i got my foam so i will start fabrication of the hand

for the left arm i plan to fabricate the bioorganic parts out of EVA foam covered in plastidip. as such tomorrow i plan to start a series of fabrication and experimentation. as well as use a combination of wire and rivits to build the fingers.

It actually works!

I didn't expect this to go so smoothly, but it works. Sound engineering next.

Xbox recycled parts

I took apart my old Xbox power chord to give my amp the 12v it needs,and it worked! Now I can use my car Subs indoor so you can feel the music

Storyboard thumbnails

I have been working on storyboard thumbnails for my animated short film, this is one of many pages. These are small, quick sketches of the sequence of shots in the film, with some indicators  to show what character or object is moving. I also note what camera moves are being used (but not on this particular page). The point here is not to make nice drawings, but to figure out how the shots work in sequence without wasting time on details of the backgrounds, props, etc. Especially at first I found it very hard to resist adding unnecessary details. The finished storyboard will be cleaned up and the characters should be closer to the final designs.

I have been using the black light paint in different ways on my model with drawing and what not, and working on finding the best editing process.

I am beginning my construction process for my final exhibition juuuuust around the corner. For those of you who haven't seen it yet, my plan is three window-like large panels that will hang from the ceiling. From there I will arrange them in a style of a bay window and display my photos on these panels, all around the same size (around 4x6"). I am shooting to also add some individual hanging photos (like the ideas Michael showed me in class) to perhaps mock some flowing curtains, but this idea still needs a bit more development.

I assembled a small mockup in my studio of my plan from the leftover pieces of foam board I had so thus far, this (with the addition of photographs) will be my overall plan for the BFA show. Spent a lot of time tonight printing so tomorrow and the rest of the week I will be planning out photos and hopefully have a panel or two completed by the end of the week.

Character Design Beginning

Here are some progress shots on a digital painting of one of my character designs. I am trying to treat the digital painting in the same way I would approach an oil painting, with strokes of color on a single layer.

This character has given me a lot of trouble, resisting my attempts to design her in a character sheet or a 360 degree lineup sheet. She became too restricted, with my original design not showing the strength of will and wildness that embodies her. In letting go of my strict self-imposed guidelines, I am able to begin drawing her in a way that sets her free as well.

The blue dress made my character look to similar to Merida from Brave, so I changed the color to a deep green.

What I have been working on

Over the break I worked a bit on the creation of the left arm prosthesis. I was originally going to make it a combat arm that was a prong loaded canon but as I sat there with my planks of wood and old umbrella parts I thought that I could actually make another multi purpose arm that could have some functions. I ended up with this.

It is massive before I nerfed it the full 180 degree extension is roller than me. Which works for the character I'm planning for it. I'm contemplating making Estelle a shy person who's massive arm is a eye drawing spectacle that others are drawn to look at.

i recently started to catalog the sources i pull from both fantasy and science-fiction

I recently started to catalog the sources i pull from both fantasy and science-fiction over on the blog I created for my story http://thworldofclearil.blogspot.com/2016/03/my-sources-of-inspiration.html\

I also spent monday tuesday and plan to spend thursday in the studio working. i made a plaster cast of a gear for mass making composite wood gears, i made a good chunk of another prosthesis, and i worked on ceramics.

I recently started writing my story. it is my first attempt at writing any sort of story so it is rough and raw but it is getting there. I am going to make a separate blog for my world creation and post updates there. and then just link to them. I will link to the the first post here once it is made and talk a little about what i am doing a little later her as well.

http://thworldofclearil.blogspot.com/

I've decided to investigate a more realistic style of still life painting and have been looking at the Dutch still life masters.


Pieter Claesz

James Aponovich was also inspired by the Dutch masters and I was able to find a video of him working. I thought that he set up his still lives but apparently he works from earlier studies and makes up a great deal as the work progresses. I find this mind boggling; to meld the closely observed style of Dutch still life paintings with the imaginative process of creating objects and settings that do not really exist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD5lxBrcpL0

Animation without dialogue

This is an animated short by Kyu-bum Lee called "Death Buy Lemonade"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaKxLJLj19E.
For now, I am planning on having no dialogue in my own short film. I'm posting Death Buy lemonade because it is a good example of how an animator can portray character and tell a story without words. The viewer understands the little girl's personality solely from her gestures and facial expressions. Excellent use of sound effects and music cue us into gags and clarify what's going on.  

