New Piece!

Last semester got very busy, but I managed to finish a piece before the spring semester started. I drew Page McConnell from Phish for a friend, and here is the final product matted:

Don't mind the poor quality/glare; I didn't have the time to take a higher quality photo of it. I'll write up something later including progress photos. Enjoy!

#nerdalert

Since my car broke down on the way to campus today, clearing up my early afternoon and one of my classes, I obviously took this time to write for a bit. To justify this post, I already finished an assignment due tomorrow. Take that, time management skills!

Yesterday in my research methods class, a classmate was discussing a potential topic for her thesis. She was interested in the relationship between musical ability and accent/dialect/language recognition and distinction. If a musician can precisely identify minor variations in musical sounds, would this skill carry over into other areas? This may sound simple on the surface, but I promise you, it’s more complicated than you think. This got me thinking about the technicalities of the “skill” necessary for identifying and classifying those distinctions. What about artists? Paying close attention to detail is critical in art. To the typical person with average artistic talent, you may look at an image and notice something is askew, but it may be difficult to pinpoint exactly why you feel the image is off. Someone with more experience can quickly detect that the lighting doesn’t correctly correspond to the shading or that the scaling of a body is incorrect. Capturing those distinctions could involve deeper cognitive processes…that I don’t quite understand yet, but it would be really cool if this were the case!

Anyway, the library is freezing, I need coffee, and I’m not exactly doing work, so I’m going to log off. Later!

From His Perspective

Thought this was cute:

Life Update

Fear not, many readers! (It's funny...because I think only two people actually follow this blog.) I will not abandon you guys!

I started graduate school two weeks ago, and I’m still becoming acclimated to this new…lifestyle. Between the commute, classes, homework, work, and maintaining a decent social life (which I think I do a pretty good job maintaining), I’ve been considerably more occupied than usual. “I’m so glad we’re friends!” I have a really great group of friends at home. Be jealous.

On Thursday, while I was on campus, it turned into fall. Literally, in a matter of hours, it became fall – and it was weird to experience such a quick and apparent transition! Since then, it’s been much cooler outside, and I’m not entirely sure if I’m ready for the cooler weather. Either way, ‘tis the season, and fall is beautiful. On an art related note, since that’s the reason this blog came into existence, I plan on putting my lack of photography skills to the test and doing some damage with my camera once my surroundings are ready to flaunt their warm fall colors. :)

But, for my next art project, I’m drawing the Lion Shrine! Yay Penn State! I’ve already printed out a reference photo so I promise I’ll get working on it soon!

A New Definition for “Modern” Art

Prior to the age of technology, art sported an entirely different definition. Now, we have a superfluous amount of programs for the purpose of graphic art and design. Don’t get me wrong; I truly believe that digital art is amazing and requires a heap of talent to create and perfect. What I’m getting at is that art has evolved over time, and is continually evolving during my generation to adapt to recent advances in technology.

With graphic/digital art:

• You can make mistakes. When you’re digitally painting a picture, you can completely erase a portion if you would like. You can make a million edits, change the coloring, saturation, etc., which is impossible with fine art. It’s still possible to touch-up or refine your work, of course, since artists are humans and all humans make mistakes. The key is knowing how to effectively adjust for them.
• You can work in layers. Sure, this applies to fine art, but if you’re working on your second layer of watercolor, you can’t go back and adjust your base layer.
• You will always be working in two dimensions. Even if you’re working with 3D models, your computer screen is still two dimensions. When drawing from observation, you’re going from three dimensions to two (object to paper). If you’re sculpting, you’re staying in three dimensions.
• You can make as many copies as you would like and it’ll still be considered the original piece.

It can be argued that technology allows us to become more “perfect.” This means more precision with fewer errors in everything we create. In my minuscule 22 years of existing, I’ve seen video games go from Atari to Xbox, where our games (for the most part) cease to freeze up, record players to MP3s, where we no longer experience “records skipping,” dial-up to wireless, where we don’t have to worry about our siblings picking up the phone, consequently disconnecting our AOL chat room session. Not that I used chat rooms…I swear! Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is that as technology progresses, (supposedly) simplifying yet enhancing our lives, art has (and will) subsequently evolve as well.

I’m in no way disparaging digital art/artists; in fact, I think you guys are really awesome! I’m an advocate of art encompassing an infinite number of mediums, conveying the message fully intended to be expressed by the artist. I’m very interested in learning how to use Photoshop and Illustrator because they seem so darn cool. 

First Post!

I officially have my blog up and running! I've updated the about me section with information...about me (duh!) and why I've started writing here. The drawing section has been updated with my drawings.

If you know what the title of my blog is referencing, you either 1. know me pretty well or 2. are a nerd. Kudos to you either way!

I figure that for this entry, it would be fitting to show you the steps I take during the whole process. How about some pictures?!

This is the photograph I took which would act as my reference. I set up the props, added a source of light, took the photograph, and printed it out. The transparent paper on top is what I use for the grid.

Using the grid I outlined on the paper, I first make a rough outline.

Next, I erase the grid completely.

...and then begin drawing/shading, starting from the left. I'm a righty, so beginning in the upper left-hand corner is the smartest way to go about drawing to minimize the amount of smudging. I'd be lying if I said I always followed that rule. 

And voila, the final product!

It's smart the different stages while drawing. Each of the drawings I've done has taken between 30 to 40 hours to complete, so it's nice to have a collection of the progress. If anyone is interested, I can show the progress pictures for other drawings as well. In the very near future, I am going to start a new portrait, but I will not yet disclose the subject! That's it for now; I hope you get some enjoyment out of reading this blog! 

Under Construction

This is a test post. I  plan to upload some of my artwork soon and get the site up and working!