#adrian parhamovich

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Go, Go Backstreet Rangers!

I was going to post this during my next social media round on Wednesday, but Nick Carter beat me to it! My friend Katrina Sharp commissioned this illustration for her friend Jaymee Stanford at Epic Games and apparently it has already made some rounds, haha. Thanks again to Nick for the share! I’m stoked that he liked it! XD

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AN ART MUST HAPPEN!!!

When it’s social media scheduling day and you don’t have any new art to post...

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Commission: Malykhai the Terror Bear

A friend of mine runs a Twitch channel and requested this image as part of his branding campaign. It was SO much fun to work on, and I even learned a new trick to make the fur. :3

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Tracer Sketch

Okay, so I’ve never actually played Overwatch, but a friend of mine loves Tracer and got me an awesome birthday present. It seemed like a nice gesture, and it’s a good chance to practice with color some more!

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Coloring Gideon

These are studies for a larger piece. In the main piece, I colored everything in the environment and then promptly stopped at Gideon because I didn’t want to screw him up. XD;

So I pulled out the colored pencils and started testing out a narrow color selection (split complementary with blue-green and red-orange). I’m not fond of the first one (it looks so different from the pencil sketch... O_o), but I definitely like the second one. Still working on the rest, but I thought I’d share the progress.

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Kiteboarding: Drafts

First round of coloring with pencils is done. The bottom image has the original colors, but I felt like there wasn’t enough warmth and contrast on Gideon, so I’m testing out alternatives. I definitely like the top image better, so I’ll be cleaning that one up in Photoshop and probably trying out the mixer brush some more. I’m also planning to add some features to the sky to give it more depth. It still needs a lot of work!

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Struggling with Self-Defeat? It could be a good thing.

So in my last post, I was grumbling about the Self-Defeat Creature that lurks around creators and tells them they’re worthless every now and then. I had been struggling with it myself that day, going over and over in my head about how unlucky I’ve been with finances and job hunting despite all of my hard work. I was comparing myself to more talented, more successful artists who not only work hard, but have had the privilege of good luck and financial support, and I was convincing myself that I wasn’t really trying and no one really cares what I create in the long run. Super healthy stuff, right?

Well, I got a serious pep talk from my ever-supportive wife (she always knows exactly what to say, I swear), who reminded me that Self-Defeat Creatures can be scared off by flames of determination (Side note: I’m a fire guy, through and through. Except in the world of Avatar. Then I’m an Airbender). There was a bit more to it than that, but in the end, it pulled me out of that cycle.

Weirdly enough, I had the chance to pass along my own pep talk a few days later, when a student of mine got sidelined by his own Self-Defeat Creature without warning. At the time, I did my best to cheer him up, but I’m not great at verbally expressing myself on the spot. So after we said our see-ya-laters, I wrote a post for him that I found out later had really helped him:

Here's some food for thought:

Why do you think, "Man, my art sucks"? Why do you (and most artists) have these overwhelming feelings of self-doubt?

It's because you're a GOOD artist.

You read that right! You are a good artist.

Your art itself may not yet be on par with the art of the creators you admire, but you are a good ARTIST. I say that because you have the eye and the skillset to recognize good art, and to recognize that your own art can improve, AND you practice to make it better.

Bad artists think their stuff is great because they lack the ability to look at their art objectively and see what needs improvement. They remain blissfully ignorant of the possibility of improvement because they believe their art is perfect.

Good artists almost always doubt themselves. This is because they look at their work and think, "This isn't as good as I'd like it to be..." And they work on making it better.  And when they DO make it better, they look at it again and say "This isn't as good as I'd like it to be..." And they work to make it EVEN BETTER. Good artists always have standards that are just slightly higher than they can reach. This ensures that their progress is always upward.

In Japan, if you tell a master craftsman that his work is flawless (and it IS because he's a master), he will say, "Mada mada desu..." Which essentially means, "I still have a lot to learn."

The downside to all this is that we sometimes fall over the edge, and into the anti-spiral of self-doubt. There's a tipping point where creative criticism turns into self-esteem bashing, and it becomes debilitating. You end up so depressed that you can't bring yourself to create anymore, and it becomes a self-defeating cycle.

