First off, please consider participating in a little study with Haku and I. See this link:
[link]


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This probably will sound negative to those who don't know me, but I think this latest piece in my gallery will be the last piece I do for an anime fandom contest. Trying to relate art to folks who are a lot younger (as anime tends to skew very young these days) and not culturally similar is problematic for me. In contests you're trying to figure out what people like, versus doing what you feel should be happening with the characters as part of a moving storyline.

I don't like wrestling with the desire to be "popular" and "win" if it comes in conflict with what I think a picture should be or what my direction should be. I'm well aware that if I started going to flat cel shading and posed faces that I could actually do better. I'm also aware that going for broad emotional moments (kissage, shirt ripping, etc.) probably gets a stronger reaction.

But there are decisions one makes regarding your approach to art. I can't get away from the issue of the storyline and keeping your characters tied to that story. I also can't go outside the box of what I think the character should be like and act like.

That said, I gave serious thought to whether to try to develop an entry for the :userpepper-contest: and decided not to. I've been trying hard to understand who this character is and if there are some consistent elements. I appreciate the design (although am not sure I understand the head thingies) but haven't seen enough narrative to give me something to go with other than "well, maybe I can insert her into a weird scenario or doing something fun." All in all, I don't think whatever I do will connect with the people on the other end. It's not a matter of lack of confidence, but simply just being different in my approach.


This times well with some of the other journals I've been reading and it seems that some folks came to similar conclusions about art in the social-networking realm. There's a real risk in donig too much work online in that you start conforming to the people here and "impressing" them rather than doing your own thing. There's a risk in that you won't take risks in order to please other people or get comments/faves/ etc. In reality, I'm not pleased by DA and how the most popular items on the front page are often repetitive elements. I have done my best to rearrange it so I can look at Daily Deviations and other things of variety, but alas, I can't escape what I call the same shiny headshots.

I think I"m going to keep doing my own thing and try to keep check on the things I do in art "socially" speaking so I don't get lost. I keep looking at the convention scene as fun and hell at the same time. We'll see how this year goes.

Mangarevolution page[link] .

KIRIBAN/ Gift Art
On pause.

S-girl Faq or who is s-girl and why is she here?
Here: [link]

Conventions I'll be scaring in 2008
Megacon - Confirmed
Momocon - Confirmed
AX - Confirmed
AWA - Too soon to know , but will at least submit for Art Show.

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