I made this sheet to help out a student of mine.  I have a small study from Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and a step-by-step panel from Pandora Hearts.
  It's originally drawn with pencil and then I used  Miyazaki's technique to print it black and white.  I personally love the tones that are created when graphite is printed; it gives it a very "newspaper" type appearance

    I was working on a small sketch of my brother yesterday and it made me think about techniques.  As I was sketching, I realized that I needed a darker tone for his hair so I pulled out a 2B pencil to shade accordingly.  I think of this as the purist form of technique.  It was a combination of experience (having tested the shades of pencil) and knowledge (reading that a 2B pencil is darker than a 2H).   
  That small sketch sparked me to write this post.  Writing about my ideas also allows me to further analyze them.  Making thoughts visible through language makes me think a lot about how technique is a system of the same means.  
  Technique is simply a guideline system and provides a framework from which ideas can develop.  I've tried several different techniques, all of which I have learned 'tricks' from.  Since painting itself is an illusion, painters need these abstract tricks to display an idea.  
  Technique is the same as an alphabet.  As a painter, it gives you the tools to illustrate a message.  But, knowing the alphabet itself is not enough to write Shakespeare, it only provides the building blocks for it.  The same is true of technique.  
  I love reading and writing about technique, but in the end it's about having creativity and a message.  Study technique, but remember that it's simply a matrix by which you illustrate your idea.

  A year ago, I had started a job at an NYC gallery.  I didn't realize it had been a year since I worked there, but my mom pointed it out to me.  It's really shocking how much has changed over the last year.  I'm now teaching at a college and contracted to a gallery.  These were dreams that I've had for so long and they seemed impossible a year ago while working at a gallery.
   I went through a real low period last year which is what sparked this post.  Graduation from school and the job hunt was brutal.  And I realized quickly how ill-fitted I was for the gallery life and business.  I thought I would have liked it after having worked at Sotheby's, but I was wrong.  Of course, everyone needs a job and to pay the bills, which makes it so tough.
 The point of this post is that you can do amazing things in a year if you meet amazing people and work hard.  I like tracking it through this website, but I suggest everyone does some diary writing at some point.  

​Try and meet one new person every day if you can.  

​Happy Holidays