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What is it that you admire in an artist?
14 years ago
I've just been tossing this question in my head to figure out what it is that I admire in other artists that leads me to feel what I need to be doing with my own work.
Improvement. One of the biggest things I've seen people admire is the fact that an artist improves. It might be slow. It might be from one art piece to the next.. but people like to see evolution of style, speed, and process. If an artist stays stagnant in their development and plateaus into a set style for an extended period of time, I've seen people encourage the artist to try new things, stop enjoying the artists work, or on the rare occasions, develop negativity towards the artist.
Style. Style is another big thing that people admire. Some pieces of work you can just look at and tell who drew it. Style isn't really anything that can be measured, either. It doesn't define skill level. Some styles can be as simple as a texture someone uses on their art, or a simple filter they put on their ink layer. These things wouldn't be considered style alone, but using them continuously/repeatedly can create a trend in your art and define your style.
Quality/Quantity? This one is tough. You would think that quality would be the determining factor of admiration, but oftentimes, speed is what leads to popularity and thus, admiration. Someone may produce 5 beautiful pieces of work, but they will be outdone by someone who produces 30 pieces of mediocre work of the same content. Such is the nature of internet distribution. I am unsure how this works in a more real life setting, however.
Personality. This isn't really relevant to art, but attitude is huge. You can draw nice stuff but if nobody likes you, your work won't be respected. If you don't do your art for the right reasons, people aren't going to care as much (unless you're trying to gain popularity by being an asshole. Attention is attention).
Content. Probably one of the lesser things I admire in an artist. Some people will like an artist for drawing vore, or fat, or whatever. I guess I can understand this, but it also seems like a vice. You get trapped drawing the same content while trying to become better at it. It's good to practice and improve a subject, but it's not the end of all things.
I really should be drawing rather than writing this crap out.. so I will.
Yay exams over!
PS: Tell me what makes you appreciate an artists work.
Improvement. One of the biggest things I've seen people admire is the fact that an artist improves. It might be slow. It might be from one art piece to the next.. but people like to see evolution of style, speed, and process. If an artist stays stagnant in their development and plateaus into a set style for an extended period of time, I've seen people encourage the artist to try new things, stop enjoying the artists work, or on the rare occasions, develop negativity towards the artist.
Style. Style is another big thing that people admire. Some pieces of work you can just look at and tell who drew it. Style isn't really anything that can be measured, either. It doesn't define skill level. Some styles can be as simple as a texture someone uses on their art, or a simple filter they put on their ink layer. These things wouldn't be considered style alone, but using them continuously/repeatedly can create a trend in your art and define your style.
Quality/Quantity? This one is tough. You would think that quality would be the determining factor of admiration, but oftentimes, speed is what leads to popularity and thus, admiration. Someone may produce 5 beautiful pieces of work, but they will be outdone by someone who produces 30 pieces of mediocre work of the same content. Such is the nature of internet distribution. I am unsure how this works in a more real life setting, however.
Personality. This isn't really relevant to art, but attitude is huge. You can draw nice stuff but if nobody likes you, your work won't be respected. If you don't do your art for the right reasons, people aren't going to care as much (unless you're trying to gain popularity by being an asshole. Attention is attention).
Content. Probably one of the lesser things I admire in an artist. Some people will like an artist for drawing vore, or fat, or whatever. I guess I can understand this, but it also seems like a vice. You get trapped drawing the same content while trying to become better at it. It's good to practice and improve a subject, but it's not the end of all things.
I really should be drawing rather than writing this crap out.. so I will.
Yay exams over!
PS: Tell me what makes you appreciate an artists work.
Show me on series that doesn't have porn of it?
I never really did nose that deep into the realm of porn aside from the occasional stuff on here, so I suppose I wouldn't know. Usually tends to just be anything that reminds me of friends I play with or some vore stuff that interests me...eh.
dedication
varied use in more than one medium
consistent yet different
quality (depends on what I like and not others)
balancing of art themes, content and the like
style
able to teach with great lessons or such
i'm a very serious artist even though i do comic work
How dare you insult... err... Talash! Yeah! How dare you insult Talash like that!
I find when an artist enjoys a particular commission, it really shows!
