Da Vinci’s Demons, a new series on Starz.
I’m intrigued.
Obviously they’ve taken some liberties with Leonardo’s personality and his inventions, but what show doesn’t? It’s an interpretation meant to entertain.
I haven’t seen any of this, I just found out about it. Have any of you been watching this series? What do you think? I’d love to hear some reviews.
Too Inspired to Sleep, Too Tired to Create
So there’s a tumblr website I absolutely have to share with y’all. It’s called F*** Yeah Art Student Owl. Despite the obscenity in the title, it’s a really amazing collection of art student memes. The first time I discovered the website I was at my parents’ house, and they finally had to come into the room to see why I was laughing so much. I showed it to my mom and she sort of got it, but it really has the greatest impact on art students. It’s like an entire website devoted to the inside jokes and awkward situations art students have to deal with all the time.
I’m going to select some of my favorite memes to include here, but there’s more to be found at http://fyeahartstudentowl.tumblr.com/ . It’s regularly updated too, so you can always look forward to more art student owl genius.
*disclaimer* Some of the memes are a bit crude, with obscene language and adult humor. I’d rate the website as PG-13. View with discretion.
Remember, all credit goes to F**** Yeah Art Student Owl and Kendra Wells for creating the meme in 2011!
I love TED Talks.
In case you’re unfamiliar with TED, their website describes the project as:
TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences — the TED Conference on the West Coast each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Edinburgh UK each summer — TED includes the award-winning TED Talks video site, the Open Translation Project and TED Conversations, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize.
The two annual TED conferences, on the North American West Coast and in Edinburgh, Scotland, bring together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes or less).
On TED.com, we make the best talks and performances from TED and partners available to the world, for free. More than 1400 TED Talks are now available, with more added each week. All of the talks are subtitled in English, and many are subtitled in various languages. These videos are released under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND license, so they can be freely shared and reposted.
In case that didn’t get rid of the question mark floating over your head, here’s my synopsis: In usually about 15 minutes each you get to watch video and listen to excellent speakers with intriguing concepts of philosophy, psychology, leadership, science, creativity, and more, making it an elightening 15 minutes you don’t have to feel guilty about. Sorry, Youtube, I’ve found a better use of my video-watching time.
So when I discovered TED had a playlist curated just about art, I knew I had to share it with my blog viewers. I tried to embed the playlist directly into my post, but failed. So you’ll have to click a link and go to the TED website. Happy viewing.
The playlist includes the following videos:
The Artist Is In: TED Playlist
*Disclaimer, I try to keep my blog pretty PG, but these videos may contain foul language, images of nudity, or other adult content (but not that kind of adult content). Viewer beware.
On the subject of artistic growth my mind wandered back to a post I discovered a long time ago. Titled “More Drawing Advice than Anyone Wanted,” artist Kelly Turnbull, pseudoname Coelasquid, sits her readers down for a long talk about what it takes to improve your drawing skills. Her words really resonated with me the first time I read them, and they still do today.
Her main points in the article are:
These are the main points of the article, but you can’t just read these titles and “get it.” What’s important is the content between the titles. I’m going to pick some quotes from the reading that I really think are gems, but you can’t get the whole message without reading its entirety yourself. So go check it out.
P.S. While you’re over there, check out her hilarious web comic Manly Guys Doing Manly Things. It’s a treat for video game lovers.
Learning to draw is a little like learning to speak a language, the younger you get into it, the easier a time you’ll have with it and the less you’ll remember the uphill struggle it took to get where you are… It is true that getting the basics down will save you years of mediocrity, but frankly, learning to draw is hard. If it feels like a chore and if you aren’t getting any kind of instant gratification out of it, you’ll probably give up before you get anywhere. Like language, you don’t jump right int the thick of it off the get go. Start simple, imitate, immerse yourself, and keep at it to grow.
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If you never try to figure out what you could be doing better and expand your repertoire, you will continue to make the same mistakes for as long as you draw.
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The short of it is, things will ALWAYS look wrong if you learn to draw them from copying the way other artists have chosen to stylize them rather than understanding how they work for yourself. This really seems to be a hangup that kids who learn to draw exclusively from copying anime or comic books have to get over. You need to think of a character as a three dimensional object sitting in space and figure out how to best represent that, don’t treat them like a composite of two dimensional symbols.
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We are all the sum of our parts, every one of us is influenced by everything we ever see, hear, say, or do. What we bring to the table is our interpretation of all of those happenings, which we try to present in the most appealing or interesting way possible to the best of our abilities. Studying the ground other artists have already broken is nothing but a tool to help us figure out how to look at something from a new perspective, and there’s no reason to shy away from it.
