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Break the Chains That Bind Your Artwork

Breaking boundaries and becoming more creative than you ever thought you could be. That is what today’s blog is all about. I’ll be the first to admit that I changed my entire drawing style to build myself as a professional artist. I honestly felt no one would take me seriously if I kept drawing characters, and creations out of my mind. I tried, I really did. I would post my work online and got nothing back in return. Was this because I wasn’t good enough, or people didn’t like what I had drawn? Now that I look back on it I don’t think so. I think it was because I didn’t believe in myself enough. I held back in a lot of my work and it suffered dramatically. I would spend hours creating a lot of detail in the beginning, and then just tire of the drawing because it wasn’t me. It just didn’t represent me as an artist.

I have felt really chained down as an artist these past few months and as I was looking up a reference shot for my next piece I asked myself why? This picture I am about to draw has already been captured on photograph it’s done. What about all the great pictures in my mind that are trapped in there. I literally had thousands of images screaming to be released onto paper, and I was scared that I would mess them up. There is pressure to create; I always wanted to be original and draw different than everyone else. Even when I would draw from reference I wanted to find a way to change the image, but I really felt bound to make the image look like what I was drawing just because. I know it’s not a good reason but the pressure to be great, and build a portfolio got me thinking I had to make everything believable and real. And then it hit me just the other day why can’t I have the best of both, and make the imagination real and believable.

I found myself with a dilemma. Do I continue to build my portfolio with realistic colored pencil drawings or do I draw for fun. In the end I answered with my gut feeling to do it for me. So my next piece is called Beyond Imagination. At first I started to collect pictures of things I would add to my work I thought to myself that I am doing it again. I was already judging myself, and holding back by using images as a crutch. If I really wanted to release my talent I had to just draw. So in this image I am drawing it from left to right adding all the detail as I go. I started with a dragon, and a witch, and a phoenix. I have no idea what is next, and I don’t care if it makes sense. It’s imagination and fun. I hope you can do the same.

I propose a challenge to everyone. On your next piece, if you want to find out how much you have evolved as an artist, I want you to use everything you have learned to this point and just draw. Lay it all out on the paper. Don’t think about judgment from peers, or from yourself just go. Whatever comes into your mind go for it. The only other rule I ask for is to not use reference shots, photos, or any previous artwork. Make it yours, make it new, and take your time. Sometimes when you hit the professional level you get a following who love your “style.” If so fantastic don’t change. For me although I have gained a lot of praise for my work, it’s time for me to take a step back for a while and brake the chains that bound my imagination. I plan on growing, and releasing all I have to give, I hope you do too. Take the limiters off, and be creative again.

I hope to see some great new creations. Find me on my Facebook page at http://Facebook.com/DerricktheArtist and share them with me.

Thank you for reading,

Remember to Share, Comment, and Subscribe.

Derrick Rathgeber

http://DerricktheArtist.com

2013: The Best of Derrick the Artist

• The Launch of the new website: http://DerricktheArtist.com 

The new website was a great experience. With a new clean look, and completely organized it helped all of my fans, followers and future clients to find me. I created a nice sidebar with live social media feeds, a page for links, and a new home for my art lessons & comics. 

• Social Media Giant

Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Linkedin, Blogger, Pinterest, Instagram, Deviantart, Tumblr Oh MY! 

I found myself all over the web this year, and made sure no matter what social media site your on I am there. 

• The Blog was a major Success: http://DerricktheArtist.Blogspot.com

I am thrilled at the amount of love I received from the new bog this year. I just created it this year and i am happy to say as of today I hit over 7,000 views. Which means in 2014 there will be that much more to come. New art lessons, comics, art, advice and a whole lot more. 

• Great New Artwork: http://www.derricktheartist.com/apps/photos/album?albumid=10076576

The Flight of the Macaw, The Angel of Death, Fallen, Dolphins in the Reef, and so much more came this year. I haven't said this on my website but my portfolio is not that large. I had a lot of original works destroyed in a severe rain storm that flooded the storage space of my work. 2013 was the start of a whole new portfolio, and I would say that I am off to a good start. It gets even better in 2014!

