Art Block

I’ve been suffering from artblock lately. It started when I joined the tadashi week on twitter. The tadashi week on twitter, like the usual drawing events is a week where you draw pieces featuring Tadashi from the anime sk8 the infinity. There are prompts for each day. Tadashi is my favorite character in the series so I was motivated. Because of my love for him, I managed to complete all of the prompts which is a first for me. Every time I join these events I only managed to do four pieces at most.

Here are some examples of the pieces that I made:

I was proud of myself. There were days I didn’t want to draw but because I love Tadashi so much I ended up overcoming my reluctance. All was good. There were pieces I loved and was satisfied with. The problem was, after the event I found myself in some sort of crisis.

Maybe the reason for this artblock are the realizations that came to me while I was doing the event. I know my fundamentals are currently not good enough, and that I should work on them more but I found myself kinda lost on how to improve. The solution I saw was to draw more pieces that will enable me to improve on those aspects like for example, drawing more pieces with backgrounds. I’m weak at painting water so maybe I should do more pieces featuring bodies of water. Pondering upon this seem not enough that’s why I was having difficulties.

In the middle of this, I gauged my current skills by drawing my OCs. Drawing my OCs are actually quite uncomfortable for me because I’m always dissatisfied with how they turn out. However, I was surprised that I was not uncomfortable anymore! I guess I’ve settled in with the artstyle I currently have. I was happy that my efforts in learning anatomy finally bore fruit. My OCs are semi-realistic. When I first drew them, I was forced to learn anatomy. I took the challenge of drawing heads so that I could draw them in a way that could satisfy me. Finally I did it!

This is just a sketch but the following are my OCs:

Nikolai, the redhead dude is a prince. I was reading Machiavelli’s The Prince when I made him. I already wrote down his background and all but I’m not satisfied with it yet. The long haired dude on the right is a new OC. I was inspired by birds when I made him. He doesn’t have a name yet. He is supposed to be a monster who looks like a human and hails from the tribe that eats human hearts.

While drawing my OCs I also realized how far I am from being able to do an actual comic for them. Both of these OCs’ background are european inspired so I have to do a lot of studying to be able to bring their stories to life. Sadly, I’m not there yet. Maybe I should mold my learning with this end goal. Another problem is, I’m so enamored by making short comics of my favorite pairings at the moment. I should figure out how to balance learning and practice in a way that fits my style. Furthermore, it’s the holiday season I usually make christmas and new year illustrations so I was worried I won’t be able to do them because of my artblock. I kinda forced myself to do some so I guess it helped me be productive. These are the works I did:

I included the linearts. I think my artblock has diminished now thanks to my desire to do the above illustrations. I hope I can improve even more. I also made watercolor pieces:

It’s still shippy art but at least I made an illustration. I’m still in love with Tadashi and Ainosuke from sk8 as a pair. Recently though I came to love gundam witch from mercury and fell in love with Elan Ceres enhanced person number 4 and Suletta. I wish to make more illustrations for the latter pairing.

I hope I can completely get over my artblock and be productive.