Category: Blog Posts

Introducing a New Co-op Blog for Artist Improvement!

Hey, everyone! I’ve been a busy bee over here prepping for the summer con season and really trying to get serious about pursuing my career goals.  Blogging has been really helpful for me in this respect.  Running my own journal helps me remember how far I’ve come and encourages me to keep creating new work to share with everyone.  I adore reading other art blogs like Muddy Colors and The ArtOrder, where so many talents meet and share their knowledge in blog posts.  I always wanted to be a part of a co-op blog like these, but I had no idea how to get involved in one, so I started my own!

I don’t have a lot of time to post at another blog, as I know other artists don’t either, and that is why this blog is pretty stress free!  The idea came to me when I noticed so many friends of mine posting art ‘to do’ lists online sharing the art exercises and themes they wanted to do to improve their work.

So I thought to myself, why not run a blog where we do these progressive exercises together?  Here is the intro to my new co-op blog entitled Artist Ambition.

My name is Angela and I am a fantasy Artist and founder of this blog.  I already have an art blog of my own, but this one is different.  I want Artist Ambition to be a joint effort for multiple artists to continuously improve their art, to share the progression of their skills, and to nurture that passion to push themselves as artists. 

The journey of the artist can be a long and lonely one while we are striving to improve.  It’s easy to get demotivated and talk about improving your skills, but to never do what needs to be done. Now, with other artists watching, we are accountable for our own actions, we can encourage each other, and we can succeed!

To find out more about how you can participate, read on at the blog’s FAQ.

I can have up to 100 participating artists,  so right now, we are pretty open to new people!  There is no time requirement, other than that you should try to participate at least once a month by posting an exercise for others to do OR trying out an exercise yourself.  Once I reach 100 artists, I’ll start culling people who are inactive, but that will probably take us awhile.

Now, here’s to our success!

Vlog: Art for Alzheimer’s Charity Auction

I’m doing something a little different today than my usual entry.  I created a video to talk to you face to face about a topic very near to my heart.

I have recently launched a charity art auction to help raise money for the Alzheimer’s Association as well as to help clear out retired work from my collection.  Choosing the Alzheimer’s Association was not an arbitrary decision, but one that hits very close to home.  Auctioning off my work starting at next to nothing was also a very unorthodox decision that I feel the need to explain in more detail.

See the video for the full story:

Tentatively Re-Opening 2D Commissions

It’s a bit of an intimidating prospect, but I am tentatively re-opening personal commissions of 2D work.  It’s been rough these days trying to support an artistic business, studying for a new industry, and basically trying to get my head on straight to reach my career goals.  I thought I could accomplish this by snagging a part-time/day job somewhere, but to be quite frank, nobody here is hiring.

I’ve tried retail, art supply stores, and even the academic arena, but there is just nothing for me here to do to close the gap between what I need to make my bills and keeping my own art business going, in addition to getting the continuing education I need to really break into the fields I’m aiming for.  Finding work even semi-related to my passion and educational background has proved even more challenging.

 In the past, I had closed private personal 2D commissions because I did not want to be known as that ‘cheap artist’ who does the ‘low quality cheap work’ and I intend to stick to my guns in this respect.  Time is money, especially when you’re the sole proprietor of a business, and my prices reflect this fact, as well as being what I feel is fair to both artist and client.  You’re getting high quality professional level work for a more than fair price for your personal use.

 I prefer to look at things from the perspective of the great Masters who came before, many of whom worked for the church, the affluent, or in advertising, among other things, to keep food in their bellies.  As idyllic as being an independent artist is, we sometimes have to do the same.  Especially now while I am trying to build a portfolio, I am bringing in less money on my own while I am focusing on my fundamental skills, and therefore need the additional backing, be it through commissions or a day job.  It’s tough, but it’s the way of things, especially during these difficult economic times.

