[warning: lots of text]
I've been dabbling in nearly every kind of artistic media for most of my life. It started with the typical crayons and markers and has moved through everything from pencils to pastels to paint, woodworking, sculpting, digital art, jewellery making, fashion design and nearly everything in between.
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I tend to prefer bright, bold colours (as might be evidenced by my choice of theme) and generally find chic, minimalistic designs with clean lines most attractive and natural.
It's rather upsetting since there are a number of highly detailed works of art with muted colour schemes that simply take my breath away, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to work with high levels of detail and embellishments or muted colours.
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When it comes to art and sewing, I also have horrible time management skills. I tend to be either very easily distracted jumping from project to project and focussing on whatever strikes my fancy or so doggedly focussed on whatever it is I'm doing that I neglect other important aspects of my life (e.g. eating).
While this has allowed me to become well acquainted with a wide variety of different media, it also means that I rarely finish what I set out to do in a reasonable time period. It is especially true when you consider how much of a perfectionist I am and how long I generally take to finish even the smallest of artistic works. The prolonged period between the beginning and end of most projects has restricted my output of many of the kinds of artwork I have long wanted to master. In the last few years my sewing has improved but my photography, painting, drawing and sculpting skills have been languishing.
My hope is that by having a project with so many different parts, I can practice multiple skills and jump from mini-project to mini-project while still progressing towards one end.
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One of the things that I love about collecting and customizing ball-jointed dolls is that they are an amalgamation of so many different artistic endeavours. If you want to be able to show off a doll or their character they way you envision them in your mind, then all of your artistic abilities need to be at a level that will allow you to do so, or, you need to find someone else who can compensate for the skills you do not currently possess.
Therefore, I have decided that I am going to try to work on a few of the areas in which I find myself lacking.
- Muted Colour Schemes Experimenting with different colour palettes is really the only way I will get better at using these types of colours. I have decided that my first big project, and one of the real reasons I started this blog in the first place will be centred around working with these colours.
- Time Management I'm hoping this can be helped by maintaining a regular(-ish) update schedule here and possibly on other sites as well.
- Speed Hopefully, more diligent practising and streamlining my production will allow me to gradually increase my working speed over time. I don't expect an overnight miracle, but if I want to have any hope of being able to fulfil my dream of opening a viable doll clothing and accessories shop (not one that I have to close for months on end or one where I'm paying myself pennies an hour) this needs to be a constant priority.
- Photography, staging and posing Photography is another one of those things that can really only be improved with practice and careful observation. Since I refuse to take any classes, my plan is to ensure I take ample photographs while I am working and when I complete a project. I plan to construct a light box to help me ensure I am always working with good lighting as well as deconstructable stages where I can take photos of my dolls and my work instead of relying on whatever my living room floor has to offer.
There are many other things I hope to improve in the future, but for now, these six are my main objectives. The big project I mentioned will be outlined in my next post and who knows where it will go from there.
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