This week I was trying for something a little bit different with these technical drawings.  We studied shape and texture from shape.  The basic concepts were a bit easier this time around and we had more freedom with the topic.  These designs were made using .35mm fine ink on Bristol with construction layering. Creative: A Craftsmanship: B  Examples: A

“Exploration of Van Gogh style”

Organic and Geometric Shapes

“Behind the picket fence”

Simple and Complex Shapes

“Opening Night”

Tension in four ways

“One Girl. One Wish.”

Positive and Negative structure

This post is a bit late, but I had to really search for this weeks piece.  I was watching an episode of Sundance Channels Iconoclast series and I found the work of Ed Ruscha to be very interesting and current.  This design titled “Felix” is from his 1960’s collection.  I think I might put more of his work up on my art-radar because he has some very exciting pieces. 

Okay, today's manic monday weekly schedule lookout:

Monday - Study for TV production Test, burn movie for class premiere tomorrow, create website using old school html for Internet class, watch danceing with the stars.

Tuesday - Test in TV production, Film lookout game that was rained out Tuesday, return music to library from movie, work on color wheel design project, go to class until 9pm! Hurry home, watch the last part of American Idol :(

Wednesday - Pre-record talk show to air at later day, do some grocery shopping, skip computer class :).

Thursday - TV production premiere over view 10 films, Broadcasting talk show due and start working on documentary.

Friday - Write script for PSA local Chattanooga affiliate channel 3, record live on air facts for documentary, write radio show "you now know news Monday". go to work :(

(pic above by dryicons.com)

Tonight, I was reading articles that explained how to get into the business of television and film.  It feels like a daunting task and I’m not exactly sure how I can have a voice in a world that seems steep with competition and corporate networking.  Every single piece I read states that you have to be willing to work 12hr days in an internship position, which by themselves are hard enough to come by.  I don’t mind working…I can work seven days a week and devote my life to getting somewhere, but I have no idea how to get an internship, a true internship working in “producing” on air.   There are many people who just network themselves in by who they know or go to specialized film schools that are expensive.  I really don’t have these options, I have been to Channel 9 and PBS networks, they are great but really don’t have the resources to help someone create working content.  I really want to go to a film school like the Brooks Institute or NY Film academy, but realistically I need to find an area where I can start actually working in my field.  I don’t want life to just pass me by why I try to figure out what to do.  I want to be dynamic in an industry that I have some passion for.  On average a producer starts out with a 70,000 a year salary, but once you are established most see 80,000 and higher.  Once you can achieve a level of success that the industry notices then you can live the life you want.  Learning production means that I could always be a professor at a Film school like Central Florida or Brooks.  I think I have this fear that I will be 45 and still searching for who I want to be.  I don’t have regrets in my life because I haven’t done anything that I would change, I have always been true to myself and my beliefs.  I never understood what “success” meant growing up.  I just knew that if you work hard that you don’t lose the job and you can keep on surviving.  How do people do it?  Is it a question of confidence and having a strong sense of who you are?  Is it something reserved for the truly gifted and only small percentage of important people?  I look at the stories of people who come from living without a whole lot and really accomplishing goals they set out for themselves and I’m taken back on how they found a way to realize a dream.  I’m not sure why I feel this way, I know I can do it, but I don’t know how. 

-ECo.

This is the rack card that I designed for the Howard Johnson hotel.  I must give credit to Megan who picked out the color and initial lighting.  I really liked this design for so many reasons:  I’m happy that the hotel uses this design still and that hopefully it has helped business.  The initial print out of this card was awful though, but once we transferred to a high gloss paper the quality of the card was 100% better. 

Brochure Front

Brochure Back

I did these drawings a few weeks ago and they were my first ink drawings for this class.  This being the first assignment, I had a difficult time drawing using a technical pen and coming up with an idea that wasn’t art, but a working design template.  The following drawings were drawn using .35mm ink on cold press bristol.  My grades for this project were Creative: A Craftsmanship: B  Examples: B

“The Wall Street Plague”

Size Change Relationships

“City Gates”

Gradients

“Hustle and Flow”

Overlapping Textures

“The Bridge that Binds”

Figure Ground Relationships

Okay, so the video is beyond crazy and is stranger than anything I have ever seen on youtube.  I'm not sure how I even found this video, but I think it just appeared on the homepage one day and instantly I was interested in finding out more about Mark Ryden the artist behind this strange, weird, fantasy video.  Apparently since the early 90’s he’s been a leader in an art movement known as “Technique and disquieting content'”  that happened on the West Coast.  I feel like its antique with a hint of whimsy and many of his paintings seem to hint at dark tones.  At first Ryden’s work seems like surrealists fascination with subconscious and collective memories, but it really is all about cultural influences.  Its like taking something sweet that we all love and filling its environment with unsettling circumstances.  It’s odd, but familiar and slightly shocking in how child like it all feels….Here is a piece from an article about his work:

Viewers are initially drawn in by the comforting beauty of Ryden’s pop-culture references, then challenged by their circumstances, and finally transported to the artist’s final intent – a world where creatures speak from a place of childlike honesty about the state of mankind and our relationships with ourselves, each other and our past.  