 Opening personal private commissions again also gives me the chance to test my skills in ways I could never have guessed!  I miss being able to work with characters from all walks of life and creating something entirely new from them.  However, if I find myself called to a day job or swamped with orders and events, I will be closing or severely limiting the number of personal private commissions I’ll be taking.  As of right now, there is no limit!

So with all this in mind, I’m trying a new commission process!  Instead of handling commissions via amorphous messaging back and forth, I have posted commission listings in my Etsy shop.  It’s all laid out very simply in the descriptions of each listing.  You pay a flat fee plus shipping.

Custom 8.5×11 in. Ink Drawing – Minimal Background with A Single Detailed Character $35:

 

 Custom Black and White Artist Trading Card – $20

 Custom Full Color Artist Trading Card – $30

 More commission listings to come once I have more examples.
Stay creative, everyone, and thanks for all of your support!

Studio Clearance Charity Auction

There comes a time in an artist’s career where they open their closet and find that there are more pieces of art jammed inside than actual clothing.  I’ve wracked my brain trying to solve this predicament. Should I burn my old art, as I have seen others do?  Should I donate it to charity?  Should I just cling to it like an overbearing mother who can’t let go of her art babies?
At last, I feel I have arrived at a solution that gives me the best of all worlds and gives you, my fans, a fantastic opportunity to purchase my work for an amazing price!  Welcome to my first Studio Clearance Charity Auction!  Starting this week, I will be posting retired artworks up for auction on eBay with the low starting bid of just 99 cents!  Once this artwork has left auction (after three re-listings per piece*), it will be donated to charity, destroyed, given to art swaps, or otherwise disposed of, making these auctions the last chance it can be bought directly from the artist!

As an additional thank you for bidding on my work, 10% of all proceeds from the sale of these works will automatically be donated to the Alzheimers Association when it is sold via eBay using eBay’s giving works!  Meaning that when it sells on eBay, eBay automatically donates part of that sale to charity on my behalf.

This disease has touched many people in my life, including friends and family, and it is my greatest honor that my old work might be able to help any part of this cause upon its retirement from my studio.

* I will make a note in the description of each piece which number relisting an item is on so you will know when its availability will be expiring.

– You may check currently active auctions here on eBay and on DeviantART
– On Facebook? I have started a photo album showing all pieces with auction  links!
– See the schedule of auctions to save up for your favorite piece!

I will be updating the auctions every SATURDAY, so keep checking back for new original art listings!
I will be posting up old artwork until my closet is COMPLETELY EMPTY!
Help spread the word by clicking the Share links at the top of this entry!

Currently available originals up for auction (more to come!):

Eureka Moment – Composition

eu·re·ka [yoo-ree-kuh, yuh-]
( initial capital letter ) I have found (it): the reputed exclamation of Archimedes when, after long study, he discovered a method of detecting the amount of alloy mixed with the gold in the crown of the king of Syracuse.

What is a ‘Eureka Moment’?
It’s that moment when you’re trying to understand a complex concept where a particular bit of information is presented that suddenly makes all of the elements you didn’t understand before click together to make sense.

We all learn in different ways.  There’s nothing like returning to my fundamental studies in anatomy in the past month to really drive this point home.  You can explain to me a billion times about the pelvic furrow or the angle of a joint’s rotation, but I am a very visual kinesthetic learner, meaning I have to learn by doing, which means things often don’t make sense to me till after I perform many learning exercises to explore a concept.

My latest ‘Eureka Moment’ occurred while reading issue #80 of ImagineFX magazine. Many of you may think this magazine is only for digital artists, but they cover plenty of topics and offer many tools that would be useful to all artists, such as articles on color theory, features of classical illustrators, and reference photo collections on the accompanying CD.

It was one such article on analyzing composition by Dan Dos Santos that led to my recent ‘moment’.  Considering Dos Santos’ track record of gorgeous book covers featuring one or two characters, I knew he would have plenty to say on the matter! It’s tough to make a book cover really pop with just one character to work with. You have to catch the reader’s interest, visually and story-wise.  A single image has to have enough punch to make you want to learn more!

