First illustration I’ve completed in over a week. I am starting to add more complexity and work over multiple sittings.
I pulled back a bit from the purely abstract pursuit to something that is more-reliable for me, construction-based character illustrations. But once I had the rough composition done, I thought, well, maybe I could do some abstract stuff in the background. I’m pretty happy with the result.
I’d like to create the abstraction with maybe a bit more unifying intention about the theme of what the abstraction should be or perhaps story elements that I can weave into it. This was very much just whatever I drew, but in the future I want to find a way to hone that ability to direct the abstraction and integrate it into the story of the illustration more.
This was an interesting piece for me. It’s one of the first that I’ve completed where I was drawing abstract thumbnails with the intention of it being a weasel. I’m trying to figure out how to harness the compositional, intuitional interest of automatic drawing and doing so with intention.
I don’t absolutely love it, but I feel there’s something here I want to lean into. I am not really sure what was going on with all of the interesting shapes; I was attempting to make something interesting out of them and not have everything be totally random/ugly. I don’t really like that part, but I’m not sure how to improve upon it. I suspect I will get better ideas the more I do it. Overall, I think this piece was a win.
Rob MacKillop is a guitarist with a great variety of experience, popular for playing classical music without nails.
As an artist I draw inspiration from other creative fields such as writing and music. There are so many parallels between the various art forms.
MacKillop inspired me with some powerful ideas in a few interviews. I watched them several months ago and have been affected by them since. I just re-visited them and found even more good advice than I remembered finding the first time. Here are the interviews with some quotes and paraphrases of my key takeaways below, but there’s plenty more in the videos; so grab your notebook and dig in.
“You’ve got to fall in love with music and let that be your guide . . . it’s so important that you love every note you’re playing on the guitar, and if you don’t love the notes you’re playing, why play them?” (59:20)
“Just be yourself because if you’re not being yourself, who are you being?” (1:07)
“The beginning point is to find a little kernel of something that is you, not to start with technique.” (2:19)
“There’s no reason to try to convince others that what you do is great; your own voice will come through; and there are people out there who will like it.” (3:18)
“Don’t worry about making a mistake; it’s the bigger picture, the bigger story that matters.” (55:49)
“I didn’t mind the little mistakes he was making here and there because I was listening, not to the guitar so much, but to the story behind what he was playing.” (59:58)
“Learn from lots of teachers. Be prepared to disagree, but don’t fight with them. Listen and absorb it all, but develop the strength to find your own way. The big journey is actually back to yourself, not out there to other people. It’s me with this box with strings on it — how can we communicate?” (1:07:02)
“The greatest teacher you can have is the score of music. When you study technique too much you tend to coat everything in that; but if you treat the score like a unique thing in the universe and listen to what it wants, it will teach you how to play guitar.” (1:09:02)
If you’re an artist I hope you’re able to see how MacKillop’s advice strongly applies to making pictures. Artists, writers, musicians – we’re all storytellers trying to discover our identity and master our craft. Just be yourself, love what you do, and tell your story. Technique and mastery will follow.
Lastly, please do visit Rob’s personal YouTube channel and website to hear his music and learn more about him and his work.
The prompt for day 7 was Junkyard Symphony. You can see the full prompt on the prompt page. Below is my submission for this day’s prompt.
Music Chair
Designed for an evening of musical relaxation, this Music Chair provides an immersive melodic experience where you can truly feel the music. Just sit back and rock your worries away.
Music Chair by Nathan Parkinson,Prismacolor & Ink, April 2022
Drawing for these prompts was a blast! I hope you enjoyed them.
Let me know in the comments which prompt(s)/drawing(s) you liked best, and which prompt(s) you might try yourself.
