Goodbye 2014
INTRO
Hi there,
this is probably going to be the longest post I've ever written up to this Point.
I'm going to try to structure it nicely for you to jump around and skim through, so you can decide quickly what is of interest to you.
In this post I will talk about my view of the art-community, thank my heroes, express some thoughts aswell as showing a piece of my new Personal Development Project and links to more.(One should be enough for this humongous post)
FOR THOSE WHO DON'T KNOW ME
Hi and Welcome! As you might have read atop this page, my name is Michael Loos and I'm an aspiring Creator, this is what I like to call my vocation. To create worlds and adventures to inspire and to improve and bring about great fiction.
THOUGHTS ON EDUCATION
In November 2014 I majored in Graphic-, Communication and Illustration Design, which is a pretty fancy Design degree and almost nothing more, as many ppl. in the art-community have expressed and rightfully so in most cases. The Principle behind this is that a degree doesn't show what you can do and what kind of person you are and it's as simple as that. However although I'm aware of all these things and also on which accounts they are very right, I'm still glad I went there and pushed through it all and got that damned degree.
If I could have, I probably would have left earlier, but I maneuvered myself in a Position where quitting seemed not a viable option.
The bright sight of this education was however that I learned a broad range of basic knowledge and skills in about almost every creative field there is at this point, all the while hacking myself into concept-art and illustration. Many of my heroes today I simply would have gotten to know later, if at all, if it weren't for the connections I've made there. Plus this situation only honed my desire to do for a living what i love doing.
The most valuable things I have learned there, however were from these small kind of intimate teacher student moments, where they open up to you and show you stuff they personally love and think might suit you, things that align perfectly with what you are looking for, like a specific artist, a specific technique or trick etc.. That being said...
Self-teaching is a must.
I can not stress how important this is. No-one has learned anything by going somewhere and blindly expecting to improve in anything. Many people and especially students I know, fall into this trap of blaming others for their own circumstances. They expect teachers to give them skills, like in a game where you just click on a tome and gain levels.
But it doesn't work that way.
Learning something can be a hard process especially when it is completely new to you.
What I found by reading articles and books, watching numerous Talks on neuroscience and from observing my own learning habits, was that enthusiasm, curiosity and a passion for the matter make the learning process so much easier and more rewarding. I also found that when i hated to do something i always just made it and lost it shortly afterwards.
More than 98% of my Photoshop know how come from free sources online, fundamentals of drawing and painting excluded. I simply taught myself with the help of the internet, this is a double edged sword as well since we tend to naturally model ourselves after our idols which doesn't necessarily be who we are meant to be, or wanted to be when we started out. We want likes and clicks and forget the reason why we are doing things. But more to that later in the Online-Art-Community Section.
So if the teachers are not teaching the things that are valuable to you, you have the responsibility to go look for those things yourself.
That is really the origin of the term to study. It encompasses the effort one undertakes in the pursuit of knowledge, skills and expertise, if not excellence.
Most people blame their teachers(and others by extension), for their own inability and situation. If this happens to you, remember that you always have a choice, leave or stay. Take in all advice you get on the matter, but in the end you need to take the responsibility and do what you feel is the right thing, because no matter what happens you will face the consequences of your actions, whether that is being awesome at what you love doing, or to fail at what you don't want to do at all.
It's up to you.
SUCCEEDING AT HAPPINESS
I have thought about this long and hard and since I can be an emotional impulsive person I even cried a little, when I found out what the answers to my "WHY?" was.
Happiness is a decision, whether we make that decision consciously or unconsciously is up to us, but mostly we let our inner animal decide about these things, which is fine.
However in some cases like mine, my subconscious decision to be unhappy with myself and my art, was starting to hurt me physically.
I would be so tense and wanted so badly to be like the guys I saw online, that I always pushed myself hard where i thought it mattered. But it never felt enough so I started do even more. Hours and hours went into personal stuff and studies next to the Design-School projects, all the while telling myself how bad i was, living completely of balance no physical exercises almost no going out.
I didn't last a month before I developed a repetitive strain injury. This was when I was enrolled for about a year. Needless to say, that i was devastated. What kept my whiny ass going, were my friends and also Game of thrones. I read all the books while i couldn't draw or paint. But the rsi stuck to me.
So I needed to get to the bottom of things, I tried to understand what was really wrong with my hand and also started to dig into psychology and neuroscience.
It didn't help me right away but it cleared up a lot of things in retrospect and it was very interesting to.
