#atomhawk art contest

[artnoodolsoup]

My submission for this year's Atomhawk art competition! My idea was a highly adaptable creature that uses its inherent bioluminescence to trick the desperate denizens of the scorched planet into thinking he was the savior that could swallow the second sun that was burning their planet. I was inspired by frogs, tardigrads, and cuttlefish fish :3

I call him the Sun Swallower and he is my precious son <3

[edgarejart]

Atomhawk – Under Strange Suns

This was absolutely one of my favorite @atomhawk-blog contest entries ever. I absolutely am enamored at how I accomplished the prompt through the clever use of negative space.

Narrated art timelapse video can be seen @ https://youtu.be/Sr5z1_74iwo

[vampireantihero]

This week's Youtube video is another art vlog, talking about the Under Strange Suns contest run by Atomhawk.

Just a reminder, I'll be on vacation until the 24th, so there will be no upload or newsletter next week.

[sunkeepersolarpunkmusic]

SOLARPUNK ART EXTRAVAGANZA PT. 3

(EDIT: Ok so Tumblr is stupid and doesn’t let you link individual photos so just hit this link and scroll down to support the artists of all the images you love.

I collected various artists’ work for the Atomhawk Solarpunk Art contest, which will announce winners Aug. 23rd 2019. I am posting as much of the art as I can find so our community can get a huge inspiration boost, because it’s not likely Atomhawk will be able to share this many submissions on their official page. Check our blog for the other posts of lots more. Follow, support and encourage all the participating artists)

[ruoyuart]

Here's a piece I've been working on for an Atomhawk art contest!

[vampireantihero]

What's the News, Vamp?

Good morning everyone, happy Monday! Welcome to July! Yesterday, July 2nd, is the exact half-way point of the year — how has your last six months been? I truthfully have not had time to reflect on them, but I’ll be doing a little bit of that in this newsletter with you all here. Before we get too far into that, though, here’s this week’s schedule:

Under Strange Suns

There’s an art house studio (a studio that provides art to other companies, in this case for video games) that I’ve been following for a little over a year called Atomhawk. Atomhawk does a contest every year to lift up promising artists, and also provide an opportunity to get your artwork seen. This year, their theme is Under Strange Suns. If you’re an artist, I encourage you to check out the contest here. It’s a wonderful opportunity for growth, and there are some amazing prizes that could really prove helpful if you win. I personally like entering contests, because it gives me something to strive for as well as a brief to follow. It keeps my skills sharp and, if I receive feedback, then it gives me something to work on and strive to better in my work.

If you are planning on entering, then let me know on the Discord! I’m planning on chilling in the voice chats if people would like to work together.

I have several personal IP that I can use for this kind of theme, and I’m thinking I’m probably going to enter this year. I want to push myself and come up with something that I can be proud of, and also I want to see how much my skills have grown. I’m trying to change how I approach bigger projects and really push my ideas to where they shine. It’s my hope that I can make something that will catch the eye of the judges, but also I’ll be happy even if whatever I make is something I can look back at and be happy with a year from now.

Last year their theme was Forgotten Creation, and I did enter last year, but I was way less confident in my art back then and my skills have grown exponentially since. This was my entry last year:

I still really enjoy this piece, and I like the concept, though I know that I can do something better if I put my mind to it. I can also see where I could make improvements; how certain textures would help to enhance the mood, or a less boring composition would have really highlighted the story elements of the doll waiting for her human. Maybe I can use this piece as a litmus test; re-do it one of these days in a better composition and style. A lot of what I do lately is similar to this, but this was me doing my absolute best last year, and now this is my base line. It’s my hope to be able to push into a more painterly realm, and have something a little less static this year. If I can nail a dynamic composition, that’s half the battle. The other half is to stop overthinking the rendering and stopping before I start.

And speaking of stopping before I start…

After the Parade Prints

I almost didn’t put these up, despite promising them at the end of the video. I’ve been feeling pretty down about my art in the past few weeks, but I’m pushing past the feeling. Usually when this happens, it’s because I’m close to a breakthrough — I just have to ride the wave of this rollercoaster until I’m flying high again.

There are posters available now in the shop! Posters are a nice way to have a large print of this. I also have framed prints and canvas prints available in the same size. Also, I’ve put it on the cover of a spiral notebook for my stationery lovers out there. I’m still working on finding a good source for higher quality giclee prints that are print on demand, but if I can’t find them, I may release a limited run of them that I source ahead of time. If I do this, the prints will be numbered and not offered again once they’re gone.

Reflection — The Last Six Months

The last six months have been a hell of a whirlwind. There is a lot that I’ve done successfully, as well as a lot that I’ve failed at. There has been a huge emotional rollercoaster this year between my little brother’s situation, the successful reboot of our theatre program, a massive falling out I had with a friend group, and my acceptance into the mentorship I’m taking this fall. This year has been the worst year business-wise since I’ve started in 2020, and yet, I’m feeling the best I’ve ever felt about my prospects. I’ve been working hard on my craft and my mental health, and I’ve been able to makes strides this year that I never thought would be possible for me. I’ve been able to work consistently throughout all of the ups and downs, and have seen mass improvement in my art despite everything. I am happy, and I am doing the best that I can do to stay positive and keep trying to pivot so that I can reach my goals.

