31.10.09
30.10.09
Hedgehogs on Moleskines! Best gift ever.
Hey, I just realized Modofly still has a small selection of my steampunk hedgies on journals for sale! My hedgehog series, on a nice 5x8" moleskine? That's a lovely, lovely thing, trust me! I've seen them and they are astounding.
Just GO HERE AND TAKE A LOOK at the images and all the other awesome artists who're participating in Modofly's neat idea.
Available are the three images below, on a shiny, sturdy moleskiney sketchbook. So have a gander, and if you need a quick, original gift for someone... well, who doesn't like blank notebooks? I don't trust that sort.
Just GO HERE AND TAKE A LOOK at the images and all the other awesome artists who're participating in Modofly's neat idea.
Available are the three images below, on a shiny, sturdy moleskiney sketchbook. So have a gander, and if you need a quick, original gift for someone... well, who doesn't like blank notebooks? I don't trust that sort.
29.10.09
Steampunk!
Squid to come soon.
I'll let you suppose what this entails. Or doesn't.
I'm sure you all are aware the Tor.com theme for October has been/is the wonders of all that iswasmightbe Steampunk. Now, this concept has been around since the late 80s (in the 1800s it was simply science fiction). But I wasn't even aware of it until 2005. In 2005, I discovered the welcoming, open-hearted, zeppelin-strewn skies of this odd little subculture/genre. Handmade craft! Dapper couture! Bizarre music! If you missed out on Tor's awesome columns and guest bloggers, and well... the event of the season, and you're interested even vaguely in this clanky, smoky mess that is Steampunkery, I'd suggest the following sites:
BrassGoggles
The Steampunk Workshop
The Clockwork Cabaret (Rather neat radio show/podcast of SP music and hilarity)
Dieselpunks
Steampunk Magazine
Make: Technology on Your Time (Steampunk and Maker culture overlap heavily)
Personally, I got into Steampunk through an odd coincidence of interests back in '05. I started looking heavily into handmade/renewable stuff like Instructables.com and at the same time, rereading Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, getting more disgusted with our cold sense of industrial design these days, and probably a slew of other catalysts I'm not remembering. The zeitgeist grabbed me hard and all these little aesthetic things that were floating around in my head coagulated like a chilled cup of pudding. Tasty, tasty aesthetic pudding.
I think I discovered BrassGoggles first, the Steampunk Workshop second, and it snowballed from there. I would guess I made my first Steampunk art in 2006 for work (greatest excuse). It was this custom dunny, given away as a prize in our local treasure hunt at Project A-kon 17 in Dallas, TX. I have since done t-shirts, art exhibits, vignettes from the Lively Adventures of Hogarth Merricule III, and of course... the 19th century outfit for my wedding last October.
In honor of the winding down of Tor's Steampunk Month, I would like to dedicate this entry to that end. In case this wasn't apparent enough already.
------------------------
Today's drastic timewaster: Twitter
Today's soundtrack: Regina Spektor & Luminescent Orchestrii
Today's projects: squid in the morning, digital graphics at night
*I keep capitalizing Steampunk because I've recently seen it used as a form of personal description, viz. "steampunk/s". So, to differentiate genre from practitioners.
I'll let you suppose what this entails. Or doesn't.
I'm sure you all are aware the Tor.com theme for October has been/is the wonders of all that iswasmightbe Steampunk. Now, this concept has been around since the late 80s (in the 1800s it was simply science fiction). But I wasn't even aware of it until 2005. In 2005, I discovered the welcoming, open-hearted, zeppelin-strewn skies of this odd little subculture/genre. Handmade craft! Dapper couture! Bizarre music! If you missed out on Tor's awesome columns and guest bloggers, and well... the event of the season, and you're interested even vaguely in this clanky, smoky mess that is Steampunkery, I'd suggest the following sites:
BrassGoggles
The Steampunk Workshop
The Clockwork Cabaret (Rather neat radio show/podcast of SP music and hilarity)
Dieselpunks
Steampunk Magazine
Make: Technology on Your Time (Steampunk and Maker culture overlap heavily)
Personally, I got into Steampunk through an odd coincidence of interests back in '05. I started looking heavily into handmade/renewable stuff like Instructables.com and at the same time, rereading Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, getting more disgusted with our cold sense of industrial design these days, and probably a slew of other catalysts I'm not remembering. The zeitgeist grabbed me hard and all these little aesthetic things that were floating around in my head coagulated like a chilled cup of pudding. Tasty, tasty aesthetic pudding.
