Tag: art

Art Update July 2023: Can’t Quite Hack It

Another Unexpected Turn of Events

Hey everyone!

It’s been a while but I’m back with a new update. I had a few neat things I was working on that I was excited to reveal and talk about. Unfortunately, the world had other plans and decided to throw yet another major curveball at me. I hinted at this in the title, but all puns aside, this isn’t really a joking matter. Simply put…

…My instagram account was hacked and hijacked from me.

Yes, I fell victim to the ever growing epidemic of scammers and hackers. Now normally I’m very good at weeding out a potential scammer/hacker, but this particular person hit me where I’m most empathetic. They posed as a fellow artist struggling to be seen and acknowledged. My red flags didn’t go up at first because this person communicated in such a way that felt like a real person with a genuine issue looking for fellow support in the community. As an artist currently in that place, I understand the pain and struggle to get out there and be truly appreciated.

So after a bit of back and forth chatting, they send me a link to an art contest asking if I can help them out and vote for their work. Right there the alarm bells should have been going off, but again, I was blinded by the empathy I felt having personally dealt with similar things. So I clicked on the link. As soon as I did though, I noticed the site was fishy. I used no names for anything, only referring to the artist by number and generic descriptions. Also, certain links and buttons that would work on legitimate sites were not here. So I left without entering any sort of information that would give them access to my account. But I guess these hackers are more cunning than I thought, because they must have had a way to get it regardless. Simply clicking the link was enough. I thought little of it at the time. However I woke up the next day to a notice that my email was changed and I couldn’t log in anymore. Followed by a series of “support” emails stating that if the account couldn’t be recovered then I’d need to pay $600 to get it back. At that point things were too far gone and I couldn’t get it back.

I lost all the progress and connections to fellow artists I made on that site. Gone in an instant. What stings more is that it should’ve been preventable, but the empathy clouded my judgement. So I had to live with the consequences here.

I had to start all over again. From the beginning with zero followers. Completely demoralized. Needless to say, I was feeling really down and unsure if I’d be able to recover. I say that because I started that account almost ten years ago and I had only connected with 360 people. So of course I’m thinking to myself that this will be difficult to come back from. I struggled immensely just to get to where I was at, and even then that’s not really a whole lot. Some people get that many followers in mere hours. That’s not how it has been for me. I’ve had to really work hard to connect with the 360 people I had. Now they’re gone and I have to try and work my way back. But I don’t have another ten years to get there. I can’t do that again. I had to try a different approach.

So I reached out to as many of my fellow artists as I could and explained my situation to them. What caught me by surprise was the overwhelming support they all gave me. Many of them were almost complete strangers to me, yet they helped me out and spread the word. I am incredibly grateful and humbled by that.
Since this event happened, I’m only a fraction closer to where I was, but I’ve made way more meaningful connections with artists now than I had before. So even though I’m still setback a lot, it feels like I have more. Perhaps by starting over, I’ve weeded out the “bots” and “ghosts” and instead found myself becoming closer with actual people with likeminded interests.

Maybe being hacked wasn’t a bad thing. Maybe it’s exactly what I needed. A fresh start.

So that’s where things stand now on that front. I’ve been focusing more on getting back the small audience I had over there. Some good news that hasn’t changed is I want to announce that I will have an artist table one again at Comicopolis at the White Oak Library in Lockport, IL on July 29th. I wanted to participate in many more conventions, but with being in the first year of a new full time job, I wasn’t able to stay on top of that for this year. I’m happy I was able to at least book this one and then after it I will keep an eye out for others to join for next year. I really enjoyed the convention scene and I want to get back into that soon.

Well if you made it this far, thank you for reading and hearing my troubles lately. My entire art career has been littered with struggles. Those close to me can attest to that. However, I’m learning quickly that no matter what happens you cannot give up when things like this happening. Not when it’s something that is important and you’re passionate about.

The comeback will be far greater than the setback!

Keep Moving Forward
by Categories: Deep Thoughts, UpdatesTags: , , , , , , , ,

Pivoting to new endeavors

Hey!

I’m back again but this time with a bit of a new approach. This is going to be an update on many of the art things I’m doing and working on. I’d like to do this type of thing every few months to keep you all in the know with whatever art related things I have in the pipeline. So let’s get into it!

