Art Wortd Coop

Well...after a long hiatus from the drawing board, I've got myself back into the saddle again.

The February challenge for Illustradedia on Flickr was "Clowns", and I thought that was a good exercise to blow the cobwebs away and get back into the creative frame of mind.

For some reason, I did not have to think much about the idea. The "scene" pretty much popped into my head, so after only doodling a couple of thumbnails, I already knew what I wanted. Strange that...sometimes you can be rattling your brain for ages for an idea...other times, it's right there at the front of your noodle!

Anyway, here's the picture (click on the image to view the bigger size on Flickr)...



My next post will be describing a new project I'm starting on...check back soon!!

It always amazes me how the designers of card model ships are able to achieve so much detail in their models. This 1:100 scale paper model of a Polish coastal ferry is one such example. Roman Detyna of digitalnavy.com designed this model to commemorate the tenth anniversary of his website. Detyna chose to create this particular ship because of a fond memory he had of sailing on such a ship as a young boy. The template for the ship may be downloaded here.

God has given you one face, and you make yourself another. ~William Shakespeare

It seems I haven't written a personal essay in a very long time. My life has changed in subtle ways since my year-long essay-writing binge on this blog. I am consumed more than ever by my activities on the internet, with less time to let my mind "go blank" or empty itself.

writes of the self as a series of facades erected before different audiences. These facades only appear to emanate from some intrinsic self inside the social performer. In fact, the self is an effect, not a cause, of the facade. It is also not something you individually own. It arises from interaction with other actors on the social stage.

Do you know Tino Sehgal? You know, the artist that doesn't allow any pictures taken of his works? And doesn't write any introduction, or artist statement? Or make written agreements with museums? That wants no material artifacts in his works?
Does it matter what the works are?
They are performative. More: they are performances. They are people doing things in exhibition spaces. They are things happening with people within an exhibition framework.
They could be happening to others (say, someone kissing). Or to you (say, someone talking with you).
You might never discover which part was the work. Yet somehow, you often do.

Once again: Does it matter what the works are? Once you experience something, what good is the analysis?
But we are pretty smart animals. We may experience, and still want to think about it. We may want to decide what we think, and if we will go to see this thing again or not. We may rework this experience in our mind until we decide, say, that this is just not enough. That a good ice-cream would have done the job. Or a meeting with a friend. Or both combined. Maybe in a museum. Maybe accompanied by a stranger, having a conversation about progress. The luxury of conversational art. Now isn't that progressive.

Then again, what is wrong with living a series of perfectly good conversations put into a gentle, clean formal frame? Can't we just accept this? What is it that makes one (me) so voracious?
Is it the fact I've never actually seen a Sehgal, done a Sehgal?
Isn't the picture enough?
Or the reviews that seem to make a huge effort in taking the mimetic weight off the image and putting some of it on words?
Paradoxically, all the effort put into keeping it live seem to make us focus not on the thing, but on this very effort. Would Tino Sehgal be at the Guggenheim had he allowed taking pictures? So what exactly is the work, here? How come I feel it so clearly, if it's all about presence? Or am I just feeling its double, its fake, the afterthought? But isn't that crucial in experience? Doesn't that re-constitute the experience once it is over? Can one re-construct something one did not experience in the first place?
You would have to have been there. The most dreaded sentence in the world. What are we supposed to do with it? Take a hidden snapshot?

Tino Sehgal is on at the New York Guggenheim until March 10.

Tons of concept art from Feng Zhu... Check out FZD School of Design.































Keywords: concept spaceship vehicle design technical hard surface illustration art architectural environment concept design by from feng zhu fzd school of design in singapore

I finally finished another papercraft model from the Star Trek Voyager Elite Force video game. This is the helmet that the members of Voyager's Hazard Team wear when they are sent on missions into hostile environments. In the video game the playable character wears this helmet on a mission in space and also on a mission to the engineering wing of Voyager during a radiation leak. This model is large enough to be worn. The opaque pieces of the visor may be used as a pattern to cut a visor out of transparent material. That way you might actually be able to see where you are going when the helmet is on. ^^ Details of the template are:

Gary's CG HUB portfolio.





Keywords: concept spaceship art by gary mike david illustration design concepts flying pods engines exhaust laser light with pilots runway city

This week I have been working on a few projects including this pretty Cocker Spaniel named Montana. The original photo was a tad bit low in resolution and lacking in detail. I am really happy with the color and detail I was able to paint in using the wacom tablet.  If you click the image below you will get a sense of the line work and color that was added.

Bloodshedding pieces of black-and-white happiness.
The unfair balance of the picture.

The wider picture. The bloody wider picture always giving it the color that wasn't there in the first place.
Notice: the wider picture is never the first place. It comes as we back up, until we are nowhere to be found, impressed by the relation of the Thing with that wide horizon, that swift encompassing of the Other into the Thing.

