This one's being posted late, because I always write these posts right before they're posted, and this weekend has been busy. Honestly though, I don't think it really matters at the end of the day though; these deadlines should be considered to be a little more fluid.
Anyway I wanted to do a bit of a de-brief on the blog this week, as I kind of have reason to. It's not an anniversary and there isn't anything important happening, other than the fact that I've found more use for these weekly posts than I ever have before.
I'm still in the midst of painting a whole lot of faces, and it's been really useful to go over some of the doodles I've been posting here. Additionally, the practice has really been helpful as I've been finding it quite straight forward to paint convincing faces. Sure a lot of these doodles have a lot lacking in quality, but the basics are always there and it turns out that repeating the same process over and over really can be beneficial.
In a broader sense, it's what I want out of this commitment in the first place. I want the extra practice that can be as simple as making a mark on a page. It doesn't matter what the end result is, as the purpose begins and ends with the doing. Thankfully though, I've naturally gravitated to drawing more faces and different layouts of features and ink density.
Now as I look at a blank canvas and get ready to paint, the structure of each face is easier to picture in my mind. I haven't had a lot of trouble getting started with the basic structure of each painting, even though that was the part I thought would trip me up the most. It's all a direct result of the practice I've had from doing these doodles, so I'm super chuffed with such a fun result.
Even in very small and technical ways, doodling with pens has taught be a lot about how to manipulate the physical tools to get what I want. How sometimes you need to apply the faintest pressure to emphasise the curve on a lip, or get bold for the folds in eye-lids. Again the practice has helped me in ways that I never thought it would.
This kind of assessment is important for me, because even though I'm happy to post any amount of talentless doodles from week to week, I can now assign value where it was otherwise absent. Some weeks I wonder why I even bother because the doodles I have to show are so terrible that I'm almost embarrassed to reveal that I created them. However, even those terrible doodles have led me to the position I'm in now, where I can take those repeated techniques and apply them to a more important and interesting project.
I suppose the point I really want to make is that creating something is always worth it, even if it's purely to exercise creative synapses. Not everything we make will be great (in fact most of it will no doubt suck), but it all contributes to improving practice and technique. It's worth messing up and making bad art, as it might even be the very thing that leads to your best creative work.
Incidentally, if you're interested in seeing more of the paintings I've been working on then check out my social medias (links at the bottom of the page) as I'm trying to remember to post more regularly. I still forget most of the time, but that's where you'll see paintings posted when I remember.
Keep creating - even if it seems pointless - it might just lead to something good years later.