"The Birds!"

Bird Dramas 

          Initially meant to be a series of politically oriented illustrations of women and birds. I've been trying to learn how to use acrylics (so frustrating!) and am slowly getting the hang of it. But its so different and I think it effected how I create images. After I was done with the above I was like "Whoa, who made that? I didn't make that!" Even though it still has my signiature corner fetish composition going on and hooded figures it just felt so...stable? It looks so dense and heavy. Like a chunk of cement. 

homecoming (acrylic)

          Which means I made the next bird image in total retaliation haha. Where in the first one I was somber and closed in, here it became suddenly windy and moving fanciful even. I decided to follow the graphic pattern motif that tentatively started in the first, the only stylistic quality that links the two. This time though it was almost too airy and the colors too bright! This illustration reminds me of some of the old sketchers shoe ads from the 90s :)

Help Yourself (Acrylic, India Ink, watercolor, Photoshop)

          Should I talk about the messages behind them? I used to write such full blown explanations and now, the more time I spend with an image the more it opens up until all I see is open roads ahead when it comes to what they could "mean". Well though they've morphed during the process and have severed ties completely with each other for the sake of mastering a medium the thumbnail sketches depicted sort of a trifecta of woman at home during war. Since they would have all been swarthed in flowing burqua like clothing people could have read it as a commentary on whats been happening in the middle east, but really they could have been any woman. 

          Interestingly when I look back I had no interest in depicting the woman warrior. In the scribbles there are only girls being left behind to put back together whats left of civilized society and to watch the fires from afar. They're quiet and reflecting inward on their priveleged safety. Thats what the last image was supposed to be, the one watching from a distance, grateful but ashamed at the same time. Basically carrying on the proud tradition of romanticizing tragedy for the sake of entertainment hehe Maybe I'll go there in the future. 

But until then, two final papers having to be written in less than 48 hours! Wish me luck!

And then there was one

Materials: Graphite, Gouache, watercolor, photoshop, collage

Finally, something I'm truthfully proud to show you guys! This piece was my first attempt to reconcile my love of drawing and my lack of skill in real life medium. I have a lot of prejudice against computer art (giant art snob actually), and yet I keep being drawn back to it. Thus it's been decided that I should shrug my shoulders and give in to the fact that I'm a participant of a specific time in history and that it should be embraced.

This doesn't mean that I'm giving up on traditional art work, just that I should view digital methods as more than just a shameful crutch. In this image for example I started with a graphite drawing, keeping most of it simple except for the bird which I wanted to completely render so I could try out a different version of layering where I can concentrate on value and then introduce color ontop of it, a basic oil painting technique that I have yet to learn. For a moment it seemed I had ruined everything by haphazardly applying pigment but then found that sometimes in breaking down a mistake you find something new hidden underneath. Once a wall was hit, the image was scanned in and slowly refined in photoshop. Mostly playing with the color levels and contrast to bring out texture.

It's by no means perfect, but so much was learned in the process that it feels like a success.

(p.s Don't want to go too much into the concept, but the Santa Muerte has been on my mind a lot lately.)

Cold Blush

Initially meant to be part of the Fashion theme but then it evolved into something different that caters to my obsession of staring women, red cheeked faces and now depictions of women in communist china? No headshots for awhile PROMISE.

The figure was supposed to be sort of model-esque and default elegant but once I started searching for reference I stumbled upon a thread discussing how some Chinese women were having their faces surgically altered to narrow them so that they more closely resembled women from another region... which happens to be the original facial features I wanted to depict...

Unfortunately I can't find the original thread for the life of me. Anyway, it made me sad that the particular woman featured was so pretty before and now nobody will ever see that face ever again. So I used the woman's before face as the model. I wonder how she would feel that she had taken such drastic measures and a complete stranger like me had no interest in her new more "beautiful" face? Tricky Tricky. After reading her story it felt dirty to go with the original plan as if it somehow would be used to make more women feel bad about their faces!

This all really isn't meant to be linked with the illustration at all, it's just fun to share part of the journey.

Question for the day: Do you think artists have a social responsibility when creating?

Boobies got folds yo.

The other day I was watching that documentary/ film about the four different babies growing up around the world, appropriately titled Babies. One of the kids was from the Himba tribe in Namibia where the women coat their bodies and hair in a red clay that not only tints them a beautiful earthy crimson but also protects them from the sun that constantly beats down on them. They're jewlery is also very practical, particularly their tall metal anklets that protect their shins from poisonous snake bites! Plus the baby boys have these adorable little braided mohawks. Overall visually the tribe is visually fascinating and has earned a steady stream of tourists that borderline fetishize the proud women who walk around bare-chested regardless of age or body type.

