Another thing to keep in mind, or the perils of extreme persepctive

So I found this image on Pinterest. and as with the most nerve wracking thing about pinterest there is link or credit to the artist. If you know who did it please let me know so I can credit them properly.

Anyway onto the critique.

This lovely pirate lady for the most part is very well rendered. I love her cheeky expression, and the rendering of the cloth and leather textures are divine. Buuuuut ( this would be a critique without a segue) the biggest most prominent thing about the image is the limp dick pistol.

Turning the gun up  juuuuuuust a bit would have made the point a lot better. Here is a hot and totally bad ass pirate and she has a gun pointed....at your feet. Frightening. Really.
And a little too far to the right, is she aiming for some wily dwarf ninja or something? I can see it now, "Cor, I'll be taking that necklace Marm" looks to the ninja about to defend his mistress "Oi! Not so fast, ye bugger!" Admit it. You can totally see it now, can't you?

If you are going to go to the whole extreme perspective then don't slack off at the gun and the hand that holds it. He arm is jutted straight out and the elbow is locked. It would follow logically that her hand and the gun would follow suit and be pointed directly at you.

Now in the artists defense they may have originally done it that way. Then some nervous art director comes along and goes "Well, golly gee willikers. I don't think we should be pointing guns at our readers (I am assuming this is for a book cover I could be wrong.The artist could just like limp dick guns.) and had the poor artist re-paint it so the readers wouldn't feel threatened by said pigment.

But back to the  point. I've harped on this before. Logic, Muthafukka. When you are designing a composition- and you should always design it first. No matter if you are a realistic painter, an illustrator, graphic designer or abstract expressionist poopsmearer. Even the greatest abstract artists designed their compositions before painting-despite what they would prefer you to believe *cough* Pollock*cough*

Your compositions have to make sense. Otherwise you have would could be a great piece end up with a limp dick. Nobody wants that.

The Purpose of a Sketchbook

There is this disturbing trend that touts sketchbook pages as finished art. Just google sketchbook and you will see  a ton of images of finished drawings, paintings and mixed media work.
This is not the purpose of a sketchbook.

Granted, there are bits in my sketchbooks that I am ridiculously proud of. But a sketchbook is a work book. You use it to practice, problem solve and frankly give yourself a safe space to create crap.

I have a friend who tears out anything that isn't a resolved, polished drawing. I asked her why, she explained she wants to give people a good impression. She is denying herself the saftey of the sketchbook. She is also denying the people who leaf through her books the delicious process of visual thinking.

I blame museums.

They take sketches from artist and display them. I have no problem with this, EXCEPT they only display the finished "artsy" sketches. This gives the impression that you are supposed to do perfect work all the time. This is simply impossible. For every great work, there are dozens of mediocer-even awful pieces.

For all the artist, whether professional or hobbiest, please keep in mind you are under NO obligation to show anyone your sketchbooks.
And friends, family and connoisseurs, don't be rude and ask- or worse help yourself. It is a private world in those books. If you are invited to glimpse in those worlds consider it a privilage.

Tentacle Dildos, somehow really appropriate

is it wrong for me to really, really want this