Looking to expand and develop my art....Hello!

[RequiemMachine]

Hello. My name is Jerry ( I usually go by Req, which is short for RequiemMachine [my usual online handle] and Requiem for the Machine - my solo music project) and coming back to art after a while away. I spend the majority of my childhood through high school drawing constantly. I've always been submersed in music as well (I'm a multi-instrumentalist musician).

After high school though, I ended up on the road as a touring musician and my love of drawing kind of fell to the side. I spend the majority of 20's to realize I hated life on the road, though and that kind of life wasn't what I wanted. A lot of my 30's was recovering from the bad decisions I made during my 20's...and now, just turned 40 I found myself with a renewed love of illustration and a drive to learn more.

I've set a pretty simple goal for myself for 2022...I want learn and hone my artistic side and hope to have a portfolio I can be proud of by the end of the year.

Looking forward being a part of the community here and excited on a new journey.

Here's a few of the latest things I've worked on (character art for some friend's D&D characters).

[Valerie Light]

@RequiemMachine Welcome, Req!
We have a lot in common! I used to tour as a roadie for bus & truck musicals in my 20s, so I get that love/hate relationship with life on the road. I'm 40 now too, and have been with SVS for about 2 years now, developing my illustration portfolio. It's a great place to learn. Just got my first paid gig illustrating for a kickstarter for a horror-themed RPG game.

[Blitz55]

WELCOME!!!
@RequiemMachine @Valerie-Light Look at us 40 something year olds doing our thing. LOL

Never to late to jump back into it, I kind of did the same thing a few years ago but for different reasons. It was more to do with rediscovering my passion and pulling myself out of a major rut in life I'd dug for myself.

If I have any advice it would be this, shoot for whatever goal you want, nothing wrong with that, but keep in mind that this like any artistic journey is a constantly evolving thing that has no end, every mountain peak you reach only presents more mountains to climb so to speak.

And also, I would highly, highly recommend to any artist, but especially those jumping into art or back into art, to draw from life. I can't stress how much of a game changer this can be in terms of growing as an artist. And I'm not talking about drawing anything in specific, draw your food, draw a lamp, draw trees or dogs or whatever is in front of you. It's some of the best practice you can get, it will begin to fill your visual library, improve your observation skills, help hand eye coordination and ability to see things in 3 dimensional spaces. It's also a great way to just get going and move past that stage of not knowing what to draw when sitting in front of a sketchbook. It's a constant practice that can be done anywhere at any time. This is the advice I give all the time, it's absolutely changed me as an artist for the better.

Best of luck and good to have you here!

[RequiemMachine]

@Valerie-Light said in Looking to expand and develop my art....Hello!:

@RequiemMachine Welcome, Req!
We have a lot in common! I used to tour as a roadie for bus & truck musicals in my 20s, so I get that love/hate relationship with life on the road. I'm 40 now too, and have been with SVS for about 2 years now, developing my illustration portfolio. It's a great place to learn. Just got my first paid gig illustrating for a kickstarter for a horror-themed RPG game.

Thank you for the warm welcome! That's awesome. I've been loving SVS so far. Congrats on the paid gig!

@Blitz55 said in Looking to expand and develop my art....Hello!:

WELCOME!!!
Look at us 40 something year olds doing our thing. LOL

Never to late to jump back into it, I kind of did the same thing a few years ago but for different reasons. It was more to do with rediscovering my passion and pulling myself out of a major rut in life I'd dug for myself.

If I have any advice it would be this, shoot for whatever goal you want, nothing wrong with that, but keep in mind that this like any artistic journey is a constantly evolving thing that has no end, every mountain peak you reach only presents more mountains to climb so to speak.

And also, I would highly, highly recommend to any artist, but especially those jumping into art or back into art, to draw from life. I can't stress how much of a game changer this can be in terms of growing as an artist. And I'm not talking about drawing anything in specific, draw your food, draw a lamp, draw trees or dogs or whatever is in front of you. It's some of the best practice you can get, it will begin to fill your visual library, improve your observation skills, help hand eye coordination and ability to see things in 3 dimensional spaces. It's also a great way to just get going and move past that stage of not knowing what to draw when sitting in front of a sketchbook. It's a constant practice that can be done anywhere at any time. This is the advice I give all the time, it's absolutely changed me as an artist for the better.

Best of luck and good to have you here!

I definitely feel you there with having to pull yourself out of a self-dug rut. Thanks for welcome and the suggestions!