Day 18 - 30

Here is the study for today.  I learnt a lot from this one.  Never really thought about how many greens are in lily leaves :P My main focus was the flower though, and that was a lot of fun to paint.  The whole study took about 2 hours which was the time limit.

It's getting close to the end of the month and I thought I would just sum up on how the month went.  Basically, in terms of reaching my goals, I failed miserably on all accounts with only completing 18 studies out of the 30 which I should have had by now.  To be fair, there was the whole business with my new computer playing up, the recaliberating of my recaliberated screen :( and the router network problems - which all took about a week of my study time.  Not to mention the ever pressing hours of my client work and other things that couldn't have been helped such as Christmas and most likely the New Year as well, which would all have been manageable if I hadn't lost so much time already.  I also don't have a single personal piece this month.  I'm hoping to have 2 by the end of the month which still doesn't fulfil my goal.  And with all that has happened, I have also missed about 8 or 9 workouts as well, which gives me a final score of 0/3 :'(

Looking back, I may have made the goals unrealistic to my skill level and time availability, but on reflection, I won't be changing the goals and I'll try to do better next month.  As they say, if the goals aren't hard, they aren't worth getting.
On a good note, ever since I started the deathline challenge, I have done a much larger body of work and studies as opposed to the previous months when I wasn't doing it.  And even though I didn't reach any of my goals, I did push harder than I have done in the past to get better, and I hope to continue this practice until I reach my goals. Sorry for all my babbles, here is the study :D

Day 17

Hey guys,

Well through Christmas I didn't really get a chance to do studies. I contented myself with drawing in my pocket sized sketchbook whenever the opportunity raised but for the most part the previous two days weren't to great on the drawing side of things. I still managed to do my workouts but the amount of food I ate didn't help those endeavours.

Here is a skull study I did today. I spent about 2 hours on it and I'm sure I could have spent a great deal longer trying to workout how to match the texture, sutle shadows and highlights but time was short and I have a great deal of work to do this week.

Day 16

Here is another forest study. Doing my workout soon :D

Day 15

Here is a quick hour study :D trying to learn how to suggest detail better.

Day 14

Here is a life painting I did.  I failed horribly- took too much time looking for brushes to use and so I had too little time to paint.  I also really need to focus on my brushwork, as I'm all over the place :( Hopefully tomorrow is better.

Day13

Here is ther study for the day, it's not really finished but I ran way over time.  It took about 10 hours so I decided to call it quits.  Did a workout on the beach which was different.  It was a nice bit of a change but I don't think I'll do it often.  Transport alone takes too much time.

Day 12

Hey guys, I think from now on I'll be posting everyday again. I finally caught up with work yesterday and then installing my new router took 4 hours ( I couldn't believe it, I was so mad) So today I started off with some torso studies.My workouts have been quiet constant, I think I have only missed one.

Deathline delay :(

Hi guys, really sorry I haven't been able to post.  Earlier this week I had some errands to run, and they ended up taking all day, and I had to do the same the following day which, with my really tight schedule, really screwed things up.  I have to do about 10 hours of work a day and I try to do 6-7 hours of studies but because I've had to go out, not only did I lose my study time, but it made me get behind in work, so I pretty much lost this whole week.  I tried to stay up the first night, determined to keep to my schedule, but I was really tired so I never ended up finishing my studies.  It also screwed up my sleep patterns so I've been super tired this week which sucks.  I haven't posted because I really wanted to post a few completed studies, but now that it's been so long, I don't think I will be able to catch up.  I'll just start from next week as normal, and try do some extra studies as the month progresses.  I've been keeping to my workouts though, and that's the only good news towards my deathline goals i guess :(

Day 11

Hey guys, here is the update for the illustration.  It's not really coming out as well as I would have liked.  Did the workout today- it was pretty good.  Here's the link: http://www.bodyrock.tv/2011/11/14/you-make-me-feel-workout/

Day 10

Hey guys,

After watching the GBA last night, it really kicked my ass and made me re-evaluate what I've been doing and to direct my studies more towards my personal work.  So from next month, and as much as I can do this month, I will be starting each new month with a rough sketch of 3 personal pieces.  And I will be directing all my studies towards these 3 personal pieces.  If I didn't have to work 8 hours a day, I would do more than this each month, but I can't as it's a full time job.

