Solid State Studios

Updated website

2012-01-19T01:52:00.000-08:00

Guys! It looks so much better! I got rid of a lot of stuff that I wasn't terribly happy with and added tons of new content from the previous semester.

Go to there! Check it oooooout: Solid State Studios

There are a few things to tweak that are on my list: the welcome text on the main page; I want to add my cv to the contacts page; I do want there to be a comics section, but realistically it couldn't operate in the same way as the other pages so I need to figure that out; I need to remember to either give the digital analog project its own section or link to it in a couple of places; I'm thinking also of working with this here blog to make it match the look of the website.

Anyway, I'm going back to Michigan tomorrow to take care of a few things so this'll have to wait for at least a week. If anyone has any input or finds a big glaring mistake please let me know. Especially in browsers other than chrome--I realize as I write this that I didn't test it in firefox and ie the way I normally do.

Some photos of paintings with bad lightning

2012-01-18T08:26:00.000-08:00

I know I've bemoaned the lightning in my current space before but keep in mind that when I was taking these photos I thought that the light was pretty good and would show the colors pretty accurately.

So anyway guess who was amazingly wrong? That's right, it was me. The only one that looks remotely close is the last one, mostly because I took pictures of it throughout the day to test.

Just in Case

2012-01-08T03:52:00.000-08:00

If I can't get in to any of the schools I'm applying to this year, next year I'm going to start my letters of intent this way (and continue on from there):

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that an artist in possession of an undergraduate degree, must be in want of a Master's.

Or possibly this way:

In a studio in a basement there lived a painter. Not a nasty, dirty, wet studio, filled with the ends of brushes and a turpy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, dusty studio with nothing in it to sit down on or to paint: it was a painter's-studio, and that means comfort.

....I hadn't planned on doing this, but I may just grab more books from around the house and do this to them. More later, need to work on some stuff so that I can maybe quiet my brain and grab some sleep.

choices are hard

2012-01-05T02:23:00.000-08:00

adkghl;kasdfj;glhasl;dkfj portfolio stuff. I'm considering replacing this painting:

with something else. Not sure what, though, is the problem. I did about 50 paintings this last semester, and this one represents an interesting cul-de-sac, but I'm worried that it reads as too amateurish. It's definitely not the direction my work is currently going, but I did use it to discover some really interesting things about the ways I could get paint to behave, so it's important to me in that way. I also somehow can't manage to get a really really good picture of it. There's a lot more variation in the figure and somehow it all gets washed out in a photo.

On the other hand, I do have this:

It's not the most complex painting, but it is fairly compelling and is also in line with where I can feel my work wanting to go. It does not, however, necessarily match the rest of my portfolio as it currently stands.

I'm also thinking of replacing this one:

Again for photo issue. It doesn't read too well not in person. At six foot tall, it's just too big.

blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh

mah roooooooom

2012-01-04T03:20:00.000-08:00

I've turned my room at my parents' house into my studio.

It looks like this:

I get two hours of super functional light through the window, my lamps can't seem to work together, and my walls are bright green. HOW DO COLORS WORK?

Four from the semester

2012-01-02T00:09:00.000-08:00

Thanks to that etching post, I've once again got a front page full of things that are not paintings. Let's fix that, shall we? Here are some of the last few paintings from last semester.

One day this place | 30x40 | Oil on Board

Untitled | 6'x~3' | oil on unstretched canvas

Influence and Inevitability | 30x40 | Oil on Board

Captcha | 30x40 | Oil on Board

The last two were done before my solo show and the first two after it. For a couple of schools that I'm applying to, I'm being asked to put them in the order that I did them (or reverse order, whichever) and the more I think about it, the more I just don't know. I tend to work on at least three at a time and will sometimes start and finish four or more in the time it takes me to do one other one. Bah, time. I think I've got it mostly sorted, though, so that's good.

Etchinggggzzzzzzzz

2011-12-25T21:38:00.000-08:00

I heard a rumor that I took classes other than painting this last semester. I know, I didn't believe it either.

First, some sketches that were pretty good but lost out to other ones to be made in to actual prints:

And some processes:

I don't have every printed iteration of this next one because there were people in line for the scanner behind me, but this one ended up being my favorite (too bad I did one more thing to it afterwards which lightened the whole thing up a lot)

Project the second:

And for my final project, instead of doing one print I decided to do two paired ones. I was actually thinking of using these as the base for covers if I end up doing a minicomic with these characters (hopefully yes; I've got a few others I want to do first, but yes)

Disturbingly, I didn't plan for the street layouts in the above images to line up at all. Might have fallen into some compositional habits there.

And tomorrow I shall fly to California for family christmas, etc etc and will be back just before new years'.

Amber

2011-12-23T01:55:00.000-08:00

I was just going through some posts and realized that despite spending nearly all my time the last few months painting, I had posted hardly any paintings at all

I've updated this painting some since it was taken. Also I've gotten an actual photographer to take pictures of my work, but I haven't had a chance to make those small enough for the web yet. All part of an upcoming website update.

In the meantime, I'll be uploading one or two of these every now and again, I think.

Also, some photoshop stuff:

I think I'm starting to figure it all out! My face: it makes the smiles.

business caaaaaards?

2011-12-15T03:39:00.000-08:00

Throwing these here partially as a reminder to myself to look at them after I've gotten some rest, but mostly to get peoples' opinions. Have I gotten rid of all of the paper texture in the white space? is the text readable? have I done anything horribly wrong?

front

back

Structure and chaos and mobility

2011-12-12T23:59:00.000-08:00

As I've gotten closer and closer to graduation, I've gotten a lot of inquiries re: my future plans. Mostly they come from friends and family, but often they also come from curious teachers or classmates. Whoever it is, when they ask and I think they mean in the immediate future, I can say travel, and if I think they mean more long term I say grad school. For most people that's enough. They may ask for more specifics with either one of those, and I am happy to provide details. There was one classmate, though, who was more interested (and though I say interested, the word insistent would also apply; there was no way to escape the conversation) in my plans even after that.

Even though I know it's a question that I'm likely to be asked in an interview, either for a job or for school, I was a bit stymied. It felt kind of strange; it's not like I don't have plans or possibilities, but rather that I have too many. In years past, I have been able to plan out my future in a way that almost felt minute by minute, regulated and linear. There was a lot of emphasis put on this sort of thing when I was in high school. Before that, even: I remember that people started asking me about career plans and what colleges I wanted to go to even in middle school. While all of that ended up being marginally helpful, it created a lot of systematic stress, most of which ended up being to no purpose. I did not go to the school I thought I was going to. I am not studying the subject I had intended back then. My life looks nothing like I would have expected it to even a year ago, and it is all the better for it.

Although I am in no way a performer, I like the way that people who do improv think about things. 'Yes, and...' has a lot going for it. It validates the current moment and opens up the future for further investigation.

So when people ask me about my long term plans, this is kind of what's tripping me up. If something new and interesting comes along (that doesn't conflict with current obligations, obviously) I'm likely to try it. Do I want to teach? Yes, I'd love the opportunity. Do I want to work alone in a studio full time? Of course, that sounds fantastic. What about a studio with a few other people? Or even a lot of people? Those have advantages too, and are even more appealing than working alone. Do you want to illustrate? Design? Paint? Do comics? Animate? Well, that's where it gets tricky.

Where I am right now, I can't see myself not painting. It just isn't something I can see myself giving up. Ever. But all those other things? I would love to do them too. And not just for a paycheck, but actually devoting myself to them. Things that allow me to work with other people are especially appealing: I'm not always (ever) the most outgoing person, but I've always found my own work to be the best when it has been influenced by knowledgeable, impassioned people with whom I share space. People seem to have come to this weird conclusion that art is about the final product, the still image, the tangible object, but it's really really not. It's about the dialog. Whether that's between creators or between a creator and her audience doesn't matter.

But perhaps that is a discussion for another time.

Right now, what matters the most to me is finding an environment in which I can produce the best work that I am able to and then put it in front of peoples' eyeballs. Every place that I'm applying to meets that criteria. After that? Well, chances are I'll want to find an environment in which I can produce the best work that I am able to and then put it in front of peoples' eyeballs; it's just that the circumstances will have changed slightly.