This illness, the RSI for me, was an accumulation of bad habits, pressure and imbalance. Since I do sports regularly and am careful not to tense up while holding any pen, everything is fine. I also found that specific music made me tense up and get carried away, like i start dancing on the canvas to a tune..
To get back on topic I had often lost my way and wasn't true to myself. The online-art-community led me to some very interesting self improvement books that shed most welcome insight on my situation.
And so a couple days ago I finally had the opportunity to ask myself one very important Question.
WHY all of this?
Why do we do the things we do? Why do we pursue art and excellence or a Degree?
Why do we work through weekends or through the nights.
We humans might not be machines, but we erode away or burn out if we don't care for our physical and psychological needs. (fitness/nutrition/love)
We are no robots. People and connections are important on many different levels. Nutrition, fitness and regeneration keep us healthy so we can enjoy our lives and perform at our very best and thus live up to our potential.
I have a feeling, that I might not have been the only artist shutting himself in to study, or to work on personal projects, but we should never forget, why we do these things.
When I paint a monster or a robot and make up stories around them, the child in me goes like:
"This is the shit man!".
I do this for people that like the same things I like and to inspire them, but also for my family and my friends. So my major purpose is to create. I have this strong desire to express these vivid emotions from my childhood, but even more so, to evoke them in others and to share them. But this is only one part of my "WHY?"
When you answer your "WHY?" you need to be honest with yourself, for yourself, to get to the bottom of things.
So yes, SUCCESS is very important to me,
why? ...
you get the idea.
ABOUT THE ONLINE-ART-COMMUNITY
When I first encountered the Online-Art-Community I was not ready I think. I was very insecure about my work and didn't engage as much because I thought I wasn't good enough, plus there was the pressure with the Academy and my position that made it hard to leave.
The Internet has brought upon us this kind of unaware, self-unconscious beast.
The problem with online communities is that I think, that they are the most democratic tool there is, but also that we as individuals, especially the younger portion of us, are not quite ready for the collective responsibility that entails.
Usually this many people didn't get to say so much stuff in the open before the internet, but once you're online now, you don't look people in their faces when you talk to them, which makes trolling possible really. I mean sure you will be judged for what you say, I know this from experience, remembering my "wannabe 2011 self" I tried to protect Values I built diligently, from the patchwork of lessons and information I collected online and offline, before that I also judged people who didn't think the way I did, or knew the people I knew were good and I thought I was better for it and at a guess, I was not the only one. Now looking back I see how harmful this was and can be. I feel a lot wiser and less aggressive about my believes today. This is really where I think personal growth happens, when we look back on our actions and evaluate. It can be hard to admit one was wrong.
A community is nothing, but the sum of its parts and its parts might not even be aware of what their teachings do to the individual within, or the system as a whole. Again I can be totally wrong, but i feel like this will make sense to some, if not many of you out there.
Endless discussions about what techniques to use are nothing but tiresome and harmful to us. We are part of one organism. Each technique should enrich the creativity of the other. It makes me happy,k that there is so much diversity out there. The great thing is, that we are rapidly approaching ever more awesome content and I can't wait to be even more picky about what to consume. :D
I love what Dan Warren said in his "value in self teaching" Podcast.(almost at the end)
He said, that art is the purest expression of oneself, and basically that the medium doesn't matter. Check it out its a great talk. No-one can judge you for what you like and who you are.
Personally I also think that fundamentals are crucial, however if you can express what you want by Photo-bashing you just go do your thing, but remember the downside is that without photos to bash and no fundamental training, when there is a blank piece of paper in front of you and just a pencil, things might get a bit difficult and frustrating.
So what i mean to say is.
If you can make a living and you're happy, you're doing it right.
If not however, you might still be on the right track but you might want to rethink your position once in a while and look for alternatives or balance.
I also feel, that humbleness will get one very far as well.
Things change all the time. Try to welcome them and try to grow, I certainly will give it my best shot.
TO MY HEROES
To all of you, who shared your knowledge and spent countless hours in Class, life-streams, making videos or podcasts. Thank you. I can't thank you enough.
TO YOU THE READER
Thank you for reading this far! How the hell did you do that?! :)
I wish you all the best for 2015 and all the creative inspiring years ahead.
Take Care, :)
Michael
My Portfolio - wip - michaelloos.carbonmade.com
Deviantart - michaelloos.deviantart.com/
Hi there,
this is probably going to be the longest post I've ever written up to this Point.
