DAN WARREN!

A message for the daggers!

2012-03-01T22:48:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, Dan here. Theres been a lot of recurring questions lately and i wanted to clear the air on a few things. some of this you may have already heard me say, others you may have not, but i wanted to put it all here with some clear explanations so were all on the same page.

As weve moved forward in the past few weeks, theres been a lot of big changes on my stream as well as in the daggers as a whole. most of these are good, though a few are a bit unfortunate. I just want to address them because i know a lot of you are wondering, and you deserve to know.

first off, Dave and I are much busier now than we were a few weeks ago. both our schedules have shifted quite a bit, daves considerably so, due to an increased level of incoming work and outside responsibility. for my part, ive had to double my workout regimen to break through a plateau ive been on so i can resume weight loss. another contributing factor to my hours changing is varying levels of incoming work and a money situation im trying to stabilize with mixed results. as for dave, hes got some awesome new stuff going on demanding nearly all of his time. i cant talk about it, so i wont, but trust me when i say its all good- no worries on his end.

this, of course, means that weve been online considerably less, with my daily average dropping from 10-12 hours to between 6 and 8. dave has had trouble getting on at all. we apologize for the backup this has caused in a few of the regular events that have become not so regular. now that were on different schedules and out time is filling up quickly, things like the goldenboys, bloodsports judgings, deathline weigh ins, and work streams are all showing signs of slowing down, some stopping altogether. other, smaller things ive tried to make a daily habit like intensive study and regular critique for viewers are also falling by the wayside as i try to balance my schedule in a way that lets me get a decent amount of portfolio work done. trust me when i say well get to everything in due time, and that this is purely temporary- its just been very tough to balance it all on top of everything else lately. please dont ask when these will happen or where, you will know well in advance once they do. as a basic rule, if you dont see it on twitter or the forums, it hasnt, and isnt, going to happen anytime soon.

on a better note-

we have forums now! the forums have groups! and everyone involved in all this- be it in partnerships, group activities, or bloodsport challenges, are showing huge signs of improvement! weve said from the start that the daggers have to be allowed to evolve according to the natural unfolding of events, and i think all this recent activity, despite the hiccups on dave and I's end, is a sure sign that things are moving in a very positive direction. you guys are seriously taking initiative with your personal goals and development, and thats a huge, huge accomplishment. Ill still be on, daily, though my hours might be a bit decreased. I look forward to seeing you all there, and with some work we can get everything on our end worked out and back on schedule sometime in the near future.

best,

Dan

some updates!

2012-02-02T07:39:00.000-08:00

hey! keep forgetting to post. so busy workin! heres some studies as well as my final on the crusaders. were on the miyazaki challenge now, and its tough!

losin focus.

2012-01-24T19:56:00.001-08:00

old man. young lust.

2012-01-23T23:30:00.001-08:00

terrible quick study from tonight. i like this bust wayy more than ceasar. a lot more goin on.

<3

some updates! study and bloodsports.

2012-01-21T01:00:00.000-08:00

heres whats upppp, some studies and where im applying them.

KOTAKU!

2012-01-16T09:30:00.000-08:00

im pleased to announce that the awesome people over at KOTAKU have done a feature on our gauntlet challenge. this is a huge step for the group guys- keep killing it!

im so proud.

Gauntlet challenge on KOTAKU

Tracings ok, right?

2012-01-14T22:42:00.001-08:00

The Problem with Tracing:

more and more as we continue our daily streaming, Dave and I are approached for opinions regarding a clearly divisive topic in the world of illustration. The topic, if you haven't guessed, is that of tracing in regards to finishing work. I say 'finishing work' and not 'studying' because, once you're mindlessly mapping lines to a referential cheat sheet, you stop learning altogether, and become a mere copier and slave to whatever reference you happen to be using. this might sound like extreme language at first, but trust me ill back it up with some real world reasons why this idea is so dangerous to the developing artist. bear with me as I go through a small list that highlights the dangers and pitfalls of adopting tracing methods too early in ones career, as well as dispelling some myths others use to try and back up why this method of working is 'harmless'.

***for the record, before we begin- tracing an image you've done from canvas to canvas, or blowing it up from sketch to painting, is not a trace. this is called transferring, and it is completely ok.

