Hey everyone! Thanks for all your interest for the print sale I've been having! Just letting you know that the first wave of orders are shipping out today, with more to follow going out on Monday.

Okay! So I'm trying to save up for the new Cintiq 13HD so I can do work away from my desk, but I'm something like $200 short. I'm trying to bridge the gap before I do some travelling this summer so I can stay productive on-the-go!

I wrote a big, important rant about the things that people around the country have been saying about the Boston bombings and subsequent city lockdown on my tumblr.

What a week, geez.</s>

Gonna keep this brief because I'm not at home at the moment. You already know what's happened. If you don't, go to any major news outlet. I'm fine and my family and friends who were in the area near the finish line are thankfully fine too.

You've probably read briefly in my older journal posts that I wanted to leave Boston and move to San Francisco. Well, back then I just wanted to do that -- but now I'm 95% positive I'm going to be following through on it by sometime around the end of this summer or in the fall.

No this isn't a creeper journal at all!
But really we all have artists we want to meet and someday get to know more, (either because of their work, about their work, or just because they seem like cool, chill people!)

On DeviantART there are a number of people I'd love to have the opportunity to hang out with. And who'd that be?

*Brosa -- I look up to (Sergi) Brosa quite a bit. His imagery, his style, his coloring, his ideas, it's all so incredibly well done it floors me. (Want to know the way straight into my artist heart? It's amazing backgrounds and illustrations with narrative.) Plus I've always enjoyed the processes he shares.

*algenpfleger -- I've personally nicknamed Hannes "the human raytracer" because of his incredible understanding of light and materials. I look up to his work for inspiration on realism. (but still manages to have this unique defining characteristic.) I've also come to find out that him and I are quite alike in a lot of ways. Yeah man, I know we already talk on Skype but some day maybe we'll cross paths, hahah.

*StudioQube -- The Qube guys do some fantastic work, (second path to my artist heart: mix illustration with good graphic design.) They take their home studio and brand seriously which I highly respect, (much like I would with ORIANART if I were to readily pursue more freelance.) From what I've seen of them around the net, they also seem like cool, knowledgeable people to potentially be around.

*nicholaskole -- If there's someone's sketchbooks I want to flip through, it's his. Nick has an incredible ability to inject emotion into his work that I find hard to detect in most other artist's work (WAAAY including my own.) He also has some professional studio experience which I'd love to hear stories about sometime. MAYBE SOMETIME!

~IniquitousFish -- Her work's always had a unique quality and style I've enjoyed! Plus it seems like she goes to a lot of cons, so hey maybe we'll cross paths some time!

`luniara -- I've known luniara on DA for probably the longest out of anyone during my entire time here. (Like, we followed each other here during our first literal weeks on DA in 2003. I was in high school....) I got a lot of inspiration from her during those earlier years when I really had no idea what I was doing! It's been so long I feel like we have to eventually cross paths sometime on principle! Hahahah

`alexds1 -- I've been friends with you on DA since what... 2009? Don't even get me started on the positive effects you've had on me as an artist these past years. [Probably the most other than ~YanYu.) Anyway, I talk to you often enough as it is, I already know I'm gonna hang out with you sooner or later. [right... RIIIIGHHHTT???]


People on DeviantART I ACTUALLY know:
~ashwara -- Classmate at AIB, prior room mate
~YanYu -- Classmate at AIB, room mate
~gamefan84 -- Classmate at AIB
*TracyLeeQuinn -- Classmate at AIB
~dana-redde -- Life-long friend
~manydereks -- Met on DA (around 2004,) great friend ever since visiting Boston (around 2007) [No longer on DA]
~rockaaar -- Met on DA, hung out during cons
`mooncalfe -- Hung out with at a con a long time ago, hahahah

So yeah, more or less that's my list. Why do I feel like I just asked a bunch of people out on a date?

Others I'd love to meet (but wouldn't want to bother them)
*Omar-Dogan, *xa-xa-xa, ~Tomiokajiro, ~Kurunya, and ~warobruno

Just got a massive restock of ink! Time to put it to use!
Interested in owning any one of my artworks in print form? In case you weren't aware, I do offer prints, but not through DeviantART -- they come directly from myself!

Take a look through my website, or my featured gallery for a good overview of what's available.

Any of my works can be printed from my home up to 13 x 19 inch size,  either cropped to print full-bleed across the entire sheet, or resized so the whole image fits as large as it can. You can choose from Epson Enhanced Matte (recommended) or high gloss paper, both acid-free and printed with an 8-color process UV protected ink. Each print comes serialized, signed, dated, in an acid-free plastic sleeve, and shipped in a tube!

Any of my flagship Synthesis artworks closer to the top of my Featured gallery have price tags of $40 with $5 shipping US, $10 international. Anything else will probably cost less, so ask me if you're interested in one and I'll name a price!

Interested, note me or email me at matt@plasticshards.com!

Here's a photo of what a print looks like!