This article about how Valve organizes it self is pretty interesting and helped clarify a few things for me (and not just because I think that working at Valve would be one of the most insanely intense and awesome experiences in the history of ever.) It lines up with a lot of things I've heard about Google, about Pixar, about places my dad has worked (some like this, some rather than antithesis.) Stefan Sagmeister's policy of shutting the studio down for a year every...what? seven? I think seven years lines up with it.

Structure and chaos and mobility!

Erik the Dinosaur and Other Such Nonsense

2011-12-07T16:34:00.001-08:00

Guys! Great news! I figured out how to make things look like stuff in photoshop! Actual painting-looking things! Very exciting :)

Also: introducing Erik the Dinosaur. If he's not the greatest gift I've ever received, he's definitely in the top ten. (He was given to me by the infinitely generous Wan-Tsunami, aka Diana Busby, artist and maker of many fantastic things)

I think I've mentioned recently, though in passing, that I'll be graduating soon. Right now, I am in the midst of applying to some grad schools (fingers crossed), but because I'm graduating in the winter instead of the spring I'm finding myself with four extra months of unstructured time. So I am structuring it! With travel! I shall be like a cartoon explorer, and Erik will be my amusing animal companion.

Partially, this is a warning for everyone: this blog will be turning, at least partially, into a travel blog. It is also partially to ask for recommendations: what are your recommendations of places in the U.S. to go? Awesome museums, passed over parks, maybe even tourist traps that are worth getting sucked into.

This will still be primarily an art blog even while I'm traveling, of course. I plan on painting as I go (and hopefully sell pieces as I go to be able to pay for more awesome traveling and also that grad school stuff that I mentioned before) so there will be that, plus if I can set up remote desktop access with my photoshop-and-every-other-useful-program computer, I'll also see if I can keep up with some digital work.

Hey, look, this post wasn't made in the wee hours of the morning! I think that's pretty good, don't you?

Digital Analog is up and ready for business!

2011-12-05T00:29:00.001-08:00

Ok, so, I've been pretty busy lately, what with the show and impeding graduation and applying for grad schools and all that. But! I did manage to finally get my site for my side project to....function. Yes, it definitely WORKS, which is a huge improvement over what it was doing before, which mostly consisted of not working.

Anyway, a link: http://digital-analog-project.com/

I've got a few tweaks to the design planned in the near future (logo design? what logo design? pffft) and my main website needs a small overhaul too (I have WAY more paintings than I thought I would--makes the functionality...well, it's ok, but I'd like it to be as smooth and seamless as possible)

And now, back to work/sleepytown.

Still working!

2011-11-02T22:30:00.000-07:00

Just one more week after this one and all my paintings have to be well and truly done. Then the editing out and the hanging and all other such things begin.

After that I get to take a nap for about a week before anyone really expects me to do anything again, and I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to that.

Anyway, I thought I'd take the opportunity to plug this interesting entry from one of my favorite people on the internet.

In addition to being hugely hilarious, Ursula Vernon is a fantastic artist and influenced, more than anything else, my work ethic. It's the 'not every painting works, that's ok, it's time to move on to the next one' attitude. Some people never figure it out, and I'm glad to have borrowed it from her.

My interest in this particular article is not necessarily the specifics. Self publishing vs traditional publishing doesn't really apply to me. Buuuuut on the other hand, I am told that there is high art and that there is low art and that selling out is, well, just that.

Personally, I can't really see the difference between the two. Illustration gets an especially bad rap, for example, but an excellent illustrative painting is exactly the same as an excellent narrative painting with added context.

Just something I've been thinking about, recently. The way this all shakes out in my own mind will greatly influence my grad school choices and career path but will have little to no effect on anyone else. So...thank you for letting me just put it all out there so that it's easier to see.

As a Function of Time

2011-11-01T01:19:00.000-07:00

Hey, look at me! I's gots me an upcoming solo show! It is for graduating with.

Location is Kresge Art Center, gallery 114! yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

Ok, sleepy town now.

Still working!

2011-10-11T10:59:00.000-07:00

The Digital Analog project is not dead, I swear!

This is Ryan of Double Clicked Comics, which is excellent and updates MWF.

As always, if you'd like to participate in this project, send me an email with your name, country, an image of yourself, your character's name, the game they're from, an image of that character, and any comments you might think relevant to sparkselrose@gmail.com with the subject line 'Digital Analog.'

I'm almost 100% certain that I've gotten gmail to stop sending things to my spam box, but I check it pretty regularly, even so!

Proof of lack of death

2011-10-10T23:21:00.000-07:00

Not dead! School continues to school. Did some drawering. Photoshop nearly ate my computer's face with this one. Note to self: resize down before trying to save as a gif next time.

Large

2011-10-04T23:47:00.001-07:00

Still alive! Been working on quite a few things, so here is this quick little open canvas painting I did:

Website!

2011-09-29T00:10:00.000-07:00

Jimminy cricket, I've been meaning to make this thing for ages. Spent the last three nights on it, and it is now done! (if a bit rough)

solid-state-studios.com

And that is my excuse for the lack of sketchbook challenge uploads (valid? maybe, maybe not) Either way, you should go there and let me know if I've messed anything up.

sb challenge day 10

2011-09-25T20:15:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay. But now we continue on!

Day 10: super hero

I thought it would be fun to base a costume around a plague doctor's mask. I think I'm gonna keep playing around with this design, I've got some hope for this character.

no sketches today

2011-09-14T21:07:00.000-07:00

Need to take a little break. I'll probably do two tomorrow to make up for it even. In the meantime, some paintings:

This one feels like it's from ages ago. I think I even posted the sketch of it. It's now hanging on some friends' wall. Happy for it to have a home, because it's pretty much too big for me to move by myself.

These two are from last fall. As large as the one before was, these were the two largest paintings that I had at the time. So large that even the people who wanted to house them for me couldn't take them, so I had to put them out to get garbage picked. I am happy to report, though, that they did in fact get taken. By two different people, even, so at least my work's getting spread around.

And now, more recent stuff. This time, from fall. I mostly worked on smaller pieces on paper for the majority of the semester. These three came in right at the end.

Is it obvious yet that I snapped these as I was moving? Yyyyyeah.

Anyway, we're now about two weeks into the semester. Here's what's happening now (much smaller and mostly studies)

Tomorrow I start to work larger again (30x40 inches, nowhere near the size of previous semesters, but at least now I can transport my work myself)

30 daysketchbook challenge day 9

2011-09-13T20:12:00.000-07:00

Siamese Twins

I assumed they meant the cats, otherwise they'd probably say conjoined twins. I guess next time I should actually figure out how cats work.

30 day sketchbook challenge day 8

2011-09-12T21:30:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay--I went to visit my parents over the weekend.

Day 08--scene from a movie

From memorryyyyyyyyy

sketchbook challenge day 7

2011-09-07T23:30:00.000-07:00

Hybrid Animal

I have no reasonable explanation for this: the unipus

Possible pokemon evolutions? I think so.

sketchbook challenge, days 5 and 6

2011-09-06T21:32:00.000-07:00

childhood memory

My mom wouldn't play many video games when I was young, but when she did she'd play them at night and they'd have screaming suits of armor in them. Zooooooork.

Whats in your bag?

This is...not everything, but as I carry a backpack and not a purse, this is not a huge shock, maybe. Not pictured: two more pencil bags, another sketchbook, a shirt, and two more bulldog clips

30 day sketchbook challenge

2011-09-04T19:35:00.000-07:00

day 4--re-design book cover

Sabriel is one of my favorite books from way back in the day. This was done pretty quickly, but the effect, I think, is kinda nice.

30 day sketchbook challenge day 3

2011-09-03T18:13:00.000-07:00

Most recent dream

True story: I can't remember the dreams I've had for the last few months.

Ooooh, no, wait, I remember one where I showed up for the first day of class and didn't have anything to paint on so I had to hide from my professor 'till I had prepped some boards. Well, too late.

sketchbook challenge day 02

2011-09-02T08:41:00.000-07:00

Imaginary Friend

I don't really have an imaginary friend these days, but when I'm going over a decision in my head, I figure it's this guy who's the one that says 'go for it. what's the worst that could happen?' (he's often right, btw)

30 day sketchbook challenge 01

2011-09-01T21:31:00.000-07:00

First day: self portrait

Anyway, classes have started. Final semester. Yikes.

aw yeah

2011-08-15T11:02:00.000-07:00

I got to try out an elevation mask at the gym today.