These are some of my favorite paintings from him and look for the religious symbolism and pop color of his subjects.

“Goodbye Bear”

 

“The Butcher Bunny”

“The Creatrix”

“Yoshi”

Check out more of his more controversial and interesting pieces at www.markryden.com

Today’s webby pop-art Friday is the collage.  It’s easy to throw a bunch of pictures together, but a true artist creates interesting photos with meaning.  I found this art over at LSX designs.  It makes me feel like summer is here and all the light gives it depth and texture. Though its not true pop-art I still feel like its an important piece.  Look for the repetitions and how you can see movement. 

I wrote this for the movie “Donnie Darko” which I love more and more every time I see it.  I remember the first time watching it and feeling like life maybe doesn’t have to exist in a vacuum and that possibilities to alter your future are everywhere if you look close enough.

Endless mazes and dreams

I flagged the red doors with white bows upon my haste to see another day.

The mourning deep inside his heart yearned for more than his mind could offer.

Wondering about stars and light that flashed so quickly before his eyes.

There was nothing inside.

Inside his heart, where nothing lies.

The truth was found beyond his breaking point.

I flagged the red doors with white bows to make it clear to find the joy.

He didn't know what was being captured.

So far down the rabbit hole his mind wandered.

"I am myself"

"My dreams are my own"

Upon his haste to see another day- he found nothing but the meaningless.

I need more in my heart to make for the lack in the brain.

He wondered what sky would form such wonderful mazes of stars.

I flagged the red doors of his mind to make an effort to forget the past.

While never capturing the flags of white bows there was nothing behind them but woes, upon woes.

This weeks designs deal with space and how we perceive space in a picture.  I made these designs using .35mm ink on medium cut Bristol cards.  I’m getting better with all the design elements, but this class is still kicking my butt! LOL.  My grades were Creative: A  Craftsmanship: B  Examples:  A

  

“Wedding Entrance”

Micro / Macro Structure = Texture

“Open Discovery”

Monumental Structure

 

“Life is Peace”

Packed Space

“At Journey’s beginning”

Size Scale Relationships

I think that I have pretty much had the sweet tea from every fast food joint you could imagine and I’m here to settle the debate over who has the best sweet tea in the world.  I’m a pretty hard core tea drinker in general.  I will try any flavor and also weird combinations that I regret later (maple syrup, orange, lime and lemon, sprite – tea.  Yeah, I’ve tried it!)  So I’m a bit of a tea connoisseur if you will.  Here are the rankings for the best sweet tea drive-thru No. 8-1. 

No. 8  Wendy’s

Wendy’s sweet tea is pretty dismal and it does the worst sin one could ever do to tea-  They burn it!  When tea is boiled too long then it tends to get this gross taste like its been sitting in a pocket of a fat guy in the sun for three hours.  Wendy is a repeat offender because the tea is always too dark and made fresh only three times a day. 

No. 7  Krystal

This fast food restaurant is supposed to pack a bunch of flavor in small packages (little square burgers!), but their tea is just sad. They tend to add way too much water and then add tons of ice! 

No. 6  Hardees

The little Carl Jr. star is supposed to be a beacon of hope for fast food, but Hardees tea is always hit and miss, sometimes its fine and others it has the day old taste.  Clean your tea machines every once in a while!

No. 5  Taco Bell

Taco Bell should really be disqualified because their tea comes from a Nestea machine that adds carbonation.  Packed full of preservatives!  It’s a fine flavor and always delivers because its not freshly brewed.

No. 4  Chick-Fil-A

It’s all about the tea leaves here, they use small tea leaves to brew their tea and it leaves a lot to be desired, the sweetness factor is better because they are light on the sugar- but there is just nothing special about this tea. 

No. 3  Sonic Drive-Thru

Sonic is the more adventures tea drive thru.  They have flavors like peach and raspberry that adds a nice kick to their teas.  The freshness of their tea is sometimes questionable, but 4 out of 5 times its very fresh.  They are repeat pile on ice offenders though!

No. 2  Subway

Subway has really become better in terms of offering a fresh tea selection and a soft-drink tea as well.  Their southern ice tea taste like a pitcher of sugar, but when freshly brewed they do wonders.  You add your own  ice so that is also great.  The choices help put Subway above the others.

No. 1  McDonalds

The marketing juggernaut that is Mcd’s sweet tea is really the best out there.  Their tea is consistently fresh and the quality of flavor is high.  It is refreshing!  I’m really never disappointed with their tea and I like how its not overtly foamy like others I have tasted.  McD is the winner of the drive-thru sweet tea challenge!