Minotaur Drawing Final

This is the final version of the Minotaur drawing, poem and all.  I recommend clicking on the image to view a larger version.

This drawing is a good example of how I can tweak little things for weeks, but in the end I have to just give it up look forward to the next piece.

Speaking of the next piece-- I don't really have anything in mind right now.  Its been a while since I have made an actual sculpture, and I would like to start something new.  For now though, I am going to work on finishing the Artist Statement and getting in the reference letters.

Minotaur Drawing 2

Newer version of the Minotaur drawing.

Minotaur Poem

Here is the poem that goes along with the Minotaur drawing.  Its supposed to be a little silly, but also have a serious side at the same time.

The Minotaur paced round and round

his high-walled hallway home.  

Endless walls to wander past,

and endless halls to roam.  

Now anger is not the natural state

of any living creature,

And so his eyes, once red with blood,

had earned a gentle feature.  

And so his footfalls, though once they fell

with murderous intent,

so now a much more pleasant purpose

to the self-same stones present.

As caretaker and as guardian,

he wanders all alone,

trimming moss from countless crags

and cleaning blood from bone.  

And so in endless tedium

his hours turned to years

longing for a human voice

to warm his lonely ears.

But then, what’s this?

A single, solitary, solid string, strung taut!

“Another creature wanders here,”

The colossal fauna thought.

“But why the string?

And who, and what, and how?”

So on his bestial countenance,

a furrowed bestial brow.

“The string leads to the exit,

The creature seeks to leave.

Such a pleasant lifting of my smothering ennui.

Such a pleasant lifting, but such a short reprieve.”

Just then, clear strand, soft grace—

a spider stalked it prey.

And so the beast-man understood,

that he would die that day.

And yet, to see another face,

even one of hate,

would be enough to cause this beast

to calmly meet his fate.

So cold and still these years had been.

So heavy was his chest.

The Minotaur stood up at last

and ran to meet his guest.

Minotaur Drawing 1

Here is the minotaur drawing in an early stage.

Artist Statement

My major art project right now is a drawing of a minotaur.  I even wrote a poem to go along with it. Before I post anything about it, though, I want to do a post about my Artist Statement.

I've put a lot of work into the Artist Statement so far, but there is still more to do.  As it turns out, the Fireside Manifesto thing was a helpful exercise in getting my thoughts together.  I still had to do a few preliminary writing sessions to find a theme that I liked, though. 

I went to Starbucks a few weeks ago and wrote out the first real draft.  After revising it myself I sent it to my good friend Jenevieve, who did a great job of giving me suggestions.  I want to have a another good draft done this week to send to anyone who will look at it. 

The goal is to be artful, but not overblown; conceptual, but logical and deliberate. I also tried to be original by bringing Literature into the discussion. I'm hoping that the statement will be interesting for the evaluators to read, after looking at so many essays from undergraduate art majors. I'm still deliberating on whether to post the whole statement on this blog or not.

I just started reading a book called "Art and Fear" by David Bayles and Ted Orland.  Its about what goes into the artistic process.  Its really interesting, and I think that I may have to finish it before finishing the Artist Statement.  It was recommended to me from a few sources. From what I have read so far, I would recommend it myself.

*Edit: added author's names.

Apple Turkeys, 2012

Its apple turkey time again!  The first one is mine-- I thought I would try to make a turkey without using any candy this year.  Pushing the boundaries.  The second one is Noah's-- it is a tank-turkey.  The gummy-bear is driving it, and he is shooting something out of one of the cannons. The third one is a crab-turkey by Jeremy.  its got gummy-bear eyes-stalks, and it is holding a worms in its claws. 

Photo Post-Production

 One of my big projects right now is to choose the photos that I want for my portfolio, and clean them up a bit.  I'll probably just be posting new photos of old pieces for a little while.

Some of the photos took very little extra work-- just some re-sizing and cropping.  The photos of this sculpture, however, needed some touching up in particular. This guy is 45' x 56' x 63' and 80lbs, and it was difficult to take pictures of it in the confined space of my room.

The four pics above show the process of taking out the overlapping and folded cloth.  I am far from an expert on this though.  If anyone has opinions on how I could do a better job (color balance, more contrast, more clone-stamping, etc), please let me know.  I really want these photos to be as good as they can be.

New Teapot, Finished

It took many weeks, but I have finally finished the new teapot.  I'm pretty happy with how it came out.  I used a thin layer of a glaze called Randy's Red, which gave a nice blueish-black color on the surfaces, and a rust red in the crevices.  Unfortunately, I forgot a basic aspect of teapot-making, which is that pots get twisted as they are thrown on a wheel, and they untwist when they dry.  The result of this is that the spout is not perfectly parallel to the ground, even though it was when I made it.  It's not something that you see unless you are looking for it, though.

Photos courtesy of Lance. 

Headless Horsewoman

I drew this label for my friend Chris.  He made some spiced pumpkin ale liqueur by modifying a recipe that he found online, and we thought that it needed a label.  The liqueur is made using a pumpkin ale that has a picture of the headless horseman on the label, which is where I got the idea for this.

