Author: Yuta CUSTOMS
Someone made fanwork of my sketches apparently.
No, it’s not a joke. Someone on reddit actually made these game sprites in the likeness of my sketches of tuba warriors back in 2020.
Kind of flattering to see my sketches that I usually don’t give too much thought about all these years be given a bit life beyond just sketches.
You won’t be the next(_______)
You won’tbe the next miyazaki, the moebious, or jack kirby.
Chances are, an attempt at replicating them 1/1 will not really be the ideal thing.
There are a few reasons or excuses of why it’s not possible to be the next named legend.
You can try to replicate their skills and techniques to a near exact level. But in reality, the fundamental aspects could be missing.
There is even an idea of human printers going at their works via copying, but it lacks “soul”
so, to give them the printers some issues.
Give them an assignment of making a work that evokes the spirit of the legend’s work.
Chances are they can’t capture that spirit. Mere copy machines that can’t think beyond their limited spectrum.
The legends have entire life stories to talk about, and their works shows that. They experienced things that will not be experienced by the copycat since they can’t go back in time to experience the world events that unfolded the legend’s childhoods and young adult years.
Not to mention the gender, ethnicity, religion, social economic status, nationality, and other complex factors at play. Let alone if they even have the mindset.
Some legends keep their words and secretes to themselves to the grave too.
Not only mindset, but “the idea” is what makes their work different from the copycats.
The copycats can try to replicate on the technical level, but they will never have that spark of “original ideas/processes’ that makes the legend’s ideas work in the first place.
You can try to draw like them, but chances are they will look less like an “inspiration” and more of a “cheap copy” that is a pale imitation and could be a large disservice to the original creator actually.
The best you can do is to just simply emulate and take as much other places of inspiration to essentially make something original or at least a pastiche.
Working on a few “tank” renders
it’s not exactly been a full year in since the digital attempt has been started.
But been playing around with the ideas of tanks and anything that has the trait of one for a few or several months now. Whither it was the early Pen and Marker Renders of walking to flying tanks.
To recent digital layers over unconventional designs. There has been progress.
The Pen and Marker idea were rather limited in the type of renders that could be made via on paper of limited size alone. As a result there were constraints and certain details and functions that wasn’t added. But, the ideas were downright outlandish at best.
The ideas of shapes of other things with treads was something history did think of for some time. Since the era of the first world wars and the pre and post era. There are a number of articles that shows them being in various stages of development and even people riding and piloting them to various degree of success.
Since the dawn of things like Sci-Fi magazines that feature very Retro-Futuristic technology to just swashbuckling misadventures that reflect it’s times.
Tanks in various outlandish forms might still be the breeding ground for conceptual designs to be used in the entertainments industry such as games and films.
Who knows, maybe in the far future tanks in these unorthodox forms will be more practical.
The Digital Attempts-the 100hr project.
Recently, in the last month or so, I have read an article from the regular blog or place i read from Seth Godin’s Blog here.
It’s called the 100 hr asset and from what I got making the 100 hr asset might be the most important thing I have attempted this year.
It’s been on my mind for a while given the post’s date and since the world moves so fast, it felt a while ago.
The final push to really start the digital attempts started from a client’s request to do some concept art or thumbnails, which isn’t so far-fetched in the type of work i have attempted through the years as an illustrator or visual technician. It’s during the digital process how i learned much of a blind spot my work have. And realized it was about time to make some improvement or get a foothold in the 100hr project/asset that kept bothering me for weeks or a month.
There were early attempts from years ago, but they aren’t that remarkable, and the early years of trying to understand the concept of digital art was frustrating. So the tablet and the full abilities of photoshop was laid off for a few years until the recent weeks.
After the idea of the world’s industries and market is becoming more digital, it’s only natural to try to understand what the market wants, and if they need digital assets, it’s only logical to follow suite.
Fast forward to the year 2021 the dawn of Spring season.
Much have been going on for sure, by the time this post have been made.
But, it’s important to keep focused on things that matter. Such as tending to customer’s issues, and maybe diversifying or updating your portfolio and ways to generate income.
although most of the Digital works have not been shown as part of the portfolio here on the site.
Places such as twitter(recently made) and the long-timer reddit has been the main sites for carrying on the newer works unto public eyes.
Some examples of the recent works.
it’s obvious what these are, more or less “fanworks” but given the recent digital coloring and treatment to give them more life. 
No doubt, the layering of effects are much more prevalent in this one.
Will digital art be the main focus of my works?
it’s hard to say, but will mostly be a major asset for prototyping, finishing, and even full out products be made out of the technology given the situation and economy surrounding it for the last decade.
Perhaps digital art will be a mainstream investment or collectible if the system around NFTs and Crypto is more established and people start to come to terms with said newfound technology.
It’s Thankless Work.
Many people out there, especially within the decade mark of Social media, has been “working” harder and harder to get more likes, reposts, follows, and all these vanity metric based things. It’s really no new issue here in the art or creative scene really. One might have to grind out an absurd amount of content to get somewhere, and even then…very few might notice, let alone care, and helps you getting somewhere. One can make a series of comics, pieces, and any body of work for everyone to see and consume for free. But the tab is one you by the end of the day.
It’s thankless work in a sense that people these days have such terrible attention spans and relies on shallow metrics to get a sense of “something”. A lot of people won’t see the hours, weeks, months, and even years of work you put in, and still not really care by the end of the day.
It’s thankless work, that the input maybe high, but the output and it’s yield is rather low.
It’s not for everyone, content creation, or trying out the social media economy.
It’s thankless work, but you might get skills, and lessons that will train you up for bigger things yet to come.
If you think that getting so-called compliments and praise from others just for the ordeal aspect of your work is worth investing the work in, don’t. Don’t think it’s worth it because it’s not.
What makes the thankless work worth it? Value, Results, Progressing. That’s what the thankless work is all about. Not about some shallow praise or fake internet social points and scores.
Protected: The Problem with Fanworks
HyperNiche
The mainstream is dying, or at least mutating to a point of becoming an inbred abomination. A shallow shell of the human species it has become due to over commercialization and exploitation.
But then again, there are the rise of Super/Hyper niche cultures. It might become a thing very soon with the rise of surface and deep digital and social credit surveillance. With the rise of the old-timer knowledge of notebooks and passed down generational skills and knowledge, just like apprentice and master.
Hyper niches is on the rise due to how saturated the internet and the globe is becoming. Being an exclusive will be the norm in certain sectors in order to persevere the art form and to prevent it from falling into other third parties.
Perhaps back in the last century, it was called Subcultures, but nowadays it has to evolve to meet the modern demands and pace of today. So the Hyper Niche has to be born.
It’s going in a direction where having a more closed tribal type of community to protect the individuals and small groups from over-exploitation will be common practice.
Nuanced Expertise
People these days, too hardlined. And lacking that other “ting” if you will.
Nuance of knowledge, and experience.
The idea that one hardline ting is the be all and end all of it is what causes the the whole project to fail. It’s lacking the nuance of how to use it in a tactful and useful manner. It’s all about the right tools for the right jobs, but with techniques in mind.
For example there is a claim to not use references because it’s akin to tracing, or some other outlandish claims in the drawing world.
But then again the more nuanced way would be to use tracing for technical work like animation and to experience one’s ability to “get” a style or how to draw in a certain way. While references is used to have some basic knowledge of where to start from when making something new or a branch of a ting.
The only serious problem with nuanced experience is that is does have some requirement to be applicable. namely experience and the ability to make good judgement-calls on it.
It’s like trying to teach humans to be human, there isn’t much “formal education” to help one’s in this post/topic.
YUTACUSTOMS 