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It’s easy to become comfortable drawing one thing and put all of your effort into polishing that off, while neglecting everything else… If you don’t try to draw something, you’ll never learn how to draw it.
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Few and far between are the fledgling artists who can’t improve without some practice and constructive criticism. You don’t have to sugar coat your suggestions and handle them with the kiddie gloves, but telling someone they suck and they should stop drawing is just being a dick.
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There is nothing more annoying to listen to than an artist waxing on about how much they suck and how they’ll never get anywhere…Yeah, I get it, all artists are invariably disappointed in themselves. Everyone sees nothing but the mistakes when they look at their own art, everyone is always measuring themselves up against other people and thinking they come up short and wishing they had done better…But honestly, if most people spent a fraction of the time identifying their specific issues and working on them that they do crying on the internet about how bad they are at their hobby, wow, they’d be published professionals by now…If you feel self conscious accepting a lot of kind words about something you made, don’t just brush it off with “bleh, I suck”, say something like “Thanks! I really wish I had spent a little more time on *insert problem area here*, though”. That way you show them that you appreciated the compliment, you identified your specific issue with the drawing that you can work to improve next time, and you didn’t turn the situation into a self-pity circle jerk.
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Art is dynamic, it’s exciting because there is always new ground to break. There is no ultimate conclusion, It’s like evolution. There is always the opportunity for your abilities to grow and change.
I found an amazing article on 22 Words that shows the artistic progression of Mark Allante. From age two to twenty-five, he shares samples of his artwork. I love this concept because it shows that good artists aren’t just born that way. They start with scribbles, just like everyone else. This collection of drawings demonstrates the importance of practice over years and years. I’m a big advocate of this idea. I hear lots of people lament at how poor they are at drawing or painting, and I want to ask them “How long did you work at it? Did you practice?” Just like any skill, whether it be running, singing, writing, or dancing, it takes a lot of time and effort to improve your talent. I appreciate the generosity of Mr. Allante for sharing his artistic progression with the world. It inspires me to want to create something similar.
So how about you? What do you think is your greatest talent? When did you first start, and how many years of practice have you invested in your skill?
An Artist’s Progression from 2 Years Old to 25
http://twentytwowords.com/2013/02/15/an-artists-progression-from-2-years-old-to-25/
From 2 years Old…
Marc Allante’s drawings, at two years old.
…to 25 years old.
Marc Allante’s work at 25 years old.
Follow the link to see the whole progression!
On February 17th, 2011 I first blogged about the inside security tint envelope, also known as the security pattern envelope. Little did I know that it would be such a popular post! As of publishing, that original post has attracted 1,043 views, making it the second most popular subject on my blog, and the third most viewed page of my blog! I sure am glad to know I’m not the only one who finds these patterns interesting.
After my Envelope Inspiration post I wrote about security patterns a couple more times, sharing my growing collection (and other people’s collections) and a Father’s Day craft using the patterns. Despite these posts, the original continues to be the most popular to date. After posting on the subject I began to collect the patterns in earnest. Since those posts about two years ago, my collection has grown substantially. Tonight I spent some time scanning my collection, and I have 77 different patterns.* My collection has been amassed through my personal mail as well as envelopes acquired through the family business. To this day I continue to be on the lookout, and opening mail to discover a new pattern is always like finding hidden treasure.
*The number of patterns I have in my collection is disputable because I consider patterns of the same motif but different in scale, ink color, or print density to be different patterns. For example, a weave pattern in blue and black I consider to be two different patterns, and a tight weave and a loose weave I consider to be two different patterns. (As a disclaimer, there is the possibility that I accidentally scanned the same one twice because I was too tired to notice.)
Because my viewers find the security pattern envelopes to be so fascinating, I’ll treat you with an update of my collection. I encourage you to visit my older posts on the subject, as well as the collections of other people listed on a separate post. If you know of a sizeable collection of envelope security patterns available for viewing on the internet, I’d love to hear your recommendations! Just post in the comments below.
I love watching timelapse art, whether digital or physical creations. It always reveals the individual artists’ styles and techniques. Learning how to create a timelapse video of myself at work is something I really want to learn how to do. Here are a few speed art videos I’ve bookmarked on my YouTube. Do you have any favorite timelapse art videos? Have you ever created a timelapse video of your own work? Share them in the comments. I’d love to see them!
Written
on March 24, 2013