Puntastic

I immediately thought of Tyler when I saw this.

i just lucked into my solution to making gear templates

i just lucked into my solution to making gear templates. i was watching a video on the ETC news channel on youtube this when at the end they pointed their viewers that were interested to a video of a marble music machine built by hand by Martin Molin  also mentioning that he documented the entire process. the process documentation was the key as i clicked on a related video of him making the wooden gears. this video happened to have a link in the description to the program he used to make the designs which is something i have been looking for separate from a CAD program as i needed one dedicated to gears alone. there is the online version and the program version.

I have begun working on how I want to use the black light paint in my work. This is my first attempt at getting a good water to paint mix without diluting the paint.

Concept Art

http://linesandcolors.com/2012/08/20/patrick-faulwetter/

For Becky and Tyler

Advice on Jobs in Concept Art

One of my three possible pathways for senior studio is concept art for a short story, as if it were going to be animated as a short film. While researching concept art I came across an interview with the artist Jonathan Guzi, a recent graduate from the Fashion Institute of Technology.

His journey to becoming a concept artist sounds a lot like my journey as an artist. In the interview, he talks about how he likes to draw and knew that he wanted to do wasn't just book illustration. He was inspired by watching films like Lord of the Rings, and movies like that.

Right now, Jonathan is working at 2K games as an illustrator and concept artist. I included some of his images below, and a link to the interview.

http://conceptartworld.com/?p=38701

This is an animated student short film called "One Day". It was created by Joël CORCIA, Bung NGUYEN, Thomas RETEUNA, Laurent ROSSI, and Bernard SOM (among others)  who were all students of a Parisian visual arts school called Gobelins.  Gobelins produces some of the best animated student films you can find, and this is one of my favorites. "One Day" eloquently tells a story in less than 5 minutes without a ton of dialogue. It doesn't feel rushed and it has a satisfying conclusion.  The animation, background art, and sound design are all great. It accomplishes more than most longer films. It takes less time to watch this film than it does to buy a coffee, but the story has stuck with me for a couple years.  This is the standard I will be striving for with my short film. Further tests and discussions may prove a film of this length and quality to be an unrealistic goal for one person, but I can learn from this example of what makes a great short film.

And I have an arm

So the base structure of the arm is done. Things I have left to do are to print the gears that attach to either side of the elbow. Make the fingers and thumb. And figure out how it will interact (painfully attach) to a human shoulder. Also attach the rotator to the shoulder as it is currently only 50% painted and still separated from the arm (sitting to the left of the shoulder in the photo). Update I have the hand mostly in place idea wise. I need to add a movement system.

Doug Rickard & Appropriation

"A New American Picture"

A link to one of the artists I am drawing a lot of references from with the use of appropriated images.  I would also like to incorporate screencaps from Google Maps into my project to build off the concept of appropriation.  Rickard re-photographs these moments from Google with his own camera and then displays them. Perhaps a method like this is something I can look into with my own repurposing concept.

Lee Jeffries did a series on homeless subjects around the world and used lighting during production as well as post production editing to get the final products. Not really my idea but it is an example of photos that have as much work put into it during production as well as the work put in afterwards.  http://leejeffries.500px.com/homeless

Urbex photos for Adrienne

Adrienne (and anyone else that can benefit from this, I suppose), here's a handful of photos I have from wandering around abandoned houses/hospitals back in the day. I've got tons, ask me if you want any more to reference ever.

This semester my work will take one of three directions.

Pathway One –

           

            A series of medium sized paintings that react to collections of ordinary objects arranged according to interrelationships. They will have an underlying mathematical structure like the work of Richard Ryan. The application of paint will be direct with an emphasis on contrast of brushstrokes and color similar to the style of Claire Sherman.

 

Thanks to Micheal I was just turned onto the work of still life painter James Aponovich. I think his paintings resonate with my first two proposals. 

Pathway Two-

            One or more large paintings that contain still life arrangements among figurative, abstract, and landscape elements; thus altering the context of the still life to suggest dreamscape. I will look at the work of Georgia O’Keeffe and Rockwell Kent.