I think I discovered BrassGoggles first, the Steampunk Workshop second, and it snowballed from there. I would guess I made my first Steampunk art in 2006 for work (greatest excuse). It was this custom dunny, given away as a prize in our local treasure hunt at Project A-kon 17 in Dallas, TX. I have since done t-shirts, art exhibits, vignettes from the Lively Adventures of Hogarth Merricule III, and of course... the 19th century outfit for my wedding last October.
In honor of the winding down of Tor's Steampunk Month, I would like to dedicate this entry to that end. In case this wasn't apparent enough already.
------------------------
Today's drastic timewaster: Twitter
Today's soundtrack: Regina Spektor & Luminescent Orchestrii
Today's projects: squid in the morning, digital graphics at night
*I keep capitalizing Steampunk because I've recently seen it used as a form of personal description, viz. "steampunk/s". So, to differentiate genre from practitioners.
27.10.09
Slide
Have you ever really and wholeheartedly loved a season so much that it competes with your sense of self?
That's how I feel about autumn.
be on twitter. peas.
That's how I feel about autumn.
be on twitter. peas.
26.10.09
GUD Magazine's excellent monster quiz.
| "Any euchoi around here?" monster: You're the Hadez daemon from A Song, a Prayer, an Empty Space by Darja Malcolm-Clarke in Issue 3. You click mechanically, devour prayers, and you'll destroy the connection to God in anyone who gets too close. What GUD Monster are you? Find out at GUD Magazine! |  |
25.10.09
Artist of the Day Special
I have to say, I discovered the most astounding artist by the name of Koren Shadmi. Go look at the work; it blows my mindballoon. I'd seen some here and there before, but seeing it all in one place and knowing it was all the same illustrator was keen.
A friend of mine who runs an art gallery in DC linked him on Twitter, and I'm quite stoked by the images. Want. Paint.
Tomorrow: get printed copy of new sketch so transferral to watercolor paper might occur.
A friend of mine who runs an art gallery in DC linked him on Twitter, and I'm quite stoked by the images. Want. Paint.
Tomorrow: get printed copy of new sketch so transferral to watercolor paper might occur.
24.10.09
Vitriolic Words
I spent the entirety of today (meaning from noon 'til one ante meridian) working on the second out of three digital vector illustrations for a government contractor for whom I'm on retainer. Thirteen hours! Of Adobe Illustrator. Augh. The memory hogging of AI is legendary, and I can't even run it after a while. My laptop has 4GB of RAM. Four. And it still chokes up on Illustrator more than thrice a day. Bloody astounding, the heaviness of that particular aspect of Creative Suite 3. Photoshop never does this. Acrobat, gods forbid. The few times I've had to use InDesign on my home computer, it's been fine. The only other CS program that's ever come close to this level of asshattery is Flash. WTF Adobe? AI is entirely MATH. There's not even pixel mapping.
I'm really not a pleased creature when it comes to AI, but that may be a combination of the above-stated and the fact that I'm just not as comfortable in AI as I am in any other program. I just don't think in vectors, and I have trouble conceptualizing what I need to do to achieve desired results, so I tend to wing it. Which probably takes longer than it should? I have no idea, really, since I've never sat and watched another designer or artist using it.
And in the end, 13 hours later, the files sent to my client... I'd like to start drawing. Mayhaps I will.
On the up side, I sent out a few inquiry letters to small press publishers today and yesterday! Here's finger's crossed. I need to finish the above painting to I feel comfortable about m'portfolio and then send it off to HarperCollins, Candlewick and the rest of them. I did enter the Illustrators 52 contest over at the Society of Illustrators. Am nervous.
I'm really not a pleased creature when it comes to AI, but that may be a combination of the above-stated and the fact that I'm just not as comfortable in AI as I am in any other program. I just don't think in vectors, and I have trouble conceptualizing what I need to do to achieve desired results, so I tend to wing it. Which probably takes longer than it should? I have no idea, really, since I've never sat and watched another designer or artist using it.
And in the end, 13 hours later, the files sent to my client... I'd like to start drawing. Mayhaps I will.
On the up side, I sent out a few inquiry letters to small press publishers today and yesterday! Here's finger's crossed. I need to finish the above painting to I feel comfortable about m'portfolio and then send it off to HarperCollins, Candlewick and the rest of them. I did enter the Illustrators 52 contest over at the Society of Illustrators. Am nervous.
