…at inappropriate times.
WIP of Lady with Birds.
Woke up in a daze this morning around 6 o’clock and had such a vivid image in my head that I had to draw before going back to sleep. Needless to say, the going back to sleep never occurred, but at least I have another illustration to show for it.
Here is the finished product;
Have you ever had inspiration strike you at inappropriate times? Let me know what you think.
Thanks again!
A couple of fighters from a Muay Thai fight show
Earlier on this week, I had an impromptu meeting with my boss who asked for a quick 5 minute chat.
As a freelancer in a 3D company this can only mean one or two things: a contract or being let go. Unfortunately it was the latter.
I couldn’t say I was surprised, I had noticed how quiet the studio had gotten, the panicked look in my superiors eyes as the weeks ticked by with no more jobs should have tipped me off.
The only thing that was going through my mind was: why me?
When we lose our jobs, its almost like losing a person. A part of your identity. I had gotten used to the daily grind in our studio, letting it seep over into other aspects of my life and help mould who I am.
Because of this I think its fair to say I experienced the 10 stages of grief; shock, denial, sadness, anger, sickness, panic, guilt, loneliness and finally settled on healing and acceptance.
I don’t think it was a good week for emotional outbursts or for my poor boyfriend who tried his hardest to help me see the bright side; less work, less stress, more freedom to pursue art etc. I know its not too bad because I have a secondary job and had some money saved up “just in case”, but that doesn’t stop you from questioning yourself and wondering where you went wrong.
No matter how many kind words people say, or how they relate to your situation, no-one can help unless you accept you need to start helping yourself.
The one thing I found did help was going to the gym, a lot.
Since the start of January, (New Years resolution, cliche I know…) both my partner and I have been going to Muay Thai.
Boxfit Glasgow: Muay Thai Gym.
I used to go a few years ago, until life got in the way. I always remembered thinking how motivated and uplifted I felt whenever I went, whether I was making progress or helping out some of the other trainers.
This is what I’ve latched on to since losing my job. Being a part of this team has greatly helped, and punching and kicking a bag to the point of exhaustion is fantastic for getting your frustration out!
So thats what I’m going to keep doing. More training, getting fitter and focus more on myself and things I love rather than how a job can make me feel.
Maybe I’ll work in 3D again in the future, who knows. But right now, life is not as bad as I thought.
As with any creative person, I can be guilty of procrastinating. A lot.
Its okay once in a while but when you can’t remember the last time you took time to draw someone from real life, you know somethings wrong.
Life drawing is a great skill to hone as it helps train you to draw what your eye sees and not what your mind thinks. And trust me, it is a lot trickier than drawing from a photograph.
This week, in the spirit of New Year; New You, I decided to kick the laziness and go back to life drawing classes.
I found a quaint little session on a Tuesday evening, close to where I live. Its unpretentious and non-threatening, and also has the added bonus of being in a pub. Good for loosening up with a sneaky Jaeger and coke.
My first session back was good and bad. I enjoyed getting back into the flow, but knew I was extremely rusty. They started with a few 2 minute poses, which help you warm up your skills, then moved onto 3 20 minute poses. These were more fun to do as you could focus more on details but I still wasn’t fast enough to capture everything I wanted! Though I can’t imagine posing naked for any amount of time, let alone in one position for over 20 minutes…
In order to keep it up each week and fight against my extreme laziness, I’ve decided to keep a blog of my progress and what I would like to work on.
Heres my extremely raw drafts from my first week, hopefully I’ll see some improvements as the weeks go on:
2 minute poses Graphite on paper
2 minute poses Graphite on paper
First 20 minute pose Charcoal on paper
Second 20 minute pose Pencil on paper. Focused more on the head and face in this one.
Third 20 Minute pose (with a lady this time) Took time drawing her body and figure which i then ripped out and had 5 minutes left to draw this. Turned out better than expected.
So if you have any comments on any improvements I could make or if you have any good techniques or tips I’d love to hear from you!
Hope you enjoyed these as much as I enjoyed making them!
Until next time
Overcome challenges balancing work and fun by doing what you love. Reaching the summit of Ben Ime, Scotland, 2014.
Doing what you love as a career gives a massive sense of achievement. Everything you’ve worked towards has paid off. You’ve made it. But now is not the time to take a breather. You must keep on top of your fantastic new position by working, if possible, even harder than before.
But what does that mean for your private life?
As I have mentioned in a previous post, I currently work as a freelance 3D Architectural Visualizer. As well as a Game Artist. And in retail. And personalized portrait artist… See the recurring theme here? I’ll go in depth in a future post about what these careers entail, but essentially they have taught me to become somewhat accustomed to a finely tuned balancing act. I’ll try and share some tips that I’ve learned along the way.
1. Take a Break.
To begin with, working non-stop 24, with no breaks to eat, sleep or poop, is not the most efficient way to manage your time. Theoretically, using all the time available to you within a day might seem the logical way to go about it. Without rest your cognitive processes slow down making your work even harder. You become more irritable All work and no play makes Jodi a dull boy.
Fooling around and visiting Der Klimm in Amsterdam
2. Have Hobbies.
Don’t ever give up something that you enjoy for a job. Other than helping take breaks and keeping mental levels on the up and up as mentioned above, this is also who makes you, you. If you are lucky enough to get a job in your field, chances are they hired you more than your clear cut c.v. Your personality and what makes you you are a major component of why you may have been employed. Losing hobbies and yourself, might make you unhappier as a person and either feel like you can’t keep up with your employment or maybe make an employer think they’ve made a mistake.
Going for a run, baking cakes, climbing mountains, even binge watching shows on Netflix (albeit in a lesser amount) will all help maintain the happiness balance in your life.
3. Look After Yourself.
All the things mentioned have been to help with your mental health, but another major factor is your physical body. Exercise, healthy eating, getting enough sleep. All these factors are essential in keeping a healthy body to supplement a healthy mind.
4. Be Passionate.
If you are wanting to become a master of the juggling act in taking on multiple projects, there is one way they’ll never coexist together. And that is if you don’t want to do it. If you are putting in your time, effort and your soul into some projects and not others, you’ll start to resent your time given to one, when it could go towards the other. So aim to only work on stuff that will give you a sense of achievement with clear cut advantages. Financial situations allowing.
5. Get Help.
And by getting help I don’t mean hiring other people to do work for you. But if you find yourself wasting your valuable time figuring something out when there could be someone with the knowledge within talking distance. Don’t be too proud and just admit you could use their help.It doesn’t make you any less of a person and if anything, it’ll give that person a nice boost that they could help you out.
6. Be Organised.
Im going to end on what might seem to be the most simple piece of advice; my calendar is my best friend. And I don’t mean the one on my kitchen wall. I use an electronic calendar that syncs automatically up with all my devices. This allows me to organise and see quickly everything I need to do in that day. Its great to get into the habit of waking up, checking what you need to do and setting out tasks that need to be completed on each day. Not only does it simplify everything in your own head, it also makes sure you don’t double book yourself for much needed appointments or even down time.
So there you have it. Although there are possibly MILLIONS of ways to help balance yourself in your busy life, these are the 6 major points that help me. If theres anything you think I should include or try, or any tips you can think of, please let me know and I’ll try and cover it in a future post! Also if anyone is helped by this post please don’t hesitate to let me know 🙂
Thanks for reading!
ninetyeightynine 