Stinky Boot

This is just about making me sick right now. WHY is my approach always to start indiscriminately scribbling all over really fast, hoping to see things come together - and then when they don't I just keep on scribbling, sort of with my eyes unfocused or something, like the way I used to draw. The difference - it works in drawing, I guess because of long familiarity. And the worst part - even when I stop and get a grip and say "Ok, I need to get this clearly blocked out in terms of lights and darks, create some definite form to organize it" -- then I go right back in and start scribbling like a madman on speed again. It would work for surface details and blending - after establishing a good crisp value design. I need to force myself to do that part. And I should probably start in greyscale. I really need to get it together dammit - I guess this is the price for not having painted in so long.

Ok, it's coming together sloooowly. So frustrating - doing this reminded me that just abut every time I've done a painting, I went through this same thing. It usually starts off a total mess, and then I have to spend countless hours trying to fix it until eventually I start to hammer out something salvageable. The only time it isn't like this is when I'm working from a photo and I pretty much copy it exactly, almost creating a paint by numbers kit - literally outlining the areas for shadows or different colors. It's supposed to start with a simple, foolproof method that blocks things out neatly (and doesn't involve endless, mindless scribbling!) And there's something in me that rebels against the highly methodical, almost assembly line method that suggests. But then, flailing around desperately like a drowning man is hardly an artistic triumph, is it? I need to start methodically and simply, and leave the artistic flourishes for later.

Well, maybe by the time I'm done making something decent of this boot, I'll be back in the swing and ready to get into some serious painting!

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Damn -- looking back and forth between both images, I see all I've done is smooth some things out and blend out any character it had, as well as that spontaneous and powerful look of an early render. 

Flailing... flailing..