I thought I would include a clean version of the picture without the words as well.

Wax Male Figure

I think that this little guy is kind of interesting because I have revisited him three times now since I began this blog.  The first time was back in November of 2010, and the second was in February 2011. The pose of the second incarnation is based on Rodin's Age of Bronze.  Interestingly, Rodin's birthday was yesterday, and the anniversary of his death will be this Saturday. 

I'm not sure if it is visible from these pictures, but I feel that each incarnation is significantly better than the last.  The final version has the words "Know Thyself" carved into his chest.

The photo on the far right was taken by my friend Lance, who photographed 11 of my best pieces last weekend with the help of his girlfriend Vivian.  They did an excellent job.  I will be posting some of these pictures in the coming weeks. 

Complete Halloween Costume

Full finished costume shot included as requested.  I'm hoping that I can add on to this in the next few years and make something really cool. 

Halloween Costume

This was my halloween costume this year.  Its a mechanical arm in the steampunk style, made from a lamp, a bicycle pump, some plasticard, a freddy krueger glove, a pressure gauge, plasma disk, some fake gears, and other random stuff from Home Depot. I also had a flintlock pistol and a fedora.  I won Best Costume at our party.  It was great.

Remember that you are human, only. Nothing less.

A few different views of a sculpture that I have decided is finished.  Although these photos don't show it (it doesn't show up well in photos anyway, the title, "Remember that you are human, only.  Nothing less" is carved into the side, along with a braille translation.  This quote from Einstein goes along similar lines, and is just awesome overall:

“Everybody Is A Genius. But If You Judge A Fish By Its Ability To Climb A Tree, It Will Spend Its Whole Life Thinking It’s Stupid.”

A Few Last Pieces of Pottery

Here are the last few pieces from my recent class at the Torpedo Factory.  There is still the teapot to finish, but I haven't been able to make it down there to put on the glaze.

I like these large mugs because they hold a lot of liquid.  I also like the bowl-- its got a simple brown glaze and nice visible finger rings.  Nice shape to it as well.

Pumpkins

We had a pumpkin carving party on Sunday, and here are the results.  The two pumpkins by themselves are Winnie's and Anita's, left to right.  The six others are, from top left to bottom right, mine, Lance's, Brian's, Lily's, Vivian's, and Noah's.  I was really impressed by all of these.

Birthday Presents and Guest Appearance

So I recently had a birthday, and got lots of great presents from friends and family.  Most of these presents were beer, but I also got an awesome marble turn-table from my friend Kristina.  It is perfect for displaying sculptures.

I thought that it would be appropriate if I used the turn-table to display another birthday present.  This brings me to the Guest Appearance for the day, which is my girlfriend Winnie.  She made this amazing little mushroom scene out of Play-Doh.  After making fun of her for using Play-Doh, I had to admire the composition of the scene. I like the texture of the floor, the interaction between the big and little mushrooms, and the tiny little blue flower.

Perhaps someday Play-Doh will take its rightful place as an officially recognized artistic medium, instead of retaining the diminutive stigmata that it has yet to throw off.  Perhaps pioneers like Winnie will be to Play-Doh what Dante was to Italian, or Chaucer to English.  Or, you know, maybe not. 

New Teapot 2

The teapot finally has a lid!  Its taken several weeks and several failed attempts to get this lid made.  The first one broke, and the second one was too large.  Once or twice I went to the studio only to realize that I'd forgotten my clay and tools. Then, I had to wait for open studio at the Torpedo Factory to start up again.  Finally, I made three lids at once just in case, and this one works well enough.  The plan is to bring it over for firing ASAP, and have it finished within the next two weeks. 

New Teapot

I like teapots.  This time around, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what kind of teapot to make-- abstract, sculptural, practical.  What I decided was that I should combine my interest in pottery with my interest in figure sculpture, and make a pot covered in nudes.  The first lid fell through the top, so I am working on another one.

Metal Skeleton Update 3

Here are the newest pics of the metal sculpture.  What's new-- he has feet (more like shoes), a heart, and a face.  I still need to get a potted plant for him to hold, and I need to more firmly attach the mask.  I want to get some professional-looking photos after these are done.

As Jenevieve commented on the last post-- I am still thinking about what to name it.  Her idea was Garden Reaper, which is a pretty awesome name.  If anyone else has suggestions, I'd love to hear them as well.

Next photos will be of a teapot.  

Pitcher and Bowls

I've got some new photos of the metal sculpture, but I thought I'd do a pottery update first.  Still making my stuff a little thick, particularly around an inch before the foot.  Need to be more careful in the trimming stage.

The purple glaze doesn't seem to have had enough pigment, and shows the raw clay.  This was disappointing in the pitcher particularly because the divots in the side were supposed to allow the glaze to pool and change colors.  That's ok though-- with this type of pottery decoration you win some and you lose some.  You have to just leave it up to the glaze gods.