I'm going to try to structure it nicely for you to jump around and skim through, so you can decide quickly what is of interest to you.
In this post I will talk about my view of the art-community, thank my heroes, express some thoughts aswell as showing a piece of my new Personal Development Project and links to more.(One should be enough for this humongous post)
FOR THOSE WHO DON'T KNOW ME
Hi and Welcome! As you might have read atop this page, my name is Michael Loos and I'm an aspiring Creator, this is what I like to call my vocation. To create worlds and adventures to inspire and to improve and bring about great fiction.
THOUGHTS ON EDUCATION
In November 2014 I majored in Graphic-, Communication and Illustration Design, which is a pretty fancy Design degree and almost nothing more, as many ppl. in the art-community have expressed and rightfully so in most cases. The Principle behind this is that a degree doesn't show what you can do and what kind of person you are and it's as simple as that. However although I'm aware of all these things and also on which accounts they are very right, I'm still glad I went there and pushed through it all and got that damned degree.
If I could have, I probably would have left earlier, but I maneuvered myself in a Position where quitting seemed not a viable option.
The bright sight of this education was however that I learned a broad range of basic knowledge and skills in about almost every creative field there is at this point, all the while hacking myself into concept-art and illustration. Many of my heroes today I simply would have gotten to know later, if at all, if it weren't for the connections I've made there. Plus this situation only honed my desire to do for a living what i love doing.
The most valuable things I have learned there, however were from these small kind of intimate teacher student moments, where they open up to you and show you stuff they personally love and think might suit you, things that align perfectly with what you are looking for, like a specific artist, a specific technique or trick etc.. That being said...
Self-teaching is a must.
I can not stress how important this is. No-one has learned anything by going somewhere and blindly expecting to improve in anything. Many people and especially students I know, fall into this trap of blaming others for their own circumstances. They expect teachers to give them skills, like in a game where you just click on a tome and gain levels.
But it doesn't work that way.
Learning something can be a hard process especially when it is completely new to you.
What I found by reading articles and books, watching numerous Talks on neuroscience and from observing my own learning habits, was that enthusiasm, curiosity and a passion for the matter make the learning process so much easier and more rewarding. I also found that when i hated to do something i always just made it and lost it shortly afterwards.
More than 98% of my Photoshop know how come from free sources online, fundamentals of drawing and painting excluded. I simply taught myself with the help of the internet, this is a double edged sword as well since we tend to naturally model ourselves after our idols which doesn't necessarily be who we are meant to be, or wanted to be when we started out. We want likes and clicks and forget the reason why we are doing things. But more to that later in the Online-Art-Community Section.
So if the teachers are not teaching the things that are valuable to you, you have the responsibility to go look for those things yourself.
That is really the origin of the term to study. It encompasses the effort one undertakes in the pursuit of knowledge, skills and expertise, if not excellence.
Most people blame their teachers(and others by extension), for their own inability and situation. If this happens to you, remember that you always have a choice, leave or stay. Take in all advice you get on the matter, but in the end you need to take the responsibility and do what you feel is the right thing, because no matter what happens you will face the consequences of your actions, whether that is being awesome at what you love doing, or to fail at what you don't want to do at all.
It's up to you.
SUCCEEDING AT HAPPINESS
I have thought about this long and hard and since I can be an emotional impulsive person I even cried a little, when I found out what the answers to my "WHY?" was.
Happiness is a decision, whether we make that decision consciously or unconsciously is up to us, but mostly we let our inner animal decide about these things, which is fine.
However in some cases like mine, my subconscious decision to be unhappy with myself and my art, was starting to hurt me physically.
I would be so tense and wanted so badly to be like the guys I saw online, that I always pushed myself hard where i thought it mattered. But it never felt enough so I started do even more. Hours and hours went into personal stuff and studies next to the Design-School projects, all the while telling myself how bad i was, living completely of balance no physical exercises almost no going out.
I didn't last a month before I developed a repetitive strain injury. This was when I was enrolled for about a year. Needless to say, that i was devastated. What kept my whiny ass going, were my friends and also Game of thrones. I read all the books while i couldn't draw or paint. But the rsi stuck to me.
So I needed to get to the bottom of things, I tried to understand what was really wrong with my hand and also started to dig into psychology and neuroscience.
It didn't help me right away but it cleared up a lot of things in retrospect and it was very interesting to.
