anima-art

So as of late (like the past year) I've gone off the internets for my AP Studio Art Class. Lemme just tell you that that class ain't no walk in the park. Holy crap. I think I've done more artworks this year than all of my other years combined. 

At least 24 pieces had to be made, 12 of them being whatever and 12 of them having a common theme. I can't believe how hard it was to find a theme for 12 pieces. I ended up doing "feminine strength" and it wasn't really intentional, but it worked. And, I had to change my concentration (theme) like, a million times because it just felt too limiting for what I wanted to do.

But it's all ok now, because everything that I wanted submitted is now submitted! So, even though I have only about a bazillion things I could put up on deviantart, I'm going to wait until after I get my AP Score to be safe. So, either in July or August, expect a bomb of art! 

One thing I learned from this class is that I really want to be an Animator. I just started working with digital art, but it literally is one of the best things ever for me. It's hard to express how well I feel like I connect with it, and even when I try to explain how much it means to me, I don't think people understand. When I work on a digital piece, I feel like I have every tool in my hand ever and the most amazing eraser to fix mistakes and countless opportunities to change my art without committing to something. It's emotionally more connecting for me, as well as challenging. I feel like I've just needed this for a long time. I'm still figuring stuff out, and probably will never get to where I want to be, but that's what's awesome about it. It's so new, it's like finding art for the first time again. Anything is possible. 

I know that the road is laying out for me to move into being an animator. I just have to grab it by the reins and ride that horse like no tomorrow. 

Yellow (haha, color pun unintended) DeviantArt!

Long time, no write or draw. I admit, I've been procrastinating! But I'm going into my Senior Year of High School (such a younglin') and I got accepted into AP Studio Art Class. Lemme tell you, it ain't no walk in the park. In three weeks I have to have 11 sketchbook drawings, 3 studio pieces and 3 separate gallery walks done. Ok, I'll admit, I've had like 2 months to get this done, but its hard to turn on the switch to just draw sometimes! But I've started on it, so as long as it gets done I suppose. I already have 5 sketches and atleast 1 studio piece done and have scheduled days for the gallery walks. Yay!

Not to mention that I'm also now a section leader for my Marching Band (marimba in pit if you were wondering) so I have lots more responsibility going into that right now. I can't believe how fast time seems to be flying!! Soon enough I'll be graduating and going to college and....

Whew.

I may not write a whole ton or upload every drawing I create, but I love getting feedback from everyone who takes the time to comment or favorite or watch me. It does encourage me to keep going. It's like a pat on the back for doing something I love, and that's the best feeling eva'!

How does one become an artist? The more I think about it, the more I can't seem to believe that there is ever a point where someone decides that they will become an artist. But maybe that isn't entirely true either. Perhaps, it is just me. I suppose the reason I think this is because I can't pinpoint a time when I thought "I love art." And the more I think, the more I realize that I was always an artist. It's strange, to go back and see glimpses of my interest in art. I suppose, I will share my story. I mean, every artist has a story, just maybe never has a true beginning and ending.

If I go back and think the first drawing I can remember that I did and thought "Hey! This isn't that bad!" it was a picture of a dragon. Ok, so I cheated. On the back of my Crayola Colored Pencil Box, I saw this drawing of a drawing someone else did. I thought it looked so cool! I don't know how old I was, but I decided to recreate it on my own piece of paper. When I had finished, I was amazed. how could I have recreated something so good? (haha) I compared it endlessly to the one on the box, and though I saw some errors (not that I would have ever admitted it) I was quite impressed. If I go into my room and pull out my desk chair/box and grab out all my old sketchbooks, I'll find a framed picture. Yeah, you guessed right, it's that drawing of that dragon so many years ago. Perhaps I'll hang it up someday. XD I still look at it and remember that feeling. I believe that I'll always keep it, even when I'm an old lady.

