Tracy J. Butler's Blog

depresscherry:

Spaghetti noodle huh

mimiscavee-take2:

It’s been a while since I’ve drawn him.

Hello...and thank you!

It's a difficult thing to answer, especially right now. Things change pretty quickly with the shifting sands of economy, technology, and the culture of internet beneath us too, so take what I say with a grain of salt. It may not pertain in a few years' time.

In the past, I think I would have said more about developing core skills and making yourself hire-able by virtue of being versatile and adaptable. But companies aren't really hiring much these days, and when they do, it's definitely not with the intention of guiding a fledgling artist's growth into a senior artist, or team lead, or art director under their custodianship. They hire on a short term contract basis instead, or they do routine layoffs after production cycles. I'll spare you the diatribe about how shortsighted and self-defeating this wipeout of institutional knowledge has been and skip to this: you have to have a means of survival in-between gigs or you have to go full-bore self-employed.

It's still important to understand fundamentals, of course (even if it's so that you can break the rules), but increasingly, I'd say it's most worthwhile to lean in on what makes your art distinct from other things. Make whatever oddities, flukes, and idiosyncrasies there are in your work into a feature. Got a subject matter you're really addicted to? Make it your thing. Take, say, Trevor Henderson as an example. Make yourself stand out by becoming very good at the very specific art only you do in the specific way you do it. Build your own artistic identity, in other words, because we don't presently live in a world where a longtime salaried job at a prestigious studio or corporate media entity is liable to define your artistic career.

Also, bear in mind that loving art doesn't mean you have to seek out a way to make it a career. Sometimes when it becomes your job, along with all of the stress and toil that entails, it stops being fun. There is absolutely nothing wrong with holding it sacred as a thing you do exclusively for the joy of it.

ursiday:

ALTALT

Strange things in Defiance

ALT

ugh, you’re so good

jasper-12:

I crocheted a Mordecai hat!!

Mordecai is my friends favorite lackadaisy character and it’s his birthday so I made him a hat

Have a good day!

Unfinished versions are below the cut:)

Keep reading

:

When the mid life crisis hits and it involves trains

My attempt at a Tracy-esque style. Don’t worry, Ben gets to play with the not-toy train

anttonyart:

Rocky and Sketches

It’s been a year since I made that Rocky fanart, and today in a sudden burst of inspiration, I drew him again to see how much I’ve improved over the past year. I still have a lot to learn but I’m happy with my progress :D

I also included three other drawings from my drawing practice so the post wouldn’t look too empty xd

Love your rendering style!

faeinthebone:

I can’t believe that a year ago I competed in a cosplay contest for the first time.

So have some more Ivy Pepper to celebrate.

Photos by marlo.louden on Instagram!

When I was making this cosplay I knew immediately that I had to take it to Anime Milwaukee so I could get pictures in the beautiful historic Hilton in downtown Milwaukee! The hotel was built in 1927 and retains a lot of its original features and just LOOK how gorgeous these pictures turned out. Of course I had to bring my Flapper Cat cosplay here.

If you wanna see how I made this cosplay, check out my WIP posts here!

riacawley:

The syndicate’s main dolls✨💅🎀