Slowly, I shall collect all the strangest sporting goods. And then I shall rule the world.

blarghleargle

2011-07-22T01:46:00.001-07:00

I swear, this apartment is haunted by the ghost of insomnia past. Or maybe it's the transition from living in a house with three other people and a dog to just me and an exceptionally loud air conditioner.

Either way, can't sleep, so I decided to post a project I quite enjoyed from last semester's gd1 course. But because I did it in sixteen parts, I decided it was also time to learn how to make animated gifs in photoshop. Turns out: not too hard!

Lots of playing with the scanner and lightbulbs and cameras and stuff on this one. We were told to essentially pick our client: who would we most like to work for? And at first I was going to do Vibram (makers of a most excellent project) but anyone who's been in a critique with me these last couple of years knows that I pull most of my ideas from TED.com; I thought it was time to pay them a bit of respect via making stuff.

The main criticism I got from people was that the words are too dark (especially the ones in black) and I agreed then, but looking at them now with fresh eyes I can say that I SUPER agree. If I were to redo it, I'd probably make the smaller text in white or a lighter grey. I'd probably keep the red the same, though.

These were envisioned as a series of print ads of the sort you'd find in magazines, all glossy pages and interesting articles.

Some portraits!

2011-07-20T23:08:00.001-07:00

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but here it is:

I. Love. Doing. Portraits.

And I got to do some today :)

These were actually done on white paper....but every light in this house is exceptionally yellow. They still look good, though, so I'm not mad, and I can always pop them into photoshop and whiten them up later (read: once I'm back in my apartment, where I keep photoshop)

I did these in several sessions to make sure my shoulder got plenty of rest. PT seems to be working in the fixing it category, mostly it just gets tired really fast. Progress, though! So I'm happy.

On Injuries

2011-07-03T22:10:00.000-07:00

Traditionally, I'm not the sort of person that will go on and on about an injury. I know that sort of behavior can get to be pretty annoying and repetitive. However, as this has been brewing for nearly a year now, I've been meaning to make a post for quite a while. Besides, it'll be nice to have something to point people towards when I give people the simplest version of the story, which is: I hurt my rotator cuff because of painting.

Sounds pretty ridiculous, doesn't it?

At least, until you consider how much time I spend painting per week during the year, and the whole time my arm in the same position:

Whiiiiich, truthfully, doesn't look like that much of a problem, even to me. The problem is as follows:

Unlike most of the muscles that attach to the shoulder, the ones that comprise the rotator cuff aren't meant to be strong. They're for stability and are easily damaged and torn. This type of injury shows up a lot in swimmers, too, which, hey, guess what one of my favorite activities has always been?

The more I look back on it, the more I realize that nearly every class I took exacerbated the problem in some way.

Should have kept my major as physics freshman year. It would have been safer, apparently.

Anyway, if the symptoms had just been pain it probably would have been longer before I went to see anyone about it. There are, after all, deadlines to meet; who has time for doctor's visits? But things like this have a habit of....spreading

Some of these may not seem especially related, but believe me when I say that they are. (...maybe not the hip one, that one could be related to an ankle injury from high school that has a habit of flaring up now and again)

At this point in time, my shoulder joint is considered hypermobile, which really just means that it was super easy for the doctor to push it in and out of place. Like, disturbingly easy. I believe she said something along the lines of 'those pops you hear are the shoulder sliding in and out. Like a golf ball on the t being hit.'

So then she stuck a big needle in my shoulder, pumped the joint full of steroids to lessen the swelling, gave me some physical therapy to do, and sent me on my way. And maybe sometime in there I also almost passed out. It was a REALLY BIG NEEDLE, ok?

My shoulder is still sore a lot, but I can feel the PT working, and my little finger still tingles sometimes, but that should go away soon I hope.

Needless to say, I've pared way back on my painting and drawing recently (except for finishing my most recent comic, which will get its own, non-middle-of-the-night post)

fb profile picture

2011-06-17T22:40:00.000-07:00

I made a new one:

It got up to 90+ degrees a couple weeks ago, so in celebration (and/or desperation) I chopped off my hair. Still not sure how to draw it consistently.

Ungh, almost done with my summer comic project. I like how it's turning out, but it just...keeps getting longer. Also lettering..bah. But anyway, back to work

more digital/analog stuff

2011-06-05T16:02:00.000-07:00

there's more of it! At the tumblr: http://sparksel.tumblr.com/

Sold these paintings

2011-06-03T18:46:00.000-07:00

Hooray for me! I was part of a group with a booth at the East Lansing Art Festival a couple of weeks ago and sold this set of four paintings. Meant to post these last week, but my brain went 'derp' so here we go!

Not...the best photos, unfortunately.

Page 2

2011-05-29T18:54:00.000-07:00

This is the second page of my current comics project. I quite like it :)

Although the colors are a bit different again then they are in the photoshop file. Hmm....

Now I just need to come up with a more relevant title!

We are noodle folk

2011-05-26T22:41:00.001-07:00

Ok, ok, ok, I know I posted earlier today, but I just got back from Kung Fu Panda 2, and ooooooooh maaaaaaaaaaan. So good.

So, here's a quick photoshop drawing of young Po and Mr Ping.

Seriously, so good.

Ok, now all I have to do is wait 'till 2014 for the next How to Train Your Dragon.

creepers, stop creepin

2011-05-26T17:47:00.000-07:00

It turns out, the internet is full of weird people.

So really quick, before I go back to working on my project: If you are someone who is sincerely looking to get artwork from a person, there's some important things you should do/know:

1. Indicate that you plan to pay the artist in question. The word 'commission' will suffice in most cases, especially in the initial email.

2. make sure it is an EMAIL. Facebook is not acceptable. Ev.Er. You will come across as a bot every time.

3. It's helpful to pave the way if you mention how you came across the artist's work. This lets us now that you are human

4. This one from person experience: do not ORDER me to email you to get reference photos, especially if you have not followed the guidelines above, double especially if you're looking for nude artwork of yourself.

Hm, too much text. Have a doodle:

This sums up my reaction to some recent emails/fb messages pretty well, I think

internet, why have you forsaken me?

2011-05-09T16:22:00.001-07:00

After finals ended this semester, I moved into a new apartment. Unfortunately, I did not have the situation as well in hand as I thought I did, so I do not currently have internet (I'm updating from a school computer...wooooo)

Internet will return to me on Monday and in the meantime I'll be visiting my parents for the week. This means I won't get to work on the digital/analog project until I get back, but that's ok. Parents can be cool.

In the meantime: some more open canvas stuff and some character design stuff:

More Portal 2 fanart. Because I can't not, apparently.

Another piece for Illustration Friday, this time the word was 'Beginner'

Photoshop! I think the final comic is going to be in a style that mimics this

Cleaned up the designs of my two main characters a little bit. Color to come later.

30 day sketchbook challenge

2011-05-05T21:35:00.001-07:00

Gonna do this, but not quite yet. I'm going home for part of next week. Putting this here so that I remember it.

1. Self Portrait
2. Imaginary Friend
3. Most Recent Dream
4. Re-Design Book Cover
5. Childhood Memory
6. Whats in Your Bag?
7. Hybrid Animal
8. Scene From a Movie
9. Siamese Twins
10. Super Hero
11. Super Villain
12. An Elderly Person
13. A Freakin’ Baby
14. Portrait of a Pet
15. A Dinosaur
16. Draw Something with Your Eyes Closed
17. A Delicious Food
18. ZOMBIES!!
19. Sea Creature
20. Your Dream Job
21. A Guilty Pleasure
22. Favourite Cartoon Character
23. Actor/Actress
24. A Collage
25. Best Friend
26. Instrument
27. Something with Sentimental Value
28. Your Zodiac Sign
29. The Meaning of Your Name
30. Favourite Outfit.

2011-05-05T21:35:00.000-07:00

New Project: Digital/Analog

2011-05-02T14:34:00.000-07:00

Soooo, there's this project I've wanted to do for a really really long time, but somehow have never had both the time and skill to put together before. But I think I've got it all straightened out now, and even have ideas about how I want to display them.