In Literature this is accomplished by tip toeing around the authors point of view I've read books 2/3 of which the author is Apologizing about and hinting as to what he's going to say and only in the last 40 pages does he actually say it Art doesn't have that problem
I am, of course, entirely in jest. c: For me it's the artists attitude, their style and their evolution of skills that makes them stand out from the crowd. If they're a nice person in their dealing with the community, if commissioning them is straightforward, friendly and easy, that makes a huge difference. If I personally like their style (I'm not one to rate the "quality" of art or time invested, which is NOT the same thing of course, because I like a fair few artists who may not be technically the "best" artists, but I simply love their style) then of course that's the main thing, but if I see them improving I'll watch them and admire how they change, perhaps commissioning them if I feel they're moving in a direction I like, or are there already.
And then again, I admire some artists for particular techniques or skills that they have. Things that I'd like to learn.
quality: i can wait forever if i know an artist has poured his/her whole talent into a piece. it shows they take what they draw very seriously and don't sweat the details. though i'm not like that all the time =p
humor: i like looking at a pic or comic that can make me laugh or an artist that has an eccentric personality. this defines how an artist looks at other things besides pics and makes them likable imo.
creativity: if i can find an artist who can draw something that can make say "why didn't i think of that?" then they have my attention =p
attitude: nobody likes an ass >p
modesty: i can appreciate anyone who knows that there's someone out there who's better than they are. sure there's some extreamly awesome artists out there but don't get a swelled head. it makes you slip up on your work and leads to demeaning those who adore you. or just being an ass.
But when it comes to what I like to see in an artist, it gets complicated.
Everything you can do with a human body is a means of conveying meaning to others. What we call the arts are concentrated doses of meaning, sometimes verbal, more often non-verbal. I appreciate an artist whose art means something.
All the technical skill in the world won't help you really convey something; legal documents and dictionaries are filled with technical skill, but they're all function. You wouldn't necessarily say a blueprint or schematic had a particular style to it. These things convey meaning totally unambiguously.
For me to appreciate an artist, that artist's work has to evoke an emotional response. I have to be able to understand what the artist meant at the time he or she created the piece of artwork, what that artist meant to express through the work itself. An artist who can really express themselves in a medium can form a connection to everyone who appreciates that work.
Now, that's not to say that I am deeply moved by every petty scribbling some snob hangs in a gallery, either. As with words, in order to express oneself, one needs a good vocabulary, good grammar; there are rules and forms and styles. Likewise with a medium. I should have no trouble 'getting' what the artist was driving at with a piece, just as I should have no trouble understanding someone who claims to speak the same language I do.
So to put it in brief, I appreciate an artist most if that artist is first, skilled with his or her tools, and second creates art to say something to me, and to everyone else who looks at it; it MUST evoke a response.
Lust is an easy emotion to appeal to. But the technical difficulty of a well executed piece of erotic artwork is a challenge I'm not even really up to yet. There's a huge difference between a piece of artwork that's merely pornographic and a piece of artwork that is both pornographic or erotic AND has exceptional artistic merit behind it. Your work does.
I can't get into a piece of erotic work unless I can really get into the mindset of those involved, I can't do kinky stuff unless it's a kink I could see myself enjoying (not a serious limitation but a limitation nonetheless) and the art that comes about when I try to do stuff my heart's just not into.... it sucks. I can't be satisfied with it.
You're well worth watching. I can't say that about a lot of people I watch, but you're well worth it.
Style's something I can appreciate to a degree but I have my own preferences in what I'll really love to see and actually bother with for more then a few moments and this tends to be pretty realistic stuff where you can feel a real weight and presence to the characters involved instead of them being caricatures of some animal with all sorts of impossible exaggerated features, this dosen't mean you have to be perfectly realistic down to the last hair, talking about furs quite often after all, but this does mean that anatomy will matter to me and I have immense respect for those who can portray this well
Content tends to matter a fair bit to me, it's either this or signifigant steady improvement in quality that'll tend to get me to truely respect and appreciate an artist vs simply enjoying some of their works without having any particular feelings towards the artist. Content for me means two things usually, one some content that specifically piques my interest and two a variaty of it, other stuff not having to align with my interests so much as just be different.
There is too much porn where the characters have a blank, nearly comatose expression. As if they are enjoying sex about as much as standing in line at the DMV.
It's also probably one of the least forgiving parts of anatomy because our brains are so wired to read emotions in the faces of others.
I suppose, being someone who's biased from those kind of experiences, has become bitter with the belief that half the people out there aren't here to make friends, they're just here to stroke off or enlarge their ego.