The first thing, and you may have noticed this already, but I closed down commissions for the forseeable future. I did a handful of commissions here and there, but now I want to focus on other things that will take up more of my time and energy. So I simply won’t have the time to devote to it as before. So for that reason I’m closing the doors on it for now. Will I open them again? Possibly, but it’s really hard to say right now. I’ll certainly consider it down the road.

So what could I possibly be focusing all my attention on that would cause me to shut down commissions? Well, the answer is me. Quite simply, I want to start working more on the projects that I am truly passionate about. The ones that I decide are important. Now that could be seen as selfish and I guess it is a bit. But my whole life I have been doing work for others making their ideas and visions come to life. Well now I want to apply all my attention to making my ideas a reality. I’ve had so many ideas that I never followed through on for whatever reason. Life is short, so I’m deciding it’s time to work on my ideas before it becomes too late.

One of the things I’m doing is putting a big focus on my presence on creator supporting sites, specifically Ko-fi. I’ve had an account on that site for some time, but I never was consistent with with uploading content there and used it more of a tip jar if you will. Well now I went back and reworked my the whole thing and restructured it. I set it up so I know offer membership options on Ko-fi! I have three tier levels each with something unique and exclusive. I want to offer something special for those of you who support me and my crazy art journey. It’s already live too so please go check it out here https://ko-fi.com/dstankowiczart

The other thing is I want to focus on my original comic story I’ve had for many years. This comic stars my original characters Potato and Bimm, which you can see plus other character concepts for their world in my gallery. Anyway, I’ve completed a few pages but it has taken me far too long to still be so early on in the creation process. So I’m going to be putting an emphasis on finishing this thing real soon. I even plan to show off some of the behind the scenes look at the pages on Ko-fi. Every thing then will come full circle!

That’s about it for now. I really hope I can remain motivated to keep up with this plan, because it has the potential to be the most rewarding. The next thing is I’m looking into getting back into the convention scene and sign up for a few upcoming shows. I’m not sure which ones yet but I’ll be sure to keep you all updated again in the near future when I know.

So until the next update, keep moving forward!

by Categories: Deep Thoughts, Potato & Bimm, UpdatesTags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

A Fresh New Start

Another new year with another attempt at making change.
But will it work?

Well here we are again. The year is ending and it’s time to reflect on all the goals I had for myself. Let’s take a look and…oh…well, this is awkward.

All joking aside, you’ve probably noticed that I haven’t been here at all throughout the year. That is because I unfortunately dropped the ball. I could make excuses for “life happening” and what not, but I won’t. I know full well it is my own fault for not following through with what I set out to do a year ago in a similar post. That means many, if not all, of the things I wanted to change or accomplish never happened. While that is incredibly disappointing on my end, I can’t dwell on the past. It happened, and all I can do now is look forward.

That is exactly what I plan to do. Too often I’ve focused on what didn’t work or what went wrong to try and avoid the same mistakes. It hasn’t worked out too great for me. So I’ll acknowledge the failures but continue to move on. I know my track record is against me here, but something in me has changed. I feel more committed to my goals than I ever have and I need to strike while the iron is hot.

It happened, and all I can do now is look forward.

My plan for this website has changed a bit. The ultimate goal is to have this place be the one site to find everything related to my work. At this time that doesn’t seem possible yet. So for now I will use this blog as a way to update everyone in a more detailed manner on what I’m working on each month. Keep people informed on the projects in development, conventions I may be attending, and other art things. I’d also like to write some product review here once in a while. I will also try to update the artwork in my gallery to keep up with my ever evolving skills and style. Basically, I don’t want this website to be stagnant for too long. It needs to be a living and breathing place so all who come here can engage with the content.

The next change was a tough decision, but I’m closing down commissions. The ones I have done before were super fun, but the requests are not consistent enough to remain a top priority. I will still have all the information available on the site and you can always reach out to inquire about them. I just won’t be actively pursuing them like I was trying before. It may come off as selfish, but I want to focus more on the art that I am passionate about creating, like my original comic. More on that another time.

Which leads to the next thing. I’ve had a Ko-fi page for a while but I only updated it on occasion. I want to change that. I’ve decided to start offering memberships there for access to exclusive artwork and see other art related things before anywhere else. It will be the best way to support my creative endeavors outside of artist alley tables at conventions. It is way too expensive for me to run a server on this site to do what I can with Ko-fi, so I will used that in conjunction with my website to see and experience all there is with my work.

