[Chris]

http://www.artakiane.com/akiane_art.htm
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My signature is irrelevant

[ElfGirlKimmy]

"Wow" is right.... Holy freaking cow...
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DA Gallery| LiveJournal

...Quack. O.o

[balistic]

Tacky, shallow, photo-derived dreck hocked by creepy parents.

Oh wait, I mean "wow."
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brian.prince|light.comp.paint

[spooge demon]

"The dolphins represent five different groups of people responding to
truth. One group runs away
from the truth. Another
group is searching
for the truth in
the wrong
place.
The
third
group is
distracting
others from truth.
The next group is getting
distracted and now watching
the false source of happiness.
And the last group of dolphins
are directly reaching for the truth"


Now THAT is depressing.

As for the art, pretty good for someone so young, but I agree with balistic, she should lay off the luci. But is a hard addiction to break and reinforces itself. Especially when you are getting a few grand per print

[StylesDavis]

we already discussed that

http://forums.sijun.com/viewtopic.php?t=38597&highlight=akiane
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known as "ChrisNix" elsewhere.

[Impaler]

Akiane's got nothing on lil' Marla Olmstead. She's a master artist at age FOUR.
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QED, sort of.

[spooge demon]

it's a gold mine! I must get my 2.5 year old "busy"

[balistic]

I mostly worry that doing this kind of thing is going to actually discourage these kids from persuing non-gimmick careers in art as they get older. They're going to burn out before they have a genuine good idea.

Maybe we can expand this into a conversation about childhood art experiences?

I got into art when I was about six because I saw my mom sit down and draw some portraits of Indians from photos. I had no idea she could draw, and I have never seen her draw since then. But she encouraged me, and bought me paints (and gave me her old ones), and I actually sold a landscape in a gallery for $100 when I was six (my only gallery sale to this day). I remember the sky was red, and I think there was a golden lake in it. Sort of expressionistic, considering how much I was idolizing Bob Ross at the time.

My dad is a draftsman and mechanical engineer, so I liked watching him draw too, even though he only ever did orthographic plan views. When I was 11 he sold his Honda Interceptor to buy a 386 so he could learn Autocad, a computer which became my introduction to digital art (3DS release 1 and Autodesk Animator).

When I was 12 I had my mom start taking me to a weekly portrait drawing workshop at the Brewery Arts Center in Carson City. The group usually ended up being a bunch of old ladies and me. But I learned a ton, working from life like that, and getting pointers from the grannies.

My parents were good about not trying to mold me into something. We lived in a little tourist town and it would've been easy for them to set me up on the street painting cowboys to hock to the flat-landers.

What were yoos guyses first art steps like?
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brian.prince|light.comp.paint

[ElfGirlKimmy]

That's cool Balistic. It'll be neat to discover other people's artistic roots. <3

I have been drawing since before I can remember (like seriously... according to my mom while other little toddlers were scribbling, I was drawing perfect little circles together to form flowers and other parents would be like, "oh my god, where did she learn to do that?" To which my mother would respond, "I don't know, she just does it."), it seemed to come as naturally to me as breathing. My mom's not an artist at all (I mean like she can barely draw stick people) and I haven't seen my father since I was like 2 (and I don't believe he was artistically inclined), so my art has been mostly self-taught. (There must be some artistic gene in the family that just naturally came up in me somewhere, hehe.) Anyways, my mom has always encouraged me to continue and still tells me I'm a "natural artist," whatever that means. I guess thats her way of telling me I have talent, lol.

I've taken two - no wait, 3ish - art classes in my lifetime. One in 7th grade, 8th grade, and a painting class my junior year of high school. (All of these were a semester long each or shorter.) I really got into painting the summer before my junior year and had fun experimenting with that. (It's what inspired me to try the painting class that year.) Before that, I'd stuck to mostly pencil and some charcoal.

I can't remember when I got into digital art through Photoshop.... Maybe started dabbling in it two-ish years or so ago...? I didn't seriously start producing art through that means until this past year-ish though.

Anyways, there's a peak into Kimmy's artistic past. Wooo.....
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DA Gallery| LiveJournal

...Quack. O.o

[Drunken Monkey]

The 10 year old is going to have problems when she grows older... unless she finds new influences.

As for me:
Didn't think about it untill i was 18. Wrote asm/c games in HS, was going to be a programmer. Saw Dangergirl comics, and instantly wanted to be a comic artist. Then later discovered a certain digital artist and then this forum... then syd mead, zbukvic, drove to LAFAA for a while.. now trying to get into accd because i need some financial motivation in my life.
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"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity" - Sigmund Freud

[Godwin]

meh... "art"...

