hello all,
so recent complaint to attend to quickly. Apparently in a bid to get people seeing this blog i have inadvertently eliminated a small number of you, i apologize(damn you Google!). To correct this i have done some work on our home site to provide you with room to talk about the barasu or the lunacy. just a few rules though

1. you can comment and post images of your work only in the topics i set out, so i can provide feedback
2. you can only create your own topics in the general discussion or make comments on our guestbook.

to access the forum, use the "lunacy108 ideas sketches" tab on the blog , when at the site, go to "forums" and select any of the created categories( lunacy001 and barasu001 for now), and then any of the topics.
thanks
jarrett

been away a little long. so, here is what is going on.
certain complaints relating to the lunacy has prompted me to separate the lunacy from the barasu. i have used tabs to do this. so for now, the blog has 4 tabs.

1. the home page is where i initially place all the posts.
2. the lunacy page  is where i catalog all the lunacy and their attendant material, this is mostly for concept artist, writers, and anybody interested in science fiction or the themes underlying such topics
3. the barasu page is where any person interested in learning to draw can go to get tips and advice and follow along with the sessions. Aspiring comic artists, concept artists, architects, industrial designers, graphic artist can get started here.
4. the lunacy sketch art page is a link to my site, where you can register and get more exclusive stuff from me, view my portfolio, request commissions for concepts you might have or even collaborate with me and much more.

Thanks

barasu 001: coming to terms

Okay, like I promised this is the first installment in a series of exercises, activities and projects that I hope will help any aspiring illustrator or concept artist start drawing or improve drawing.

I’m calling them barasu (it’s Japanese for “to expose”, “to break apart”); several “barasu” will be connected to the current lunacy. These “barasu” are part of my ongoing efforts at learning on my own (I am self taught).

So for starters, this one is just what you have to do and how you have to prepare mentally to face the challenges that are coming. More of these will follow; in fact, I just finished the draft for the second installment about lines so watch out.

In case you are wondering what this has to do with lunacy 001, well I had put up an earlier post that should clear that up. It’s a simplified diagram of the entire essay, hope you can find yourself somewhere in that web, also included is a paragraph by paragraph summary of the 6-page essay… I got complaints: too long!

So, again I would like to hear from any of you and hear your feedback especially on the exercise template. Does it contain everything it’s supposed to or too much?

Thanks

 

 

Coming to terms

To begin, you must first accept the truth. That truth is this: every Endeavor ends in success or failure, what makes you a good artist is your willingness to come to terms with either outcome. If you fail you should be content and in the event you succeed you are equally content. It means you must accept responsibility for the consequences of either outcome.

To proceed, you must have or acquire five ingredients (yours might be more or less). I have found that these ingredients happen to form the categories for all art instruction(this barasu is “craft” for instance), and are all you require to do great drawings.

1.          Craft(entails physical skills, media used) 
2.          Technique(entails mental tools, patterns found, knowledge gathered) 
3.        Objective(entails projects, skill goals) 
4.          Design(entails style, philosophy, patterns, creativity, ideas) 
5.          Effort(entails work hours, study time, practice time)

The diagram below explains this. It’s an analogy so please read the essay on convergence again and study the diagram thoroughly.

 

copyright© Jarrett 2013

To persist, you must be willing to do

1.  exercises 
2.  activities 
3.  projects.

Why this is important is cleared up by the concept map below.

 copyright© Jarrett 2013

The point to keep in mind is that the diagram is color coded to show you groupings, just follow the arrows and the reason becomes clear. In my first essay (lunacy001) I talked about convergence and patterns and its relevance to concept artists…so the “patterns” in the cmap (concept map) refers to the skills we all are seeking to get, because a pattern is both a thing and a process, and that is what the skills are about: wanting something done and knowing how to go about it.

To improve, you must use sessions, I know it’s not very creative, but it works. Sessions encourages you to use consistent drawing practice and track your progress as your art improves. I have used it to study hands, anatomy, figure invention. Right now, I’m using it to study animals, work on fashion…its fun really.

The exercise template below is in essence what every exercise must entail to qualify for use, when doing a session. 

Exercise name	What I call the exercise, you can it whatever helps you remember.
Objectives	Quantifiable skills acquired, hard or soft
Pre instruction Test	Placement test determines Intensity, constraints, tools, steps followed.
intensity	How long, how often exercise is done
constraint	Limits set to enable you “reach” objectives
Craft tools	The tools and materials you’ll require
Set up	Describes what you have to arrange before proceeding
Exercise steps	The instruction in images preferable
Examples	My own sample of the exercise
Progress Track	Session number and phase number helps you track your efforts.
Milestones	Landmarks you will see that shows you have accomplished the task…you can score yourself with this
Suggest rule	Here you have to suggest your own observation(this is the pattern)
Utility Test	And here you use it(the rule or pattern) more than once
Post exercise comment/advice	Things to watch out and what to expect from the exercise in case you don’t succeed
Escalation	For advanced learners, develop a variation to the exercise that makes it more difficult or complex

Note: the brown coloured rows are tasks you perform on your own, the blue rows are all determined by the pre-instruction test and the green rows indicate progress trackers.

Finally, to follow along with future lessons, you must get the session tools and they are as basic as I can make them.

·         A pencil, 2b preferably.

·         A ream of A4 printing paper, for starters

·         Papers about 52gsm in thickness (just barely transparent) cut to about A4 size and 9 by 4.5inch slips…lots of both

·         A ball point pen, black

·         black, red, blue and green chisel-point Markers

one final note, the image of these tools, as well as the list, does not contain an eraser. This is not a mistake. I have found, and you will have to trust me, that in starting there is no place for the eraser until much later. You will thank me later. As for the little black stuff, it’s my wacom tablet…don’t worry, I won’t be using it for the barasu.