flatbeek art thread

[Luciii.dll]

man your work is so inspirational

 

[flatbeek !]

WEEK 18 OF A PIECE A WEEK
cotton candy skies


i was really busy this whole week that i didn't really have the time to do a piece until literally just now.

thankfully, i knew exactly what to do and how to do it, as i just got back from a daytrip and took some good pictures.

i've been spending a lot of time with a really close friend of mine, and i've been thinking about them a lot lately. i'm so thankful that we're as close as we are and that i can trust them with truly anything. they're always there for me and i feel so genuinely loved when i speak to them. i'm sure this isn't the last piece i'll make in thinking about them, technically it's not even the first, but i wanted to put out something that felt like it is with them: calm, open, colorful, and beautiful.

the name comes from this old song by this artist I See Colors, no clue if he or his music is still around but it was a song i loved back in 2020 and i just Had to make it the title.

wish there was more to add but finals week is kicking me down and laughing at me while i'm sobbing and throwing up on the floor so that's all for this week !

 

[flatbeek !]

WEEK 19 OF A PIECE A WEEK
SPLINTER


i love my best friend

they watched me work on this piece the whole time (for like two days while i worked on it it's insane) and the title is based on a love song i really liked since high school (MYRNE - splinter (feat. salem ilese)) and given that i really really love my best friend i asked if they wanted to contribute to this piece with writings similar to how i did in the top left.

thats all im writing about i think this one largely says enough on its own with that info.

till next week <3

 

[vgg19]

Nice artwork. How did you make it? Do you do it by hand or use some sort of software to compose it? Obviously some of them are layered onto photos, but the other ones like STOLEN and SPLINTER are super creative.

 

[flatbeek !]

Nice artwork. How did you make it? Do you do it by hand or use some sort of software to compose it? Obviously some of them are layered onto photos, but the other ones like STOLEN and SPLINTER are super creative.

typically i'll use things like blender to get the big abstract forms themselves, everything else is put together bit by bit in affinity (or if u go back far enough in the thread, photopea). there's a couple pieces--like SPLINTER or Forcing Inward--that i'll manually shade the form by hand after rendering it. i can never fully get the handdrawn look i'm going for with shaders in blender, so i'll often use clever editing on top of Actual Handdrawing with brush tool and a tablet to get the look i'm going for. i realistically could get that entirely with just editing it well, but i enjoy taking the extra time and putting the extra bit of effort into these pieces (even if, in a way, it's entirely pointless when there's a MUCH easier way).

 

[flatbeek !]

WEEK 20 OF A PIECE A WEEK
aimlessly


i've been struggling with aggressive strings of throughts shattering my ability to sleep or have a clear view on the way my time as an artist and furthermore as a human on this earth has been going.

i started a new medication to help treat my anxiety.

it works, but is making it very agressively obvious how often this effects me.

my brain is moving in such a way that writing this is even a little difficult. it's partially hard to focus and when i am focusing i'm finding it hard to articulate.

till next week

 

[neudaiz]

I really like this one, it's gorgeous. I'm wishing you the best- I hope with time and the help of your new medicine, things keep getting better for you.

 

[flatbeek !]

WEEK 21 OF A PIECE A WEEK
moodswing


in the past week of being on a medication that's meant to help my anxiety, it's been increasingly highlighted how much that anxiety has affected me in my daily life.

the prime example being that i went to a show down in bay st. louis because i knew the bassist through another friend (though we'd never met before). so i went to support their band, have some fun, and meet this friend. the entire night i was getting increasingly nervous for literally no reason other than "i have to talk to this person." after the show, i went up to them, said hi, they got pulled away by some other friends, and i left the venue just before having an attack.

it weighs on me a lot that social interaction is something i both love and fear. i've been really nervous interacting with other deskgen artists just off of this anxiety alone. i love making friends and getting to know artists and how they work and WHY they work the ways they do, i love learning and understanding people and supporting them, but my biggest hurdle seems to be just talking to someone.

i've had a lot of conversations with my best friend about this, and the thing they always stress is "a LOT of people also feel this way." and while i'm sure it affects some people more than me (BLESS your hearts whoever you are), it's a comfort knowing that i'm not alone in it. i figured i'd share that lil story and where i'm at as a little push to say hey, if you're feeling the same shit, you're also not alone.

'till next week. <3

 

[flatbeek !]