For now, though, I'm going to devote this tumblr to it: sparksel.tumblr.com

The project is as follows: If you play an MMORPG of any flavor, I would like for people to submit to me a reference photo of themselves and one of their characters. I will then do a digital portrait of the physical person, and a real world portrait of the character. They will then be displayed together. Examples below:

If you're interested in participating, please email me at sparkselrose@gmail.com with your references, your name (first or last or a combination thereof, maybe something entirely made up, just so long as I can display it) and region and your character's name and MMO of origin. The subject of the email should be digital analog or something similar so that I can find it in my inbox and add you to the queue as quickly as possible.

If you're not interested, please, spread the word around to people you think would be.

final gd project

2011-04-27T22:59:00.000-07:00

Somewhere in the middle of working on this, I realized that as much as I love graphic design as a concept and really enjoy when other people do it well, there's something that really really stands between me and success a lot of the time. And I have no idea what it is. Very frustrating. The discrepancies between the sketches for these letterforms and the final project are just....grr.

But I told a friend I'd post 'em so I'mma gonna do that. Crit's tomorrow. Er. Today, actually. Soonish.

Project was to create a letter based on one of our initials. Because I am an overachiever (and because nothing exists in a vacuum and if I'd had time I'd have done the whole alphabet, let's be honest) I did all three.

Black and white:

Upper case in color:

Towards the end of this last summer, Ryan Claytor told me about this video Thought of You by Ryan Woodward, and it's influenced a lot of my work this semester. Most obviously in my paintings--I've spent a lot of time trying to capture motion in still images, especially the sense of it rather than the literal. But that influence is present here too. Most typefaces lend themselves to a sense of balance and stability. No doubt it's part of what makes them readable. I was more interested in making letters that looked like they were in the middle of going somewhere. Maybe even dancing.

The decorativeness on the upper S was almost an accident, but the more I'm looking at it, the more I'm finding it one of my favorite features. It doesn't necessarily belong with this set, but I would be willing to do another one.

Drawings! lots of drawings!

2011-04-26T17:01:00.000-07:00

Not in any particular order:

All bow before my lack of photo skills! And looking at them now, these are in mostly a reverse chronological order. Not entirely, though. The black tempera paint with stick drawing that's last here was actually somewhere in the middle in reality, and had a lot of buddies with it. But I didn't post everything because thaaaaaaat would be crazy.

Er. Crazier.

follow up from last time

2011-04-25T23:00:00.000-07:00

And here we have the rest of my project that is due tomorrow. JJ Johnson was chosen from a list of jazz musicians we were given. He seemed cool, and I like the trombone.

Augh, hats. What even makes a good hat? I don't know, I don't wear them. Seriously. I have no idea.

template found via google search, wound up on a site with a whole bunch of tshirt templates for just this purpose. It was pretty awesome. Although as you can see, my raw photoshop skills approach zero as time approaches 3 am.

Photoshop and open canvas fusion. I could have sworn there were more warm colors in this, but I like it this way too.

And also I can do more minimal stuff? Boundaries for this one included 'in black and white,' which always says to me 'pare it down and make it lonely.'

Apple, you are an apple

2011-04-24T18:06:00.000-07:00

More open canvas. And, as it turns out, more in progress graphic design assignment stuff as well. I've been mixing analog and digital work in my gd1 class a lot, so I thought for the penultimate project I might try to work entirely on the computer. Hopefully that pans out.

EDIT: Two more steps. Next we start with the text for the logo, and from there start applying it.

I did some block shading right on top of the open canvas image from earlier to get this.

Live trace in Illustrator gets me the above.

EDIT 2:

Have I mentioned that the assignment is to create a fictional music company with a logo based on a fruit or vegetable? Because it is. And I cannot resist the pun.

Thank you and goodnight!

So that happened

2011-04-23T02:05:00.000-07:00

The other day in drawing class we had nothing to do really because we were waiting for our turns to do individual critiques, so I decided to do some Portal 2 fanart (not finished. no spoilers please. Or...only up to the conversion gel chambers)

And then tonight after a very long day I decided that instead of scanning that in and uploading it, it would be quicker to do a quick open canvas portrait instead.

The open canvas part worked. Quick, not so much.

Also there is a rather large fly in my room. Spring!

photoshoooop

2011-04-09T22:02:00.000-07:00

One day, photoshop, one day.

Moar experiments!

I'm trying to get into running. Trails are my favorite, hence this :)

The second one came to mind because of this week's illustration friday topic: bottle. And yes, I did watch the video of 'poor unfortunate souls' yesterday, which is why, y'know, similarly themed.

Hmm...another late post. Must find a way to actually sleep one of these days.

Parents can be confusing 01

2011-04-04T22:16:00.000-07:00

Paraphrased, of course.

I gotta say, I'm enjoying the zippyness of doing sketchy digital comics like these. Every time my process is different, though. Part of learning, maybe? Certainly! Let's go with that.

Went with actual panels laid out in illustrator before I began this time. Thinking of making myself some templates there for my standard ones to make my life easier.

These colors remind me of easter....anyone else?

Ok, time for bed! Graphic design crit tomorrow! Also signing up for classes for next fall and stuff.

looookiiiiit

2011-04-03T14:09:00.000-07:00

I'm right in the middle of getting images together for a graphic design project, and while I was doing that (sitting here in my darkened room with my scanner bed open, lightbulb in hand) I got this one. It's not quite what I want for the project, but it looks so cool I couldn't not share it.

Back to scanning!

...whaaaaa?

2011-03-31T19:19:00.000-07:00

I know I promised a sticky post with things I'm selling and prices, but I decided to just go ahead and set up an online store, so that will hopefully be up soon.

Critiques in my painting class tend to be a two day affair. This is both because my class is large (16 students, and most produce anywhere from two to ten paintings between critiques) and because we all have a lot to say. For me, these things tend to go well. I know that it's my paintings, and not my worth as a human being, that is being evaluated. Besides, the other students and the teacher are there to help and therefore never cross the line into downright cruelty.

That being said, I heard something interesting while one classmate was taking their works down and another was setting up:

"Oh, I forgot. We're not supposed to tell them what we like."

...what? I mean, sure, you don't want crits in which all the feedback is 'you're amazing!' because that isn't really a crit. It's actually pretty frustrating and useless. But at the same time if all you're hearing is 'don't do this' and 'that looks strange' and 'you should reconsider', that can be dispiriting as well.

The thing about changing and innovating in your work is that sometimes things don't work out, but sometimes they do, and either way you have to go on from there. The positive part of a crit provides an anchor for future innovation. If you leave it out, you're stranding your studio mate.

So I guess what I'm saying is: other people are people too.

SPACE 2011

2011-03-20T21:22:00.000-07:00

It's late and I've just gotten back from SPACE 2011 and I wanted to put up a quick reaction post, both to say hello to any and all new readers who'll be wandering through and because I'm feeling pretty darn good about it and want to get this down before I start thinking too much.

First, some things I want to pat myself on the back for (because I almost didn't get them done): finishing The Adventures of Dirk Turbine: Attack of the Air Squid (authored by Leslie Anderson and illustrated by my very own self) and getting my business cards printed and cut this year. I forgot last time 'round and it made exchanging info much more difficult. This was good!

Compared to last year, the crowd was smaller and calmer, but then again the makeup of the exhibitors in general seemed less rambunctious as well. I got to actually talk to the other exhibitors this year rather than just waving hello and running away so that they could talk to incoming customers.

Although...incoming customers are always a good thing too.

I've got a lot of promotional material to sort through in the next couple of days, much of which I don't even remember how it came to be in my possession. I do know that plenty of them lead to webcomics, though, so that's good.

There were a surprising number of people (surprising only because no one asked last year) who asked if I had an online store. I currently do not, but expect a sticky post in the next couple of days with my currently available works (plus maybe some commission prices if you're in to that sort of thing), which should hold me over until I can actually set up a shop. It'll probably be a couple of weeks before that happens, unfortunately. Next weekend is taken up by a wedding, and the intervening time is getting eaten by ceramics uncover deadlines and painting crits.

Also graphic design stuff, too, I guess? Half the class doesn't even show up for crit days, so it's hard to determine how seriously I should be taking the assignments. Makes things less stressful, anyway.