Ok, admit it. When you were first 'drawing' you were tracing. I know I did! It was in 4th grade. My brother, who is 2 years older than me, found this amazing cartooning book of fantasy beasts and ladys and lords. I think that's where my basis of understanding the difficulty of drawing came in. So I traced! I would never do that now, but I think a beginning drawer should trace to start understanding what needs looked at. I remember looking at all the details of the dress on one girl and it helped me to understand, drawing isn't just about lines, it's about design and patience. Tracing was a basic step into seeing drawing as something more than just a past time. But I don't think I was really serious about being an artist until much later. I mean, at that time 'art class' was not drawing, but crafts. So how was I supposed to know that I was able to improve?

5th grade, ah the twists and turns my art went through. There are a million, no, a billion styles out there in the world. Heck, a trillion! I think that year helped me see how art isn't subjective to one kind of appearance. I started out with cartoon-y looking characters (WINX club style actually XD) but then saw my friend drawing differently, so I did it her way. I found out that was not the kind of style I liked. That year was just experimenting, but every artist needs to experiment to find their style, right? I found out that style was not mine.

The next year, I had a friend who was, in my eyes, far superior to my drawings. It was a real downer. At the time, it felt like it was really discouraging me, but looking back, I realize that it helped me in way that I never ever expected. It pushed me. It made me want to do better, and so I pushed. I'm pretty sure I sketched 3 drawings a day, even just on lined paper. I have a couple drawings from that year, and I definitely see myself in them. It's amazing how much I improved that year. I'm shocked really that I improved so much. I went from super stiff to just kinda stiff (haha!) I experimented with some color too that year.

When I entered my Junior High, I was put into an art class. I think that's the year that I understood that drawing and art was just a part of me. I learned so much my teacher and have my sketchbooks from that year and on. I was put into the towns art show, and it did wonders for my confidence. A lot of people I knew liked my drawings, and so did I! (At the time at least.)

Ah, 8th grade. This is the year that I had an art high. I was in the yearbook committee. Not only that, but since I was entered into the art class, I had to put in a drawing for the cover of the yearbook contest. Remember that friend who I thought was soooo much better? Well, I think I finally got over my jealousy that year. My mascot was an eagle, so naturally I entered one. It was just a bust of an eagle, with shading. My friend did a colored one with and eagle and a rainbow. The only problem was that the cover was not printed in color, unless the yearbook business colored it. And so, since mine was basic and without color, my eagle won the front cover of the yearbook. It's was an amazing feeling, knowing that all those people voted for me.  It got me through some rough times that year too.

Since then, I feel like my art has only improved more and more with each class I take. And I hope it continues to improve. There are so many things wrong with my drawings, but I've come so far. To anyone who believes their art sucks, yeah, it probably does right now, but everyone sucks when they start. Don't let it get you down, not even DaVinci started out as the insane artist.

Sorry for the long entry! XD

So I want to start branching out into selling my art, considering I hit the mark of 10,000 views on my Hunger Games Fanart. I was discussing with my family how to advertise my art into the real world, and not just on deviantart. I finally came up with idea of making my own t-shirt and when people ask where I got it, I can tell them I sell it, or it's my design and I can commission one for them, etc. And so, I am proud to announce that I have ordered myself a t-shirt of the Hunger Games Fanart on it.
I went online to an online t-shirt company, zazzle.com.
There, I was able to customize my own t-shirt. Yes, I did pay 20 bucks for it, but hopefully it will be worth it. I had to spend the money I got from another commission to buy it. I tinkered with artwork so as to not leave any weird shading on the background, but as soon as it was fixed and uploaded with some added text, I was able to buy it pretty easily. And not only do I get to advertise, but on zazzle.com, I am able to sell my designs. I'm not sure how I feel about this yet. I'm going to look into their terms and conditions to make sure that they don't own the artwork if I agree to do it, but it sounds like it's completely my decision, and it's free! My goal is that people like my art enough that they pay me to make them a t-shirt basically.
I know that a lot of people sell their artwork and do pretty well at it, so I suppose I should try too. Slowly...

Also, I've started up a blog that hopefully will help everything get jumpstarted. Not anything up yet, but if you want, check it out here anima-art-creations.blogspot.c…
Thanks for all the views guys... it means a lot!

Hey!

So I convinced my friend to FINALLY joing deviantArt! She's simply amazing at 3D stuff and really good with drawing to. Feel the need to check her out at doubledutcher1 ---> doubledutcher1.deviantart.com/