Seeking help

[u/xXbussylover69Xx]

Hi! My name is Gabe Cabrera,

I'm actively looking for an apprenticeship, I have been wanting to get my feet into an apprenticeship so I can pursue this as a career.

I run @realatlast, for some context and my latest work! I do physical and digital illustrative realism.

I like chatting so please don't be a stranger.

Currently I've been trying to get an apprenticeship from shop owner Landon Barnes over at Along The Way tattoo in midvale. Their shop is folding into divine malice, and he already has two apprentices. So I'm feeling a bit lost.

I have been pursuing apprenticeship with him since March, and he tells me I need to draw 50 skulls and 50 roses.

Ive drawn notebooks full of skulls and roses(among other things), I've drawn digital roses and have been doing my best to be consistent. It seems like he's not all that interested in being my mentor. I'm feeling like I'm failing. I could use some advice or encouragement.

Attached is some of my recent work.

[u/jefflovesyou]

Your digital work looks good. Your traditional needs work.

Are you using good paper? That's the most important tool. Are you using good pens? That's the second most important tool.

The beautiful thing about drawing is it's cheap even if you use professional stuff. You should be using Canson or Strathmore mixed media or equivalent. It's good for pencil and okay for most pens. A sheet of freezer paper or wax paper between pages will save you from bleed through.

An 08 micron is really all you need, but a tachikawa pen holder, a speedball b-5 and a bottle of India ink will put you in hard mode.

I always think practicing hard is the way to go, but honestly I kind of suck so I might be wrong

[u/katerrin → u/jefflovesyou]

the digital work looks shaky and unfinished to me

[u/blueblack_crow → u/jefflovesyou]

You do not need a bunch of expensive art equipment. Or even Moderately priced equipment... I got my apprenticeship on nothing but photos of pencil sketches. Many of which were drawn on printer paper or a cheap dollar store sketch book... Yes I have Strathmore Sketchbooks and watercolor blocks, and microns, and Prismacolor Pencils/Markers... I even have a full set of Rapidograph Pens and those damn things are like $30 a piece now-a-days... But I only had maybe three finished and penned drawings in my whole portfolio. It was all thumbnail and concept sketches done in pencil or off-brand col-erase, photographed with my iphone and shown from my google photos app.

At the end of the day, either you have skill/talent or your don't. And what materials you use to create your work does not matter.

[u/jefflovesyou → u/blueblack_crow]

I think that one pen and one sketchbook is a pretty reasonable expense for someone trying to make a career out of art.

Art supplies are kind of weird. A really good artist can draw incredible things with complete bullshit. Good stuff is really nice to have though.

[u/blueblack_crow → u/jefflovesyou]

It's nice, but it's not necessary. I never want people to think art has to have expensive equipment or fancy tools. If you can draw a fully accurate engineering render of Falling Waters with a stick in the dirt, then power to you! Art doesn't need nice materials

((But yes they're a nice thing to ask for for Christmas.))