Wednesday 28 October 2015

Yet another lovely day


I was 2 minutes in my lunchbreak today at work when my boss came in. The lunch break was over.
I bought these Pilot parallel pens and I'm practicing with them during my lunch breaks. It's great fun and I hope to be able to show some stuff soon. In the mean time, here's an inked version of the one I posted the other day.

Monday 26 October 2015

Today is a perfect day to create

In fact, every day is a perfect day, but what I wanted to emphasize is the fact that today, we have. Tomorrow, we don't know. So it's better not to delay until tomorrow. Especially if you are struck by inspiration. I've learned to always write down ideas when they pop up. If I'm at work and can't immediately write down my idea because I'm in a meeting or whatever, I send myself an email that always starts with the same word in the email title.

"Concept: Today is a perfect day to create - lettering"

This makes it easy to find all my concepts in outlook just by searching for "concept".
If it's for a painting or an illustration, I add further details or useful info in the email.


Saturday 24 October 2015

Momentum is the highest achievable state of mind

It's true. When I'm creating, and I'm able to get into the zone, I am completely cut off anything or anyone that doesn't relate to the work I'm doing. There's no fatigue, no pain. There is warmth and coldness though, and a whole scala of emotions, particularly when painting. It's an intense experience. I can recommend anyone who is asking himself (or herself) what to do to start creating. It doesn't matter what, as long as it comes from,within you. The reward is great.

Wednesday 21 October 2015

Perseverance is mandatory

I've been drawing and painting for over 10 years now and while I am quite confident at the easel, I am still fully aware of the fact that being an artist is lifetime commitment. Some of the work I do turns out really well, other things seem like a disaster. Over the years, I've overcome the urge to bring myself down whenever I see errors or flaws. They are just lessons to be learned and things to remember the next time I resolve similar problems. Mastery doesn't come over night. It takes years and years of practice.

In other fields like design and lettering, it's no different. I'm fairly new at lettering so there's a long path to be followed towards mastery. Here's a drawing to remind myself. I'm putting this in a category called artists advice, because it is mainly advice I try to give the artist in me, while other artists may find it useful too.


(Click the image for a large view)

Sunday 18 October 2015

Digital version of "Procrastination leads to failure..."

Here's the digital version of "Procrastination leads to failure, so pick up your tools and get things done". It's vectorizzzzed. :)


http://www.redbubble.com/people/johanderycke/works/16947690-grab-your-tools-and-get-things-done

Saturday 17 October 2015

Thursday 15 October 2015

After the rain comes sun

Today is national "day against cancer".
There's a website called www.komoptegenkanker.be, which is from the biggest anti-cancer society in Belgium. They had a project today to have as many people sending a card to cancer patients, the digital way. I made one too over lunch. Here it is. I wish every patient the strength, courage and persistence to this extend that I really hope they will be able to overcome their disease.
Keep fighting y'all! You can beat this!

Friday 9 October 2015

Traffic is Society's Mirror

Here's a quicky.
Been extremely busy this week, only gone to work at 6:30am and not home before 10pm, "racing" from one location to another. It seemed like I wasn't the only one. In fact, a lot of people seem to be in a hurry when they are driving.

This weekend will be nice and calm though.
On sunday, I'll be joining Dr. Sketchy's as part of The Big Draw.
Time to relax and just sketch...

Sunday 4 October 2015

Now sketch!

This is the kind of sketchbook I take with me to create thumbnail sketches when painting a model from life, or when I'm painting outside. Thumbnail sketches are a great, quick way to help me when I'm not absolutely sure about the composition I want for a painting.

So I bought this little can of gold model building paint from Revell. I used to have those paints as a kid as I was quite fond of model building so this brings back some great memories. The paint is enamel paint, which is quickly dry to the touch, and it's great to give objects a glossy look. The downside is that you have to apply it in pretty thick layers, and one layer may not be enough.

I gave this sketchbook 2 layers.
It looks great, don't you think?



See the yellow ochre stains? I'm really a painter! I had some great fun with this as it's combining painting with lettering! 

Friday 2 October 2015

100% music on the radio please

Here's another one within the music theme.
Some may find I'm very critical for radio, but I really think this medium should be a lot more about music, like it used to be in the eighties and nineties, than it is about news and commercials.

When I'm driving to work in the morning, I hear 2 or 3 songs in the +30 min ride. That makes me a bit sad. Radio as a medium has so much potential to be a culturally lifting experience. Now it's merely publicity and sensationalism.

Here's my 2 cents:

I was testing my new copic sketch markers for the first time. The first word I inked was "music" using the Warm Grey 9. All the sudden it started bleeding an aweful lot of ink on the letter "S". It bled so much that it came far out of the boundaries of my letter. I had to correct with a white gel pen.