Happy Christmas? And zombie apocalypse.

Happy Christmas to all of you :)

Here's a preview of recent 3 pieces I painted last two months on and off (meaning when I had some time after work and studies) for Taylor Holloway's "The Living Dead" story for Irregular Magazine, coming there soon (January, I think). I just wanted to share something new, as few people wondered if I'm still alive (although on deviantart, but I have no patience for writing journals there). Still not taking commissions though, it was just a favour for a very good, old friend :)

Anyway, it took me a long time to finish those (I'm still not sure if I won't touch them up a bit, though) and I learnt a lot during fighting with bits in it. I have many work in progress shots saved, but I need to organize it first a bit. Some refs used, though not very direct (mostly for hands, and quite a few various ones for backgrounds).

Photoshop CS4 - my first pics done in it and it rocks. Especially with Windows7 64bit, 6gb ram. First time ever I can paint on A3 file size, 300dpi, without having to wait for a single brush stroke to appear on screen, guessing how it will look in the end. Which directly reminds me that I recently managed to damage two hard disk drives during one week. Go, me. Well, kind of. One was working fine one day and the next day it was dead for no apparent reason. Which sucks a lot, because it was my disk at work and I have honestly no idea what went wrong with it.

But the second one was my backup drive with almost all my files archived since, like, 2005. And it's gone. Including many .psd files, work in progress shots not to mention just many random things, photos and music (my works) I had there. And no, I wasn't storing it all just in one place, I'm not that stupid, but I was just reinstalling system and formatting hard disk that day, so for few hours my backup drive was the only place I had those. And during this short time it fell down from the table. Ha. ha. ha. Bah. Anyway, luckily I still have some of those backed up on CDs and most of them in high-res with pencil sketches somewhere in my room, but well. It's a shame. I know I keep babbling how I hate my older pieces, but losing all of it is still a big sentimental loss for me. I'm waiting to learn how much would data recovery cost, but they said for that kind of damage (mechanical) it's a LOT of money. So for 99% it's lost for good. I just hope the second disk's recovery will be more managable, as it seems it's a digital failure.

As for some other news the current score of My Car versus Winter is 0:1. My car's battery is dead yet again. Every winter the same story (it has some failure since 7+ years I drive it, I have to change its battery every single year when the temperature drops down below -15 degrees). But right now with my 22km everyday route to work it's pretty irritating.

But well, Christmas is coming. Although I won't have much time to do anything special, I'm still happy I'll be able to cook something. I miss cooking. Sometimes I think I should actually start to share some recipes here. Not that I'm very good at it, but I certainly have some passion for it :) Just expect no salt or fat in it, I hate those. And for those just thinking to ask this question, yes, I like vinegar (even though this is not the origin of my silly nickname).

So, all the best to all of you who stopped by (and managed to read it up to this place)! And sorry for the long text, I guess I had the need to babble a bit ;)

Moleskine sketches

As promised to few people - Moleskine scans. First six pages, completely unaltered digitally. Some designs, some concepts and some pencil studies. I might use some ideas here for something more. Maybe. More to come. Hopefully ;)

And yes, I'm *that* patient with very thin ink pens sometimes. Usually on the train, when I have nothing better to do anyway. And it's fun practice, even though some bits would be so much easier and quicker to do in Photoshop or Illustrator.

master's degree

Done with it. Finally. Got 5+ for my thesis (which is like A+) and I guess it makes me an official art historian now (History of Art, Univeristy of Warsaw) whatever it means. One more left to do this year (this time master's in graphics in Łódź city). And I'm done with studies. I miss free weekends and feeling like I can have few days for myself without worrying about how much I still have left to do. It's been seven years since I could honestly say so without anything bothering me at the back of my head. And I miss having time for my own projects, which I didn't have at all for the last few years as well. Which makes me feel stuck for some reason, I've so many ideas and if I had more time I'd be a much happier person now with a gallery I'm not ashamed of for a change.

