Hi Masters, today, I did a study on a two-point perspective while streaming on Instagram. More importantly, I wanted to improve my skills in the area, and I wanted to see if live broadcasting is a fun way to teach myself. Interestingly, I streamed at home in my NYC apt in my cozy office space. Also, I don’t have any plans on a set schedule yet, as I’m experimenting and seeing if I love it. Finally, if you are an artist looking to grow your skills in perspective drawing, then you will find downloadable content at the end of the post.
Masters, during the commute, I turn into the best artist mode for the life at the North Pole. Lots of people on the train. The goal is to impress. Today it was slightly different. The plan is to prepare for the art meetup. How you ask? It all begins with starting up my Pinterest app. Why that app? Because it works great!
Mixed Media Digital Drawing
Tools for the North
Not enough? Okay. I use it because of the tools. What tools? For seconds, it has a search bar! For example, if I search for the north pole, I will get a bunch of images. I know a few sites that make it impossible to find pictures! Three, I love organization tools. I can create sections at will and automatically be brought suggestions for more idea’s.
What traits did I use?
Let’s go back, I wanted to draw for my art meetup. Therefore, I created a few sections. I will list them in a few minutes. Why!? Because I love to make, you wait! No, I want to tell you how I come up with the ideas north pole. What is a name without a process? Secondly, the name of the section came from a few simple ideas; A trait, prop, villain and heroic quality.
Russian Nuclear Icebreaker!
Let us not drink the forgetting potion just yet! Hence, I created a new google keep post, to jot down my ideas. For the prop, I choose tough. Naturally, the villain got the evil quality. Then, I needed inspiration for the art. Omg, I haven’t even told you the name of today’s meetup! “Let’s Draw: Life at the North Pole.” Okay, don’t hit the panic button folks! Consequently, I went over to YouTube and searched around the pole. Hehe! Long and behold, I found an interesting video about a Russian nuclear icebreaker! You can see the video here.
NYC MTA Turnstile?
Wait don’t leave yet, I’m almost done! The Russian nuclear icebreaker sailed for 40 years to the north! Thus, that will be my heroic subject. In the video, I noticed that people were gathering outside for a BBQ. Therefore, I created a villain, the NYC MTA turnstile. Wait, don’t laugh, bah go ahead! Simply put, people go on the icebreaker for a simple exchange. Accordingly, see images below.
Right North Pole
Mid North Pole
Left North Pole V3
Digital North Pole
In Closing
Thank you for sticking till the very end of the “Life at the North Pole.” Check out the Pinterest board if you are interested in seeing today’s inspiration. Masters, we are at the end of the process, but it doesn’t need to end here. You can continue the conversation in the comments. Also, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate and ask and I will answer them.
Hello Masters, today I want to share an original, thoughtful way you can improve your blog writing with an interview with Shawn aka Dronstad. I’ve struggled with writing every post. Also, I looked online for guidance, but haven’t found a clear way to help me write better. To make it exciting and fun, I asked a fellow community man whom some of you know and love, who possess vast experience and published many posts and stories. The crucial questions will guide us on a journey to learn how to write a novel, unlock an angle of approach to the subject, give your article purpose and build original detail. Please join me for an interview in Q and A form with Shawn from Dronstadblog. In the end, I will include how you can support or follow him.
Dronstad
Q&A Interview with Shawn Dronstad Blog
What do you want to tell your readers or which central question do you want to answer?
The moral of the story varies from text to text. Mostly I try to show the bad, to highlight the good in the next scene. Sometimes I leave the bad, so people can see how bad things can be.
I do this thing covertly, not presented at first glance. You don’t tell a reader “Murder is bad,” you tell him the story and show him why murder is bad. And why am I telling that?
If you show it in a way a reader can relate to, the reader will revisit his morals, think about it, try to defend the other side even he doesn’t support it and after that, he will make a conclusion that ‘murder’ is atrocious.
I want my reader to think, to participate in the story and possibly find an answer to his problem, grow with his moral standing and eventually become a better person after reading my story. In the end, that is the ultimate purpose of a writer.