I want to focus more on the art that I am passionate about creating.

As for social media, I’m going to take a more relaxed approach to it. I’ve tried so hard to do the right things and follow all the tips and advice to reach more people there, but it just hasn’t worked. So I will still use my Instagram page but it will mostly be to preview what you can find here or on my Ko-fi page. Maybe that will allow me to be more personal there, which may end up being the thing I was missing. Funny if that ends up being the case. We’ll just have to wait and see.

So here we are on the dawn of a new year with familiar goals. But it’s time to pivot and adjust my approach. Will it work? I don’t know. What I do know is things weren’t working before so it is time to mix it up. If I want new and different things to happen then I have to start doing new and different things. Seems pretty simple when put that way. All I know is that no matter what happens, I have to…

Keep Moving Forward

Happy New Year!

by Categories: Deep ThoughtsTags: , , , , , , , ,

A New Year and New Beginning

A fresh start to invigorate an artistic career

Hope you all are enjoying the new year!

Even though we are already just about a month in, I wanted to talk a bit about my game plan going forward with my artwork and this website. Much like every year, I have big plans and aspirations on what I want to accomplish. While I’ve fallen short in the past on many of those goals, I’m hopeful that this year I will change all that.

The year has already started off on a good note. At the beginning of the month, I began a new job as a full time Graphic Designer! I’ve been clamoring a good long while for a creative position like that, so those closest to me will know that a huge weight that I’ve been carrying has been lifted off my shoulders. I quite enjoy graphic design and I’m really liking the job so far, but if you’ve been following me for any amount of time then you’ll know that this isn’t the final destination for my career. My dream is to be able to make a living off my illustrations and character designs. This new job is a great leap in the right direction but I still hunger for that full time illustrator role.

That is one minor downside to this new job. Since it is full time, it has taken a lot of the time away from me working on new and current illustration projects. I’m now in a position where I have to use what ever time I have each day and week to work on artwork as best I can. That means that now there will probably be even longer periods of inactivity both here on my site and the few social media pages I use (which I still hate by the way). I am still drawing and creating whenever I can. If you don’t see or hear from me for a while, just know I’m working on things that are taking longer now that I have limited time throughout the week. The big takeaway here is that I will still be drawing and illustrating because I enjoy it too much and I still want to share my characters and stories with the world. Graphic design is nice, but I still want to be a full time illustrator, so I am continuing to reach for that.

I am still drawing and creating whenever I can

One of the things I hope will strengthen that effort is the way I intend to use this website. I may have stated this before, but I want this site to be the the central hub for all things related to my artwork. In the past I was only really using it as a portfolio site with galleries of some of my better original work and nothing more. Recently, though, I have begun to add other ways to broaden how you view and interact with the website. One of them is the inclusion of this blog, where you can hear news, info, and updates straight from the horses mouth with no limitations. That was a great idea as I now have a way to speak my mind and let you all know what is happening with my artwork in a more direct fashion. The other change I made even more recent is the ability to support my art by selling prints of illustrations, commissioned work, and individual donations. As a goal to make this a one stop shop for anything with my artwork, it just made sense to make these options available here versus using another site like Etsy, Redbubble, Ko-fi, and etc. There is another idea I have planned to try and I’ll be announcing what that is very soon. Stay tuned…

So that is where things are at right now. The year has just begun, and while there have been some big changes already, some things have stayed the same. My desire and passion to keep creating colorful and appealing characters/illustrations has and will never waver. I’m also continuing the development of my comic starring my characters Potato & Bimm so that I can finish it by the end of this year, which is very exciting! Many exciting possibilities that I am optimistic can become a reality. My time has become more scarce now, but all that means is that I need to become more focused than ever before. The visions and goals I’ve set for myself are right in front of me, and to reach them all I have to do is…

Keep Moving Forward!

by Categories: comics, Deep Thoughts, IllustrationTags: , , , , , , , , ,

A Time to be Thankful

As I sit here I find that many things have changed in the world. While those around me are improving, growing, and moving on with their lives, I see myself in the same place. A state of limbo I feel somewhat stuck in perpetually. However, despite that, I choose to be positive and grateful for what I have. It is incredibly easy to be cynical and bitter about the things we don’t have (I admittedly have done this), but it takes a stronger will to appreciate all that is right in front of you.