• Twisted Fate: http://www.derricktheartist.com/twistedfatecomics.htm

My comic strip is growing bigger everyday. Especially on Pinterest. This year I brought it to the web, and it has been repined over 50+ times. They are really fun to create and I love to make people laugh. 

• Free Art Lessons: http://www.derricktheartist.com/freeartlessons.htm

This year I started creating free art lessons for anyone who can use them. I started with the basics of shading, over-laying colors, and erasing for detail. I plan on doing even more next year as they have been helpful for many people. They were also published on RoseArt.com/Blog. 

• Featured in the December issue of Colored Pencil Magazine: http://magcloud.com/browse/issue/663632

One of my proudest moments came at the end of the year. It started as a response to a question posted my Colored Pencil Magazine, and grew to a two page feature article titled Never give Up. It was an article regarding my injury back in 2008 that took a whole lot from me, but in the end I used the experience to grow stronger as an artist. 

• It Only Gets Better From Here

I cannot wait to the what comes out of the hard work, and support I have gained from the experiences of 2013. I was a hard year emotionally, financially, and to come out ahead it feels good. The road is paved  and I am going to take it to the top. 

Twisted Fate: Special Edition - Original Assassins

This Special Edition Twisted Fate Comic Strip features the most best Assassin of them all.
Thank you Ubisoft for your support. Unfortunately he was too good, The Fates have a job to do.

Thank you,
DerricktheArtist.com

What Is It Worth To You?

What a month it has been. I have had some highs, some lows, really lows, and an incredible high! Where do I begin. As some of you may know I am partially disabled, and my income is quite limited. Even so I found a way through hardcore budgeting to make sure each of my kids were covered with at least 2 gifts each. Nothing huge, but I know it's going to be a great Christmas morning. I really thought I was going to be able to do much more this month as my exposure was through the roof, and the word is finally getting out with all the hard work I have done this entire year. I was really wondering if it was all worth it at all, or if I was just fooling myself. Honestly I am still a bit iffy about having a full time career in the art industry.

A while back I wrote a blog titled Never Give Up, and it was viewed here and there, but no more than any of my other blog posts.Colored Pencil Magazine read it and asked me if they could do a feature about my blog post, and of course I said yes. I really love this Magazine, they have supported me more that any company by posting my comments, art lessons, even my work on their Facebook Page. I was thinking this was going to be a spot light feature including my name and a picture of my work, but to my surprise they decided to give me a two page large print feature. I am still floored, and don't know how to thank them. They made sure they printed my website in the magazine, and featured me again on their Facebook page. The featured image was my  large 22 x 28 inch Bird in Bloom Piece, and I couldn't be more proud of this piece, and now it  was in an international printed magazine. Things were really looking up big time.

Or maybe I just got my hopes up a bit too much. As far as exposure and reaching out to many great artists who enjoyed my article that was a true success. I am very honored to have a lot off the big guns coming to me for advise and help. I cannot wait until I can contribute more. For now I am looking forward to making a sale. But as of right now I am really hurt, by not only the community of artists and collectors, but close family and friends that have made me really question the value of my work.I have put a whole lot of work into creating these large works of art, months for some. I have four children and a two bedroom apartment so to find time to draw alone is a challenge. But I do it. Not only do I do these works for my portfolio I also find the time to draw and write free art lessons and make sure they are available on multiple social media platforms mainly because I know how rough times are and I know many people of all ages can use them. For that I will continue making more. How much more work am I going to put out to realize that no one wants to buy.

