Growing as an Artist

Thinking like an artist

2010-08-18T17:50:00.005+02:00

Sach's Blog-- August 18th, 2010

Just saying the date that way scares me sometimes. "This is how.. you remind me.. of how TIME REALLY FLIES!" For a long time now, I've been hiding a big secret. Some define art as expression... while others define it as entertainment or hobbies. I'm sure there are many ways in which a person can define art, but adopting a certain definition brings with it a number of varying characteristics that govern the type of material you produce and get to call art. People see this differently. For me, learning about those differences was FRUSTRATING! So much so, that for a long time now, calling myself an artist was something offensive. Rather, I considered myself a producer.. one who simply produces work. Work that many people like- commercially successful you could say.. and that I could hide behind. I look at it this way, if I could do something pretty technically sound, throw in a little style.. and specifically follow a mainstream way of doing things, I'd fit right in. In no time, people would start taking notice.

You know what.. they did. But at a price. You lose yourself to it. To commercialism. To conformity. The thing I've been learning recently--- art is about individualism! Whether you use it to address or express.. about yourself or through yourself... it is individualistic. The way YOU see things. Sometimes we have the rare privilege of meeting people who alert our attention to this crucial fact. That we don't make art.. our art makes us. It is a piece from within.. one we intend to share with the world. Learning these principals, I now have a new form of appreciation you could say. One which earnestly wants to break the mold. And I say... FUCK YEAH! So here's to EXPRESSING myself as a newborn ARTIST!

This was an expressionistic digital painting of my girlfriend's best friend, Olsa Papandili- a Jazz singer and Violinist from Albania.

And my lovely girlfriend, Desara Tytymce.

Digital Art and Photo Manipulation

2010-01-19T22:20:00.009+02:00

Ok so its been while with the likes of facebook and Deviant Art taking over my online social life. I thought I'd take the time to submit some of my digital art pieces though. Some have been done for clients while others taken on as requests from friends and peers. Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks

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This is a VFX tweak I did for one of my model friends- Cosplay of Android 18 from DBZ

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A poster a created for an inter-campus play called Elephant (UKZN 08)

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Some of the many designs I did for UKZN's Nux- Inter Campus newspaper.

Finally they're here.. FINISHED!! (...well, not quite)

2008-11-20T14:59:00.009+02:00

Well now I suppose another apology is what I should start with, alongside the fact that I'm the worst blogger out there.. who rarely ever updates. But hopefully this new post will redeem me from that. So here's the deal: I'm the kind of artist that now likes to tell stories. I've figured out that I really enjoy making and learning about movies, alongside living on the inspiration gained from the comic book world (even though I hardly ever own any/collect them). Just to clear the dramatic irony at the outset! SO, this semester I have been working on illustrating my story- Invent Greatness. The lo-down, is about this boy called Benjiman Greatness, who is an orphan living with his uncle. Now although Ben is very ordinary, often bullied at school and very very lonely, he possesses a unique ability for inventing things. This is something that makes his uncle and him relate to one another, although we usually never see or hear of the two speaking and sharing good times. There is one point within this specific part of Ben's life (around 17 years of age) when they share a moment together- Here Ben is probably experiencing his darkest hour. Very unfortunately, he ends up liking this girl/ friend of his called Olivia Jones, or O.J. for short. They also have a mutual friend- who is O.J's best bud, Sarah. Unfortunately O.J. is approached by another guy.. much older than Ben whom she falls for, in his presence. This happens at the beach when they all go out together, and is in addition to the vandalism that takes place to Ben's very special backpack that was left on the sand while they were having a good time. Ben is then walking home later that evening and sees a poster that reminds him of his inventions, but throws it away, and returns to his mundane ordinary world as he feels rejected and bitter. His uncle sees him and responds accordingly, which spurs him on a little. Similar to the way Donald Trump does to the contestants in the apprentace. You see some humanity in him, although he is such a hard man. This causes Ben to return to his inventions, and never really confess his feelings to O.J. I figured that would be interesting for a short student film I would have produced and directed for Mnet this year. But Instead I did get to make a comic out of it. It's still a work in progress, so the more time I get, the more I'll be working on this book. So far I have 7 pencilled and 5 coloured pages that may illustrate what I've been saying. Enjoy.

WHERE do you see yourself?

2008-11-06T15:19:00.005+02:00

This is a short video I made. It involves a girl by the name of Kimalani Khelwe, who is about to attend an interview, but has to sit in the waiting room. Her interviewer, Mr. Gatsby has a great interest in her by looking at her work and particularly her picture. However, he is preoccupied with another interviewee whom he is trying to get rid of.

A little caught up..regrets?

2008-08-12T22:21:00.008+02:00

Hey again everyone. Well, for those of you who have been overly frustrated at the fact that I'm not very good at updating-- I sincerely apologize. Last semester saw an interesting twist in my ever growing appeal for visual art. To reflect back to the process- 3rd year undergrads who major in the Fine Arts at my school, especially in the first semester were required to pick a discipline of their choice (I opted for digital imagery-like animation or design but was forced into painting nonetheless). Of course, I do know how paint works and it's many 'properties' as they so frequently regard, but ended up experiencing I would explain is a mixture of both appreciation and regret. Firstly, they say.. paint whatever you desire. Go ahead, this is your opportunity to be 'free' and experiment.. little did I know that I was heading strait into an eagle's nest. NO, I wasn't the eagle either. They refer to them as 'CRITS'- basically everyone gets together and speaks about their own work, then the works are judged by everyone present. What works and what doesn't in a piece is often brought to the fore. Well, my crits didn't go very well.. told to follow a specific trajectory, I did.. and then come the next crit, they said I should do the complete opporsite. And so on and so forth. I suppose the worse of it all was when I created a piece I was moderately happy with, but they said I should cut it up.. so I did. Sigh.. but on the bright side, I know now that art doesn't really mean the ability to create pretty imagery. Well, to an extent, it is.. but in this instance.. it becomes something that yes.. we get to express ourselves in but more still stands in as a perfect expression of complexity. The most important lesson I learnt from that is that to be happy with work you create.. if you're not, how can your audiences be? Even if it's something utterly revolting. Peace!!