In conclusion: SPACE good. SPACE next year: definitely happening. School is a thing that happens.

Anyone recommend other midwest cons for the going to? I think it's time for some adventure.

Last weekend

2011-03-01T22:59:00.000-08:00

It was a goodly weekend. So I drew a picture so's I'd remember it.

Unfortunately, my tablet decided to get all glitchy in the middle of working on this. Fortunately, I was able to bring it back to life.

The bruises were from the underwater hockey tournament that was held by our club. They were well earned (...I think, anyway, but I'm a rookie, so who knows?)

Next weekend: the start of spring break, and the tournament held by UofI!

Winter: not my season

2011-02-21T09:19:00.000-08:00

I just got back from the gym and was about to de-stink when my roommate hopped in the shower first, so I done did a quick photoshop doodle instead

These are all the injuries that I've built up over the semester, not counting scrapes, cuts, and bruises (most of which I know the origin of and when they will heal.) Some of them are older, but winter makes them come back.

On the plus side: the plantar fasciitis in my right foot from over the summer is gone!

African Art History Project

2010-12-07T20:36:00.000-08:00

When I took history of graphic design last year, papers were par for the course. There were two papers, two tests, and four 'pop' quizzes, and I thought that this was both fair and reasonable. From comments made by my Modern Art history teacher (by which I mean that she out and out stated it; truly, her discretion knows no bounds) that not everyone thought that this was fair and reasonable and that papers are no longer to be assigned to the class in general.

So have fun with that, Art History students, I don't really envy you your extra workload.

At the same time, I'm a bit offended. We live in an age of unparalleled written communication. No generation before us has written or read more than we have. And someone on high thinks we can't do research? Can't put together a reasonable argument or coherent paragraph?

I don't know, maybe I'm the odd duck here. Lord knows I enjoy writing more than a great many people and that it's gotten me into a little bit of trouble now and again*.

Anyway, this was mostly just to introduce how my African Art History teacher got around the no-essay thing. Besides having us post blog entries I mean (which I did on a separate, private blog, thankyouverymuch.) We were given a 'creative project,' which could pretty much be anything within reason (including a paper if so desired.) Our subject was to be something of our choosing that we covered before the midterm. I chose the adoption of plank masks by the Bwa of southern Burkina Faso.

When I first started this project, I wanted to do three different pages, showcasing the perspectives of each of the major players as we learned about them in class (the French invaders, the Bwa themselves, and either the Nuna or Nunuma, from whom the Bwa either bought, copied, or traded the masks depending on the mask or family)

It was always going to be a silent comic with abstracted forms for the people to highlight the nature of the masks, but as I started doing the research I realized that the normal layout wouldn't work. Which was really too bad: I had wanted to print it off as a freebie for SPACE. Ah, well, posters work as well and will actually earn me some spendables maybe.

Obviously, I wasn't careful with my panel shapes or outlines. I didn't want to lay them out on a grid while I drew them so that I could get more freeform shapes. For the most part, I think this worked out fairly well. On the other hand, the gutter spacing (it's soooooo huuuuuge) really bugs me. But that's the thing about experimenting: not everything works.

In summary: super awesome project. A++, would draw again.

*I was once accused of plagiarism because, among other things, my vocabulary was too good. This was back in 7th grade, when I was still naive enough to believe that I was being asked to stay after class so that the teacher could offer me praise, as if such things happen. It was one of the most shaming experiences of my public school experience, and I never even received an apology. And that is why I never seriously pursued creative writing. Also why I avoid the word 'albeit.'

New ID

2010-11-29T21:33:00.000-08:00

I was going through some of my old favorites' galleries on Deviantart and decided that I really really REEEALLY wanted to do a new ID picture.

So I did.

As always, I'm still playing around with digital stuff. This time, I decided to go digital from start to finish. I know I said I was going to play more with textures the next time I opened up photoshop, but, well...I'm sleepy?

Yes, very sleepy. To that end: good night.

2010-11-16T10:39:00.000-08:00

Every so often there'll be a fellow student in one of my art classes who is not an art student. And then there will be the one who is Not An Art Student, lemme tell you all about it.

On the whole, I get along with both of the above types. They're fun and not as afraid of failure as the artsy kids because, let's face it, it doesn't matter as much to them. Which isn't to say they don't work hard. They do, even when they signed up for the class expecting an easy A and found out that it wasn't is going to be as simple as they thought.

For my electronic arts class, I'm currently doing a project with one of these Not An Art Student types. He's a cool dude* and we share a several Completely Nerdy interests; also he speaks Geometry and I speak Calculus, so our dialects overlap a little bit.

So we get to talking as we're working (he's drafting, I'm hunting down materials on the internet) and at one point he says 'Y'know, I've noticed that most of the people in here have very in-your-face personalities.'

Which is...true? I guess? I replied that it was because if we weren't like that, who would notice us? The odds of getting 'discovered' are so dismal that, well, it doesn't really bear thinking about, does it?

But the question kept niggling away at the back of my mind. This guy was really only familiar with the people in the electronic arts class, and I had been finding the other students to be frustratingly retiring and unassertive. It's probably that none of us are all that familiar with the media that we're learning, but the projects have mostly seemed to be lacking in daring, despite the fact that our teacher keeps saying things like 'art is meant to challenge.'

So does this say something about me, that I expect more from these people? Or does it say something about the world outside the art school walls, that they expect less?

I think that this article at Psychology Today helped clarify some of it, but I don't know that I can see enough of the situation from where I am in the system to be able to give any definite answers. Maybe that aren't any. Chalk it up to weirdness.

*This is actually one of my highest compliments for a friendly acquaintance, but I realize it could sound a little odd over the internet. Probably in real life, too. Doesn't stop me.

Burning

2010-11-14T22:17:00.001-08:00

This week's theme over at Illustration Friday is 'burning.' I don't usually do Illo Friday, but I follow it. Perhaps it is time to change that?

The drawing was done in ink on paper, and then colored over in the photoshops. Because, really, I am serious about getting better at it.

I did a lot of messing about with layer modes on this one. Next time: TEXTURES!

Justine 4

2010-10-21T23:26:00.000-07:00

Art: yay! Late now. Sleepy times

...I like green

Weird Tips for Art Students #2

2010-10-09T19:58:00.000-07:00

Art and Fear, Letters to a Young Artist, and Ignore Everybody should be read by anyone at a crisis point with their work. Or just read one and then save the others for when you're in trouble again.

Also useful, a central bit of trivia from Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers: it takes 10,000 hours of work to be really truly excellent at something. This translates to about ten years. Patience and passion, people.

Justine 3

2010-09-29T13:53:00.000-07:00

Watercolor, as promised!

And I have no complaints about the scan quality either. It's pretty close to the original.

This is the third in a series, of sorts. These are the first two, done during sophomore and senior years of high school, respectively. They are pretty bad:

justine by ~sparksel on deviant ART

Er...and that'll take you to my DA account, I suppose. Which I haven't updated in...months. Many months. Most of a year, maybe. Some of that stuff is still pretty good, though.

There'll be two more Justines in the near future. My mom wanted to hang the two old ones in the bathroom (we're hanging a lot of my art now, since we've done the remodel), but I really dislike them, so I told her I'd do new ones.

And so I am.

RECEPTION for the Florence Show

2010-09-27T16:21:00.000-07:00

I said I'd put this up here as soon as I knew and then I went and nearly forgot.

The reception for the 2010 MSU Florence Study Abroad show will be on October 8th. I don't know the times yet, but I suspect that it'll be sometime around 7pm. I will keep everyone updated (for realzies this time) as I learn more.

Digital Interlude

2010-09-26T21:35:00.000-07:00

Occasionally, I'll come across something that I want to do really really well, but that I am really really bad at.

Like, I am spectacularly bad, you guys. No, for cereal.

For years this has been digital painting. And it is still digital painting. But I'm gonna get better, gosh darn it, and at least now there are recognizable objects.

Some recent examples:

More to come?

Florence Paintings

2010-09-02T18:27:00.000-07:00

Ever have one of those days where you realize that your art blog doesn't have that much art on it? Yeah, let's fix that. With every single painting I did while in Florence this summer (don't worry! There are only 12 of them)

Let's do this chronologically (or as close as I can get. I don't quite remember what came before what all the time)

The very first day we painted, we were taken to one of the busiest places in the city. It was...daunting. The fact that I was used to working on canvases nearly as tall as myself and was now restricted to 14''x20'' paper rectangles didn't help.

