Appologies

I have missed a few weeks, and have been struggling with posting things on here. I am sorry for that. I truly am. Technology certainly has not been my friend recently. But there is nothing new with that.

I have been out with my camera over the last few weeks, so I'm going to update a little with a bit of a snapshot of what I have been taking with my camera. Because that has been the only way I have been inspired at all.

The picture above is me attempting to get unusual perspective, by sitting the camera on a wall. It gives the perception that the plants are on a size with the building. It obviously isn't, but I feel that it is something that adds a different dimension to a photograph. This isn't something that interests most people, but it is something I find really exciting. I like being able to change how a scene looks, just by positioning the camera slightly different. It is almost magical, when I think about it. 

I have tried to get the same effect in this image. I feel that this one is a bit more successful, in that the flowers look large compared to the building behind it. I also feel like the pink parts of the flower petals really look bright, brought out by the flash in the camera. 

I try not to be over complicated with my photographs, as I have had no education on it, and just have the ideas which are in my head. Whilst I do think about what kind of image I want to take, I don't try to think too much. I feel that sometimes pictures I just 'take' on a whim are better than the ones that I actually take a lot of time over. Which is ironic really. 

Searching for Inspirado

What do you do when you are in a rut?
 How do you find inspiration to help you back on your way?
 I do what I do in every other situation and turn to YouTube. Seriously, I rely on that site so much, it is becoming ridiculous. But I do love it so much, and one of a good thing to watch is someone else drawing (see below).
 
Because I am a little bit stuck, I felt I would give advice to people who may also be stuck in a rut. It may sound a bit rich, but trust me, as an artist there is no worse feeling in the world, than not being able to create something.

So I am going to give you 5 tips of getting over that creative rut.
1) Do something to take your mind of the subject of non-working. I know it sounds crazy, but focusing all your energy on something which isn't happening is depressing and does no good. Putting pressure on yourself to do something, can back fire, and can make you hate what you are trying to do. So try and relax, watch a movie, read a book, just de-pressurise yourself.

2) Find what inspires you. Again, sounds a little silly, but it works. Listening to NWA's Straight Out Of Compton, got me through my HNC in Art & Design, it really motivated me. I can't explain how it worked, but it did. It made me excited, and that's what you have to do. Find something that makes you excited, something that makes you take on the world. At the moment, for me, it is The Lion King. I feel so creative when I watch that movie. The good thing is, if your inspiration relaxes you, that's point 1 tackled too.

3) Write a list of what needs done. Something you were probably told to do at school, along with making a study timetable. It is recommended because it works. Write a list of EVERYTHING you need to do, and prioritise. If you have a lot of heavy duty stuff to do, you may want to put something light hearted in between them, just to give yourself a break. And just work through the list. The idea behind this, is that it helps you visualise what you need to do. Most of the time, you write a to-do list, and realise that most of the stuff isn't as important as you first thought.

4)Free yourself from distraction. I am the boss of finding a distraction, so I know how much this can set you back. If you are struggling, your mind will automatically start to wonder. And if it wonders onto a site like Facebook, bang goes hours of your precious time in a heartbeat. So switch of the distractions, log off of twitter, switch your mobile phone off, just put the temptation away. If it is too hard for you to stay away from temptation, do it in bits. Schedule yourself 45 minutes away from the Internet, and have a 5 minute check-up.

5)Don't give up. I am aware that this point contradicts some of my previous points, but it is true. Whilst I am saying try to relax and not pressure yourself, it is important that you don't give up. If you can't get something done, give it a break and try again later. The hard part of anything is perseverance. Giving up never achieves anything, so keep on trying. If one thing isn't working, go on to something else. You can always come back to things later.

These are all points I have used throughout my life since School, really. Everyone has a point where they want to give up, and that they feel they are no good, but keep your head up. You can do this. If you couldn't, then you wouldn't have been given the opportunity to try.

PMA every day!

Abstracted

I guess one of my favourite things to create digitally are abstract pieces. And most things come around with practicing with some techniques.

^^This image reminds me of a flower. There is something about, with its appearance of layers that I really like. I like the pink outline as well. I think it is simple, but it also has a depth due to the overlapping parts.

^^This image, is different, but still was made through experimentation on Photoshop. Mostly with swirling the cloud effect. I like the smoothness to it.

I'd like to be like the guys and say how I make a lot of things, but I need to be honest here. Most of the things I make, especially digitally, happen by mistake. And I don't even want to think about how a tutorial for making mistakes would work? Actually I can, it wouldn't work.

As you can probably see, this is a swirly thing. I went through a phase not too long ago, where I used the swirl effect on anything on photoshop. And, by playing with things such as 'glow spread' and how solid the lines appear, something quite cool happened. I am not a good teacher, I am more about doing what you feel and trial and error. Which is why I am kind of reluctant of telling people how to do things.

