THE CREATIVE PROCESS OF ARVUS ATTAMESA
I habitually set goals, structures and intentions that pull me forward to stretch my own capabilities, skills or knowledge.
I do this in all aspects of my life and my graphic art is no different.
The art of Arvus Attamesa is a very deliberate process of setting objectives, asking questions, and creating vacuums that can only be filled by me trusting my intuition and growing. This process invariably creates an internal environment of personal evolution.
In each piece I have created I have learned something new.
I habitually set goals, structures and intentions that pull me forward to stretch my own capabilities, skills or knowledge.
I do this in all aspects of my life and my graphic art is no different.
The art of Arvus Attamesa is a very deliberate process of setting objectives, asking questions, and creating vacuums that can only be filled by me trusting my intuition and growing. This process invariably creates an internal environment of personal evolution.
In each piece I have created I have learned something new.
FINDING THE THEME AND LANGUAGE
I almost never produce a stand alone piece as I love to explore themes. I usually give myself a limited number of pieces I must produce so I can feel I have fully explored that theme from multiple angles. This self-created-goal stirs up an internal momentum and so I set that final number, even before I start the first piece. (it ends usually up being five to twelve in a series)
When I have clearly described a theme, (I write this down) I will often spend hours and hours searching on the internet using various key words to study how these words are visually expressed in our different cultures. I'm deeply passionate about the things that unite us as a species, so I will explore these themes in various languages and religions too, so I can find cross-cultural consistencies within the visual language I aim to create.
Once I feel I have a broad enough pallet of the visual vernacular of a given theme, I will then start working on creating the primary form of the first image. This maybe as simple as defining the shape of a human element and its connection to the context, or the key elements and how they relate to each other. This process alone can often take up as much as 50% of the total time I spend on a piece.
CREATE, STOP, CREATE, REPEAT
Once a concept or structure of a new piece has formed, I then start with either a sketch in pencil, or oils or do mock-ups in various pieces of software with combined photos, 3D models I've created, or any other medium that I feels right. From this stage to 90% completion each piece takes on its own life and certain elements will speak to me and tell me that they are becoming more or less important and the piece starts to reveal itself.
Sometimes when I get stuck and feel that the piece has lost its way I will leave it for days, weeks, or even months until it feels right to come back to it. During this break I will start other pieces of the same series; as often the process of creating a new piece helps me solve the problem(s) in its sibling. This is why I love to work on multiple related pieces simultaneously as they all help each other.
FRIENDS & REFINEMENT
When I get to that stage when I can look at the image and go "yeah! - almost there", I then share the draft piece with close friends whom I feel will respond to it. I'm blessed with knowing wise, intelligent, incredible people who stretch me but also support me, and so all the pieces that I have released have had input, criticism and creative suggestions from many others prior to completion.
I believe that for a piece of art to speak to wide populous it should trigger innate truths or emotions that transcend an era or a given culture, thus having these early responses is a critical step that each piece must go through before it is ready to be released.
The penultimate stage is the refinement of the colours, the lighting, the detailing etc,
basically anything that enhances the primary intent of the image.
THE LAST STEP
The final stage is printing the piece out very large, usually 2-3 metres wide or tall. Only at this size can I take in the whole piece at an emotive level while also seeing all the technical things that must be corrected.
After the piece gets its final "tweaking" it is then released into the wild!
This process can take anywhere from a couple months to a year or so.
I almost never produce a stand alone piece as I love to explore themes. I usually give myself a limited number of pieces I must produce so I can feel I have fully explored that theme from multiple angles. This self-created-goal stirs up an internal momentum and so I set that final number, even before I start the first piece. (it ends usually up being five to twelve in a series)
When I have clearly described a theme, (I write this down) I will often spend hours and hours searching on the internet using various key words to study how these words are visually expressed in our different cultures. I'm deeply passionate about the things that unite us as a species, so I will explore these themes in various languages and religions too, so I can find cross-cultural consistencies within the visual language I aim to create.
Once I feel I have a broad enough pallet of the visual vernacular of a given theme, I will then start working on creating the primary form of the first image. This maybe as simple as defining the shape of a human element and its connection to the context, or the key elements and how they relate to each other. This process alone can often take up as much as 50% of the total time I spend on a piece.
CREATE, STOP, CREATE, REPEAT
Once a concept or structure of a new piece has formed, I then start with either a sketch in pencil, or oils or do mock-ups in various pieces of software with combined photos, 3D models I've created, or any other medium that I feels right. From this stage to 90% completion each piece takes on its own life and certain elements will speak to me and tell me that they are becoming more or less important and the piece starts to reveal itself.
Sometimes when I get stuck and feel that the piece has lost its way I will leave it for days, weeks, or even months until it feels right to come back to it. During this break I will start other pieces of the same series; as often the process of creating a new piece helps me solve the problem(s) in its sibling. This is why I love to work on multiple related pieces simultaneously as they all help each other.
FRIENDS & REFINEMENT
When I get to that stage when I can look at the image and go "yeah! - almost there", I then share the draft piece with close friends whom I feel will respond to it. I'm blessed with knowing wise, intelligent, incredible people who stretch me but also support me, and so all the pieces that I have released have had input, criticism and creative suggestions from many others prior to completion.
I believe that for a piece of art to speak to wide populous it should trigger innate truths or emotions that transcend an era or a given culture, thus having these early responses is a critical step that each piece must go through before it is ready to be released.
The penultimate stage is the refinement of the colours, the lighting, the detailing etc,
basically anything that enhances the primary intent of the image.
THE LAST STEP
The final stage is printing the piece out very large, usually 2-3 metres wide or tall. Only at this size can I take in the whole piece at an emotive level while also seeing all the technical things that must be corrected.
After the piece gets its final "tweaking" it is then released into the wild!
This process can take anywhere from a couple months to a year or so.