I'm really happy with the new pic, but at the same time it's kind of like...holy shit, I need to work faster. That's way too long. Part of it is the way I choose to render, deliberately using something that isn't really made for that kind of image (so to make it do what I want I have to spend a lot of time) but that part isn't the problem. It's the fact that I have the technical skill to see my errors, most of the time, but not the technical skill to fix them quickly or easily (or not make the errors in the first place).

I've been sort of avoiding this point, but I really have kind of hit a wall, plateau-ed out, whatever. I was actually backsliding there for a while, picking up some stylizations that came out of the "I'm too lazy to give a shit" school of drawing that were sliding dangerously close to really bad anatomy issues. I disguise the fact that I have poor anatomy and perspective skills in detail and careful rendering, and by not trying to draw things that will make those weaknesses more obvious. I feel them every time I start a picture though. >_<

There are a lot of other important things I should do with my free time this coming semester (like...writing >_> but I think this will also be a good opportunity for me to get back to some basics. Carry my sketchbook to school, print out a few Loomis pages at a time to work on, and just spend some time on fundamentals. It's frustrating to look at my work and know it could be a lot better if I just had the technical skill underneath to back it up. D: And...once the fundamental stuff is second nature rather than being something I have to smack into submission for every pic, my speed should pick up a little as well.

Art To Do:
Sajhiri commission, pic #2: Niomah
Gift arts for a couple of people I've been wanting to do gifts for
New art for website layout. I need to update that damn thing.

Depending on my free time level this semester (I'm not really teaching or taking classes, is why I may have a bunch of time on my hands--just helping with a class and finishing my project paper), I'd like to do one or both of these:

1. open a portrait shop, for simple Gaia avatar or OC portraits (like, head-only or waist-up, no backgrounds) to help me learn how to use Painter and to work on speed. They'd be fairly cheap, since I wouldn't be making any promises on quality.

2. another auction on Gaia. My sister really wants some miniwings and I sort of miss the goal of having a quest. So...I'd like to get her some miniwings at some point, or at least give her a bunch of crap she can use toward that goal.