I just saw this. I am saddened by the loss. He was a great friend to all of us on the forum. He will be missed. I will be praying for his family.

I have noticed about myself that I generally don't create and draw on my own. I usually will just draw the same stuff over and over almost like a doodle but not really produce anything of note. However, when given an assignment, I flourish. All of a sudden I have tons of really great ideas and a burning desire to see the project through. For example, I give assignments to my students, and I often give the assignment to myself as well. And then WHAM! I am a madman possessed with an idea until I finish it in a frenzied rush whether or not I have other duties and the lack of time to complete it. My last two pieces (an octopus and Gandalf) were examples of this. But give me a free Saturday and/or a vacation and I produce nothing, zero. nada. I think I actually work best under pressure and with a given assignment: Draw this by this time. I think when other people give me a little criteria, my logical problem-solving side gets in tune with my creative side and BOOM there I go. I think that is why I loved INKtober so much.

Is this weird?

Is anyone else like this?

What conditions drive you to produce your best work?

What makes you most creative?

@Jason-Bowen yeah you're not the first to point that out. Guess I should have looked at more octopus references. Oops.

My kids at school gave me an assignment: draw an octopus. I used it to teach composition. Successful? What would you say the focal point is? I want to know if I achieved what I wanted.

Also stylistically I wanted a whimsical Graham Baese feel.

@Chip-Valecek it blocks me for 120 secs.

@Chip-Valecek how long is the wait? I have been on since July.

My favorite class so far has been the creative composition class. I see it making a huge difference in my artwork lately.

@Whitney-Simms I think your work is very lovely and I could totally see it gracing calendars and cards and such. Go with your passion. It looks very professional. I understand your angst though. I don't think I am cut out to be a children's illustrator either but I sure do love learning all that I can from everyone and applying it to my artwork.

@KathrynAdebayo Beautiful colors! I love the family vibe and the girl's face. I feel like there needs to be more of a contrast between the two main characters and the background. I think they kind of get lost in it all. Maybe more of a silhouette created by value or some contrasting color? Or perhaps the flowers could be toned down just a little so that their brighter values don't get lost? Their forms almost read as a pattern in a quilt. Also the glasses on the dad's head are not reading well. At least I assume they are glasses. They would need to be bigger or they are looking like tiny grandpa glasses.

I can't wait to see what the final product looks like.

I have an Instagram https://www.instagram.com/chrisakinsart/t and a facebook account but don't really use it much.