Me? I just started drawing stuff at a young age, around 5 I think... drawing cars, stuff from imagination, quite a bit of mechanical stuff actually (inanimate objects), including planes, lahdeedah... I think it's the typical kids' drawings, nothing serious. Then I had some formal classes with this artist whose name I don't know in English when I was living in Hong Kong for a while (when i was around , learned about colours, light, shapes, etc... not to brag or whatever, but they always called me a "child genius" of sorts... though I'd beg to differ of course.
When I returned to Singapore didn't take anymore classes, just continued drawing stuff on my own (from imagination and photo reference), and somehow, I just developed a rather good grasp of perspective and don't find it hard to visualise how ellipses distort, for example... then I gained more technical skills in Secondary School through its art programme, and now still am studying (fine) art in Junior College.

Got into digital art because of the whole modding business (started with C&C TS, can check my "about" page for details), I just really liked the idea that you could acutally create something, and put it into a game and watch it come alive. From initially learning and doing everything, I naturally progressed on to focus solely on the aesthetic side of things. Yes I almost completely self-taught Photoshop too(shhh don't ask me how I got it).

I keep telling myself I'm "only" 18... but I just feel so... empty, I find that I often lack the kind of creativity that so many people around here can express - and with good skills to back up as well... After over 2 years around here sure I have improved quite a bit technically, but I feel that I'm just "not there yet" in the way I think and express myself as an artist...
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Derelict Studios|Godwin's Space

[B0b]

i first started drawing/painting after watching journey to the center of the earth when i was 7, took it into school and none of the kids would believe it was mine!

didn't have alot of encouragement from my parents my best friend and his parents were and still are very encouraging about the work i produce, which is great

[Sukhoi]

Hell, If only I believed in the God almighty I could have been a KILLER painter by now.....

If the family was poor and situated elsewhere in the world, she'd propably stroll around with dynamite strapped around her waist.

----

Godwin, chill man.
You CAN apply rules to creativity, and you CAN force yourself to do something that's more interesting than the stuff you already do, if you're so inclined. That my oppinion anyways. Besides you've been gettin hella-better.

I did my linedrawings since forever. Guess the subjects.... I got into the whole colour, and blocking things out 4-5 years ago, and that's stiill an ongoing fight
Always had support on the homefront.

-Sukhoi

[ExonGep]

If she keeps practicing imagine how good she will become in the future. The talent has no limit.
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Keep Walking

[KTT]

But you guys... she was probably forced to paint like all the time. I doubt she even likes it by now
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[img](sig image was larger than 300x40)
Blobby pwnz you.

[blehblehbleh]

Take away the bible from this bitch.

[Lunatique]

My brother (3 years older) and I both drew as kids, as early as we've had memories. Mazinger Z was huge back then, so we drew a lot of that. My first clear memory of drawing was of Mazinger Z in kindergarten (4 yrs-old). I remember it caused a stir because mine was the only drawing in class that actually looked like something recognizable.

Throughout elmentary school, I was always "the kid that draws really good." I don't know if I really enjoyed it. Maybe I did it because I was told I was good at it. Drew lots of Gundam, Doraemon, and Gotchaman. I think Japanese animation is solely responsible for me drawing back then. I remember writing a love letter to a classmate in 5th grade, and drew an anime version of her. She showed them to the teacher and turned me in. The bitch. The teacher ridiculed me in front of the whole class. He was a dick.

In middle school, I got into RPG, Fighting Fantasy books, scifi/fantasy novels, Heavy Metal magazine, and of course, I was still very much into anime and manga. Although I drew for fun, I never thought about doing it as a career---I wanted to be a fighter pilot (my dad was one. Flew the F-104 Starfighter). But when I watched Macross: Do You Remember Love? for the first time in 1986 (I was 13), it changed everything. From then on, I've only wanted to be an artist, writer, director, and composer. I never wavered from that. Now I'm 32, I'm still forging ahead in that dream (with photography added as well).

My parents were not supportive. In fact, my mother was downright abusive (no broken bones or cigarette burns, but just about everything else). She used to confiscate my drawing tools and tried to beat my desire to draw out of me (she wanted a lawyer or doctor son). I left home at 18 and never looked back. Irony is, my mother is an aritst.

[Impaler]

My dad is a good artist and a master draftsman. I have these vivid memories of a young me watching my dad sketch out plans for bookshelves and him showing me his sketches from when he was my age. Every Christmas, though, he would buy my brother and sister each a 24-pack of Verithins and I would get the book on quantum physics. My grandmother is a skilled artist as well, though she was slightly more encouraging than my dad. She took me to get a free drawing lesson from James Gurney (Dinotopia) when I was eight. She would give me a huge block of clay, bring out all of her tools, and tell me to make something. I've borrowed close to two dozen books on art and anatomy from her. Too bad talent isn't genetic.

