Lately I’ve been doing video game artwork which I really enjoy, and I’ve been doing a lot of digital painting which has been a real learning process since color has always been a weakness, so running across your website is awesome!

Right now I’m reading James Gurney’s Color and Light book that you have on your sidebar, which has already been very enlightening!

Anyhow, thanks again!
Geoff

Thanks for the link to this from PaperWings. I definitely was missing the link between the tactile and visual information. I’ve gone to a lot of places with either sketch-book or camera, but never both, and I haven’t ever approached reference as a detailed study.

Now that I think about it, it’s an obvious connection. The times that my photo reference has been the most effective was when I was taking part in creating it as an “actor”. I’m fortunate to have several black-belt martial artists as friends, and over the years have been the happy recipient of various arm locks, throws, and pulled punches. Due to the tactile memory, those drawings are almost always better than ones where I was just the photographer, because I had an instinctive and personal understanding of how it FELT as well as APPEARED. As an unintended bonus, I discovered an innate arm lock talent.

Me thinks I need to visit my local train museum again, and this time actually study the specifics, instead of just whirling through it with a camera in hand.

I love doing studies. I can’t wait to start working on them again. Chris made some truly excellent points in this episode. I can now see the value in studies (something that was never explained to me in art school). When Chris was explaining the importance of understanding the form he asked “does that make sense” I was saying “yes, completely!”. So in case you’re worried Chris, you are getting through and your message is understood.

Favorite quote from the podcast: “It’s just an old dude.” Hehe.
I’m really excited to share my progress soon.

-Nikki

You really nailed it when you said “it will really help me to struggle less.” That’s something a lot of artists miss. They focus on becoming better at their craft but – often – they don’t think about how to just remove some of the immediate struggle. In other words, not all of our current struggles are necessary ones. So why not just focus on the necessary struggles and use processes/ practices to get rid of or reduce the unnecessary ones.

I recently tried drawing with ball point pen and it was amazing, especially since it’s so different from my usual materials (acrylics). Will definitely do some more. I loved the idea about getting to know your subject more, this is something I feel will really help me to struggle less. My style is whimsical but definitely need to get out and spend more time looking at the things I paint, which will also be fun!

I checked out Paper Wings yesterday and loved it! Such great advice and really enjoyable to listen to.
Thank you for all the work you put into your art casts, you are inspiring and helping me for sure.
Niki

Yeah – there is nothing like getting “up close and personal” with the subject you’re trying to draw/ paint…

You mentioned aircraft reference- a great place to see airplanes up close is an airshow or fly-in…granted, they are mostly private, historical, and performance aircraft but there’s nothing like walking into the back of a C-17 to really get a sense of scale!!! The fly-ins are great too, very informal and friendly and lots of times they give rides. Here are some sites that list the schedules. I don’t know what stage of production you’re in, but I hope this is helpful!!

http://www.aero-pix.com/schedule/schedule.htm
http://www.flyincalendar.com/

I really enjoyed the podcast! I was wondering if you had any examples of the “contour mesh” drawing you had mentioned; I’m familiar with other types of studies, but I’ve never quite done anything like that before, and I’d like to understand it. Thanks!