Whenever anyone stops by to see what I’m working at and asks what it is, it’s always kind of a difficult question. I suppose the closest name to what I draw are “monsters” but I don’t think that’s much of an answer…it’s just difficult to call them anything else; things that almost look animal or almost look human, but with slight (or occasionally not so slight) additions or removals from the figure: speakers wired inside of a mouth, eyes replaced with lenses, Jesus with a goat head and tubes plugged into his body, a face with no features but a single horn coming from the forehead, etc. All of these are initially recognizable things with recognizable emotional feelings attached to them (confusion, isolation, fear, etc.) but with these changes it brings a whole new dimension with the thing. I guess that’s why it took so long for me to find any sort of other artist to look on for inspiration, which is what made me so thrilled when I found Gerald Scarfe‘s illustration work on Pink Floyd’s album “The Wall“.
Though his work is more abstract than mine generally is, the subject matter itself and how it is presented is what caught my attention. Gerald Scarfe’s drawings and animations regarding the album/film focus on the same issues I attempt to capture, but he managed to create figures that not only showed the human features and emotions displayed, but the more inhuman and downright terrible facets of the subjects as well. The thing is even though only a fraction of what he’s done is what actually influenced what I’ve done, it was/is easily the most prominent of all the artists I’ve looked at for any sort of inspiration or influence.
Here’s some of his work: http://www.geraldscarfe.com/gallery.asp?work=Pink%20Floyd&f=4&ID=335
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Homework and Proportion
Sorry about today. I will be back in action on Thursday, and we have a model coming, so it should be great. Before Thursday, please check out this weirdo chart I've posted. It's the entire body broken down in units of heads. The human body is 8 heads high and two heads wide. But check out all the other crazy ways your body makes sense!
For the next two weeks for homework you will be working on a one page comic. On Thursday I'll bring some comics that I like, and if you have any you'd like to show the class, please bring them. For Thursday I'd also like you to consider what story you might want to tell in your comic. In the past, the comics that have worked the best told a simple story that translated well visually. We will discuss your ideas on Thursday. For next Tuesday I'd like you to have a sketch of your comic.
For the next two weeks for homework you will be working on a one page comic. On Thursday I'll bring some comics that I like, and if you have any you'd like to show the class, please bring them. For Thursday I'd also like you to consider what story you might want to tell in your comic. In the past, the comics that have worked the best told a simple story that translated well visually. We will discuss your ideas on Thursday. For next Tuesday I'd like you to have a sketch of your comic.
No Class!
I'm sick. Class is canceled today (Tuesday). Look out for a post later today with stuff for you to learn.
Monday, September 28, 2009
New Blog Project Schedule
The date refers to the Monday that the post will be posted (ie the day that posts need to be emailed to me)
September 28:
Jacob
Nicole
October 5:
Nate
Adam
October 12:
Brandon R
Emily
October 19:
Gus
Teresa
October 26:
Tra Thanh
Chris
November 2:
Niko
Jared
November 9:
Katy
Hannah
November 16:
Brandon B
Lily
November 30:
Erica
September 28:
Jacob
Nicole
October 5:
Nate
Adam
October 12:
Brandon R
Emily
October 19:
Gus
Teresa
October 26:
Tra Thanh
Chris
November 2:
Niko
Jared
November 9:
Katy
Hannah
November 16:
Brandon B
Lily
November 30:
Erica
Nicole's Blog Entry
Ever since I began to draw and immerse myself in the art world, I have always been really into simplicity. In film, music, the internet and all different types of art, I can always see the interest in something as simple as a portrait. In my personal work, I have done numerous self portraits and portraits of friends and family. One of my favorite photographers, Gage Young, has inspired me with my own artwork, whether it be drawing or photography.
Gage does a lot of work with some of my favorite band’s promo pictures as well as many portraits. He has also done many with the homeless. These photos are amazing! They are the simplest compositions, but he does such a great job capturing the personalities of each person. These images help me to strive for that same thing in my own work. If you can get that emotional element in there, the piece is even better.