WEEK 22 OF A PIECE A WEEK
TAKE A MOMENT


as long as this piece took, the reason behind it was really simple.

i wanted a new approach to my work, so i modeled something in blender, opened krita, and painted it as best as i could. i was aiming for a really traditional feel and i think i got that.

it can get monotonous doing a piece every single week so doing little experiments like this helps change it up and keep things fresh for me.

no emotional roller coaster to write about currently, just cool piece idea.

'till next week <3

 

[flatbeek !]

WEEK 23 OF A PIECE A WEEK
of solitude


okay so this week i was sick but also my best friend came over and they've been here with me through all of it so i'm having the time of my life regardless (i love my best friend).

it reminded me of when i went and visited them in new jersey (which involved a joint trip to nyc). i finally got around to editing the photos from that too which is really cool and i wanted to use one here :D

nothing too crazy this week, just a nice piece (except this one was made entirely on an ipad actually which was a fun lil challenge for me)

'till next week !

 

[flatbeek !]

WEEK 24 OF A PIECE A WEEK
Dear,


i'm not late making this piece i'm just late posting it here don't worry. the streak is still alive!!!!!

also happy pride month to everyone who is gay and also trans and also those of us on the ace spectrum

i love my best friend. :)

also terribly sorry for how unholy the squash is on this one. finished it on an ipad and i guess it just doesn't compress the same.

either way, had a lot of fun making this one!

'till next week <3

 

[flatbeek !]

WEEK 36 OF A PIECE A WEEK
GIVE&TAKE


WE ARE SO BACK

AND IM SO PROUD

I'VE BEEN STUDYING THIS SHIT

IT'S PAYING OFF

LETS FUCKING GO

 

[flatbeek !]

bleed through the season, bug
(inspired by saoirse dream - bug)



it feels deeply refreshing to be able to post art that wasn't attached to a deadline. last year was super fun and challenged me in a new way and i'm forever grateful for all i learned, but now i think it's time for me to step back and slow down as i create pieces like these. find new tools, try new things, make stuff true to what i feel without insisting i finish it within the week.

saoirse dream's s/t will always be a favorite of mine. it rings so personally to me and has found a way to speak what i've felt but had no words to describe across almost an entire year. to call it my "aoty 2025" would, if anything, be somehow removing the value it's presented as it's scored the most insane moments of my life. it's found itself in the ups and downs and been no more ruined or out of place in either. i've been endlessly enamored and inspired by saoirse dream's work ever since all nighter 5, and her work continually finds itself infinitely attached to my life as i've grown.

also thanks jack for showing me how to make pretty fog. <3

 

[vai5000]

WEEK 5 OF A PIECE A WEEK

STOLEN
(from thin air)

View attachment 1752

for once there wasn't a life-changing event that randomly happened this week, i got to experience normality for just a lil bit. in that, however i had some thoughts rushing around in my head. a lot more to do with my art and it's consistency in style or quality. i can feel myself getting a little better each time, because it gets a little easier to do some things just from how much i've gotten practice over the years, and especially working on stuff once a week is helping LOADS. even still, i find myself kinda looking back on stuff i was making even just a year ago and thinking to myself, "i can do so much better now, it just kinda feels like i have nothing to show for it."

and then i sat on that thought for longer than 15 seconds or so and realized that's such a stupid way to perceive my own work LMFAO.

OBVIOUSLY my current output of work is better than it was a year ago, I'VE BEEN PRACTICING INTENTIONALLY TO GET BETTER SINCE THEN.

me from a year ago wasn't as well-versed in the stuff i do now. and it's not that i was really BAD a year ago, just that in that year i've taken the time to learn how to make my work more visually interesting and making the effort to use it as a means of expression.

and even further i took the time to put my work and my journey as a whole in my art into context: i've been doodling on the computer since i had the capacity to open ms paint, i've only been doing art like this deliberately outside of a "making covers for music" context for about two and a half years, and in that time i've learned sO MUCH. i get worried often about my work not having a "style" to it the way others' might. but i look across everything i've ever done and then the works of artists that inspire me and i not only can see that the inspiration is sticking around, but that the stuff that i'm doing is increasingly it's own thing the longer i do it.

all that to say, i'm glad i chose to do a piece a week this year. it's letting me see things about my art i wouldn't have been able to before.

'til next time <3

beautiful work ^^