document real life

Doodles

2010-01-12T18:32:00.006-06:00

Paintings - Soup and Soul

2010-01-12T18:19:00.002-06:00

My parody of Andy Warhol's Cambell's soup can painting. I call it "My Dinner with Andy". My concept with taking a parody and making a parody of that. This was the piece that ended up in the BFA exhibition at UW-Milwaukee.

My tribute to Korean hip-hop group Epik High (check them out at map the soul ). I think they have some interesting perspectives on what the soul is, and some of their music is kind of deep so I wanted to do this in appreciation of their work.

Printmaking - "Jolie Rouge"

2009-09-26T00:45:00.004-05:00

I have discovered the joys of printmaking! Hurrah I guess for the Peck School of the Arts forcing me to take classes outside my major.

Our first project was making a woodblock print. Using the first letter of our first or last name we came up with an adjective and made a design. There aren't many "j" adjectives so I went for "jolly". I did a little research (read: Wikipedia) on the Jolly Roger and came up with some interesting stuff. I didn't really know what I was doing when I was carving so the design is a bit simple, but I like it overall. Given another chance I'd a) change up the line thickness and b) buy not crappy tools.

Still, all-in-all very fun. Looking forward to our next project.

Sketches from class

2009-09-26T00:44:00.003-05:00

I could be using my class-time wisely by taking diligent notes... or I could draw silly sketches.

Sketches

2009-08-08T03:48:00.002-05:00

Just some random sketches. Clearly need to scan some more. Also, you know, draw more. It's been a slow summer for art (shame on me!).

Erasure

2009-05-26T23:00:00.005-05:00

I found some old artwork the other day. I really like these pieces. If I remember right we used charcoal and then erasers to bring out the highlights.

I need to try this technique again. Suppose I'll have to start going to Friday Night drawing sessions on campus since I don't have to take anymore drawing classes.

Twisp & Catsby

2009-04-30T23:58:00.006-05:00

I'm working on a series for my Painting final right now. It's sort of impromptu painting/unaware collaboration. I'm taking paintings that students have abandoned that my prof still has. Then I'm painting over them, but I'm leaving parts of the original paintings showing.

As for the impromptu part... one of my goals for the semester was not to think too hard. I get worked up/worried over how projects to turn out. It's more fun just to let things happen.

So for one I'm painting over using one of my favorite webcomics - Penny Arcade - as inspiration. Twisp and Catsby are two of the best non-sequitur characters ever. Here I'm using their first appearance (check out the comic)

Still a bit to do, but I'm happy with it so far. I can't wait to finish it.

Random

2009-04-24T01:30:00.004-05:00

Geez I haven't posted in awhile.

This is from my last project. I wish I had ended it at this stage. It was the most successful figure I ended up doing. Maybe I'll redo it on a smaller canvas.

My current painting. Maybe I should call it a collaboration? The painting underneath was someone else's. Our first project this semester was to take a piece someone else had done, flip it upside down, and create a painting. It ended up being my best one so far, so I'm re-using the concept for my final project. I picked up about 5 or 6 abandoned paintings from my prof's office to use for a series.

I'm trying not to think too hard about this. I think that's one of my problems. I think too hard and worry too much. I guess I'm sort of doing impromtu painting. We'll see how the rest turn out.

Progress (or something)

2009-03-10T21:04:00.007-05:00

Working on a painting for class right now. We're supposed to take an old master's painting and redo it using a contemporary artist's style. So I went with Seurat's "Sunday On The Island of La Grande Jatte" using Scott Anderson's style.

So not done yet *sigh* I guess I'm doing another abstract-ish painting which is a nice change. I think I could get into that genre with some practice. I can't do realism. I can do pseudo-realism I guess?

Abstract = win

2009-02-10T23:12:00.005-06:00

Had fun with our first painting project of the year. Take an old painting and paint a new still-life over it, but leave some of the underpainting showing. So I took an abandoned painting from the painting storage room, then grabbed some dried gourds the prof had and went at it.

Day 1

Day 2

I really liked the end result. It's kinda goofy and "child-like", as the prof said. That's me all right :)

You've Had Enough

2008-12-30T18:54:00.002-06:00

Just some fun with a paper cutout. I want to make more of these :)

The Bold Renegade

2008-12-16T23:22:00.008-06:00

I don't know what triggered the idea for my final painting of the semester, but I ended up wanting to do something based on some work by Peter Poplaski. Peter is a talented artist who is a big fan of Zorro :) He's also a relative of mine. If there's one thing Peter enjoys it's dressing up as Zorro. He's even done self-portraits as the masked hero. You can find some examples of his work here. So, Pete, this is for you. I'm sorry if I don't do proper justice to your hero.

I do love dressing up for projects. Thank goodness I had some of the clothes. Alas, I didn't have a mask, rapier, or cape.

Not sure I'm 100% done. I think it needs some touches here and there. I did the basic design based on "The Mask of Zorro", but I wanted the costume to be more like the TV show.

Postmodern

2008-12-11T22:34:00.007-06:00

One of our finals was to create a Postmodern painting. I really enjoy Kehinde Wiley's work (check it out here) so I wanted to do something along those lines. I recreated the pose of an 18th century portrait of a lady who had a red shawl and was holding a book. Anyone who knows me knows I love books and I am a bit of a daydreamer, so it all seemed rather fitting.

I'm quite happy with the figure, though overall I need to change/touch-up things once the paint is dry (greater contrast, change some of the background colors, etc.).

Last one

2008-12-11T22:25:00.008-06:00

Last in-class painting of the semester. It was a 3 day painting with two models. Started with acrylic underpainting and added layers of oil, but left outline of acrylic poking through. Kind of a neat look. I'd like to experiment with it a little more.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Not too shabby. I like the background and the figure on the right. Other figure isn't too bad I suppose.

Variations

2008-12-11T22:22:00.006-06:00

Was supposed to be a move from realistic to abstract, but I came up a little short. Oh well, I still like 'em.

Robo Bling

2008-11-24T12:45:00.009-06:00

For my Metalsmithing class we were assigned the task to create a character ring -- so basically a ring that represents a person/character of our choice. My latest obsession led me to choose Wall-E.

I based the design off of Irish claddagh rings. I wanted it to be Wall-E and Eve holding hands seeing as that's Wall-E's goal in the movie. Cute, yes? I'm really proud of how it turned out. I'd take the class again just to have the chance to make another ring.

(It's made from sterling silver and brass FYI)

My final project - a chain. Not quite finished. I need to solder the pieces together and twist 'em. Also going to sandblast it so I can color on it with Prismacolors.

Painting - abstraction

2008-11-14T16:38:00.006-06:00

2 day in-class painting. Started with an acrylic underpainting using complimentary colors. 2nd layer is oil. The underpainting is supposed to poke though, but I need to work on that.

I think I did okay with the abstraction. I definitely like the first painting best.

Self-portrait

2008-11-14T16:37:00.002-06:00

Self-portrait. Meh.

Painting - Redo a masterpiece

2008-11-12T12:35:00.009-06:00

Our assignment was to re-create a master's painting however we wanted. I was originally going to do Degas, but this Manet painting - Bar at the Folies-Bergere - caught my eye.

I thought it'd be fun to modernize it a bit making the subject the kind of female bartender you'd see at a trendy nightspot. I made up the background, but I wish I had gone to a real bar and taken reference shots. Oh well!

(btw not all those alcohol bottles are mine :P some belong to my roomies.)

Painting - Freud style

2008-11-12T12:19:00.005-06:00

2 day in class study

I decided to use the Lucian Freud technique again. I feel less obsessive about "realism" and specifics when I do paintings this way.

Quick sketches

2008-11-07T15:45:00.007-06:00

People at the local coffee shop.

Quick sketches done in the quad/piazza outside the Union

Guy on a car rallying for Obama

My first sale

2008-10-14T20:45:00.010-05:00

This summer I took part in my first art competition - the Strawberry Festival Plein Air competition.

My mom contributed the use of her van for all my stuff. It was fairly comfortable, though the trunk door only covered part of me, so half my body got sunburned.

The subject - my middle school. It seems so much smaller now.

Work in process

The finished piece, minus a frame. Not too shabby seeing as I only had two afternoons free to get it done (artists get 1 week to finish). At the end all pieces are displayed and there is a silent auction. A friend of my mother bought it so at least I got back a little more than the entry fee.

Painting - chiaroscuro

2008-10-14T20:42:00.004-05:00

Day 1 - in class painting. Black, white, and grays glaze using oil paint and linseed oil.

Day 2 - color added. I like the background, but the figure needs work.

Metalsmithing - silhouette

2008-10-14T20:32:00.005-05:00

The beginning of my silhouette project for my Metalsmithing class.

It's cut from a 12" x 6" piece of copper. I broke a ridiculous amount of saw blades doing this project (thankfully they are quite cheap).

Doesn't translate well via pictures unfortunately. I'm holding an iPod if you can't tell.

No, it wasn't originally supposed to be like the iPod commercials. Part of the requirements was to make this somehow contemporary. Since I was in my pointe shoes this was the only way I could think to fulfill that rule.

Painting - Lucian Freud

2008-10-14T20:22:00.005-05:00

In Figure Painting we practiced Lucian Freud's (Sigmund Freud's nephew) painting technique. It's specific and yet it isn't. I thought it was very different and freeing.

In class - 1 day

Not finished, but still successful.

Copy of Freud

painting - in process

The finished piece. One of my most successful paintings.