As long as the artist shows it's what they love to do. Then they have my admiration. I look at my past work before the incident and really fall in love with some of my pieces, some were art contest winners even. I could really see how much love and soul I put into each sketch. That's what I mainly admire about an artist, their passion for their work.
As long as an artist never gives up and has fun with what they do, they have my complete admiration.
Friendliness and approachability is another must have quality or at least not the opposite as a stubborn ass o.O
Theres two or three artists I can name that I've stopped watching simply because they've become, quite honestly, a dick. Hard to enjoy someone's creativity when there are so many negative emotions cluttering up the background.
Lastly, I highly respect artists who understand and dont fight the internet. Artists who scream not to redistribute or modify their artwork simply kill me. Golden rule is, if you dont want it shared, dont post it on the web; the moment its put on a public service like FA its going to get saved, spread around, reposted, cropped and used as an avatar. No amount of threats, watermarks or raving journals is going to change this.
Dont get me wrong, people still should respect the original artist and give credit where its due but I've stopped watching two artists who have a hissy fit every other journal about how their work has been posted on e621 or a yahoo group or something- not because they were being claimed by someone else but because they were reposted >.>
Anyway, all your points were valid and all make for a well rounded artist ^_^
Oh, and not having an inflated ego allows me to respect the artist as a human being.
I have greeted a few artists in person and I personally believe that even at conventions, you should always try to be cheerful to your customers. I try my darned best to do so as well. And a few artists I have admired have given me a very bland greeting, and even when I purchased things from their tables they were kinda monotone. It's like the friendly cashier. It's always more pleasant to purchase your goods when given a friendly face. Oh, and a firm handshake is never harmful, the way most employers in the work world respect their employees is how firm their handshake is because it shows confidence.
I always make sure I smile at my customers no matter how tired or sick I am at a con, and to always greet them with a friendly attitude. Even in notes, I always answer with a smiley emote, checking back to see if my note is welcoming and makes the person want to continue with their purchase, no matter how cranky I feel on the inside that day.
I have unwatched several people on FA due to their always depressed attitudes and, their holier than thou journals, and the journals where people just tell everyone how to act on FA how they see it, not being advise-giving, but just being an ass.
TL;DR: Professionalism, a firm handshake, confidence, conversation holder, smile, welcoming attitude. Oh, and skill is awesome too, but that is somewhat secondary to me.
Add to that, most of the artists pretend to be nice and friendly, but in fact, they only want your money. I've stopped to count how many selfish, ignorant ppl I have unwatched the past months due to that attitude. It's not fair, it's not humanlike to only be friendly to recieve cash from you. Artists should be friendly and welcoming ALL the time, not only pretending to be nice when he/she is in need of money for a new computer game. Sadly, ther are few like this on FA and other sites.
Quality is always a good thing, most people like artists with a good quality of art that grabs them, attracting them to said artist and their art.
Style is always important as well, not every one person will like the style that some people use, I have seen several style like from Narse's style to Todex's style etc. Though each style has something different to offer to one who views it.
Attitude is an important part of an artist certainly since there is going to be awkwardness if you like the art and the artist himself acts like a total idiot or like a total know it all (thus the term 'artist eliteism') People will respect an artist more always if the artist himself is professional or just generally nice in his attitude.
More I could say, but for lack of space, probably as much as I can put really.
Happy artists are productive artists, so Keep your artist happy. XD
another thing that i admire in artists is patience. if the artist has the patience to sit down and work on his art to really make it shine, it can show in the quality of his work. also an artist with patience can calmly deal with the "undesirable" customers and fans that they will innevitably attract.
so in short, Patience and Fun loving.
I think the only thing I might add would be innovation or willingness to experiment. It's a little different from improvement, because someone can keep taking the same approach to all their images and get better at that. Not that that's not perfectly fine too, it's just I tend to appreciate an artist more if they can prove that they can handle a variety of techniques and processes, or at least have the willingness to tackle something out of their comfort zone once in a while.
I think personality is the key factor in growing your audience, especially with the prominence of online social networking now, where artists of all mediums can more directly interact with their fans. You draw in an audience that finds you likable and they're often more receptive to the content you bring to the table.
The downside to that though is that you might end up with an audience that's too friendly and just ends up being a pool of yes-men, never wanting to critique the artist's work. You can find a lot of artists out there whose viewers just fawn over every single piece of work they do. I'm not saying its wrong to praise an artist, but I think an artist benefits most from fans who can keep an objective point of view. I think the worst thing that can happen to an artist -- of any medium -- is to never be criticized. If they don't get honest feedback, how are they supposed to know where they can improve? I know this is more of a pet peeve concerning an artist's audience and not the actual artist him/herself but still.