So, wondering why I do this and not use DeviantART's print service?
- A part of it is control! I have NO idea what my prints look like when offered through DeviantART. I've never seen a DA print before. I have no idea if the result does the work justice!
- I also don't get to personally sign and scrutinize the print -- something I believe in doing as a ritual because you are BUYING ART, NOT A POSTER.
- Lastly, I'm cutting out a middleman. My work usually tops off at about 13x19 or inches in resolution max, and I don't feel like offering canvas prints or mugs or mousepads or whatever. I don't need DA cutting 65% or more of my profits, when all the money could go into sustaining my life as an artist directly. It's sort of like buying local!

Endling posted this [click here] answer to a questioned by one of his followers on Tumblr.
It pertains to how his art school and supporters treated/reacted to his particular art style in an academic and professional setting. Give that a read first then come back here.

I posted a response to it that I also wanted to share on my DeviantART. (If you're getting tired of me ranting about my experience at school, sorry, but this stuff means a LOT to me. I want to try to inform other people of what my time was like there so that if YOU go, you're all the wiser.) Response was as follows:

This is partially one of my problems with art schools at this point in time. They're ridiculously expensive, and because of the rapid change in art/media industry and culture, fall into generally one of these two categories:

1) They typically have instructors who are remnants of doing their best work in the late 70's to early 90's, couldn't get much work after that because of the increase use of computers for art and design, and turned to teaching as a last means to make money. Their outdated views give an unrealistic landscape of what to expect in the professional art world, and therefore are unfit teachers.

or 2) They're desperately trying to alter their curriculum to be more modern and with current trends, and end up hiring recent grads who had good portfolios and stuff. That's a promise of a decent paying job right there, but these grads have next to zero work experience, thereby being unfit teachers.

-- or 3) Your school is both. Let's face it, the artists best suited to teach classes relevant to today's industry landscape (with good skill and work experience to back it up) are all too busy actually DOING work and being professionals. They don't want to quit their careers and become teachers. This is why many trade / skill specific schools (like Gnomon and FZD) are excelling because they typically have teachers who are working professionals who take some brief time aside to teach for a bit.

My school had this problem (of variety #3) where many teachers would hound you (even mock you in critique) if you didn't conform to their more traditional standards. Many students at my school fell into these traps. I think it's fine for teachers to tell students to put a particular style on hold for a little bit to work on their core fundamentals and understanding of forms and anatomy. But that's not what we got most of the time at my school. Since these students are paying so much money to attend, the teacher(s) must be right if they're outright telling you "You have no future if you keep doing this kind of art. Stop now or die like the rest." -- something very radically different than telling you "Let's sidestep for a bit and work on your fundamentals to get you to where you want to be." This led to some students producing proficient, but completely forgettable/unmarketable work, or they would get confused about their artistic goals, stall with conflict, and suffer, when they would've likely turned out to be great individualistic artists otherwise.

I was constantly confronted by several of my professors in my second year at college specifically about the particular way I drew and what my goals were -- that I had to knock it off because it wasn't art. And after some soul searching, I listened to them and produced some of the shittiest art of my life that year, but I didn't feel too bad about it because I thought I was doing the right thing. I coasted by my third year continuing this, and producing nothing of particular interest, just following expectations and looking like an idiot. It wasn't until my fourth year that I had one particular teacher I hadn't had before, (my department head,) who looked at my work, asked "what the actual fuck are you doing, this is all shit, do you even care?" and to start doing work that mattered to myself. It was a revelation that should have never been necessary in the first place. I banged out the artwork "Now Arriving," and haven't stopped since.

What felt so betraying about that entire experience was that "Now Arriving" was an artwork I produced with my own intuitions and abilities, not from much that I learned at school. I was told to draw something I cared about, so I did, throwing nearly all of the prior 2 years of garbage I learned out the window. I produced several more [Searching For, Starting Point, Settling In,] for the upcoming senior gallery show and year-end critiques. I won best of Illustration 2009 and Juror's choice best work 2009. I was very, VERY conflicted, but at least confident. I dropped out after that year. What did I learn there? Did it shape me to become this kind of artist? Or was it really all myself by simply being enthralled by my newfound city life and love of photography? I have no idea. I'll never know. But to this day it doesn't sit right with me, whether it was worth the debt I paid. My school continues to display my work to incoming prospective students in the gallery and guidebook.

My school was good with offering critique, I'll give them that, but it was clear that making YOU to be the best artist YOU WANT to be was not in all the faculties priorities. You had to become the best artist THEY wanted you to be, and is that really why you were attending? It's fine if a teacher is hard on you to motivate you and drive you forward. It's another if they convince you of making poor decisions when you're paying to be able to get judgement and instruction you can trust. If your school is doing this to you, it might be in your best interests to switch to a school (or different teacher) that has a solid head on their shoulders and will work WITH you, not against you because of stubbornness.

I will admit, I had several teachers in that school who legitimately helped me out, or teached classes with useful real-world techniques. This rant is not against those people. They were the minority, and I continue to talk with them (in person, on facebook etc,) even today, and they seemed to uphold a better standard of what the students are there for than others. When you have so many instructors with such conflicting views on what's in your best interests, it can easily steer you in wrong directions and off the path you want to be on.

