Author Archive for Stan Prokopenko
Getting Your First Art Job – Asking Pros
It’s one thing to have art be your hobby, but it’s another to make it a full-time gig. These 20 artists who work in the entertainment industry reveal how they jump started their careers. Hopefully you can use these inspiring stories as a way to carve your own path.
Advice for Artists with Kids – Draftsmen S1E23
How can you be a good parent and a successful artist? Is it even possible? We try to find answers to those questions and the ways you can incorporate art into your life while raising a child. We go through 3 voicemail questions including our opinion on painting before learning how to draw. Is Stan a mutant child of Chernobyl?
Rag Painting with Scott Flanders
Our Swamp Thing series comes to an end with an oil painting! Scott takes you on an exploratory art journey, trying to figure out his marks on the spot as he discovers the murky creature using a brush and sock. You’ll hear his struggles and see the painting go through many iterations as he narrates his thought process behind the painting.
Delegation, Staying Organized & Line Quality – Draftsmen S1E22
Marshall goes full on Walter Cronkite and does some investigative journalism, asking all about the inner workings of Proko. The system we use to prioritize tasks and stay organized, the importance of delegation – Walt Disney built an empire by being a diligent delegator. Stan describes the exercise that improved his line quality while he was a student at Watts Atelier!
Actually Carving Shapes with Scott Flanders
Scott Flanders continues his Swamp Thing series with a pulp impressionism sculpture using Aves Apoxie Sculpt. He gives you a bunch of tips and tricks on approaching it and avoiding disaster. Scott does a really thorough demo about building an amateur to support the characters and setup the pose before applying the clay. See why a butter knife is his favorite tool.
Becoming More Creative – Draftsmen S1E21
Thinking of creative ideas is actually not that hard, but executing them, bring them to fruition, and solving real problems is much harder and requires creative skill. We’ll define what it means to be creative and some ways you can stimulate and improve your own creative abilities. A listener asks how he can increase his passion for art and Stan shows off some drawings he bought from Steven Bauman.
Digital Shape Carving with Scott Flanders
Scott Flanders, an artist from Riot Games, came to the Proko studio to film a series on how he develops ideas. In this first part of the series he creates digital graphic poster of Swamp Thing! He’ll take you through his process starting with simple greyscale silhouettes in photoshop and then carving them into a more complex colored piece. In the remainder of this series, he’ll develop his concepts further with a sculpture and oil painting.
DRUGS – Draftsmen S1E20
The Breaking Bad movie just released on Netflix and because Stan is a huge fan, we’re redecorating the whole set, putting on costumes, and dedicating the episode to Drugs! We talk about our past experiences with drugs, if they can hinder or help an artist and some drug alternatives that you should look at to get those creative juices flowing. A caller asks what abstract artists should study.
How to Draw the Lower Leg – Anatomy for Artists
A lot of you already know about the “popular” leg muscles (hamstrings, quads, and calves), but what about the muscles on the front of the lower leg? I’ll teach you about these muscles (which are more complicated than the calves) and how to draw their forms in this lesson.
Tracing, Cheating, and Imposter Syndrome – DraftsmenS1E19
Does copying from photo reference make you a fake artist? Is tracing considered cheating? Do you even have an art license?! We share our opinions about photobashing, tracing, and drawing from photos. We also discuss the debilitating effects of imposter syndrome and how it might sometimes be a good thing. Stan’s thang brings back childhood memories 🙂
