Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Paint Doodling

just a watercolor of a ghost that's not hungry for human flesh :) she didn't die angry at anything but occasionally misses the feeling of the sun so every so often she possesses a tree

Friday, September 23, 2011

Update From Uarts

hey, so I promised my co-workers at amec that I'd update them every so often on my blog just to update how college life is and what I would be making so I'm basically doing that now.
I meant to do this earlier but it it's only been recently that I've completed projects and stuff aaand over the last week(ish) I've been battling the Work Load Rapids but my canoe is starting to come along nicely so hopefully I wont drown ;)

So yeah I guess I'll start with my dorm:
My lil' corner



my roommates are so awesome they didn't mind that I brought in my bike while it rained

my pillow pets and dog. Not much of a replacement for sam unfortunately

This is the entrance to our room, the day before I moved in I learned how to make these origami stars and strung them so I decided to hang them there
some People:
<3




right so I haven't gotten pictures of everybody yet  but I do have a number of photo's consisting of people I see quite often so:
Photo 1) Guy with curly hair is Anthony, Girl behind the gay umbrella is Brielle, Guy holding the gay umbrella wearing an awesome hat and looking uber happy is Michael, a friend from my Foundation class.
Photo 2) Anthony and Brielle fake fighting. meal time is never boring
Photo 3) Suspicious looking Anthony and Garian- obviously a very cool guy for being white with dreds and a vegetarian. (he also loves cheese)
Deleted Photo 4) One of my two super awesome roommates Zoe who is korean, a super clean drawing, eating ramen and a member of the animation army. *picture not approved of so was removed with haste
deleted Photo 5) the second super awesome roommate Jess (not jessica) who loves disney movies, worked at a library and agrees with me that making art out of actual books is creepy, is scared of Chucky from that movie Child's Play, loves fall/ wearing layers, and wants to go to britain. She's also a member of the animation army *picture not approved of so was removed with haste

Aaaand projects so far which are completed and in my possession:

You might have seen the kite hanging next to the spinny thing on my wall.  And yes it flies

Drawing Squares in 2D

My 3D teacher put my folded paper project (star, second to the right) on display it made me feel really special.

other projects on display, people make awesome stuff here


Another square drawing in 2D

oooh the lines

a bird sketch of no academic importance

Now curvy lines are in the boxes :D

I made this portfolio which hangs on my wall because there is no room anywhere else except under my bed to  put my stuff. Its made out of cardboard which used to support a portfolio bag, tape, and coat hangers to keep the pictures from bending over
Yeah so thats the jist of it. Classes are interesting to say the least. Drawing has become my most difficult class, it's like boot camp for drawlers. 3D is refreshingly new, makes you use creative parts of you brain not as required when doing flat work. 2D is hard but a little less boot-campish, history is very fun and writing is proving to be easier than previously anticipated. Glass works is basically cut and paste glass, no blowing or melting/ molding. :p

Monday, August 15, 2011

Bird Sketch

The most complete sketch I did while at the beach.
We've gotten crazy weather in previous years so I had brought tons of art stuff to occupy myself with in case it was the same this year. Perhaps it was my precautions that prompted a positive jinx, for the weather was great, and I spent most of my time out in the sun, on the sand and in the water. (Got some awesome burns ;P)

On the top right corner of said sketch, I made an entry, "Right and wrong, Superficial? Harmony is the true structure" These words are some loos strands from a brainstorm. Often times when I sketch my creative conscious will root to whatever I've been contemplating and I begin to brainstorm. Sometimes its an exploration of what a certain word can mean, or what a certain subject is from different perspectives. What certain things mean for me. Other times I'm trying to figure out the right answer, the one that everyone no matter what origin, religion, culture, planet can understand/ relate to/ agree with. I can't fully or accurately explain the meaning behind these words, because they branch off to so many independent concerns, but I can guess and try to explain the best I can.
 One of the bigger roots to the topic is morality. We are all influenced, in one way or another, by our moral compass. We look (or glance) at it when we have to make life decisions that effect others. I wonder if something built our compass in the same manner that our memories build our personalities. Does modern culture have significant influence on this tool, or is it guided by deep, primitive notions passed down to us in order to ensure the welfare of future generations? These compasses probably work differently from person to person, sometimes they point in different directions. Who's right and who's wrong? Is there a right or wrong? ( or is the concept of right and wrong superficial in the grand scheme of things? after all, no matter what any one of us does, the world is still going to spin) I'm sure though, that we all have the same need for balance. The right amount of struggle so you have the experience, the right amount of wrong to motivate you to make it right, enough good things to make your pursuit worth it, good people to look up to and antagonists to argue with.
I feel I'm beginning to ramble so I'm going to stop there. See, this is the problem that comes with trying to explain a brainstorm; you want to keep storming. You begin on the right track, but after a while you wander off until you no longer have any destination and forget you were going anywhere.