If Endling had fallen into the same traps that many I've witnessed fall in to, he'd probably be a pretty mediocre ho-hum illustrator doing whatever low-key freelance gigs he can pick up. But he stood for his own after recognizing that the advice he was being given wasn't working out for him. He ended up building a pretty big name for himself as an individual. And if you ask me, that's far more satisfying (important?) than fitting the mold just so you can graduate without much resistance and get a whatever job.

It's important to know the fundamentals to make your art come alive, but don't ever forget yourself in the process. You (in the most personal way possible) make your art what it is.

MY TWO PENCE.

The local Boston Microsoft store has the Surface Pro on display, and I got a good solid 30+ minutes to play with it.

The Pro is definitely thicker than the Surface RT and even the iPad 1, but it's not to the point of feeling unattractive -- if anything it improves handling a little bit because it makes it nearer to the thickness of something like a book. I had no problem gripping the drive in portrait mode one-handed. (Being a widescreen device, it can get a little uncomfortable in landscape mode, but only if gripped from the sides. Top or bottom is just fine. Two handed is no problem at all.) The great thing about the Microsoft store is that they don't tether their devices down, so you can unplug it, pick it up, move around with it, really get a feel. That said, the weight, at 2 lbs, is no issue to me either. I have big hands, and I'm used to picking up heavy stuff for long periods of time (groceries etc) so I can't speak for everyone on that -- but if I owned the Pro, I'd have no qualms lugging it around in my camera bag. The system was warm from having been on all day and being used constantly, but -- it was only warm. Not a hot spot anywhere on it. There was the faintest warm breeze coming from the perimeter vent, (felt nice since my hands were frozen from the winter air.) Interestingly, the speakers were moved to blast sound out of the perimeter vent -- so unlike the RT, the Pro has no speaker holes. Clever.

Now, the thing you're REALLY curious about: The Pen. Yes, it works exactly like a Wacom pen. I forget if Microsoft has ever officially stated whether the digitizer and pen are made by Wacom or just liscened by Wacom, but the pen requires no power -- a misconception I had (I thought the pen recharged by docking with the Pro's power port.) The optically-bonded display is a real welcome change from the thick, elevated glass on my Cintiqs. When you put the pen to the screen, it really looks like you're physically touching the pixels. This makes pen calibration not only easier, but less necessary altogether -- the since there's very little to no parallax whatsoever between the cursor and pen tip, it will always be good to go.

The pen is responsive, MUCH more responsive than my old Thinkpad X201T. When I make a mark on a blank canvas, it follows up nearly as quickly as my Cintiq 12WX. Pressure sensitivity seems a little more smooth in its gradation than the old X201T as well, being able to maintain a lighter pressure more easily. (The X201T pen had such a short throw in its pen pressure, it would take almost no effort to go straight to 100%. Not so good.) The finish on the glass feels durable and totally smooth. The pen glides across without any feeling of resistance or thinking "I am going to make a scratch sooner or later...." The Pro recognizes the pen from an impressive distance above the screen, about as much as a Cintiq, which is great for making sure palm-rejection works properly. Sketching around in SketchBook Pro, I only had one instance where my palm left a little mark on the canvas because I brought my hand down at a weird angle. But otherwise, I had my hand resting all over the thing and it rejected just about everything except the pen input. The pen cursor will drift from the pen a LITTLE bit when brought close to the edges of the screen, but the effect is so little pronounced on the Pro compared to other traditional Tablet PC's. No cursor jitteryness -- beats out my Cintiq 12WX in that regard. The eraser tip wasn't programmed to work with pressure in SketchBook Pro, but it did switch to the Eraser tool at least. Not sure how I feel about the squared-off eraser, seems quite a bit inaccurate (due to its shape) compared to Wacom erasers, but it was mostly designed with note-taking in mind. I think if I owned a Pro, I'd be switching to the eraser tool rather than flipping the pen over. The pen can also enact Windows 8 gestures, such as swipe from the left or right to switch apps or access the trinkets drawer. This is a problem, because if you're making a line from one side of the screen, it's way to easy to suddenly fling yourself into a different app entirely. I'd have to see if there are ways to prevent that from happening.
Oh also, the button on the pen is that black stump that locks into the Pro's charge port. It's big and easy to press, very nice, didn't know that was a button from pictures.

The Pro's display is very nice. The Microsoft store is extremely bright inside, so the Pro felt a LITTLE sub-par in brightness, but I couldn't really tell since it's like... close to daylight in there. Colors seemed natural and neutral, not overly punchy. The 1920x1080 resolution is really something on a screen that size (running a real full desktop OS.) Yes, all of your desktop apps do run in full 1080p real estate size if you don't bump up the system UI Scale. Unscaled, text is ridiculously tiny (but so crisp!) If you have good eyesight, this won't bother you, you'll probably love the way it renders text at such a small size. But, if you want things to be a little more natural, you can up the scale to 25% or 50% larger. 50% larger will make all UI elements and web pages about how they appear on the 720p Surface RT. I found the best middle-ground to be the 25% larger, where things felt a little less microscopic, but extremely roomy given the screen size. Internet Explorer was easy to use with touch and was extremely smooth -- (actually EVERYTHING was really snappy and smooth. Music, video, maps, IE, Sketchbook Pro, whatever you're doing,) -- the system seems more than capable of dishing out performance for artists.

