If you wonder what I mean by “sissy girl” in the title of this week and if you are considering writing me a flaming letter about women’s rights and strengthes, may I first remember for those who may have forgotten that my screen name Anton stands for Antonia my 4th given name (yes 4th! I’m french, if I had been born Spanish like a friend of mine I would have 6 or 7 of them!). So I am a girl, and when I talk about sissy girls I mean: girls who scream when they see a mouse, wait for prince charming to come and rescue them instead of rescuing themselves, and also girls who consider that cutting up a roasted chicken is “man’s job” (actually having some knowledge in artistic anatomy helps in that task, so I cut up burned corpses of birds served in pretty large plates much better than any man in the family).
But why is this week not for sissy girls? Remember last week how Glenn told me he would give me hell with the nitty gritty?
OK, HE HAS, and you know what….. he’s right….. AGAIN!
Here is what I sent in for assignment: two ruffs and a comp (comp= almost finished piece) all in one jpg as they dont deserve a digimark protection number each!
This said I love them even if I mistreated them this week, so they are digimarcked, and I am not a sissy girl as established up above, so dont use without permission or I’ll come and make your worse karma come true.
Why “week not for sissy girls” What Glenn told me during the critic of these images was that the comp (bottom one) was sort of ok but the drawing could be improved in many places, and as for the two others they were flattened by the colors (what do colours have to do in a rough?) the line weight was the same everywhere, all this making them unreadable composition-wise.
Glenn knows me well enough to know that I can take the heat – I’m the kind of person to say: “oh look a torpedo, full speed ahead let’s see what happens!”.
But still not for sissy girls.
Between the moment I heard the critic and the moment I could talk to him during the live chat a strange little duo appeared in my mind: one was agitated and claiming it was a scandal being told things so directly and truthfully and critically, while the other whined on and on about how I’m no good and I should never have imagined I could do anything artistic. This may sound funny or idiotic but two days with those voices made it exhausting just living (for my husband too!). I tried to tell those voices that I was here to learn, and that you can only learn from your mistakes, plus I’ve got the best teacher to help me – so shut up. But it was not a thing for sissy girls indeed.
The chat finally came and I could talk to Glenn, as usual he took the time needed to show me the way and analyse the problem (I think he was expecting it – that man sees more than he says) His diagnosis: I need to work with value, depth, more details, more care – in fact what he had told me last week but I had not understood or listen or been able to do it. My fault, lesson understood this time I hope, if not I’ll work on it again! Not “sissy” but definitely “boneheaded”, that I am, mate!
Now I know exactly what to do: pen, paper, think every line but don’t loose spontaneity – something I’m not sure I could have attempted earlier. Ok let’s do it! we’ll see if I got it write this time!
See you next week folks
Anton