Matt Lichtenwalner

Mobile mapper for DMP - roaming the US and Canada constantly. Maybe a bit of art and/or writing here and there to spice things up.

  • Followed
  • Follows you

Edit biography

So you're at the public pool. You finally managed to learn to keep your head above water all by yourself.

Then, you get splashed a lot and when you look around, you realize that you're in a pool where olympic athletes come to do their laps. You're surrounded by them.

Then someone comes along and says "Guess what folks, we figured out individual motor boats. No need to know how to swim anymore!"

Makes it kinda hard to keep your head above the water.

* * * * *

In case it's not abundantly clear - I'm kinda burning out. I'm still plugging along, but my heart's not really in it. There's a tremendous sense of "What's the point?"

Anyway - the image(s) up top are what I did today on my day off (rain).

Tried a new technique. Someone pointed out in one of the videos I watched that there's no real reason to stick to the old process of a. pencils, b. inks, c. color flats, and d. rendering because that was designed for the comics of old based on physical limitations created by the printing process. So if you're working digitally...

So I went straight from 'pencils' to 'painting'. Dunno. There's some good texture in there, but I think I should have spent more time on the figure's silhouette. The arms get a bit confusing.

The pose was based a little on the third one below - all of which I did yesterday just to be 'putting pen to paper'.

MORE
6/11 '23 9 Comments
I hate to say this because I think I know what the answer is, but what if you drew with actual pencil/pen/paper or stopped using digital media for, say, a week?
I know, there’s a limited amount of stuff you can carry around with you. I get a lot of enjoyment out of the tactile part of art and crafts: writing in a notebook with a good pen, doodling with a pencil on paper, knitting with different kinds of yarn. Maybe this would help you find some enjoyment in it again.
It's funny you should mention that...

I just made myself a little 'traditional media art kit' that I keep in the car. it's another man-purse (I'm a bag whore) with the following things in it (if my memory covers everything):
* moleskine sketchbook
* small pack of watercolors (2 different packs) with brushes
* pencils
* ink pens (fineline)
* kneeded eraser
* a couple of card games
* a watercolor postcards pad (paint your postcard, then tear it out, apply postage and send)

I too get a lot out of traditional media work. It _feels good_ to do.

Two problems I have:
1. I KEEP trying to tape the page with two fingers and 'undo' the last stroke I made. I can't tell you how many times I do this. I really am a trained monkey.
2. It feels SO inefficient now. It's silly, but this actually bothers me down deep. There's a part of my brain that's constantly whispering: "We could do that faster. That wouldn't be an issue if... You know, that would take as long if..."

That's not to say it's without value. I really will try to do more, but it's a convenience thing on top of everything else.

If I stop to grab a bite, which of the two bags will I grab? The one with traditional media? (Cumbersome, no art in it to show folks who ask, can only do one thing) Or the iPad bag (with ALL my art in it, games to play while I'm eating, etc...)
Is it because of the pressure of trying to make a go of it? Figuring out how to sell, etc?
I know that can sometimes take the joy out of a thing...or is it the A.I. situation alone?
Yes to both.

And more.
I’ve been in a similar state of disheartened frustration myself lately. This is the advice my brain barfed out this evening. It may or may not make as much sense as I’d like it to.

Doug Adams said the answer to life, the universe, & everything is 42.

That's likely true. But I think all the answers can more easily be found in The Princess Bride (though towels are helpful in most any situation…).

When one has a solid direction & is aware of the terrors, one can move with effortless ease through the fireswamp. Without the awareness & direction, one spends the majority of their time fighting off R.O.U.S., half drowning in the lightning sand, whilst repeatedly falling victim to fire spurts.

Is that the definition of living there quite comfortably for some time?

Noooooooooo.

That’s just surviving out of sheer will, determination, & an intense distaste for Humperdink.

But that doesn’t allow time for thinking things through clearly, or thoroughly. Or the brainpower to ask pertinent questions like…

"What are our assets?" and "What are our liabilities?"