It goes to sleep and wakes up nearly as fast as the RT -- about as fast as an iPad that's been asleep for a few hours. So it's definitely a device that you can turn on and off as you please and no feel annoyed that you'll have to wait through log-on screens and reloading the desktop and such.

Some things I'm going to have to wait to see more about: the potential storage issues (though there IS an onboard MiniSD slot,) how well it might be able to handle some light gaming, and potentially maybe even some quick video editing.

The two of us are currently offering collaborative commissions to any who are interested!

draws the characters
I draw the backgrounds!

Here's an example of a completed one and what you can expect:

Fees:
- $70 is the base price -- one (key) character, and a background of your choice. (Be descriptive! The more the better. You can even suggest the camera angle, etc if you had one in mind! You'll also get the final image in full resolution.)
- $15 additional for each character. (You'll also receive the character standalone at full resolution! [Example])
- $25 gets you a 13x19" print mailed to you (within US.) This can be ordered at any time after the commission is completed.

For an idea on Yanyu's characterization sensibilities, go check out her gallery here.
As for backgrounds, if you know and like my work, the same sort of perspective, composition, light, and color sensibilities found there will be present in the work I do for you. Check out my website for a general idea!

We're hoping to do these in a fast turn-around. A few days at the longest to completion! No months-long wait from us, we're professionals!

Any interest, feel free to email me at matt@plasticshards.com, send me an "ask" here on Tumblr, or a Note on DeviantART.

Help spread the word! Thanks everyone!

CURRENT ROSTER:
1. *Georgia-O-Queef
2.
3.
4.
5.

COMPLETED:
1. =Kitchiki [link]

Yeah okay, so I was searching myself on DA, just to see what came up. Lots of people who found my tutorials and resources helpful, is what! This is really cool, it makes me happy to know that a lot of the things I've done in the past few years have helped inspire and influence people to try something new, try something hard, to really push themselves forward! Whether it be practicing perspective, color theory, or just trying something new with my brush set, this journal is a selection of the stuff that really popped out at me, and to say thanks! This is a little celebration of all of you putting in hard work to get out of your comfort zones.
Some of this work I'm featuring here is years old, so be sure to check out these artist's newer works as well!





Also, thanks everyone for all the birthday wishes yesterday. I got so many, like, 30 pages worth in my inbox. Eee!
Here's a Muro drawing did of Maia! So cute -- see, Maia would be the kind of person too confident enough to think she COULD run with a big cake and not destroy it. Knowing her though, she'd trip, drop it, and it'd land perfectly intact on its tray. But then she'd accidentally sneeze on it while bending over to pick it up.

I think that "Art University is evil" journal post has been up for long enough. Tell you what I forgot to do: link all of you to the video of me quickly drawing out the rough base sketch for my latest work, "Monsoon Season"!

[ CHECK IT OUT HERE ON MY YOUTUBE ]

It's sped up by a fair margin, the sketch took about me about 45 minutes to an hour give or take, [I know the video says "30 minutes" -- that's wrong] and was mostly created with shift-constraints, so a lot of lines will just seem to appear. Still! You get to see the scene be constructed from scratch! As you'll see, the perspective is almost completely winged from the start.

Enjoy!

This is an updated account on how things are going years after having left art school, the effects it's had on me, and my personal thoughts on attending. My views here aren't wholly different than the few rants I've had on the subject in the past, but it's one I believe I have to continue talking about to assist others in making the right decisions for themselves and their future path. (I should also mention that this is the viewpoint of an american in America.)

It's become increasingly clear to me over the last year that out of my 25 years on this Earth, there's only one decision I ever truly regret: and that was going to art school. Now, there's a good chance that I may not be saying this had I attended a different school, but there's no way to ever know, so what I'm really saying is "I regret going to the school I chose, not school in general." I feel as though I was let down by my school. I held up my end of the bargain (some $80~$90K in tuition) and failed to get anything in return that they had promised me on my open house tour 5 years prior. "Substantial experience in the major of my choice, incredible networking both on a peer and professional level, a career I'd be passionate about!" After reviewing that checklist years later, those three boxes remain unticked. (1. My school had poor curriculum. 2. I am better friends with artists met online through DA and Tumblr than anyone I knew at my school. 3. Boston has limited opportunities.)