I wish there was a surefire way to avoid this cycle entirely, but I'm 30 years old and I still fall into those spirals occasionally. They come from out of nowhere and they hit hard and fast. They knock the steam out of you and cripple your creativity.

The good news is that you CAN get back out again. You've done it before, you can do it again. Because you're strong and you're determined. Any time you get knocked down, you get hurt, but you don't give up.

So don't let the idea of where you could go hold you back from where you will go just because you're not there yet. Let it be your goal post. Let it be your motivation. The point at which your art will become perfect will always be just out of reach and it will seem like you're not moving forward. But glance behind you and you'll see the long, winding path you've taken to get where you are. Use that to remind yourself of the work you've accomplished. Don't lose hope! Even if you lose faith in your future self, remember that your past self is really impressed with the person you are right now.

Remember: art (like swimming or figure skating) is a practice. 90% of the time, your drawings will be scraps, sketches, doodles, or studies. You're practicing your breathing, your diving, your breast stroke, your triple Lutz, etc. You're learning how to fall and get back up again to finish the routine. Practice isn't always beautiful. The practice is preparing you for the 10% of the time you will create works of art - your performances. And over time, that 10% becomes 20%, 30%, 40%...

ALL of that being said, I'm going to keep challenging you to step further and further outside of your comfort zone because I believe you can handle it.

In conclusion, here's some relevant British humor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvVPdyYeaQU

Super long, I know. But I believe in you. :P I hope, if you’re someone who struggles with the beast of self-doubt, that this will help you out.

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Testing IFTTT, No. 2 

Last post didn’t quite work. Trying again. Rarg.

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Commission: Wednesday x Mandy:

I did this commission for a friend of mine. It’s... slightly embarrassing, but she absolutely loved it, so I’m thrilled, lol. ^^;

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Gideon Color Studies

I finished the colored pencil studies of Gideon’s expressions! Not a fan of the first one, but they got a little better as I repeated them. It’s interesting to me to see how subtly the expressions change between the sketch version and the colored version. I want to get better and minimizing the alterations, because I feel like the expressions are more honest in plain pencil.

I also experimented with the Mixer Brush in Photoshop (specifically, the Fan - Flat Blender) to see if I could blend the colors better, and I have to say... I really like where this is going. By using actual colored pencils on paper first and then blending digitally, I’m getting more natural colors that I would see if I just went straight into digital. But, it still has the smoothness and flexibility of digital pain!t! It gives it a painterly look and I just love the joining of traditional and digital!

I’m excited to finish the big piece now. :)

Oh, and I’ve added my 2017 sketchbook to my site!

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The Baker Hero! This is a commission I did recently for Jonathan Butler, baker at The Bear Baker. It was a fun concept to create!

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A drawing I did at the Earth Day festival at Truely Unique in Wilson, NC.

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Also, G Pens are fun to scribble with. I'm going to sleep for reals now. Been up since 7 and working all day. Guh.

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I have to share this ridiculously amazing character my Japanese student randomly invented out of our vocabulary words.

Woods-san (or Woods-sensei if you want to be polite) is a 100-year-old doctor with a tree for a head. Although he's able to walk on water, he prefers to surf, and frequently catches waves with his best friend, Whale Buddy (who doesn't have a name at the moment...).

He is about to embark on a journey to fulfill one of his life goals which was left behind in his youth: graduate high school (so how's he a doctor...? Good question!).

As a prize for doing well in class, she asked me to draw him for her. So here's the sketch. I'm halfway done inking it. It's freaking amazing and I want to write a manga about this guy. XD;

I need my imagination to rewind by two decades to keep up with these kids.

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ZOOOOMMMMBIIIEEEEEE!!!!!! GRAAAAHHHH!!! Okay, getting carried away now. XD; Sketched and detailed in Photoshop using Kyle Bonus Ballpoint Pen and Kyle Ultimate HUGE Wash brushes.

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Zombies are a ton of fun to draw! Who knew? :D Let’s see how disgusting I can make him...