1) Tracing and the student

This response to tracing(and our hatred for it) spawns almost entirely from an educational standpoint. if an instructor tells students who listen to him that tracing is acceptable, he's creating a large problem for several reasons. the first, of couse, is that by definition the instructor is above the student in terms of skill and knowledge. their tracing might be used after years of supplemental anatomy and form study, and they may truly know how to execute a piece of human form well with or without the direct reference. a student, who hears this is an acceptable method, will then adopt it, but far too early, before gaining any real knowledge or skill in rendering the human figure, and it will thusly become a crutch to them instead of a time saving tool. it should be clearly understood that in art one only learns by maiming mistakes, learning to see around them, and remedying them in later work. tracing defeats this mentality by offering the student an illusion of success- a near perfect line drawing of whatever his subject matter may be without all the meaningful trouble of screwing up, fixing, and learning fundamental knowledge. once this is accepted as commonplace illustration behavior, the student will then begin to use it for more and more things, essentially freezing his growth as a draftsman and making him a slave to whatever photographic base he can find for his work. understand that, when your method's core is rooted in photographs, your work becomes a direct product of the photos quality. if all you could find was a grainy piece of ref on google, then your final render will subsequently suck in direct correlation.

2) The Deadly Illusion

Next, im going to address a real world scenario ive seen happen several times in the industry. when it does, the artist responsible is almost always ashamed and sometimes even laughed at by his peers, and it creates a severe stigma against them professionally. This unfortunate outcome is the product of what vie decided to call the deadly illusion- a facade of quality laid over ones portfolio through tricks and cheats to gain quick, and fake, results. when desperate for work and developing, artists who trace heavily undoubtedly feel they have an edge over their competitors. after all, why wouldn't they? theres no room for error when you're copying reality, right? unfortunately, there is, and its been the cause of several ruined careers and useless portfolios over the years. lets say, for example, that you've just gotten your big break. the job of a lifetime has finally come and its time to step into the world of real life illustration! the prompt is in hand, the art director has guided you in terms of whats expected, and its time to render. you sit down, buckle up, and begin the dig for reference. your cameras ready, you're pumped up to begin, and then you realize- you don't know anyone 8 feet tall with rippling muscles and a stern but caring shaved male head. the fear begins to set in. your portfolio was all directly traced material- it was crisp and without many flaws, those 3/4 face drawings were spot on! you simply cant get the same results without the same working materials! so inevitably, only 2 things can happen. you buck up, try your best, and inevitably disappoint your art director (losing you your big shot)- or, you dig an even deeper hole, sink into google image search, and find your perfect model. both are bad, but one is far worse. for the sake of the story, lets continue down this path and show you just how bad it can get.

your google image tracings were spot on! the art director loved the characters face and features, as well as his accurate musculature and well drawn form. in fact, he loved them so much he wants you to do 10 more illustrations of the same character- after all, you really nailed it. so obviously you're the man for the job! frantically you run back to google. wheres the model? what was his name? you begin to sweat and type and search and panic and slowly you begin to realize you'll never find pictures of that same man again. hell never be in new poses, hell never be making new faces, and you'll never be able to recreate the quality of that first illustration. its pretty easy for your AD to piece it together from there. you're no longer the man for the job. this is how tracing becomes a crutch, and not a tool. this is how it destroys careers. this is how it ruins students.

3) But didn't the masters do it?

Yes and no. mostly no. allow me to explain.