Now, obviously I know just throwing money at an institution wasn't going to transform me into a powerhouse artist like an upgrade in a video game. But it's not as though I didn't put my work in and really try to come out with something to show for myself. My problem is that I feel as though all of that personal growth happened entirely outside of the classroom by my own curiosity, interest, and motivation. And I feel that my growing regret toward my experience there is more my fault than theirs: but only because hindsight is 20/20. I say to myself that I should have had the intuition to recognize all of the little red flags the school was presenting me with:
- Things like mandatory useless, distracting classes that had nothing to do with my major.
- Things like an atmosphere that was too sensitive toward criticism and rewarded bad habits through luke-warm "constructive compliments." -- Instructors have gotten fired in the past for being too hard (I say motivating) on students.
- Things like a course load that only had a fraction of a handful of classes that WERE relevant to my major, and even then instructed poorly with little direction.
- Things like giving me an expensive "internship" that was more something like a personal favor for a friend and had NOTHING to do with illustration.
- Things like recent previous-year grads now teaching classes with no more than 1 year of field experience.
- Things like no one else in my entire class (not even me) being pushed to give it their all and to prepare them for a future professional career in new and exciting media opportunities.
I tell myself I should have seen all of this and run, RUN for the hills, save my money, and go my own way, but... well, like I just said. Hindsight is always 20/20.

So, it's a choice I now have to live with, probably for well over the next 15 years of my life. I have the equivalence of a mortgage with nothing to show for it, and it's not a good feeling. It feels crushing, emotionally draining. As though it's over my shoulder mocking me saying "I'M GOING TO IMPEDE YOU IN WHATEVER YOUR HOPES AND DREAMS WERE FOR LIFE. NYAHAH." (That's a bit dramatic and exaggerated, I know.) But it really goes to show you how ill-equipped many of us, (ourselves AND our parents,) were when it was time for us to go to college. You know -- as we were always told by our parents -- you HAVE to go to college. "It's the ONLY way you'll get anywhere today!" Alright, maybe if you're going into business, medicine, or law, you wear your degree and high test scores on your sleeve. But ... for art?

It's amazing how art colleges will never tell you that the BFA/MFA degree you're working toward means shit in real life. Well it's not that surprising, really. Why would you disprove your entire offered product in one sentence? Still, I'm sure you've started to hear this more and more just as I have: people who hire you for art related jobs don't care in the slightest what your degree is, what your grades were, whether you had honors, etc. They want to see the work. If the work in your portfolio looks like it's good enough to be used as legal tender, you'll go places even having never stepped foot in a college classroom. "But!" you say, "I want to go to college to learn discipline, work ethic, and be exposed to group-based peer-reviews!" -- All right! That's fine! You just don't have to go to a huge expensive 4-year University/Institute to get that! Know where you CAN get that for a fraction of the time and cost, but with way more substance? Workshops. Trade-specific schools that hone-in on exactly what it is you want to develop. You'll get more experience in places like these in 1 year than you will in 4 years elsewhere, and get a serious ass-kicking to boot. You'll never receive a degree from these schools or programs, and they're fine with telling you that. What they will tell you is that what you will walk away with is something more important: skills and knowledge. Wish I paid more attention to things like these before I put all my chips on University. (By the way, if the school name has "Institute" or "University" in the name, you will be expected to take high-school level general education classes such as science, math, and history along with your art classes. DOESN'T THAT SOUND LIKE FUN AND A TOTAL APPROPRIATE USE OF YOUR TIME?!?!? At a college/university you usually attend a class once or twice a week for an average of 3 hours each session IF the instructor didn't randomly decide to cancel the class that day for no reason. At a specialized school, some as if it's a full time job -- one class, 5 times a week for over 6 hours a day. Now which sounds better?)

Crazy advice time:

I can't stress enough to anyone currently in high school to do your research -- ALL THE RESEARCH -- you possibly can on whatever school you're even remotely thinking of attending. It is SO easy at that age to just make a decision and roll with it without thinking twice about it. Make sure you have a direction you want to take with your art, like a career be it self or corporately employed. Time spent in school floating around not knowing what you want to do is time that could have been spent more wisely -- because remember, classes don't start the moment you figure out a plan. If you take until your final year to establish a career goal, that's three prior years you lost in school that could have been more appropriately allocated. No refunds, no free do-overs. And your college will NOT likely encourage you to make up your mind before advancing. College is NOT a requirement the year after you graduate high school. If you need time to figure things out, take it and don't feel ashamed of "taking some time for yourself." -- your future self could seriously thank you.

Research the school to its fine print. Look at every course path for your major. Ask for printouts of class sign-up sheets. Make sure the classes being offered are in the majority for what interests you. Make sure the teachers are reputable. Read public reviews for the school and even individual classes if you can find any. Find someone who has attended that school and ask their opinion, even briefly, on what it was like there. Do NOT settle. Constantly be aware of your surroundings in your classes, question whether or not the instruction you're receiving is satisfying your needs and standards, whether what you're getting is worth the money you're shelling out. If you start to see red flags in a particular class, see if the class is offered by another, more qualified teacher. Most colleges offer 2 weeks at the start of a semester to switch classes, don't take this grace period lightly. If you see red flags being set off in every class, this may be a sign that the school itself is a problem and evaluation is required IMMEDIATELY. If upon further inspection you find that you made the wrong choice to attend this school, you may still have the opportunity to leave and get a tuition refund. Worse comes to worse if you ride out the year, you'll have only one bad year instead of four. Take additional time to figure out what you want to do.

