun!

Actually, I won third prize on a Fan Art Nouveau contest with the drawing below. <3

 

Lastly, some commission work:
(not sure why the background has an off-white color, weird)

And an update on my Disney Crossover Series on Facebook:
Featuring Ariel as Thumbelina

 

Art Update from Sweden!

Did I mention that Sweden is great?
Sweden is pretty dang great! 

I'm feeling more productive on my own front than ever before. Since I haven't shown much of my art progress lately, here's an overview of what I've been doing. Both school-related and personal work-related.

 

My first assignment here in Sweden was to introduce a character through their room, in a comic of two pages. It didn't have to be finished: a sketchy design was just fine.I hardly ever draw rooms, so this was a crazy difficult exercise, but that makes it all the better to do it!

Another school assignment was to create a Comic Diary of one week in your life - which meant that you had to draw and think of a one-page-comic every single day. Another very hard thing for me, since it demanded production, but I was very glad with the result. Here's one of the colored pages:

And the rest, which still need to be colored. Yet since my teacher pointed out the many flaws I'm not giving them color yet. They'll be touched up first when I get the chance to do that. Also, yes, these things really happened xD

Life is beautiful! 

Below some other stuff I've made/done in my free time. :)

Sketch - WIP

 

Disney stuff, because it's just too much fun.
(I'm aware Jasmine's left foot is off, as well as the length of her arms)

Here I colored a lineart from QuestingRaven on Deviantart.
Just to get back into coloring things again. :)

Doodles I made in class.

Swedish girl as part of a collaboration with other countries
who will be holding hands. This pose was harder to draw than I thought.
Also, her feet and eyes seem too big. On to the next attempt!