Thoughts on Recent Anime Trends.

I'm finding it a touch annoying that half of the stuff getting posted is crappy anime drawings. No wonder my stuff ends up on page 15 after 5 minutes. I've been here two days and I've already found something to be annoyed about, how typical!

-Someone on DeviantArt

Sadly, I think I have arrived to the point where I, to a degree, agree.

I love the anime art style. I adore it. I love the variations within the style and the style's ability to combine simplistic cuteness with overwhelming, cutting-edge detail. I enjoy the range of emotions it permits and I just love looking at the multitude of character designs out there.

However, I also feel that many artists, especially novice artists, also use the style as a shortcut and a crutch. I myself have even fallen into the cycle of recycling the same faces over and over again. And this tendency eclipses the true masterworks out there and degrades the style. Now, a lot of people think it's just trendy or too simple or too "easy." Creating something is always easy; the hard part is, I think, convincing people that it is art. That's it's interesting or ground-breaking or original or revealing. I believe people should do whatever it takes to be an artist, but falling into a cookie cut, mix-and-match style will run into into a plateau. I always try to break into a new style; once I see that I've fallen into a "trap," I try to find a new style. I've gone through so many. @_@; And I'm still trying. But not doing so degrades the style and belittles highly talented artists who prefer to stay in it.

It's not just novice artists either: I can hardly watch new series now because many of them look too "cookie-cut." There's not much new, innovative stuff anymore and it's sad, really. Because of anime's worldwide popularity, I think many of these people whip up series to make money. Many series have potential but they do not fully utilize that potential. A lot of recent shows seem so half-assed. And I miss hand-painted cels a LOT for some reason, The insanely saturated colors sting my eyes. :P There aren't anymore good sci-fi series anymore. No characters that break the mold. It almost feels like almost every new character out there is a clone of some anime archetype.

Sigh. Where have all the good animes gone? ;.;

In other news, I am returning to Deviantart myself.

Art post: The Breakup.

The Breakup, by yours truly.

No, Shef and I aren't broken up. Lol. I was just drawing and somehow, ended up with this and I liked it, so I posted it. :D

That's all, really ... :3

Inspiration & Creativity.

1. What inspires you?
The fastest way to get me inspired is to browse on DeviantArt or other art sites. It's almost like an inspirational defibrillator. Music also jerks me into drawing or writing; I love drawing scenes to narrate a song or piece of music. Watching stylized and/or action flicks, anime, animated movies have always made me want to jump at art. Though not as much as it used to, fandoms inspired a great deal of fan art and fanfiction for me too. :x Reading a REALLY great tutorial makes me want to try out new things; for you cartoon-and-comic aficionados out there, read "Making Comics" by Scott McCloud.

2. What blocks your creativity?
Depression has been a real obstacle for my creativity lately; it didn't usually back in high shcool, though. In fact, my creativity was at its pinnacle whenever I was depressed back in high school. Perhaps it is because depression now often involves contemplation about the future, which always scares me, to be honest. I fear that in the future, I may have to take the path in which I must abandon my drawing to make room for some career. I constantly burn with envy whenever I see art students anywhere or when I hear about my fellow high school graduates who are currently attending Savannah's College of Art & Design. I'm trying to break out of this invisible barrier of pressure and guilt to just pursue SOMETHING in art but I get horrendously intimidated. My creativity has really hit a plateau since graduation. I barely remember a finish piece of art that I've done, actually ...

But I am currently working on advertising myself as a freelance muralist and i am always on the look-out for extra-curricular art classes and workshops to remedy the plateau.

3. Do you do anything special to get your creative juices flowing?
The best work comes from when I am attacked by these spontaneous bursts of creativity. I mean, ideas fly by so fast that I HAVE to keep paper around to jot them down. But again, to give me that jolt, I usually go to DeviantArt.

4. What time of day do you feel most inspired?
Nighttime, I think.

5. How do you like to express your creative energy?
Drawing. Just plain drawing, honestly. That's my favorite creative outlet because it just flows out of me. Painting is more of a skill-in-progress; I am stilla novice. I am not primarily a writer, so I always have to take a very bumpy road to get anywhere in writing. Sculpture in a skill-in-progress and mainly experimental. Most other art forms I attempt are experimental.

But damn, drawing. I've done it for years, so it does not have to be -especially- difficult when I don't want it to be. I have the greatest amount of control over a pen or pencil than anything else. I can whip up pages and pages of doodles and sketches and quick drawings in an hour, or work on a big, beautiful piece-- it's all up to me and I love that sense of freedom when I have that sketchbook in my lap and that pen/cil in my hand.