I guess you can say I am in an art rut right now. Nothing is coming to mind, to create something. Though I am taking part in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), where I have to write a novel of 50,000 words throughout the 30 days in November. This is something I have been preparing for, and I have been putting a lot of energy thinking up the storylines. There is a chance that I may be inspired to do something artistic alongside my writing, but right now I have a one track mind. But I am really excited. I take on projects, because I look at them inspiring me in other areas of my life. So if I am trying to picture a character in my story, I may draw them. I did before, and it does give me overall inspiration.

Slightly yellow!?!

It's time for an overly edited photography. Mostly because I love taking pictures. Also, I was going to post some sketch book pictures, but I have to pretend that it is organised before I post it. There is a lot of empty pages right now, because I haven't got round to sticking things in yet. *cough* So lazy, very lazy. 

This picture is a look over the Quarry in Inverkeithing, where I live, out towards Rosyth and Dunfermline. Okay, this obviously isn't an actual quarry, it is the overgrown wilderness before the quarry. It has lots of paths where I used to walk my dog. build gang huts and the like. 

The main reason this photo is so heavily distorted, is because I thought it was a great picture. Because I have a really great view, from the top of my hill. But, the wonderful overcast weather kind of ruined the picture. So I went on Photoshop and creatively vomited until it was all yellow. Apparently. Seriously, it is just messing with colour and light balance a little (a lot). 

I am evidently in a rambly, bloggy mood today, so come find me. I'm hiding here on my personal blog. 

Late Late Late

I come ready with an excuse. I have been ill today, and have spent a large portion of the day in bed, only leaving it to go to work. So appologies, as this is late. But, I decided to go with variety again. :)

This is an image of a lovely lady, taken from a figure drawing class. She is chalk and charcoal on sugar paper. I never got the chance to study figure drawing at school, mostly because the school wouldn't have someone stand naked for students to draw. So I had my first experience at college. At first, it was something very awkward, as it is very strange looking at someone and trying to draw them. Even worse, when they looked at your drawing.

But, it is and always will be the best way to draw a person. I can always draw figures better, from life rather than a photograph. You get to see the dimensions properly. Also, when in a drawing class, the teacher will often get the class to preform tasks, such as 5 minute sketches, where speed is the key, as you try to capture proportions. It is something that learnt me a lot, and helped to me get proportions correct, after years of struggling. It is an experience that I think every artist should enjoy.

First Digital Drawing?

So, a few weeks ago I bought a new graphics tablet, because I really need to get into drawing, through my computer. Not for any reason really, just so that I have that option. It has always been something I really wanted to do. Especially when I am starting to get requests for Lion King/ Balto style original characters, which are EVERYWHERE when you join any community based around American animation.

So have Vitani. She is a character from The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride. She is part of a group of lions called the 'Outsiders', who are banished from the Pride Lands by Simba, because they believe Scar (Simba's uncle) is the rightful king. Scar, was killed at the end of the first movie, and was the ' bad guy'. So he has a band of followers, who are against Simba, for murdering Scar.

If the first Lion King move, was like Shakespeare's Hamlet, then Simba's Pride is more Romeo & Juliet. Vitani is my favourite character in the second movie, and I just wish that she had a bigger part in the movie. Hopefully, as I practice more, I will post some more lion's as a comparison. The aim is to get it better by Christmas, cause I have a lot OC based card ideas.

But, we'll see how it goes.

Summer/ Winter

A little bit of comparison photography. Just for a change. This is a Bridge in Pittencrieff Park in Dunfermline. I have a bit of fondness for Dunfermline, purely because it is where I was born. The summer picture was taken about 2 months ago. The winter one was taken last December on Christmas eve. When I was supposed to be finishing my shopping. I decided to go play in the snow instead.

I like looking at the differences. The fact that the colour surrounding the stone bridge and wall, makes such a difference to the appearance of the bricks themselves. They look so differnt. And yet, they are
two pictures of the same thing. It makes me think about how colour can completely change the look on something, and as an artist it is something I am always investigating into. It is also why colour schemes should be tried out, you may be able to find something that will convey what you want to say more.

Who we are. What we do.

Unsure if I like this new layout, Blogger. *stares at webpage* But I can see that Google are trying hard to fit it in with the Google+ interface.  It seems to run things a lot smoother though, which is something that will always be great in my book.

Anyways, back to business. This weeks post is another mix-up. It is a really, really simple edit. It is more the picture which makes this, in my opinion, rather than the actual editing. It is Tim Armstrong, from punk band Rancid. It is from the band's gig at the Glasgow Barrowlands in November 2008. I managed to get a photopass and borrow a friends' DSLR Sony camera, so I got some awesome pictures. Rancid are my ultimate band, and I adore them so much. They have witnessed my fan-obsessiveness to the max, and I am dubbed as 'crazy Scotch girl'.