20.10.09
Tailspinning Sketch 2 Final
Here's the final sketch for my new watercolor. Finally got a change to do some reference searches and finish up the ziggurat and the backpack.
So... trees to remain pale, graphic shapes against industrial darkness? Or perhaps trees to become dark, graphic shapes against a lighter background? Hrm.
17.10.09
The art, the work... a month in.
Anyone following this knows I've been working on and off this painting since early/mid September, and it's nearly a month in doing. Sometimes I wish life would leave me alone so I could paint... and then I remember that I am addicted to the internets. Oh dear.
16.10.09
Art Update: Tailspinning Story Sketch 2
Just for you, fine Jo(e) Public, a preview of the next picture in the universe of the glowing pear.
Will be watercolor, with the tree limbs and foreground the darkest portions against a lighter, happy industrial ziggurat dystopia. Or some of that, at least.
Un sketch:
Will be watercolor, with the tree limbs and foreground the darkest portions against a lighter, happy industrial ziggurat dystopia. Or some of that, at least.
Un sketch:
12.10.09
Art Update: Glowy Pear Goodness
More dragons and pear-carrying kids. It's probably finished, here. A high quality scan to follow as soon as I can find a place to do it.
Anyone know somewhere in the DC area that does large-format digitizing/photographing of artwork?
And I'd be joyous if people chimed in with their opinions of the painting, if you have any.
Thoughts on the books, though late!
It's an awesome little post that magneticcrow makes over GUD Magazine's website about Banned Books Week!
Give it a read.
Give it a read.
10.10.09
Maybe guilds would be a better system?
GREAT post on the attitudes of clients toward freelance artists. Sometimes.
Text copied here:
"Every day, there are more and more Craigs List posts seeking "artists" for everything from auto graphics to comic books to corporate logo designs. More people are finding themselves in need of some form of illustrative service.
But what they're NOT doing, unfortunately, is realizing how rare someone with these particular talents can be.
To those who are "seeking artists", let me ask you; How many people do you know, personally, with the talent and skill to perform the services you need? A dozen? Five? One? …none?
More than likely, you don't know any. Otherwise, you wouldn't be posting on craigslist to find them.
And this is not really a surprise.
In this country, there are almost twice as many neurosurgeons as there are professional illustrators. There are eleven times as many certified mechanics. There are SEVENTY times as many people in the IT field.
So, given that they are less rare, and therefore less in demand, would it make sense to ask your mechanic to work on your car for free? Would you look him in the eye, with a straight face, and tell him that his compensation would be the ability to have his work shown to others as you drive down the street?
Would you offer a neurosurgeon the "opportunity" to add your name to his resume as payment for removing that pesky tumor? (Maybe you could offer him "a few bucks" for "materials". What a deal!)
Would you be able to seriously even CONSIDER offering your web hosting service the chance to have people see their work, by viewing your website, as their payment for hosting you?
If you answered "yes" to ANY of the above, you're obviously insane. If you answered "no", then kudos to you for living in the real world.
But then tell me… why would you think it is okay to live out the same, delusional, ridiculous fantasy when seeking someone whose abilities are even less in supply than these folks?
Graphic artists, illustrators, painters, etc., are skilled tradesmen. As such, to consider them as, or deal with them as, anything less than professionals fully deserving of your respect is both insulting and a bad reflection on you as a sane, reasonable person. In short, it makes you look like a twit.
A few things you need to know;
1. It is not a "great opportunity" for an artist to have his work seen on your car/'zine/website/bedroom wall, etc. It IS a "great opportunity" for YOU to have their work there.
2. It is not clever to seek a "student" or "beginner" in an attempt to get work for free. It's ignorant and insulting. They may be "students", but that does not mean they don't deserve to be paid for their hard work. You were a "student" once, too. Would you have taken that job at McDonalds with no pay, because you were learning essential job skills for the real world? Yes, your proposition is JUST as stupid.
3. The chance to have their name on something that is going to be seen by other people, whether it's one or one million, is NOT a valid enticement. Neither is the right to add that work to their "portfolio". They get to do those things ANYWAY, after being paid as they should. It's not compensation. It's their right, and it's a given.
4. Stop thinking that you're giving them some great chance to work. Once they skip over your silly ad, as they should, the next ad is usually for someone who lives in the real world, and as such, will pay them. There are far more jobs needing these skills than there are people who possess these skills.