And lastly, know it IS possible to be a successful professional artist all on your own. If you take it upon yourself to be a badass indvidual, keeping inspired with a strong work ethic, you WILL do what you've always dreamed of doing in time, and for little to no cost comparatively. (Or, go to college for something COMPLETELY different to art and do art full time off to the side anyway. It's doable.) I'm not trying to instill doubt or fear if you're planning on going to school -- or indeed if you're even IN school right now. I'm not trying to tell you NOT to go. All I'm doing is trying to encourage people think more about the choices they're making, and know that they carry more weight than you might think years down the line.

Anyway, in the end, I have to live with this path I've made. I'm not stopping, no. It's tough right now but I can get through it. It bothers me that I COULD have made better choices in the past. You learn from your past mistakes. I learned from this one. It's just unfortunate that this is a mistake you don't necessarily get to repeat again in your lifetime, so it seems squandered. Thus, I offer these learned lessons to you.

That's that.
While I do want people to take my advice and experience seriously, I don't claim this to be the best advice for everyone. This is mostly me getting this pent-up rage off my chest. Take from this what you will. Current art school students and grads, your mileage will have varied from mine.

EDIT:
Alright, so I've been in a really bad mood for like the better part of 2012 regarding myself as an artist, mostly because I've been struggling ( and I seriously mean STRUGGLING) with motivation and inspiration to do new work. I sorta took out my frustration on DeviantART because it's the place where I have the largest following, and I feel like it misrepresented me as an artist. I feel like it's really easy to make yourself look like an amazing, successful artist online when you're sorta mostly not in reality. That's why I was sorta like "I gotta go," the attention I get here feels like a burden I don't quite deserve.

Well, at least I've had some time to think about it, (I work fast in my subconscious,) and I feel like I haven't been giving myself enough credit, either. (Just a little.) I've been sort of trying to find a balance between the image people online bolster me up to be, and the person I actually am --- the difference right now is that instead of imploding on myself, I'm trying to work on building myself to meet that bolstered image, instead of running from it. Eugh. It's really weird. But I'm trying to figure it out.

In the meantime, I've un-stored a good portion of my favorite works, I don't want to look like such a stick-in-the-mud on DA. I still plan on uploading new work here as I complete it, (when I hopefully come across newfound motivation.) I'm still not going to be making new tutorials, but that's mostly because I've been in talks with a good friend of mine on using my Youtube channel for future tips, tricks, and whatever else. Be sure to keep a look out there for cool stuff.

-__- Sorry for being a little stupid. I'm going through a big restructuring of my creative goals lately. Some side-effects may occur. Just give me a little time, I'll be back on track hopefully soon.

(New journal update coming sometime in the next day for a friend of mine who needs some help.)



OLD:
Hey everyone, at this point in time my DA account has been filed away in the ol' archives. For how long? Not sure.

There's no drama attached to this, no trigger or event happened. In truth, my life and artistic horizons are going through many changes at this point in time. Yes, my presence has thinned here over the last year or so, but I like knowing that this outdated shell of myself isn't publicly accessible while I keep doing the new things I do these days.

I'm not disappearing from the internet entirely, I just feel as though closing up shop on DA is a necessary part of my new direction. Also sorry to say, but I'm no longer going to be making tutorials of any sort published to any place -- those things take a seriously long time to make, and it's time I just don't have anymore. (Or, time I should really be using for things that get me money to survive.) I also believe they tend to detract from the rest of my personal artwork which I care more about. That said, I'm at least leaving my tutorials here accessible. I know they're still going to be sought after and I'd never hear the end of it if they were in storage. This is the only place you can find them, after all.

Thanks for all the support here on DA over the years, everyone! Hope you understand.

-matt.laskowski
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Continue to find me on these other (if newly created/rediscovered/needs dusting off) social media platforms:

TUMBLR : fox-orian.tumblr.com [art, sketches, life, rants, neat finds, more rants]
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/orianart [art, updates, networking stuffs]
YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/user/foxorian [progress videos, some future things in the works]
BLOGGER: fox-orian.blogspot.com/ [just art again soon]
TWITTER: www.twitter.com/foxorian [updates, thoughts, neat finds, jokes, whatever else I feel like]

WEBSITE: ORIANART

HEY everyone, still sorry for the lack of meaningful updates. (I promise I've been busy!! XD)
HOWEVER, recently I've realized that I'm starting to get a LOT of friend requests on my personal Facebook account from people I have no idea who they are! XD -- then I realized "Oh yeah maybe it's because I don't have a page for myself as an artist?"

SO, I finally made a Facebook page for myself as fox-orian!

FIND IT HERE: [link]
(or click on the image above)

I JUST made it, so there's not much there at the moment, but I plan on using my this for random status updates (personal and work related,) and to better interact with you guys! (To be honest, I find a lot of random/cool crap that I want to share with everyone, but I feel like it'd get too annoying to make journal/blog posts about it. So facebook is a good alternative!)

