Double Chin

Friday, June 30, 2006

stud from the future, or the past? Or the past future????

Man, he's such a handsome devil. I'd tap THAT. *

I usually draw ladies. So here is a man. This is an acrylic painting on canvas board, with a piece of paper from an encyclopedia.
And since I've been so decadently over-embellishing lately, making super busy compositions... I practiced some restraint and tried to keep this one simple, minimalist.
And, I still suck mightily at painting hair. But... it gets a little better each time.





*I most definately would NOT tap that. ew.

Thursday, June 29, 2006

A Feast of Victory

orange and faded


I'm very in love with the hazy variable screen that putting tape on the edges of the collage creates.

I've been doing lots of other studies in my sketchbook, mostly to do with drawing drapery, and with the effects of lighting design on rooms... but none of that feels overly compelling to post.
These color, saturation, and texture explorations feel much more important right now.

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Landscapes




Today, some experimental little variations on an environment, with digital collage. Nothing too polished, more just looking for a feeling and atmosphere. I've done so little landscape and scenery before, it feels like such a fresh, unexplored visual world for me.

The only collage that I created the photography for is the middle one; the others are assemblies of many photos gleaned from various random sources on the interweb (and for which I take no credit, save for the recombination, and photoshop manipulation/assemblage). I hope no one sues me. Believe me, I sure ain't making money off of these.
Copyright issues freak me out.

Monday, June 26, 2006

doodlin... and some early morning written images

I totally very much want to make that shirt. And soon I will learn how... oh, the power of textiles will soon be MINE! MWAHAHAHAHA!



Written early in the morning:


We die together
in this bush.
Under the berry bush.
A cloud dissolving into the sky,
an island elipsed by water,
a teaspoon of sugar dissolved in juice.

I planted a garden in this row,
in the black earth that rings our yard.
I grew carrots and potatoes,
You thought about lovely, brooding things.
I had babies,
they grew like our garden,
and the sun shone down on them.
Insects bit at them,
Most survived (but not all.)
We went on vacation together,
You and I.
We walked the beaches.

The Beatles:
Paul McCarthy still sings.
Something something still writes.
John Lennon is dead.
Something something else still writes.

"But isn't he dead?"
"Yes, but someone with the name 'something something' still writes."

Your form changed.
So did mine.

The water table levels rose in the soil,
we ate my vegetables
and shellfish (from our trip.)

Now we die
One then another
Under the berry bush
The water level rising above us to cover
our heads,
the branches,
the continent.

I'm surveying it now,
and I love the way the sugar dissolves.

Battles and photos

I've been having lots of headaches trying to post things on blogger lately, simply because my internet is acting slow and stupid, and blogger itself is being difficult to connect to. Thus I can only hope that this post even makes it up.


But I shall push ever forward, heroically fighting the digital monsters and armies of evil slow connections. And maybe someday, the true light of High Speed will return to shine upon this weary land.

Friday, June 23, 2006

We Implore You

Save us, Jesus. Come back to us, Unicorn.

Once I believed in both of you, and I miss it.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Create a sense of mood and place

All done through a combination of hand collage and photoshop manipulations.




Wednesday, June 21, 2006

watercolor and collage

When having a bad day, it's probably not a great idea to pull out the medium that you haven't used in years and seldom have the patience to use properly... and then use it for a self-portrait. Nonetheless, one bored, crappy evening a couple days ago I decided that was exactly what I was going to do. I find the results quite interesting, in a questionable technique-wise, but somewhat expressionistic, manner. It's an unplanned drawing (just going straight in with a quill pen) starting at one end of the picture and working my way around until suddenly the page is full of a picture. When I jumped in with applying the watercolors, I discovered that the ink I used was NOT waterproof, so... well, that was a challenge. Rather than scrapping the picture I tried to go with the melting ink lines, letting the black outlines bleed and see what comes of it.
The drawing is kindof Alice-in-Wonderland-ish, with the disturbed feeling of awkward proportion and slightly skewed perspective.
Collage is such a great way to flush out the ideas and themes that are dancing in the corners of your brain, but only come out in more subconscious ways.

I have some collage/drawing/digital concept art pieces that I've been working on lately for two esteemed colleagues' project, but am not sure if they will allow me to post them here, as of yet. Shame, because I'm pretty excited about them.

Last night I watched "The Blue Angel", the 1930 German classic. I very much recommend it; very engaging storytelling and acting... and a well played, traumatic ending.

Monday, June 19, 2006

Oil pastels are neato.

So I sez to oil pastels, I sez "hey oil pastels, let's go down to the zoo together, and try out some color action." And oil pastels said, "Why are you asking me? I'm just a passive medium."
So we went. (along with Jordon. Who actually drew the animals at the zoo.)



I love the Fauvists.







I learned about the use and abuse of color. I heart color!

Saturday, June 17, 2006

OMGold!

I now have the power... to paint... with GOLD.
That's right.

I plan to abuse this power in every way possible, as God intended.



And here's a photocollage, which I made before these wonderful painting-with-GOLD days (ie. two days ago.)


