I don’t want to be Noizi Ito anymore
After taking a good look at my Influence Map and comparing it to the influence map of artists I look up to, I decided it’s about time to shift my focus and change my objective, so I can walk with a more steady pace towards the kind of artist I want to be.
I always end up turning to the easy and cute “girls just standing there”, because… well, it’s easy and cute xD. Sometimes I drift into other things briefly, but quickly return to what’s cute and easy for me. Well, I don’t want that anymore. I want something more! (sure, you can argue I haven’t even mastered simple and cute yet, but meh…)
This shift started consciously with this post “Work or Die, and getting the ambition back” . I went and started asking for help and critique of people and I went and looked for books I could get that could help me improve my drawing skills. I got so far a perspective book, a book on drawing hands and an anatomy for artist book (I also have this, this and this, oh and this, from previous urges to get helpful books). I’m still waiting for the book on fantasy illustration, I hope it arrives soon D:
Then I started looking for artbooks I wanted to own for reference and inspiration to expand my minimal collection (consisting only of Noizi Ito and CLAMP D: I need to snatch Suppi’s SkyDoll, he just has it sitting there in its protective bag since he got it >>). And I realized I didn’t want the typical “cute girls standing there in cute poses” artbook I used to look at in… So I went and got Shigenori Soejima’s last artbook C: (I preoredered and now it’s backordered, arg!).
I decided I also wangted to get artbooks that, while still anime-ish, would have some pictorical value, not just characters done in cell-shading or soft cellshading against a minimal background, you know. Sadly, I’m already out of budget, but I already took a look at some interesting books that I’d like to get (I’d like to have this one too, but it’s rather expensive and it’s mostly out of fangirlism xD ). Also, I spent all evening yesterday with Suppi browsing korean artists websites and blogs and gushing over their art and bookmarking the ones I liked for future reference xD
Now I have the urge to draw a nd experiment and…. But I have other(many!) things too take care of, so… that’ll have to wait. I have to work hard now so I can finish all that I have to do and get to do the things I want to do! C:
Well, I hope this time my focus shift will last longer and actually influence my art and not go back so soon to the flat characters just standing there I always end up doing, lol.
Related Posts:
Tags: artbook, improving, plans, rant, realization
Improving yourself is always a good thing
But honestly, there are so many artists that would like to be able to draw just those silly cute characters like you do.
I’m curious to see how you’ll change your artstyle though!
[Reply]
Deji Reply:
August 26th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
@Winter Wolves, well, there’s always people better than you and people not as good as you yet that may look up to you
That’s not excuse to get too comfortable with what one does! I was way too comfortable and scared of going or trying things too far from the “cute characters just standing there” (that work perfectly for VN sprites, haha).
So I’m expanding my horizons so I’ll be able to do much more than what I do now! And be able to do what I do now but way better
[Reply]
There’s a lot to be said for artistic flexibility. It’s a good thing to bring in new influences so that you can expand your abilities. It’s the same reason I read and watch so much different stuff. It’s more inspiration to draw from.
That being said, you already do have a fairly distinctive style that I think is observably yours. Even though your influences are obvious, you’ve made it your own instead of being a straight up copycat.
[Reply]
Deji Reply:
August 26th, 2010 at 2:55 pm
@sake-bento,
I’m not really looking to change my style a lot or anything ^^; I think I just want to be a more versatile artist.
That’s why say I I don’t want to be Noizi Ito anymore, because most of what she does is just cute characters standing there (she’s VERY good at it, though!).
Now look at, say, YiLee or Kkuem; regardless of their style, they can do a range of things that I’ve always been scared of doing because they stray from the “simple and cute characters just standing there”. That’s the kind of artist I want to be, regardless of any drawing style I end up developing
[Reply]
These “Kusanagi”-books are especially great! Many lovely ones, it couldn’t hurt me to take a closer look at those xD
On another note, I think it’s always a good thing to expand your knowledge and skill set ♥ I, too, have lots of problems with getting stuck in my comfort zone, although I’m nowhere near as good as you yet~ Looking forward to see you experiment in the future! =>
[Reply]
Deji Reply:
August 26th, 2010 at 3:05 pm
@Cielo,
I definitely plan to get at least one of those Kusanagi books, they look awesome and essential for background CGing inspiration and reference! (they’re hard to find, though).
The comfort zone is so comfortable it ends up being scary to step out. At some point you even surround yourself of people and artists you like that do just the things you think you can do, so it’s even safer. Anything else, you’ll just glance at it and say “oh, no, I don’t really like that kind of things, I like doing just this…”. So you get stuck forever in there, feeling comfortable forever.
That’s exactly what I’ve been doing for the past few years >>;
Don’t be like me, lol.
I’ll try to come up with cool stuff in the future C: I know the kind of artist I want to be and I’ll do my best to not stray from that path ^^
[Reply]
It’s been a long time since I commented in your blog but I wanted to share something with you about the Atelier Rorona Artbook. I found this a long time ago but I’m not sure if it’s scanned from the same artbook or not. http://www.animepaper.net/gallery/scans/Atelier-Rorona/
I’m looking forward to get the game because I’m an Atelier fan too!
[Reply]
Deji Reply:
August 29th, 2010 at 7:16 pm
@ShiChan00, woah, thanks for sharing!
And yeah, it’s from th same compilation artbook I linked.
