The best art is that which is simple...

via Gemma Correll

Coldplay: "Paradise"

It's like they were thinking of me when they decided to shoot this video to this wonderful song

:-D.

I mean, really, what more can a guy ask for, in terms of visual inspiration, as he illustrates a poem that thematically revolves around elephants? This is pure awesomeness...lol

Assignment: Design a BeastieBoys CD Cover...

Nathan Bulmer is Laugh Out Loud Funny...

Really enjoy his comic strips...




http://eatmorebikes.blogspot.com/




etc.

Oh hai there...

Academic work x Job x forgetting blog password = lack of postings. I've resolved that latter part of the equation though, so I will start posting some past due work and on-going projects as the days go by.

What am I working on now?...This ----> Infirm Pachyderm, a poem by award winning children's book author, Jane Yolen.

Over the course of the next three weeks, I'll be illustrating this poem, along with everyone in my Illustration class. Should be fun. Now if only I could develop an idea, given:

"Elephant

Elephaint

Elephinished.

Eleph-ain't.”

Cheers to elephants...

The effects of LSD on the Art-making process...

Always thought this was cool. It is, among other things, a really interesting visual research that invokes the underlying tension between the representational approach to art (underpinned in classical traditions) and the abstract approach to art (anti-classical/avant-garde traditions).

If euphoric conditions result in the creation of abstract art, as evidenced in this particular experiment, is it fair to conclude that abstract artists enjoy the art-making process more than representational artists, on average? The head vs. the heart; Poussin vs. Delacroix; seems like the war between "schools of thought" will never end...lol.

FYI, my favorite drawings are the two composed at 2 hours and 45 minutes, and at 4 hours and 25 minutes.

"Destino"

Destino began in 1946 as a collaboration between Walt Disney and the famed surrealist painter Salvador Dalí. A first-hand example of Disney's interest in avant garde and experimental work in animation, Destino was to be awash with Dalí's iconic melting clocks, marching ants and floating eyeballs. However, Destino was not completed at that time. In 2003, it was rediscovered by Walt’s nephew, Roy E. Disney, who took on the challenge of bringing the creation of these two great artists to fruition.

The six-minute short follows the love story of Chronos and the ill-fated love he has for a mortal female. The story continues as the female dances through surreal scenery inspired by Dalí's paintings. There is no dialogue, but the soundtrack features a song by the Mexican composer Armando Dominguez.

"Minoriteam"--so bad and yet so good.

A cartoon about a team of minority superheros, based of racial and ethnic stereotypes, who do battle against the fiendish "white shadow", an organization of villains who are themselves stereotypes of Caucasians. In other words, you probably shouldn't watch this if you are easily offended...lol.



Minoriteam Episode 1 (DL link in description) by shadowghostra


Minoriteam Episode 05 (Dl link in description) by shadowghostra


Minoriteam Episode 07 (DL link in description) by shadowghostra

An artist's worst nightmare...

"Robots" -- The finished movie.

So here's the finished version of my first ever animation. It took me roughly 3 weeks, and somewhere in the neighborhood of 95 individual drawings to put this together. Even though a lot of hard work went into the creation of this animation, be forewarned--this is NOT a Disney & Pixar animation, so please watch this with low expectations, lol. In the end, the creation, development and processing of "Robots" was a very fun experience. It was challenging, but wholly rewarding nonetheless.

Time permitting, I hope to develop my "animation muscles" and create more "Robot" episodes. BTW, the version I am posting is an edited/truncated version :-)

"Jim Tressel"

Another big name coach, another big name program, another sordid affair involving star athletes receiving improper benefits while coach(es) turn(s) a blind eye. Sounds like business as usual in big-money collegiate athletics. While this sort of nonsense isn't surprising in the least bit, it still amazes me how often these guilty coaches are able to circumvent both blame and punishment by simply claiming ignorance and conveniently resigning as shit begins to hit the fan.