And a painfully gold-free sketch that I somehow still find it in my infinite compassion to like.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Lifedrawing





I realized during lifedrawing tonight, that I almost never look at the page when drawing from the figure, so it's like I'm constantly doing blind contours. Whenever I conciously remember to look at the marks as I make them, there's a distinct difference in the way I draw. More control (which, mind your, isn't always a good thing.)
The second last figure on the last page (shaded 3/4 frontal woman) was a doodle made up during a break.
To the people who've posted comments: thank you!, and sorry I havn't responded yet, I've been an antisocial schlub!

Judith prt 2


Ok, this morning, rather than finish getting read for an appointment, I decided it was more important to get distracted in adjusting the composition for Judith and Holofernes. I played with the placement of his severed head, and her arm, so that she's actually lifting the head, and it has more weight to it. But I liked the clear visual triangle and eyepath of the previous one... so I'm not sure which one I like better...

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Judith beheading Holofernes

I created cutouts with the idea of making a very simple little animation of Carrivagio's painting (relying more on sound, camera cuts and framing, simple movements to tell the story, rather than full animation). I don't think I'll be animating it anytime in the very near future (although it would be fun to make a little leica reel....) I was more interested in the conceptual end than the full scale production (hence why I would/will be better as a concept artist than an animator). As I was create the cutouts, I also spontaneously wrote out a little script for the scene.
Judith looks so sad, to me.

To make the cutouts for animating in photoshop:
I dividing the bodyparts and background into separate layers, patched up the areas left blank/revealed in moving the pieces, extended the knife, and painted in Holoferne's beheaded neck. I removed all of the blood, which would probably be best animated in, rather than as a cutout layer.

To show the changes, here's the characters adjusted to post head-cutting-off. I wish I had lackeys/slaves to do the animating for me.

Modified version:


The original painting:
The Judgement

Holofernes lies sleeping in the candlelight of his tent. Sound of campfires snapping, conversing drunken soldiers, occasional clatter of metal, from outside.

Holofernes snores. Sound of rustling cloth and muffled footsteps approaching in the darkness.

Young Woman's Voice: (offscreen, whispering) Danya, I'm frightened.

Old Woman's Voice: (offscreen, harsh whisper) Do not lose your nerve, child!

The widow Judith emerges from the shadows, her elderly maid follows, clutching a rough sack. T hey stand over Holofernes.

Danya: Do you love your God?

Judith sniffs.

Danya: Don't you want to protect His People?

Judith begins to weep quietly.

Danya: Do it now! That's not a man! That is our enemy.

Judith (sobs, looks to Dana, then back to Holofernes): Not a man... (she grasps his hair)

Danya: A beast, a fiend, a killer...

Judith raises her knife,

Holofernes (snorts awake): wha...?

Judith hacks into his neck; he lets out a bellowing squeal, but it abates as the blade slices his windpipe.

Danya watches with hate and bloodlust in her eyes.

Judith's eyes flickering, mouth tensed, the painfully wet sounds of the knife slowly sawing through his neck: past the windpipe, jugular, neck vertebrate, flesh...

The head swings free, and Judith holds it in shock, it's weight dragging from her fingers.

Sound of the knife clattering to the ground, and blood gurgling from his neck.

Judith stares into space. Danya grows impatient.

Danya: Quickly, you fool! Give it to me! (Judith mechanically lifts the head; Danya grabs it and stuffs it into her sack.) Good! You're a hero, child, now come on! Back to the city, before we are discovered.

Danya turns and scurries out; Judith is frozen, looking at his body, blood on her fingers and dress. She sniffs and whips at her nose. A streak of blood is left on her face.

The men's laughter continues outside the tent; Judith turns and silently leaves.



I couldn't relate to the couragous hero assassin Judith; I empathize more with those who feel trapped by expectations, and would kill only with heavy misgivings.

Morning collage


Monday, June 12, 2006

STEGOSAURUS and sketches

Study of a dinosaur from a 60s stamp/coloring book cover. My theory is... in order to be able to use color and paint in an intuitive way, I have to just keep playing with them, as often as possible. Until they feel as much like natural extensions of my thought process as drawing is.
I'm having a love affair with intense color, contrasts, and texture. They make me swoon.
My favorite sketchbook stuff from today. Just making stuff up.
Oh, and this one. Was watching a movie with Sarah Polley, and noticed that she tends to look drugged/abused in her movies. It's the whole 'Canadian realism' films she goes for.

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Buffet of things

Landscape done in acrylics (copied from old Walter Foster book)


Pretty Fall Tree (a stab at oil pastels, with acrylics)


Um... hands. Naturally.


I like trees.

Drawing in the livingroom.



I have some other sketches I like and will post, but this is enough for one entry. Geez.
OOOH, yeah, but first, two photos!

I bought this little terra cotta sculpture at a second-hand store in New Orleans, and loved its cutely sinister quality. And couple days ago, I knocked it over, and the little boy's head broke off. After an overwhelming wave of surprise and dismay, and realized that it looks even better this way.
Some day these kids are going to kill me in my sleep.


"Freedom! I want freedom!"
ha, sucks to be born a PET! mwhahaha.


I love my chinchilla.
Man, I hope I find a job soon. I'm clearly going insane.