I know that while my family may get on my nerves quite often (and honestly, whose doesn’t?), they are always there for me and have my back no matter what. And my close circle of friends has been amazing. I am who I am because of all of them and I wouldn’t have that any other way.

There has been an unexpected surprise this year though. I’ve started building great rapport with a community of likeminded artists on Instagram. That is extremely unexpected considering my disdain for all social media. It’s a great feeling to be a part of a small group of artists who support each other. Their kindness and support has helped me keep up a positive mindset about the future. I am very thankful for them.

I’m not a writer, so many of these blog posts come as a struggle to me. But I felt the need show my appreciation for all the people and things in my life. I am grateful for all of them, no matter how small. So I hope you all enjoyed this Thanksgiving holiday weekend and ate boatloads of turkey and stuffing.

Thank you for all your support. Even if its just stopping by to give a look at some of the art and share it to someone else, it helps so much for an artist like me trying to get his feet off the ground.

In case you didn’t have enough, here is some left over turkey as a thank you.

Keep Moving Forward

by Categories: Deep Thoughts, IllustrationTags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Tabling at Wizard World Chicago

Jumping back into the Convention Scene, and I Met Mario!

It’s been a while, but I’m back to talk about a major event I attended recently. A few weeks ago in mid October, I had a table in the artist alley of a convention for the first time in two years. It wasn’t any convention either. It was at Wizard World Chicago and it was the biggest convention I’ve been to and the last one to use the ‘Wizard World’ name (starting next year it will be FanExpo). I wanted to write about this sooner, but other things and life stuff got in the way. But I’m here now to tell you about my experience at the show.

Back in 2019 I did a few smaller conventions that were pretty fun, but this one was the biggest yet for me. There were tons of incredibly talented artists and authors everywhere you looked. As I was setting up, the imposter syndrome crept up big time. I couldn’t help but think that I was way out of my league here, and I probably was. But something I’ve learned from many people is you don’t know how prepared and ready you are for something until you do it. You can plan and ponder these things until you are blue in the face, but you’ll never know if you are truly ready and able until you jump into the water with both feet. So that’s what I did here.

I’m glad I did too. Overall, the show was great and quite successful. I had some new prints available and tried some different thing out at this one. What’s weird is that all these convention shows are super unpredictable. I thought many of the new things I brought this time would do really well and that didn’t seem to be the case. In fact, many of the older prints that didn’t garner much attention at other shows sold better here. Also, the day that was supposed to be the biggest day of the show turned out to be my slowest. I’ve learned now to expect the unexpected and nothing is predictable. I never know how these shows will play out, and while that is really terrifying as a selling artist, it’s also part of the appeal and enjoyment.

Let me get to what was easily he highlight of the weekend. As you may or may not know, these conventions usually have celebrity guest show up for all or a few of the days. This being a very big show meant that some big names showed up. People like Rob Paulsen (voice of Yakko from the the Animaniacs and many others), Paige O’Hara (voice of Belle from Beauty and the Beast, and William Shatner (no introduction necessary) all appeared. I usually don’t try to make time to visit any of these people because I’m usually busy trying to market my work and network with fellow creators. But there was one guest who I had to make and exception and meet…Charles Martinet was there! That’s right, the voice of Mario himself was signing and taking photos all weekend. Being that a huge part of my love and passion for video games, art, and animation came from Super Mario and hearing his voice, meeting Charles became a top priority. I have a bunch of Mario related fan art I’ve created over the years and I had to capitalize on the opportunity to have the voice of Mario sign one of my original Super Mario art prints.

I try not to show my face too much because I’d rather let my artwork take the spotlight, but I have to show off this picture to remind myself that this actually happened. I don’t get star struck, but this was certainly a surreal experience I’ll never forget. You can be sure that print is getting framed and hung on my wall. A massive thank you to Charles Martinet for this moment. He’ll probably never remember this, but for me it will forever be a highlight in my life. I only wish we didn’t have to be wearing masks, but it was a small price to pay for this priceless memory.

