Polar Bears Fight Cancer! Despite the Weather

I'm officially a polar bear thanks to the generous support of friends and family who helped me raise over $385.00 for the American Cancer Society this weekend. I was truly amazed at how much my peeps came through for me on such sort notice. I lost my friend, Lindsy, who was 29 years old to cancer in the fall and a grandmother who had beat breast cancer once only to lose the rematch to a different form of the disease over a decade later.
Meghan listed the names of my donors on the left side of my back and the last names of those who lost the fight, who we love and miss dearly on the right.
Lindsy loved butterflies so Meghan drew a butterfly on my back for her.

I can't say that jumping into a frozen lake in February feels good. In fact, it actually hurt. I experienced an extreme case of brain freeze unlike anything I had ever known before. As soon as you hit the water you immediately want out like a cat getting a bath in acid. I've been scuba diving in a wetsuit with a 42 degree water temperature, I dove into a friend's pool that still had ice on it, mimicking a scene from Cliffhanger, on a five dollar bet in high school, I've fallen through the ice on the river up to my waste as a child, but none of those events compared to the cold I experienced on Saturday.My sister asked me if I'd do it again. You bet your tangerines I would, if it was for a cause like fighting cancer.

Thank you again to all those who helped me raise money for this worthy event. This was for the loving memory of; Lindsy Jarvis, grandma Tollefson, Mark Price, Gloria Sheville, Dean Beretich, and Richard Alberini.

Advice

Recently, I've been visiting a website called Rad how to written by a fella who works for Dreamworks Animation. His website is brilliant for giving novices such as myself advice on learning the art form. Sometimes I send emails to artist I like or want to know their process. Sometimes I get snubbed or lost in spam, and sometimes I get a response. Well, yesterday I decided to contact Rad and ask him for some advice.

He responded, twice! And, not with vague "just draw and have fun" advice but with honesty and detail on what I need to do to get where I want to go with my work. I cannot tell you enough how jazzercised I get when professionals respond to my queries. I once emailed someone who worked on The Corpse Bride and an artist wrote me back with a list of resources to explore. I find it so encouraging and inspiring when these people take the time to write blogs and respond to the novices who come looking for help.

When people do this it reminds me of how much we really do want others to succeed. As if we profit from their success. This demonstrates that it is not always about "me" but that it comes down to "us" to mankind's culture and progress. Through posting pieces on Illustration Friday I have had visitors to my site from nearly every country on the planet. I've had people I've never met from places I've never been give me compliments or offer me advice. This makes me marvel at how kind and connected people can be from all over the world and we have the internet to thank.

Sorry for the rant, I don't normally do this. I was just so charged this morning that I felt a need to compose this diatribe. So, Rad's advice to me, copy. Copy those I wish to draw like. Spend at least two years working on developing good structure and the fundamental skills necessary to make my work proficient. Aye aye Captain Rad. I gave up on art for over ten years and if I want to do anything with this in the future I'm going to have to put in twice the work to make up for that time. Once again, it comes down to time and the sickening feeling that there is never enough of it.

After getting his advice I reached over and picked up a book called, How to Draw Wizards, Warriors, Orcs and Elves by Steve Beaumont. I turned to a random how to draw _____ page and started to follow the directions on how to draw an orc. The finished piece would like this:


I started much smaller and chose a different color to paint my orc, but the overall form was close.
My porportions are off and my shading/color could use some work but overall not bad. Maybe I'll draw an ogre next.

Astron and the Land of Sadness

Before I went to an open life drawing studio last night I worked on this watercolor image. I had no idea where I was going with it. I think a watercolor course will be necessary. In the meantime I'll continue to practice with different mediums.