I needed time to consider what I'm doing in my life and where I want to go. I needed to think about the world I'm in and what role I play, as I felt that leaving this issue largely unattended was the cause of a lot of the difficulties I have been having in progressing.
It's a long story, but I believe I know the answers as best I can now, and am moving forward again. So, does art still play a role in my life? Certainly; that is to say of course it does. The direction and focus of my art has become clearer, though.
I doubt I've mentioned it on here before, but I'm very much interested in broad social issues. There's a lot of things about day to day life and society in general that have bothered me for a long time. I used to be very critical, negative and irritable about a lot of things. Over time, however, my frustration has given way to determination and clarity.
Over the last couple of years I've read things here and there on the net, and each item has gotten me closer to a big picture of society. Much of this culminated in the discovery of the Zeitgeist Movement and the Venus Project. To me, these now are the principle concern of my efforts. If you are unfamiliar with them, I urge you to look at them. There's movies, podcasts and books (just the tip of the iceberg). A wealth of information that will most assuredly broaden your perception.
I've actually been considering how to marry this blog to my Venus Project focus. Either a sister blog will be created, or this one will need to be reworked. Still deciding...
So back to my art. I will try to the best of my ability to use what artistic skill I have to help spread awareness of the Zeitgeist Movement and its core ideas. Where exactly that goes, I don't really know. I imagine a lot of it will be things like banners, posters and fliers. Though I did have a few chats with someone about making a Venus Project themed comic for a while. The possibilities are many, at any rate. This is the first real thing I've turned out:
It was originally conceived as part of a series of posters to be placed around university campuses. The idea I had was to have different posters for different schools within the institution, so concepts could be presented to people in ways that would appeal to what they study. For instance, you have issues about behaviourism in the Psychology buildings, issues about censorship and philosophy in the Arts building, and, as is the case with the above poster, issues of technology in the IT and Engineering buildings, etc. I have an idea for a business one which I hope to turn out soon.
Just for fun, here's a concept sketch I did for the Venus Project comic:
The protagonist within his gloomy industrial work center
Aside from that, I will continue my artistic study in order to improve my skills. Not a great deal of time has been committed to this, but progress is being made nonetheless. Here's how it's shaped up:
All posemaniacs references. These were mainly concerned with getting gesture and loose, confident strokes.
Photo reference. These were for just studying real people. The second woman in particular has a very interesting body.
Mainly posemaniacs stuff. Playing around with charcoal brushes. I really like the grittiness and ambiguity it gives pieces. I see myself using things like this a lot more.
Just a weird thing I did. Originally it was meant to be a concept sketch for a new pixelation avatar. I basically had this concept of a very concave face shape and glowing eyes, but it ended up as a goblin man painting, so, there you go...
Painting concept; something I'd love to do on a traditional medium at some point. Part of a series on the body and spirit. Part of a long, intricate vision I had while meditating.Anatomy study needs to be returned to. Shading study could also use some redressing, but for the most part I'm feeling good about the direction I'm heading. Very happy with the palette I've developed, makes work very fast and easy. Now I just need to get a good selection of brushes going and I'll be set.
P.S. I cut my hair!