Or that I had become emotionally distanced from my work in the last class I had taken. This is only important because the moment of reconnection was a huge breakthrough for me later in the class.

Second day of painting. We were supposed to head up to the Piazza de Michelangelo. Instead, it rained and we ended up on the steps of the Pitti Palace. Then we got yelled at by a curator or director or some other sort of fellow who ran the place. We left very quickly after that.

At last! The Piazza de Michelangelo. My professor and I both agreed that I should have stopped working on this one way before the end of class. There is such a thing as overworking!

Speaking of overworking...I covered this one in paint so quickly (whole thing in about ten minutes at the beginning of class) that everything else I tried to do later turned to mud. So I scraped it off and tried again. I did that probably 15 times in 3 hours. Looking at it now, I really like the atmosphere and depth of it, but at the time I was just frustrated out of my skull.

The Piazza de Santa Spirito. Still overworking the paint, but I started to let thinner washes and the paper show through in patches. A lot of people aren't fans of leaving the raw canvas (or paper or whatever) showing through, but I've always through that when done well it creates a positive texture contrast.

These were both done the same day. Theresa kept telling me to slow down, make rules for myself, and maybe even bring multiple surfaces to work on in a single session. So I did all three of those. I can't even begin to describe how much of a difference it made to me. Painting suddenly felt right again.

We didn't have time for a group critique that day, which is why I think my next one surprised so many people.

Orange and Blue! Favorite of favorites, even though somehow most of my paintings either come out purple or green. There was very little on-canvas color mixing in this one, which for me is highly unusual. Wherever possible I restricted it to adding more white to an area, and that ways it. I also got to play with filling in organic shapes with solid graphic shapes, which was a very meditative process. I had only ever done it once before on a piece called 'Grand Theft Chicken,' which was not very well received by my teacher of the time. Very glad I went back to it.

Venice! The first day in Venice! Absolutely fantastically wonderful, all of it.

The painting is ok.

This is one of my absolute favorite images of the trip. I wish all these pictures had come out truer to the actual image, but with this one I wish it the most (Well, maybe I wish it more for the next piece, but it's a close thing.) I love the graceful architecture of the city, and getting the opportunity to just...do this. Ah! Venice, why are you so amazing?

Back to Florence, to an outdoor museum. We weren't allowed to paint or use charcoal, so this was all done in my favorite .7 lead mechanical pencil, and then when I got back to my apartment I added some ink (.3 monowidth pen, if I remember correctly) and watercolor (winsor and newton travel set.) This is really one that you have to see in person, but you get the gist of it maybe?

Our final piece. It was hot, I was sunburned, and there was ABSOLUTELY NO SHADE. We were near the train station and everyone was miserable. I didn't really...end on a good note. But I did start to work the paint thicker on this one, and I do think that that was a good idea. Contrast! Texture! All that jazz!

If you are interested in seeing some of these in real life, I am putting together an exhibition at the Kresge Art Center for everyone who went on the trip. We will be in gallery 114 from September 27th to October 8th. More on that to come, no doubt.

And now for something completely different

2010-08-31T13:11:00.000-07:00

Classes start tomorrow, and so I think I shall leave you with this:

You're welcome.

[found in a whole foods in Naperville, IL]

1 Day and an epic nap later...

2010-07-11T18:04:00.000-07:00

If you ever happen to find yourself thinking 'hey, I wonder if I should do this 24 hour comic challenge thing or not' I suggest you do it. When you do it, there are some things you should know:

1. Bring caffeinated beverages. This is fairly obvious, but if you don't plan ahead, you could find yourself dead in the water

2. If you think you have the time, and maybe even if you don't, you should probably get up and walk around. Going to the bathroom is a good excuse to leave the room for a minute

3. People will complain while they work. This is expected. You should complain too.

4. Have nothing planned for the next day. Maybe not even the day after that.

5. Greasy or sticky snacks are bad news bears. You do not have time to waste in cleaning your fingers.

6. The right drawing and inking tools make all the difference. It takes me most of an hour to do with an unfamiliar pen what I can do in twenty minutes with my pentel brush pen.

7. There is no such thing as planning ahead.

8. Work small. Both times I have done this, I have worked fairly large. It has turned out to have been a bit of a mistake. And also a marker eater.

9. Bring more ink than you think you'll need. You probably won't run out, but if you do you're screwed.

10. Sell the resulting work. There are very few other times in your life where you'll be able to answer the question of what it's about with "I don't even know, man" and have it be a selling point. Also, it's a great thing to trade with other comic artists

11. Get as many people involved as possible. This includes non-comics people. At the very least, even if they don't participate, they can bring you emergency supplies. And if they do participate, then even better.

12. Chances are, the result will not be a masterpiece. If it is, you are a freakish monster and I would like to give you all my money.

13. Give yourself an art-break the day before. Put your feet up, watch some movies, go for a run.

14. Get some sleep, if you can. Most people I've talked to have trouble sleeping the night before because they're too excited.

15. Have fun, dammit!

But of course, that's a small list of things I can think of off the top of my head (because I am simultaneously sleepy and obsessing), and for a more complete list, you should try it yourself.

I plan to post the completed work ...somewhere...on the internet soon. Just as soon as I scan, edit, and find a place to stick it so that it's readable. Possibly here, now that I think of it.

I will also soon post my paintings from Italy (I still have to get good images of them. It's mostly an issue of light, unfortunately. It has to be really perfect, or some of the more conceptual elements of the later ones won't come through.) When I get those up, I'll talk some more about the trip. I'm still digesting it a little bit. It was definitely one of the best times of my life.

I'll probably also spend a post talking about books, which I have been reading plenty lately. Man, I love the summer.

But for now, it's time to hunt down the wild dinner.

Brush Pen!

2010-05-14T23:10:00.000-07:00

There have been questions in a couple different places as to what brush pen I'm referring to when I start singing its praises (because....I always manage to forget to link to it. This is your brain on derp.) You guys! It is totally this one and you should buy it:

http://www.jetpens.com/product_info.php/products_id/1793&utm_source=pr&utm_medium=site

No html for you today.

Space: the reaction post

2010-05-12T22:13:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I promised a reaction post, and while the delay is true to for m for me, I'm afraid that this will be something of a let down. Especially considering that I had planned drawings and graphs and things specifically for this, and then my scanner died.

Well, that's what editing is for, isn't it?

My general reaction, boiled down to basics, was this: good convention good! Although there was the usual comedy of errors that seems to crop up whenever I get involved with anything, I managed to float around in happy land for most of the weekend.

This doesn't mean that I didn't notice some of the, shall we say, inherent problems that managed to crop up. I've built up a bit of a buffer for these things because I'm a frequent reader of communities like wtf_sexism and fanficrants (warning: may break brain. Basic knowledge of fandom recommended before entering), but the way that many writers rely on easy tropes and obvious sexism is something that does need to be addressed. My friend Leslie does a wonderful job of this in her reaction post here.

As an addendum to the above, I would like to say that if you ever find that I am falling into the same traps with my work, let me know so I can correct my course. I do try, but cliches and comic books go together like strong earth magnets and computers: they're so hard to separate, but they're so bad for each other.

But, as I was saying, the convention on the whole was an awesome experience for me. I met a lot of really excellent people and spent way more money than I made (and I am happy to report that I did make back the table cost and a little more besides), which is what I was looking for going in.

Besides the usual familiar faces (most notably Ryan Claytor, my teacher and creator of And Then One Day; Jay Jacot of Comics Obscura; and Matt Feazell, creator of The Amazing Cynicalman), I want to mention Max Ink of Blink and the lovely team over at Ringtail Cafe. I had many great conversations with both Jackie of Ringtail and Max over the course of the weekend, and thinking back on it now I'm still grinning. I'd like to give a special bit of thanks to Max, who put me on to this great new brush pen that I'm a little bit addicted to. As terrifying as it is, inking is one of my absolute favorite parts of the process, and finding a tool that does what I want and doesn't hurt my hand the way using a brush and ink does is exactly what I've been looking for.

...that for which I've been looking? Gyah, I don't even know anymore.