The mythos of masters like da vinci tracing or pinning to complete their imagery is an incredibly flawed view of what was really the case, as is the view of todays illustration masters using the same techniques. in reality, artists like leonardo were apprenticed under master painters early on as children, and learned day and night how to better their skills in anatomy, light, color, and form all the way into adulthood when they were allowed to leave their masters care and tutelage. what this means is that before learning the tracing techniques they may have used, they had already grown past a point of needing to rely on them. they were no longer students, and could draw as well with a reference as without one. at this stage, tracing becomes a means to an end, a shortcut to a quicker deadline, and a way to satisfy an unrealistic amount of customers within a realistic deadline. all the horror and fear of what we discussed in the deadly illusion no longer apply, because the trace is no longer necessary to guarantee a uniform quality in ones work. In the modern day, the same is true, and on an entirely new scale with the advent of the camera. one of the most frequent defenses for tracing we encounter is the norman rockwell myth- namely that he took and traced many photos to get his results, which makes it ok for everyone to do so. the inherent flaws in this logic is obvious for 2 reasons- the first being that many of norman rockwells faces are idealized, stylized, and caricatured, meaning they cannot exist in nature, and the second being that before taking and 'tracing' things onto his canvases he was already norman rockwell- an artist of considerable skill who had trained for years in fundamental illustrative knowledge. if you don't believe me, consider the fact that at age 14 rockwell was transferred from traditional high school to the chase school of art, then to the national academy of design, and eventually the art students league, where he was taught figurative art and anatomy by none other than George Bridgman. by the time he was of age and working as an illustrator, he had already mastered many concepts some of us barely even grasp. was it ok for 20 something norman rockwell to trace to get something down? yes. the average beginning artist is not 20 something norman rockwell. theres a time and a place for tools like tracing, and they only exist after you no longer need them. in art, tools should always only be for saving time, and never for making you look like something you're not.

I sincerely hope this dispels any sort of rumor you might still give credibility to regarding tracing. if it doesn't, please, don't contact us. we're not here to argue. the truth of the matter is we run the crimson daggers study group entirely out of a passion for fundamental learning, and really don't care to argue with people defending tricks and tracing. if you've read all we've provided above and still think its ok to lean on so severe a crutch in your professional development, we wish you luck. well be here, for free, to help you figure out the right way to do it when you fail.

with love,

Daniel Warren and David Rapoza.

GAUNTLET!

2012-01-13T23:03:00.000-08:00

super pumped after seeing all the amazing results for the crimson daggers bloodsports challenge 3!

this was my challenge, so i did the best i could to complete my version of a gauntlet cover redesign. below are the results!

it is what it is.

portrait refs

2012-01-06T01:37:00.000-08:00

not happy with these, but im tryin to push the timed studies to get faster and spend less time doing useless stuff. hopefully itll help over time!

2012.

2011-12-31T14:43:00.001-08:00

ceas the day.

2011-12-29T19:57:00.001-08:00

sayzar

2011-12-29T01:34:00.000-08:00

heres my hampton stuff from last week and tonights ceaser busttttt. whole lot more ceasar comin.

core construction

2011-12-17T20:38:00.000-08:00

hampton!

2011-12-14T10:16:00.000-08:00

really enjoying my time with michael hampton's anatomy book. heres some work from the past few days.

anatomical

2011-12-09T21:15:00.001-08:00

continuing my journey to do nothin but anatomy anatomy and anatomy for a long long time. more loomis. gonna try to focus on the core this week, between the shoulders and down to the groin. gotta learn those chests!

Join the Trevolution!

2011-12-08T22:02:00.001-08:00

ok guys, for those of you who made it to tonights stream, and asked for a character design challenge to motivate ya to do some new work, here it is- direct from none other than everyones favorite trevor. its a sci fi prompt from a man who really knows his stuff- and, being an industry professional, those of you entering should take his challenge seriously!

now, MY spin on this idea is to do RELEVANT and DIRECT studies in corrolation to your character work. what i mean by this is if the characters wearing metal armor, study some metal armor. if his pets hair, study some animals and work on those texturing and animal anatomical skills! make every study count- and after doing them, apply the knowledge back into the piece.

A REMINDER: this is in no way mandatory, but as lots of people asked for an activity, were hopiung those of you that wanted it make the most of it. the deadline is next friday, december 16th. and- to keep us on our toes, NO submitting of your in progress characters during this weeks crits. i want a suprise!

below is a link to trevors blog post regarding the challenge. good luck!

Trevor's Sci Fi duo challenge!

weekend inspiration! Winsor Mccay.

2011-12-04T10:28:00.001-08:00

its sunday, and time for some more weekend inspiration.
everyone knows i love classic and childrens illustration, so today im gonna talk a bit about the one artist who i consider the true master of both.

as far as im concerned, winsor mccay was the greatest illustrator of all time. in a modern day where artists struggle to meet specific deadlines inside weeks and months, we forget that over 100 years ago the father of periodicals, as well as comics, was cranking out finely tuned and sublimely drafted pages every 6 days.

