Blind Beast

Had some fun today with a piece of copy paper, a pencil, a trusty Pilot Precise V7 Fine-tipped pen, and a quick pass in Photoshop (times like these make me realize how nice it will be to have a tablet again - can't wait for it to get here)! I am trying to push myself into using line-work other than thick-weighted outlines, which is why I tried to pull in extra details this time around.

The idea behind this piece is a take on the idea of people being incapable of "hearing you out" - because they are, for lack of a better word, blind. You could say that being blind can lead to some beastly consequences.

Character Sketches

Things are rolling along nicely this summer. I ordered a new Wacom Tablet today, and I am really looking forward to that showing up at my doorstep.

One of my summer goals is to keep a sketchbook handy at all times and to keep on drawing. Here's my first attempt at really getting around to filling up the pages of this sketchbook, starting with character sketches of a character I have always drawn.

Summer Start

Summer is here, and I am having a blast with my spare time. Here's a graphic I composed with pen and paper, then pushed further on Illustrator. I love this process and aim to do more along these lines - I would be very interested in doing promotional pieces for events, such as music shows, in this format. For now, I am composing quoted lyrics from songs I enjoy - creating new audiences for these posts as they hit sites such as tumblr.com. Here is the original scan and the finished Illustrator graphic:

Here's a piece I inked out tonight. The next step is to pull it into Illustrator and do a few tweaking via the pen tool (for example: the T's. They drove me nuts, looking first like stylized, backward J's, and now I see them looking like lowercase r's):

I have a handful of projects I am aiming to tackle this summer, including two [extra exciting projects] that will require me to replace my currently janky/scratched-up-&-un-working Bamboo tablet with a new one: thankfully, I started my first shift at my gas-station since winter break today. Until I get my tablet, I will be consistently posting more of these drawings as well as some sketches and comps, including a design that is going to be on tees, pizza boxes, and painted to a building (...for the gas-station). Here are sketches of my grandma that I did on mother's day:

Sophomore Year Finals

Finals have wrapped up and I am all settled back into small-town, Ohio. The 133d Annual Student Show was fantastically inspiring; especially the Friday presentation for the Animation/Cinematic Arts pieces. I definitely see the direction I want to head in this summer and the upcoming year, and am really glad to see such great work from my classmates. All 20 seconds of my Animation 1 final played in the "Animation 1 Sample Clips" portion, and my Computer Animation and Video finals made it into the Kinney Hall TV-Screen gallery that will be playing on loop next year, which I am extremely happy about! My two video posters got printed and are hanging in a collage of 6 other posters in Canzani, and one of my photographs from the first Art and Tech project made it into the photo room in Kinney as well.

I updated the Sheep final with sounds - a quick fix that made a huge difference. I definitely be adding sound to all of my future animations.

This is my final for Computer Animation I - also with sound, which happens to be a "demo" track recording from an old keyboard that is my 90's gem. This animation was a very big trek and feat for myself... animating in Maya was incredibly different than animating in a 2D program. In the end, I learned so much information that I am sure I will be visiting again someday.

And, finally - this is my Video 1 Final Documentary: a documentary about the Fredonia Mall, the workplace I shall be returning to this summer.

Here are my two video posters that made it onto one of the many walls of the student gallery on campus:

And here is the photo that made it to the wall of the photography room:

Art & Tech "Monotony"

Just finished my Art and Tech constructed images project today. The critique went very well, and I was really happy with the way it turned out. My project itself was 100 individual photographs of people watching television, exposed for six frames each, in an infinite loop. The project was displayed on a small television set hooked up to a small DVD player, and the video played to the song, "This Dirt Makes That Mud" by Liars. My idea for the project was to create a feeling of monotony, repetition, and disconnection. Here's a shorter, internet-friendly version of the video (beware! 10 straight minutes might leave you feeling weird) and a re-cap of the critique:

How do I understand this work?: “The irony of watching TV. A continuation all about the screen, what is on the screen – we watch the screen ourselves, then we watch the screens that the others are watching on the television itself. Everyone watches TV – this is a glimpse about human consumption of media. We are the viewer, and we are the idea. We are a participating part of the piece.”

“It’s like being in a museum and looking at the people who are looking at the art, instead of looking at the art itself. It’s completely different experience.”

What’s the idea behind this work?: “The idea of TIME, pushed into a fast-paced slideshow. The amount of time we spend in front of a TV. The amount of time we spend looking at these photos. The amount of time it took to take all of the photos. How many lives of our generation has led up to this point – the way technology has raised us, and how we are comfortable looking at it. Our generation, the youth – us, and the disconnection we have with the rest of the world while we watch TV.”

“Physically, the project is noxious, hypnotizing, frantic – the speed keeps the viewer anxious to look for detail – if they miss something, they want to wait for the loop to hit that point again in order to collect the detail. The concept of time is visited, again, with the idea of anticipation and waiting.” “Watching, experiencing the project makes me sick – which leads to the idea of asking the viewer to be a part of it.”

What’s successful?: “The speed, being noxious, works very well – not allowing enough time to completely focus. It really puts the statement of how much of our lives are about TV on the line.”

“The colors are crisp and clear – look HDR-quality – in some of them, you can see the gleam of the TV. The quality of the pictures mostly gives the added detail of what exactly is on TV, which is interesting, and often distorted.”

How could it improve?: “The rhythm could be played with – try having the television stay in one place, and have the people move from left to right around the television. Maybe just use the light from the TV and no other sources of light. Maybe include a pattern of different generations, from child, to teen, to adult, to elder, and again. Maybe split the TV in half, or include two TVs, one with photos of TV sets and another with photos of faces lit, watching off-screen screens – flipping them in succession, batting back and forth. Maybe have an installation with an included remote control that is sealed up, or maybe a remote that has no batteries/will not work.”

Warped Tour Poster Contest

My final project in Illustrator Graphics is to design a music poster - and I have had my eye on this Warped Tour Contest for a few weeks now. The prize is $500 and two tickets to the show, so I talked to my teacher and got enough motivation to really pull something together this weekend, before the deadline of the contest. I sketched the thing Friday night and just completed it a few hours ago (Sunday night/early Monday morning). I had lots of fun making it and actually ended up learning much more about the program that I realized I would. I hope that with a few critiques and modifications I can wrap this up into a nice finished piece for the student show!

The only requirements for the contest were some size and color restrictions, and to play off of the theme, "Music makes the world new". The theme of the festival this year is the Mayan Calendar - which is why I chose to make a beastly creature with a head-dress, and why I threw in a stylized piece of "ancient art" in the background. I put the coyote-cow in space with a guitar, to signify the fact that he is a rockstar-god of the universe, breathing/singing life onto the planet Earth.

My entry can be found/voted for here: http://creativeallies.com/creations/v551

Aquarium Poster

This was an assignment for Illustrator Graphics. The requirements were to make a poster that included an octopus and the words "Monteray Bay Aquarim, 886 Cannery Row". I have my sketched template as well as my finished shape-collage. I roughed out many compositions and also started on one before coming to this point, because I realized that doing the more serious preliminary sketch beforehand helps immensely. I am excited about doing more in Illustrator now that I am feeling more comfortable with the program - the final project is a poster for a musical act.