Hello Steemit! Introducing Myself: An Artist/Weirdo Who Just Wants To Make You Smile :)
Hi Steemians!
My name is Eli Makani Smith, and I am an artist from San Diego, California, in the U.S.
Me, on the right, with my wonderful girlfriend
Steem.what?
While I was traveling around Southeast Asia last year with a couple friends (@codymaui and @jillwirt), we were talking about cryptocurrency, and blockchain tech in general, and they suggested I check out this awesome new thing called Steemit! (Thanks guys!) While I am not an extremely technical person, I have done my research and am very excited about blockchain as a whole, and since I am an artist who is looking to share my craft and connect with people online, this seemed like a great thing for me to check out. So, several months ago, I opened an account. I've been pretty shy about posting until now, so sorry about that! It's probably more my loss than it is yours, but any way, here I am!
And I'm excited to be here! I am looking forward to learning more about all of you lovely Steemians, and also to sharing my creative endeavors with you.
My Background
Before I share some of my artwork, let me tell you a little bit about myself.
I am originally from Hawaii, but moved to the west coast of the United States a decade ago. I attended college in Washington (state), then moved to Sacramento, California in 2013. Eventually, I decided to chase some warmer weather, and moved to San Diego in December 2014.
I have a degree in mathematics, and eventually found a job with an engineering firm, but office work drove me to the edge of insanity, so I finally said "screw it!" and quit my good-paying job to pursue a life doing the one thing that I have always enjoyed: drawing. (I know...it's a complete change in direction...so much for that expensive math degree!)
Art!
And that brings me to the stuff that I'm really excited to share with you...my artwork!
I experiment with different media often, but I mostly stick to drawing. I have done lots of work with graphite pencils. Lately I have been loving ballpoint pens, and other ink. Most recently (like, over the past week or two) I have been playing with alcohol-based markers, which are fun so far!
I will try not to go into too much detail in this post, but here is a general overview of my artistic growth:
Portraits (graphite, pastel, etc.)
About 10 years ago, I began teaching myself how to draw people. At first it was a bit challenging...
But eventually I got a little better...
Over the years I have also dabbled with pastels, and even some collage work...
Side note: This Bob Marley collage portrait is, to this day, one of my personal favorite creations.
Eventually I gravitated towards graphite pencil and ink, and I am generally quite pleased with my progress as a portrait artist...
...but, honestly, I got a little bored.
Ink Doodles
Like I said earlier, I studied math in school. In the classroom, it was always just the thing that made most sense to me...it's how my brain seemed to work. I think that really shows in my earlier artwork. I essentially learned how to copy a photograph onto a piece of paper using a pencil (and some other tools). My friends and family would say, "you're so creative!" and my only thought would be, "I really don't think I am."
And that's why I got bored. The process felt too mechanical, too systematic...I thought it lacked imagination.
So I took a step back and decided to let myself doodle freely for a while...
I must say, it was very liberating! It felt good to just create without worrying about how much my drawings looked like a picture.
Then, about a year or two ago, I discovered some amazing surreal artists on Instagram. Tai Taeoalii (http://www.instagram.com/artbytai) and Shawn Byous (http://www.instagram.com/byousart) are two that come to mind while I write this. Seeing such amazing creativity combined with great technical skills motivated me to reach a little higher with my own work.
Surreal Weirdness
Which led me to discovering a whole new "me".
Inspired by Tai's work, I picked up a ballpoint pen, and began to explore more surreal subject matter, while also applying some of the rendering skill I had acquired after years of drawing people. And OH MY GOD IT'S SO FUN!
I drew some giant bugs...
...and made some "mashups" of living things...
...and then I started aiming to be a little more surreal with it...
Anyway Steemians, I feel like this post is going on too long...
But that's where I am now! I like to illustrate surreal figures, often combining human figures with other animals, or including body parts, like ears or noses, where they shouldn't be. In my point of view, my work seeks a balance between two sides of my mind. My "math brain" likes things to be orderly, and to make sense, while my "creative brain" just wants to have fun, be free, and get weird! So I draw things that satisfy both of them...things that are at the intersection of imagination and sense.