On another note: I collected a tone of shells and looking at them I could see landscapes and other pictures in them. I'd really like to start a project sometime based off these.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

More Colorful LIons

yeah I know it's a bad picture I took off the webcam thing sorry I'll make a proper scan of the entire thing later but right now I'm tired and have work tomorrow so g'night

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Nothing too Eventful as of Late

but I got new prismacolors so YAY! I haven't had color pencils for a couple months now and it had quite a toll on me. now I've got new ones and I decided to color my black/white sketches :)
here's my first finished one:
Lately I've been thinking about captivity issues for lions and other big cats. The sad fact: there are more tigers held in American backyards than there are in the wild around the world.(http://www.worldwildlife.org/who/media/press/2012/WWFPresitem27118.html) Every so often you hear on the news about accidents involving an escaped exotic cat and their owners or perhaps neighbors. While some are breeders willing to sell to anyone for a large sum of cash (sideshows, private owners, truck stop owners, etc), others have great admiration of them for their exotic grace and sometimes feel they have a deep connection with their pets. I do not doubt that such bonds happen, however, its easy to forget what your dealing with. According to Allexperts.com, the average lion has 250 Ibs of muscle alone, what can one do with all that power in an 8 ft long enclosure? They're not display creatures, they are meant to climb and run, jump and tear. Even innocent intentions from these animals can lead to terrible consequences for both the owner and the companion/ pet.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Reality, Irish people, and Powerpoint maps

 So reality has been rattling through my head for years. I assure you it's not an obsession (I'm not paranoid and believing that The Man has us all hooked to computers and living in cyberspace or anything), but experiences and other striking influences that otherwise seem ordinary will sometimes for some reason dig up my old Reality contemplations. How much of our core beliefs influence what we are sure is real? How much of it really matters? What if my read is you're maroon? right so you could argue that this contemplation/ fixation/ whatever-you-want-to-call-it is a useless waist of electricity in my brain. There are other questionings that I would bring up but my twitchy self control muscle keeps me from bringing them up. yeah ok maybe i'll bring some of them up later when my thoughts are more organized. (I need to get back into the habit of writing these things down)

on another note, my cousin is writing a story :D It's a fictional story about a girl and her badass irish friend who has fire powers. so since it's summer and I don't want to get my artistic muscles rusty when I go back to school so I asked if I could illustrate it and she said yes. So now I'm learning how to draw irish dudes (it's a lot like my project when I was drawing old people for that Wee Free Men story and my friends character from her play)

lastly, I got a job. yesterday I was asked to fix up a map which was constructed off a powerpoint with a tone of animation layers in it. I'm learning a lot from this one project. I've met like half the staff already and everyone is really nice. I've learned more in these two days about this new powerpoint than I could in a week in high school.  oh and it's good color coordination exorcise

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Will you be able to see this or do you have to click the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2yJSFHTrgM&feature=mr_meh&list=PL1D2653D60A68E0D7&index=14&playnext=0
I guess you click the link. anyway it's a familiar feeling for me... why does that make me feel heartless saying that? like I've let feelings of people i knew die with the fading memories. At the same time however, if you (reader) are familiar with it as well perhaps you could relate to the relief of letting those old struggles lie and rest. And really it doesn't have to mean it's a severed feeling like that area on your body previously cut with nerves nonoperational, perhaps a friendship blossomed.

on another note, I've thought up a new metaphor/ personification: she is a coral seed, floating in this enormous sea searching for her haunted ship for a home, something sturdy, something surreal and with a story you feel instead of hear. she will connect with this ship that is neither evil nor pure and will keep her stable so she can blossom and fight for life

well that's about it HAGS I'll probably be doing more posts but just in case you quite reading :P oh and I got a job yay!