Shawn is making his own illustrations for the stories posted on his Patreon. He does the custom stories and illustrations for his Patrons. My personal favorite story is Dad’s Old Blaster.
What’s the purpose of your article?
Tell a story, say something deep, thoughtful, powerful, encouraging. Make a reader search for the truth in the text, make him chase the fragments and complete the puzzle.
Train someone’s mind, challenge his convictions, insult them on the intellectual level and leave him struggling. When they overcome the problem I gave them, they can feel like a hero who has killed a giant.
What do you want your readers to do at the end of the page?
I think I answered this already. I’ll simplify it. I want my readers to think while I entertain them. It is a fun brain exercise, but with a deeper meaning when sub-conscience kicks in.
Reevaluate your standing point, challenge yourself with a different perspective, develop empathy, evoke sympathy for the enemy, understand the different point of view, grow as a person and become a better man tomorrow.
What unique perspective do you bring?
I try to implement something from my life and the situations I’ve been through or my imagination on how things should have happened. I try to show the unpopular opinion in a relatable way.
My prime goal is firstly to shock my reader by giving him an extraordinary situation and slowly point the way out of that situation, so every story is a journey on itself.
He began posting audio versions of his stories on his YouTube channel. He is doing everything by himself.
Where are the genuinely original details in your story?
It comes in the form of scenery, world-building, the surroundings and the lore I am building within the story. After that, I introduce a character, a person to the story, a piece of reality, someone who will be a guide for the reader through the story.
Also, the motive to the story is something that is purely fictional, therefore original and new. Every story I make is supposed to rely on a rarely explored topic, taboo topics, exotic suggestion and scary thought of something potentially dangerous like war, terrorism, violence, sex, mental issues, confrontation with the law, government, society, etc.
Which elements of your experience couldn’t be in anyone else’s story?
Hmm, that is hard to describe, because I am not able to say what other people have experienced. Many people went through a situation I haven’t, and there are situations that I went through that many can’t imagine happening to them.
I speak about war, conflict, violence and strange places where you can find humanity. To my analysis, the world is yin and yang (light in the dark, dark in light, good in bad, and bad is good).
I’ve been through 5 wars, civil wars and a tough period of transition from Communism to Socialism, to Democracy and the process of Balkanization (look up the term). I was a child when chaos consumed my country, and I grew up through ruble.
In no way do I claim I am an expert on these topics. However, I think I have a somewhat better understanding of what has happened to this part of the world. I do restrain myself to my personal opinion and point of view, and so I critique the society and politics with my own developed comprehension on these topics.
Now, to all of this, what I can say is that you should try answering these questions yourself and see where do you stand. Define your goals and then make the route you want to take.
Set up the checkpoints, but make them close to where are you now in life so that you can reach them. That way you’ll get moving, slowly in the beginning, but you’ll be a step away from where you were yesterday. And then, all you need to do is to work on your way up in the world. It is that simple.
Thank you for joining the interview with Shawn Dronstad!
Masters, we are at the end of the interview with Shawn Dronstad, but it doesn’t need to end here. You can follow his blog, Twitter and his latest stories on his Patreon. Also, if you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate and ask and we will answer them. If you are interested reading more about Dronstad, please check out Steam Dreams.
Hi, today I will try to open my community art store. Hold it, How is your week/weekend? As I’m writing, trying to maintain focus on this while talking to my mom. I’m working on opening up a community art store on my blog. Also, the other day, I was running in the morning and managed to get a few beauty shots on the boardwalk. Thursday, I found myself playing cricket with co-workers and day’s before, I’m squeezing in any chance I can get to draw. Okay getting off topic, I did mention community art store, it’s been on my mind for a few weeks now because it gives me the opportunity to be supported and continue to give back to the community.