The article covers, among other things, a simple exercise you can do to break down your composition involving greyscale layers to indicate foreground, middleground, and background.  I thought I’d try it on my latest piece, Persephone Queen of the Underworld:


The Results:
Converting the image to simple shapes allowed me to get a better sense of how it was reading visually.  I discovered by doing this that while there is a nice vertical spiral throughout the composition, the bottom where her dress trails off is just a tad too busy and cuts off abruptly.  The dress ‘tendrils’ on the left side flowing out from her back also create an awkward silhouette that is disharmonious with the shapes created by the adjacent ‘tendrils’.

I also found that the relatively flat background is not creating enough narrative or visual interest in this piece.  Visually, it falls flat of framing the figure and gives us no information about her setting or story.  I asked myself ‘How many people would know this is Persephone or some kind of underworld figure if I hadn’t said so in the title?”  Originally, I wanted to keep this area simple because the flowers, swirls, and figure would be made too busy by anything more complicated than a void, but now that I ask myself the tough questions, it’s just not telling enough of her story!

Next, I tweaked with the layers of the background planes to see what I could do to create more harmony and visual interest.  I then broke down the main planes into color groups, per Dos Santos’ suggestion to keep your color groups simple to create high contrast and visual interest:

The Results:
I found that by pushing the figure upwards, I could give the flow of her dress more room to terminate in a less abrupt way, which makes a more comfortable vertical flow for the viewer’s eye through her hair, down into the core of the figure, and down through the dress.  She also has a delightful ‘tree’ shape to her now that fits well with her vegetation theme.

The energy swirl was removed, leaving the flowers to do the work of creating the spiral of energy around her, which I feel also works better to help solidify her symbolic connection to the blossoming of spring.  The background plane was tightened up from a random void of energy to the mouth of a cave with rock formations which frame the figure and tell something of her current imprisonment in the Underworld.

Now, I’m preparing myself to dive back into this piece and really make her shine!  Elements of the piece may still change in the doing, but I feel I have a much stronger idea after I’ve spent days staring at this painting and not knowing what exactly felt wrong about it.

I hope my Eureka Moment helps someone out there! If you’d like to read more on the topic of planning compositions, I highly recommend getting Issue #80 of Imagine FX and reading Dos Santos’ original article for more working examples and invaluable advice.  There are more great articles included that helped me get inspired, including the brilliant compositions of Howard Pyle.

What was your latest ‘Eureka Moment’?  Share in comments!

Sketchbook Confidential 2

I’m making a quick post today to let everyone know they should really check out Sketchbook Confidential 2 which recently released from North Light Books!  It’s a compilation of sketches, artist bios, and advice that brings you insight from a troupe of varied artists, including myself!  The best part, for me, is learning how different artists approach sketching using their own unique methods and how this informs their finished work.

My column, plus a few sketches I haven’t widely released, start on page 132.  I adore books like these because it’s always fascinating to me to see how other artists plan their pieces through sketches, what references they gather, and how this can inform my own process.  Lots of food for thought here!

Buy the book from North Light Books or at your local book store!

Studies for April 2012

I spoke of studies in a previous entry and now here they are!  April was a very productive month to get off my bum and really make good on all those promises I’ve made to myself to get better at anatomy by drawing and drawing until I can draw no more.  I’ve realized if I want to get to the point of making a living at what I’m doing, I’m going to have to get better and keep up the push!

This month’s studies were accomplished through a number of life drawing sessions I attended live or using the Pixelovely tool when I didn’t have the time to leave the house.  Pixelovely draws from a wonderful pool of well-lit stock photos and lets you choose the state of undress and gender of your models, as well as how long you want a session to be (with automated breaks!). I highly recommended it if you don’t have access to live models.

These are just some of the studies. Had to leave some out for post length sake.
Studies ranging between 30 seconds and
5 minutes. View high-res version.
Studies ranging from 11 to 20 minutes.
View high-res version.
Various studies from a live session at Bohemian Circus Night. at the
Apache here in Atlanta.


