DarkPistachio

It's been quite a while since I was active here. I apologise to all who have left messages for days or weeks... I will do better! It's been a very busy last spring and summer with three game projects and two books in the works. Things aren't really slowing down, but I have been reminded by others that I need to not ignore dA and other venues in the busy-ness. Looking forward to catching up on everyone's galleries.

Eric Fortune in a blog post recently talked about a book on motivation -- extrinsic and intrinsic. In our art lives, extrinsic motivation = money, praise, publicity, Facebook friends, deviantart watchers and faves, and the like -- anything that other people give to us for what we do. Intrinsic motivation, on the other hand = the drive to become better, regardless of what other people give or don't give. In a study pointed out by Eric, intrinsically motivated artists did better work, reached higher goals, and felt more fulfilled with their work, regardless of how much or how little public notice was taken of what they were doing. I think i

I see and try to break down a lot of great art. But occasionally I see something that is so remarkable that I know it's going to be weeks before I understand what's going on, and am generally just left speechless. I just had one of those moments thanks to Matt Stewart. http://mattstewartartblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/forty-two.html It's "just" a portrait, but the level of ability and thought that went into this is mind-blowing. As Sokka of Avatar: The Last Airbender would say, "Mind. Blown."