Playing Cricket With Co Workers
Board Walk Beauty Shot 2
Board Walk Beauty Shot
Drawing on black paper from red cloth
Community Art Store
I won’t reveal all my secrets, but stay tuned. Heh. Wait! Okay, I’m thinking of a way to connect with the community. I was thinking of posting the art I create from your ideas in the store. I have a few already, but they haven’t been designed and published. However, on Friday I worked on an abstract piece that will be part of the store. The art piece is a test run to see what is possible. I created a red rectangular pillow with cover. If you do decide to buy it, let me know your experience and what I can improve with my community art store. A small portion of the income will go as a donation back to the WordPress community.
Red Rectangular Pillow with Cover Front Community Art Store
Red Rectangular Pillow with Cover Back Community Art Store
Who is included in Community?
While I’m doing all these things I mentioned earlier, I’m always thinking about how to help the community grow. More importantly, I want to answer the who questions in the fantastic bold header above. To be part of the art store community, just reach out, and we can see if it will work out. In the past, I worked with Dronstadblog. His work reaches many eyes and influences even me to draw. If he is okay with it, I would like to put his idea’s to life in the community art store.
What are the quick poses? It is a small introduction about me and what I’m drawing and future planning. Also, I have to apologize for the poor voice quality and will try to do better voice recording next round. Besides, after the recording of the podcast, I learned that the background made it hard to hear me speak. Therefore, I plan to use Adobe Audition to separate the music and the voice. I decided to record the podcast because time is against me, and I wanted to tell somebody about it. In doing so, I was able to relieve the pressure and start a dairy.
Quick Poses Episode
Throughout the podcast, I get my inspiration using a tool called quick poses. You’re going to love it if you’re a striving artist like me? Why? For example, the mechanism throws 60-second poses at you, and your challenge is to draw them with as much accuracy as you can muster up. Similar, I love to get drawing prompts to challenge myself and explore the unknown. Earlier, I wrote about my sketchbook, describing my experience of drawing from life and getting inspiration from 7th Dragon 3 Code: VFO game fan art. Though drawing from quick poses will get me closer to the human’s proportions. Also, it will prevent me from making up impossible poses like in the following article.
Thank you for listening!
Again sorry for the poor audio quality of quick poses recording, and I hope that maybe the summary did a better job explaining my experience. I want to include the text version of the podcast, but I don’t want to spend time writing it. On the other hand, does anybody know of excellent transcribing service for my podcast? Finally, if you’re interested in offering your service, let me know in the comments below or use my contact page.
Thank you for reading quick poses.
Leave a comment over the “What’s Crackin’ \ (•◡•) /” section below.
How about I share my sketchbook scrapbook on my blog and describe what I was thinking? I was sitting outside on a bench in front of the beach, and it hit me. I have all these pencil sketches in my sketchbook. It might be worth sharing them with my followers and the WordPress community. I know what your thinking, why would I want to follow a blog that posts about sketches? Okay, here is my thought, I show you my process, and you can ask questions about it. I strongly feel you will learn a thing or two from me because I’m super passionate about art. Heck, I might learn from your questions too!
Where did you cook up the idea? 👨🍳
I got the idea of a sketchbook scrapbook several weeks ago; a co-worker purchased a game called 7th Dragon 3 Code: VFO. According to Google, It’s the first Western release for a Japanese RPG series that began with 2009’s more named merely 7th Dragon. Regardless, he gave me an art book that came with the game. Henceforth, I decided to draw characters from it. Then I just started adding small pencil marks into my sketchbook. Of course nothing short of crappy chicken scratch, but it began to fill up pages.
Art Instructor 👨🎨
Days later, my art instructor taught me a new way to draw, follow the shadows and nothing has edges. I thought to myself, how will I practice this new technique? He recommends I take a piece of crumpled paper, put new lighting around it and draw the damn thing. Now, the idea works well at home, but during my commute, I decided to use the art book as reference and practice.
Scrapbook Ideas 📚
Wow, thank you for reading my sketchbook scrapbook idea! Okay, feast your eyes on these pencil marks. Aren’t we all special eh? I have more on my Deviant Art page.