The band themselves are brilliant. I have followed tours and have bought them dinner. This band are one of the biggest selling, most popular punk bands of a generation, and I feel privileged to have grown up watching them. They a fantastic live band, which is something that I think every band should be. Yeah make good albums, but you NEED to put on a great show. And after 28 Rancid gigs, I haven't seen a bad one. But then, I am bias.

And when I am bored, as I have already mentioned, I sometimes wonder aimlessly into the realms of Photoshop. And when I say aimlessly, I mean it. Things like this just happen.

Skullduggery

Trying to show a bit of a different take to the last few edits I have uploaded. A lot of the editing I do to my artwork tends to completely distort it. This is one of my favourite things I have ever draw. It is an anatomically correct skull, which has had the colouring changed in photoshop.

What I like about it, is the fact that despite the slight editing, you can still tell it is hand-drawn. Like so many of my creations, the effect is actually accidental. I was playing around with different colourings and looks, and this happened. And it was a cool accident. But, just don't ask me to repeat it, I have no idea of the exact process.

That is a good thing about art. The majority of it is experimentation. So the textures and colours you make, are discoveries of trial and error. Which is what makes art so exciting. And it is also why it is one of my biggest passions.

Sue Smells a Journey

Today I am showing a piece of abstract art, which is taken from something I uploaded to Deviant Art, although I am unsure this is going to work. I am currently using one of the PCs at work to post this. If it doesn't work, I'll fix it when I get home tonight.

It is supposed to representing smell and journey. I put these two things together because I feel that they are interlinked. Mostly because if you smell something, it can take you on a journey. Even if it is an emotional one, where it takes you back to a period of your life.

Again this is a mixed media piece. With patterns originally painted with arcylics, and then distorted using photoshop. As I have said previously, this is the kind of art I seem most happy with. Because it has the traditional aspects, of which I love, mixed with the fact that the meaning is whatever the viewer deciphers it to be. And to me, that is the magical thing about art.

I'm Flying High

This week we have a theme to work on. This to to create a bit of a challenge for all the artists involved. This week's challenge is aircraft/ flight. The idea is that the artist has to interpret that however they want. And as long as it is creative, there are no holds barred.

I decided I wanted a little bit of fun with this challenge, so I created a hot air balloon. Which was a lot of fun to make.

It is a little thing I made with paper and wool, reminiscent of the things I made at Primary School. I have name him Joe, and he is currently stuck on my wall. I created a small box out of paper, and the 'balloon' is basically a circle drawn round a CD. The balloon is spray painted, and the basket is coloured with pen. It was all stuck together with double sided tape, where I stuck it on the wall to photograph.

Then, when transferred into Photoshop, I used a photo I had taken of the sky, to use as a background. There was a lot of erasing involved, but it was pretty painless.

I wanted something I could physically make, and with the balloon I achieved that. I did find the task a bit of a challenge at first, because aircraft and the like, isn't something I ever really draw. Which is why, after a passing glance at Art Attack, on Playhouse Disney, I decided to make something. And the whole process was fun, and that is why I create things. For fun. It certainly made things easier once I decided how to make this challenge fun.

See you in a week. :)

Sue reminises about the sea

Feeling a little bit sad this week. I holidayed in Blackpool, and I miss it. I like the idea of playing tourist, and having people cook my food. *cough* I guess one of the things I miss most, is starting off my day staring out to the horizon across the sea. It really makes you feel so small. Which, gets me too my piece for this week.



As I have said in previous posts, I don't do a lot of digital work. Most of my time on photoshop is spent experimenting, and most things happen by accident, like this. When on photoshop I tend to look at trying to make interesting shapes. I just mess around with filters, until I get something I like. That's what I can be like with my sketch book as well, so I guess it's quite good I am like that on the computer as well.

I have been playing around with photoshop more, and have been using my sketchbook more again too. Which is one of the main reasons I signed up for this project, so the fact that it is working is making it worth it already. So really happy about that. And I have a plan on future posts, so things are looking good.

So, I'll sign of now. Have a great week. :)

Sue Likes Watercolour

Watercolour is something that I took a long time to get used to.


Watercolour is a very difficult medium to use, mostly because it is something that is built up in layers. It takes a long time to finish a water colour. And it is very understated, in it's nature. It is light, and gives a completely different look to other types of paint.

The cottage above, is something that took me 2 weeks to paint. It was the first time I really used watercolour. It was a bit of a learning experience. It is best recommended to an artist who prefers a sketchy look for their work. Well, that's what I think anyway. If you are experimental with your work, then watercolour may be for you.

As I have said before, I like to use a variety of medium in my work. I guess, that's what I am using my first few post for. To show a variety of what I like.