This illness, the RSI for me, was an accumulation of bad habits, pressure and imbalance. Since I do sports regularly and am careful not to tense up while holding any pen, everything is fine. I also found that specific music made me tense up and get carried away, like i start dancing on the canvas to a tune..
To get back on topic I had often lost my way and wasn't true to myself. The online-art-community led me to some very interesting self improvement books that shed most welcome insight on my situation.
And so a couple days ago I finally had the opportunity to ask myself one very important Question.
WHY all of this?
Why do we do the things we do? Why do we pursue art and excellence or a Degree?
Why do we work through weekends or through the nights.
We humans might not be machines, but we erode away or burn out if we don't care for our physical and psychological needs. (fitness/nutrition/love)
We are no robots. People and connections are important on many different levels. Nutrition, fitness and regeneration keep us healthy so we can enjoy our lives and perform at our very best and thus live up to our potential.
I have a feeling, that I might not have been the only artist shutting himself in to study, or to work on personal projects, but we should never forget, why we do these things.
When I paint a monster or a robot and make up stories around them, the child in me goes like:
"This is the shit man!".
I do this for people that like the same things I like and to inspire them, but also for my family and my friends. So my major purpose is to create. I have this strong desire to express these vivid emotions from my childhood, but even more so, to evoke them in others and to share them. But this is only one part of my "WHY?"
When you answer your "WHY?" you need to be honest with yourself, for yourself, to get to the bottom of things.
So yes, SUCCESS is very important to me,
why? ...
you get the idea.
ABOUT THE ONLINE-ART-COMMUNITY
When I first encountered the Online-Art-Community I was not ready I think. I was very insecure about my work and didn't engage as much because I thought I wasn't good enough, plus there was the pressure with the Academy and my position that made it hard to leave.
The Internet has brought upon us this kind of unaware, self-unconscious beast.
The problem with online communities is that I think, that they are the most democratic tool there is, but also that we as individuals, especially the younger portion of us, are not quite ready for the collective responsibility that entails.
Usually this many people didn't get to say so much stuff in the open before the internet, but once you're online now, you don't look people in their faces when you talk to them, which makes trolling possible really. I mean sure you will be judged for what you say, I know this from experience, remembering my "wannabe 2011 self" I tried to protect Values I built diligently, from the patchwork of lessons and information I collected online and offline, before that I also judged people who didn't think the way I did, or knew the people I knew were good and I thought I was better for it and at a guess, I was not the only one. Now looking back I see how harmful this was and can be. I feel a lot wiser and less aggressive about my believes today. This is really where I think personal growth happens, when we look back on our actions and evaluate. It can be hard to admit one was wrong.
A community is nothing, but the sum of its parts and its parts might not even be aware of what their teachings do to the individual within, or the system as a whole. Again I can be totally wrong, but i feel like this will make sense to some, if not many of you out there.
Endless discussions about what techniques to use are nothing but tiresome and harmful to us. We are part of one organism. Each technique should enrich the creativity of the other. It makes me happy,k that there is so much diversity out there. The great thing is, that we are rapidly approaching ever more awesome content and I can't wait to be even more picky about what to consume. :D
I love what Dan Warren said in his "value in self teaching" Podcast.(almost at the end)
He said, that art is the purest expression of oneself, and basically that the medium doesn't matter. Check it out its a great talk. No-one can judge you for what you like and who you are.
Personally I also think that fundamentals are crucial, however if you can express what you want by Photo-bashing you just go do your thing, but remember the downside is that without photos to bash and no fundamental training, when there is a blank piece of paper in front of you and just a pencil, things might get a bit difficult and frustrating.
So what i mean to say is.
If you can make a living and you're happy, you're doing it right.
If not however, you might still be on the right track but you might want to rethink your position once in a while and look for alternatives or balance.
I also feel, that humbleness will get one very far as well.
Things change all the time. Try to welcome them and try to grow, I certainly will give it my best shot.
TO MY HEROES
To all of you, who shared your knowledge and spent countless hours in Class, life-streams, making videos or podcasts. Thank you. I can't thank you enough.
TO YOU THE READER
Thank you for reading this far! How the hell did you do that?! :)
I wish you all the best for 2015 and all the creative inspiring years ahead.
Take Care, :)
Michael
 |
| The Dark Pan - Personal Development Project - more on my portfolio or Deviantart for now :) |
My Portfolio - wip - michaelloos.carbonmade.com
Deviantart - michaelloos.deviantart.com/
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