Anyway, I'm still too busy to finish anything proper. But I found my moleskine, which my dear friend, Hb, got me few years back (and I forgot where I put it) and had some fun doing more lineart oriented stuff. I fell in love with this sketchbook for some reason. Will be posting these very soon (I hope).

Twilight.

No, not the movie ;) Just a pic. Meant to be a light practice and also a tribute to a forgotten polish XIXth century painter Siestrzencewicz. Not a very direct one though.


And a face close up (100%, so a huge one). A bit more painterly than most of my earlier pieces and I definitely prefer it this way. Seems more alive.


Here is original Siestrzencewicz's painting (crappy mobile photo of an album reproduction, sorry):

Albino kid

It was supposed to be a quickie, as lately I've been doing some quick face studies, mostly based on references to practice skintones and such, but I kinda got carried away in this case. So it's half quickie half finished I guess, too much fun experimenting with colours in this one. As for the ref, though it was more an inspiration as I didn't really follow it in the end, see here, don't know who the author is, I was just looking up albino people on Google. Don't know if I ever mentioned it, but I was always really interested in this topic. Anyway. As for tech info: few evenings in Photoshop CS2, basic hard brush, textured.


And a gif showing an animation of a progress from the very beginning as the concept changed a lot (I think I repainted her nose 3 or 4 times). Wait a bit for it to load, it's pretty big (500kb).

ink fun!

Long time since I had some time to post anything here. And sunnier days have come. In more than one meaning, which is great. I think. And hope :)

Aaaaanyway. I tried my patience with inks lately. I do it once in a while, like a real masochist. I just sit somewhere with my sketchbook and doodle all the patterns manually for hours, when usually I'd just make a pattern and use Stamp Tool to cover whole area with it in Photoshop. I call it patience practice ;) Lately I'm also again very much into 1900 graphics. Meaning Aubrey Beardsley, George Barbier and Virginia Frances Sterret. If you don't know them go check them now. They're amazing and one of my biggest inspirations.

Two samples out of few, ink on A5. I might use those ideas for something more. Have one project in mind already (someone just give me time for that.. argh).
Oh, I also feel the need to share some thoughts about Twilight (the movie). I know most won't even read it and the ones who will - will most likely be raging Twilight / that I-don't-think-he's-pretty-at-all guy fans but hey, it's my blog, I can babble here about whatever I want :D

I heard the film was a huge success so I decided to see it after reading most of the book as well (grew tired of it, but that's another story). And, wow, is it just me or was this movie really, and I mean really crap? I expected a kind of a 'guilty pleasure' thing, that is a bit silly but still enjoyable to watch, but instead what I got was: crappy acting (really, worst acting I saw in a long while), crappy scenario - scenes shattered randomly and I wouldn't get a clue why some were there if I haven't read the book. I mean, honestly, I was watching a major hit production and I had a feeling of seeing a really bad, B class film (to say the least)..

I do think it was a pretty movie, but just picture wise. It was filmed in a really nice way - with all landscapes and colours. But honestly.. even quite ridiculous dialogues from the book were shortened and, because of that, made even more silly. We laughed quite a few times while watching it and it wasn't because it was intentionally funny. Same about acting. It was more funny than serious and yet again I don't think it was on purpose. I wanted to write which scenes exactly made me laugh so hard, but luckily I forgot most of it an hour after watching it and don't really feel like watching it again. Ever.

After reading the book I thought I'd get a better, more "commercialized" version of it. But instead I got something even worse and even more boring and, wow, that's an achievement.

Okay, enough of babbling, back to doodling.

fevered.

I watch you create emotional landscapes with just one move of your hand
I watch you erase them just as easy
Fevered
Fevered inside I feel
Scared of thoughts that remain unspoken
Touched by ones that already crawled under my skin

No, it's not a cheap poem, just some random thoughts that went with this piece. A quickie, around 2 hours. Sort of a self portrait in a way. It was a crappy day.

insert creative title here.