Mccays work on little nemo is the definition of Illustration's golden age. combining incredible line control and draftsmanship with unprecedented imagination and style, little nemo's dreams are famous for their lack of limitations. buildings, airships, robots, animals, witches, monsters, and all manner of characters flooded the pages. amazingly, over 100 years later, few, if any, illustrators can match mccays imagination and originality. where would modern entertainment art be without his contributions?

also note, mccay was one of the very first hand animators. below is a video of a flipbook film he created completely by hand using 3000 still images. its interesting to see how imaginitive, fluid, and precise his work is even today, standing against all the animations that have since been created 100 years later.

more basics.

2011-12-03T20:02:00.001-08:00

still slow, but a little more comfortable drawing in photoshop.
onlyyy 2 more months of anatomy to goooo

back to basics!

2011-12-01T21:52:00.001-08:00

back to basics. anatomy and construction time. nothin crazy, just basic proportions. i draw much slowed in photoshop than on paper, so bear with me.

moving on.

2011-11-27T22:12:00.001-08:00

last bird for a bit. they were fun, learned a lot.

farewell for now, shitbird.

more birds.

2011-11-26T21:45:00.001-08:00

i wonder if anyone will ever find out what kind of bird dave saw as a child.

back to business.

2011-11-25T21:47:00.001-08:00

san fran was great! workshop was awesome. special thanks to everyone who helped me and dave feel welcome. tonights study was another bird from life. 2 hours. same falcon statue, just rotated.
lookin forward to doin more!

switching it up

2011-11-15T23:03:00.001-08:00

after 9 shitdudes, i took the groups advice and moved onto something more textured. the result is shitbird, tonights 2 hour study. more to come.

skewedddd

2011-11-14T22:50:00.001-08:00

had some fun with tonights study, but the had ended up skewed and too large at the end. still, enjoyed the fuzzing and stuff. basic proportion is always somethin to pay attention to!

deathline week 2 starts now!

2011-11-13T23:44:00.001-08:00

awesome stuff tonight everyone. feelin real good about the upcoming week of deathline goals!
went back into tonights study for a bit to fix the issues bothering me. couldnt focus due to the stream convo, and it threw me off.

upward and onward.

2011-11-12T21:58:00.001-08:00

moved the study above me today for some ominous underlighting. was a fun study and im lookin forward to the 3/4 version!

Studies, Goldenboys, and Deathlines.

2011-11-11T21:43:00.001-08:00

tonights study! some pics comin over the weekend of my workspace and some other stuff. be sure to check out the stream sunday for the weigh in on everyones first week of deathline. also, the GOLDENBOYS for OCTOBER will be held on mondays stream. more on this later!

getting there.

2011-11-10T19:24:00.001-08:00

some improvement!
feelin good. productive day and super workout. will probly post again tonight with some work stuff, and talk about the SUNDAY WEIGH INNNNNN

<3

a bad study, and a better study.

2011-11-09T22:00:00.000-08:00

whoa!
forgot to update yesterday. awesome stream tonight, i hope everyones using the paintovers.
heres studies from the past 2 days.

im so tired.

2011-11-07T23:02:00.000-08:00

need to sleep. very long and productive day. heres tonights 2 hour study! some improvement, but still shit.

hey! a terrible study!

2011-11-06T22:17:00.001-08:00

had a great day, didnt do a great study. found a new challenge. more of this bust tomorrow.

study update for today! apple 5!

2011-11-05T13:15:00.001-07:00

way harder than last night. the new element introduced was daylight, comin in from the left, through the bottle, and onto the apple. real tough. these 2 hour studies are helpin a ton tho!

study update! bottles are hardddd.

2011-11-04T21:00:00.001-07:00

tonights 2 hour study. another apple, but instead of a spoon ive opted for a bottle. which was crazy hard but super fun to paint. more tomorrow!

2011-11-03T20:49:00.000-07:00

tonights study update!
day 1 of my deathline! 364 to go! did you do something productive today?
best apple yet. 3 of 3. focusing on bigger brushes, softer edges, and more realistic lighting.

feeelin goood.

