All Things Must End

As the end of 2014 approuches I've been reflecting on the viability of continuing this blog. I feel that it is time to move on to a more productive social network to display my thoughts and works. I've recently made an account with Instagram and I'm amazed at the results that I've received already with just a few posts. For those that have followed me, I thank you and I wish that you would continue to follow me in my journey to better my painting skill via Instagram.


So the time has come to say my farewell, and may good fortune follow you and happiness be by your side always.

Cheers,
Rick.

Getting Ready To Fly.

Last week I received the final marks for my remaining assignments of my diploma of commercial arts graphic design. And with great relief, I passed them all. It has been one enormous undertaking for me these passed two years and now that its all finished, my brain can finally take a break....but not for to long. The hard task ahead of me now is to find work in the area I wish to specialize in. So what's the plan? First off is getting my logo created and a Facebook page up with examples of my works. So far I have a logo created and now working on the Facebook banner. I've already had my business name for awhile now but its been under wraps until I can buy the domain name for the website. So there is progress happening but 'm taking each step as it comes. The above pic is from an afternoon of sketching with my daughter who has shown an interest in drawing and wants me to teach her!

Just another post

Can't say that I have a great deal to share other than I'm getting closer to the end of my diploma. I have three subjects to go and in that there's about half dozen assignments, so still some work to do. I still haven't picked up a paint brush for awhile but honestly I just don't have the motivation at the moment. I've been using a few references for my sketching instead of just out of my head lately so here they are.

Running Down the Mountain

Do you ever get those days when life is like hurteling downhill at a speed you know you can't stop running? Or you know that stopping is a matter of controlled and gracious face planting at the bottom of that hill. Yep, I'm pretty much there at the moment.
Why? Well I'm glad you asked. My diploma of commercial arts and graphics design is gearing at a speed that just about has me staining my linen. My current assignment is design and build your own website! I'm sure your thinking what are you worried about? well, plenty I say! I've never been computer literate and now I'm facing the hard challenge of learning HTML5 and CSS3 coding and putting it all together to make it all work. But I'm grateful for all the assistance that the internet provides as it has enabled me to chip away at each brick wall of frustration, and I'm starting to show progress to my own astonishment.
Needless to say this has stunted my own creative release to time restraints but to be honest I've not had the incentive to actually paint or draw that much recently, although I try to draw something every day.
 I have really been enjoying my new xbox game "Titanfall" to help in stress relief, nothing like battling in a mech shooting up the enemy. If your thinking of getting this game then I highly recommend it… and if you do, the "eject button" is your friend;)
I've started a new sketch book so I'll share some images from that. It doesn't seem that long ago since I last posted but man has time flown by, I guess when the mind is active time just slip on by.

Thornwall Sprite

This painting took six months to finally be completed. It was always on the back of my mind that I had to get it done before the end of the year(2013). My studies and full time work and family commitments was taking their toll on finding quality time to do personal projects. So when I was on the holiday break I put head down and finished it just before new years…with relief. As I've mentioned previously I want to paint more. It appears life is moving faster and faster and I want at least a good amount of finished paintings before I'm living on the wrong side of the ground. So here are my efforts from last year.

To Mimic an Illustrator

Part of my diploma assignment for illustration was to capture the essence and style of any two illustrators of my choosing. First I had to copy seven illustrations of the chosen artist, then draw another seven combining elements of the first set of seven, and then finally create seven originals with the elements and style of the artist. Basically the last seven should be competent forgeries. The tutors were that impressed with my outcome they asked me if they could use my assignment as a student example on their website. Needless to say I was rather chuffed about it all as this is a very uncommon thing to be asked of.
So below is the final illustrations of the assignment. The first illustrator I mimicked was Shaun Tan.

Resolutions

It's that time when many make resolutions for themselves with the expectations that they'll follow them through. I hadn't really thought about it to much but after thinking, why not make a few this year and see how I go. At least one of these resolutions is to actually paint more even if they're a just studies. Time being a hard thing to find while working full time and studying part time(mainly at night and Saturdays) I can only try. I've been looking at watercolours more of late and would like to have a better understanding in using them besides my oils. Although watercolours are harder to master than oils I think it would be more profitable for me at this time to play around with them due to the ease of setup and cleaning…not to mention drying time too. I have three mock cover arts to do for my assignments so I'll more than likely do those in watercolours for a practice run. Anyway here is one I did for the beginning of the new year, it's one of the w/c postcard books you can buy that I've had lying around.