It’s been a while. Sorry, dear followers! Let me update you on what been happening in my life so that we can have a quick chat. A few weeks ago I went on a ski trip to Jay Peak. The week before I’ve been missing my blog posts and focusing on creating a time-lapse of me drawing. Somehow I cannot break the habit of setting up my writing schedule. Then I joined a Wild West art contest. My goal is to put the longer waiting tasks on hold, and the shorter life posts up for grabs. The issue is that my life revolves around a solid routine, so I don’t want to bore or repeat myself. Any ideas how to keep it interesting?
Wild West Art Competition 🐴
I joined a Wild West art competition on ArtStation. Feel free to check it out so that you can cheer me on! I have wanted to try a challenge for the longest time. The best part is that it has a deadline. I’ve needed a date by which something is to finished because it will help me stay focused. I urge you all to try it and let me know in the comments below how you did it so that others reading this can reach their goals. For those that are curious why I put stress towards art competition, please take a look at Striving Professional Artist. Besides, I got another fantastic surprise coming down the horizon, but I can’t talk about it until I work out the details. All I can say is that it’s art related.
Jay Peak Ski Trip ❄
Going up to Jay Peak
What happened at jay peak? We arrived super late, I unpacked and got ready for the jacuzzi. Then bed. The next day, we skied. I fell before making it on the slope. I injured my back. It pretty much went downhill from there. Haha, maybe I can remix that sentence into a joke?. I mean I had fun with friends, but it forced my body beyond its limits. When I got home on Sunday night, I felt my back injury. Monday morning I took the day off because I couldn’t move.
Trying to Keep a Promise ❤
The last few blog posts I keep harping about is a dream of mine. I couldn’t do a daily blog post series. I haven’t figured how to find time to write my ideas during work hours while trying to squeeze in art time and my other daily adventures.
Random Word 📜
Cur; An aggressive dog or one that is in poor condition, especially a mongrel; A contemptible man or deserving contempt; despicable. If I were to try to fix the word into my Jay Peak story, I would say that I was in poor condition for the Jay Peak trip. Let me know if that makes sense?
I’m working on putting together a visual-provoking time-lapse. I experimented with software called Chronolapse. It has a feature to take screenshots every second or the amount you specify. Whats more is that it can combine all of the images into a video. I decided to use Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, but it quickly becomes a chore to figure out how to output simple motion video. For example, I didn’t know what to set the frame rate too, and I didn’t want to spend hours figuring it out. When I have time, I might return to adobe and figure it out, unless somebody knows how to create a simple time-lapse. Chronolapse is excellent, but for some reason, Adobe Premiere is trying to provoke me. In other words, it didn’t take the MPEG format. Nor does Adobe Media Encoder. Therefore, I have to resort to using a dependable FREE VLC Fix!
Dragon Sketches Underway Chronolapse
Chronolapse
Earlier I used Open Broadcast Software to create a video, but it is to heavy on my tablet resources. If I continue to use OBS, my poor tablets resources cannot keep up with Sketchbook Pro. For example, when I draw, it slows down my brush strokes and makes it hard for me to stay focused. Later on, I realized that I had to throw out the time-lapse created in Chronolapse. When I imported my video tracks into Adobe Premiere, the duration of the video becomes 1 second. Therefore an hour was lost in trying to convert and combine simple video.
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VLC is Good
I ended up saving all of the video files using VLC. Spending 3-4 days trying to do this task is a bit much? I get about an hour to work on this, but that’s it. I’m not going to give up of course, in fact, I outline my goals in my Striving to Become a Professional Artist page.
Is feedback a good thing right?
The great thing about this experience is that I will look for another way to speed up my workflow. I’m open to new ideas if you have recommendations.
Days ago I started a new journey of creating subway doodles. My art instructor, Michael Korosty recommended I try to develop doodles on the subway. He mentioned that this would be a way to practice my eye accuracy. However, my goal is to practice his technique. In fact, a few days ago, I created a video called How To Draw Proportional Spray Can? Thus, when should I practice his way and is there a way I can still blend into my daily trips?
