A Forest of Fairy Rings

You wake up one fine morning and decide that no matter the tasks or distractions that lie in front of you, you will not leave your computer that day. It's going to be just you and your pencil and your drawing pad. A highly anticipated moment... You prepare and arrive and as you grab your pencil and open into that fresh page, the blankness suddenly feels like a reflection of your mind. Where a few minutes ago there was eagerness and a desire to work your wrists to carpel tunnel, lies a blank nothingness. You stare and stare and still don't have the slightest inkling of what to draw. Welcome to the dreaded artist's block/writer's block.

I've been miserable trying to come up with ideas for the storyboard of a book I'm illustrating, and failing. What really helped me through my block today was learning a new technique. It's been a few months since I first got Photoshop and I was beginning to meander through my drawing, starting to use Photoshop as just a replacement for pencil and paper. This began to demotivate me and I realized I needed to learn to do something differently. Matte painting had been on my mind for a few months but I had stagnated in the comfort zone of my painting technique. As I looked around for matte painting, I stumbled across the mixer brush and I also found some amazing artists I started to follow on Youtube and Insta. It was just what my brain needed and I ended up with this painting. However this is not a matte painting, it's done ground-up with some mixer brushes and regular brushes.

Another idea I've been tangoing with is entering the character design challenge on Facebook. I think I might be several artist's blocks away. *chuckle*

Have a good one, person.