Hey gang! I hope no one thinks I've been avoiding the forums because
of the critiques or anything, I've just been EXTREMELY busy and haven't
had the time to post.
While I love the posts praising me for whatever work I've done, I really
don't mind the feedback that's less "complimentary". I've always felt that,
as an artist, you need to have a thick enough skin to take the good with
the bad, and if you think your work is above criticism, you're fooling
yourself.
I actually like to listen to the fans feedback, and I take a lot of it to heart.
Over the course of my sculpting career, good, constructive criticism has
definitely made me adjust my style and the way I work. I never assume
everyone is going to like my work, and I pay attention to courteous,
dissenting viewpoints.
The only feedback I
completely ignore is that which is delivered in a rude,
or disrespectful manner, or criticism which makes assumptions about me
as a sculptor (i.e.; my influences, what references I used, assumptions
about who I'm familiar with or not familiar with, etc.).
As far as this particular project goes, I'm not going to get into any of the
specifics details regarding deadlines, art direction, promotion of the piece
or my own style choices. I will tell you that Conan is probably my all-time
favorite literary character and you will not find a bigger Buscema or Frazetta
fan, especially when it comes to their interpretations of Conan.
I've got just about every Frazetta art book ever put out, and a large collection
of Buscema sketch books, interviews and boxes upon boxes of Buscema comics.
Did you ever see the Ulik bust I did for Bowen? Take a look at that face and
tell me I'm not a Buscema fan.
That being said, Neither I, or Arahom wanted this to be a Buscema or Frazetta
Conan. Are there things that he, or I might have changed or altered if we had
more time to work on the heads? Sure, but that's 100% the case for EVERY
sculpt I've ever done!
You have to understand, this is my
only job. I consistently have 5-8 projects going on
simultaneously, at all times, just so I can keep a roof over my kid's heads. I don't
have the time, or the inclination, to tweak every sculpt I do until it's "perfect", which
is a ridiculous notion anyway. As professional artists, we do the very best we can,
at the time, and then move on. We're NEVER going to please all of the people all of
the time, which is totally fine. It's easy to be an armchair art director after the fact,
but when you're trying to run a business, or freelance sculpting career, you don't
have the luxury of open-ended deadlines.
This isn't the last Conan, or girl I'm going to sculpt, and this isn't the only style
I'm going to sculpt them in. I doubt this is the last Conan, or girl that Arahom is
going to produce. We do the best we can, and if whatever we do doesn't sell, we
know something we've done wasn't right, and we try and adjust accordingly for the
next time.
So to all of you that are happy w/ this piece, thank you so much for the support!
To all of you that had issues with it, and expressed your dissatisfaction in a respectful,
constructive way, thanks for your feedback and I absolutely paid attention to what
you had to say.
….and to the people who essentially just said "FAIL", thanks for nothing. Your "feedback"
was as helpful as a squawking crow.
See you all next time!