I can't help but feel sorry for those legit student-(first)-athletes-(second) who, via association to the sullied program, are impacted by the foolishness because of a few selfish teammates and coaches who are inept and prejudiced toward star athletes. This dude Jim Tressel is officially now suite-mates with Jim Calhoun, Pete Carroll, and the king of "crookedness" himself, John Calipari. If a coach--who is an administrative official representing a school--can "dismiss" a student-athlete for reasons relating to, but not limited to, failing to live up to the coach's expectations, then I think it's more than fair for student-athletes and the student body at large to be able to "dismiss" a coach for failing to promote "an atmosphere of compliance."

#Justsayin'

Osama?

Part 1 of a 2 panel comic that I did concerning Osama. I'll upload the second panel if I ever get around to scanning it.

"Robots"--dun, dun, dunnnn...

I'm presently working on a series of short animations (old school style) in my Experimental animation class that will feature robots engaged in all manner of silliness. My hope is that these animations will become a continuous affair. Here's a pic of one of my robotic characters...



As you can see, he's an angry lil fella, lol.

Also, here's a very short clip (emphasis on short) from episode 1:



Believe it or not, it took 18 individual drawings to get that 3 second animation, sighhh...lol.

Anyway, I should be completing "episode 1 and 2" of the series within the next few days, so stay tuned :-)

"Old Fangs"

Old Fangs from adrien merigeau on Vimeo.

"If Cartoons Are So Big, Why Don't They Pay"?

Really insightful article I ran into while visiting another blog. Definitely makes you consider whether, or not, cartooning/illustration is a line of work you really want to pursue.

You can read the article here.

Who knew Superman could be such a jerk...

...a funny jerk, but a jerk nonetheless...lol. Click to enlarge.

Bees: Continued...

So here's the final version of my Bees Illustration piece. Critique went well; received a lot of valuable feedback. I will be reworking this final version, however, as the assignment called for a "vertically" oriented illustration, and mine was horizontally oriented.




The illustration is meant to convey, through satire, mans dependence on Honey Bees as well as our love--bordering on addiction--for Honey.

Additionally, the illustration is an implicit reference to the fact that Bee-keeping, in many urban jungles (like New York City), is considered a "criminal act" and/or a violation of the law. Thus, here, in my illustration, we are witness to a city dweller who has been reduced to cavorting with a "sketchy honey-dealer," in the middle of the night, in a dark alleyway, all in an attempt to get a taste that sweet, golden, food of the gods, straight from its source.

Tools for the Trade: 140 pound water color paper, Water colors, Pencil, and Ink Pen.

Work in Progress: "Bees"

So at the present moment, in my Illustration class, the topic at hand is "Bees." Given this New York Times article concerning the aforementioned bees, our assignment as budding illustrators was to create "a full-page, full color illustration...that would be used as the lead-in to the article...," among other things.

Upon reading the article, one thing becomes very clear, and that is that there is a lot to be said about these amazing little insects. However, given the expansive information that is provided in the article, I must admit that I found this assignment to be rather challenging with regards to what it was, exactly, about bees, that I wanted to illustrate.

After much consideration and even greater thought on the matter, I decided to focus on the relationship between man/humans and bees; of course, be warned, because my interpretation of the relationship is very exaggerated, and rather "dark," if I may say so myself...lol.

I went through several thumbnail sketch-ideas before finally settling on this particular sketch-idea. The following are stills of the work in progress. Enjoy.

Rough sketch...



Testing out color...



More color testing...



Well there you have it folks; a shady bee character peddling honey in a dark alleyway to a clearly addicted human male (a honey-addict). This is going to be one of those things you'll either like, or outright hate...lol. Looking forward to hearing the class' opinions in our upcoming critique session...lol.

As I am still working on the final scheme for the illustration, pictures wont be posted until it is completed, and submitted for critique.

Ciao.