They’re releasing a Rorona+Totori artbook next month, btw! I’m thinking of getting it instead of the compilation one (it’s cheaper XP )
[Reply]
I think everyone goes through a point where they’re dissatisfied with their current style and the want to improve and push themselves further. I can understand this feeling since I’m hoping to use my free time now that I’m done school to work and improve myself. All I can suggest is that you take it in stages, and use those art and anatomy books to help you along the way. Good luck!
[Reply]
Deji Reply:
August 29th, 2010 at 7:56 pm
@R e a f u, yeah, we all go through that every now and then, and that’s a good thing C:
Thanks and good luck to you too during your free time! ^^
[Reply]
Deji…
You have no idea how much you inspire me. And I say this not to butt-kiss you or anything because I truly mean it by heart.
Every time I am in a slump or get depressed over art, you always seem to magically write a blog about my inherent problems and give me hope by your sheer determination to not let that “destructive wall” get in your way of improving. I honestly admire you for that.
You see, it’s very disheartening on my part to see my art major friends to be so much better at what they do, and yet they always say that their stuff are crap (…what does that make mine, then? xD). They are very good at realism/western art, whereas I can only do a decent job at realism because the professors here look heavily down on semi-realistic/anime style (I expected as much).
It’s one thing to feel deprived of your artistic freedom, but it’s another thing to feel unhappy because you’re drawing stuff to please other people (i.e. art assignments) and not for your own personal happiness anymore. I sometimes ask myself questions such as “Do I have to conform to my professor’s interests/idea of what art is in order to be called a ‘good’ artist?” and “Aren’t all artists have their own styles to begin with?”.
Times like this I dread going back to uni each year, feeling that one of these days I will just end up giving up on one thing I truly love to do, and find myself regretting over doing it again for the second time. I know in myself that I have so much to learn, that I have to constantly challenge myself to do much better in order to improve. It’s this motivation that keeps me going for the most part…and yet I hate it–I hate feeling so discouraged, moreso by the uni that’s meant to help me improve. It’s strange how I feel more relaxed working on a piece that’s devoid of any kind of expectations from other people because I am doing it for myself, and that in itself is rather liberating. Still, as you have said above, it’s not a good thing to get used to your comfort zone too much because that wouldn’t get us anywhere in terms of artistic development. And you’re right.
Err…TL;DR-ness aside, I just dropped by to say that talking about this to someone (and knowing that someone is also experiencing the same kind of problem I am having everyday at college right now) made me feel like I just got a huge thorn out of my chest. So…thank you so, so much for all the inspiration. This post really cheered me up. I truly look up to you in that sense that you are not like most artists that I know who, despite being very good at what they do atm, remain static and contented with their current skills and close all doors for future improvement.
I look forward to your future endeavors, and you have all my support in your artistic journey.
Good luck.
With gratitude,
renpao
[Reply]
Deji Reply:
August 29th, 2010 at 7:47 pm
@renpao,
Wow, long comment is long! I feel special for motivating such a long comment from you
I’m glad I get to inspire you, really! I never say this enough, but whenever somebody tells me that I’m helpful or inspiring or motivating in any way, I feel I’m on the right path, so thanks to you too!
God, I hate when people say their stuff is crap and they’re so good D: They could at least say “I’m not good enough” or “I’m still not as good as I’d like to be”! xD
I’m sad to hear your professors don’t appreciate anime D: I’m glad because mine did (half of the students were drawing it, so they had to give up eventually)
I feel the same about personal pieces versus pieces for others sometimes. Sadly, when you work on the artistic field, you get paid to do what the client wants (in your case, what the teacher wants), regardless if tit is the kind of thing you like to do or what you’d like to be doing right now. That or you’re awesome and get paid for what you naturally do because people want to buy exactly that from you! ( lucky sons of their mothers the ones that can pull that off! xD )
Just make sure you still have time at the end of the day of every couple of days to draw something for yourself, for the sake of doing it and something that you’ll be ultimately happy with. For example, right now I’m painting something in a way I couldn’t do for anybody else, because it’s taking me forever, but I’m really exited about it, because it’s been a LONG time since I devoted so much love into a piece without worrying about when I should have it finished by!
Don’t feel discouraged at the uni; try to absorb as much knowledge as you can, practice the styles the professors want you to do and then transfer all that to the style you love doing C: Use your assignments to experiment, to mess up, to have fun and to learn new things!
Again, thanks for the long comment and I’m glad it was useful to you to feel better.
Don’t give up and keep improving!
[Reply]
I think you must focus on what you really want to change instead of buying thousand of books. That won’t help if you keep being comfortable in your forever shojo style.
You should try different thing, but really different ones, not like “something cute but kinda realistic/artistic” ex: http://dejichan.deviantart.com/gallery/#/djf8g3
[Reply]
Deji Reply:
September 1st, 2010 at 12:37 am
@Kayla,
I’m a graphically simple-minded (or limited, if you want) person; I can draw some elements but I’m rather unable to do anything else and I’m unable to take the extra step to figure it out so I can get where I want (draw whatever it is I want to draw). I need to look at examples, I need directions, and there’s where the books are needed, technical and inspirational.
I currently stay away from certain things because I’m very bad at them and some times I don’t even bother to try out of fear of failure. I want to change that so I can actually draw what I want to be able to draw.
And, you know, most of the things I want to draw involve cute girls and happy moments, haha.
Sorry for not being able to take your advice. Maybe one day I will.
[Reply]