Last month for Cyber Monday I had taken off 50% off every original signed piece of artwork I had. Not only that I did the same for prints, commissions, graphic design and well all of it. Here I am with over 7,000 visitors to my blog, several hundred per social media outlet, and I nothing. No sells, no orders, not even a request. I extended it for an entire week. And nothing. I am in a national magazine with thousands of readers. Nope nada. I think the nail in the coffin was a comment made to me last week by a close family friend was that i was asking WAY too much for my artwork. The piece was was talking about was my Bird in Bloom piece. Keep in mind Bird in Bloom won Best in Show in a live judged gallery competition, and is currently being featured in a national magazine. The piece is large for a colored pencil piece and took me several months to create with a wrist that was still healing from a torn tendon. At the time he was interested the piece was half off for the Cyber Monday deals at $350.00... Basically to me he might as well have said it was worthless. Did he really think a drawing of that size was worth a hundred bucks or something? Was it only worth a hundred? Being that I haven't sold anything it kind of made me wonder deep down if I my artwork was worth selling to the point of making a living.

Right now the way I see it is people like that are going to come and go. Sure he hit me hard with that one comment but I know he was wrong. Am I upset.. Sure if your reading my rant here you know I am pretty upset. Something I am going to take from all this is I am not going to let it stop me from enjoying what I do. I am not a rich man now. I have much more hard work to do. I am not getting paid for the work, but you know what I get something else from everything I do. I get the experience. I get to meet people around the world. I get to help young artists find art lessons that they can use to learn how to draw with. FOR FREE! No sign ups, no membership, no fees. If you want to donate feel free, but don't feel pressured. I get to make people laugh again for free. My online comic strip Twisted Fate is also available on my site. And you know what there will be a day, probably sometime next year, where I'll be so busy I am going to wish for the days when I didn't have a job booked. And so will you.

So what is art worth? Honestly I still do not have that answer yet. I have read formulas, went into forums, and asked many many artists, and they all say what's it worth to you? If you have a piece that you won't part with for less that $600.00 then don't. Do not let someone talk you down because they don't understand the time, pain, love, and everything you put into that piece. They don't see the part of your soul that aches just thinking about selling it. A lot of times they are just trying to get you to question your worth so they can save a buck. I am worth more and so are you. Stay busy, stay positive, and step back and price your work to what you want to because in the end you are and artist, which means you are your own boss.

Thank you for listening/reading,

Derrick Rathgeber
http://DerricktheArtist.com
DerricktheArtist@Live.com

Purchase your own printed or digital copy of the December Issue of Colored Pencil Magazine featuring my article Never Give Up by clicking the link below. Thank you for your Support. 

http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/663632 

Twisted Fate: Show Off - Original Comic Strip

Twisted Fate: Show Off

by Derrick Rathgeber

Twisted Fate: Show Off by Derrick Rathgeber

Our Fate decides to create an elaborate pulley system with the threads of life. This can’t be good…Awesome maybe.

Visit the Twisted Fate comic strip series on Pinterest at http://www.pinterest.com/DtheArtist/twisted-fate/

Be sure to find me on Facebook for more fun and great art. http://Facebook.com/DerricktheArtist

Thanks again, 

Derrick Rathgeber

http://DerricktheArtist.com

DerricktheArtist@Live.com

Trouble Getting Started? Tips to Get your Artwork Moving.

One of the most difficult things I have trouble with as an artist is just getting started. To me it’s something that drags me down like quicksand. The struggle of pulling myself together is a fight I deal with daily, and the more I fight to get started I find myself procrastinating more. In my case I feel as if I start one project I am neglecting myself of another. As of now I have split my talents into several different locations, that I am completely scatterbrained at times. It’s as if I am stuck in a dark tunnel with ten paths to choose, and rather than take the chance of taking the wrong path I stay in the same spot. Unfortunately choosing the safe spot moves me nowhere and nothing gets done, and every project suffers.

If you are new to my blog, or website my name is Derrick Rathgeber, and I am a husband, father of four great kids, a colored pencil artist, comic strip writer/artist, blog writer, free online art teacher, web designer, graphic designer, and soon I will try my hand at writing a book. All that is true I have done all those things, and you can find them on my website and right here on this very blog page. What the funny part is that I have put my hat in so many pots that I have overwhelmed myself to the point where I don’t know what I want to do. Each of these things are my hobbies, and I really do enjoy them all equally. I love making people laugh with my comic strips, I love designing characters for my story, and I love drawing detailed pictures with my colored pencils. So how do I choose? When I finish one project, how do I choose what to do next? When I start one I put all my energy into it, energy that I could have put into another one.