And who can bloody blame them! I wish I could walk around shirtless, or at least wear sheer clothing. In New York it was actually legal, but how could one even fathom it when just wearing a skirt garners so much innapropriate male attention? How much healthier would the world be if women were allowed to bare it all without the fear of a sharp pinch or even sharper yelps? Though giant breast implants are now on the outs trend wise (hurrah!), what a breast actually looks like seems to still be a mystery to most. Since women arn't encouraged to be shown the breasts and bodies of others (because of society's rampant fear of homosexuality or honest sexuality of any kind) everyone just walks around thinking they're hella freaky and constantly apologizing, when really they're totally fine. Better than fine, BANGIN'!

At some point western (primarily American) culture decided that it was unnatural and unnatractive to be human... aaaannnddd to be alive.

It's wrong. They're wrong. The end.

Lots of Lions

Thought I'd try out my *cough* parent's *cough* new scanner on a little water color warm up I did awhile back thats just been tacked up above my desk for personal pleasure. Currently I've been finding prisms, diamond shapes and partially transparent substances really visually interesting, sort of to the point where its become like an obsession. Anything that allows for the warping of light really. Fleating apparations. If it had to be explained a prime example would be that burst of untouchable color out of the corner of your eye that blips quietly out of existence when you turn your head. Or when you see the tips of your own eyelashes.

Tundra Children

These guys have been walking around my head for months now. Once I was done with this quick experiment in damage control it came to my notice that they look very similar to the Pokemon Cubone. Maybe it's a relic from my childhood?

Either way, I like the idea that they just kind of roam around the vastness of nowhere. Looking back I wish I had payed more attention to the composition in respect to how big and overwhelming their surroundings would be. Maybe by like shrinking them down and showing more of the bleakness. But I hate having tiny people, I always want to be close to who I'm drawing! I'm in love with the subject of the picture, not really the picture as a whole. It's a personal problem :)

It's kind of nice to make something though. Even if this isn't the best I'm happy to actually be trying again. There's a lot of bitterness and confusion I had to get over when the last school year ended and lately I think theres been some personal steps in the right direction to fix that. The first, realizing that I you should make art first and think second! Stop focusing so much on limitations.

So much moaning and groaning! But don't give up on me yet I've been making presents for you guys!! Haha so stay tuned.

Gratification.

Freakazoids

A different kind of Venus.

This was a plate that was a good exercise but did not yield the results that were planned. Wanted to only aquatint without any drawn lines (only values/tones) which was done through putting the plate in the acid and covering the parts that were to be untouched with ground.

Unfortunately I didn't make it dark enough so it took me and my amazing teacher a little time to coax out some successful prints. It really goes to show that there's a mastery in just the process of pulling the print that is totally independent of what goes on with the plate.

As far as the image goes, I was thinking a lot about texture and calcium deposits, or how sea shells grow. How juxtaposition of two natural things can yield something monstrous and hyper-beautiful...Blah blah blabbity blah blah haha

One of us has to go

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

P!L!A!T!O!

Whoa, I didn't realize how bad blogger faded images, but dang these look awful! Haha, anyway, this is a snippet from an ongoing project in my Storytelling/ bookmaking class where I'm illustrating Plato's symposium, specifically the part talking about the origin of love.

Am not enjoying this project very much, mostly because of the pace at which we have to turn out work and the constant headbutting with the teacher over the medium I'm using (acrylic). Also the longevity of the project doesn't really allow for much growth. The entire class has been a bumpy ride because of the odd relationship with the teacher. On the one hand I think they're really nice and a fantastic artist. However my ideas and work habits are always met with borderline disrespect. Bummer yes, but whatever, will pump out the last few pieces and call it quits, FINITO SUMMER WHOOOO. MONTHS OF FREEDOM!SUNSHINE!BEACH!ICECREAM!!

"Is it a real owl?"

A Blade Runner themed drawing for a poster assignment. Was instructed to erase a few things and simplify for the final, but I very much like the original just as a drawing, enjoy :)

Going down with the ship.

I like to work in twos, and show in threes.

Am in an odd mood right now, most likely because am visiting home in Washington. Have been struggling a little, no "struggling" isn't the proper world for what I'm doing. What is happening is that I am watching things and getting mighty queasy. Am sad that I no longer write interesting articles for you guys, and that the art I do show you has de-evolved into silly doodles and watercolors.