Metal Skeleton Update 2

Just one welding class left, and I'm happy to say that I will be able to finish the sculpture in time. There are just a few more finishing touches to take care of.

Sketches in Relief

These are sketches for a new piece that I'm thinking about.  We will see how it goes.

Metal Skeleton Update

I've made a lot of progress on the metal sculpture.  These are my current ideas on where the piece is going:  I have an idea of how to make pelvic bones for him, and I will make them next class. I've already made a rib cage, I just haven't attached it yet.  I'm thinking that he might not have any feet.  We'll see.  The idea for the head, at the moment, is to attached a gas mask.  I think that that would look really cool.  I want to finish the surface somehow, either by giving it texture with an angle grinder, or some kind of patina.  I will attach the chain to his arm next class, so he can hold a flower pot.  I want to make some kind of heart for him, and maybe some veins as well.

So far, I'm pretty happy with this little guy.  It has been my goal from early on to make larger and larger sculptures.  This is undoubtedly the largest, and most expensive, piece that I have ever made.

New Pottery

Here are the first two pieces finished pieces for my pottery class.  Its good to be back after 2 years.  I will have a few more bowls and vases coming soon, and I hope to start working on a teapot.

The metal figure is also coming along.  Next week I will have all of the appendages assembled, so I'm planning on taking some photos and posting them.

SpaceScape

I've been thinking about how to make a nice space-like background for MicroSwarmigism.  Even though it takes place in the ocean, I like the way that space backgrounds look.  I was watching a tutorial on Unity, and it mentioned SpaceScape by Alex Peterson. Its a free tool specifically for making space backgrounds.  It always amazes me how people make these free tools, and then just release them for everyone to use, for free.  I made this one using a tutorial.

Jelly Time

Trying out some jellyfish styles.  Made in Photoshop, Blender, and, for the first time, Sculptris.  Sculptris is a great free sculpting program, made by Pixologic.  Pixologic also makes ZBrush, which is an amazing but extremely expensive program for sculpting detailed 3D models.  I think its awesome that they would come out with a free version.   Its still in beta, but works fine most of the time.   I'm hoping to use it to make something more complex and interesting.

Proof of Spirits

My good friend and apartment-mate, Chris, just started a new blog.  While his first blog, To the Rails, is about electronics (and has been pretty successful I might add), the new one is about alcohol.  Electronics and alcohol?  Now that's a winning combination.

Its mostly about mixed drink recipes.  Go ahead and check it out, you might find your new favorite drink.  Link is below and in the sidebar on the right.

http://proofofspirits.blogspot.com

Gorden Freeman Drawing

This has been a very time-consuming drawing.  I chose Gorden Freeman from the game Half-Life as the topic because he is awesome, and because I thought it would be a good challenge for me.  It was definitely a challenge.

MicroSwarmigism Short 3

Here is the next short. This one introduces the virus MicroSwarmigism.  The next one might take an extra few days, because the boid particle effect is Blender is not the easiest thing in the world to work with.  


Boids are groups of objects that mimic living flocks or swarms.  They were invented by Craig Reynolds, and they follow at least three rules-- they move toward the average center of the swarm, they try not to get too close to one another, and they try to stay in alignment with the other boids.  When you see epic battles in movies like Lord of the Rings, they are animated using boids (which, of course, have a more complicated set of rules above these simple ones). 

MicroSwarmigism Short 2

Here is my next little animation.  The pink particle effect is a sort of poison mutation that these little guys use to defend themselves.  They are a little less mobile that the last guy, as you can see.  I suppose that, in contrast to the last post, these guys are eukaryotes because they have membrane-bound organelles.  Biologists, help me out here?

Anyway, more animations to come. 

MicroSwarmigism Short 1

Noah and I are working on a new project that we call MicroSwarmigism.  The idea is to make a game where you control swarms of single-celled organisms, and you have some control on the direction of their evolution.  We understand that making a game is a massive undertaking, but it seems like a fun project and we are going to try to make it happen.

This video is a simple introduction to the most basic type of microswarmigism, that I call the Prokaryote.  Its nice to get back into using Blender, and I had a great time making this video. I'm working on a few other little shorts that will be posted in the next few days. 

Nike of Samothrace

An old friend of mine reminded me recently how much I love this sculpture.  My first photo on this blog was a little sculpey version of the Nike of Samothrace, so when I was thinking of what to do for my 200th post, on my blog's 2-year anniversary, it seemed like an appropriate subject.

Gemstone Drawing

When I was little, I used to paint pewter figurines.  They were about an inch tall, and the ones that I liked often had little gemstones on them.  I used to try to make the little pewter gemstones look like they were actually pooling and reflecting light like real gemstones.  Its much more difficult in 2D, I would say, but that was my intention here.  The background is a modified metal texture from CG Textures, which is a great free texture site.

Wax Figure 3

Latest update on the male figure in wax.  I refined most of it, and worked specifically on the face and hands.