These markers were pain to use. My first day (Monday) didn't go as planned, I took these markers to a life drawing session, Ania and Adrian Dutton were kind enough to let me record my canvas in a life drawing session (super cool off them). I guess I was just too nervous/ excited about having the camera behind me whilst in a life drawing class.
I did get there on time (for a change) so I could set up my camera before class. Adrian was kind enough to tell the whole class about my journey (approx 50 of them) and by the end of the class all my business cards were gone. That was awesome! I was also forced (politely) to link up in the pub afterwards and the conversation about my journey continued there. It was a great day overall for networking...
I wasn't happy with the result of that night so I went back on Thursday and this was the result of that session. Much better results imo.
I did a few marker studies which turned out ok and I compiled them together on this page:
This morning I decided to create a little story about me being kicked out the house and me working from a makeshift workbench. I set it all up how I wanted it and spent around 2 hours on recording the different parts I wanted for the video. However, when I got back in the audio was so choppy that it couldn't be used. The whole thing was a mess. So I decided to do another webcam video and upload it on the spot.
Lets learn from our mistakes and move on. DON'T LIKE MARKERS....
Just a quick note on setting goals for yourself. The best way to set your goals would be to think about where you want to be in a years time, then work your way backwards and calculate what it is that you'll have to do by the end of lets say 2 months.
As long as you keep hitting your goals, you'll get where you want to be. It is ok to take a rest now and again. If your goal is too high and unrealistic you can always lower them. But remember you are trying to push yourself to the limit to maintain progress.
Example: I want to be at Alex Negrea's standard in a years time. Well, he has done thousands of sketches to get where he is right now. So I would say 6000 sketches in a year will help you towards your goal in a years time. So that makes it only 500 sketches a month or 125 sketches a week. Doable right?
If you find the target too easy to beat, aim for 12000 pa. Remember, you only get out what you put in.
So I had great fun working on these paintings and the video is now up for you all to see:
Since I can't cram all the things in the video, i'll add some behind the scenes here.
The location for the first week was Hampton and there is a really nice bridge that goes across River Thames.
On the scheduled day, there was a lot of traffic which held me back and I didn't get there ill 6pm. Without wasting any time I found myself a great spot just on top of the bridge. But it started drizzling forcing me to pack up my stuff.
I tried using one of trees as a shelter but the rain didn't allow that either.
So I had to head back to my car and call this trip off. The car park is next to a train station (Hampton Court Road) and so on my way back I seen the florist and the gourmet ladies packing up their stuff. I had a look around the station and asked them if it would be ok to paint in this location. To my surprise they loved the idea and were very supportive. So I found this quite spot by the entrance with enough space for me to move around whilst not obstructing anything.
Painted in public was harder than I thought it would be, it looked like a really quite station but damn! Every train that came in, brought along what looked like thousands of people. The Peekers, The Motivators etc.
Whilst I was painting this drunk guy named Mark came next to me and started giving me feedback on how to see thing from his perspective and boy oh boy, he really did help.
I'd been here for so long that some of the people had now seen me twice.
I think I stayed there till midnight and it was so cold.....
On this day there were a few who asked me for my details. I still haven't got my business cards so the next day I decided to paint the details onto the canvas before shooting off to the same place.
The location this time was The Royal Palace (Hampton) and I had been granted the permission to paint in their garden.
The last paining from this day was in a really beautiful spot. I found this quite dock right next to the bridge which had an awesome sunset view. It was a really nice end way to finish my first week.
So I recently thought about going on a year long journey to explore, experiment and try out different styles and mediums. I'll be trying a new style/ medium every week and upload a video at the end of the week.
This is the crazy side of me! You're warned....XD
Also, its the Rabbit Awareness Week as pointed out by one of my mates, so here is a header i'll be living with for the whole week:
The Paralympics are starting today so I thought it'd be great occasion to update my facebook cover and show my support to all the hard working athletes involved in this sport.
Hope you like it. :)
Pirate Punk Ship- A concept I painted for ConceptWorld's bi-weekly contest over at DeviantArt. I decided at the last moment on a Sunday afternoon to give it a shot and i'm quite pleased with what I achieved in merely half a day.
To my surprise I opened the magazine this afternoon to see my piece 'Balance' in one of their pages. I don't even remember sending this message to them (Feels like a long time ago). Wow! Just Wow!!!
So I've finished university now and received a First Class Honours. Moved back to my family home in London and freelancing for a few different projects. Feels like the hard work has finally paid off!