More importantly, an artist should be open to criticism. They shouldn't be afraid of being told they can improve in an area, or that they should try something different. You can find artists with those ever-adoring fans that don't know how to handle criticism when they actually do end up seeing it. Even worse, they'll end up reacting negatively to criticism and outright rejecting it -- it frustrates the hell out of me when I see an artist respond to some sort of critique with something along the lines of, "Well that's just your opinion and I don't need to listen to it!"
So I guess I more subscribe to your first point -- I always admire an artist's desire to improve, and I think that desire is best supported with an audience that isn't afraid to give a critical opinion. The quality and quantity of an artist's work comes secondary. As far as content goes, I find that to be the most subjective point out of the one's you've listed, since there are just some people that are naturally attracted to certain content and end up ignoring any other aspect of the artist. It's especially true on the internet, where even some hyperactive 12-year-old can slap some re-colored Sonic the Hedgehog sprites onto a blank background with nonsensical dialog and still find people that think it's a masterpiece.
Also, it helps if they like MST3K.
Content: I like what I like, and I'll always ask for more; the same can likely be said of many viewers. However, I firmly believe that first and foremost, an artist should be creating what they like.
Personality: I like for artists to have a professional attitude with respect to their craft, particularly when I commission them. However, I also like to see the mask of professionalism come off at appropriate times; I can't tell you how many artists I've seen who've forgotten that they're wearing a mask and don't remember how to take it off and be their authentic selves.
Style: I also like to see the point where an artist has mastered the craft sufficiently to make it their own, at which point their own style becomes distinctive.
Quantity: I have heard that once a certain degree of mastery is attained, speed improves naturally. I also understand that not everyone's muse is a frequent visitor. However, if I commission someone, I do hope they complete it in a timely fashion, understanding that I may be waiting in line behind others.
Anyways. I like an artist that tries new things and that shows older pieces of his work. Improvement is one thing, but when a newer artist like me sees all the awesome holy moley pieces in someone's gallery it can often lead to giving up. Older pieces of work are unique. They are sweet and make the artist seem closer to his/her viewers.
Also i like artists that stream a bit or even make a tutorial or two. Yeah I see you draw like a god. Could u show me how :3?
And also -_- they must be honest and have humour... Their emotions and personality apply in their work, even without them understanding it!
your pics throw out passion, love, or simply will to have fun, and i love how you draw faces, muzzles, poses, your cleanness and color choice
all of these make out a style that is nice, funny and great
i cant express my toughts properly, because i dont speak english very well, but be sure that i love your work, as for other artists i watch for the same reasons, because your work transmits me something, and that is the most important thing
I try not to wrap myself around one aspect of a piece, or one group of individuals though. There are a lot of people that I admire, and most every one for a variety of different reasons.
Bright colors, and varied use of colors. These, too, can make otherwise-bland drawings really come to life.
Expressions. This is the one thing to make sure of in pretty much every character piece, and the really, really good ones always stand out to me.
I think you're excellent at each of these. :)
Improvement: Although it's always great for the artist and encouraging for to-be artists, I tend not to not really care if I've noticed an artist improve so long as each work alone still has merit. I like to point out when an artist improves or noticeably does well on something, but this is as encouragement, not as a sign of admiration.
Style: This is pretty important for me, in that it can make or break how I view an artist's works. For example, overall I liked the work of a particular artist, but this artist added a particular feature to all of his/her character that prevented me from liking any of the works. The reason I didn't like this feature wasn't because I had anything in particular against this feature, but because I found it so annoying that this feature was present in every single character. At the same time, I do love when I can tell who made a piece based entirely off of certain style details or overall appearance.
Quality/Quantity: This is an important one for me. By default the main form of communication between artist and viewer is through submissions, submission descriptions, comments, and replies. Thus, if an artist makes submissions seldom (even if it's a large batch of stuff in one go), I feel nearly no connection with that artist, whereas I feel much more connection with artists who produce works relatively frequently. Sure, journals are there for communication too, but journals feel much less personal than art, and I tend to not even read 90% of the journals I get due to how many of them are complete trash. Quality is important as well for obvious reasons. For example, there was one artist I liked until he/she started whipping out commissions left and right, leaving pictures looking rather sloppy. I ended up not even viewing most of this person's submissions because I had low expectations from the thumbnails and recent pattern. Thus, for me at least, there needs to be a balance between quality of work and regularity of submissions.
Personality: Definitely huge for me as well. If an artist makes an ass out of himself/herself, I'll definitely hesitate before checking what art they've submitted and won't think twice about not communicating with them. I tend to be relatively forgiving, though, so I'll still check up on the artist to see if they've changed, but I'm not so forgiving that I'll go out of my way to ignore that someone was an asshole. For example, there was one artist I used to like, but once he/she started bitching on a regular basis and seeming really snobby, I stopped watching him/her and have only looked back a few times.
Content: Content is merely what makes me notice an artist and stick with'm; if an artist mainly draws material I don't like, I don't see why I would feel any compulsion to watch them. Instead, what usually happens is I see one picture relevant to my interest, check out the rest of the artist's gallery, and look for a trend to see if I'll like future submissions. If an artist I watch makes a shift to content I dislike, then over time the odds of me no longer watching them increases. However, that's not to say they must draw only what I like; they just have to every now and then make something I have *some* interest in.
Now, for what I personally look for in an artist and his/her work.
Work: I already covered style, improvement, quality, and content in detail above. In general, though, the ideal art is something that has some form of utility (be it a funny picture, a cute picture, or a hawt picture), is above a certain level of quality (which your art is always well above), and is of some matter relevant to my interests.
Artist: I already mentioned quantity and personality in detail above. When it comes to artists, the most important thing with me is communication. Therefore, in terms of on-site communication, I prefer artists who regularly make submissions, put more info in the submission description than just who is involved in the picture, and interact with viewers.
As a watcher I notice things like improvement and a general feel of your style that I enjoy.
One other thing is the message behind a piece.
If you mean more what do I look up to though, then artists that strive for excellence in their craft. The ones that are full of inspiration and drive to get better and better. Artists that are willing to step out of their comfort zone, or occassionally do those crappy exercises they make you do in art classes simply because it helps them get better. These people usually make absolutely awesome stuff and are constantly improving. As an artist I strive to be like that.
A note about quality vs quantity is that it's mostly exclusive to FA, or more specifically "furry porn". People tend to forget that their porn is art so there is very little respect for it, and since it taps into a base carnal desire, people will settle for "good enough" rather than excellence, hence the preference for quantity over quality.
on that note, here's a thought from a complete stranger::
i'm pretty much indifferent and admire artworks from just about everyone.
there are a lot of people out there that do artistic things a thousand times better than i could ever do,
and in turn, there may be a few things i do better than them...
but that's just me and i cannot speak for anyone else~ ^.=.^
Improvement, style, and content all work together as that sort of "I know what I like" aspect of art. If you plain don't like how or what someone draws...it's not likely that you'll admire them.
The quantity versus quality part is always a tricky one. With as fast as the internet moves and as much content as there is, not posting can leave one in the dust for the majority if they do not contribute often enough. Personally...I don't really care how much an artist I like posts. I enjoy seeing their stuff (obviously) but everybody has a life to live...and expecting free, great art all the time at a rapid pace is just unreasonable. With that said, I think there's likely a certain threshold for building popularity up, where you would want to be posting at least every few weeks to keep your name out there with new content.
And now the big one...
I find it particularly interesting that you mention personality here, as that's not one that gets brought up that often. That is something that actually stands out to me a very great deal with artists. To be candid, the fact that you're open, honest, and downright treat people with respect goes quite a long way in my book.
I've always felt that you see fans as people, and not merely numbers to boost your ego. When I make a comment, or give feedback...or spend a bunch of time writing this journal response to you, I know you're going to look at it. The fact that I feel like my thoughts have meaning to you leads me to admire you more not only as an artist, but as a person. Not only that, but it encourages me to give you far more in-depth feedback and insight.
After all, if I feel my comments are falling on deaf ears of people who always click "remove all" in their comment section without a glance, what's the point in me even making them? In time, comments will get shorter and shorter, contain less and less meaningful feedback, and eventually just stop altogether. After all, my time is as valuable as anyone elses'...why waste it on someone who won't spend the time back?
I think you use this community for exactly what it's intended to be...a community. One made of different people, with different thoughts, and (hopefully) valuable feedback that can help you grow artistically. And hell, maybe even as a person. *chuckles* And that, I think, more that anything else...is what I find most admirable.