Sue Scribbles With Pencils

Out of all traditional art materials, I have always found pencils the easiest to use. Mostly because there has always been some lying around. It is very easy to pick up a pencil and sketch something on a piece of paper. And anyone can do it, you don't need to read through tutorials or how-to guides. Anyone can pick up a pencil and draw. I think that's why I like it so much, because pencils are very accessible, and cheap. And they can help create the most wonderful pieces.

This Lhasa Lapso dog is a sketch of something which was my first commission. A colleague from my work asked me to draw a Lhasa Lapso for her mother's birthday, as they were her favourite dog. I did paint the dog in watercolour, and they got a printed version of this sketch. I personally like that you can see the pencil lines, but that is maybe just down to taste.

This horse, is another pencil creation. She has been dubbed Tegan, after a horse I used to look after when I was younger. I always wanted a horse to myself, and I used to spend a lot of my free time drawing horses. Drawing horses is an art form all on it's own, and I believe it is because they are so beautiful and majestic.

I feel too many artists dismiss pencils as a child's way of making art, and that saddens me. Just because you used them as a child, doesn't mean that they are for children. Pencils are the one medium you can carry with you anywhere. They add texture and shade instantly. I used any form of coloured pencil, and even have a batch from the local 99p store. I don't believe that it is the tool that makes the artist, it is the technique used by the artist who creates art. You can buy the most expensive products you can, doesn't mean you can be a successful artist.

And with that, I bid you farewell. So see you next week. xo

Sue Is Snap-Happy

A week comes round so fast when you have things to do. I thought I would show some photography that I have been doing recently, mostly because I do consider photography to be included as 'art'. I like the idea of capturing a moment, and for that moment to be shared, to allow people to share. Much like my standard art, I try to be a little bit unusual with photography, and get genuinely excited to try techniques I haven't tried before.



Photography is the one branch of art, where I feel comfortable editing on Photoshop. I like that I can enhance the colours and make the picture seem more 'alive'. The image above, is of a path near my house. I had the thought in my head a few days prior to taking the photo, of shooting with the camera placed on the ground, rather than me holding it. I like the way that it changes the perspective, of what a person would normally see.


The image above shows how colours can be edited to make the image 'stand out'. Again, just a few minutes tinkering with colour balance and brightness levels, and it makes an impact. And as much as editing can clean a photo up, a good photographer can create a beautiful image without an expensive camera or software. This is something I am still working on, but with practice my skills will improve. Which is all everyone should wish to do, improve their own skills, to be better at what they want to do. Both these photographs were taken over the last few days, as I wanted to do something, that shows a bit of variety. :)

Hope you all have a good week, and I'll speak to you soon.

Introduction: Sue

Welcome to the first of many posts on Splitting Ink. As you can gather from the title, I am Sue, and I shall be your entertainment every Monday.



My love affair with Art, is the longest lasting relationship in my life. The romance started when I was really young. Between drawing on my own, and doing crafts with my mum, to keep me and my brother busy, it became a major passion in my life. Studying it Higher level at school, and eventually studying it a college, where I was lead down the path of graphic design.

My style tends to be a mix of traditional art with more digital methods. Painting and drawing is where I feel settled, but I find myself using Photoshop, to help enhance what I create. I am messy, emotive and like to show myself through my creations. I do not have a long list of technological tools to help me, because I a) have broken what I did have, or b) I like my paintbrushes better. But I do think I steer toward traditional art because using a computer to create art is quite new to me still, as I have only been incorporating into what I do for a few years.

I blog as I would converse, very open and honest. Blogging is something I do a lot, and is another passion for me. For some odd reason putting blogging and art together, didn't really come into my head. I am looking forward to see what this blog brings, and I am sure it is going to be a great journey.

Welcome to Splitting Ink

Hi welcome to Splitting Ink, the collaborative art blog consisting of:

Darren Stewart (Pyr0manic) “Although a programmer at heart, I love to draw. I did art in school, and started an art course at college. The thing is though, it never really caught my attention. I wasn’t a fan of  “art”, I just liked drawing pictures and it wasn’t until recently that I stopped doodling and started looking at it a bit more seriously. That's why I’m here... I’m looking for new things to draw and some challenges I’d not normally try.”

Paul Laurie (Dragkon) “A strange person who enjoys drawing things and painting. I started to do a lot drawing a few years back during classes doodling in the margin of my note books that lead me to take graphic design course where I learned a great deal and met these two. So now we are doing this and I am looking forward to expand on what i have learned and the skills that I developed over the years.”

Sue Buckle (Sue Riot Graphics) “A serial blogger who talks about herself in a third person perspective most of the time. She studied Art and Design in school and college, eventually leading to classes in graphic design, which has helped create an experimental style. Looking for this project to open her eyes to the art community beyond her sketchbook and laptop.“

You can follow our progress each week as we upload images of work that we create accompanied by a blog, and any challenges that we set.