Posts
Just a re-blog of Media Militia's giveaway for today, Drips and Spray Paint brushes for Photoshop.
Ok so I've had plenty of references to artists I like over the years. Of course they all have great influences over my own art, just like every artist. But I thought I'd take a moment today to write about some specific influences that have gotten my creative juices flowing lately (past few months) Its only fair to give these guys/gals recognition for their wonderful art! :D
One artist that I like for obvious reasons, is from Switzerland. I found his site via Media Militia's periodical "get inspired" posts. His name is Patrik but goes by the name of 2much as an artist. You can find his work following the post in the links.
An online comic book I ended up reading in its entirety in about a week, is called Megatokyo and is by artist and writer Fred Gallagher. It is a manga-style comic book and I say "manga-style" as it is written and drawn by someone other than an Asian writer and I know that for some that might make it an "impure" manga, but if you ask me, its ever bit as good as a Japanese, Korean or other manga you might find. The art is very well drawn but although it has the Asian "look", Fred has gone to great lengths apparently in creating his own flair to his art and I admire him very much for it.
Creaturebox is a site by artists Dave Guertin and Greg Baldwin. Well-established character designers and artists with Insomniac games. (Insomniac Games is responsible for such huge titles as Ratchet and Clank and Resistance for the Sony Playstation systems.)
Enjoy!
"I am treading more and more into leaves
and silence.
Ironically, I, who profess no religion,
find the whole of my life a religious
pilgrimage.
The origins of this hunger are as mysterious as why we, who are last year's
dust and rain, have risen from that dust to to look about
with the devised crystal of a raindrop
before we subside once more
into snow and whirling vapor."
All the Strange Hours--The Excavation of a
Life
by Loren Eiseley
The above is a quote from Joseph Raffael's website. Yesterday I took a whirlwind trip to NYC to see an exhibition of recent works by Raffael at the Nancy Hoffman Gallery which, after 35 years in Soho, has relocated in Chelsea.
I've
loved Raffael's work since I first saw it in 1974 in New Mexico, when I
was an undergrad at the University of New Mexico. He came to UNM to
speak, and afterwards we were able to meet with him. Not only was his
work radiant, but he was as well.
A calmness and almost zen
peacefulness radiated from his presence.
It was exhilarating to walk into a space that pulsed with the energy of his art!
It just made me want to get to work.
So I guess I wil!!
Ok I'll admit I've been out of it for awhile when it comes to the toy scene and I've had a bit of a sour taste in my mouth about the whole deal. Because of the over-saturation of artists and the many of the companies becoming so close to mainstream (IMO)... I just have been bored with it for the most part.
Ok so when I first read about something called Generative Art in Wired magazine many months ago I was mildly interested but only til the end of that article. I never thought to try my hand at it or find out more about how it works. Well I've been following articles on a pretty cool blog: Media Militia* lately and most recently one of the authors wrote about generative art. With a little free time, I toyed with a couple of the different programs that are available for Windows (since that's what I'm stuck with right now, lol) and found that it was more fun than I had thought. Of course, I might add that I do some (not complex) web programming using vb.net so I enjoy a bit of coding anyway. (That's a warning to the non-programmer graphic designers, in case you hate numbers.. )
If you're interested in seeing some of the programs listed on Media Militia's site, follow the link afterward. For this image I used a program called context free, and this is only a sample, using their tutorial with my own embellishments to the program (how I got the curvature in the tree). Nothing complicated!
Here is the simple program:
startshape trunk
rule trunk
{
SQUARE{}
trunk{ rotate .25 y .4 size .99 brightness .005}
}rule trunk .01
{
SQUARE{}
branch { rotate 25 }
trunk{ y .4 s .99 brightness .005 }
}rule trunk .03
{
SQUARE{}
branch{ rotate -25 }
trunk{ y .4 s .99 brightness .005 |hue 40 |sat .5 }
}rule branch
{
SQUARE{}
trunk {y .4 s .99 brightness .005 }
}
Here is the article that got me started, at Media Militia and the programs I've tried:
- Processing
- Structure Synth
- and of course Context Free
Whoa, doggies. So much snow here in Flagstaff. 26" last count. That means loads of shoveling and lots of toasty beverages.
I am considering entering the Mail Me Art competition (http://mailmeart.com/going-postal/submit-mail-art/), so I've been dabbling again in (EEK) acrylics. Been a long time since I've tried that medium. What's interesting is that my hand is applying watercolor techniques with acrylics... and I'm digging it. We'll see what happens. It's all school to me - all the foibles and weird experiments are so much fun, and since I can't be in college right now - THIS is my college. Or, maybe this is my built-in excuse for making a lot of tragic painting mistakes, the ones that I can't even stand to look at. Haha.
~C