Here’s a link to one of these photos!...if you have time, check out some of his other work!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gageyoungphotography/3194572051/in/set-72157600168260408/
Gage does a lot of work with some of my favorite band’s promo pictures as well as many portraits. He has also done many with the homeless. These photos are amazing! They are the simplest compositions, but he does such a great job capturing the personalities of each person. These images help me to strive for that same thing in my own work. If you can get that emotional element in there, the piece is even better.
Here’s a link to one of these photos!...if you have time, check out some of his other work!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gageyoungphotography/3194572051/in/set-72157600168260408/
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Instructions for Posting Comments
I think there's some confusion on how to post comments. The best (or maybe only) way to do it seems to be to click on the link under the post you want to comment on that says: (#) Comments. You can then read the comments posted by others and post your own. Let me know if that is not working.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Homework
Between now and next Tuesday, September 29th, please spend six hours quickly sketching people. Go to a coffee shop or the library or anywhere else where people sit relatively still, and make quick (no more than one minute) gesture drawings. Focus on capturing the basics elements of the pose. You can use whatever drawing material you like (I would suggest pencil or marker) and it would probably be easiest to use a sketchbook.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Blog Project Example
Hey guys,
Below is my own contribution to the blog project. Please read it and comment on it, like you will with those of your peers.
Remember when you're writing your own that the goals are to:
a) Consider why you like the things you like and offer some sort of critical analysis of a creative work that you enjoy.
b) Think about how the things you like influence you and how they contribute to (or might in the future contribute to) your own personal work.
c) Learn from what influences other students. Consider this a collection for you to draw from yourself. The things that your peers like and draw inspiration from may also influence you.
Keep in mind that I do not expect your entry to contain so much about your own work. I understand that you are still figuring yourselves out. I hope this project will help you begin to vocalize and define your own identity as a critical thinker, but I do not expect your influences to be so concrete and direct.
Alright, enough blabbing.
Example Blog Entry:
In my personal work as a painter, I am influenced by a wide variety of creative output. My work is primarily concerned with pop culture, especially film and television, the internet, comics, and design. I have always been an avid music fan (I have a radio show on KRUI, Wednesdays 12-1, if you’re interested in getting more me in your life), and I have recently given myself the task of putting what I most love about my favorite music into my own paintings. I have drawn particularly from one of my favorite albums of all time: "Black Sheep Boy", by Okkervil River.
The album is a bit of a concept album, with most songs written from the fictitious standpoint of a half sheep, half boy. It is overwrought, self-indulgent, and at times awkwardly and intensely personal. But the creation of a distanced persona somehow
"Black Sheep Boy" has directly contributed to two themes in my painting:
1. The distance between the creator (me) and the persona created by the art. For the past eight months or so, I have been working strictly with self-portraiture, and in that time I have been dealing with the idea that although the person I paint is myself, it is more accurately described as me performing my own identity, in the way that the lead singer of Okkervil River performs the identity of the Black Sheep Boy. I have been thinking of myself as a character that I am acting out, and this distinction has allowed me the distance necessary to be able to perform more emotion than I normally would.
2. Painting as a means of directly communicating intense, yet specific, human emotions. "Black Sheep Boy" is most striking, for me, in its emotional intensity. The lack of emotional filter between the Black Sheep Boy and the audience can at times make the album awkward and painful to listen to. This sort of direct connection between the viewer and the viewed is one that I am striving to achieve in my own paintings. Painting is in many ways an inefficient and inaccurate form of communication, so this second goal has proven difficult.
(In the next day or so I will post some images)
Below is my own contribution to the blog project. Please read it and comment on it, like you will with those of your peers.
