Being an artist of multiple styles can be a lot of fun. It also allows me to work out ideas with, what I consider anyway, to be the right format.
Sometimes an idea might look better as an ink. Sometimes it requires a fully illustrated or painted method. Other times, like the piece below, it’s a combination of all of the things that I do.
I’m a tinkerer by nature, which doesn’t work so well with something like inks. You have to have a pretty good plan to start a piece of ink art, since it can be a very unforgiving medium. Even with illustrated digital work, such as my recent Queen of the Dead cover art, you have to have a pretty solid plan in place.
Which can be a challenge to a tinkerer like myself. I do often stray in the details, and I relish those chances to expand on the otherwise unforgiving pieces I create. But overall, I have to stick relatively close to the plan.
That’s where the style of this new piece comes in.
I’ve done plenty like it before, and working in digital like this gives me a freedom to explore all of the things that go through my head. There’s often only a slight plan, or a general idea, driving the art. The rest is all experimentation and exploration.
I think artists need that. If anything, just to keep sane. Sometimes, I can get that sanity settled through sketches. Indeed, my near-daily sketches posted to my Tumblr are certainly a release for that.
But a full piece of art creates more than the feeling that I’m just working things out. Now, I have not only settled out the brain, I have something to show for it. Something that I can promote, even sell, that others can appreciate.
Here is the new “tinkering” piece, I call it Imperfect. Click on it for a larger version, and, of course, let me know what you think.