Subway Doodles 🔊
Wait, why doodle in the subway and why subway doodle at all? Well, it all started with my wish to get good at drawing. Okay, not ultimately, I wanted to get better at accurately landing ovals and proportional drawing. Pause, I still owe you an explanation, I’ve been commuting every day and been drawing random sketches. That’s all it is, and at this point, I’m getting bored that nobody is interacting with me. Hopefully, by me drawing real living organisms, people will recognize it and socialize with me.
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How my Doodles Draw themselves 🤷
It’s quite simple; Don’t worry about anything and draw whatever in front of me. If the subject moves away, then I paint on top or create a new layer in Sketchbook Pro. In fact, I’m using more gestures than accuracy. Even so, I feel as though I’m not improving. In fact, what I want is to do studies of my subjects, but without looking weird. In other words, I started drawing using a part of the technique, but I felt guilty that I didn’t measure correctly.
abstract pillar subway 4
abstract pillar subway 3
abstract pillar subway
abstract pillar subway 2
The little goals of drawing 🤔
Do you ever look at a beautiful woman and stare? If the answer is yes, then you might be an artist. Joking, I don’t know, but see if you can find something interesting, then try to break down its beauty and draw it merely. Similar, imagine your standing in front of a blond woman who is sitting down, and you want to paint hair for whatever reason. If your lucky and she isn’t looking at you, and you might catch different shades of dark and light. That’s called a study if you can then draw that effect and practice it until it becomes stable.
Subway Doodles Sketch Underway V5
To Sum up ❤
Somehow I need to fit all of this into my daily commute. Do a few doodles, practice accuracy and do a few studies. Earlier, I wrote about Phoenix sketches, which is less connected to technique and free to rendering what is in my mind. In other news, above is a picture of the MTA subway train getting ready to leave the station. As always, good luck on your adventures!
I finished the Phoenix, grabbed a few screenshots and shot some excellent video clips. I promise to go into the tools and my workflow in a few minutes. More importantly, I wanted to bring up that my goal is to publish it these every day, but I couldn’t meet the deadline, and if you stick around, I will let you know what transpired. I will go into the software I used to process my images and video clips. Besides, I will discuss my drawing and mistakes and the solutions to these issues. If you stick around till the end of this video, I will walk you through a video time-lapse of the process.
Video Clips Digging into the Phoenix Sketches 🚨
Let’s restart; this whole thing started on the MTA subway train. Okay, I lied this whole thing started a while ago in January when I went on a ski trip to Vermont. I had a couple of my buddies draw lines and sketches over drinks. Even so, I bought this bird to live on the New York Subway system. In other words, I continued the doodle while commuting to work and I had the idea of recording what draw using OBS. OBS created several video clips for me to edit. If your interested read more about it in the article How to use Open Broadcaster Software?
Phoenix Workflow Unwrapped 🎁
Wait a minute, how does this whole thing come together? Well, OBS records and creates video clips. While that’s happening, I use Sketchbook Pro to draw and export screenshots of my bird. Then I bring those video clips into Adobe Premiere Pro. This tool allows me to create an attractive video that I can upload to YouTube. Meanwhile, I use another called Spark to create my featured image. I won’t lie, I’m not good at typesetting and design. This tool is great because it saves me a bunch of time in creating the featured image look. Even so, I want to get better at designing eventually, but now, I don’t have a lot of time. Finally, I use a tool called Grammarly to help me debug my writing skills. In other words, I’m still new when it comes to writing. I would like to communicate my thoughts effectively, so hopefully, this tool is doing the justice.
What do you think of my writing?
Has it improved?
Should I dump this tool?
Final Sketch Thoughts 🤔
Now to the juicy part, the final stretch, err sketch! Okay, fireside chat, I wanted to discuss mistakes and solutions I discovered during my workflow and artwork. At the time of writing the blog post, I realized I needed more time to produce a good copy and content. For example, I didn’t know that creating the time-lapse video will take me more than three extra hours to create, encode and publish. Also, add a few days of coming home late, and exhaustion made it that much more exciting project to complete. Plus, I didn’t do a great job in identifying the focus points. For example, I pictured it all in detail, but I keep forgetting that in life that isn’t true. In other words, the wings, tail and face and all cannot all be in focus. Therefore, I will try to find which part is essential and add more detail there and keeping other parts more straightforward. Thus, allowing me to finish faster.