Pathway Three-

            A series of small paintings that show single objects close up to depict an object in a way that is both literal and abstract. I will look at the flower paintings of Georgia O’Keeffe. I will use the old master style of oil paintings in which glazes are applied to a black and white underpainting, or grisaille, like in the work of Dennis Wojtkiewicz.

Imaginative Realism

     In acquiescence to your suggestions, I will narrow down my fantasy illustration proposal somewhat. I will be exploring the theme of realism through fantasy. This is still a potential minefield of semantics and oxymorons which I'm going to have to organize into a coherent defense. A very useful aid in this task will be "Imaginative Realism: How to Paint what doesn't Exist" by James Gurney. This book examines methods of painting the impossible/imaginary in a realistic manner. It isn't a step by step instruction book on how to paint dinosaurs or some such nonsense, rather it takes a look at how to "stretch the imaginative muscles".  James Gurney's artwork is super pooper dooper relevant to my proposal, and I will be delving into his long running blog for further research: http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2009/09/why-i-wrote-imaginative-realism.html

Artwork below is by James Gurney

 Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre

 

Been looking at a lot of different artists for inspirations for my drawings. Two artists that I looked at last semester were Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre. What I like about these artists are the rich photographs of the contemporary ruins they visit. Their photographs gives me a lot of content when I draw interiors or exteriors of contemporary spaces. One of their photographs in their series The Ruins of Detroit gave me direct inspiration for the composition of the drawing content of my first drawing. If there is anyone else who draws inspiration or wishes to look at the decay of urban environments I definitely suggest you check out these guys. 

 http://www.marchandmeffre.com/

 

 

Pre-Raphaelite Paintings

I was doing research for 20^th Century Art, and I came across a documentary on the Pre-Raphaelites Narrated by Andrew Lloyd Webber. I have seen some of their work before, but I have never had the opportunity to study their work in detail. The narrative of their painting, and their use of color and brush stroke reminds me of my own work.

The Pre-Raphaelite’s were very interested in human narratives painting topics, such as “history, myth, legend, religion, mortality, and above all, psychological drama.” They were interested in taking art and giving it back to the people, studying painting and engravings made before artists like Raphael began painting idealized portraits for the wealthy noblemen of the church. They used people they knew as models, creating realistic portraits within their narrative, rather than creating idealized figures.

The documentary is very interesting, check out the link below:

Documentary on Pre-Raphaelites

Paper Clay on the Trunk!

I created some paper clay from some cheap toilet paper, joint compound, and wood glue. This was the second batch where I added white paint to get rid of that puke yellow color. Definitely going to paint  it with acrylic. I'm stuck on adding another section to the trunk, I think it could work a lot better taller because it could act as shade and bring the viewer closer. I'm going to split each branch up top into two as well.

Tilt shift video

I thought Jarek would like to see this even and I do not know if he could use it or if he already knows about it but i thought I would post it anyway. I remembered this from when I read it two years ago and it popped into my head when we dispersed from class today.  http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2014-09-17/tilt-shift-video-from-the-tokyo-city-observatory-makes-the-city-look-like-a-toyset/.78885 

Exhibition ideas

I did some research over the weekend trying to examine how I could go about exhibiting my project, as well as looking into how I could approach the difficult concept of using found/appropriated photos in my project, since it has already come with some backlash from people.

I found some references from a few artists who exhibited a little differently. First was a photographer from Hong Kong named JC who exhibited his photos by clipping them onto wires hung throughout the gallery.  Since I'm searching for a different approach to the exhibition process, I really enjoyed looking into his methods.

Becky showed me an artist named Lorna Simpson as well, who incorporates found photos in her works, as well as a collage-d way of exhibiting her works.  1957-2009 is a work I found particularly interesting - Simpson came across a set of old found photos of a model and a man.  She re-created the photos herself, and framed and hung everything together as one. All the photos are small and framed tightly together, inviting the viewers to come in and try to figure out which are the originals and which are the re-creations.

Simpson also exhibited some works that were framed as collages, incorporating found photos in her works, incorporated with ink drawings and plates of brass.

Simpson's ways of working and her exhibitions, as well as her incorporation of found photos in her work is really intriguing.  The appropriated photos make sense in her works.  It's something I can take into consideration when trying to figure out how to play found photos into my work.