Free Project

I finished my final for the print, so now off to working on the 3D framed version. First I printed out just the head and then glued it to a stiff board. I cut it out with an exacto knife, and it was extremely difficult and tedious. 

Next I cut out and sowed on the letters to the bottom of the head. this was also terribly tedious, and the hard material I used for the head made sticking the needle through difficult. 

Then I had to do some trespassing and got some barbed wire, for which I had to cut with bolt cutters to the proper shape I wanted. Again, difficult. 

Once I got this (finally) into the shape and position I wanted them to be in, I worked on making a background similar to the printed one I did. I also painted in some highlights in the head. 

and there we go. Think my 'Message' was achieved. I followed the 'rules' of making a work of 'real' art, and made a piece about how much I hate following the rules of making real art. Basically, I hate being an artist. Because I feel like this severed head. 

today I worked on my computer to work on smaller details using Manga Studio (an illustration program) and my wacom tablet to get the gesture lines in the hair. I plan on having the actual face and hair completely painted digitally, and I want to use images of barbed wire added on top of the face. Unfortunately transferring the tif file to Manga Studio did not save the layers, so I am having to work all on one, which is a pain. 

tedious detailed work. Though it is a relatively simple image, it takes a lot of time to do the details, because I am choosing to paint it myself on the computer. Manga studio has more useful tools for doing this, such as smudging and paint tools, and my wacom allows for soft/hard/gestural strokes.

hope this illustrates my hatred of being an artist 99.9% of the time.

thinking of doing this for the background.

I typed letters for artist. 

I am thinking of using my angry scribbles as part of this.

I then colored and added pictures.

I started with this sketch.

Changed my idea to something more artistic. I couldn't quite figure out a way to make my original idea to have a concept, and out of my own frustration I ended up taking a break and expressing myself with this, and I ended up liking the concept so I stayed with it. It has turned out to be rather therapeutic, and I think it has a clearer message then my space art. This is expressing how it feels to be a growing artist for me personally through all my life, as the world and viewers have an expectation on what art 'is' and how an artist should be, and it sometimes feels restraining. Because of this I often become frustrated so drawing a little gore to help alleviate this has been interesting. I feel like I needed to do a piece as a stress relief, and I like how it has come along. I wish to put some angry scribbles or something either behind the head or overlaid on the skin, not sure. 

For this project I would like to go out of my comfort zone and attempt something I have always wanted to do, but never attempted. I love the concept and style of the works below, and they are artist's work that are an inspiration for my final project. I want to do a sort of space/sci-fi/futuristic land/space scape. It sounds challenging and I don't know if I will be able to make a successful image, but my goal is to try and see if I can learn to do something like this with photoshop, because its something I have always wanted to learn to do. I may end up integrating my traditional figurative style in with it somehow, not sure. I want to try and stay away from an abstracted type of art style that I usually have had in this class, keeping a bit more literal, but also I don't want it to look perfect. Perhaps a painterly messiness.

the cyclical nature

working on this I started a new canvas and worked with something more comfortable that I like to give me a jumping point. I painted a figure of a boney back and took my favorite image from my photos and worked on merging the two

Here I also used textures from my original image and used them in my new canvas which I like much more now. I think it also shows more of my theme of decay and forgotten places.

For this project I had a tough time figuring out a concept for the cyclical nature and what I wanted to do for this concept. It was very open for interpretation and so I had free range, but I wasn't sure where to start, so I began by taking pictures of my daily life and aspects I did in routine, reflecting the daily routine as a circle i followed. I tried not to think too hard on my concept because I would get entirely frustrated in being uninspired, so I let myself take pictures on things I found interesting about the environment. Eventually I found myself gravitating towards a concept of modern erosion and inorganic human work and contrast that to the natural aspects of nature. I was particularly inspired by how concrete eroded and dirtied over time, and to me it spoke to how everything works in a circle, eventually eroding back into nature. Also the concept of forgotten objects such as the drain and broken down fence fascinated me, leading me to always wonder about how it began as a useful object, now forgotten and eroding, perhaps the end to all things as time moves forward. Finally I ended with a theme of eyes; they are how we observe our world, and thought of ways to integrate all these concepts back to the source of how they are appreciated, and the individual influence it has on the observer.

Fantasy appliance progress

For my appliance I wanted to use cotton balls wrapped in twigs (more of a decoration than an appliance) and wanted to find a way to combine it with a completely different concept of astronomy and planets. For this, I thought back on how people in the past, before they had modern technology and telescopes, would try to understand the universe above them with the means they had, often using strings and maps as a way of visualizing and understanding concepts such as gravity, why the planets circle the sun (or the earth), and many other astronomy concepts. My idea of these two things together is a bit abstract, but I feel if I am able to illustrate the idea of it looking like a merge of strings holding balls (which shows gravity in itself) I will be able to show the affect gravity has on the planets in a non-literal way using this appliance.

progress screenshots 

fantasy appliance photos