I am also, admittedly, exhausted. I’ve been needing a break for the last month or so, despite being able to keep trucking on and doing the things that I need to do. The problem is, I don’t know what that break entails. I do know that I’ve been starting to notice myself cutting corners with my art, or skipping studies, and not being able to shake this exhaustion no matter how much time I give myself. So last week I skipped a few studies and just worked on what I wanted to work on. This made me feel a little lost, but I’ve thought about it a bit and have landed on what this year has taught me so far and what my next direction is.

So, What’s Next?

For the last several years, I have decided everything on a whim. I think it might be time for me to step back and regroup.

In the past I’ve decided random directions like the ambition to “create a tarot deck”. This is also how I’ve approached my comics and other projects. The problem with approaching things like this that are huge projects, is that there is no planning involved, just a goal without any direction. With that being said, I’m going to be working on my tarot series again soon — I did start to re-draw one of the cards I had already drawn, but I think I’m going to wait on any big projects like this until after I do my mentorship this fall. Working hard on things like this without any direction defeats the purpose of working hard. I need to ideate, to plan, to come up with solid themes and ideas instead of just an arbitrary goal. I also know that my artwork and style will be much more refined after the mentorship this fall, and I don’t want to work on my big projects just to feel the need to re-do them in a few months again. When I start them, that’s the last time. If I don’t finish, I don’t finish, and I can’t keep putting them off.

That being said, don’t worry! I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to put my energy into my commissions, refining my artwork, and creating a better workflow for the rest of the year. I’ll still be doing my studies, though they may not be daily, and I’ll still be putting things up on Youtube and doing tutorials, speedpaints, and vlogs. High resolution downloads of pieces will still be available to Ko-Fi members, and will still be around Discord and social media. I may be around a little bit less in those spaces, but I’ll be there!

I have a vacation coming up in a few weeks that I desperately need, and I’m hoping that I’ll feel a bit more refreshed after that happens. After we’re back, I’ve got two weeks before the mentorship starts, and I’ll be working on smaller things before that happens. I’ll be more seriously looking at my bigger projects, my portfolio, and re-tackling the studies with more of a design focus when I’m back. I can work on my rendering while I’m keeping my design skills sharp, so I’ll be figuring out what I want to do as I go.

Fiverr

Fiverr has been delayed for the last two weeks — I need to iron out my pricing scale before I publish things, so I’m triple checking everything and making sure I’m happy with what I’ve put together. I’ll stop talking about it on the schedules, and get it put together and announce it once it is.

Closing Thoughts

I’m skipping the In Case You Missed it this week, because there isn’t much to share. I did two studies and a contest entry for Hardy Fowler’s discord. That being said, I’m hoping that everyone has a fantastic start to their week, and if you have Tuesday off, a lovely holiday. Take care of yourselves, everyone. Drink your water and do what you can.

I love you all.

[sunkeepersolarpunkmusic]

SOLARPUNK ART EXTRAVAGANZA PT. 1

(EDIT: Ok so Tumblr is stupid and doesn’t let you link individual photos so just hit this link and scroll down to support the artists of all the images you love.

I collected various artists’ work for the Atomhawk Solarpunk Art contest, which will announce winners Aug. 23rd 2019. I am posting as much of the art as I can find so our community can get a huge inspiration boost, because it’s not likely Atomhawk will be able to share this many submissions on their official page. Check our blog for the other posts of lots more. Follow, support and encourage all the participating artists)

[sunkeepersolarpunkmusic]

SOLARPUNK ART EXTRAVAGANZA PT. 2

(EDIT: Ok so Tumblr is stupid and doesn’t let you link individual photos so just hit this link and scroll down to support the artists of all the images you love.

I collected various artists’ work for the Atomhawk Solarpunk Art contest, which will announce winners Aug. 23rd 2019. I am posting as much of the art as I can find so our community can get a huge inspiration boost, because it’s not likely Atomhawk will be able to share this many submissions on their official page. Check our blog for the other posts of lots more. Follow, support and encourage all the participating artists)

[sunkeepersolarpunkmusic]

SOLARPUNK ART EXTRAVAGANZA PT. 4

(EDIT: Ok so Tumblr is stupid and doesn’t let you link individual photos so just hit this link and scroll down to support the artists of all the images you love.

I collected various artists’ work for the Atomhawk Solarpunk Art contest, which will announce winners Aug. 23rd 2019. I am posting as much of the art as I can find so our community can get a huge inspiration boost, because it’s not likely Atomhawk will be able to share this many submissions on their official page. Check our blog for the other posts of lots more. Follow, support and encourage all the participating artists)

[jeffreyferreira]

Atomhawk Into the Void art contest entry. Wonder what’s on the other side 🤔 *Full shot pls check https://ift.tt/2KmBy79 #jeffreyferreira #digitalpainting #digitalart #conceptart #storytelling #atomvoid #photoshop — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/2LXSBkH