Frankly I don't even know if I am an artist anymore, lately it's as if I have nothing to say and what I do want to say is better suited for miniscule scribblings that arn't ever going to be shown to anybody. And then they might as well not even exist because thats how much of a tole they're taking on the world. Around every corner theres something to put my work to shame and the place I thought I could make for myself in the art world seems to shrink and shrink and shrink.

What role can my silly ideas and clumsy hands have in a world thats already been taken over by flashy computer graphics and billion dollar budgets? None, there is no place for Rebekka Dunlap. I'm just going to end up another interesting yet forgettable blip in the ocean of trendy faux-creative vomit.

Bekka sad. BEKKA SMASH!

Training for naive digits.

1) A drawing of Self portrait with Cigarette by Max Beckmann

2) Rope from the pier.

3) Animals from the natural history museum. 

Pop Ups (part 2)

What contained has no lid but still holds golden treasure?

Sovereign

Was hanging out with a friend while she was painting, so I found a piece of scrap canvas and borrowed some supplies to do something too. Just thinking about stuff and some ideas, nothing serious.

The procession of bodies

I feel as if all I do is wake up, go to class and draw naked people. I mean, I really like Naked people, don't get me wrong! It's really an interesting experience that of course, dims when becoming habitual but, every once in awhile I'm really struck by how intimate it sometimes feels. Especially that moment when they're undressing. I still pretend to yawn and look away when they're meticulously peeling away the things that link them to everyday life. Am astounded when they take the time to fold their pants or align their off grey socks exactly parallel to each other haha.

I like how sitting for hours memorizing someones body makes one realize all the angles you normally don't see people from, and how skin folds and that these little quirks you see in your own body are actually mirrored in others. And suddenly all those commercial images of beauty seem to pale in comparison to what people really look like or you surprise yourself and really like something that in theory you would have thought really gross or unnattractive.

This happened to me a few weeks ago where we had this very petite female model. She was a little plain looking, even a little awkward. When she took her robe off though and turned around to pose I noticed that she had this diamond shaped patch of downy hair at the base of her back just above the cleft of her butt. At first I was a little taken aback, having been taught that any odd hair on a girl should be promptly removed! But there was something oddly pleasing about it. Just a thin patch of softness that turned her suddenly into some small  feral woodland creature. Creepy right? Does anyone else sit and really ponder the biological structures of the numerous people that tripsy into our midst each Wedensday morning?!? God I hope so!

Oop! And sorry about the image quality. Don't own a large scanner so photography had to be used and I am no photographer.

"I WANNA BE 40 FEET TALL, I WANna have HYDROLIC ARMS!"

Class: Principles of Illustration

Assignment: Include three different textures with emphasis on composition.

Comments: U.U ZZZzzzzzz (not a total failure)

The creepy entry.

Like many, I practice the ancient japanese art of cute phone accessories, and my newest little tidbit is the little bugger pictured above. Many would look and go "oohhh how cute, an animal in an animal suit!" Now don't be so naieve! What I wear dangling about my cell-phone is no vapid sentiment meant to make me look "kawaii". Oh no, what you see here is really a totem of how warped our society is! It has become all the rage to depict folks wearing animal suits, but it's really a barbaric idea to STRIP the skin of another living creature and WEAR it. Humans I think are the only ones who actually do it anymore as a means to decorate out bodies, however back in the day of course we were literally wearing the fur of others because we had no fur (and still don't)! 

Human's are a definitive fail in the area of cool body structures like teeth, fur, whiskers and claws. Maybe this is why people so like to differentiate themselves from nature. We close ourselves in our houses, move via wheels and communicate without talking or body language via text. Thus our bodies don't need the same survival mechanisms because all our best evolved traits are outside, aka our tools and technology. But take a step back and you see that instead of us evolving, our technology does. Computers advance, medicine evolves etc etc. I'm not saying that our bodies arn't changing at all over the eons, just that it is more evident in our technological advances. Natural selection can be applied to how far we make it up the social ladder, and if you take even another step back you see that all of humanity is just a hive of sorts. None of us really know that much at all, or make much of a difference, but together we are a force to be reckoned with. Oop, ranting again. Sorry about that! 

Anyway, seeing another animal do the whole skin stealing thing would just be disturbing. For instance it would be quite scary to see a a wolf actually actually wearing the clothes of a sheep. I think the visual of wearing another's skin conjurs up this whole malicious bloodthirstiness and cunning that either screams silence of the lambs (!!!) or a metaphorical struggle for survival.

See this is actually what my keychain looks like:  

Now what would happen if an animal challenged our superiority and stole a human's skin?