This was a problem for me for a very long time. I tried different things, and ultimately what worked best was just being down right organized. First of all my greatest enemy is procrastination. That to this day is the hardest enemy to kick in the rear, but you know what I am learning. I’ll start tomorrow, I never do anything for myself, I am tired, I don’t have what I need and so on. Some great tips to help with this little demon are as follows.

1.  Ask yourself: Is what I am doing now beneficial? What would be more rewarding? How will I feel if I continue to put this off?
2. Put off Procrastination: It may sound funny but think about it. Turn off any devices that may lure you away from your projects ie. Tv, internet, PHONE! All these things will be there later.
3. Reward yourself: I always tell myself if I draw today for x amount of time then I get to have x amount of time to do something I like GUILT FREE.
4.  Break it down: Sometimes we are overwhelmed by a large project. So overwhelmed that we don’t start it. So break it down. Say I am going to sketch it today, color this section tomorrow ect. This also helps you take your time and enjoy your new project.
5. Share your Success: Let people know how important it is to you. Sometimes we feel guilty for taking time from our friends and family. Sometimes they don’t understand what it means for you to be productive. Let them know, and ask for support. Say don’t call around 2-4pm I will be working, or can you watch the kids for a bit. And once you are finished working thank them by giving them your full attention. 

When it comes to deciding on what to work on next that is another hang up us artists deal with. Do we start on that commission piece? Do we draw that picture your mom has been asking for? Do I dare ignore everyone and draw that image bouncing around in my head? Again it answers the question how do I spend my time and energy? In my case I pulled myself so thin at one point that I just fell apart and did nothing. I had to get focused, and combat this problem because I wasn’t getting anything done. So what I did was I got organized. This was very important for me because I was all over the place. I didn’t even know what projects I had half of the time, or what I finished. So these are some of the things I did, that you can do yourself, to get organized.

1. Make a list: Write down a list of projects you have. This can be commissions, drawings you would like to do, blogs, website, ect.
2. Prioritize them: Number these projects from 1-10+ based on which projects you would like to get done, or maybe ones you were putting off that you would like to finish.
3. Make a Time Table: Next to each item write down how much time you need for each project. If it’s unknown it’s not a big problem. Ones that you can finish fast are good ones to knock off in-between larger projects.
4. Make a calendar: This is actually fun. Make yourself a weekly calendar giving yourself that day to work on a specific project, and be sure to add a FREE DAY on this calendar to give you the opportunity to work on projects that are behind, to work on whatever you want,  or just take a day off to rest.
5. Don’t make it Law: If you have to make adjustments it’s okay. Life changes and so can your schedule. So don’t feel guilt about changing the calendar, or missing a day or two. It’s mainly a tool to help you decide on what to work on that day. If your heart is in another project follow it and finish that project, you should never force it.

Once you have everything in perspective you will find your days going much smoother and a lot of guilt that goes along with starting something new will start to pass. You want to get into a good routine of developing yourself as an artist, but also find yourself being productive. Above all try not to make it work. A reason some of us find it hard to start up something new is fear, and worry. We worry that it won’t come out right, or fear that it has become work instead of enjoying it. When you feel that pressure, and fear building up just sketch. Don’t feel obligated to share it, just grab your sketchbook and just draw. This helps relieve that pressure we all feel to be at our very best all of the time. As artists we are our worst judges, and that can do nothing but hold us back.

So today if you are holding back a great new design that can wait, push through the muddiness and get through. Today it’s harder than ever with the many distractions that we face, but we have to close that world off and dive into our imaginations and pull it out. It’s not an easy fight sometimes, but this world of technology needs more creativity. Just remember every time you start a new project you are making the world that much better and more imaginative. That itself is a great reward, and incentive to start today.

Thank you for reading,

Derrick Rathgeber

Feel Free to find me on my website at http://DerricktheArtist.com