In conclusion: A++, would exhibit again.

post-SPACE pt1

2010-04-25T21:08:00.000-07:00

This post is a placeholder post, letting everyone know that I am back and alive after experiencing SPACE. I still have to go through everything that I picked up, finish a last minute sketch commission from the folks at Ringtail Cafe, and organize my thoughts.

Mostly, though, I need to sleep.

I'll also have a post with one finished and several in progress paintings. Promise!

Some upcoming events, etc

2010-03-21T21:26:00.000-07:00

Wow, so it's getting to be the end of the semester. Which means that it's time to buckle down and get crazy with the self promoting.

Places where both my work and I shall be in the near future:

MSU Comics Forum

March 26th (keynote speech) and 27th in the RCAH on the MSU campus

I was fortunate enough to be able to snag a table at this event. I went to some of the panels and skulked about the artists' alley last year, and if it's even a tenth as awesome this year then I shall be pretty happy.

For more information, I offer this website.

SPACE

April 24th and 25th at the Ramada Plaza Hotel and Conference Center in Columbus Ohio

I will be sharing a table at this even with at least two other people, possibly three, depending on how things shake out. I will update you as we get closer the event and actually know which table we'll be at so's you all can fiiiiind me.

WEBSITE!

Oblique Patience (at Scene Metrospace)

May 7 - June 27 at Scene Metrospace in East Lansing Michigan

Opening Reception on Friday, May 7th from 6-9 pm

The website for this one just went live a little while ago and I've avoided looking at it because I signed on to take part in this project about a year ago now. It seems so unreal. Work is still rolling in and it sounds like the site is going to be updated a lot in the near future, so I suggest checking it out now, while it's still young, and going back to check it again and again in the future.

Please please please go to the website.

---

Hopefully, I'll have another gallery show to add to that list in the near future. I may not have much job experience to put on my resume, but I am determined to have a list of exhibitions as long as my arm by the time I'm done with school (assuming a very large point size...)

In the meantime, I should probably mention that my recent application to the BFA program here was accepted, which means, among other things, that there is no way I am graduating at the end of next year. But! It also means that I am one step closer to getting into a really fancy pants grad school.

And now, I'd like to leave you with a sketch for my next painting:

(must...paint....rational....lightsources)

2010-03-02T17:12:00.000-08:00

The culmination of about three weeks' worth of crazed research has lead me to the purchasing of my very first netbook. It is this:

The Asus eee pc 1005peb. It's working out really well. I'm in the middle of getting everything set up to where I want it to be right now, actually. But I did turn away from it for a moment, and it fell asleep.

It fell asleep. And then started playing elevator music. I can't decide whether that is awesome or horrifying.

Either way, that feature is getting turned off NOW.

Two warm up pieces

2010-02-28T20:38:00.000-08:00

I've just spent some time updating links to direct people this way, so I thought it would be appropriate to do a post with some art.

This time, some smaller pieces that were actually considered warm up pieces for our first project in painting 2. I consider these more successful than the final, but that's probably because, per square inch, I definitely had more time to work with them.

And also I just like the way paint sits on board more than on canvas.

Warning: abstraction

This is the first piece where I've ever really played with highly textured, loose elements against sharper, graphic ones. Plus, I really forced myself to stick with a blue/orange color palette this time, which made the image look cleaner all around, in my opinion.

I call this one 'Grand Theft Chicken,' because there are chickens in it,but in the collage I was working from I also included characters from grand theft auto. I also wanted to play more with white space, which I will definitely go back to in the future.

Weird tips for art students

2010-02-05T23:40:00.000-08:00

Hey guys, it's been a while. This is not because I don't love you, but rather because I keep having thoughts about what I want to write about but I'm not sure which one I want to tackle first and then I decide on one and realize I have to do more research or at the very least doodle up an illustration and gosh wouldn't it be nice if I didn't have to hold the cord into my scanner with my foot while praying that my computer doesn't overheat while cs3 pulls the image slowly into my computer pixel by agonizing pixel?

And then, in the middle of the night after a long, long day, I realized what I needed to write about.

Foot care.

'But hey!' you say, 'this post is titled 'weird tips for art students', what gives?'

What gives is that proper foot care is the weird tip. Surprise!

I'm not talking about the usual horror stories that you hear going into college about fungus in the bathrooms or whatever. My dorms had communal showers and they were fine. It's amazing how much your university of choice wants to cut down on things like the spread of disease. I'm sure there are places in the world and even on my campus where ringworm and athlete's foot are actually a concern, but with the power of the internet I have no doubt you could find such things out.

...and if not, why is there no map of this? It could be crowdsourced so that people could update when they pick up some minor annoyance, like the sniffles or pink eye...anyway, I'm getting away from my point.

My point is this: I know you really like those shoes, and that they look super cool, even if they're not comfortable, but you should probably throw them away right now. Or, well, I guess you can keep them, but you should definitely also buy a pair of sturdy, all purpose shoes that your feet will be comfortable in for hours and will minimize any blistering that may happen.

Think lots and lots of cushioning. Flats may be adorable, but are they worth the pain?

I'd also invest in a thick odorless lotion, because no matter how good your shoes are, you're still going to want to give your feet a good massage at the end of the day.

If your specialization is design or something like that, it's likely that this post is pointless for you, because you're spending most of your time in front of a computer. But for painters and sculptors and ceramicists and so on and so on, you're going to be spending a lot of time standing. And the floors are all either concrete or hard tile, because those are easier to clean than carpet.

When I say 'a lot of time,' that's pretty ambiguous, and it can vary from person to person. Studio classes here are 3 hours a class, 2 times a week, and I've had two syllabi this semester state that the teacher expected 5 hours of work outside of class per week. Doing the math, that's 11 hours a class (minimum), and I'm taking 3, so that's 33 hours, which is the upper edge before you drop off the cliffs of crazy (4 classes) and into the seas of utter despair (5 classes). 2 classes is a more manageable work load, and what I'd recommend.

So, y'know, make sure you save up some general education courses for the end. And also: buy good shoes.

The mooooore you knoooooooooooooow.

(this post brought to you by 12 hours in the sculpture building)

koosh-llama

2010-01-07T23:57:00.001-08:00

Late night blogging. You know what that means, right? That's right! As soon as I get back to school, I am doooooooomed. 8 o'clock classes mean a 6:30 wake up time for off campus students.

Dooooooooooooooooomed.

In the meantime, I have something I'd like to share with you.

I'd like to introduce to you someone I first knew of ('knew of' instead of 'knew', because I am a creepy internet lurker. Sad but true) as koosh-llama, and then lost track of.

But now, with the power of blogger, I can easily follow her blog without having to remember pesky things like urls or where I put the link in my bookmarks menu.

Her blog is here. Go. Go there. Go now. Go now and weep.

If you're running short on time, just check out Kiss the Sky, which is a brilliant little silent comic and I love it.

Taniger

2010-01-06T21:18:00.001-08:00

Gonna say this right now, so that there's no confusion:

THIS PIECE WAS DONE ON COMMISSION. DO NOT REUSE, MODIFY, OR REDISTRIBUTE IT WITHOUT THE PERMISSION BOTH OF MYSELF AND THE COMMISSIONER.

Taniger commission by ~sparksel on deviant ART

This was a sketch commission done for Taniger on Fur Affinity, who was absolutely lovely to work with. I just sent him the original copy in the mail, in fact, and he's going so far as to frame it and show it off to his family and everything. It makes me a very happy person :D

For those of you who may be interested, sketch commissions are still open at $10. Standard sketch commission rules apply.

Wearing my nerdhat

2010-01-05T13:16:00.000-08:00

Right, so, I've been waiting to post this somewhere for a while, but couldn't do it in case someone from the yuletide art exchange over at livejournal saw it on accident--wouldn't do to spoil the surprise after all.

This went through....quite a few incarnations. Originally, it was going to be an oil painting. Hence the blocks of color--my painting teacher was a huge fanboy of one of the advanced painting students, so we all went down to look at his work when he was putting on his show and some of his techniques just...stuck with me.

Anyway, after I screwed up the real media version of this (I started working on it the day after pulling an all nighter. Foolish move on my part) I attacked it in photoshop. Everything in this, from the lineart to the textures, is digital, and is probably the first piece that I'm reasonably happy with that I can say that about. Yay!

