10,000

There is saying, every great artist has at least 10,000 bad drawings behind them. Considering another theory, to be excellent at something, you'll need 10,000 hours of practice. At 5000hr you can teach, at 8000hr you're good, but at 10,000 you're excellent. I tried to make a count... of how many hours I've been doing all this, since... 2001. I've reached a gross average of 6000hours. Considering my daily job is kinda related and the amount of actual practice I'm doing outside of the job. What is seen on this blog, is maybe 1/20 of what I'm actually doing. (All failures are usually tore to pieces before the water has dried out.)

There are 8760 hours per year, in which 2/3 is dedicated to work and sleep. The last third is to eat, leisure, transportation etc... so there isn't much left for self improvement. If you're lucky enough to work in your field of interest, you can leverage some of the 2920 hours you spend in the office for self improvement. Otherwise it's really hard to get off the office, reach home, be good at parenting, and then find some time to improve. But not impossible if you believe in it. And remember that....The only way for an artist to fail, is to quit too early.


 Below is a study for a character research I'm doing for an animated short. More to come later!

Zhu Fang Hua

Today, we had our first life drawing at the office. I had the pleasure to call on Zhu Fang Hua, an old friend I met in 2005 when she was modeling for us back then. She didnt change much, even her poses where quite the same style. I still have some of thoses drawings, it might be fun to compare a series and do some reenactment. Overall today was a very good session, and I believe one of the sketches could be another cornerstone of this journey. I'm not quite sure, because  I want to see it again tomorrow, with new eyes. But tonight I love it and I want to share it. When I saw the pose, I knew something was bound to happen, and it was up to me. The way the light was falling, and the gesture she was holding, I couldn't let it slip.

Palette is M. Graham, Cadmium yellow deep, cadmium red, ultramarine blue, and tiny touches of Alizarin. On Arches CP 140lbs, rough.

Movie studies

I've been doing some movie studies, practicing color mixing. I'm learning a lot doing this, especially how deceiving a color can be when juxtaposed with another. You might think something is blue, because you perceive it as blue, but in reality it's a dull green.

Change of Focus

I haven't post anything for while. I've been happily busy at home, at the office. I also find some time to do some introspection. Thru the course of these last few years, I've made tremendous progress, artistically and technically. I worked my patience with the whims of water. I remember when I settled for this journey in 2006, buying my first kit of watercolor, brushes, papers, reading Charles Reid instructional book. I didn't know much about what was ahead of me. It was an adventure into new territories. A typical  journey of self discovery :), sound cliche. It all started with a specific goal: Learn to paint with watercolor. Inevitably, all I could find along the way, under every stone I was flipping, was fragments of myself. I learned a lot about me and what I could achieve. I always had misconception about my abilities, things I thought I could or couldn't do. This journey, so far, has been everything except boring. On multiple occasions, I was fighting myself, my ignorance, my impatience, my stubbornness and so on and so on. I'm definitely more serene, when it comes to painting. Which is good, I guess only few people would know the internal gust of emotion such an enterprise could cast. The bitterness of failure or the intense joy of "nailing it down". So... where am I going with this thread... Change of focus, right. I've done a lot of observation drawings/paintings, I've neglected the storytelling aspect of art. My ultimate goal is still to entertain people. Characterization, mood, stylization....here I come.

Along with that goal, I have 2 projects in the pipe,

A short animated movie, I doing some characters & env design, and later  some shader, lighting and rendering.

A Short live action, which should be finished by the end of May 2011, I'm DOP & 1st Camera.

Stay tuned, I'll be posting more stuff as soon as I can.

Cheers,
Audran

The name is Bond... err I mean Audran...

My neighborhood harbor many embassies, as I walk often nearby, I always thought their fixed security guard would make great subject to sketch/paint. Let me tell you the story of this little watercolor.

I was out, dying winter, the light was awesome. I was in no hurry, and of course I had my full watercolor set in my bag. I was hunting for a subject. I walked past an embassy, with their guards standing like statues. Now is the time I thought. So I walk around it to find the best subject of em all. My gaze stopped at the little one. He was in the light, nicely cut and define. I quickly glanced around, and found on the opposite sidewalk a nice place to seat. So I sat... pulled my pad and pencil out and started sketching. As my drawing was progressing, I realize that the little one wasnt still anymore... he was using his walky-talky. uh-oh...and he was looking at me. hmmm problably nothing I thought. Then he went still again, but not for long... he walked into the cabin behind him and use the phone... still starring at me. Ok, it's about me... should I pack and leave!??!? no that would look too suspicious... they'd probably shoot me in the back. A dark man, thick black beard, black fisherman cap, in black clothing, with piercing deadly eyes, in front of a europeen embassy... any law enforcement manual would grant them the right to shoot on sight. No keep cool I thought... I unpacked the rest of my gear, just in case they wanted to have a closer look before opening fire. One guy came to talk with the little one... they talked...looking at me. On my left I could see another guy coming, he had crossed the streets, and was walking toward me, a hand on his holster... This is the time you wish you have Ninja SmokeBomb in your pocket. I didnt. He was smiling and that was creeping me out. Trigger happy kinda smile. At last something was happening in his day, and maybe today he'll have to open fire on a deadly threat. As he was getting closer, I wondered... should I raise my hand in the air like in movies? very slowly... and avoid any brusque movement. No my stuff could fall on the ground. He was now close enough to see my full arsenal. Brushes, pencil, paper... and colors... he sighs, and shout to the others, "TA HUA!!!" (he is drawing). The little one rushed to the phone in the cabin... came back and wave at him. A little "ni hao" came out of my mouth. "b-bye" he replied. The little one went still again, I could continue my study. At the end... I folded my stuff, and gave him a little military salute. He nodded back. I hope nothing happen at this embassy in the near future... They probably got plenty of satellite imagery of me, I must have been followed and my photo is probably hanging in a Chinese Secret Service Agency for a full background check. The name is Bond Audran... Audran Guerard.

Project with friends

I havent posted anything much recently, here is an insight with a project i'm working on with some friends.

Focus?

When it comes to plein air painting, the most annoying part for me, is how to deal with curious people. I know I shouldnt feel that way, because in the end, they are just people interested in art and curious to see the process. From my point of view, onlookers are a concentration breaker. Where I'm pulled out of my bubble, and start being too concern about how the painting look at every stage. Anyway, this time, I tried to stay focus. The crowd was just getting bigger and bigger. Like a flock of seagull around a McDonald trash bin. at some point I had to ask the people in front of me to clear out, because I couldn't see the landscape I was trying to paint. Anyway, I think it's a good school, if you need to learn how not to care, Shanghai is THE place to do your plein air painting.