My mother always had her 35mm SLR with her, and she would let me use her 110 whenever we went camping. I've always been interested in photography, probably from watching too many movies when I was young. I absorbed the idea that a carefully crafted image can evoke emotion or tell a story. It's been probably 8 years since my mom first let me shoot an entire roll of film with her SLR. I still stink, mind you, but it's been a long, expensive and interesting process to discover that.
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QED, sort of.

[jr]

my parents were pretty cool with my drawing. They've been pretty much behind me all the way. guess i'm lucky there.
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[Naeem]

my god!

[The Real Mark]

Wow great stories!

I got into drawing from everyone drawing in my school. It was like the 'in thing' in grade 3. If you were always drawing it was cool plus it was cool if you could draw well. I kept at it when everyone found it to be old. Dropped off for a while through school. I actually did animation through out most of the pages in my handbook, they were mostly of guys on trampoleens getting knocked off with big hammers werid! Highschool art classes made me keep at it though. I have had enough support from the rents with the art so it seems i was lucky there.

btw I also want to be a fighter pilot and am Still considering joining the airforce! (my dad was also in the airforce, but as an engineer. flew a little bit after he left)

[Affected]

I remember my sister was pretty good at drawing, but she never did anything with it, my mother has some skill and she says her mother too could draw. None of them have put the time into it to really become skilled though. My mother tells me as a kid I totally refused to draw with anything except felt pens. And even then I wasn't jumping with joy. I don't know what that was about. She tried to sor of nudge me to draw etc, all the time though. I remember sometime in grade school, maybe around age 11 or so I and a few friends sort of started to stand out as the drawing types. (I drew hands a lot) I've been at it since, but I can't say I've been serious about it until quite recently. I guess I pretended to be serious in high school, but I didn't have the self-discipline to really try to better myself, analyze what I do and actually try to learn things instead of just doodling. I don't know if I still do, but I'm working on it.

[Naeem]

nice experience there balistic.
haven't read the rest, but i'll get to them. here's my bunch;

as a child in kindergarten, i was failing the subject 'art'. my stuff was hideous. i could imagine lots, but never tried putting it on paper and thus, ended up being the worst drawer. my mom, realizing that art was the only subject i failed, took to the task of honing any ability i may have in me. thus, that summer vacation, my mom would force me to sit down and draw for at least 1-2 hours a day. She would give me life references and picture references to draw. First it was pictures of fruits, then it was faces. then she moved me to drawing apples from real life. summer came to an end, and i was suddenly an exceptional drawer for my age. the, whatcha call it... umm.. coordination was good, i guess. then i would occassionally draw, and started liking it a lot. that was when i was 'back home', and when I moved to USA at age 10, I was encouraged to draw even more. I was still not really exposed and would just look at something and draw. Drawing from memory was horrible. anatomy was always off for everything. eventually, I started doing watercolors, etc. My parents encouraged me to draw because I told them I wanted to be come a corporate lawyer.
Got to highschool, and took art freshman year. Got me really introduced to it all. Eventually I started building up, and started painting even more. Watercolors are all i've tried on my own. So i tried charcoal, acrylics, etc.
Eventually, I started seeing artwork online, and found some good artists. i turned to digital, got a tablet, and started drawing. Eventually found this site, which eventually led me to WANT to become an artist professionally. There I told my parents and everything went wrong. And thats my present-day situation.

[ElfGirlKimmy]

[Chruser]

Ah, yes, starting early would have been a nice experience. I recall making some highly iconic comics as a kid, but then I stopped completely. Eventually, I got inspired to start again, but that wasn't until a year and a half ago. Unfortunately, this was to the realization that I couldn't even draw a good circle. I still can't, but I think the whole concept of "drawing a good circle" changed after I saw the works of da Vinci's.

Great to hear your stories guys! And, hum, art school would be nice.
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What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
Free image hosting: http://www.picaroni.com

[Lee Yiankun]

Feh, the term 'Straving Artist' was ingrianed into the minds of my parents.
So they did everything to discourage me from taking this path.

As you can see...
They failed. ^_^"

I'm now what my mom & dad fears, a 'straving artist'!

Funny that my little sister got more talents than me, but in the end, I surpassed her by a mile.

Stubborness rules.

[The Insane Lemur]

i just remember drawing pictures of rockets and planes as a child, and the occasional tornado sucking up cattle.

[TemplaStormX]

[pixel farmer]

So thats where I went wrong... But then again playing with toy cars and planes was much more fun than being locked away!!

HOW MUCH DOES SHE EARN!?!?! Damn matchbox cars...

[ten]

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