Working in isolation.....

...is never good. Being locked in your own head with your own thoughts is completely counter-productive. You, or rather I need to be an an atmosphere where I can have people who know what their talking about to offer advice and criticism. As said previously its rare that lecturers come to a piece without an artistic bias.(Remind me to tell you about the time someone told me that using a light box to render images using reference I had taken was cheating. And that if used a lightbox to create my then I shouldn't be an called an artist. What narrow minded BS! Try saying that to Tim Bradstreet and Sean Phillips and see the reaction you get.)

But every school has one or if you're really lucky two teachers who are exactly what an artist needs. They're wise, open minded, well read, full of ideas and approaches you haven't considered and EXTREMELY knowledgeable.

A tutorial with the illustrator/lecturer Derek Rodgers this afternoon was deeply rewarding. But then Derek Rodgers is a deep individual. I showed my layouts and told him the approach that I was taking (A heavy use of reference and models) and I showed him two books as representation of the images I wanted to create (ARCHETYPE: The Art of Tim Bradstreet and The Gibson Girl and Her America: The Best Drawings of Charles Dana Gibson ) He suggested making use of resource that I hadn't previously considered. Specifically the many drama students of the Drama degree that runs at our factuality and the photography facilities that are readily available.
I felt like a light had gone off in my head. Why didn't I think of this?
Sometimes you need someone to help you see the woods through the trees. And if you're an artist you definitely need a support structure to help you see the woods through the trees.

So, this weekend will mostly be spent writing and preparing for next weeks potential photo shoot. The future is slightly brighter this evening. And I have Derek Rodgers to thank for it.

Next, I'll talk about an interesting point the illustrator(or finished artist as he refers to himself) Leif Peng made on the Escape From illustration island podcast.

Back to work then.