And just so you know, I only friend people on my personal facebook that I actually know -- so I hope you guys understand that if you DO find it, I probably won't respond to any friend requests! Thanks -- SO if you wanna keep tabs on me, like the page on Facebook!

LIKE... COMMENT AND, S-SUBSCRIBE? ..?!

You know, as digital artists we have some amazing tools available to us to help bring our imaginations to life.

The latest graphic tablets (now affordable for most anyone,) matched with the latest high-definition screens (displaying billions of colors,) connected to the latest computers (whose size are measured in inches and not feet,) all to render work near instantaneously. It's hard to imagine that with what we have today, publishers and artists were using these same types of devices as much as 40 years ago to set type, scan images, or even draw pictures.

So if you were an artist in the late 1970's, what would it have been like?


Well, click here (or above) to watch a video to get a bit of an idea.

If that's anything to go by, straight-up drawing was still a little out of reach. But you could scan drawings, save them, view them on a screen, scale them, and print them. Since everything you were saving was on a tape, loading times were slower than the page being printed from dot-matrix printer. You'd only have 8 to 16 colors max to work with. Also you'd get a severe neck cramp because you'd be looking at a monitor about 4 to 5 feet above you to do your work, apparently.

In the late 1980's to early 1990's, things improved a lot. How improved?


Watch this other video to see a Quantel promotional video about their new tablet series.

(By the way, you're allowed to laugh at the hilarious editing in that video -- it's pure gold.)
Monitors were still really small, (while the tablets were huge,) but they could render 256 to thousands of colors. The move to hard drives instead of tape media meant you could store and load your work faster. (But as these hard drives were measured by the megabytes, you could store a whole 100+ full size(?!) images!!!)

You also would have had an undying fondness for the Airbrush tool. (If it wasn't airbrushed, it wasn't art.)

Things had improved enough to the point where tablets were losing their wires, and software was getting more complicated to support things like copy/paste, and pressure sensitivity. Photoshop was brand-new to the market, but wouldn't receive layer support (and therefore become relevant) until 1994. Therefore, companies like Quantel had their own hardware and software bundles that were specific for making images and layouts. Our modern-day tablet+computer setup is derived from Quantel's design.

At one point or another, this stuff was all mind-blowingly state-of-the-art. I bet it would have been hard for artists during that time to imagine what we have now as a reality. Much in the same way how I have ideas on where we'll be in another 30 years with this stuff, but I'll probably be amazed at the progression still, anyway.

"Guys, remember when we used to draw on/with LCD screens?"

I had to. Being stuck in retail hell for years was getting to me. There's only so many times you can deal with disrespectful self-entitled customers daily, especially when you have personal goals and aspirations that have nothing to do with retail or the success of the business you're working so hard for. (with little acknowledgement.) It's not that I never put my heart into my job -- I even made some great friends there. It's just, when you see so many of your other friends, even family members doing seriously cool things with their talents... it eats at you like you're staring at your own death-clock.

I haven't been one to take risks in the past, so the thought of cutting off my only source of income wasn't exactly on the forefront of my thoughts. But, I was given an opportunity with a soon-to-be startup studio that a bunch of friends of mine are already apart of. I came on board this project earlier this year, but only slightly part-time. On my days off from my retail job, I would put time in, but it would be tough because I would be exhausted. I'd just want a day or two to do errands for myself that I can't do throughout the rest of the week. So, after reaching the breaking-point at my job, and seeing that crunch-time was rapidly approaching for deadlines on the startup-project, I put in my two-weeks and am now focusing on trying to create something full-time. I make less money doing this at the moment, but the feeling of working on something I care about for my own future far FAR outweighs that. Plus, I'll have more time to do things for myself once more, while getting plenty done for the project.

It's risky, but rewarding and exciting! If I don't take these risks, how will I ever progress?
I'M DONE WITH YOU, RETAIL.

That said, my account here will still be very light on art updates. Needless to say all the work I've been (and will be) producing for this project are not public material until after release.

This was a little something I put up on my tumblr not too long ago. I want to share it here, too

Anyhow, I used to be a Zune subscriber, then I left WP7 (dissatisfied with lack of platform growth) to go back to Android with the new EVO LTE. So, now I'm an Rdio subscriber. I really like these music subscription services. I have a number of computers/devices, so I find this an extremely easy way to keep the same library of music automatically synced across all. So, here's some of what's been on my heavy listening rotation recently while I work:

#1: Jim Noir
About two months or so ago, I remembered the track "My Patch" he did which was included in LittleBigPlanet. After looking it up, seeing how it was the first track of his first album, how couldn't I listen to the rest? Since then, he's quickly risen to my most listened music in my collection for some time now, probably second to M83. Worthwhile samples if you're not familiar:
 - My Patch
 - Eanie Meany
 - Computer Song
 - Don't You Worry
 - Look Around You
 - What U Gonna Do