Recent art work and a new Epiphany!

2008-03-15T15:24:00.004+02:00

Hello again everyone! I suppose I owe ya'll an apology for not posting in such a long time. Thing's have been rather busy etc. Over the past vacation(December 2007) I did get quite the opportunity/amount of time to work on a few new art pieces. I think the most profound thing that's come to my knowledge .. and what I'm somewhat battling to understand, is the concept of "letting go". In some of these at pieces, I can say that I have learnt to channel my skill more to the technical foundations/elements required in drawing (especially in the inking and coloring processes with my 2d work). My pencilling style too seems to have changed somewhat.. most commonly seen in the marks and lines now visible for those who're trained to look closer. The letting go bit came to mind after my second art crit to be honest. Perhaps I'm finally learning that I shouldn't get attached to my work anymore coz it's that mere notion that keeps any artist back from full on potential/'expressiveness'. Well anyhow, I'll be sure to tell you all more about how my paintings(current- oils on canvas) turn out. Enjoy

Woa.... Lots Happening now!!

2007-10-22T07:57:00.002+02:00

By the time I got to the first year of college, I already planned the direction of my career and was on the verge of choosing where to start. Pretty much on the first week of college, I joined the on campus newspaper Nux, and began doing design work for them. I guess I did feel rather inclined to offer more than that, so I opted to start comic section.

Drawing purely from motivation, and strong spiritual influence, I called it Salvation.

Suddenly I found myself sitting with something that I never really thought I had. A new dream- film animation!! Ah, just last year and already so much has happened. With many mistakes along the way and loads of procrastination, apart from God, my biggest motivation now had to be the reality-I needed money. So making up my mind, I decided to open up a little business venture. Shooting events on film for people! Got myself a camcorder, a few nifty pc/ windows based applications and soon realised how much one could actually do with a camera! Art-wise however, and through colleagues and the classes I had joined, the most valuable lesson I learnt was never compare yourself to anyone. This came about with the idea of how most people never really like to get out of their comfort zones and in a way get too comfortable with their skill.. "I'm good" or "I think that mine does look better than yours".

Although my colleagues were mostly producing work that was mandatory for the class, I understood that being around folks who are better than you ,can in most cases, very positively effect your learning of new ways to do things- All it takes is willingness to see this.

Towards the latter of 2006, I received a scholarship to Japan(my biggest highlight to date) which marked the turning point in my perspective.

I still think that one of the most enriching experiences thus far is being around different people-

you just learn SO MUCH!

Later years before now- Beginnning of a new era

2007-10-19T09:43:00.000+02:00

Towards the end of high school, I entered the National Arts Youth Festival. Although They weren’t very fair in choosing who was to walk away with the gold medals in each of the age groups that entered(I never really expected to win I guess) but the thrill of being part of something that size was motivation enough to create what I called "Garison" and The "Power of Prayer". In a way, through these week long pieces, I saw and gained an understanding of the pinnacle of this new style I’d developed and I like it. The nicest thing though, is that I had the opportunity of doing a 3 year diploma whilst still in school at the Centre for Fine Art Animation and Design. Although it was only basic photoshop, freehand and flash skills that we did learn, it was a taste of the real world. Being the youngest there, I found it a little difficult to adapt at first. In more instances than one I felt myself alone. That’s when I began noticing one of my newest and soon to be most predominant styles. ‘The graphic reality of Western comic books coupled with a far eastern/ Japanese twist’. Perhaps my biggest influence at the time was a man by the name of Leon, who seemed like the nicest guy with the sickest skill! I probably still have only one of his art pieces, which I hope to locate and post soon, but in a way Leo became my unofficial mentor! Take a look

Progression of skill through high school

2007-10-19T08:54:00.000+02:00

Perhaps most of my biggest acrylic paintings were done in 11^th and 12^th grades of school. In all sincerity, and although others saw me as being proficient at it, I never really like painting very much. It always seemed to be so cumbersome and probably because of the sheer size of the works that we were doing, in a way the idea of ‘colourful worlds’ was incentive enough to keep going.(These would mark the stage in my future development of ‘digital speed paintings, comic colouring etc.)

Discovering and Defining skill

2007-10-19T08:52:00.000+02:00

As far as I could possibly remember, my best friend was always my pencil. I suppose that over the years, one does develop skill in areas such as these. Me personally, I loved to draw. As my interest for illustration grew, it began opening new doors of opportunity through which I gained the capacity to learn. Taking into account that one isn't merely born with something like this, but rather is nurtured into it through influence. Most of my early works began through comic books. Being in an environment that was not in the least saturated with content that I wanted to relate to, the skill I posessed seemed rather isolated from that of which others had.