What did I learn?
Mainly, I’m learning to loosen up and not be so obsessed with detail.  Sketching mainly in pen without the ability to erase or with a brush pen allowed me to focus on shadows and forms instead of getting caught up in all the technical side of things.  I find if we get caught up in details, we miss the energy of the model and what makes a pose interesting in the first place (something that would serve me well in depicting characters, I think!).

I learned a lot about the trouble areas of the face, such as the juncture of the nose and lips and how light falls there (especially in the Bohemian Circus Night sketches).  Reflected light from the floor and one’s own skin also caught my eye this month.  I noticed also the most successful studies are the ones that paid attention to peak highlights, or where the light is strongest on the elements which protrude outwards (elbows, tips of noses, etc) while highlights are more soft shifts across smoother areas, like cheeks, foreheads, and the subtle muscles of the back.

Next Month’s Challenge to Myself:
Tackling hands, feet, man-crotches, and facial expressions.  Basically getting into those very specific areas of anatomy trouble for me. Going to try and do 100 sketches of each!

It’s funny how we pick up little tidbits of knowledge from staring at the same figure in a different situation or from a different angle. Some things just ‘click’, but you’ll never get that click unless you’re always looking at the same thing and thinking about how it works constantly because the human form is just so complex.  I’ve had life drawing classes in the past, but that knowledge tends to fade if you aren’t practicing all the time.  Here’s hoping keeping the knowledge fresh will link up to all of the other art I’m making right now! I trust it will in that way that knowledge sticks in the back of your mind informing you in ways you aren’t even aware of.

So what are you all working on?  How are you challenging yourselves and keeping your art form going strong?  Share in comments!

Take 10 Interview with Jade Macalla

My Take 10 interview is up! Sit back and have a cup of joe with my pal Jade Macalla (of stock art fame) and I. Learn a terrible, horrible secret of mine, tips on how to manage your online identity, plus other bits and bobs! I talk a lot about what has inspired me over the years, where I’d like to go as an artist, and what my current action plan is.

Also, there is talk of sanka coffee, pie, and badassitude! It was a fun time catching up with an old friend, in addition to being an interview.

For more interviews with Creatives, keep tabs on Jade Macalla (http://jademacalla.deviantart.com/) and his Take10 web show.

Linkage to my interview – http://take10.visualfiction.net/2012/04/take104-angela-sasser-illustrator-and.html

Artists and Health Issues Part 2

I got some great feedback from folks on the last post concerning artists and health issues and thought I’d share some of the tips with everyone. I also forgot to mention a few other tactics that I’ll go ahead and share here:

 
Get a proper desk! –  I didn’t mention that half of what caused my neck and shoulder issues was working on a computer desk that was about 5 inches too low for me for a matter of years.   It was never meant as a computer desk and, as such, I was always hunching further over it in order to type.  My monitors were not eye level either, even though I had them propped up on books. Monitors should always be eye level or just below eye level so you are not looking down and constantly stressing your neck.  I’ve since gotten another desk, but damage had already been done.
 
As for art desks, try to get one that you can slant and adjust the height, which also helps you from hunching and looking downwards all the time.  Another tip if you have a desk you can’t adjust is to get a tabletop easel to stand your artwork on so it will be eye level, or at least not laying flat on your desk so you have to hunch and look down all the time.
 
Get a proper chair!  – Kind of goes with get a good desk!  A crappy chair at the art or computer desk can do just as much damage to your posture as sitting like a gargoyle can.  High stools are great if you like to paint on an easel and want to sit down instead of stand up.  Your back should be straight while your elbows at a 90 degree angle to your keyboard.  Personally, I am investing in one of these kneeling chairs for when I work at the computer because it looks so comfy and encourages you to sit up straight to maintain proper balance.  Best of all, it seems you can get them for fairly cheap!  There are all sorts of fancy chairs that adjust to the human form, but they’re almost all too expensive for my shoestring budget.
 