New medium

2008-03-14T19:33:00.004-05:00

I'm learning that oil painting is kinda fun, but tedious. It's also better when I'm not panicking about getting work done on time. The best is when I'm there alone on the weekends. It can be a tad creepy very late at night; however, with no one there I can sing out loud with my mp3 player or watch DVDs on my laptop.

Not quite where I want to be, but this is my first time using oil paint so I'm somewhat pleased. Much better than my first attempts a few weeks ago.

Back again

2008-02-20T23:44:00.004-06:00

Noticed I haven't posted in awhile, so here we go again. I've taken on a heaver class load than before at least in terms of art classes (I'm so happy to be done with Gen. Ed. classes!). Never taken so many studio/project classes, so managing my time is harder than ever. I'm not too far behind though.

This is a piece for my Basic Ceramics class. It had to combine pinch pots into whatever we want. I had no idea what I wanted to do, but this is what it ended up to be. I'm pretty happy 'cuz it's sort of odd and amusing which I guess describes me. :) The prof suggested adding a handle which I didn't want, but now I'm glad because it gives it character. Sort of looks like it pours liquid or maybe holds plants. Now to decide how I'm going to color it.

I'll probably post paintings later once I do something good :P I'm taking my first painting class and oil paints are pretty much as hard as I thought it would be. It's sort of calming though... except mixing colors. I'll get the hang of it eventually!

Time for a break

2007-12-19T02:36:00.001-06:00

Another semester, another rush job on projects. I managed to get them all done except for one which was only partially done. C'est la vie ~

This is the one I'm most proud of. We had to create something using "found" objects. I bought this police caution tape not really knowing what I wanted to do. I ended up deciding I didn't want to do something that would just end up under my bed. I wanted something that would be useful, so I chose a bag.

I used black foam craft board for the structure and some backpack-type straps for the handles. It was sewed partially by machine, but it got finicky so I sewed most of it by hand. There also used to be a little flashing red light, but it fell off. I'll get to fixing it eventually...

This is the project from my last post. It's not perfect (it could do with some shaping/shading), but it met the requirements. The snake and the lizard were my favorite parts.

Now it's time to reset my brain and relax until next semester. 15 credits - 12 of which are studio classes. We'll see how that goes!

In progress

2007-11-20T04:00:00.000-06:00

As usual I've fallen so very far behind in my schoolwork. I'm hoping to get caught up, or close to caught up, over the Thanksgiving weekend. In the mean time, here's a painting I'm working on:

Lots of things to touch up/fix/fill in still (I hate the color of the cat in the corner).

Next is my basically finished 3-D project. We were given a 4' x 4' sheet of plywood and had to make a chair. Mine isn't exactly a chair, but I think it's pretty sweet. I based the design on an animation board.

(such as this)

So basically it's a backrest. There's not enough room in my room to do art so I do it on my floor. Now I have something to lean against. Also I could use it as a drawing surface.

It folds up! So I can put it under my bed or behind the dresser. Also it has a handle.

The chair in action. (Woo Colbert!)

I made a few mistakes here and there and the folding parts took a lot of time to figure out, but it's done for the most part. Now I just have to prime, paint, and add a design element if there's time.

Deleted!

2007-10-18T01:17:00.001-05:00

Pen & ink drawing

This was for my 2-D Concepts class to study"deletion". It was my third try because I spilled white paint on the first one cleaning up mistakes, and then spilled ink on the second one. Third time's a charm!

We took pictures from magazines, rubbed graphite pencil on the back, and then traced the images onto illustration board. The whole thing took a lot longer than I originally thought. At least 5 hours (maybe near 7?). I have a vague idea because I listened to several discs of DVD commentaries for Family Guy/American Dad while doing them. Sounds weird but I like having them on in the background because I don't have to pay too close attention to know what's happening on the screen and it keeps me from getting bored as opposed to having complete silence.

All in all I like it. Very time consuming but somehow relaxing/fun.

Some old, some new

2007-10-04T01:57:00.000-05:00

A new semester begins (or rather began 4 weeks ago) which means new classes. I'm now officially in the Drawing & Painting program which will be better off for me when applying for animation school.

I'm getting rid of my "Freshman" foundation classes so I can move forward in the program. It's great taking studio classes again. I have Art Survey (lecture), 3-D Concepts, 2-D Concepts, and Quick Drawing which is basically 4 hours of drawing a model.

This is one of my project for 3-D. I was given a choice of words and had to convey it without being too literal. I chose "hinge". The piece is a little abstract, but not too far from the mark I think.

This self-portrait was actually my final piece for my Life Drawing class last year. It didn't go over well with the class ("too cartoony" was one of the comments), but I don't care. It was fun being able to get on my pointe shoes again to combine two of my loves - Art and Dance.

