I must say I’m very happy today.
Looking back now, it kinda surprised me how quickly the month passed but at the same time it felt much longer than when I have to say that usually.
A little under the weather for some reason, got a whole lot on my mind and I’m soon starting to stumble back into university routine. But it’s best to pick this up where I left off last time, which was at my vacation in Dresden.
I didn’t expect much from it, thought nothing more than a fun little trip into yet another big city that wouldn’t have much to offer TvT but I was pleasantly surprised as to what a beautiful old-ish downtown there was to encounter. Dresden has a very swell and close relation to its past, as it openly presents with old structures, statues and small bits and pieces here and there. Especially striking was the skyline towards the city centre passing the main river bridges by train or even by foot, even without any skyscrapers or weird buildings, there was basically an entire ancient area around the castle, dome and other old buildings that provide an all-around feeling like it must’ve been 200 years ago. And with that, I realized how there was much more to do than originally anticipated.
So me and my mom spent the first day just walking around this area, taking photos of every striking building after the other, visited a museum of automations, ate a bit at an (expensive) restaurant and so on.
We also went into the local zoo (of course) but sadly it hasn’t been a very striking one with no real highlight that I can think of. Well aside from maybe seeing some egyptian vultures but they were waay too far away to see, you’d have needed binoculars to appreciate their golden faces.
Then I visited Body Worlds for the first time, buut it made me mainly just uneasy feeling and I didn’t enjoy it very much. A particularly interesting event, however, was the museum at the residential castle, where I have set my eyes on countless beautiful craftings from bronze statues to crystal goblets, ivory figurines and crown jewels. But also whole corridors of late renaissance armor and weaponry and much much more than we were able to look at before the museum closed. If I’d return to the city, I’d definitely check it out once again.
And then it was over, also rather quickly. I’d return to my family’s at my hometown and stay there for 3 more weeks. Today is my last day here so this acts like a good ending to this little chapter.
But I have more to talk about!
Returning from 2 weeks of vacation, I felt very eager to return to drawing and painting a project. From a panel at the con, I got reminded at what is important to my art, how to incorporate personal interests and themes that I hold dear.
It wasn’t… quite easy to do so. Particularly because I am a very undetermined being. I actually had to set me up a word page to figure out what I really want. It took me a good 2 hours or so to figure out basic information about my identity, which is really weird to me as I should know best what defines me. Though maybe I am not as comfortable speaking so profoundly about my inner machinations.
So I stopped there and just went ahead with a random idea that has been floating in my mind. And it has been rather liberating. I came up with a setting of precise ambiguity, something that is in its message uncertain and not really having a message. This much freedom was fun to work with and maybe I can determine something more into it as I go on in my journey.
Regarding the process was rather simple and straightforward. I had to do little corrections here and there and the form of the wolf still doesn’t feel quite right but together with the scene, ambience and tone, these figures work very well. It was also important to me to celebrate the rise of autumn in some way and the golden lights and leaves added quite the lively mood that had been absent from its initial concept. At the very least it still shows me how to just go on with a piece that wasn’t fully thought out even to the end.
My next project was a surprisingly new comm I got with an old face to portray. Two years ago, I had drawn Charlie here before and it was exciting to return to her design with a new concept. That and the tendency to accept every comm I had received with all the inflation going about made this a no-brainer, really xD
It was very fun and the great preparation on the client’s side can make these very slick and quick to finish đ
Uhhhh. That’s all I have to say really, it’s weird, I’m fully satisfied with the final image, got nothing to remark.
Next one!
This little sketch happened almost simultaneously to the commission. As I was in a workless limbo for one or two days, I went on to sketch and doodle around. The prompt of drawing an afghan hound in a server that I’m in was enough to give me a sense of direction. Within one hour it was finished, but I left it on the side because I wasn’t quite happy with it.
Returning to it on the next day, I played around with the composition and direction. At the time, I had one main layer with higher contrast on top of the figure group and had partially erased it. Mirroring this one had me with a very weird ghostly effect.Ghostly because it reminded me of the first photos with high exposure time to produce a photograph, in which only one step to the side could mean you were having your ghostly visage next to your head.
This effect was interesting enough that I kept it and only had to refine the mask some more until I was just satisfied with this abnormality of a sketch.
Hmm and that was about it for finished projects this month. Sadly (and a little infuriatingly) I hardly did anything for my animation project despite my resolutions to do so and I should really do something about it…
Well at least I don’t feel lazy or anything. For the last 22 days, I studied the poses of 5 artworks each day and liked this workout, though it would be hard to continue it past this time…
Now, I want to fill October with some lovely halloween-themed stuff. There won’t be a monstober, however, as last year, it just put too much pressure on me. Like with the rest of this year, I’ll be keeping it loose and relaxed, will have to spend lots of time at university anyway and got a couple themed games reserved for this time. It will definitely not be uneventful, I can say as much. On another note, I accepted my biggest commission yet and I can hardly say when it will ever see the light of day. So all in due time.
I’ll be spending the rest of the day on my dad’s couch, watching movies, eating pizza and maybe doing some more sketching in the evening.
If you made it this far into the journal, please tell me what happened to you during September and what you have planned for next month.
I wish you a lovely time!
Suit up warmly and avoid deep puddles :3
~Souvillaine