Before the show wrapped up, I made sure to go around the show and meet some of the fellow artists around me. Everyone had amazing work and were very kind and friendly. I stopped and chatted with many of them and made quite a few new art buddies. What I did notice is that many artist had their own published comics shown off at their tables. That reminded me how my own comic project has been put on the backburner for far too long. It’s long past time I dust it off and continue development on it. That will be a top priority going into the new year.

So that was my time at Wizard World Chicago. It was a fun and memorable weekend for sure. I learned some things and made some new friends. While I may never attend another convention the size and scale as this one again, I’m definitely going to look back and remember how fun it was as I continue my artistic journey at future conventions.

Keep Moving Forward

by Categories: Artist Alley, Comic Con, comics, Fan Art, Potato & BimmTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Knowing When to Take a Break

Sometimes its ok to walk away for a bit.
Just make sure to come back at some point.

Being an artist isn’t as easy as many people make it out to be. While on the surface it looks like all we do is just make pretty pictures for a living, there is more to it than that. As strange as this may sound to a bunch of you out there, it actually takes a lot of work and a ton of time. Even though it’s super fun and incredibly rewarding, the weight of all of it can be too much to handle at a point. When you pick up a pencil or stylus and it feels like a burden and a struggle, then you need to make a change. It’s a little thing us artists like to call…a break.

*gasp*
Taking a break from the thing I love and am passionate about? What blasphemy!

I know, it sounds crazy and absurd doesn’t it? But all joking aside, it really a necessity that many artist can easily neglect. Even if they are well aware that a break is needed, it can be difficult to distance yourself from you work. I fall into that group all the time. Which is why I bring this topic up here. This blog I started was supposed to be a weekly thing that I kept up with for the foreseeable future. However, after about a month of it I began to struggle with what to write about and it starting feeling like a hassle to force something out. Now a huge part of that could be that I’ve never been a writer at heart and always preferred to showcase emotion and feeling through visuals. I’m an artist, it’s what we do. Anyway, I reflected for a moment on what I wanted to accomplish here with this. I reminded myself that the purpose of this was to be a way for me to express my thoughts on various art/artist related topics and not worry about being struck by the almighty hammer of the internet overlords.

*cough cough* Facebook and Twitter *cough cough*

Once I remembered that, I realized that I was literally burning myself out. I exhausted all my ideas I had in mind, and I was trying to force out new ones out of thin air just to hold to a schedule I made for myself. While it’s great to set a goal and adhere to a scheduled path to reach it, sometimes it just doesn’t work out the way you wanted. I can’t speak for all artists, but that’s certainly the case for me when it comes to my work. I can’t force it. I need to brainstorm an idea and way to make it a reality before I can start it. I can’t just tell myself, ‘I will paint an elaborate portrait every weekend’. That’s just not how it works for me and it never has. It feels like a very rigid and corporate approach to this line of work. If it starts feeling like that for me, then all the fun and enjoyment is sucked out. I need there to be a bit of openness and spontaneity to my artwork so that it feels organic and not manufactured. When I try to manufacture something and it feels forced, the result always looks like shit. Then when that happens the demoralizing feeling creeps up and I begin the downward spiral of demotivation.

That’s just not how it works for me and it never has

So why take a break? I’m willing to bet there are many artists that don’t take a ton of breaks. That might be fine for them, but I can almost guarantee that those artists are already well established in the industry. Once again, I can’t speak for all the artists in the world, but I feel like I can say with at least a bit of confidence that taking a break from your work isn’t as hard when you know you have the audience and the income to get you through that gap in productivity. Breaks are hard for me to sit through since I’m still at the lower stages of my career. Whether a break is just a few hours or even a couple days, for me it always feels like an eternity. That’s because I’m not at the level I want to be and every moment I’m not working to progress forward feels like wasting time. I also know that sitting down and forcing work out when it just isn’t working is more of a waste of time and counterproductive.

When you feel like you’re burning the candle at both ends and you’re running out of wax, the best option is to step back and take some time to rebuild the figurative candle and maybe even reinforce it. Burn out is real for any profession. I felt some major burn out with this blog and some of my work. So I took some time to gather myself back up and resume with some fresh and exciting ideas. So take a break before your candle burns out completely.

Keep Moving Forward

by Categories: UncategorizedTags: , , , , , , ,

Rolling with the Punches

I had other things planned, but sometimes you have to adapt on the fly.

