Broken

Few years after I decided to be a professional artist, I enrolled on Smarter Art School for a mentorship with Todd Lockwood. This was my first actual art training back in 2014. It was a 12 weeks course and I learned quite a bit about art and many things related to it. During this period, I have struggled quite a bit because I didn't have any formal art training before. It felt like no matter what I did, I just couldn't make my paintings work. It felt like everything is falling apart and there was nothing I could do about it but hold on. And all that frustrations resulted in this painting. I painted most of this under the guidance of Todd, but I didn't finish it by the end of the course.

Yesterday evening, a stray dog passed away in front of the house I live in. Some asshole ran over that dog with a vehicle. And I couldn't do anything to save that dog's life. It was the worst feeling to be in a position where I couldn't do anything. I hated it. To vent off that feeling, I got back to this painting and finished it. I will never forget this incident and all I can do is try and reach a position where I wouldn't be helpless to help someone.

Fight Club Sketch 1

"Who you were in Fight Club is not who were in the rest of the world." - Fight Club (1999)

 
I have made a few sketches long back while watching Fight Club movie. I've always wanted to take some of them to a finish, so here's me doing just that. I've started with this one and will upload one by one as I finish them.

 

Girl in a Hat

Took out another sketch from my sketchbook and made a painting out of it. I thought this particular piece would be finished quickly. In the end it turned out to be anything BUT quick. I had to struggle a bit with this piece. I have always found drawing women quite challenging. Its not easy capturing a woman's beauty. It just became more obvious while making this painting. In the end, I suppose this piece turned out alright, but I need to practice drawing more women.

 

Cyclops

I think for the first time I'm making a blog post about a painting I made on the same day. Usually I procrastinate when it comes to making blog posts, but not today. I finished this painting couple of hours back & now posting it here. 

This design is based on Cyclops from Uncanny X-Men comic series. I made the initial sketch last year, and took it out to paint today. I was also trying a new painting technique and I like the way it turned out.

Edit: I just realized that I uploaded a flip side image of this on Facebook & Instagram. Shit. Anyway, here's the original image, and this is how its supposed to be.

Man with No Name

This painting is based on the Clint Eastwood's character from the movie A Fistful of Dollars. I think this turned out alright and I like it. I should soon start experimenting with painting without solid black outlines. I will probably do that with the next painting.

Morpheus

There are several sketches that I selected from my sketchbook last year. I liked the way those sketches turned out and decided to take them to a decent level of finish. I wanted to do this last year, but it didn't happen. This year, one of the things I want to do is to turn all those sketches into paintings. Its been going good so far.

This particular painting is based on the character Morpheus from The Matrix trilogy. I'm still figuring out and learning different ways to paint digitally. I find digital painting quite technical at times, with all the layers, properties, brush settings etc. I'm trying to find a way to make the digital painting feel more natural and less technical.

Naruto

I started this painting two years back. I finished about 80% of this painting back then, but I didn't like the way it turned out. Over the course of next two years, I tried to make this painting work, but it just doesn't feel right. Recently I decided to take one final shot at this, and this is the result. It didn't turn out the way I wanted, but I suppose its alright. The painting is based on an iconic moment from the first episode of Naruto. This is the point in the show where I was hooked to the series.