Silver Lining

"Mermaid" by Loish, a self taught Digital Artist from the Netherlands.

Today, I stumbled upon http://loish.net/, which is the online domain for illustrator Lois Van Baarle. As I oohed and ahhed at her vibrant paintings, I began to read some of her FAQs and discovered that she is predominantly self-taught. Despite undertaking formal training, she claims that most of her advanced techniques are due more to practise and experience beyond anything else.

Already inspired, I kept digging through her site and found some of her older paintings from 2004. I was pleasantly shocked to recognize some of her old work! Years ago, I had stumbled on her through Deviantart. Needless to say, her paintings were nowhere near their current quality. After skimming through her old work to ogling at her current work…I could sense the diligence, patience and skill she’s acquired through her journey as an freelance artist.

Lately, I’ve been motivated to seriously develop my painting portfolio (i.e. allocate formal time towards reading tutorials and practising, practising, practising). I always felt disadvantaged for not having some proper teaching under my belt but artists like this instill a degree of optimism in me. Although she’s obviously chock full of natural talent and discipline, I believe I can at least excel in my own way.

Thanks, Loish ;).