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Spider Fossil in Charcoal

So I'm on a computer where I can't crop or anything but this a photo of my first charcoal piece which I completed last week. The photo doesn't really do it's justice, but I'm happy with the markmaking and the composition between the spider and the rock. This is the reference I used: http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-04-largest-spider-fossil-china.html
The story behind it is pretty interesting. The spider was found in ancient volcanic ash located in Inner Mongolia. The spider is called Nephila Jurassica and is around 2 inches long and dates back about 165 million years. yeah ok the size could be a little more impressive but still.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Australian Peacock Spider

This is an Australian Peacockspider monoprint. The reference was a photo from this website: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2kWfpw/www.arkinspace.com/2011/04/peacock-spider-australias-show-off.html
I love stumbleupon.

Matt's Monoprint Complete!

so I really loved making this. It's not very often that my experiments come out this well. Even Matt smiled when I showed it to him. I'm really happy with his face and the markmaking

Sunday, May 29, 2011

More Matt WIP

ok so here's the finished rough. his face is still a little iffy in tone but I have a reference photo that i didn't feel like opening :P
Expect to see the monoprint and maybe I'll upload my fossilized spider charcoal piece

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Matt WIP

This is a side view of my brother Matthew. For my concentrated study assesment I need to complete two more monoprints and a charcoal piece. My first monoprint is of an Australian Peacock Jumping spider and the second will be this design above. The design behind Matthew is based off the inside of a pearlescent shell.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

C'Mere and Gi'Me a Kissssssssss

a new piece I made. the technique is tempera resist. The mediums used where white tempera and black ink (and water) on watercolor paper. I've been itching to paint something old but alive in nature; maybe an influence from doctor who? "it's something old, something new, something big, something blue." well alligator snapping turtles aren't blue but they can grow to be relatively big and they have a bit of a prehistoric look to them don't they? So anyway the way tempera resist works: first, you paint the picture or design on watercolor paper and then paint over it entirely with black ink. (you can make marks or draw the entire picture with a #2 pencil without it affecting the color of the paint) Then when your done just run cold water over it and gently rub off the ink where the tempera lies underneath and the tempera will begin to show through. The best subjects for this technique are those with texture. It doesn't have to be rough, I saw a piece done by another classmate that had a silvery-type shiny statue of a Budha that looked beautiful. If you mess up by having too much white you can go back with black ink, however, more white tempera or acrylic won't match with the original so ya don't do that... it's really obvious

Monday, April 4, 2011

i'm making surrealism :3

its based off a picture I found of a evening cloudy sky. In the photo there are birds but these strokes arent horizontal like clouds so I'm calling this impressionistic. Actually looking at it this could be the inside of a flower couldn't it. huh.... ya so I'm tired but I'll work on another thing to be finished tommorrow see ya

Saturday, March 26, 2011

To My Surprise...


-this actually came out pretty good. when I first unwrapped the clayboards back in Christmas I was excited but did not have very high expectations out of this. I'd never worked with this type of material and hadn't a clue what I should do for it. my first trial was sort of a bust but good practice. then I decided to give this crinoid subject a chance and this time I decided to try a mix media experiment with watercolor and colored pencils.
    It started out rusty, the smooth surface wouldn't hold more than one layer of watercolor, and the colored pencils would only hold to the paint. My teacher noticed this and suggested that I use a Matte acrylic coating from a airsoft and that worked really well. (even thought I know it's really bad for the ozonlayer. Sorry mother earth XC )
   one other thing you have to know is that this is a crinoid, maybe an ancient ancestor of the horseshoe crab. Its a prehistoric crustacean that was fossilized and dug up, loosing pieces of his eyes in the process. (which is not the geologist's fault. It takes a lot of skill to unearth these in one piece and he did a fine job, using a tremendous amount of care getting out of the ground without many scratches on it and picking the sediments out of every one of it's little creases) So anyway my point is yes those tube things sticking out of the front which is the head are probably eyes or antennas and yes one is shorter than the other because it broke during the excavating.
(photo which I took and edited on Picnick :3)