5. Students DO need "experience". But they do NOT need to get it by giving their work away. In fact, this does not even offer them the experience they need. Anyone who will not/can not pay them is obviously the type of person or business they should be ashamed to have on their resume anyway. Do you think professional contractors list the "experience" they got while nailing down a loose step at their grandmother's house when they were seventeen?
If you your company or gig was worth listing as desired experience, it would be able to pay for the services it received. The only experience they will get doing free work for you is a lesson learned in what kinds of scrubs they should not lower themselves to deal with.
6. (This one is FOR the artists out there, please pay attention.) Some will ask you to "submit work for consideration". They may even be posing as some sort of "contest". These are almost always scams. They will take the work submitted by many artists seeking to win the "contest", or be "chosen" for the gig, and find what they like most. They will then usually have someone who works for them, or someone who works incredibly cheap because they have no originality or talent of their own, reproduce that same work, or even just make slight modifications to it, and claim it as their own. You will NOT be paid, you will NOT win the contest. The only people who win, here, are the underhanded folks who run these ads. This is speculative, or "spec", work. It's risky at best, and a complete scam at worst. I urge you to avoid it, completely. For more information on this subject, please visit [link].
So to artists/designers/illustrators looking for work, do everyone a favor, ESPECIALLY yourselves, and avoid people who do not intend to pay you. Whether they are "spec" gigs, or just some guy who wants a free mural on his living room walls. They need you. You do NOT need them.
And for those who are looking for someone to do work for free… please wake up and join the real world. The only thing you're accomplishing is to insult those with the skills you need. Get a clue.
If you do need portfolio padding, use your skills for a good cause - design a poster for a non-profit organization. Make a website for your local community theater. There are so many opportunities for pro bono work that will actually benefit someone.
Pass this on to every artistically-inclined person you know! Copy the text or just send them the link to the original post."
Text copied here:
"Every day, there are more and more Craigs List posts seeking "artists" for everything from auto graphics to comic books to corporate logo designs. More people are finding themselves in need of some form of illustrative service.
But what they're NOT doing, unfortunately, is realizing how rare someone with these particular talents can be.
To those who are "seeking artists", let me ask you; How many people do you know, personally, with the talent and skill to perform the services you need? A dozen? Five? One? …none?
More than likely, you don't know any. Otherwise, you wouldn't be posting on craigslist to find them.
And this is not really a surprise.
In this country, there are almost twice as many neurosurgeons as there are professional illustrators. There are eleven times as many certified mechanics. There are SEVENTY times as many people in the IT field.
So, given that they are less rare, and therefore less in demand, would it make sense to ask your mechanic to work on your car for free? Would you look him in the eye, with a straight face, and tell him that his compensation would be the ability to have his work shown to others as you drive down the street?
Would you offer a neurosurgeon the "opportunity" to add your name to his resume as payment for removing that pesky tumor? (Maybe you could offer him "a few bucks" for "materials". What a deal!)
Would you be able to seriously even CONSIDER offering your web hosting service the chance to have people see their work, by viewing your website, as their payment for hosting you?
If you answered "yes" to ANY of the above, you're obviously insane. If you answered "no", then kudos to you for living in the real world.
But then tell me… why would you think it is okay to live out the same, delusional, ridiculous fantasy when seeking someone whose abilities are even less in supply than these folks?
Graphic artists, illustrators, painters, etc., are skilled tradesmen. As such, to consider them as, or deal with them as, anything less than professionals fully deserving of your respect is both insulting and a bad reflection on you as a sane, reasonable person. In short, it makes you look like a twit.
A few things you need to know;
1. It is not a "great opportunity" for an artist to have his work seen on your car/'zine/website/bedroom wall, etc. It IS a "great opportunity" for YOU to have their work there.
2. It is not clever to seek a "student" or "beginner" in an attempt to get work for free. It's ignorant and insulting. They may be "students", but that does not mean they don't deserve to be paid for their hard work. You were a "student" once, too. Would you have taken that job at McDonalds with no pay, because you were learning essential job skills for the real world? Yes, your proposition is JUST as stupid.
3. The chance to have their name on something that is going to be seen by other people, whether it's one or one million, is NOT a valid enticement. Neither is the right to add that work to their "portfolio". They get to do those things ANYWAY, after being paid as they should. It's not compensation. It's their right, and it's a given.
4. Stop thinking that you're giving them some great chance to work. Once they skip over your silly ad, as they should, the next ad is usually for someone who lives in the real world, and as such, will pay them. There are far more jobs needing these skills than there are people who possess these skills.