Go swimmin’! –  This was great advice from a commentor who is also a physician.  Swimming is low impact so there’s less chance of pulling a muscle or hurting your joints doing some crazy exercise you’re unfamiliar with. You don’t need to be doing olympic laps either, you can even have a flotation device, it doesn’t matter, you just need to move.  Plus, it’s fun!  I love to swim so I was glad to hear this advice.  I do so miss underwater tea parties from when I was little.  Time to bring them back!
 

Snack healthy – I forgot to mention this in the last entry, but some of my low energy came from just grabbing whatever was around when I felt like nibbling.  I’ve since replaced potato chips and chocolate with bananas and Greek yogurt. Both are extremely healthy for you, bananas providing tons of potassium and other vitamins and energy, while Greek yogurt has probiotic properties, the protein also filling you up longer than other snacks. Getting a Body Contouring Scottsdale is probably one of the healthiest things I ever did for my body too.

Nuts (like almonds and cashews) are also good to munch on and tide you over till the next meal time. I’m always snacking on these throughout the day to keep my energy levels up and it’s worked wonders for me. A girlfriend of mine once told me eating healthy is especially important for women’s health, im talking yeast, and when spends all day sitting, well, need I go on? There’s still the occasional chocolate, for what artist in her right mind would give chocolate up completely??  Plus, dark chocolate has antioxidants so I can make exceptions for it.

 
As for my own health status?  It’s the last week of physical therapy for me and I’m doing great!  I’ll have to keep up the exercises for my shoulders, neck, and back even after our last session this week, but that’s going to be good for me in the long run.  I have been using a lot of resistance bands for training and they provide simple low impact exercises I can do from the comfort of my own home.  Some of the stretches seem almost too simple, but the soreness is surprising!
 
I feel less like I’m going to end up like the humans did in Wall-E (ie. boneless blobs without social lives) since I started the physical therapy and started working from the studio as well.  I am doing great and I thank all of you for your well wishes and support!
 
Now, go forth and create! (And remember to take breaks!)

My Studio Photo Tour

Last post I mentioned the fact that I was able to fanagle a studio spot in a small gallery in town where my mother and I are sharing a little work space (about 10’x10′ all in all).  At $200 a month ($100 a piece), it’s a pretty sweet deal!  I’ve spent all of this past week prepping it for display and the ensuing flood of art junk that will finally make it habitable for an artist.

Without further ado, I present to you a photo tour!

Oh what’s that nook shining in the dark?
Come closer, my pretties!  The shinies await!
Still filling out the walls. A banner will probably go there in the top-middle.
To the left, we have my mom’s corner of the gallery where she makes shinies for
the magpies in all of us! She has an Etsy shop called Lee’s Curio if you want to see more.

Inside of the door. An artistic shot of the print rack.

These look familiar to anybody? They were the ‘bottled dream’ jars from
my senior show at West Georgia! So far, I’ve gotten more questions
about what the jars mean than the artwork, itself.
Curiosity is funny that way.

Close up of my leather crafts! I have them stacked on top of clear
collectible cases that were meant to hold dolls that I found on clearance.
They’re perfect for stacking for translucent tiered displays.

A close up of the print bins. Got the 3 bins on the left from Walmart in
the plastic bin aisle.  They’re sold as ‘shoe bins’.
The card bins on the right were from Michaels.  Clearance specials FTW!
To the right we have my little work space. That glowing immaculate spot on the counter is
where I’ll soon be painting! I expect that counter won’t be so clean in the near future. You can tell
I’ve barely had a chance to work in here because it’s so clean and bare of art supplies.

The pictures on the wall are temporary placeholders till I can get some works in progress going.
Check out how awesome the print of Persephone came out!
Kudos to Photos2canvas2u for their awesome canvas print rates!

That’s all for now!  Expect a video tour in the near future as well.
I suspect I’ll have a follow-up photo tour once the studio has been nice and dirtied up with work!
I can’t wait to get started. Bua ha ha!  What is your studio like? Feel free to share in comments!