#2: The Go! Team
 I've actually had their first album Thunder, Lightning, Strike! for some time, and when I got LittleBigPlanet way back when I was so happy to hear "Get It Together" included in the soundtrack. For ... some reason, it never crossed my mind to give any of their other albums a listen -- or indeed even think about checking to see if any existed! Well, when I got Zune service, their newer albums popped up in my Recommendations section, and it's like I completely rediscovered the band. They've always been great to do work to, (at least I think so.) High energy music that gets me going at a faster pace than usual. Great for when I'm starting to reach a slump. I guess they've been an energy-drink substitute for me.
 - Get It Together
 - Bottle Rocket
 - The Wrath of Marcie
 - Patricia's Moving Picture
 - Buy Nothing Day
 - Secretary Song
 - Lazy Poltergeist

#3: Washed Out
In seeming direct contrast to The Go! Team, I've been listening to a crapton of Washed Out. Though I discovered them after I heard their song "Feel It All Around" used as the intro for Portlandia, I listened to the song at least 5 or 6 times before realizing "OH ITS THAT SONG!" -- Either way, their sound never gets dull to me, and it feels like it accelerates my thinking power. "Amor Fati" has been among the most listened song on this entire list as of late.
 - Amor Fati
 - Eyes Be Closed
 - Feel It All Around
 - New Theory

#4: Cut Copy
Originally found these guys through a music dump from a friend's hard drive. I only had their album In Ghost Colours, and I really enjoyed it. I was just entering my new taste in electronic at the time, so they foot the bill nicely. Fast forward to a few months ago, when I discovered they released a new album. After some time off, they're now back at the top of my playlists. I want to see these guys live some time.
 - Lights & Music
 - Take Me Over
 - Where I'm Going
 - Hanging Onto Every Heartbeat

If for some reason you didn't know about these artists before, now you do. Enjoy them!

Note: I've also been a Spotify user for some months. I've so far come to like Rdio the most. Great music selection, comparable audio and performance quality to spotify, but WAY more sensible software design and usability -- for both PC's and iOS/Android. (Rdio's app kicks Spotify's.) Also, the fact you can run Rdio in "remote control" more and from an in-browser Web App is pretty damn cool.

If you couldn't tell by the poll I had posted the other day, I'm evaluating my own portfolio right now. Hmm. I think some change is in order.

As I have still to achieve even a single interview for any position I've applied to over the last year or more, I think it's time for me to realize that my portfolio is just downright pretty bad -- at least if I were to present it to art directors in a game studio. I need to be presenting relevant work for my ability to think creatively and conceptually, (two things which my portfolio honestly greatly lack right now.) Just about the only thing I'm demonstrating at the moment is that I'm good at drawing perspective and (every once in a while) boxy office buildings. Not exactly what I would call a high-profile attention-grabbing "Hire Me!" portfolio. I've blamed Boston as part of the problem in the past, but really I could get hired at the studios here in this city if only I've bothered to try harder.

Since I was horribly mislead in college, I'm trying to take back those mistakes by doing a lot of intensive research and personal reinvention this year. It's a big deal for me, because I became pretty comfortable with the imagery I was producing in 2009-2010. It's obvious to me now, though, that stuff isn't going to get me hired anywhere.

So aside from my own research, I'm asking you guys for some feedback: if you can, give me some constructive criticism about what you think I should be changing, doing, improving, including, to build a killer portfolio, or at the very least, a competitive one.

NOTE: My ACTUAL portfolio I've been using is: www.orianart.com -- I don't show people my DeviantART. My "Portfolio" section here on DA is more like my "Best Of." ... Which is largely what's on my website, anyway.

[ALSO: I'm not fishing for compliments, nor am I harshly discrediting my abilities out of sorrow or self pity or something hahah. I appreciate compliments but that's not what I'm looking for right now I'm serious about wanting some critical feedback and will be happy to hear about it! Growth is good! Also, I want a job in a studio!]

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Edit: All of the work I currently openly possess to share with the public is near exclusively imagery I've created for my Synthesis graphic novel project that will probably never be produced for a long, long time (if only because it's just not as big a priority to work on compared to so many other things in my life at the moment.) Sinking so much of my free creative time into that in the past has now cost me, because as you can see, my gallery is full of city-ish pictures from the setting I was trying to build, rather than work that could get me a job. This, really, is why my portfolio is so bad right now -- it has absolutely NO relevance!

I had originally wanted to get into comics, but I'm not so sure about that outside of interest in my own ideas in that area. Thus, I'm definitely more interested in a studio position. I'm fine getting a job anywhere, really, for games or even animation (backgrounds or the like.) Starting off at smaller studios or mobile game places is just fine with me, (I almost prefer it.) My mind set definitely strides more in the Sci-Fi realm than fantasy, but I need to stress my abilities in all areas, anyway. Because really, I'm not sure about what I'm fully capable of either. ... ...... hahah I almost want to put my entire gallery in storage and start over. [derp too late just did half of it.]

Anyway, I'm building a big to-do list art wise of things I need I know to do plus your suggestions. I need to create myself a syllabus for the coming year. I'm still planning on moving to San Francisco next fall, so I got from now 'till then to kick my own ass on all this and become valuable.