How to be consistent?

[Lingling]

Perhaps try to develop 2-3 fairly tight styles, for the types of work you so most often? I'm trying to develop a "cute" kids' illustration/cartooning style and a more grown-up comics style at the same time, and beside that I do a lot of crafts (painted glass, beads, knitting, sewing, occasional linocut). They're all pretty different! Maybe write down a workflow list, or goals for the given style, then do a few pieces like that. Keep the list and make notes on style decisions you made while working on them. Then keep the works and notes together so you can refer to them. Separate your portfolio into sections, for each major style you develop, then just throw your favourite experimental stuff in the back. To an extent style is like handwriting. Even if you change it around, it's still recognizably yours.

[Bathill8]

Consistancy definitely boils down to repetition and confidence in what you're doing.

Like Scott Kurtz once said, I have sex with my wife every night, but it doesn't make me get any better at it. And I'm paraphrasing here.

Seriously though, not to totally discredit you here, Bovey, but I think you need more than repitition to do well at something. It's like playing any sport, musical instrument, or learning anything in the world for that matter. If you keep doing things the wrong way, you get bogged down with more and more bad habits. I constantly jump back to the basics. Without them, you have nothing. try to accomplish a weekly or monthly goal. i.e. I'm going to learn how to draw the face. Done. Next week, I'm going to learn to draw the neck attached to the face. so on and so on. But learn from anatomy books or someone who knows and has been through the same pangs as you have. And learn from everywhere.....life drawing, other artist who draw more than just comics, magazines, your girlfriend, your dog, anything and everything is game. Watch movies and draw quickly what you see while the movie still plays. Video helps you understand movement and figure out why and how a right hand can reach over and touch a left ear with ease and what the body looks like as it does. There's an unbelievably nice Canadian art professor named Pete Emslie who "conned" me into drawing from video a while back and boy did it pay off. If you have TiVo, or an equivolent, you can replay a motion over and over and get multitudes of information from it. You can see muscles flexing over bone. Tendons straining from weight being lifted. etc. etc.

Hope this helps some, as I am still learning too! PJ has been a remarkable place to do so, so take advantage of it's incredible body of intelligent and talented artist!!

[Guru_George]

“Knowledge is the key” and “Practice makes perfect”. You need both to get good at what you do. With that said there’s a third element, this helps me jump my skill quickly. Just stop drawing all together and start from scratch. It sounds easier then it is for the first timers.

Bathill8 I see what you saying about “jump back to the basics”. Things like this seem to happen naturally when someone takes a vacation from drawing and sits back and just watch others peoples artwork and read art books.

The art of observing/memorizing/meditating on things I see in real life or in art class or just looking over an artist painting and dissecting it part from part for over a period of time sometimes an hour I find to be very effective in getting better at anything. Also just trying as many things and reading as many “how to books” is also the other half.

You may know much of your own skill but only when its put down on paper (in the physical world) do you prove to other people what you’re capable of doing. Just like Albert Einstein said “if you not capable of doing it in your mind then don’t expect to do it on paper”. Learn to brain storm, visualize what you’re going to do, write it down in your mind.

[sidbjammin]

Just to pick up with GuruGeorge, I agree with the principle of starting over. I am intrigued with the idea of just going back to basics and retrenching.
Since reading these posts I did my next comic assignment using the structural knowledge I have more than I have been. I work in two fields right now, advertising and comics. The comics I do are for adult websites and are aimed at what I call an undermarket. They don't pay well but they don't mind paying for work that's less than professional level.
Anyway I used the structural approach more fully in my roughs and enjoyed the satisfaction it gave me really digging in and finding the shapes. I had some good results. The not so good results came from shortcutting later in the workflow. I won't shortcut like that again. Here are some g-rated examples.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8J9FhF8jBq...-h/JD15_04.jpg

[sidbjammin]

[sidbjammin]

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_8J9FhF8jBq...-h/JD15_12.jpg

[sidbjammin]

I agree with Scott Kurtz about having sex with your wife every night not making you better at it. But you do have to be having sex every night to begin to use the things you may know but not really have ready to use until you are trying to use it...is that making any sense at all? Knowing something isn't the same as being able to use the knowledge, is what I'm finding out.

I do agree with someone else who said style is what you get when you have your workflow down cold. That's what I'm working at now. Working out the workflow. It seems to take a lot of "not this, this and not this, I don't like this, I like this..." kind of work. I'm starting to like a few things about my work finally. Those are the things that seem to say what I want to say the way I like best. I'm thinking it's like you're figuring out what pleases you every time you do it. What rings your bell. My bell is starting to ring here and there...

I like the idea of dissecting other art. And of taking a break to get new eyes in your head, so to speak.

I have also taken the idea of doing my own stuff to heart. I hope to do that too...it seems like it lends fertility to your work and keeps you from burnout and being bored with things.

Finally the "slow down to speed up" thing, if I understand it correctly is especially apt for me. Let's see if I have it the way it was meant: I get too focused on deadline and get nervous. I try to "feel" like I'm going faster by being hasty. Perhaps going slower means I need to resist the temptation of feeling like I'm going faster by slowing down, drawing more carefully and thoughtfully and getting things correct earlier in the process, and thus "speed up" by in the end drawing less.

Still how do you keep a "rock and roll" feeling going when you are slowing up? Does that work against energy in your work? Or does it focus it? Thinking out loud here. I will know the answer to this question when I try it...