Friday, March 18, 2011

this should be the final, minorly edited picture. I worked on it with photoshop to even out the papper and darked the backround and worked out the opaque hue to make it pop out a little more

Monday, March 14, 2011

Ok I found out the better way

Note to self: when even lighting is required just take the photograph outside :P

Sunday, March 13, 2011

yyyeeeeeeessssss XD

alright so editing this photo was more painful than the anal observational lines I made so viewer, appreciate it. Haha... huu but seriously though it was kind of rediculous for others who want to make a digital copy of a drawing they did on black papper: scanners get easily confuzed by it. If your thinking of taking a picture of it with a camera, I suggest you find very even lighting (that was my main problem)
also, this replica is the best that I could do but even then it's a little inacurate. the colors match but some little things were made more prominant than others, which it is in the picture but not as... bright cyan/blue-ish? well anyway I'm working it out if I can get a better photo replica at school tommorrow I'll upload that one

Saturday, February 26, 2011

A Little Birdie Told Me...



Alright so I'm in between two projects right now. I think in my last post I mentioned the first one (?) but in case I didn't  it's the middle crinoid from my previous colored pencil work that I promised to finish on black paper and it will be drawn with pastel colored pencils. (light colors) The sketches above are for my other project, which is inspired by the mountains and galleries of Park city, Utah. ( my dad and I went on a ski trip there over the President's day weekend) The mountains where HUGE! and extensive, they seemed to go on forever. Driving between them made my dad and I feet so small. ( imagine what it must've been like for the pioneers) so anyway, the photos of the mountains by themselves were boring, I did a couple sketches for picture ideas and shot some photos of a bird i saw at lunch while we were skiing at Deer ski mountain. Then dad and I went to Park city to see the galleries and I was really inspired by this one artists style with mixed media. she used this cool patterned fabric which would show through these super colorful landscapes so I thought I'd try it and enforce some of the techniques I read about on how to make artwork based off photographs. that last colored picture is made with acrylic. I used yellow and red/ littleblue first then applied solid blue as my layer sequence. (they're mostly diluted)

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Now or Never

ya I know I had somewhere around 6 posts about finishing this :P I don't completely understand why, maybe I sat in front of it for too long, but I lost interest/ love for this picture. One thing I understand now though is that sometimes a piece your working on can be like you looking at the sun. After a while it's not pretty anymore, it hurts your eyes and you have to look away. In my case, i had too look away from that super cool fossil and supertaunting picture for a couple weeks. Then last wed we had a snowday and it was raining and there was this weird progression from "wow the sound of falling ice and branches can be really relaxing sometimes" to "isn't it funny how now that the pressure of me finishing that crinoid is off me I suddenly want to finish it?" and then I woke up and turned on the T.V. and it all went down hill from there
on the upside though I did a pretty good sketch of an old guy named Albert who isn't eating a tortilla

it's a picture of his dead wife Peggy

oh and i also drew this with pastelle, I lost the better digital copy and this looks alot browner and yellowier but the scanner picked up too much of the dark hues I used to make the shadows

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Statue's Eye and Roots & Yarn Tangles

the first painting is an oil still life painting my teacher set up. Like the set ups my professors put together at UArts, Doc took tones of random but visually appealing objects on top of a table covered with the green velvet curtain which was pinned to the wall. This piece was just 1/3 of the total setup. It took somewhere around two weeks, and after a while without looking at it, I went back with fresh eyes to fix the areas that called for it. I do realize that the bottom left corner doesn't match the color tone of the right, half of that is the lighting but I ran out of the Olive green when i was tweaking it so it's become a little more prominent.

This was an acrylic piece that I started waaay back in... October? (There's a post of this in it's early stages, maybe you recognize it) anyway Doc wanted to see more work done in less time so i put this on hold for a while and went back to it around the same time I did the oil still life.
I've also been doing some illustrations but I don't have a copy of them yet so I'll upload them at a later date