If you’re anything like me, an ideal work day would spent drawing monsters, robots and sexy babes-and then getting paid. There may a select few that are able to do this day-in and day-out, but the rest of us at one point or another are going to have to draw stuff that just isn’t our cup of tea. When you’ve got food to put on the table, most of us can slog through a boring job, but at best it’s not fun and at worst you’re wasting your time and not progressing artistically.

So what’s a monster-loving artist to do?

As I mentioned in a previous article being willing venture into uncomfortable areas can open up great opportunities for growth, and it all starts with:

Finding the Feeling

I remember watching a documentary on Raymond Kinstler a few years back where he suggested that artists should always paint with feeling.  When you’re drawing something fun, its easy to draw with feeling, but if your subject matter is not-so-awesome you have to put some work into finding the feeling.  Somewhere out there, there is another human being that is fascinated by what you find boring, so stop and ask yourself: If I was that guy, what would I find interesting about this subject? You may have to open yourself up to a wider range of emotions than you’re comfortable exploring. The feeling you find in a serene landscape will differ greatly from the feeling of a gritty urban setting, but both have something at their core that’s appealing. The key is to find what that is.

A couple of approaches can help with the search:

Use Reference

Consider this an addendum to Six Tips to Get Better at Drawing. Using reference will not only make your art better but it will open your eyes to the possibilities of  your subject matter. I like to collect a lot of reference before I start. Think of it as a search for awesomeness. Somewhere you’re going to find a couple of photos that open up an approach that is appealing to you.

What Would _____ Do?

Find an artist you admire that has tackled the same subject. If someone else has already solved the problem, why spend the time figuring it out yourself? Look at how they’ve made the subject interesting and try to take the same approach. A while back I had an assignment to do renderings of urban environments. Looking back at Otomo’s Akira opened up huge possibilities for how I could approach the pieces with feeling.

Take the Challenge

Perhaps the subject matter you are approaching isn’t actually boring, but it’s difficult; fear is masking itself with disinterest. I think this was the case for me with technical drawing, perspective and building design. It wasn’t until I was put in a situation where I had to face my fear that I realized it was fear I was avoiding and not boredom. Look at your subject matter and take it as a challenge. Maybe it’s something you haven’t tackled before, but I guarantee that you are more than suited to take on the challenge and come out victorious.

To finish I wanted  to refer to a line from Elizabeth Bennett Browing’s Aurora Leigh:

Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God; But only he who sees, takes off his shoes – The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

There is something divine in any subject matter you approach, the key is to have the artistic faith to see its true nature. And really, do you want to spend one second of your life being miserable about drawing something? It’s not just your time that’s at stake but the passion for your chosen trade, and the last thing you want to be is an artist that hates being an artist.

Had a ton of fun doing some digital painting tonight for the artcast. I demoed my custom brush set and did a digital painting of Aang from Avatar The Last Airbender.

Here’s the full video:

And here is the final piece:

If you’re interested, you can still get the custom brushes by signing up the Whistling Cloud Newsletter in the sidebar.

The monitor mount that I use for my Cintiq is a combination of these two mounts:

So I’ve been getting periodic emails asking what’s the best way to know when I release a new comic or print or something. I usually recommend that they follow me on twitter, but I’ve been trying to come up with a more effective way to do this that’s less work for those of you that are interested.

That’s why today I’m launching the Whistling Cloud Newsletter. It’ll be an email newsletter that I’ll send out periodically (monthly, at most) with updates on my latest work, my convention schedule, and special discounts in the store.

To start things off right, I’m giving away my set of custom Photoshop brushes to everyone that signs up for the newsletter. You can see me use many of these brushes here and here. I’ll also be doing a special demo of these brushes tonight on my Weekly Artcast.

In addition to the custom brush set, 5 random subscribers will get the print of their choice from the store.

So sign up for the newsletter in the sidebar, get the brushes and come check out how to use them at the Artcast. I’m excited to put the brushes out there and see how you like them.

Be sure to tell me what you think.

Okay, stay with me here. I promise this contains some practical advice on being a better artist.

Have you ever read The Neverending Story? You’ve probably seen the movie, which is a watered down version of the first half of the book, and you might have seen the sequel which is a pathetic pastiche of the second half of the book. But the actual book is a surreal, frightening and epic fable with far more depth than either movie suggests. While a lot happens in the book, it’s basically about Bastian’s struggle with two devils. They manifest themselves in many of the challenges Bastian faces, but their most concrete forms are found in the werewolf, G’mork and the witch, Xayide. Each using unique and drastically different tactics to destroy Bastian.