So my new schedule will be:
1 hour - Anatomy Study
A colour study directed towards my personal work
A life painting 3 times a week
To finish a personal piece every 10 days

Here is a start to the personal work I've been doing using the stuff I've learnt from the studies.  It's about 5 hours in - the initial sketch took up most of the time.  I will be adding another 2 roughs to complete my 3 personal work quota for this month either later on today, or tomorrow.

Day 9

Hey guys, here is the study for today.  It was only a quick 2 hour study as I spent the other 6 hours of my free time doing some personal work.  I'll post it up when I've finished it.  The workout was really hard today.  I think I must've lost weight just by sweating O.o Here is the link http://www.bodyrock.tv/2011/11/23/look-hot-in-your-undies/ . I'm super tired right now as I've been doing work and studies for the past 17 hours, and sleep is calling.  See you guys tomorrow.

It's also been brought to my attention that in the gandalf piece I did - the screenshot I used while doing the study was actually warped which made his face unusally long - which I didn't actually realise when I was painting, and I kept thinking 'wow, his face is really long', 'wow, it's so long' (that's what she said).  So, in actual fact, the reference was warped.  I guess I should stop doing studies so late at night :P

Day 7 & 8

Hey guys, I did a 14 hour day of client work yesterday so I wasn't be able to finish a study a day as per usual.  I did 2 studies today to make up for it :D I also did a workout in the morning following the routine.

Day 6

Hey guys, here is today's study.  It took about 3 hours and it will be the last frog study for a while.  The frogs were a lot of fun and I learnt a lot about frog textures.  Doing all the different colours was fun too :D Didn't do a workout today but I'll try and do a small one before bed.  However, I did walk a lot today so maybe that sort of counts...

Day 5

Another frog.  This one didn't turn out so great but it only took 2 hours which is good.  I'm getting faster :P The workout today  was a killer, here is a link for anyone who is interested (http://www.bodyrock.tv/2011/11/28/it-will-rain-sweat-1000-rep-workout/).  I was sweating my ass off but other than that, today has been good so far.  Looking forward to posting tomorrow.

Day 4

IT'S A FROG :)
Hey guys, here is the one hour study which ended up being 4 hours :(
Seeing as it took so long, I wasn't able to finish the helmet I was doing yesterday.  Hopefully I'll have time to finish it off tomorrow.  I woke up really late today because I was up all night finishing work which sucked, but I still did my workout so I'm proud :)

Day 3

I didn't do so great on the study front today.  I spent roughly 6 hours trying to finish a helmet study but I've decided to continue it tomorrow as I ran out of time today.  Here is what I have done so far.  I'll do an extra  quick study tomorrow to make up for today.  It's just that with everything I have to do today, I only had 6 hours to study which was unfortunate.  Sunday is the off-day for the workout, so maybe I should've started on a Monday.

Day 2

Here's my study for today- it took me about 3 and a half hours, I didn't zooming in at all.  I also started doing my new workout routine and it went well today.  All in all, a great second day for the deathline.

Here's a link to the workout routine (http://www.bodyrock.tv/2010/11/29/mission-abs-possible/) I did today and maybe later on I'll start posting up my rep scores.

Day 1 of The Deathline Challenge

Here is the process for the pirate study I did, and also the start of my first day for the deathline study (it would actually be my 31st day but since I haven't catalogued it on this blog yet, I thought it would just be better to start from today).

If anyone hasn't heard of the deathline challenge, I recommend you to go to this link and read all about it: http://danwarrenart.blogspot.com/2011/11/crimson-daggers-deathline-challenge.html

I have decided on my goals for the deathline and I will be posting it here as well as my day to day progress following the inspirational lead of Alex Negrea who was the one who gave me the idea to post my progress onto my blog.  Here is the blog entry that inspired me: http://alexnegrea.blogspot.com/2011/11/day-one-deathline-here-i-go.html

You guys should check it out and follow his progres.  He is a great guy with great work.

My goals:

1. Finish a study a day, and also incorporate the things I've learnt into my personal work, so that I can build up my mental library.  By doing so, I wouldn't have to depend so much on photos and other reference materials while doing client work and day to day things.

2. Finish at least 3 personal pieces a month with the ultimate goal of applying to Magic: The Gathering which is basically my dream job at the moment and also the reason why I got into art in the first place.

3. Eat healthy and maintain a constant workout routine to stay healthy.

I look forward to beginning the deathline and will give my everything to ensure my goals become a reality in the coming year.