The unfair balance of the picture. Nothing should ever be framed. Frames should be prohibited, forcing us into oblivion, into focusing on the End nearest us. Who knows how many Santa Clauses are necessary?

The unfair balance of the picture.

The pictures are by, in order of appearance, Diane Arbus, Mikołaj Chylak, Diane Arbus, Fischli & Weiss.

In mathematics a torus is defined as a geometric shape created by revolving a circle in three dimensional space about an axis coplanar with the circle. Some examples of objects with torus-like shapes are doughnuts and inner tubes. Torus shapes can be deformed into "knots", that is closed, intertwined geometric forms with no beginning or end. This colorful papercraft torus knot is the work of Matthias Baas of Germany. The knot's template is interesting in that it is designed to be printed double sided so that the printed fold lines all occur on the inside of the model. The PDF template for the knot is located here.

I love the pattern on this little fellow, and on his background. I ran across the wonderful work of Gretchen McPherson this morning on Flickr. She combines materials in a fun way to create rich ornate mosaics.  Her subjects include fish, birds, dogs, gnomes, mermaids  and she even has some stunning abstracts.






 You can click the image to check out Gretchen's photo stream over at Flickr or go directly to her main site: http://www.thenatureofmosaica.com.

Video directed by Takafumi Tsuchiya (TAKCOM).

Collection of vectorized stamps from cities around the world.
Author unknown. Only for personal use.
1 AI : 3MB

Download

Every once in a while I feel the need to post some origami. :) This Star Wars A-wing starfighter was folded by Jens-Helge Dahmen and is a modification of a folding pattern originally created by origami artist Adam Black. All that is required to build the A-wing is a 20x20 cm square of paper that has color on one side only. Gift wrap paper might work nicely. Dahmen's folding pattern for the A-wing is available for download here (look for the link near the bottom of the page).

I've still got some compatibility computer issues but my main system is built (and rocking!). Opened up a can of worms on my older system with all of the conceptships stuff on it though.... Hang in there... Be back shortly.

From the animated feature APPLESEED Ex Machina, here are a few extras from an old weekly header that were too "large" (bandwidth wise) for the time. Enjoy!





Keywords: masamune shirow manga anime appleseed ex machina concept ships helicopter bee inspired design drop ship deunan briareos mecha mechanical mech land mate landmate eswat especial weapons and tactics japanese concept spaceship art .jp xsi

Donte and the Senora were engrossed in watching NASCAR. The lights were off, the Senora always watched TV with the lights off, and the television screen glowed in the center of the room. Donte sat with his hands in his lap, as if he were praying. He kept his back straight out of habit, and never sunk into the cushions. The Senora perched on the edge of the couch, hunched over an ash tray that was gradually accumulating a small tower of ash. Her night robe hung loosely off her shoulders as she poised a cigarette between her two fingers, hovering close to her mouth. When her cigarette was finished, she lit another one.

It was a tense race. Donte never cared much for car racing, but watching it with the Senora seemed to change his opinion. He enjoyed her enthusiasm for the sport, she was the last person he would expect to be a NASCAR fan, and the whole thing was now mildly entertaining to him. The longer he watched the cars go in circles around the track, the more he began to appreciate the sport. It seemed like such a masculine activity, cars, engines, men driving, but the crashes were unexpected and exhilarating. The Senora said she looked forward to a “good crash.”

And then, suddenly, the Senora asked, “Where’s Lethe?”

Donte checked his wrist watch, an old Timex. “I think he’s in his bedroom.”

“Tell him to come in here and watch the races with us.” Her attention went back to the TV screen.

Donte didn’t exactly like to meddle in Lethe’s business, but he could see that the Senora wanted him to do her this favor so he stood up abruptly, with purpose.

“I’m worried about him. He hides himself in his room too much. We need to keep an eye on him.”

Donte walked to the end of the hallway. His footsteps were audible throughout the entire apartment. It was an old, creaky floor.

Before knocking, he heard some sounds coming from inside of Lethe’s room. It sounded like furniture was being pushed against the walls. Donte tried to regain his composure by straitening his back and shoulders, then he waited a moment longer, and knocked.

“BUSY,” Lethe said.

“Maria Angeles wants you to watch TV with us.”

Whatever noise had been coming from the other side of the door, stopped.

“I don’t know why she watches that ridiculous sport. It’s like an obsession with her.”

“Maybe she just wants you to sit with us.”

“NOT FEELING UP TO IT!”

The shouting startled Donte and he stood by the door uncertain what to do next. Then the sounds began again, except louder. There was thump and a bang which caused Donte to jump and let go of the door knob he’d been holding.