Hot & cold

2006-12-07T01:46:00.000-06:00

Chalk pastel portrait - cool colors on warm paper. The paper is actually brown and I tinted it with warm colors. I believe this was a 25 minute study. I didn't like it when I did it, but now that I've had time to step back I like how it turned out. I started out with sketchy lines but I eventually blurred everything. I think I prefer the smoother look.

Second time's a charm

2006-11-21T03:43:00.000-06:00

Re-done self-portrait: Black, white, and brown Conte crayon (I may have used black charcoal as well... can't remember). Background elements and more "character" added to this one. Much better I think.

Watercolors

2006-11-17T22:46:00.000-06:00

Orange and green watercolor paint. I kind of like the 'vagueness' of this one.

Blue and orange watercolor paint.

This and that

2006-11-02T23:28:00.000-06:00

Black charcoal, white paint (at least I think it was paint... didn't quite catch that part) on brown paper. I believe these were each 45 minute studies. Not my best work, but it was interesting to work with these materials.

Happy Halloween

2006-10-31T02:38:00.000-06:00

As promised I'm posting my portrait for class this week. Black and white Conte crayon on brown paper. Our prof suggested we wear our Halloween costumes in the portrait. I went home and grabbed a load of my recital/competition dance costumes from my senior year of high school. I settled on my tap trio costume and wig from my Roxie Hart costume. How does it stack up against the "real deal"? :)

I was kneeling on a chair on one knee and balancing the drawing board on the other knee. You can imagine how comfortable that was (*hint* not very).
[edit] My prof made a few suggestions and I re-did the portrait. It turned out nicer/more lively, but unfortunately I couldn't get a pic of it before I turned it in. Hopefully I'll be able to get it here soon.

Nothing much

2006-10-26T11:38:00.000-05:00

Black & white Conte crayon drawing on brown paper. It's been awhile since I've worked on paper that isn't white, but I like how this one turned out. It's a little incomplete, but for the time we had it's pretty fair (probably should have sketched a quick mouth but oh well). We have a portrait due for next class so perhaps I'll post it if it turns out well.

C'est moi

2006-09-27T12:40:00.000-05:00

Just tossing in a self-portrait I did for class this week.

I sketched with ebony pencil and did details with a black ball-point pen. Cross-hatching shading obviously. Whole thing took about 2-2 1/2 hours. It was a pain trying to get the mirror set up right, and having the drawing board steady enough to draw (I ended up leaning it against a coat rack). I'm looking a bit wide-eyed to the left because that's where the mirror was. Only a few proportion mistakes here and there, but otherwise I'd deem it successful.

Drawing from life

2006-09-25T00:39:00.000-05:00

I'm pleased to say that I got into a life drawing class this semester. My major is a mix of digital art, music, and film which means traditional art classes really aren't required. In fact, I've been told by a couple advisors that they found it odd a digital arts student even wanted to take traditional art classes. Ah, the mistake of switching majors... But that's a story of another day. At the moment I'm just glad I have a chance to be creative. Any way a few pics from the class (naughty bits were censored just in case) -

Quick Sketches - I think the spirals help show the human form rather than quick lines back and forth or just outlining the figure.

Cross contour drawing from the back. It's sort of like dividing the figure with imaginary lines.

Semi-cross contour, semi-cross hatching.

A 45 minute study with slightly more cross hatching. I'm worried my drawings may have a "cartoony" feel to them, but Animation is where I wanna end up so maybe that's not a bad thing?

Back in the game

2006-08-09T23:53:00.000-05:00

Well, figured it's time to get my bum in gear and start sketching from life again. At the moment I'm working at the State Fair for my cousin, so I lack the time to draw freely. However, I did remember to stuff one of my sketchbooks in my bag before I left for work. Sat down on a bale of hay after my shift and sketched random people. This one is the only one I could even somewhat finish. It's hard to draw people at the Fair when they keep moving around. I do like this pic though. Poor kid was all tuckered out in his stroller (aww).

Frosh art

2006-06-27T00:57:00.000-05:00

I don't usually enjoy looking at my old art because I'm so critical of myself. I also don't usually like said 'old art'; however, I peeked at some of my stuff from my 2nd semester (freshman year) Basic Drawing class and I liked what I saw. Feelin' like a broken record here, but it really is about practice. Being in an art class helps too. Hopefully I'll find my art supplies when I move into my apartment (first one, woo!).

[1st pic] Horse, line art we did in class (if you look close you see it only earned me a "CD" grade - not quite a C or a D...)
[2nd pic] Quick pen sketch, scenery from "Jekyll & Hyde" (was in the chorus, helped build the set too). This set piece was the best. It stretched along the whole back length of the stage and was a permanent piece for the entirety of the show. We called it "The Hindenburg".
[3rd pic] Quick pen sketch, hanging piece for Jekyll's lab.