"Blockhead- The Music Scene"

Animated video that I came across via another blog. Really interesting, and intense, and weird. This is probably one of those things you shouldn't watch while high;...or maybe you should?...lol.

Blockhead - The Music Scene from Ninja Tune on Vimeo.

Japan

I just want to state that I am very sympathetic and highly saddened by what has happened in Japan. While the above illustration may imply otherwise, the truth is that, the illustration actually highlights my inability to comprehend and/or accept the truth of this tragedy when I first heard about it.

When I awoke this Friday, in the morning, the first thing my roommate told me was that parts of Northern Japan had been struck with devastation. I didn't believe him, until I checked the news for myself. Even then, for reasons I have yet to fully understand, all I could think about while watching the news was just how unreal the situation was; like something straight out of a movie...a monster movie...like Cloverfield...or to be culturally more specific, the various Godzilla vs. (insert Godzilla's monster nemesis' name in here) movies. And so this imagery and this idea stuck with me; and it played out over and over in my head, because to me, this notion that a real-life monster was to be blamed for the damage and destruction seemed more plausible than the actual truth--what the news was reporting--which was that Mother Nature herself has caused this.

To keep this idea from playing over and over in my head, I thought it best to actually sketch an image in my sketchbook--a visual catharsis of sorts. I originally depicted Godzilla battling Mothra, with the two mythical titans destroying Sendai and surrounding areas in their wake. After some revisions, however, I made it a point to focus in on the truth; as much as I would have liked to believe that monsters had been responsible for all this damage and chaos, and justifiable deserving of blame, the real truth of the matter was that, only Mother Nature was at fault here. The only "monster" deserving of blame for the attack on Sendai this past Friday was Mother Nature. Accompanying this acceptance of truth, and reality, was a vindication of sorts--one that is to my mental benefit, and to the benefit of a certain mythical beast of legend who I had been falsely accusing for quite some time now.

My prayers and condolences go out to all those affected by this tragic event. In moments like this, the strength of our bonds, our humanity, and the fraternity that is our species, becomes all to apparent. Once again, my prayers and condolences.

Kemba and Lebron discussing game winning shots.

China vows no Western-style political reforms.

The story.

Scandalous: N.P.R

The story.

My opinion:

Ronald Dahl's, "Matilda", by Aaron Renier.

I really enjoy illustrations that have this kind of frenetic look to them. Anyway, you can read the rest of the story here . Enjoy!

"The Pig Farmer", by Nick Cross

This is a really amazing film by Nick Cross.

The Pig Farmer from Nick Cross on Vimeo.

And the fact that it is implicitly commenting on very real social issues (present and past), I think, makes this film all the more interesting; delivering adult issues in child-friendly packaging--very clever.

Wise Words...

"The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If you’re sitting around trying to dream up a great art idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something else will occur to you and something else that you reject will push you in another direction. Inspiration is absolutely unnecessary and somehow deceptive. You feel like you need this great idea before you can get down to work, and I find that’s almost never the case."

Chuck Close.

Videos about Art: "Sand Animation," by Kseniya Simonova.

Undoubtedly one of the more beautiful avenues for artistic expression that I've encountered. This right here, is a prime example of what art should be (captivating), and what artists should strive for (the creation of pieces that compel, in some shape or form, one's inner being).




And just in case you're wondering about the path she took on her way towards becoming a "Sand artist"...

Illustration Class Project: Design Your Own Tattoo...

So slowly but surely, the academic side of life is picking up now that we are well into a month of school. Our first major assignment in my illustration class was to design a tattoo, and using photo-shop, spot color it.

Creating the tattoo was the easy part (my design was based on the notion of duality); using photo-shop...well, that was another story. While I like my tattoo and my spot coloring (looks very modernish), in terms of the assignment, I don't think I was too effective.

I think I just have to spend some quality time with photo-shop. Maybe a candle lit dinner, some wine, some chocolate...then maybe, she'll open up and reveal her wonderful lil secrets to me, lol. Anyway, here is my tat, from start to finish...


