Snigom

I haven't posted in a long time.  There are reasons for this, which I doubt any of you want to hear.  Some of you know what happened. 

I will no longer be an artist.  I will no longer draw, paint, or anything for the foreseeable future.

I have completely lost the drive. I have soul searched and determined that for me emotions and hormones really drove my art forward.  The older I get, the more my hormones are subsiding and from that perspective I cannot become "inspired" to do anything.  The current political climate is so amazingly caustic that I can feel the nation dividing.  I have done some finished work, but it isn't anything that remotely matches anything I have done in the past 10 years.  I sometimes do political cartoons as art therapy.  I seriously doubt this crowd or even this venue wants to see these.  They spare no feelings and they shouldn't.  They were meant mostly for me. I used to want to illustrate beauty and now I want to paint ugly.  I want to create monstrous images of pain and anguish.

I don't do work for conventions anymore and I will not seek a table nor will I do commissions.  I am DONE!!!  COOKED!!!

The good news is, life always changes. For now, this part of my life is done.  It has happened one other time in my life and I came back from the lurch, so it can happen again. I am sure I will come to regret not drawing during this period, but there isn't much to be done if you simply don't want to.

Peace.

Yes...another year has slipped on by.  DA has gotten so big I doubt many people even see my art anymore.  They get fewer and fewer views.  Hell, there's still work from last year no one even bothered to comment on or download.  Either I am forgotten or suck pretty hard now a days.

Whatever the reason, I will continue to upload my work here for anyone who wants to enjoy it.  I don't do Tumbler or Reddit.  I have a Patreon account www.patreon.com/WhiteAppleMult… if anyone is interested.  I will be uploading videos of how to do certain traditional techniques, inking, and some dip pen talk.

I was quite pleased with this years work and it went over VERY well at the art show.  My Fox-E picture got an incredible amount of attention for a nude piece.  I also did well at my table.  I think last year was all about timing.  Not getting the con on the holiday weekend really hurt sales.

At any rate, go forth and enjoy my new works...see you next year

OK, so I may have gotten two or three requests in my note bin regarding commissions. I have been hesitant to pursue them because they were not very cut and dry. Meaning, people wanted me to illustrate for the long term, or join them in their project (without pay); things like that. I apologize if anyone has sent me a request and I have appeared to ignore it. Maybe read my description of what I am prepared to offer and see if it matches your request.  If it does, I apologize, maybe I misunderstood and you should re-send it.

The only thing I have time for, or feel the audience could really afford, are character pinups. Things like, "Draw this character! Draw that character!" I can do that, with relative ease.  Anything too complicated and we're going to have to draw up a contract and things are going to get pricey.

At conventions it has been pretty simple:

$15.00 quick pencil sketch (can be full body character or characters) on 9 x 12 drawing paper (85lb)
$35.00 Full Pencil Render. That means a clean pencil work with shading and details. 9 x 12 Bristol Board Vellum.
$45.00 Ink Render. Comic style inking, full detail. 9 x 12 Bristol Board.
$60.00 Ink Render + Copic Marker coloring. Same as ink but with color! Typically, there will be no background, if there is, it's out of my good graces and will likely be colored pencil.
$80.00+ Ink + Copic Marker + Airbrush. This is a full on illustration. 9 x12 maximum size on illustration board. Ink and copic colored characters with an airbrushed background.
$150.00 Full acrylic painted and airbrushed work. This is a very realistic illustration. It requires a full pencil render, plus several layers of acrylic paint and finally airbrush and any other media I think is appropriate to get the realistic effect desired.

Now, if things need to get bigger, then we will need to discuss things as time and material begin to increase.

So, thoughts on this or should I give up asking for commissions on DA?

I have succeeded in posting all the associated art that I created this summer for the Animefest convention. I really want to create more art over the course of the year, but sadly I see that slipping away each day I don't draw. I have other side projects and then there's trying to make money. I just need the time and time is something I am rarely given.

Some things to look forward to, I have been writing a book regarding my 10 year research on vintage dip pens. I have written the bulk of the chapters and taken numerous macro photos of the pens. Now I just need to piece it all together and edit it. I have also been blogging about the pens. I have two good posts thus far: vintagenibs.blogspot.com/2014/… and vintagenibs.blogspot.com/2014/… . I also have a fairly successful shop on Etsy if you are in need of vintage pens: www.etsy.com/shop/WhiteAppleMu… . And as always, should you have any questions about vintage pen nibs, do not hesitate to ask!

Recently I decided I may want a change in career. I really want to do art...but maybe what I might be better at is teaching. I know a massive amount of traditional techniques; some that are long forgotten. Maybe that is what I will focus on this year...

Furthermore, I would like to say that I will be trying to worm my way into more conventions. Expect to see my art at A-Kon's Art Show next year.

AnimeFest 2014 has come and gone. It was an extremely trying con for me. I was in desperate need to make money and fell short of the goal. I thought that if I had increased the quality and detail of the work, and made more fan art, that I would be successful. It seems fate had other ideas.

I consider this years series of art to be some of the best work I have ever done. I broke through boundaries I didn't even know where there. I experimented, I used every technique I knew, and I grew a little as an artist.  Where I failed to monetize my art, I succeeded in growing artistically.

Over the course of the next few days I will post the 20+ pieces of art I did.  I find that when I post them all at once, the first and last are the only ones ever seen. These pieces deserve more.

I hope you enjoy them.

-Brandon M.