Remember when you're writing your own that the goals are to:
a) Consider why you like the things you like and offer some sort of critical analysis of a creative work that you enjoy.
b) Think about how the things you like influence you and how they contribute to (or might in the future contribute to) your own personal work.
c) Learn from what influences other students. Consider this a collection for you to draw from yourself. The things that your peers like and draw inspiration from may also influence you.
Keep in mind that I do not expect your entry to contain so much about your own work. I understand that you are still figuring yourselves out. I hope this project will help you begin to vocalize and define your own identity as a critical thinker, but I do not expect your influences to be so concrete and direct.
Alright, enough blabbing.
Example Blog Entry:
In my personal work as a painter, I am influenced by a wide variety of creative output. My work is primarily concerned with pop culture, especially film and television, the internet, comics, and design. I have always been an avid music fan (I have a radio show on KRUI, Wednesdays 12-1, if you’re interested in getting more me in your life), and I have recently given myself the task of putting what I most love about my favorite music into my own paintings. I have drawn particularly from one of my favorite albums of all time: "Black Sheep Boy", by Okkervil River.
The album is a bit of a concept album, with most songs written from the fictitious standpoint of a half sheep, half boy. It is overwrought, self-indulgent, and at times awkwardly and intensely personal. But the creation of a distanced persona somehow
"Black Sheep Boy" has directly contributed to two themes in my painting:
1. The distance between the creator (me) and the persona created by the art. For the past eight months or so, I have been working strictly with self-portraiture, and in that time I have been dealing with the idea that although the person I paint is myself, it is more accurately described as me performing my own identity, in the way that the lead singer of Okkervil River performs the identity of the Black Sheep Boy. I have been thinking of myself as a character that I am acting out, and this distinction has allowed me the distance necessary to be able to perform more emotion than I normally would.
2. Painting as a means of directly communicating intense, yet specific, human emotions. "Black Sheep Boy" is most striking, for me, in its emotional intensity. The lack of emotional filter between the Black Sheep Boy and the audience can at times make the album awkward and painful to listen to. This sort of direct connection between the viewer and the viewed is one that I am striving to achieve in my own paintings. Painting is in many ways an inefficient and inaccurate form of communication, so this second goal has proven difficult.
(In the next day or so I will post some images)
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Don't Forget
We're meeting today on the steps of the Old Capitol, not at Studio Arts. Bring your newsprint, charcoal, erasers, and a hard surface to draw on.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Homework!
For Tuesday, September 15th, please complete two drawings. For these drawings I would like you to set up a still life. For the first drawing, remove at least half the objects in the still life and draw the remaining scene. For the second drawing, put the objects back and draw the entire still life. While doing these drawings, please focus on the way the objects relate to each other. What's in front of what? What's in the foreground? What's in the background? How can you make your viewer understand the depth of the still life? How does adding the additional objects change the ones that you had drawn in the previous drawing?
Friday, September 4, 2009
The Blog Project
A large component of being an artist is understanding the context in which we make work, and one of my goals for this course is to familiarize you with the greater art community. In order to help with this endeavor, each of you will write one blog entry commenting/critiquing something that is informing your art/aesthetic. For example, if you are really into fashion, you could write a blog post about your favorite designer's spring line. Or, if you've been inspired by a band or album, you could write a review of that. More traditional fine art reviews are also welcome. If you saw a show or had a museum experience that you'd like to write about, that would be great. I would like you to draw connections between whatever it is you're writing about and your own experience as an art maker.
Starting soon, two of you will post each week (see schedule, done in reverse alphabetical order, below). If you are scheduled to post the week of September 21st, you will email me your blog post by that Sunday (in this case the 20th). I will then post it to the blog. Everyone in the class is required to then comment on the post, and those comments will need to be made by class that Thursday.
The blog posts themselves do not need to be lengthy research endeavors. Aim for a few paragraphs and some links/pictures. Comments on the posts of others also do not need to be particularly involved. A few words, a link that relates to the post, or even a comment on a previous comment is all that's necessary. You will be assigned a regular amount of homework during the blog project, so this is not intended to take a ton of time.
