More paintings

Oi it sure is a long hard road to learning how to do this stuff. It seems like sometimes these painting just come right out of me like a sneeze, and sometimes its like trying to lose 20 pounds... Every time I start drawing, I wonder if this is going to turn out or if its going to look like super crap. There is always a stage about 20 minutes in, EVERY time where I want to stop, and I hear that little voice inside me saying "this is shit, just turn back, go play video games, go play guitar, read a book, cuz this ain't workin out". It's getting a little easier to ignore that stupid voice and keep going, but even when I'm done with a painting... it's still there telling me it looks like crap. I post the crap along with what I like because I believe when learning its about quantity not quality, the quality will come with practice... and these are like little height lines marked on a wall as I grow taller and taller. I would love to see some of my favorite artists early early work, their crap work. I think it greatly helps to see that these incredible people started out just like me... they weren't incredible from day 1. Obviously they say that, but I want to see it. So, as I continue my journey, these are all my first steps, this is stuff that one day I'll look back on and say wow, I've come a long way. I've also learned that it's VERY important to sketch out something of the scene before you start or else you just start putting things any old where and cuz they are painted in, your less compelled to change them. Sketching is super easy to change. So without further ado, heres more.

The first one is from a lazy Sunday afternoon, it was going to be Addy's house from the sword of truth series, right at the cusp of the barrier to the underworld, but then I didn't like the way the house looked, it didn't seem like Addy's house, and I didn't really like the way the trees or river looked, it didn't remind me of how it was in the book... but I kinda thought it would be a nice scene anyway, so I just keep going with it.

The next one is from the Sword of Truth series, The valley of the Lost. A wizards battleground left the earth scorched and temperamental clouds of magic loom in the air casting down magic seeking lightning bolts. There are wizards temples built there to help harness the wizards power, and the magic also causes people to see visions of the things they desire most. Here Richard (main character) is seeing visions of the Heartland Woods where he grew up and runs to them with careless abandon.