Just two new pieces, one for a school project actually (geisha) and second just for practice. I'd call it a speedpainting, 'cause it's pretty messy and stuff, but I actually worked on it on and off for few months. Sick of it now anyway, so I doubt I'll ever finish it more. Though I did learn a lot on it. For example that patience is a virtue.


Also a new issue of .PSD Photoshop magazine (polish edition) is out, featuring a tutorial on Scent of Daffodils. Maybe someone will be interested in it :)

X-Men girls!

Just recently I re-read all issues of X-Men I have. And boy, it rocks. These comics were my life when I was a kid and Jim Lee, John Byrne and Mark Silvestri were my gods :) Right now I can't believe I used to hate Barry Windsor Smith (his Storm + Forge issue, when she lost her powers). I guess it wasn't a style easy for kids, but right now I just adore the way he draws. Anyway, that was just a cheap excuse for few quick (around 10-15mins each) pencil sketches, later quickly colored with a custom textured brush. Just for fun.



Actually I never, ever, posted a fanart online before.. And I probably never will in any place other than here. Especially on DeviantArt. Even though I do draw some once in a while. The thing is I see way too many "artists" getting instant 1000+ faves just because the really crappy pic they sent is a wanky fanart of Harry Potter, Naruto or something. And I don't want to know my art is liked just because it pictures something that is popular right now.

Although I am thinking of drawing few X-girls related pieces. As a tribute to my childhood, or something. I seriously wanted to be Storm when I was a kid. And I literally cried when they cut her hair into a mohawk. Funny how things change, as right now I think it was her best design. And I definitely hate the way new issues of X-Men look right now.

Painter XI

New version of Corel Painter is out! I have the honour to be one of few featured artists in program's welcome screen. Two of my pieces have been used:


I have to say it really feels amazing. I already participated in two Corel's exhibitions at Adapt Art Expo in Montreal (2007 and 2008), but this now feels really, well, global.

And, of course, I feel bad I didn't have anything better to show. Meaning still feeling bad about my old art. I need some time to work on some more personal and just better pieces. Really, my whole online work at the moment just doesn't show what I'd like it to show. I know, I'm boring. The urge to delete everything I publish online is really big.

crap.

I'm done with two more of flower series. I think the daffodils one turned out pretty okay, can't say the same about dahlias. I mean I like the colours. I like the girl. I like all elements separately. But I don't like it as a whole. Maybe it's because it literally took me few hours, less than a day, from the very beginning to the end. And I really didn't think it over. So it sucks.

The daffodils one is going to be published as a tutorial in upcoming .PSD magazine (polish edition):


Anyway. I feel a bit crap about my online art galleries recently. It doesn't represent at all what I'm doing at the moment and seems like just some kiddie stuff. Definitely doesn't look as something I could call my portfolio or even art that seems mine. I've been thinking about deleting it all, but then again I hate when other people do this, so I guess I'll leave some. I can't publish yet what I'm fond of and don't have that much time to paint more personal pieces, so I guess it will take me some time to update it with more recent pieces, that feel more personal and are technically better.

So for a while if you think my gallery's crap and boring, believe me, I do agree with you.

As for other stuff, like health, well.. I keep fighting. It's not perfect. But I believe it goes in a good direction. Usually it's recently okay, with few minor breakdowns. I guess I just can't give up. And have faith it will all pass and be just fine. But most of it happens in my head and it's really hard to keep fighting with my own paranoid thoughts. I keep trying, though.

January bits.

Just two new quickies. Each took around 20-30mins, having fun with one brush in Photoshop and playing with lights a bit. I didn't really have time to paint anything except the work stuff. And as much as it's really exciting I can't show it for quite a long time.. So well, the quickies will do for now ;)


As for my new concept art job it's really challenging and fun. I get to work on many things which I rarely painted before and I can tell it teaches me a lot. Not to mention working in game dev is fun (except a really, really long commute I have - I spend around 11 hours outside home and it leaves almost no time for myself when I get back). If only my health would be all okay, I'd be really happy. It's just this, exam session and master's degree which I still have left that are bothering me at the moment..