Hi everyone,
The end of this month (in two days) completes my Spring Term of 2017. I started in April with the dedication to do 40 hours a week of drawing, painting, watching demos or working on personal art projects. I went for three months with the same 'curriculum' doing a three hour session or more on each 'class' each week. Next, for July, August and September, I will do new classes and will move into what I'm calling my Summer Term. I will post my new curriculum in the next couple days as a blog post.
Total hours calculated this term:
In April I had 153.75 hours.
In May I had 120 hours.
The first week of June I had 37.5. After that, I sort of stopped counting for a week and a bit. Surprisingly though, without scheduling it in, I managed to do nearly everything and more stuff that I wanted to get done before the end of this month. I might even finish the stuff that I am nearly finished! So the hours would be up there near 40 a week I'm sure, but I don't know the number.
I stopped calculating because I was getting back into it after being away, and that needed a different approach. I write more about this in the notes below, which are dated with the date I jotted them down.
5.23.17
When doing Schoolism
assignments, it's nice to have the lessons you've already watched
playing in the background for general atmosphere of studying and for
getting tips and ideas about what you're doing while you're doing it.
It might be a cool
ritual to sharpen a handful of Cone 1710 B pencils before I leave on
a trip where I won't be able to draw with that material for a while,
as it's the classic, ground-level material I'll be using as an
artist.
6.7.17
I am back from my
trip to the meditation centre. It is noticeable that I am a little
rusty as I started drawing some figures. It is also a bit to get back
into doing the forty hours a week. I will likely have less this week.
Part of it is that I feel I have the list of things I had to get done
before moving on to the next term, but I don't feel inspired to do
them, as I've thought about the classes I'm going to start in July,
and it would be nice to start fresh on those new things as I am
coming out of a ten day hiatus. So, I decided I will start on them. I
won't be posting the list of classes on my blog til July 1st.
(The same time you'll see this writing.) As it happened with the
first set of classes, there was a bit of an adjusting as I started
them to see what I was actually doing. Perhaps two weeks will allow
for that adjusting to happen as I begin these classes, to understand
what exactly the classes are. Some of my current classes will
translate nicely into the others, so things that are unfinished can
be continued as I move into the next versions of how I'm studying
things.
(I write more about
this on 6.16.17 below)
Another thing to
note is that I'm continuing the meditations that one does while they
are serving at a Vipassana center. Meaning, I am meditating three
hours a day, as supposed to the usual two. For the average person
this would seem ridiculous, but when you do it, you know the
benefits. The third sit in the middle of the day fits well with my
scheduling and it adds a tremendous amount to my life. I can't
describe how much more power one more sitting in the day has for my
equanimity and peace. It is more important to do that than to get one
more hour of anything else in. No question about it.
(As of 6.16.17 I
have wavered from this a little. I am starting to do some more
exercise and may trade that with meditation sometimes.)
6.12.17
Staying up late
browsing bookmarks of artists that I haven't looked at in a long
time. After listening to a Chiustream with Thomas Fluharty and
Jonathan Hardesty sharing how they are still studying (Bobby Chiu
too) different artists and learning all the time, I am feeling that
it is fairly simple to proceed and understand how to proceed in
training. It's really just about learning from the artists you admire
by studying and emulating their work, and learning fundamental
principles and knowledge about lighting, anatomy, perspective,
construction, composition and a whole list of ways to observe the
work of other artists, and life. Then you take all that and use it to
draw from your imagination or from your heart. You use the knowledge
and information to share some truth, or many truths, with yourself
and with the whoever else sees the art. It's an endless journey, and
is going to change each moment, but the important thing is that one
is on it and doesn't waver/sticks with it and keeps
practicing/exploring.
6.14.17
After many things, I
think, what did I get out of that? Was that worth it? Usually it
being worth it is because of some kind of essence I unintentionally
grasp out of it, if the thing is something without direction –
something unplanned. When intentionally studying to memorize
knowledge, my questioning is more related to, did I actually memorize
anything useful in that studying – how can I use that for what I
then need to do – live, and in what work I do – how can this
knowledge now help me do this work with more truth behind it?
6.14.17
It seems like I'm
studying well when I am utilizing both a photo reference and a good
drawing by another artist to compare with each other. For example, to
study the anatomy of the arm, it is useful to have a real picture of
someone visible, as well as the drawing that's explaining the anatomy
(say from Michael Hampton's book) and to reference the differences
and connections to understand their relationship and how this
knowledge/way of drawing can be used to draw this person in the
photo. The photo is chosen specifically because it relates to what is
being studied in a helpful way, like being the same angle or view (of
a subject) that the drawing is of that same subject.
6.15.17
Something I get a
lot out of that I keep feeling I need to do more of is watching
things in slow motion. I feel it relates to how my admiration of
animation, and that whether it's watching live action video or
animated film, I get a deeper appreciation for the movement and
subtleties of acting and expression as I slow it down and see it
frame by frame.
6.16.17
It's actually very
cool that I've committed to three months of practising certain
classes and seen the development of certain aspects during that time,
and understood what helps more than other things in learning and
practising these things. One thing that I've mentioned before in a
blog post, is that imaginative work supports academic studying and
lets you know where you fall short. I started working on a submission
for the Character Design Challenge Facebook group for June's theme.