I also love to share my work with others. Whether it makes you smile (I hope it does!) or makes you say "what the fuck is wrong with this guy?!" (or both!)... it brings me so much joy to see/hear/read how people react.
So please, say hi below! If you feel like it, leave a comment to let me know what you like, or don't like, about my work. And if you do like it, I would appreciate some encouraging upvotes or resteems! But I'll love you all the same if you don't do any of that ;)
I can't wait to meet all of you wonderful people! Sorry this dragged on so long...I promise I'll try to keep it more concise and focused in the future.
Until next time... Aloha! 🤙
P.S. You may have noticed that some of my older work was signed as "Smith", while most of the new stuff is signed as "Makani". I promise it's all mine! I just decided that "Smith" is far too ordinary, so for the past 4 years or so I've been signing everything with my middle name.
Links:
I try to be active on these other networks:
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/makanicreative
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/makanicreative
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/makanicreative
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/makanicreative
If you're on any of them, feel free to say hi there too!
Damn, that is sick art, love it :)
Totally deserving an upvote + a resteem for more publicity!
Greets, @theaustrianguy
Thank you! Much appreciated!
Hello makanicreative! Welcome to Steemit! Hope you'll like the community here. As a start, here are 5 tips that we believe will be helpful to you:
For a detailed writeup, check our post Getting Started: 5 Essential Tips for New Users.
Good luck on your Steem journey! Follow us if you like to receive more helpful tips and maximize your Steemit experience.
Thanks for the info!
Thanks for the kind words, and for the tip! I will be sure to include that tag on future posts!
And yesss...screw a degree! Well I guess they're good for some people, but I really wish I had known what I would end up doing before paying for it hahaha
LOL! Definitely! Hey, everything happens for a reason! Really, good luck man! Looking forward to seeing more!
Just gotta go with it! 😅
![go with flow.gif](https://steemitimages.com/DQme25C3JS5RSbz4ihKsYv14gBBSUxf7Yhyz37hyf4JUobT/go%20with%20flow.gif)
Lol nice to connect with you. Stay in touch :)
Welcome, Eli! Great to have you here, friend. You are indeed a gifted artist! Looking forward for moreeee. Followed, upvoted and resteemed ;)
Thanks! I appreciate the kind words! And the rest of it too...APPRECIATION ALL AROUND!
Wow! You're so skilled! Thanks for sharing your work!
Thank you! I'm happy to share it! More to come
Sounds good.
welcome to steemit platform, please note the Time of publication, This is probably another overlooked factor. As you might or might not have suspected, the best days to publish your content are Monday-Thursday. On weekends there's seems to be less activity. The best time to publish is a time where the most people in America, Europe and Asia are awake and are most likely to have to access to SteemIt.
Thanks for the advice @nicholasmwanje ! I'll keep that in mind for the future
Welcome to steemit. I’ve only been on here for about 2 weeks. I signed up last year but hadn’t done anything till 2 weeks ago. You have a lot of talent. I really enjoyed some of your work. The pizza and beer drawing is cool. I hope steemit treats you well. It’s been umm an opening experience to say the least. I wish I would’ve started in July when I signed up. You have some really cool work. There’s so much to learn on here.
Thank you @sunnyego! So far so good, for me. Do you like steemit so far? I'm enjoying it. People seem to be very engaged here, which is nice.
Welcome to Steemit!
Amazing art man, fantastic stuff. You will fit in really well here. Always awesome to see creative people come on board!
The blockchain needs people like you!
Welcome once again :)
Thank you @jongolson, I appreciate that!
I'm very excited to be here! So far, I have found much of the content on steemit to be both educational and entertaining, and I love how engaged people are.
I'm looking forward to seeing steemit grow...and to meeting more awesome people like yourself :)
Hello @makanicreative.
I promote your post in the @thedarkhorse contest - Pay It Forward Curation Contest (Week 6) Because I think your post is genuine and with high value content.
Welcome to Steemit, enjoy it. Always be genuine.
Bye
Thank you @victorsilab :) That is very kind of you. I am happy that you enjoyed my content!
I think I should submit an entry to the contest now, and pay it forward!
Love your work!