V4 Phoenix Final
You might want to know ⁉
On the last note, I’m looking at a new tool called Chronolapse to take screenshots over a period. I think it will speed up my video editing process. Anyway, it’s getting late, and this is all I can remember. Please let me know what you think in the comments below?
This morning I decided to work on my phoenix sketches. Furthermore, I wanted a way to capture a small time-lapse of my drawing. In doing this, it will give me a way to share my progress with you. For example, I can show you all the steps in between as opposed to a still image. Likewise, I used a tool called open broadcaster software or OBS for short. If you’re interested in becoming conversant in OBS take a look at How to use Open Broadcaster Software? With the combination of SketchBook Pro and OBS, I started drawing. Upon finishing the video capture, the challenge of editing and combining the video files is the last step.
Phoenix Sketches are Underway V3
Phoenix Sketches are Underway V3 😍
Wait, let’s go back in time because we lost the plot. On the train in route to work, I found a nice comfy corner seat. Then, I started digging for the Venue Pro 11 tablet and active digital pen in my backpack. It’s not the best tablet, but it’s affordable and satisfies my needs. Also, everything is ready for drawing, but I always get this feeling of eyes watching. Do you ever do something and see somebody gazing for a moment but not interacting with you in any way? When it happens, I wish they would give me feedback on my art because it would help me improve it. What do you recommend I try to do to get more interaction with the MTA riders of New York?
Loudly talking about my picture while I draw?
Drawing things I see on the train?
Sketching MTA trains because it relates to the tin can I take to work every day?
What else should I add to this list?
Why the Phoenix⁉
Okay, so why did the Phoenix sketch? I started this project during my ski trip to Killington, and I wanted to see how far it would go. But, I don’t want to stretch this project out too long. Thus, I plan to set a deadline of this week. Placing a project end date is important because it will help me grow. In other words, I want to experience different types, mystical creatures. For example, I got a book on drawing dragons, and I’m excited to get back to it. In other news, I included the time-lapse video of my Phoenix; please let me know what you think?
Lately, my next day posts become harder to write. I wanted to publish my hair sketches, but I could not start on it. Usually, Monday or Tuesday I feel okay. After work, I feel drained. I figure, if I workout, do yoga, shower and eat, everything will work out? Not the case, in fact, it becomes hard to concentrate and keep the anxiety from taking over. In other words, I started working on this post, but then I decided to stream on YouTube. Here I am finishing up this post. Earlier, I created a new “WordPress Category” called Sketch-Based Articles to house these types of articles. My goal is to continue sharing my latest creations with this new group. If you’re new to the site and don’t know what I’m going on about, then check out my bio on the Striving to Become a Professional Artist.
Hair Sketches are Underway V2
Hair Sketches are Underway V2
The hair sketch came into existence when I decided that I want to learn to draw hair. I got inspired by the Sketchbook Pro email newsletter or notification. There was a post on HOW TO DRAW HAIR: STEP BY STEP WITH LORD GRIS. Interestingly, I learned that I need to add shiny, wavy areas to dark areas to create believable looking hair. When I finished drawing the hair, I decided that it wasn’t enough. What is hair without a head? SO, the hair sprouted some eyes, nose, and mouth; You get the idea. I’m not good at drawing the nose, so I decided to create a simple box with circles. In other news, I think I did an excellent job with the texture. I copy pasted that image texture around and used a few different blend brushes to spread it nicely around the hairball figure.
What do you think?
Ugly?
Scary
Needs a nose job?
Does the background need smaller doors encrusted with jewels?
What else should I add to this list?
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Late night doodles :)
I like KerDoodle Village sketches because its simplicity inspires me to find a better way to make my art. For example, today’s post, “In the Village 3” I can connect emotionally and understand the thought without needing to read a lengthy blog post.
