SHAMWOW

Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of leaders…and millions have been killed because of this obedience…Our problem is that people are obedient all over the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves… (and) the grand thieves are running the country. That’s our problem.

Typographic portrait of Howard Zinn I got done with earlier today. No one in class knew who he was. Don’t care.

High Res

Haven’t posted any of my work in a while. Here’s a logo/business card I just designed for a friend. The logo is loosely based around a medieval coat of arms. She wanted the ibis and the owl to represent her creative side and logical side, respectively. The clock nearly striking midnight indicates her determination during deadlines.

Did I mention I did this for free? Yeah! See what happens when you’re nice to your graphic designer friends and/or know graphic designer friends who are desperate for portfolio pieces, and/or know graphic designer friends who are trying to get laid?

Here’s what I spent most of my day working on. With this assignment, we had to make a poster in the style of art nouveau. Art nouveau was basically the western world’s take on Japanese art when they were first exposed to it in late 1800s. It’s notable for very expressive gestures and elongated bodies (almost always female). It’s also known for its extremely beautiful pattern designs, and I actually did spend a couple hours working on a pattern for the background, only to discover that it all but erased her brush. That was not a sacrifice I was willing to make. I drew this all out on paper (including the type, looking off real type this art style typically used). It was then scanned, and I tweaked it in Illustrator.

(This art fair is actually real, and it’s tacky as hell. I did see some really great things, but overall it should basically be called the Look At What Old People Buy Fair. I just needed a subject for the assignment.)

Typographic portrait of Christopher Hitchens I finished up earlier. Here’s the high res.

There’s a typo, I know, I’ve fixed it.

High res

I JUST SPENT TWO WEEKS DRAWING THIS AND I’M NEVER LOOKING AT A LIZARD EVER AGAIN.

Here’s the drawing at an earlier stage if you’re interested

Edit: Here’s a high res if you’re interested

Progress report for a drawing I’m working on right now. I haven’t even begun shading the head yet, or messed with the different colored scales, and I gotta work on that area around the eye, and I’m not satisfied with the glares on the tongue. I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to do for the background yet. I might just spread around some charcoal, that always looks nice. I’m really excited. I know it’s pretty good so far, but whenever I get full of myself, I just do a google search for “Albrecht Durer,” and he always puts me in my place. I wish I could be Albrecht Durer. I want to make love to the corpse of Albrecht Durer, is what I’m saying.

What I find most interesting about working on this piece is how much I’m learning. I’m not talking about art skills, I’m learning about the lizard itself. You’ll notice the scales below and around the nostril sort of look cluttered and misshapen (the scales around the eye though are purposely misshapen to give the illusion of contour… to the best of my ability, at least). That area around the nose is where I first started. I was trying to figure out how the scales worked. By the time I got to the area below the mouth, you’ll notice everything is much more uniform and organized. That’s where I started to pick up on it. I explained this to my teacher and asked if she thought I should redo the scales around the nose, but she told me they still look like they fit, so I’m going to keep it. Constructive criticism encouraged.

One final thought: fuck the human figure. Good god. So hard. I’m sticking with animals for now okay. I painted a spider a couple months back and I think I do well with animals.

Painting I completed earlier, it’s still a bit wet. 11x14 oil on canvass.

This is a recreation of an image I found on google.

So here’s the ‘self-portrait’ that I don’t actually consider a self-portrait. The shape and angle of the head was a bit better in the the original thumbnail I think, but I was halfway through the painting before I realized I was off, so fuck it rite?

Here’s a tip: when you ask an artist what things are in his stuff, all you have to say is “What is that?” or “What did you want that to be?” Don’t suggest to him what you think the things are. For example, I had people asking me tonight “Are those things on your head feathers!?” or “Is that your hair!?” or “omg are those like your thoughts?!” All of the above I guess? Listen, you’re rarely going to see me being very preachy in my art (and when I am, I’m not going to be subtle with it). The explosion can be whatever you want it to be. On the one hand comments like that are a little annoying, but on the other it’s a bit of a compliment that it can be interpreted so wildly. All I was looking for though was a design that was a bit more interesting than just a head. That’s it. Sorry. I guess I’m not super artsy deep anymore :*(

I did hear some decent criticism though. A few people thought it would be better without the light purple outline around the head, because without that outline, I would’ve blended in perfectly with the background. That’s valid, but I did purposely put it in there to make the head stick out from the background. Someone else said it would’ve looked cool to blend the yellow of the face into the explosion, so that the explosion isn’t just kind of there. I agree, and I kind of want to go back and make that happen. All in all, I think it turned out pretty good for someone who focuses more on graphic design instead of making actual art.

Quick thumbnail I drew up a couple weeks ago of a “self-portrait” (I guess) for my art class. I’ve long since given up on faces and the human figure in general (seriously anatomy, go fuck yourself and die) so I just tried to have fun with it. The painting’s turning out nice I think, I’ll be able to finish it up on monday. I’ll put it up here when I can.