Monday, April 19, 2010

Camouflage


Second week illustration for a poem containing wolf packs and sharp toothed loves. Was very jumbled when it came to this assignment and after a lot of inward childish huffing decided to just work on simplifying and actually planning out some sort of composition, because I lack any and all design skills haha!

Before leaving for class I looked at the image from a distance and my eyes couldn't really focus on the picture as a whole, like the last assignment there were two competing elements. In this one I really loved the wolf figure, and guess what? My teacher basically said the same thing, saying to further improve the picture by completely eliminating the back figure (which I may do later on).

The idea that this woman from the poem gained access to another culture through her loved one was really important to me. What was odd about the story is that she seamlessly is able to interact with them, when really no matter how much she would try there would always be her and them tenuously linked by a romantic relationship.

 Right now, at least from the perspective of someone living in an extremely liberal and open city,  people often want to push culture to the side so that they can take part in the surface culture of the American mass. However, even though we are told not to point out the obvious (and mostly beautiful) differences between each other out of a fear of being labeled either judgmental, naive or even racist, there still exists an overall insecurity in having an identity that automatically becomes exclusive because of natural differences in upbringing, religion or economic well being.

I'm not saying that everyone should link arms with "their own kind" and turn their back on everyone else, just that it's useful to understand that there's a power to being and insider and an outsider. That a person should ultimately be able to tread between the two without feeling guilt or shame. 



Thursday, April 15, 2010

Where we come from


Plato's take on where "love" came from. There's a lot that I learned during this process, and even with it's many shortcomings there are moments in this project that I'm really proud of, so I hope you enjoy these. Ironically I just got back from the SVA Illustration and Cartooning thesis show that dealt greatly with the Greek/ Roman gods, so on some level I was working right alongside them on something similar :)
(These were cut out and placed on plastic sheets so that when one opens the book one is introduced to all three types of humans at once)



(Zeus' head flips up to reveal...)


(THE HEAAAVVEEEENNSS!! *angels trumpet*)









Wanted the story to end in a way that shows the quest for our other part and how it doesn't always lead right away to the proper person. When I imagined the story all I could think of was this sort of rubbery squelching sound of the objects in space rubbing against each other as they passed or hooked into each other. Which really doesn't make much sense since there's no sound in the vacuum of space, but since the logic of the solar system was thrown to the winds anyway there can't be much harm in it haha

Monday, April 5, 2010

Gettin there.


A try at the ol' photoshop. Had a totally different idea about this piece but for the purpose of an illustration assignment decided to zoom in... I handled this kind of sloppily and like always I reverted back to sticking the primary compositional element in the corner heh, oh well.

See originally I just wanted the forest and this sort of lone light hanging in the back obscuring things and sort of illuminating the only colors in a primarily blue, black and grey environment. But then yeah, for the class I figured nobody would get it, it's too abstract so I added the girl. Then after the initial feedback I went back, and started wondering who put the light there for the girl to find. So basically the inclusion of one character totally skewed the whole thing and made me overexplain things! Dangit!

Don't even properly care about this like the original so whatevs! Am trying to be more laid back about things and just ride out this last part of the year. A lot of times I take things really personally, especially grades and school work and stress out to the point of malfunction.

So if this blog lags for awhile, it's only because I'm gathering my wits, or going into a semi comatose state to make the journey through deep space seem shorter.




Thursday, April 1, 2010

Fire Venus


For the first time since high school I did a lino cut. Our drawing class has been gearing up for this for the past few weeks so it was fun to actually produce something. There were some issues with the model, so we worked independantly for the first half and had the choice of incorporating her in the second (which I did).
When starting I wasn't sure what I wanted to do so just started doodling a little and eventually it morphed into someone who resembled the Venus of Willendorf, so there ya go
Of course when moving it to my apartment to finish, lining the plate up became a problem, but all in all it seemed to work out in the end. Enjoy more of my short rotund women!

note: Had an amazing day in etching today, but unfortunately the scanner at my disposal gets really fuzzy and I want you to see them proper. Must...learn...PATIENCE!