Saturday, January 30, 2010

Scholastic Art Awards


So I went to RMCAD today for the Scholastic Art Awards. I got a silver key for a piece I did last semester. The gallery there was very impressive, especially the gold key winner portfolios. AMAZING. The awards ceremony itself was very low key, they had one ever half hour so it wasn't very crowded. There were like 10 people receiving awards when I went up and you just said your name, school, what award you got and what for then you got a certificate and I got a little silver key pin. Though I forgot to say the name of my school and I felt like an idiot. XD

Anyway, there's a picture of me on the right with my picture I won for. I took A LOT of pictures while I was there but I don't want to upload them all here so they're on my photobucket.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

An eye for an eye

Which is not necessarily the title for this piece in progress, but it makes a nice blog title doesn't it? Just a progress shot, but here's my newest piece for my concentration.



I chose markers for this piece because I didn't quite get that bold color I wanted in my octopus picture. I'd never used them before so this is basically my first time using them (I did test them a little in my sketchbook). I like the result, but it's quite difficult to get the shading and blending even and pretty. My main difficulty is that when you use a marker, you can't press down lightly to get a different shade like colored pencils. Which is of course obvious, but still makes life difficult. So pros and cons in both mediums. I'll probably switch between the two a lot in my concentration.

And a little side not about the eyeballs, they're supposed to be a little reminiscent of flowers (yes there are two) and the more prominent one WILL be wearing a top hat. In my imagination, the eyes are dancing together, but I'm not sure it comes across in the picture... not that it needs to. Just a personal detail.

EDIT: Found another artist I want to remember. I've always expressed a like for manga style artwork, but I've only recently come to terms with the fact that it is fine and dandy to work that kind of style into my regular artwork and not just the crap I doodle in my sketchbook. SO ANYWAY, went off on a tangent there... but artists!

Sakizou Love the color and details in his/her (not sure) works. I love overly detailed, busy pictures that leave you discovering something new every time you look at them.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

So I like octopi... and I like top hats...

thus octopus top hat. There's honestly not much more than that. I like them both so I combined them.

Next week I'm making it my goal to try out those awesome new markers we got. I think they'd fit in well with my concept and what I'm trying to create. I need to practice a bit with them first, I really have no experience when it comes to markers...

Another thing I'm working on this week outside my concentration is a landscape image. I need one for my portfolio to apply to MCAD so I figured I needed to start on it. I'm using oil paints so it may take me a while... anyway it's an image of Yellowstone a while after that huge fire they had many years ago. My grandpa took the reference picture and he's had it on display over his fireplace since I was little. Good memories all around. =) WIP pics coming later.

Oh, and I found another cool artist this week.
Claudiu Candea who, although having absolutely nothing to do with my concentration, is fabulously creepy. (nudity and some graphic images, consider yourself warned)
>>>LINK

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Concentration beginnings + Artist Collection

So I started my concentration today. I wasn't planning on drawing anything, but I had a pretty cool idea and just ran with it while I was still excited about it. Things often turn out better for me when I'm really excited about them, that way I don't get impatient and start rushing things. I want to try not to rush anything this semester. Well anyway, I'll upload this piece, just because it's my first of my concentration. I probably won't upload everything though.

Okay so, I think the photo students are writing about artists they like and I figured it'd be a good idea for me too even though I wasn't officially assigned this.

Alex Pardee
Anna Ignatieva
Sasha/Gidragirl

One of them is from deviantart. XD Okay lemme just say a little about deviantart. A lot of people don't like it or think it's full of anime crap or whatever. A lot of it is stupid drama and popularity doesn't mean a thing art-wise on that site. But I think if you use it like it's intended, which is to share and discuss art with people similiar to you- your peers- it's a great site. The girl I posted a link to is one of my favorite people to follow; I love her style and compositions as well as subjects. She's about my age too and it's simultaneously inspiring and disheartening to see someone your age (or younger?!) creating artwork that you love.