5. Students DO need "experience". But they do NOT need to get it by giving their work away. In fact, this does not even offer them the experience they need. Anyone who will not/can not pay them is obviously the type of person or business they should be ashamed to have on their resume anyway. Do you think professional contractors list the "experience" they got while nailing down a loose step at their grandmother's house when they were seventeen?
If you your company or gig was worth listing as desired experience, it would be able to pay for the services it received. The only experience they will get doing free work for you is a lesson learned in what kinds of scrubs they should not lower themselves to deal with.
6. (This one is FOR the artists out there, please pay attention.) Some will ask you to "submit work for consideration". They may even be posing as some sort of "contest". These are almost always scams. They will take the work submitted by many artists seeking to win the "contest", or be "chosen" for the gig, and find what they like most. They will then usually have someone who works for them, or someone who works incredibly cheap because they have no originality or talent of their own, reproduce that same work, or even just make slight modifications to it, and claim it as their own. You will NOT be paid, you will NOT win the contest. The only people who win, here, are the underhanded folks who run these ads. This is speculative, or "spec", work. It's risky at best, and a complete scam at worst. I urge you to avoid it, completely. For more information on this subject, please visit [link].
So to artists/designers/illustrators looking for work, do everyone a favor, ESPECIALLY yourselves, and avoid people who do not intend to pay you. Whether they are "spec" gigs, or just some guy who wants a free mural on his living room walls. They need you. You do NOT need them.
And for those who are looking for someone to do work for free… please wake up and join the real world. The only thing you're accomplishing is to insult those with the skills you need. Get a clue.
If you do need portfolio padding, use your skills for a good cause - design a poster for a non-profit organization. Make a website for your local community theater. There are so many opportunities for pro bono work that will actually benefit someone.
Pass this on to every artistically-inclined person you know! Copy the text or just send them the link to the original post."
1.10.09
That Kid and His Pear
Another lovely day spent with procrastination, pumpkin, and paints. I'm hereby offering this work-in-progress part iii, for any who keep up with this. I'm nearly done, now. This stage is from around 6 pm.
SOZD
We would like to celebrate the glorious Support Our 'Zines Day by offering some fine publications you may not know about but should. I've had the honor of working with some of these fine people before, or MagneticCrow has likewise, and we are damned glad they keep putting such effort into fine editing. Without further ado:
'Zines To Watch Out For:*
GUD Magazine
Shimmer
ClarkesWorld
Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet
Fantasy Magazine
Crossed Genres
Leading Edge
Electric Velocipede
Strange Horizons
Steampunk Magazine
And there are many more. There are podcast webzines, fanzines, pro and semipro books. Go find them. Your local indy bookstore will carry some. If they don't, they're full of fail. Tell them they should carry some of these fine selections of literature. Support the 'zines!
PS- Here's a small list of audio-podcasty-type-zines:
StarShipSofa
EscapePod
PseudoPod
PodCastle
Go support spec fic literature, and your hardworking 'zine creators.
More about SOZD: Damien Walter
*Apologies to Alison Bechdel, of the wonderful Dykes To Watch Out For
'Zines To Watch Out For:*
GUD Magazine
Shimmer
ClarkesWorld
Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet
Fantasy Magazine
Crossed Genres
Leading Edge
Electric Velocipede
Strange Horizons
Steampunk Magazine
And there are many more. There are podcast webzines, fanzines, pro and semipro books. Go find them. Your local indy bookstore will carry some. If they don't, they're full of fail. Tell them they should carry some of these fine selections of literature. Support the 'zines!
PS- Here's a small list of audio-podcasty-type-zines:
StarShipSofa
EscapePod
PseudoPod
PodCastle
Go support spec fic literature, and your hardworking 'zine creators.
More about SOZD: Damien Walter
*Apologies to Alison Bechdel, of the wonderful Dykes To Watch Out For
AHAHAAHAAHA!
So first we have this generous offer from our own resident Banana Guy and that bastion of self-righteousness, Kirk Cameron:
And then there's the counter response here:
My initial thought was that I simply MUST find out the location of the nearest "Top College" out of their 50 count. I want as many copies as they'll let me have!
*snrk* Sometimes, they just dig their own holes.
via Leigh's Art and Musings
And then there's the counter response here:
My initial thought was that I simply MUST find out the location of the nearest "Top College" out of their 50 count. I want as many copies as they'll let me have!
*snrk* Sometimes, they just dig their own holes.
via Leigh's Art and Musings
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