Life is unpredictable. No matter how much you plan and prepare, you never know when a curveball will be thrown your way. My family was thrown a major curveball this week. I lost the time needed for my planned topic so I had to improvise. I thought about skipping this week, but I made a commitment to myself to keep this ongoing no matter what.

There was a time where such a thing would throw me off and I could not recover. But my experiences this last year have shown me what is important. I know now that when you hit a large bump in the road that you need to brace for impact and adjust speed. You don’t stop and turn around, you slow down and maybe change your approach. But you keep moving forward.

If there is one thing I know its that I can take a punch. I’ve been hit left and right many times and I’m still standing. I’ve been beaten and bruised but I keep fighting. There is too much at stake to lie down and take it. This post is short, but it needed to be given the circumstances. I’ll return to my original idea for next week. And if something else happens then I’ll adjust. I’ve been in this fight long enough that I know how to roll with the punches.

Never give up. Fight on!

by Categories: UncategorizedTags: , , , , ,

Regaining Focus and Remembering “Why?”

I’m going pretty deep as I remind myself why I began my art journey in the first place.

I’ll start by saying my journey has not been an easy one. I have faced an incredible amount of adversity, especially these last few years. Rejection after disappointed put my desire and faith to the test. Last year specifically was the ultimate tipping point. The pandemic hit and affected every one of us in different ways. Like many people out there, I lost someone incredibly special. I was not prepared for how hard it would hit me. It took my already fragile mindset over the years and completely shattered it. I could feel myself scrambling to find a course of action to return to the path I began on. Everything I created felt like a futile attempt at a far off impossible achievement. What little focus I had was gone.

At this point I felt like giving up was an inevitability. When I did find the motivation to create something, it fell on blind eyes. I began focusing too much on becoming successful by any means that the art I made felt forced and lifeless. I’m not sure if I was actually depressed, but I felt like I was pretty close. I foresaw no end to all of this. An ongoing spiral of failure and letdowns that made me question my goals. Was my dream of being a successful artist nothing but a dream? Was I destined to fail?

What little focus I had was gone.

2021 began and I was about to break. Shortly after a talk with a good friend about all my troubles, I had an epiphany. I started thinking of my friend who had passed away and how he never gave up on himself. He faced adversity and never caved. And he would certainly never give up on me. He would slap me across my face and tell me I’m crazy for even contemplating giving up. I then went even further back and remembered my college graduation. It was the last major event my “Papou” saw. I remember seeing the pride in his eyes as I walked up to the stage to receive my degree. He believed in me too. By giving up, I would be letting them down just as much as myself. To do so would be desecrating their memory. I couldn’t do that, so I needed to take a deep look within myself and regain my true focus.

To become re-focused, I needed to remember my “Why?” Why did I start this journey? Why did I want to become an artist? I had to go back to when I was a kid watching all sorts of animated films and shows. The characters and stories they told inspired me and introduced worlds I could never imagine. I felt the joy and happiness they brought me and could see it in others. Video games entered my life and took that to the next level. I wanted to bring that feeling of joy to others as well. I wanted them to see my work and become inspired themselves. I needed to make sure all those who believed in me and had my back were proud of what I created.

I needed to take a deep look within myself and regain my true focus.

So what is defined as success? I became so fixated on financial success that I neglected to see that success comes in many forms. I started to focus on creating art for financial gain instead of for the pure joy of doing it. Success should be creating artwork that I am immensely proud of no matter what and makes people happy. Whether others choose to follow along or not doesn’t change this. That is why I became an artist. Keeping this in mind has helped me realign my focus on continuing to create great artwork for all to enjoy. It’s why I can’t give up. I can’t ever throw in the towel. The only thing I guarantee by doing that is ensuring failure completely, and that is not an option. I can’t do that to myself, to anyone who believed in me, or to anyone that my art has touched in some way. So I will keep drawing and creating to reach the peak of the mountain. It may take my whole life and I may never even make it, but I can never stop trying. That in itself is success.

Cowards never start. Weak never finish. Strong never quit.

Here is an exclusive Rosalina sketch that has nothing to do with what I wrote. Enjoy!
by Categories: Deep ThoughtsTags: , , , , , ,