Crimson Daggers Deathline Challenge!

2011-11-02T20:22:00.001-07:00

All right everyone, its time for a new kind of challenge.

for a few months now the crimson daggers have been fortunate enough to have tons of passionate entries into the goldenboy monthly challenge. these challenges address short term goals and everyone whos been serious about the studying has really improved! you should all be proud!

now, however, im gonna give everyone another initiative to push it to the next level. a true challenge for all of us to better ourselves in, as well as out, of art.

introducing the CRIMSON DAGGERS DEATHLINE CHALLENGE.

In the next year, i wanna challenge everyone to achieve their top three personal goals to the absolute best of their abilities.
for most of us, this will be art related. but keep in mind- our personal lives effect our professional lives in a profound way.

are you stuck in a living situation that isnt conducive to your work as an artist? need a healthier home, job, or surrounding?
are you having trouble finding commissions? just cant seem to find the time to get that fresh new portfolio developed and in order?
are your shortcomings in fundamentals affecting the quality of your personal work? do you feel frustrated or overwhelmed with composition, color, or anatomy?

you could have any number of problems with where you are personally and professionally. the goal now is to remove these, and really take a step in the right direction!

lets all take a year to work as hard as possible, doing something positive EVERY DAY to move in the right direction to solve these problems and achieve our goals.

im challenging all of you to become the best versions of yourselves you can be by this time next year!

theres infinite resources for self betterment at all of our disposals. nows the time to take advantage of these and stop believing in the myth of 'waiting til were ready'. were all ready now, so lets go for it. if youre having trouble getting started, feel free to use the goldenboy contests as monthly benchmarks for your goals. keep track of what youre doing, where you were, and where youre going!

weve got an awesome group goin regularly now, and tons of support from others going through the same struggles. theres no excuses! push it!

Things to remember to survive and succeed the Deathline:

1) you aren't alone! join others in the group on forums and in streams to talk about your progress. seek help where help is needed- were all in this together.
2) set monthly benchmarks to break your biggest problems down into incremental steps. look at the big picture and form a path for your own pace on how to get where you need to be.
3) compare new work to old work regularly to mark your own progress and growth. seeing and understanding a real change will keep you motivated!
4) if one of your goals lies outside the arts, keep track of your progress by keeping records and data. share it with the group and see how others are doing with similar problems.
5) do something productive EVERY DAY! building and maintaining momentum is crucial for effective growth. rotate your goals within your schedule to keep yourself interested and on track!
6) be honest and analytical. everyone has professional and personal flaws that are hard to accept. recognize them, chart a course, and destroy them!
7) there will be a special support stream with dave and myself at the middle and end of each month to review how your progress is going and keep everyone on track!

my 365 day goals:

1) develop a professional portfolio for the fields i wish to work in
2) lose 100 lbs to increase my personal energy and motivation.
3) become entirely self sufficient off art jobs and commissions

Lets hit the ground running! im with you til the end!

study update!

2011-11-02T14:10:00.001-07:00

2011-11-01T20:16:00.000-07:00

study updates!new goal is to get faster! gonna do this through daily one-off life paintings of various materials. anyone familiar with daves original crimson daggers studies will recognize this method and how effective it is. switch it up this month and do something you wouldnt normally in your study routine!

Study Updates!

2011-10-30T01:41:00.000-07:00

study updates for my helmettt ive been workin on this week. done! movin onto the next one.

weekend inspiration: Tyler Jacobson!

2011-10-30T01:24:00.000-07:00

didnt do a ton for halloween this year. if you can believe it, its snowing hre in massachusetts already. instead, i stayed in and worked, and looked at some awesome halloween inspired art. one of the few that really caught my eye was a piece by a favorite of mine, Tyler Jacobson. he even added a process post on his blog for anyone interested in his style. awesome stuff!http://tylerjacobson.blogspot.com/2011/10/happy-halloween.html

lets gooooooooooo

2011-10-26T22:13:00.000-07:00

hey!

finally decided to make a site for all things art. ill be posting my own work here as well as links to others work and any useful reference material i wanna shareeee. ill try to update at least weekly if not more often, so join me here or on the stream at www.llivestream.com/danielsdangerroom where i do live study paintings daily!