Clown Baby

I wanted to paint something quite creepy.....so what's more creepy than an evil clown baby?!

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WIP

Just checking in with something I'm working on....hopefully finish it soon!

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Work Life Balance - my daily routine

So I finally booked a holiday and am in Lanzarote for a week. And like many things in life, you need to take a step back to see things more clearly.

I have realised I have become a slave to the freelance world. Our 'problem' as artists is that because we love what we do so much, we spend as close to every waking minute as possible, working. Whether its actually drawing and painting, or marketing ourselves online, we are never away from that computer! However, this isn't the reason I chose freelance as my career path. I wanted to be my own boss, work on a variety of projects, but the freedom aspect of freelance was the most important thing to me. The freedom to create my own hours, schedule my work around my life was the most vital in my chosen career path. But over the last year, I have lost sight of that.

So I have decided to get that freedom back! I have created a new daily routine that ensures I get my work done, but also gives me the freedom to enjoy life at the same time . So here it is..

Monday-Friday

7am - Wake up

7.30am - Go for a run 

8.15am - Shower and breakfast

9am - Client work

12 noon - Lunch Break

1pm - Client work

3pm - Personal work

6pm - Finish

This schedule has a few important features. Firstly, to wake up early! This has been a problem for me over the years! Having the discipline to wake up early is something I have found difficult as a freelancer. I would just think to myself 'I'll just have another hour in bed then I'll add that hour on to my working day'. And I keep doing this until I'm waking up at 1pm and working into the wee small hours. 

Secondly, I need to exercise more! Spending 12 hours a day at a desk is not a healthy lifestyle! Waking up early and going straight out for a run, gets the exercise 'in the bank' and wakes me up for the working day ahead.

Thirdly, I have allocated time for personal work. I find this important, to continually produce my own art. It's important for my own creativity but also, to stay consistent in the artist community. Constantly working on client work that you can't show publicly, means you are not very visible in the community.

Lastly, the time allocated to client work is for just that. Not 'client work with a movie on my other screen' or 'client work with Facebook and twitter on in the background'. Nothing slows down my work more than the Internet. In the time set aside for work, should only be for that. I find I work best with an audiobook, podcast or music on in the background, nothing visual. I can check Facebook, emails etc in my lunch break.

So this is my plan for the foreseeable future. Maybe this will be helpful for some of you, who have had similar issues with the freelance lifestyle.

New personal work to be posted soon!

Cheers!!

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Some personal work!!

It's been a while since I posted any personal work on here. In between client work and setting up a new business, I haven't had a lot of time for personal stuff.  But here is something I've enjoyed working on the last week or so..

 

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Apprentice Druid Character

Another character design for Mystik Media, Algadon game.

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The Big Bang Theory The Movie?..

Whilst working recently, I've had episodes of The Big Bang Theory on repeat. This prompted me to do some art based on the brilliant comedy show. So if they ever did a movie, maybe this would be the poster? Sheldon as Spock, Penny as Wonder Woman and lens flares......what's not to like?!
Anyway, just a bit of fun, hope you like it!

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Quick update...

Just a quick update with a couple more character designs I have done for Mystik Media for their Algadon game.

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Crimson Daggers Bloodsports 13

Crimson Daggers Bloodsports made a comeback this week and I decided to enter. The theme was time travel so I went for a faerie in a post-apocalyptic type environment. Didn't have much time to work on it as I've been pretty busy with work but here is my entry along with some studies for it...

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Wizard Character Design....

Here is a wizard character for the Aragon facebook rpg. The brief was to design a typical wizard, so here it is...

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Quickish one...

Something in between a sketch and a finished painting (4-5 hours). In any case, this is all I had time for. Good fun though!

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LMS - Dan Luvisi Last Man Standing's Marie

There's been a lot of fan art around recently for Dan Luvisi's Last Man Standing graphic novel which is soon to be made into a movie. I noticed the women have been neglected a bit so this is my version of Marie. She is the godmother of the La Veuve Noire (translated to Black Widow) burlesque assassin group. I had some fun with this and pushed the burlesque and spider themes. Maybe this is how Marie might look on a night on the town?! Anyway, had lots of fun painting it. Hope u like it!

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Captain Hook Re-imagined

Here is the next in my Disney Villain Series, Captain Hook from Peter Pan. I painted this one from start to finish on my laptop whilst travelling so don't fully trust the colours/brightness/contrast etc. But here it is for now until I can get home to check it out.
This is the first one that I veered slightly from the Disney design. My reason was that the movie Hook kept to a similar design and I wasnted to do something different.
Anyway, hope you like it!!

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Big Bang Theory - The Movie WIP

Just something I started working on today. Hopefully I will get some time to finish it soon.

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Anthony Jones (Robot Pencil) contest...

This is my entry into a contest which is being run by one of my favourite artists Anthony Jones (known as Robot Pencil). You can find the contest here. The rules were to create a concept for a character, in around an hour, that would fit into the world he has created for his new art book Heaven and Hell.
I used this firstly as an exercise in working faster, not getting bogged down by the details. Finishing anything in an hour is a real challenge to me! Secondly, I only used one brush for the whole painting....again a challenge for me! Lastly, it was a kind of homage to Anthony Jones work. I didn't deviate too much from his style, just gave my take on it.
Anyway, hope you like it!

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