I had two rules I told myself I would follow this year, which made it a slightly different experience than last time. The first I followed easily enough, the second less so.
- Trades were to be on a more irregular basis, as and when I saw an artist available who was interested, rather than hammering them out over a series of months like last year.
- I would not start work on my side of the trade until the other artist had finished or at least showed some indication that they'd started work on their end.
The second rule may seem a bit harsh and uncaring, but is a direct result of having done so many trades last year and only getting a portion of stuff in return. I scrapped this rule after a while for two reasons; one being that a friend of mine had convinced me that doing the trades, even without getting something in return, would show me to be a reliable artist. The other reason was that if the other artist also has a similar policy then nobody gets anything out of this.
As such, the following happened:
- Just like last year, there were a fair few artists who never got back in touch. As I've discussed in previous posts, If it can't be done, an update or acknowledgment is all I'm after. Being ignored makes me just feel as though my time is being wasted.
- The trades I did get back this year were all astoundingly good. This isn't intended as a knock at the traders from last year, far from it. I'm grateful for anyone doing me a trade or request, but I noticed that doing trades on irregular basis meant I had a broader pick from artists who were better suited to the styles of the characters.
So, in summary, art trades are great for doing something new, interesting and outside your comfort zone, and It's great fun when you see a character rendered in someone else's style. However, when you get no response for your work, It makes it difficult to want to carry on doing them.
So, after all that, lets go ahead with my contributions this year. Images link to larger versions over at Deviantart. Characters all belong to their respective requesters unless stated otherwise.
Uglypanda's asked for “something involving zombies,” and I was in a musical mood so this is what I came up with. Unfortunately the trades did not get off to an optimistic start, and I didn't hear anything in return.
A while later came this black and white piece of Jolene, PanikSura's character.
Working with Klerrik again, I have a go at one of his Gutter Brother's. A good opportunity for playing around with light and shading.
I really enjoyed doing an action shot with Hades for Hellyacross. Alas, It seems a lot of the ones I really enjoyed doing rarely get a response. I may chase the artist up on this at a later date.
Next up was Humele for Bluesoulber
And in quick succession, Dany for Lore-Necha
More experimentation with skin tones, which I've been doing a lot of this year, with Thalassa for Magicpotion.
Back to a more standard piece for Intissaria of their character, Violet. Still awaiting a response for this one.
And finally, rounding it off with a Warhammer themed character, Josephine for Taurus-Chaoslord
Come back shortly for a round up of the, frankly, great pieces of artwork I got in return.
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