This abstract image took much longer to render than I expected. The first high
resolution rendering did not take long, but there were problems with
anti-aliasing. Some areas did not anti-alias well enough, so I set the
anti-aliasing to the highest possible and started the rendering again.
This increased the rendering time to several hours, and fortunately
everything now looks completely smooth.
Last year I read Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey. It is an interesting and enjoyable book which describes the working habits and many eccentricities of well known painters, writers, philosophers, scientists, musicians and other creative types. Recently I was re-reading the book, or the highlighted parts of it, and here are the most common habits that were of interest to me: drinking coffee and tea was popular among many and so was eating eggs; some liked sugary foods; many worked only few hours a day; most followed a daily routine; many liked to work in the morning.
Caffeine and sugar is bad for me so I don't consume it. Eggs I do eat as they are high in brain performance boosting nutrients like sulfur, selenium, choline and vitamin B12. But one food that works really well for me are sardines, which are mentioned once in the book if I remember right. Whenever I feel that my creativity is lacking I eat a small can of sardines in sunflower oil with bread. That helps the creative ideas start flowing again. I think it's a combination of the nutrients that sardines are high in: vitamin D, vitamin B12 and especially selenium. Unfortunately, I recently learned that now even plastic particles are found in the tissue of many fish. So I will have to stop eating sardines which are still considered relatively safe to eat by many health experts. Another food that helps improve my creativity is organic pork liver pate. But it's also bad for me in some ways, so I was thinking about trying organic beef and chicken liver instead.
My working habits changed over the years and I worked at different hours of the day. Some 15 years ago I was freelancing from home and for several months I worked during nights. I did this because I was curious how working during nights would be like for me. So I slept with earplugs during the day and enjoyed the calming silence of the night while working on Unreal 2 . Working nights helped me concentrate much better, which increased my productivity and the quality of my work. Unfortunately the nocturnal life was not good for my health. It's simply too unnatural for my body to be awake during nights, so I went back to a daily schedule. But I still use earplugs or earmuffs whenever I need to reduce noise and improve concentration.
I know that following a regular schedule is important for my creativity. Briefly planning what I will work on the next day is also important, as that makes the work flow with less effort. I think having a habit of doing the same type of activity at the same time of the day makes it easier for the mind to prepare for it, and bring forward the ideas which the subconscious has worked on.
Anyway, here are some abstract crayon sketches I did lately:
Last year I read Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey. It is an interesting and enjoyable book which describes the working habits and many eccentricities of well known painters, writers, philosophers, scientists, musicians and other creative types. Recently I was re-reading the book, or the highlighted parts of it, and here are the most common habits that were of interest to me: drinking coffee and tea was popular among many and so was eating eggs; some liked sugary foods; many worked only few hours a day; most followed a daily routine; many liked to work in the morning.
Caffeine and sugar is bad for me so I don't consume it. Eggs I do eat as they are high in brain performance boosting nutrients like sulfur, selenium, choline and vitamin B12. But one food that works really well for me are sardines, which are mentioned once in the book if I remember right. Whenever I feel that my creativity is lacking I eat a small can of sardines in sunflower oil with bread. That helps the creative ideas start flowing again. I think it's a combination of the nutrients that sardines are high in: vitamin D, vitamin B12 and especially selenium. Unfortunately, I recently learned that now even plastic particles are found in the tissue of many fish. So I will have to stop eating sardines which are still considered relatively safe to eat by many health experts. Another food that helps improve my creativity is organic pork liver pate. But it's also bad for me in some ways, so I was thinking about trying organic beef and chicken liver instead.
My working habits changed over the years and I worked at different hours of the day. Some 15 years ago I was freelancing from home and for several months I worked during nights. I did this because I was curious how working during nights would be like for me. So I slept with earplugs during the day and enjoyed the calming silence of the night while working on Unreal 2 . Working nights helped me concentrate much better, which increased my productivity and the quality of my work. Unfortunately the nocturnal life was not good for my health. It's simply too unnatural for my body to be awake during nights, so I went back to a daily schedule. But I still use earplugs or earmuffs whenever I need to reduce noise and improve concentration.
I know that following a regular schedule is important for my creativity. Briefly planning what I will work on the next day is also important, as that makes the work flow with less effort. I think having a habit of doing the same type of activity at the same time of the day makes it easier for the mind to prepare for it, and bring forward the ideas which the subconscious has worked on.
Anyway, here are some abstract crayon sketches I did lately:
This post first appeared on Freelance Sci-Fi Artist And Illustrator, Book Cove, please read the originial post: here
