Final!

Hey guys,

Please come to my studio between 12 and 5 on Tuesday afternoon with your final projects. My studio is in 109 River St and it's #214.

To get to 109 River:
Cross either the bridge on Iowa Ave or on the IMU bridge. Turn right on Riverside. The first street on the left in River St. 109 River is the first building on the left. Here's a map: http://www.uiowa.edu/~maps/r/riv1.htm

If you would also like to show me redos or revisions on previous projects, that is of course welcomed and encouraged. if for some reason you cannot make it on Tuesday, please email me by Monday afternoon.

See you Tuesday!

Reminder

No official class tomorrow!

But, consider using the time to make/check your powerpoint presentations!

Brandon R's revised project

Lily's Blog Post

Interestingly enough, inspiration usually finds me in flea markets. Back home, there is a terrific little flea market in Sebastopol, a town about fifteen minutes from my home town. Sebastopol is right off the beach and it is a small hippie town. Almost every restaurant is vegan or organic; it has an artsy, natural, laid back energy to it. Anyways, every sunday morning in the summer, there is a flea market there. My mom and I would go and walk around, usually finding some kind of treasure. One time I stumbled upon a huge box filled with postage stamps, and got inspired. Another time I found a box of old typewriter keys along with inspiration. Another time I found a spool of copper wire and inspiration struck again. It’s in the small oddities, people random unwantables that I find beauty and the desire to create. I really like creating art using mixed media, so the treasures I find at flea markets are perfect to fiddle with and work with in my art.

Also, Sebastopol is simply a very artistic town. Just walking around down town or driving past town to get to the beach, I can get inspired to create just by looking around.

Check out some pictures of Sebastopol at the website below. Go to the photo gallery, by clicking on the picture in the middle of the screen on the left.

http://www.sonomauncorked.com/wine-country-places/sebastopol-and-west-county/

Nico's Blog Post

Whenever the question of what inspires me arises I don’t know what to say. As children we all have huge imaginations. We can take a few rudimentary things and in our minds create something fantastic. It never mattered if things looked accurate or right technically as long as we could tell what it was. I incorporate that aspect into some of my own work. Mainly I do sculpture but even today there is no rhyme or reason to what I do. I am inspired by things in everyday life and I use whatever might be lying around let it be wood, clay, wire, glass, or what have you. I like to make things that are different and interesting to look at even if they are weird or bizarre.

One artist that I look to for inspiration in my own work is a sculptor known as Red nose. Red nose does quite a bit of figure work. However, one thing that is cool about red nose’s work is that his figures aren’t necessarily proportionally accurate but they are very cool.

Here is a link so you can check out his stuff. Its kind of weird stuff but I think his technique is pretty sweet.

http://www.rednosestudio.com/index.html

Chris's Blog Post

Miniature games are the reason I became interested in Art. Specifically the assembly and painting aspect of small plastic or pewter figures. Today I play several miniature games namely; Blood Bowl, Warhammer 40,000 and Warmachine. The object of these games is to take your army of little figures and wreck your opponents army(using dice). However, the amount of time I've spent playing these games is almost nothing compared to the time I've spent assembling/painting my armies of little men. Not only can you paint the miniatures, many people use a two part epoxy (green stuff) to customize their miniatures. Some people Even sculpt totally unique miniatures completely out of green stuff.

Most miniatures range from ¾ inch to 3 inches tall with most falling around 1.5 inches. They are typically depictions of various types of warriors from varying genres. The two games I play; Warhammer 40,000 and Warmachine are both set in their own unique worlds with background material made up about the various armies available to do battle for you (the fictional background is called “fluff”). Not only can you paint and customize your forces, you can do so in keeping with the background set out by the creators of the game (or not if you don't like it). Once I got further into the miniatures game hobby I started to look on line for inspiration and ideas for painting. I came across a competition for Warhammer 40,000 miniature painting held yearly in different cities (and countries) called the “Golden Demon” competition. I was totally blown away by the work I saw. The amount of detail on these tiny miniatures blew my mind. This summer I had the chance to one of my favorite painters/sculptors in the field named Joe Orteza. Joe has won multiple Golden Demons including a Blood Bowl team that is one of my favorite works I've ever seen. I attended GenCon in Indianapolis (really big 4 day gaming convention) where I took a class about green stuff sculpting taught by Joe. I was able to see some of his work in person. It kicked ass! Ridiculous amounts of detail, it was more than I could probably ever do, but Joe and other artists like him are a wellspring of ideas for me when I'm assembling and painting my own stuff. Below are some links to stuff I think is pretty cool, and links to the two company websites of the games that I play. If anyone is interested in seeing any of the little guys I have painted let me know and I would happily bring some in.
-Chris
www.games-workshop.com
http://privateerpress.com/
http://www.sodemons.com/gd29baltimore/13-honorable/index.htm

Grid Instructions

here's a recap of the instructions for making the grid thingy:

1. cut a 6 x 8 inch window into a piece of cardboard
2. with strings, create a grid that makes 1 inch squares inside the window (ie cut lengths of string that are as wide as the window and then tape them to each side, one inch apart. do this horizontally and vertically.)
3. draw a 3 inch grid on two sheets of your newsprint (ie each line is three inches apart)
4. label the columns on both your cardboard grid and your newsprint with letters (a,b,c...) and the rows with numbers (1,2,3...)

the more carefully and accurately you make both your grids, the more accurate your drawing will be.