Original tattoo drawing.



Tattoo drawing following clean-up in Photo-shop.



Tattoo drawing with Spot color (variations of pink) added.



Ohh and something weird, but cool, that happened when I initially tried to convert my photoshopped tattoo from a tiff. file to a jpeg. file...




This could honestly only happen by way of an accident because frankly, I am way to ignorant of photo-shop to have actually purposely done this, which is actually kinda sad when I think about it...sighhh...lol.

Tin Tin!!!!

So I just recently discovered that one of my most favorite childhood heroes will be coming back in a big way, via the big screen in...

"The Adventures of Tin-Tin: The Secret of the Unicorn."

The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn is the first in the series of 3D motion capture films based on the iconic character created by the Belgian artist Georges Rémi, better known to the world by his pen name Herge.

The film will depict Tintin’s (Jamie Bell) first encounter with Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis) and the discovery of a clue to the treasure of his ancestor Sir Francis Haddock. They set out to find it with protection from a prison escapee who tried to get the treasure as well as Detectives Thomson (Nick Frost) and Thompson (Simon Pegg).

...and the fact that the movie is under the directorial supervision of Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson makes this all the more comforting...like, because, I know it will turn out good, haha.

Anyway, here are some more awesome stills from the movie, which is rendered in CGI btw, (click images to enlarge).


Haddock...


Tin Tin pointing a gun at either Thomson or Thompson...


Haddock and Tin Tin...




The movie is set for release in theaters in December (23rd) of 2011. Can't wait!!!

Videos about Art: "Wall Painting x Graffiti x Stop Animation = Sublime Awesomeness..."

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Videos about Art: "Banksy's Exit Through The Gift Shop."

I was lucky enough to watch this movie for free just recently on HULU.




Unfortunately, free viewing was for a limited time basis and alas, the movie is no longer available.

Still though, I think it's a great feature that is worth checking out. A wonderful, comedic critique of the underground (or so some would like to think) genre of Street Art, its creators, and its consumers. Enjoy!!!

Is it possible to fall in Love with someone who never "existed"?

Delacriox's, "Orphan girl at the Cemetery."

Simply enchanting...

Where I have been, and where I am going...

In hindsight, I think my blog name was the most fitting title for anything and everything involving me. Where in the world am I, indeed...lol. It is a long story, sure you want to hear it? lol

Well I am still still in academia, still studying...still learning...although now, the instruments and tools with which I am dissecting the world are no longer under the field of study known as science. This time around, I am approaching the world from the other side of the court; this time around, Art is the teacher.

They say that the universe is written in the language of math (and science). After five years studying math (but moreso science), I've come to the realize that true understanding is best achieved when one learns to view a matter of interest from queer vantage points, through wholly unfamiliar lenses. In other words, the universe is more than math and science.

The universe--our very own world, even--is written in color, form, texture, feeling, etc. These are things you don't learn in math class or science class. These are things that also matter, so much so that they underpin transmitted culture all over the world.

The universe, the world, is complex and the key to unraveling the complexity can be found in nature (the greatest teacher). This is because there is truth in nature-- absolute truth; and within absolute truth, there is supreme understanding.

I have begun a journey with the intent of finding, assimilating, and understanding Truth in its purest form; Truth, free of all institutional and cultural prejudice. The Truth of the world, that is the world, and the Truth that is the Universe.

To achieve said Truth, I intend to engage life and the world via all manner of schools of thought. Science, Math, Philosophy, the Arts, etc--these will be the tools at my disposal as I journey toward this Truth.

Presently, at this very moment, the Arts are my tools of choice. This is where I am in the World. The previous two years have been somewhat of a transition geared towards bringing me to this very moment.

Life is beautiful from where I am standing. Life is full of promise.

I am a nomad journeying toward Truth and absolute understanding.