Every piece of art is conceived first within the artist's mind. And every step of the artistic process is built around bringing that conception to life. Giving it form and depth, so that it can be shared with the world. Great artists don't fret over how their lines look, or how their technique is evolving. And they especially don't care what others think (though compliments do help.) Great artists simply breed imagination and passion together to come up with something they themselves think is awesome. Then they use their talent make it a reality.
Even if the end result has "flaws," the fact is that if you're enthusiastic about sharing that which you see and feel, then those emotions will shine through in your work. And people will see that, and give you true appreciation for your creative vision. :)
You are a wonderfully talented artists, and a wonderful person, besides. Never forget that. :)
The ability to give at least a partial the suspension of disbelief is what defines a good artists work to me. If the work is both technically flawless enough to not distract the mind with nagging details and expressive enough to draw the viewer into it, that is good art. http://www.furaffinity.net/full/3125532/ for example. If you put these two in the back drop of a city designed for dragons with large arching open doorways sitting next to a bus stop sign or at a table in front of a dragon sized bistro, you could view the art and your imagination would spawn a world for them to live in.
you covered most of it up there, but I think there are two additional things I really respect in an artist:
1) Priorities: The artist must do what they *enjoy* and put their priorities in place; an artist can be incredibly gifted, but if they force themselves to do a piece rather then enjoy creating it, you can feel it in the art. Commissioning is all well and good, and makes artists money, but if they need a break to relax and sketch (x) then they should say 'sorry, I really want to work on this' and do so. The ability to self evaluate is something I greatly respect in artists.
2) Grace: One of the sad things I've seen is artists doing (x) and suddenly they have people telling them "no, do (y)!" or "Do more (X)!" and they wind up having multiple people try to pull them in different directions. How an artist can handle this says a lot about them, and this links with what you stated in your post, about personality. Being able to say "well, what about if I try (X) with (Y) when I get the chance?" shows a good deal not just of diplomacy, but of creativity, which is something I have immense respect for.
There are artists on here(yourself included) who I'd give up my wisdom teeth without anesthetic to draw half as well as. That you can handle all the different influences, still make art you enjoy while balancing all those, speaks greatly of your skill, both as a person and an artist:)
I like some variety, not the same thing over and over again, no matter how awesome it may look :3
Improvement is a big thing for me. I don't draw much (didn't have the time recently =/) but almost everytime i produced something, i was proud of the result. It's the combination of patience, concepts (when it's not dog or dragon w
I like expressions a lot, and body torsion. It strikes me alot (may it be sex or not).
Concepts. Creativity. Diversity. I'm not impressed by a guy who only draws dogs in the same positions all the time. i'd expect him to be good after doing the same thing again and again. What i like to see is somebody giving a try to something new.
I don't care about the personnality of the guy. I'll admire him/her as an artist, but not as a human being or a friend, that's it.
As for style i want to try many many things because there are so many amazing things done by people around here... and yeah, you can definitely tell in a sec sometimes "that thing was done by xxx !"
i know this feeling, trying to conceptualize what frustrates you the most or something like that.
it's been a week since it was posted, so i don't know how you're feeling or whatever (actually, i came here after narse's journal, since i've been deleting lots of messages from this week i've been away.)
i gotta agree on most of the stuff, but what makes the artist (or what i think at least) is not the quality/popularity or whatever, it's the power continue, wheter you're into stick figures or pure realism. actually i miss your stuff a bit, i always liked your art (actually, i knew you before many other people here in FA).
i can't stick to the same coloring/shading style through more than two pics in a row XD, but i'm finding my way there.
i think that what you need is to be a bit more intuitive and not following my example (since i barely post because i'm too lazy to start something XD).
"carpe diem"(enjoy the gift/day)
when you're like this, a simple doodle can work wonders.
i don't have telepathy to know if you're just tired or puzzled by a lot of stuff (or like narse said "depressed"), but keep in mind, you can only do what you're feeling like doing.
now that i deviated from the subjact, i will answer that "PS" on the end of the journal.
my reasons differ according to the artist, but my reason to admire you would be... you don't try to look invicible like you're made of iron, you make me feel like you're just as human as me (really, lots of people try to look powerful and always reliable, like they don't have weanesses, feeling like there is a person, not an icon reading this comment).
an artist that is human and accepts that as a strengh, i bet that would be one of them (i don't know if that is what you think of yourself, but that is what i think of you, know that you are pretty high on this list of people i admire).
cheer up lad, a jolly smile goes well with anything.
and if you need anything, talk to me (shout, PM, anything, i'll listen to ya)