Photograph-E

..Scratch that! NEW project Idea time!

A little late in the game for a completely new concept...but eff it! I'm feelin' saucy!
I want to make a handmade art book out of photos, Bristol board and sewing materials. I will call it "Person(a)" and in each photo the models will be wearing masks; preferably hand-sewn masks. I want this piece to have a personal identity theme, relating to how the way others see us takes a part in defining us.

As the wise Professor Miles Inada puts it (and I'm paraphrasing): the creative things we do in our spare time, when just messing around with friends and such, can be a great start to a well-developed artistic concept. My best friend/roommate/fellow ninja Jenny Kladzyk and I love to sew and have silly amateur photo shoots. I thought this would be great to incorporate into a project..so here I go!

Deez be dah fotos I has thus furr:










For the final, I will present these photos and the book's handmade cover/inside cover.

XD

Hawt Dawg!/This Porridge is Just Right covers

This Porridge Is Just Right!!!

Really wish I coulda thrown some gray tones in there before the convention..damn time line. I'll fer sher add them in later, though.

Hot Dawg!!!

Silly lil' strips that will come together to make my..um...masterpiece? *COUGH* Prepare yourself for "Hot Dawg"-a Jesse Dewyer joint!

Not bad for 2 weeks! A friend pointed out that the lettering could be tighter, so once I get back from Stumptown, I'll beg Miles to teach me to make my own font in a lettering program.

My Project(s) Proposal Happy Fun Time

I have dos comicos I will be working on this semester. Their titles? Glad you asked!: "Hot Dawg/This Porridge is Just Right", and "Melting Patterns"

The first idea =

In a sentence: A mini-comic folded hot dog style containing both titles

In a Paragraph: A mini-comic made from 8 ½ x 11 pieces of paper folded hot dog style. It can be read both directions, so when you flip it over there will be a new cover for a different comic. “Hot Dawg” has no story line; it will just be a collection in 1-page comics full of cutsie animals and cheesy puns. “This Porridge…” will be a sequential story; basically my version of Goldilocks.

In a page: A mini-comic made from 8 ½ x 11 pieces of paper folded hot dog style. The titles are independent of one another, "Hot Dawg" being a collection of 1-page comics, "This Porridge.." a sequential story. Deciding which comic to follow will depend on which way the book is turned-the panels will only be right-side-up for the comic currently being viewed. Each will have it's own (slightly thicker) title page. "Hot Dawg" will be full of silly puns starring adorable little anamorphic characters, because, well...that's funny to me (hopefully not only me). "This Porridge..." is my take on the classic fairytale "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" (girl wanders into a house owned by sentient bears, uses their furniture, eats their food, "this porridge is too hot", yadda yadda, then either meets her demise or is saved by a strong lumberjack, or what have you...) I don't like weak female characters that need a burly hunter to save them, so in my version Goldie IS a hunter. She's as ruthless as she is rude, so when the bears attack (which is understandable-she's a dirty trespasser), she defends herself (and then some) with a giant Rambo-esque knife.

The second idea =

In a sentence: A man’s mental collapse.

In a paragraph: A sequential story about a Korean-American man named Ban. Ban is stuck in a loveless marriage and a dead-end job. Each day he deals with annoyances-his nagging wife and annoying kids, a slimy boss, rude customers, etc.-that eat away at him slowly. These doldrums paired with mysterious pills eventually lead to a mental breakdown. He begins to hallucinate until finally he can’t distinguish his fantasies from real life.

In a page (?!): I have over-explained "Melting Patterns" so many times on this blog that I feel it unnecessary to go into any more intricacies of this story (see: last post, ART348-finalized drawring (based off character sketch), My ART450 project pitch (sah-WIIING battahbattahbattah!)

I plan to finish "Hot Dawg/This Porridge..." for Stumptown (an indepent publishing comic convention) in Portland on the weekend of April 16th. After that I will continue working on "Melting Patterns", a comic my friend Jenny Kladzyk and I have been working on, which was started in ART450 last semester.

Influences for "Hot Dawg/This Porridge...":

~Lisa Hanawalt-an indie artist who features not-so-adorable anamorphic characters in her twisted comics. I recently picked up her "I want you" series (2 books so far) and laughed so hard I MAY have peed myself...PLEASE visit her amazing blog: http://lisahanawalt.com/

~Ezra Butt-my good friend and colleague who makes infamously elaborate 3-panel funnies featuring disturbingly realistic talking animals. Warning: My comic won't be NEARLY as funny or well-rendered. Peep his goodies here: http://sarcopterygian.blogspot.com/

Influences for "Melting Patterns":

~James Stokoe-Ban's dream sequences wish they were as creative/off-putting as any panel of his wild ride that is "Orc Stain": http://orcstain.wordpress.com/

~Ross Campbell-a fine example, as the great Miles Inada says, of "having your cake and eating it, too." His line work is flawless and it's obvious that he only draws the subject matter he truly wants to (in his case it's goth girls, amputees and vigilantes, but you get the point): http://www.greenoblivion.com/

On a technical level, I feel I have enough know-how to bust out quality work for both projects. The only issue, as usual, will be adhering to a schedule. My timeline will (hopefully) go thusly:

*now until the 12th: page a day for my double book (title pages done on the 12th)

*13th-15th: work with local copy shop to print out multiple books

*16th-17th: STUMPTOWN! <3 (hopefully git sum street cred from some indie publishers)

*(Tues)18th-end of term: 2 pages a week (hopefully 12 pages)

*finals week: CRITEEEEEQUE!

--WHEW!-- Those be some hefty goals...wish me luck!