Finally he said, “What’s going on in there?”

“JUST HAD TO MOVE SOME THINGS AROUND. I’M FINE NOW. THANK YOU.”

“But what about the Senora? Does she know about this?”

“NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS DONTE.”

Donte sighed heavily, leaning his weight against the door. “The Senora’s coming to see what’s wrong. She heard the noises. Are you okay in there?”

What followed was a long silence and no immediate answer from Lethe. The Senora’s presence was approaching in the hallway, but then she turned and went into the kitchen.

Lethe said: “I’M FINE. JUST TOOK A LITTLE SPILL ON THE BEDROOM FLOOR.”

Then the door opened slightly and Lethe’s figure appeared toward the back of the room. “I tried to hang myself tonight.”

“What?” Donte looked up in astonishment and saw a bedsheet tied around a fan. The fan was turning wildly and the sheet was flapping against the ceiling.

Donte's shoulders sagged forward, and his mouth hung out. “The Senora can’t know about this Lethe. She’s on the phone with her daughter right now. If she finds out, you might have to leave.” And he shut the door behind him, as if that would seal things, as if that would keep it a secret.

They stood face to face in Lethe’s bedroom. Donte’s forehead showed a line of sweat dripping down the edge of his cheek. He was clearly shaken up by Lethe’s antics, and there was a sort of self-pity in his eyes. But Lethe hardly noticed, he looked like he had no emotions. He was pure steel.

“I’m not going to tell the Senora.” Donte said, reassuringly.

“Why are you trying to protect me?” Lethe shouted.

“I’m not trying to protect you. I just can’t believe you tried to kill yourself tonight. She’s an old woman, Lethe! You’ll give her a heart attack.”

Lethe was so out of touch with reality at this moment that all he could do was turn around and walk out to his balcony. He stood overlooking his balcony for about five minutes, without a word or a sign that he was even there. Donte collected the debris on the floor, which had fallen from the ceiling.

The balcony doors were pushed open by the gentle night breeze. Lethe lingered in the open air, smoking. "I’m worthless,” he said. “I can’t even kill myself properly.”

This is Kodi. As you can see from the two pics above he was a happy handsome boy. Sadly he is no longer with his humans so I had to work with available photos. The images provided were a tad lacking in detail and the one with severe glow eyes had the best smile. So I ended up using both images.  With a little verbal direction from my client I painted in his little subtle moustache during  a quick revision proof and this portrait is now ready to print and ship next Tuesday. I am really happy with how he turned out and can't wait to see him printed.


Take some great photos of your pets this weekend everyone! They are with us such a short time. Be sure and get some terrific photographs. Then once you have your images on your hard drive ... print a few out, stick them in an old shoe box or in an old time photo album.  I think that is what I am going to do this weekend ... print a few snapshots. Way too many of my great digital pet snapshots have never been printed out... I really need to fix that.

What is it that we like about simplicity? Is it not that it's close to us? It is attainable, like something that is nearly us. Or, to put it differently - an it that almost makes it into me. Thus, an imaginary community. Yes, if I dared, I would say simplicity gives us an imaginary community. A universe we don't need to adhere to, as it has already adhered to us.



The video, directed by Johannes Nyholm, is both a music video for Little Dragon, and a pilot of Nyholm's short film Dreams from The Woods.

Two pictures from the Visit series (2007/8) by Filip Berendt.
The idea is so simple and to the point that it is irritating. Berendt put an ad in a newspaper saying he wants to make installations in people's homes out of the things he finds there and take pictures of them. Some people answered. He went to their homes, and, well, did what he said he would do.
The series won him the Sittcomm award last year.

My 2nd shoot for Team Up Thursdays. My image is the bottom shot, Kris Hundt shot the cool distressed "9".  If you want to find a partner and take part in Team-Up Thursdays skip on over to Flickr and check out the group.

The Number Nine: 
"Revolution 9" is a recorded composition that appeared on The Beatles 1968 self titled LP release  (popularly known as "The White Album").

There are both nine circles of Hell and nine spheres of Heaven in Dante's Inferno.

In Greek mythology, there were 9 muses, responsible for creation of the arts by way of inspiration. They were the daughters of Zeus, king of the gods.  

Friday I will post some recent dog art projects. I hope you guys are enjoying the mix on the blog lately. I have really enjoyed having guest bloggers and hope to continue with that. 

It is not every day that you see a papercraft model that is as poseable as this toy robot, so I was really impressed when I came across this little fellow. The creation of Japanese designer, Toki, this papercraft may be downloaded at the Pepakura gallery website here and is only available in Pepakura's PDO format. Judging by the template, it appears that the finished robot is less than 7" (17.8 cm) tall. Detailed photographic instructions are included in the download, although the text is in Japanese only.

1. Kipling West