Take some time. Do some stuff you enjoy. Do your art for the sheer love/fun of it.

Fuck Humperdink (don’t literally fuck Humperdink…he looks like a super selfish lay…just let go of the pressure).

That’ll give ya the opportunity to assess what the assets and liabilities are.

Which generally brings clarity and direction.

So creativity can burn brightly.

Like a holocaust cloak.

And then all ya gotta do is lay around in bed admiring perfect breasts & making a few brilliant verbal stabs at that stupid Humperdink.

And Voila! Ya got the Princess.

Yes, and, yes, I wholeheartedly get it. I once was in a situation where I had to revise a play I wrote for the Philly Fringe by a specific deadline and my computer DIED. I had to rewrite by hand on paper. This was 2003 or so. Nobody had smartphones. I had to rewrite it by hand, then take it to my parents’ house and type it really fast and send it to the director.
The slow, tiring process of writing it made me think my way through what I wanted to say and use as few words as possible.

My point is, the slow process will make you learn what AI never will.
Too true. And I really do need to 'disconnect' more often than I currently do - that's for damn sure.
I just looked through the list of stuff in your non-digital art bag and I love it so much I had to buy watercolor postcards.
I overthink my visual art because I worry about wasting art supplies but then I don’t improve because I don’t practice. Unused art supplies are a bigger waste.
 

I can't make a living doing these characters. Or, if that's possible, it's certainly not probable. Not by a long shot.

So what would I like to work on that does seem like it would be more reasonable to make a modicum of moolah on?

Crests. For clubs and groups. I feel like this is an untapped thing. Like, if more folks realized that they could get something like this done, they might. I've even seen more 'official' types doing this based on family lineage and whatnot. I wouldn't try to put on airs like that. I would just assemble cool symbols for things your into. Or if your D&D group has a certain collection of character types and items that might be assembled into a crest in a cool way....

really would like to work on labels for a distillery. Heck - those crests mentioned above would work for this. Something fantasy or viking theme, obviously would be ideal, but really, as long as they understand my style and aren't looking for an anime artist (because we're all the same, you know), I'm game.

Oh, who am I kidding? I would absolutely draw anime if that's what they really wanted.

Beer labels would work too.

I'd like to do some more tattoo designs (see some previous work here). That's unlikely though because most tattoo artists will do the design for free (or nearly so) and if you've done your homework on the artist in question - you know - because they're going to put their art into your flesh forever - you presumably already like their style.

What else?

Pet portraits or portraits of real people. Especially if it's a mashup of fantasy and reality. "My buddy as a barbarian." That kinda stuff. I'm admittedly not amazing at likenesses, but I can make it work, and honestly, it's an area I could use more work in to get better.

I've started doing tee shirt designs, but I'm really an amature. I've got a buddy who does a lot of graphic design work for cannabis companies and he gave me some great feedback on the existing designs in my merch shop. That said, it also made it very clear how far I have to go before I'm, you know, good.

MORE
5/10 '23
 

Guess I'm just going to have to try number 2.

For the record - it's a rain day, so I'm back at my favorite local coffee shop (The Spokesman).

If you're curious, a quick search yields this article about Lichtenhainer beers at the Beer Advocate.

Heh. Spellcheck auto corrected the beer name to my last name.

Update:

It's delicious! Honestly, I've never had anything like it before. I suppose I should point out that I'm generally not a 'beer guy' so maybe this sort of flavor is more common than I realize, but...

It seems salty and sour. Kinda like a dill pickle brine. Obviously, I wouldn't drink a dill pickle brine down, but this is in that direction. If nothing else, it's something interesting for a change.

Also:

In the Mario Brothers series of games, my understanding is that you play the Mario Brothers and have to rescue Princess Peach. Then, Bowser immediately recaptures her and wash, rinse, and repeat.

This seemed... like it was in need of an update. So I didn't spend long on this, but I wanted to get the idea down before I lost it.

MORE
4/25 '23 3 Comments
[small voice in the corner] I used to drink pickle juice as a kid…
Oh, I’m not saying I’ve _never_ done that…

…a lot…

Just that it wouldn’t be a go to. But this seemed like something I could drink fairly regularly. I won’t, because it’s apparently a seasonal ‘ short run, but…
We drink pickle juice as an Eagles football superstition. Green, a little rough ... go Eagles!

Also it's perfect that the beer with (almost) your name is the beer you like.

I know "Lichtenwalner" means "Light in the Woods" so Lichtenhainer is "Light in the something".

"Hainer" is a name and translates as a name as far as I can find with some quick googling/translation dictionary searching.

This is as close as I could get to a translation of the name, "Hainer Name Meaning
South German: from the ancient Germanic personal name Haginher composed of the elements hag ‘hedge enclosure’ + hari heri ‘army’."

Light in the army's hedge?
 

One of the themes in my life of late is to try to get as many folks as I can to see the illustration stuff I'm doing. In an era of "you don't see everything from everyone you follow" social media, this is... more challenging than seems reasonable.

I understand that mailing lists are the way to go for that, but the problem with mailing lists are two fold: 1. You have to get people onto them, which many folks are loathe to do. 2. Once they're on your list, many folks ignore / delete the emails because they're 'extra'.

Which isn't to say I'm not going that route. On the contrary. I probably will. I've started to before, but never really finished (see all my previous commentary on ADHD).

Even if / when I DO manage to create a reasonable email list, that still doesn't get around issue 1. The vast majority of the internet using world won't be on it. And dragonbones.net is accessible to pretty much everyone who has access to the web.

Shut up, man. Get to the point.

Okay, okay. Sorry. Verbose Guy here.

I thought I would start doing a monthly summary post on dragonbones about the sketch work that I did the month prior.

It's a good art-news system, it gives folks a taste of what's in the Patreon page if they might be interested, and it keeps dragonbones fresh(ish).

So here's the first one: The Sketchy Stuff from December 2022.

(Dwarf at the top of the page is just something I was noodling on... yesterday? This is at about the 1/2 hour stage.)

MORE
1/24 '23
 

Yes, we get it. You made an ebook. 

Sorry - I know you've probably seen me posting about it elsewhere. Thing is, you can have it for free, if you like, and I want as many people to have access to it as possible.

Didn't get anything for your neice for the holidays? Bingo. Grandson's into fantasy / D&D? Sold. They can print the pages out and color them as many times as they like.

I won't tell if you're there coloring alongside them. ;)

Anyway, if you haven't picked up a copy yet, it's available on my site / Gumroad here: 

If you do download / gift / check it out, I would love to hear what you liked or disliked about it! (I'm planning to do more like this in the future, so all feedback helps.)

MORE
12/19 '22
 

I did a little experimental thread over on my Twitter stream. I wanted to encourage a couple of things - namely audience interaction and I wanted to provide them an actual reason to share the thread.

Simply put: I provided a series of polls for folks to vote on to determine how I constructed a monster.

Here's a link to the thread in case you're curious.

The results to the first poll (bipedal or quadrapedal) was:

The second poll was what kind of terrain the creature spends its time in. The audience chose subterranean so I added digging claws and narrowed the torso to make the creature more wedge shaped.

The third poll was how many heads the creature has. Crowd said 2.

And the fourth and final poll was what kind of tail to give it (or to give it none). The crowd picked a long straight tail with a club end.

After the final poll, I finished the tail and posted it and then felt like I should go ahead and paint it. Since I was already in an experimental mode, I took the sketch, blurred it a bit, and then mixed the sketch lines in with the digital paint layers. The final results are at the top of the post.

Here's the process video if you enjoy that.

I really need to get back to the work for my Patreon page, but this was an excellent little experiment and I plan to do it again in the near future.