Since this design was something that I wanted to make look good, and
not simply a way of getting an idea down, I've had to work out more
design solutions and dig deeper to create a solid, appealing design.
This process showed me what I've improved at and certain aspects I'm
still lacking in. It was also fun, and so I'm going to make an effort
to continue making original works that are not just for idea-building
that only are for my eyes and understanding, but have to stand their
own as a finished illustration or design too.
I started leaning in
to a new set of classes that I came up with for my Summer term (the
next three months.) In doing this, I realized that it is beneficial
to have a transition period between terms where I am finishing up
what I need to for the previous term and I start working in what I
think would be good classes for my next term. This way I have the
time and trial period to then make adjustments to how and what I'm
going to start studying next. I think it happened when I was first
having the idea to do my Spring Term. Before starting in April, I had
a few weeks when I was working out the idea and that probation period
really clarified what would be more helpful and what I can actually
take on in terms of scheduled classes. It still changes throughout
the month, but that transition period sets me up for a better
starting position.
6.17.17
It's really good to
hear someone like Michael Hampton say in an interview that he
practised 30-40 hours a week for years to get his skills to where
they are. I continually feel that I'm doing the right things in terms
of art training and need to continue and just be steady with it and I
will grow.
6.20.17
I've started
streaming, which is pretty great. You can see the tab up in the top
menu to find my past live streams and see my upcoming or present
ones.
6.26.17
For the last few
weeks since I got back, I haven't been recording hours.
I've started to do
some one hour sessions due to the streaming being involved now.
I surprisingly have
been getting lots done and working lots anyway, regardless of not
know exactly how much or setting aside the specific study sessions to
document it. I've pretty much done everything I wanted to get done in
the Spring Term, and more than. I feel I might have to start the
documentation of hours again as I approach July then. Today, having
not drawn yet and it being 10:30 pm, I feel the pressure of needing
more time. I feel I need to meditate too, and thus sleep never,
because there's not enough time to sleep and do everything that needs
to be done in a day! Ha. Yet, sleep is also important, and being
steady and keeping going even on tough days. It's good to write this.
I feel a surge of energy actually, from putting words to this. I
don't think using the mouse is good for my hand. I use it a bit and
soon after my fingers start to hurt. Not cool. Better to use it as
little as possible, and draw more. Drawing hurts my hand less than
the mouse. I need to draw a lot more and stop over organizing the
'what to draw' stuff. Just draw, draw, draw, much more than I think I
should or could or what have you. My Summer schedule is full, and
though I have ideas on how to connect classes so they work off each
other and can seemingly be one class, I feel I need to do equal
amounts of studying for both parts of that class, meaning it turns
into two classes again... and there's no classes I want to leave out.
Ha. Too much to do! I already have my Fall Term filled up with
ideas for classes!
One thing I have picked up on, from doing
little projects on my story, is that spamming is very important. It's
important because it's hard for us to judge the quality of something
that we create, and there is usually too much over thinking about
something, when you should just start on the next thing. Spamming in
a productive way seems to be like this... When I begin a project, or
a study, I start without knowing what I'm doing. If it's a personal
project and I'm making the rules for it, then I don't know the rules
til I do a little bit of it. Once I start to do it a bit, I
understand what I can do with it and I get an idea of why it is worth
doing. Then comes the spam part. Once I know what it is, I can do it
much quicker and have that effectiveness in completing lots of it, so
that in hindsight I can then see what I learned from it. To look as
it is being done is more difficult and proves not to be as adequate,
because you don't know what it is as much when you're in the middle
of it. So, to spam my courses and classes means to start something,
get an idea of what I'm doing with it and what it is, then do a bunch
of it and gain speed and effectiveness in that quantity. Later I will
see what quality it has.
I feel a certain
belonging when I allow myself to settle and somehow... I don't know
how... I am 'nesting' or 'basking' in a watchful wonder-fullness
at... nothing. It's not based on conditions. Like, I start to see
clearer and it is not because of something that happens that I
recognize this, but all things recognized in this clearer witnessing
are then complimenting and guiding it to a deeper recognizing of
itself. I don't know how these understandings come about, but they
come through and they transform the world and me.
I've also enjoyed a
certain relishing in discipline lately. The act of doing a thing
consistently, every day, even if it's for 15 minutes with purpose and
attention, is a fascinating and thrilling thing. I felt the clarity
of what Jeff Watts mentions regarding the book Mastery in his book
review Youtube series. He mentions practice as something that can be
possessed. I felt an understanding of that the other day, as
something that you become and are, rather than something you do.
6.28.17
I've started to look into exercise regiments and ways to get stronger physically. I see how Jeff Watts used this context to then regiment his art training, because it doesn't seem much different than what I've been doing with a dedicated, committed, consistent curriculum of classes or exercises that builds your skills, just as you need to do so to build muscle. It is nice to translate one approach to something into another and to see the frame of mind have more patience and understanding about what it's going to take to try something new that also takes (like art) many hours of training and effort.
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Thank you all so much for reading and supporting my art training.
When Anthony Was,
With gratitude.
