Artist? Part 2

Now, I dive into the other type of art, the visual, picture type of art, with a little history on my art background.

I guess you can say I was first exposed to art in elementary school, with the art program we had. We did all kinds of art, from ceramics to painting. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in that class and took home several "Super Artist Awards" for the things I made. Those were then shown at either the Music and Art school that the teacher came from, the City Hall, or our community TV. There were always several of those from each grade, so it wasn't like what I produced was the best of the best.

Unfortunately, I did not take any other art classes in school until 8th grade, only because there was nothing else to take, though I did enjoy coloring and labeling various maps and projects that had to be done in some of the other classes. 8th grade art was possibly the most fun I've had in a class for a very long time. I learned a whole bunch of things, like how to draw hands (who knew that curved hands are easier to draw than outstretched hands?), how to shade properly, how to use different tools...it was all traditional art. We used pencils, chalk pastels, watercolor pencils, string and board (That was so much fun. I was a boss at this.), oil pastels.....etc...

I also liked to draw animals and shade them during this time. Like...there was this really cute bunny that I made. Maybe I'll dig it up someday and show you ^_^

I'm not really sure when I transitioned into digital art. I'd say sometime in 8th grade, maybe beginning of 9th grade. I believe that was also the time where I got into GaiaOnline (maybe even earlier than that) and was just fascinated by all of the wonderful artists in that community. I remember requesting and buying a whole bunch of art (but never from the really good artists, who sell their art for a TON of gold ._.) and trying my hand at drawing the avatars myself. Needless to say, my drawings were quite a derp. I can't draw people and still can't. For some crazy reason, I opened up a joint shop with my friend, who is awesome at art and came the awkward moment when she got requests and I didn't ._.

At some point during this time, I doodled with MS paint and my mouse. I downloaded several open source programs and ended up sticking with GIMP, which I still use today. I drooled over tablets, and was super jealous of my friend, who got a really nice tablet with a student price or something (she's amazing at art too ^_^). My life as a digital artist really took off (more, at least) when my friends bought me a black small Wacam Bamboo Fun tablet for my 15th birthday. Its so amazing, its like amazing. He also has a name, Joey ^_^.

And then, at some point in time, I stopped visiting GaiaOnline. I don't really know why ._.

After stumbling across Transformice in late July 2010....I hadn't picked up drawing again. Not just yet. It wasn't until Cheeseformice came out. It was my first thread. I don't even know why I did it. Just random spur of the moment, I guess. I just...opened up GIMP, plugged in my tablet, and scribbled out a quick headshot of my mouse. I then ended up drawing mice periodically, as you can see from the dates I put on my posts.

I really don't know what to say next about this section of my life. I've drooled over the ever-expanding Fan Art section of Cheeseformice, watched speedpaints and livestreams of some of the amazing artists in that community. I'd say my style has changed a bit as I drew a bit more, but whatever.

As a closing statement, I hear PaintTool SAI is phenomenal ^.^