For those of you that are interested in what I'm doing comics-wise, I will hopefully have some concept art to share with you next week. As of right now, I'm very sadly separated from my scanner, which is the only reason nothing has gone up yet. Almost done with the preliminary thumbnails, too.

Actually, even though this next one is going to be even longer than my last (I just hit 28 pages and have at least two more to go before I can reasonably say that I'm done) I feel better about being able to get it done quickly, because I'm going to be cutting down the detail like you wouldn't believe. I've also decided to try and make peace with the brush pen. I'd try to go for full on brush inking, but every time I try it my work comes out sloppier than I'm happy with and my wrist hurts for days. Besides, the pen is easier to take from place to place.

But I won't say anymore about that until I've actually got some images to go along with it. Hope everyone had (and continues to have) a happy new year.

Elementary, really

2009-12-15T15:26:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the squid of anger that was my last post. To make up for it, I come bearing fanart! ....sort of.

My friend Ana and I have been playing this great game called 221B. Brilliant bit of marketing--I wasn't sure how I felt about the upcoming movie, but now I am jazzed.

Referenced these posters for this drawing.

Was going to put words on this, but I don't have Clarendon on my computer. Sad day D:

really? REALLY?

2009-12-14T21:44:00.000-08:00

Ok, kids, sit down. Let's talk.

As you may or may not know, I am all about creative commons licenses and open source software. My best work is done when I can rely upon the informed opinions of others. I rarely do a painting or draw a picture or do ANYTHING without outside input these days. And if you like something I've done and want to modify it in some way? Generally, that's cool with me.

That being said, there's a right way to go about it, and there's a wrong way to go about it.

The right way:

Ask my permission. Technically, you don't need my permission for most stuff, but man oh man is it an unpleasant shock if something you've worked on ends up in a place you weren't expecting, let me tell you. What's more? The piece your asking about may have been done on commission, and is therefore not available. If you use one of those pieces, we are going to have Problems.

But, like I said, if you ask, we can clear all those sorts of things up.

From there, we'll probably chat a little bit about your concept, but the fact of the matter is that you've flattered me enough by finding something useful in my art and by asking me permission that I will probably grand your every wish. I will ask for credit for the original art that I provided, and to be informed when it's done and where it will be displayed so that I can plug it.

Not too stressful, right?

Here's the wrong way:

I happen upon a piece of mine that's been modded hanging in the hall.

Cute, right? No, not so much.

Besides the fact that whoever did this did not contact me, we've got several issues. First, Ryan Claytor's name has been crossed out. Why? What is the point of that, other than to be vindictive?

Second, 'comics get me hot', really? REALLY? I find this upsetting on a number of levels, not all of which I am comfortable getting into on a public forum, so what I'm going to do now is put on my feminist pants and stand on my box. Caution: the box is full of soap.

Is this really the attention you (specific, mysterious you, not general you) think is appropriate? I can't speak for the intro comics kids, but the majority of the advanced class is female. How is this not going to alienate us? And beyond that, I'm sure we can easily get into a long winded discussion about women in comics in a large context, blah blah blah, so on and so forth and all it will come down to is that this is exceptionally cliche and sexist and quite frankly I don't appreciate it.

And now I'm off my box, so let's talk about how this was done, both as a measure of craft and as art. I'm not going to try to be kind, since I don't know who did this, but I will try to be fair.

The body is what you'd expect out of, say, most mainstream superhero team comics that happen to have a female member. Small waist, slender arms, muscular thighs, and enormous breasts that defy all logic. I'm over weight, and this poor creature's boobs are at least double the size of mine. I'm guessing that her superpower is crazy strong back muscles, because otherwise: ow. Ow ow ow. Fail.

I although, I do quite like her hair.

One more thing on the drawing front: her face. What happened? Are those supposed to be seductive pout-y lips? What is going on with her eyebrows? And I am all for giving women strong jaws and squared chins, but if you were going for sexy, this was a huuuuge roadblock for you. Not hot.

Try this version on for size:

Sorry about the smallness and the low res scan ness, but I've addressed a few facial issues, as well as a few body issues. But let's talk about the face. I've softened her features, made her jaw go back to her ear, raised her eyebrows so that she doesn't look angry, given her lips volume, and given her a few distinctive features (a beauty mark and a lip ring), since you chose whitey mcwhite girl as your subject. (Disclaimer: I am white. So very very white. Still tired of seeing white people in comics. )

Craft wise? There are two posters like this, and the one I posted here is by far the superior. The way the words were traced on top of the pasted on image was a nice touch, almost made me think you had gone and had a second poster printed. But no, of course not.

The paste job, as well, was top notch. And the placement was clever. It covered up the majority of my original image as well as my name. I'm really glad you chose to cover my name, you have no idea. And I like that you went to the edge of the page with this. It's not something I could have done, since I was printing a mass of them and wasn't willing to cut them down to size.

Not too happy that you covered up the credit I gave to blambot, though...but that was probably unintentional, so that's all I'll say about it.

Good job on the colors--> those do look very nice.

End of post was rushed, because I need to go fetch my laundry--there's a signing coming up, and I am determined to have clean clothes for it!

Ann Feldman Portraits

2009-12-11T17:50:00.000-08:00

Taking myself a bit of an art break (the last two weeks grew teeth and gnawed off my legs--I'm taking today for myself to regrow them (an exhausting process) and also to go and enjoy The Princess and the Frog, which looks amazing) so I thought I'd take the time to point you in the direction of my aunt.

She's primarily a portrait artist, and her chosen medium is currently oil, though I remember that way back when she was first starting to get into this whole art thing she mostly did paintings on tiles and then fired them, followed by a long period of landscapes and watercolors, followed by a brief scarf making period, with some mosaics thrown in there for fun. Needless to say, it's been a crazy road.

But what it's all come down to is that she's a little bit awesome, and definitely one of my inspirations. She's been doing a lot of experimentation with palette knives and has been updating her blog with them.

More of her work can be found at her blog or at her website

(On a related note, I designed the website, and would love some critique--after learning some stuff about grids in typography this year, I'm already planning on doing an immediate overhaul on my website after I get it up, so, yes...don't remember where I was going with that.)

Sorry about the spam, guys

2009-12-09T22:22:00.000-08:00

Should have put this up in my last post, but I want to give it some room to breathe.

This poster was designed by myself and colored by the ever remarkable Amber, to whom I would link, except that her website isn't up yet.

Please come?

Digital Native preview

2009-12-09T21:38:00.000-08:00

I was thinking about it, and I realized that it really wasn't fair that I was plugging the signing without giving out any samples of what I'll be selling. Shame on me.

Just click on it to view the whole thing (sorry 'bout that--I'll change the layout soon so that hopefully these things don't happen anymore)

So now I offer you two really enormous pages for your viewing pleasure. (EDIT: I have now adjusted the html so that these are actually both visible on the page. GO ME!) These two were some of the earliest pages I finished, and probably one of the spreads I'm the most happy with.

Speaking of spreads, I'm actually pretty happy with my recent typography work as well. I'll have to convert that to pdf for a later post.

An introduction

2009-12-08T23:19:00.000-08:00

At the time of writing, it is 2:18 in the morning. It is the week before finals. The week when all the projects are due. I, like most of my peers, and exhausted and reaching the tipping point into the abyss of constant surliness, and this typeface is getting on my nerves.

What better time for an introductory post?

I know, right? There is no better.

I wish I could point you towards my online gallery, but, uh...as of right now, I'm having some serious troubles getting it to work across browsers. You guys know how that is, right? (all it takes is for one margin, SOMEWHERE, to not be set to 0....*shudder*) So, in the meantime, may I offer you my deviant art page? I do tend to update it fairly regularly.

But very rarely do I update it with in progress stuff. That's what this blog is for.

It's also for promoting upcoming events.

FOR EXAMPLE:

If you are in the East Lansing area on December 16th and happen to be free from 5-7, please stop in at 21st Century Comics and Games, where my classmates and I will be having an in-store signing. With real comic books and everything. I'm only a little bit excited.

But it's not just about me. If you've got something awesome and art related (or maybe just awesome) coming up that you want to spread the word about, let me know, and I'll do my best to give it a little bump.

That's all for now. See you 'round the net?