Please Like, Comment and Follow.

In my experience, when I display a drawing or something I've created to someone, either via social media, but more often in person the response to it and therefore, me, tends to fall into a number of defined categories.

Category 1 - Praise.

Category 2 - Envy.

Category 3 - Aww, that's cute.

Category 4 - Scrutiny.

Category 4 - Meh.

Praise - I welcome praise, but I am completely terrible at knowing what to do with it. I post my drawings and paintings on at least 4 different social media platforms, I have hung them in art exhibitions, created a website.....clearly, I'm desperate for more people to see what I do and get as much art out there for others to enjoy as possible.

And yet, positive comments are like mosquito's to me...I tend to bat them away as quickly as possible and then vigorously spray the effected area. It often comes across as being rude and dismissive, such is my derision. I'm sorry, I don't mean it, I'm just very socially awkward and clearly have trust issues. If you've ever said nice things about my stuff I thank you, truly... *psshhh*

Commission painting for a member of a local singing group.

The best compliment anyone could ever give me, and something I will never feel uncomfortable with, is when someone asks me to create something for them. That's an endorsement of the highest order and gives me the warm fuzzies every time.

There is another separate issue when it comes to praise, and an area I've discussed often with creative people ( I don't call them 'creative people' to their face....that'd be really quite unusual. Many of them have regular names like John or Sue.) is seeing any art as being Amazing!!! (multiple exclamation marks as standard) and throw 'likes' at it regardless of it's artistic merit.

This isn't the reserve of the art world - society now feels that 'liking' is the same as acknowledging and it gets my back right up....but for fear of this becoming a rant I shall sidestep.

Disingenuous much?

Envy See; - 'this is soooo good,..... I hate you.'

Wow.

Now, I'm reasonable enough to understand that so much hate speech isn't actual hostility, but even so, 'I don't like you', seemingly because you've spent time and effort on something is a curious reaction. I would imagine it probably speaks more of the person commenting, than a critique on yours truly.

Does this envy run through the same person do you think? 'That's a lovely cup of tea....I hate you', 'Mmm this cake is amazing!....I wish you ill health', 'OMG those cushions!.....DIE, YOU FIEND!

Too much? Possibly.

Aww, that's cute - this is the slightly patronising response from individuals that see my work as, 'something nice'. Walk around any craft stall or art exhibition and you can invariably pick out people who enjoy 'chocolate box' art, predominately traditional to the exclusion of all else. (Chocolate box, is of course a patronsing term, often describing highly accomplished if dull style from masters of their craft. Big up.)

I draw a lot of skulls and monsters and robots, I'm a man-child. You'd be surprised at the number of requests I get for 'nice' work though.

I rarely turn it down but it does raise a chuckle when I think of someone leafing through my zombie collection and drawing the conclusion that this is the guy I want to draw my local church. (true story)

Scrutiny - My fave. I love people who scrutinise. Okay love might be too strong a term, very sexually attracted then. Those that look at work and pick out details, good or bad and reference them. This might be the teacher in me, but if you can back up your criticism, positive or negative, with examples I'm likely to respond.

I want to know why that sells, or why this sucks.

I'm a tender little flower of course, so be constructive in your damning appraisal, but let me know. Horrible cliche though it is, I learn more from scrutiny than 20 likes (5 likes, lets not get carried away here) and a quick 'garjuz'.

Meh - cba tbh

Pete

#illustration #painting #drawing #art #commissions #etsy #redbubble #pinterest #instagram #watercolour #tameink #papagena

Brilliant!....who is it?

Confession time....I hate doing caricatures. Loathe them, detest....am.... not..... partial! I've done quite a few of them, but they are just not something I enjoy.

Why?

Well, its the pressure.

Achieving a good likeness, capturing their face and features, but being significantly cartoonish is tricky. What doesn't help is thinking the participant will be offended because I've given them a big nose, or made them look more overweight than they already are. And if the painting is of a female, that anxiety only gets worse!

Invariably I've tried to dissuade people from getting them, or offered alternatives - I do more simplified portraits that remove the need for big noses altogether.

And yet, every couple of months someone will ask, and invariably I will say yes.

I struggle to say no to anything, and my personal pride wont let me do a bad job.

But a good painting does not a good caricature maketh.....or something.

If you would like a caricature from me in the future however, I have a few simple conditions then.

They are as follows:

1. Have a 'caricature ready' face to begin with - big nose, questionable facial hair, few teeth missing....gents, you too.

2. Provide photo's - plenty of, all angles and decent quality....just the face though and maybe the ears, though I can probably improvise there.

3. Ask for lots of distracting other details- these will put me at ease when drawing, and distract your eyes when you see that I may have given you that big nose or a few pounds.

4. Try not to be female, or if you have to be accept you may not look female in watercolours.

Obviously if you've already had a caricature from me cheers, you probably want to ignore half of what I've just written. Unless you're someone enjoys having the piss taken out of them visually, which is effectively what they are anyway.

If that's the case, I thank you.

Sorry about your nose.

#caricature #illustration #painting #tameink

Gotta Paint 'Em All.

I had mentioned previously that being locked inside for weeks on end isn't the total nightmare for me it would appear to be for many others. Don't get me wrong, I have a garden, my health and my family....without these it would indeed be horrendous.

But having a willingness to use this enforced isolation as a means to let loose allows me to be creative and play around a bit. Drawing, painting, some digital work and the odd paper creation have turned up. I'll show these in future blogs maybe.

This watercolour was created as a commission for a bloke named Johnny, an ex-student of mine actually, and a mean skateboarder and DJ to boot.....I don't know if DJ's are called DJ's any more, so apologies if there's a more up to date term Johnny.

His brother enjoys gaming, and I was very pleased with the outcome. Plenty of anime type characters and Kawaii creatures to keep this nerd happy.

Doctor Robotnix Mean Bean Machine did for me and my personal hygiene as a teenager, what Animal Crossing is currently doing to my daughter.

Stay safe

Pete

#sonic #pokemon #watercolour #mariokart #animalcrossing #Mario #finalfantasy #legendofzelda #kirby #donkeykong #nintendo #nintendoswitch #playstation #crashbandicoot #pikachu #megaman #tameink #bowser #bomberman #painting