DESIGN A CHARACTER CONTEST - Week 8 Entry

This contest popped up during my searches for things to view on art section. Decided to create an entry as soon as my midterms are done. Unlike my previous posts where I settled for too few sentences that includes a post introduction, creations process and footer, this one will have more depth.

You can find the contest here. I chose the character Stimpy - from John Kricfalusi´s Ren & Stimpy. I used to watch that show. It brings back memories.

This entry took me several hours to make. It's not because it's that skill intensive to create the piece but because had to overcome several monsters every beginner artist has to conquer before getting better at their craft. My objectives for the year were simple, take my digital illustration skills seriously.

I was figuratively dragging my feet to create this piece. The end of midterms was fresh and I'm exhausted. I thought entering a contest would somehow stimulate my drive to do art. Quite the opposite happened here. It just brought me stress. I painted this piece using photoshop with intuos tablet.

The Sketch:

When you want to produce results better than the last, pressure will always be there. I began the sketch hopeful that can finish this better than my previous results. From experience, I already knew that I will not follow through what the sketch says. I don't know why sticking to guides always becomes a problem for me.

Laying out the Colors: This one is just plain blocking which parts will have the base colors.

Building up some more details:

And more details:

Separating each parts of the image is another minor skill one needs to master in any painting program that features layers. Even if I label some layers, I often get lost as more layers are necessary to fix other layers or add more sensitive details.

More details: You know what? You can guess the image will usually tell the story for me because it's just an illustration process.

I tried to limit the number of details on other parts of the image so as not to steal the viewer's attention to my focal point. I was aiming for the face, specifically the nose because it is Stimpy's signature trait.

Painting the hair probably took me several strokes and always switching between brushes deciding which one was better for the effect. I really don't know which brushes work and for what. You can find tons of brushes online and each brush is best for a specific texture. The problem for beginners is that it's always a trial and error to see which brush works. This can be frustrating most of the time because switching between brushes takes a chunk of seconds from your work time.

Creating the eyes was the last challenge because it's usually meant to be the most interesting part of the face. But I no longer have the drive to push more intricate details. I settled for simplifying the process because I won't be able to sleep on it if I postponed the work.

One can usually draw more inspiration by looking at other people's art. However, for me it does the opposite effect when I'm creating a piece. I avoid cyberspace because I'm bound to see works made by pros. You can't help but compare yourself with pros just to satisfy your curiosity on how great the gap is between your beginner skills and the leaders in the industry.

I know countless hours were spent before these artists earned their right to fame. I don't have that luxury of training because I study a different discipline. The only thing that drives me to pursue digital art is because I want it for the possibilities I can create with the skill set.

I motivate myself and I also destroy that motivation. It's a love and hate relationship for my passion. I just know I want to master the skill and find my own style. Why? Because I'm an artist. The call to create art comes natural.

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art and flair courtesy of @PegasusPhysics