If you have any trouble thinking of something to write about, let me know, and we'll talk about it. If you want me to proofread your post, I would be more than happy to.
Schedule:
September 14th:
Me (I'll start us off so you have an example)
Semptember 21:
Jacob
Nicole
September 28:
Nate
Adam
October 5:
Brandon R
Emily
October 12:
Gus
Teresa
October 19:
Tra Thanh
Chris
October 26:
Niko
Jared
November 2:
Katy
Hannah
Novemebr 9:
Brandon B
Lily
November 16:
Erica
Starting soon, two of you will post each week (see schedule, done in reverse alphabetical order, below). If you are scheduled to post the week of September 21st, you will email me your blog post by that Sunday (in this case the 20th). I will then post it to the blog. Everyone in the class is required to then comment on the post, and those comments will need to be made by class that Thursday.
The blog posts themselves do not need to be lengthy research endeavors. Aim for a few paragraphs and some links/pictures. Comments on the posts of others also do not need to be particularly involved. A few words, a link that relates to the post, or even a comment on a previous comment is all that's necessary. You will be assigned a regular amount of homework during the blog project, so this is not intended to take a ton of time.
If you have any trouble thinking of something to write about, let me know, and we'll talk about it. If you want me to proofread your post, I would be more than happy to.
Schedule:
September 14th:
Me (I'll start us off so you have an example)
Semptember 21:
Jacob
Nicole
September 28:
Nate
Adam
October 5:
Brandon R
Emily
October 12:
Gus
Teresa
October 19:
Tra Thanh
Chris
October 26:
Niko
Jared
November 2:
Katy
Hannah
Novemebr 9:
Brandon B
Lily
November 16:
Erica
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Things To Check Out!
Here are some links you guys should take a look at:
The Drawing Center's website
http://www.drawingcenter.org/
The Drawing Center is a museum/workspace in New York that shows primarily works on paper. Pretty rad!
MoMA's drawing collection
http://www.moma.org/explore/collection/drawings
Check out the links to the online exhibitions, especially the Dieter Roth link
The British Museum's drawing collection
http://www.britishmuseum.org/the_museum/departments/prints_and_drawings.aspx
Really good collection of Renaissance and Baroque works on paper
White Cube
http://www.whitecube.com/
Really successful contemporary gallery in London. Check out the artists they represent
Gagosian
http://www.gagosian.com/
Gallery associated with one of the most influential contemporary art collectors
The Drawing Center's website
http://www.drawingcenter.org/
The Drawing Center is a museum/workspace in New York that shows primarily works on paper. Pretty rad!
MoMA's drawing collection
http://www.moma.org/explore/collection/drawings
Check out the links to the online exhibitions, especially the Dieter Roth link
The British Museum's drawing collection
http://www.britishmuseum.org/the_museum/departments/prints_and_drawings.aspx
Really good collection of Renaissance and Baroque works on paper
White Cube
http://www.whitecube.com/
Really successful contemporary gallery in London. Check out the artists they represent
Gagosian
http://www.gagosian.com/
Gallery associated with one of the most influential contemporary art collectors
Homework
Hey guys,
For Tuesday, September 8th, please do another 6 hours of self-portraits from observation. Keep in mind the things we talked about individually and use the tips I gave you. If you are having trouble, feel free to email me. Use charcoal, newsprint, and a mirror.
Sorry for the confusion, but we will be meeting on Thursday at the usual place and time (studio arts, 1:30)
For Tuesday, September 8th, please do another 6 hours of self-portraits from observation. Keep in mind the things we talked about individually and use the tips I gave you. If you are having trouble, feel free to email me. Use charcoal, newsprint, and a mirror.
Sorry for the confusion, but we will be meeting on Thursday at the usual place and time (studio arts, 1:30)
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