Ruuuust

So here's something I had a lot of fun with. In my typography class we had to create our own typeface based upon our own handwriting. I wrote mine out using the eyedropper in an ink well and ended up naming it "Alchemy". We then had to choose an adjective/verb that described our typeface, arrange the letters and create a corresponding illustration which flows throughout the word. Rust, meet robot!
The painting was done in a single sitting this past Friday. I was in the student center while Nicole took a nap on the couch and just sat at one of the tables and painted while someone was watching Judge Joe Brown and Judge Judy slap down the law.
This is about 9"x12", watercolor with white gouache on 140lb cold press watercolor paper. This image is a photograph for now. When I scan it later I will replace it.

< ROBIIIITS!!

Open Drawing #1

Finally got to scanning these. This was the first open drawing session of this semester. Each pose was 5 mintes. I quickly sketched each out and did an equally fast wash in watercolor. Yay watercolor Moleskine!

Happy Belated Valentine's Day!

Still tired from Boskone. Got home at 5 this morning. Fun as hell!

Quickie Oil Portrait

Alla prima, comin' atchya. Just finished this now, took me about 45 minutes. Just a "sketch" to accompany the necklace I made earlier. Oil on treated watercolor paper, 8"x 12".
I'm afraid I came down with the flu. All achey and sore and vomiting, no fun. :(
That's all for now, my bed is calling out my name, and I need rest.

Color Wheel

So Alik gave back our color wheels. Of course I went way above and beyond with mine, as everyone else pretty much just created a circle of fanciful shapes. But noooooo, I had to drink too much workahol and get cracked out and whip this baby out in a week. I had fun though. :3
Unfortunately this is a poor picture; I will have to scan it because this is just too washed out and dull... But you get the idea. It's on a 15x15 inch piece of illustration board. The color wheel "pools" are gouache and the rest is primarily watercolor with diluted gouache here and there--I will never use illustration board for watercolor ever again, by the way. I used iridescent medium I got from a crazy painting teacher I had years ago on the runes so they are all shiny when it's seen in person. It actually looks pretty darn awesome. Everyone needs glitter every once in a while! I'm just channeling my inner little girl.
So Alik loved it, and left a sticky note on the back pretty much saying how I went above and beyond the requirements by incorporating the color wheel into a narrative piece. What can I say? That's how I roll. :D

Necklace Mock-Up

Finished my mock-up pill necklace today. Presenting this on Thursday along with sketches and my thesis proposal to get approval. I'm pretty confident I will sell my proposal and will be on my merry way and be able to move right on forward. :D
So this necklace is pretty much a cheap, rather weak piece I bought at the store. I popped out the plastic jewel in the middle and played around with pill combinations to fit in the center nicely. Unfortunately I had to cut the top three in half, but it's only a "sketch"per say, and I will be designing the pieces myself around the pills in the future, rather than taking pre-made shitty jewelry and working around the limitations they will present. The pills in the center consist of one ibuprofen and the rest are antihistamines. I just hope the actual medication I will be focusing upon will be as colorful as these... I know Prozac is a nice teal/white combo at least!

NYCC 2009!

So yesterday I hit up NY Comic Con '09. Left at 7 in the morning, got back this morning at 1:30, still tired, yawning, wishing I were still in bed...
This was my first Comic Con, and it was as big, if not bigger than how people describe the convention. Fucking huge is an understatement. I primarily kept to the Artists' Alley, but there were really only a handful of people I talked to, considering 90% of the artists were strict, hardcore comic book illustrators who eat and breathe superheroes.
Amongst the small handful of people I engaged contact with was Marko Djurdjevic, whose handshake is as hardcore as his mohawk :D I also talked to Steven Belledin for what I think was a half hour about most everything that has to do with fantasy illustration and if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, it's an elf; always an elf.
Like Eric Fortune poked at me to get myself some business cards (which I did!), I think Steve will be the one to influence a consistent art blog from me. Cheers to that!

As much as I would love to sit here and vegetate, I have some assignments to work on... I should finish one of them tonight at least, and I'll make a post then.

Epiphany

So yesterday instead of having our 6 hour full-class meeting for Degree Project, Margot had us meet with her individually to talk about our thesis progression. I met with her at 2:20 and no sooner had I sat down it was already quarter-to-three, accidentally going 5 minutes into another student's meeting time, not to mention my train was at 3:25...
To give a little backstory regarding my thesis, I want to focus on the sociology behind the abnormalities of man. I split it into 4 subcategories: physical, mental, actions and modification, as per Margot's suggestion to help my mind sort things out and clear the mental fog.
I let Margot know that I wanted to hone in on either the physical or mental, with a stronger interest towards mental abnormalities. Through a long conversation with my brother over the weekend during dinner I came to the conclusion that mental illness would be a topic better suited to my aesthetic and interest in visual and psychological dichotomies. I just thought that physical deformities would be too shocking or ugly-for-the-sake-of-being-ugly... That and I don't want to encroach upon Helnwein's territory. :D
So after talking with Margot about research, progression, my (obvious) enthusiasm for the topic I had to run to my studio and grab my stuff and head to Back Bay to catch my train. I got there with 7 minutes to spare before it left! Close call!
I always love riding the train, as 3 hours really gives you time to think and daydream. I can't for the life of me remember my train of thought (lol, pun) but after Providence I just thought: pills, and the flood gates opened. Thinking of how so many people now are on medication for one reason or another, and how commonplace mental disorders are now. I originally had these pictures in my head of drawings of people with pills in speech bubbles, but then I thought of the phrase "badge of honor" in connection to how people may treat their conditions/medication, and how I wish I had worn another necklace for some weird reason... Then I thought: jewelry!
Pills!
Jewelry!
Pill Jewelry!
That's all I shall reveal now, as further pondering and research must be done. But by golly I think I'm on to something! I'm so stoked!! :D