While researching more info on the author of TNES, Michael Ende, I discovered his connection to a quasi-religious, philosophical school of thought called Anthroposophy .  One of its basic tenets is that there is a reality beyond what we can see with our regular senses that can only be accessed through spiritual insight and imagination. (Fantastica anyone?)

I don’t know enough about Anthroposophy to be more than curious about it, but some of the teachings of the founder, Rudolph Steiner, offer some valuable metaphors for life. I was particularly fascinated by the metaphor of Lucifer and Ahriman. From Wikipedia:

Lucifer and his counterpart Ahriman figure in anthroposophy as two polar, generally evil influences on world and human evolution. Steiner described both positive and negative aspects of both figures, however: Lucifer as the light spirit which “plays on human pride and offers the delusion of divinity”, but also motivates creativity and spirituality; Ahriman as the dark spirit which tempts human beings to “deny [their] link with divinity and to live entirely on the material plane“, but also stimulates intellectuality and technology. Both figures exert a negative effect on humanity when their influence becomes misplaced or one-sided, yet their influences are necessary for human freedom to unfold.^[1][3]

G’mork and Xayide are basically Ende’s embodiment of Ahriman and Lucifer respectively. G’mork seeks to destroy Fantastica and Bastian through despair, discouragement and self-hatred. One of the fascinating revelations in the book, that is never mentioned in the movie, is that the inhabitants of Fantastica aren’t destroyed by the Nothing, but are transported to the physical world where they become lies. G’mork seeks to deceive Bastian into believing that there is nothing but that which is in front of him, and it isn’t until Bastian takes the creative act of naming the Childlike Empress, that G’mork is truly conquered (although technically he dies earlier in the book).

Xayide, on the other hand tempts Bastian to use the limitless power of Auryn to make himself Emperor of Fantastica; to revel so much in his own creativity and greatness that he slowly destroys his own identity, and alienates all of his friends. It isn’t until Bastian gives up everything, including Fantastica, that he regains his true self.

So what does this have to do with art? Every artist is constantly under the influence of Ahriman and Lucifer, or if you prefer, G’mork and Xayide. The Art and Story Crew discussed this recently in The Big Ego episode of their podcast. Either an artist will never create anything because they lack faith in themselves, or spend their hours reveling in the aroma of their own flatulence because they’ve had a smidgeon of success.

True artistic salvation can only be found on the middle road. What religious types like to call “the straight and narrow”.  A true artist has to be like the warrior who knows that he can kill, but knows that he is also made of flesh and blood.

Now for the prescriptive stuff. So, you want to avoid falling off the straight and narrow into the hell of Lucifer and the hell of Ahriman, right? Here’s how you do it: Work.

Steven Pressfield describes how to do it here: Having a Practice

Pay particular attention to his point on the hierarchical orientation vs. the territorial orientation. You’ll find your satisfaction in the life at the drawing table, not at the complaint desk nor at the awards banquet. And if you ever find yourself slipping off the straight and narrow, thinking, “who am I to do this” or “they sure broke the mold when they made me” then shut up, sit down and get to work. Ahriman and Lucifer will still visit you, but they’ll be transformed. When the two forces are balanced they become muses, offering creativity and insight beyond what your lowly flesh was capable of before. In short, you’ll basically become the artist version of this:

It doesn’t take greatness to do this, it just takes the wisdom to clear away every other distraction in your life out the way and to get to work.

Here are the pencils for the first two pages of Rainmagic, the short I’m working on for the Sunstone comics anthology.

I’m trying to get accustomed to this larger format. As you can see it would be nice if I had a large format scanner. I also have totally obviated the usefulness of my blue line paper by using red pencil on page 2 (but I got it so I got to find some way to get rid of it). After working on Green Monk, I totally prefer using Borden and Riley Bleedproof paper . It’s cheaper, and I like the surface better. I’ll start working with it once I get rid of all of my old Bristol.

You can also tell that I re-worked the face about 5 times. Bristol is not so forgiving of so much indecision. I finally got wise and made this style sheet for the girl’s face.

Overall, I’m liking where this is going. You can see some video of me working on page 2 below (before my camera malfunction). I can’t wait to ink this stuff.