ART450 FINAL reflective essay *sniff*

SOOooooh, for my final project I finally made a comic that meets up to my standards! And by "I" I mean "we", the "other" (in a non-existential way) being Jenny Kladzyk. With her unique writing skills/overall badass-ery and my meticulous drawing skills/Photoshop wizardry we executed 6 pages of bizarre, real-space fun! Our working title is "Melting Patterns" and we hope to one day turn it into a graphic novel. The original content was the brainchild of Jenny and myself. We were loitering in our backyard one day, shooting the breeze, when we came up with the idea. We discussed the phenomenon of the average person playing out idealized scenarios his/her head in response to stressful situations. There's always that "I wish I would have said that" moment after the fact. Who doesn't fantasize about telling their egocentric boss to "F*#k OFF!"? "Melting Patterns" expounds on this idea-Ban, the main character, internalizes everything he wishes he could say to the cold, selfish individuals that plague his life. This, combined with mysterious pills and mixed feelings over a young women, bring him to a breaking point.

I learned that while drawing panels comes effortlessly to me, as does writing to Jenny, the editing process kills. It's so tedious and time-consuming to design page layouts in Photoshop and then make sure everything reads well. Hours in the lab may or may not have led to a few meltdowns. The salty-tear-filled time in the lab took much longer than anticipated. We had planned to pump out 8 pages every two weeks, but editing and various classes I took this term made that goal difficult.

Although we only got 6 pages finished (more to come before the term ends), Jenny and I are pleased with our result. We may have strayed from the production schedule, but we both went in knowing this might happen. A big draw back, however, is that we've only executed a dream sequence, so the actual story isn't apparent...yet. Still, overall I'm pleasantly surprised by the fruits of our labor.

ART348/450 Final Project...7 comic book pages ("Melting Patterns")!

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Haven't posted in a few days, soooo...here's this!

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

ART three.four.eight: strory broards

A TV show, "Adventure Time with Finn and Jake" (from the episode "To Cut a Woman's Hair"):

Well-known story, "Goldilocks and the 3 Bears":

My own ideer (fo' muh "Melting Patterns" comic):

ART348-FINAL final landscape + character

Re-vamped version of the final image below...the **FINAL** FINAL final image hehe:

Originally:

ART348: scenery thumbnailz

I feel I need to mention I straight ripped a few of these ideas from the artistic genius Zdzislaw Beksinski (don't ask me to pronounce his first name haha) and I suggest anyone who likes neat stuff to visit his site: http://www.beksinski.pl/ and make sure to turn up the sound 'cuz the theme music is sheer ambient brilliance! Obviously he puts my crappy thumbnails to shame, but you get the idea ;p




side note: I hate that this is unfinished, but my body is infested with sicky-germs and they don't like it when I do things :c this is also the reason I won't be attending class today. SUPER triste :cc

Reflection (so far):
Before I got infected with throat nasties, I had a joyous time hanging out with friends at a super bowl celebration. The best part was that none of us gave two shits about football! We just used it as an excuse to hang out, get wasted, and eat unhealthy food! We started our adventure at the infamous Beau Club, then migrated to a bar/restaurant I'd never been to (although many Ashlanders probably have) called Tease. The place left a great impression on me, but I think this was because I was there under irregular circumstances. One of my friend's friends works there as a cook and it just so happened Sunday is their slowest night, so besides our group, the place was dead. This killer combination meant we basically had a private party setting with free food and half-priced drinks. That alone made Tease golden, but besides the rosy-cheeked, alcohol-induced feelings, the decor and lighting had me feeling some good vibes as well. I love the ambiance of a dimly lit space with red walls, such as the interior of Tease. It gives me a warm, laid-back feeling. However, I feel the "life drawing" artwork and almost-hip music were trying a little to hard to say, "Look! Even though this bar is owned by an older generation, we can still be just as cool as the young'ns! PLEASE spend lots of money here-it's worth it for the artsy, pretentious atmosphere!" It's alright, though. On slow nights with offerings of free chicken wings, I'd probably continue to rate Tease 10 out of 10.

ART348-finalized drawring (based off character sketch)

character description:
"I am the perfect personification of Ban's inner desires. I am creative and intelligent and long to be free. However, despite my powerful wings, Ban keeps me in a small, rusty cage in the darkest basement of his deepest subconscious. Self-doubt and a medial existence take the forms of hideous, serpentine beasts that lurk in the corners of this low-lit space. They creep behind the walls and in the closets, ready to pounce whenever I attempt to escape. I can use my cunning wit and shape-shifting abilities to fool them for a time, but in the end I'm always dragged back into this dismal place. Lucky for me, I have astounding patience and all the time in the world. I can sit here and stew as long as I need to before making my big move. It's only a matter of time before I will have my way."

Reflec-chee-own:
The article gave me some great insight for how to approach my project. What I got from it was a concept artist should keep things fast and loose because you never know what will get scrapped in the end result. The refining stages are key, so I feel I shouldn't start dwelling on details until I've streamlined my character. Sure, details will matter in the end result, because maximum clarity is key, but when you have specific deadlines to meet, it's important to spend as little time as possible on any rough drafts. I've found my first 5 or 10 sketches are mostly to grasp the overall design of my character-simple shapes and what not. Usually the end result has morphed far beyond that of the first sketch. In my bird-Ban drawings, for example, my first sketches played with proportions and had no real reference. It wasn't until I started working form pictures of the beautiful Major Mitchell Cockatoo that my character really began to pop.

My overall life goal is to make comic books or graphic novels, but a career as a concept artist would be a blast, too. However, I feel like there are so many people fighting for these demanding positions that I might get skimmed over. If I wanted to actively pursue this goal, I would need to work on machinery and backgrounds because those are my weak points.

main reference: