African-Amber
The lessons from failing the 365 challenge
The whole idea was to make one artwork everyday for 365 days. I wasn't focused on a specific genre, which I think really helped me stick with it.
Commitment and discipline is my main problem, both in life and in my art and I've learnt so much doing this. I would really recommend anyone try this. There were many days when I was tired and felt really lazy or uninspired. But I forced myself to just spend 10 minutes doing a little something. Just Start! and that always turned into way longer than 10 minutes. Some of my favourite pieces I've done have been from just messing around with my medium and seeing where it took me.
My favourite "I was just messing around" works
Doing so much art also really helped me overcome a lot of the fear I have about making art. You know that metaphorical voice in your head that stops you from trying to do the thing you desperately want to achieve before you've even started? That dingus that tries to tell you if you fail at it that means you had no talent and so you shouldn't even try, cos if you don't try you can't fail. ..Well for me that voice is pretty loud and I do let it stop me way more than I should. But it's a lot easier to ignore those fears when your goal is just to make art, not to make good art. When you literally don't care about whether an artwork turns out badly or not, it's so much easier to work. And it also helps you take more risks cos as long as you tried, you've already succeeded. I tried so many things I was afraid to do! I tried to paint so many things I've never painted before. I even started learning digital art through this challenge.
Pictures I was really afraid to try
The thing I was most surprised by when doing this challenge is that it helped me open up a little and put more of my own thoughts and feelings into my artwork. Sometimes it got dark but it felt good to get it out of my head. I have a tendency to overthink everything so just going by emotion isn't something I'm very familiar with. I finally understand why art therapy helps so much.
Mature Content
The "feelings" group
I'd just like to take a moment to awkwardly thank everyone who supported me here. You guys really did help me and I'm sure I would've quit a while ago if I wasn't uploading it to DA. All the favs and comments were really encouraging, but super special thanks to the always lovely KittyShellZzz and the Grand Wizard himself SpaceWizzard666 for the total awesomeness.
Well that's about it. I think I'll definitely try to do 365 days again sometime but for now I'll focus on school work. . . for the next couple of weeks atleast. Hope everyone has a wonderful March and good good luck anyone doing the 365 challenge who stumbles across this! My advice: Set a reminder on your phone! I'm still shocked that it wasn't my amazing laziness that was my downfall. I was so sure that if I failed it would be because I gave up, so that's why I'm weirdly proud of the fact that after 2 months it was my memory not my motivation that failed.
No sorry, only love.
She was my mom and I could not be more proud to be her daughter. I will always miss her. I really would have liked to have had her wisdom and her laughter around me for a lot longer. Don't feel sorry for me though. I feel really grateful to have had her for the time I did.
I love you mom, always. Rest in Peace.
Been awhile . . .
It's little awkward for me to say since I'm such a private, shy person but everyone's been so sweet and supportive here since I joined that I don't want to just ignore the long absences that have happened recently and will probably continue.
So.. I'll just say it.. My mom has been sick for a long time. We're not really sure what it is, but she does seem to be getting better slowly but surely now. I feel so sorry for her because she's this amazing, strong woman who's not used to asking for help at all. She's incredibly proud. Now I'm doing almost all of the stuff she used to do, except badly, and she can't stop wanting to help me even when she can't. My house is kind of a mess right now. I'd say "fire the maid!" but I'm the maid.
It's just been weird and confusing and more than a little scary. I have a so much more responsibility than I'm really used to and I've just been trying to keep afloat. I don't know how she used to do it all. She was a single mother and worked full time. I work from home part-time and I'm doing half of what she did. She's definitely secretly a superhero.
I'm just so relieved that she's on the mend now. Things are looking up! I'll try to post a painting I've been doing soon and I'll try to go on DA more, but I'll still need a whole lot of patience from you all. I love it here but it's kinda hard to really go on here for now.
See you soon again (hopefully),
Amber
Deviantartist Questionaire
How long have you been on DeviantArt? It's going to be two years in a week.
What does your username mean? Well, I'm South African and my name is Amber, so "African-Amber". Ja, it was kinda lazy naming on my part.
Describe yourself in three words. Lazy, Crazy and Adorkable.
Are you left or right handed? I favour my right-hand, but I'm actually ambidextrous(One of the advantages of Dyslexia)
What was your first deviation? This one.
What is your favourite type of art to create? Realistic I suppose. I just do whatever pops into my head. I like rainbows.
If you could instantly master a different art style, what would it be? I'd love to know how to play the guitar.
What was your first favourite?
ooh rainbows.What type of art do you tend to favourite the most? It depends on how I'm feeling that day. Mostly Traditional paintings and photography though. I go through phases.
Who is your all-time favourite deviant artist? Oh wow. I have so many and I find more all the time. I can't choose just one. These are the ones I can think of right now
I love R3dFangz sense of humour. Her drawings are wicked and when I see how much her art is getting even more awesome every time I see it, it makes me want to work harder at my art.
VelvetRedBullet makes so many awesome and amazingly creative photos. Looking through her gallery is like looking through stills from the weirdest Victorian dream you'll ever have.
Ubhejane takes amazing shots of animals. His understanding of the animals comes through in his photos, making for some really beautiful and often funny portraits.
IntelligentZombie is an amazing wordsmith. With the awesomeness of her stories, I'm half convinced she's a sorcerer. I know for a fact her questionnaire will be so much better than mine.If you could meet anyone on DeviantArt in person, who would it be? Hmmm. To be honest, I'm kinda a hermit so meeting someone irl is not something I'd really want to do. :bademoticon: Scary new peoples
That being said
is not only really great but he makes me laugh everytime I talk him. And I love to see the great marcobusoni work.How has a fellow deviant impacted your life? Barbarian-J kept me working on my art even when I was pretty unmotivated. He makes me try harder and is kinda like my digital sensei.
What are your preferred tools to create art? Paint brushes and Acrylic paint, pencils, my Camera. Depending on what kind of art I feel like doing really.
What is the most inspirational place for you to create art? I get the ideas from everywhere really. It can be a movie or a thing that happened to me. Sometimes it's something someone's said to me and sometimes it crashes through my head while I'm doing something completely unrelated. After I have the picture in my head, I work on it the spare room of my house.
What is your favourite DeviantArt memory? I guess it would be the projecteducate Live Chat challenge I took part in. Even though it was pretty late for me, I loved chatting and drawing with all the other artists. And the ridiculous theme suggestions were so funny. Banana Mad scientist anyone?
I also love when I suggest a DD and it actually gets one. I don't suggest a lot but when I do and it works. . .
One Shot Wonders
but they're all taken as a single exposure and not digitally edited in anyway.