This is the character I'm currently working on for Patreon:

MORE
8/13 '22 7 Comments
That was clever twittering.
Thank you sir! I rather thought so.

The key, to my way of thinking, is to actually give people a reason to be invested rather than mindlessly echoing "Please like and subscribe and share with your friends BECAUSE REASONS."
And what are you calling the crowd-sourced beastie?
I like it!

Though here's a question - should it get two names given the two heads?

Also, do they read as different personalities?
Currently open for discussion, and taking suggestions!
 

Still doing the heads thing. Here we have 36-40 and they be gerblins!

In case you're curious about the pseudo random geometric shapes I started this batch with, you're in luck - here they are:

If you would like to see the rest, they're in a thread over on the Twitterz.

Not So Traditional Media

So I won't be in town, but my family is having a get together this Sunday. There's going to be some festivities for the youngins' thanks to my folks. Slip 'n Slide, water balloon toss, etc.

And speaking of tossing water balloons, my folks asked if I would create a target to put down in the yard so they can launch balloons at it from the deck.

My Dad got the idea that it would be good to use Tyvek since it's all white so the image would stand out. Tyvek isn't exactly the best surface to work on, but I couldn't argue with the contrast idea and he has a bunch extra so it was free, and it's durable, so... Sharpies worked to lay in lines:

Then, because this is clearly a "use what you've got handy" kind of project, we used a pair of random latex based house paints (watered down to various levels) that they had on hand and some overly large brushes to paint it. This was a little extra trying BECAUSE TYVEK.

But also, I was having fun doing something stupid and calling it art. So:

Certainly not the greatest work I've ever done, but it was fun, and hopefully the kids will get a kick out of chucking stuff at it. :)

Also, it kinda looks like a goblin head. I think I've got goblins on the brain lately.

MORE
7/19 '22 6 Comments
And just like that, I notice the horns coming in at odd angles into the eyebrows. Apparently the sun was getting to me as I worked on this outdoors.

I'll never be able to NOT see how b0rked this is ever again.
I wouldn't argue with dragon horns. I might throw water balloons at them.
Thanks. That IS what it's for, after all. :)
Clearly, it’s due to swelling of his occipital ridge from that time he tried to eat a day care center outside of Jackson, Mississippi, and seven four-year-olds rolled a refrigerator directly into his head.
Can’t fool me.
That is a terrific water balloon target.
Thanks, chica. Hoping the kids feel the same way!
 
 

Okay, I just need to squee for a minute.

Yup. Me. Squee.

Not familiar with Richard Whitters' work? Allow me to illucidate:

And on top of all that? I've been following his Twitter account for some time now and he just seems like a genuinely nice guy.

So now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go draw until my brain leaks out of my fingertips.

MORE
12/13 '21 4 Comments
 

Did some sketching in a physical sketchbook for the first time in a bajillion years. This one is of a fairly traditional halfling, hairfoot, or 'hobbit' (if you're not concerned with copyright). I did this one for comparison and as the 'default' for people to reference. 

Then, next, I did a rough concept sketch of a sub race that my buddy Brad and I are working on that we are tentatively calling 'dustlings'.

It took me wayyy too long to realize that I'd recreated a jacked version of Smeagol / Golum from the Hobbit / LOTR.

Back to the (literal) drawing board. 

MORE
6/2 '21 8 Comments
I dunno, it's okay? Gollum's a scrawny, craven little thief. Your guys look like they work for a living. Less agrarian, more hunter/gatherer kinda thing.
Thanks! I did some more putzing around and come up with something I'm at least a _little_ more satisfied with.

Still, glad to know this very was functional. :)
Swole-um
Yeah. Didn't mean to take it that far, but sometimes I get carried away. That's what I get for learning to draw by looking at superhero comics for decades. :P
YAY FOR PHYSICAL MEDIA!!!
Yeah. I imagine it really IS a little like if I was to get on a bicycle right about now...
"Art is theft."