Just found a fantastic abandoned house model created with Legos (one of my favorite toys when I was a kid). It was created by Mike Doyle and I'm surprised I haven't seen more of this sort of thing, what a great idea!
Abandoned Lego House: Mike Doyle
My Graphic Pieces and Process
A while after I had learned to use Photoshop, the fun part was and is to experiment. I really liked working with the filters, such as cutout, film grain, etc. My process when I create my graphic pieces is I first of all use all of my own photos 97% of the time, then I cut them, use the gradient, put them together and layer them playing with various filters for each layer. For example, layer 1 could be cutout, then on top of that I'll put layer 2 using film grain on another picture. I'll also play around with opacity (how transparent I want the layer to be), then mess around with what setting I want the layer to be on such as: normal, hard light, dissolve, saturation, soft light, etc. I'll basically play around with all these effects and the order of layers until I get the picture I desire or want. Of course, I will probably have saved 10 different versions of the same picture where the layering may be different or one effect may be, but I like both. After I pick a final one I like, I'll probably tweak it if need be with adjustment layers if I hadn't already. So that's the jist of how I enjoy creating my own work. It started about my senior year of high school 2007 or so and I created many of my works with this method and love doing so. The piece below is my most recent one, done in early 2009 I believe, so I need to jump back into that, I've been mainly working with straight photos lately. I created this on my own time, not for a class or anything. I believe this piece has at least 6 or 7 different pictures, all ones I took. If you have any questions about this just ask! :)
Mondo Celluloid: Zombie Walk
So if you don't really have anything to do end of this month, or just really have a thing for zombies and blood, then you should head over to 4th Street in Long Beach October 30th for Mondo Celluloid's third Zombie Walk!!!! Oddly enough, 4th street will with lively with undead folks, where during the day you can get your makeup done or go through stores partaking in the zombie fun. At 8pm, everyone's meeting up at Porfolio Coffee House, then walking, trudging, crawling, whatevering down 4th street to the Art Theatre where at 9:30pm, Shaun of the Dead will be playing. I'm certainly excited! There's going to be zombie flash mobbing (dancing in human terms) and plenty of undead fun I can't wait for.
TV: Ghost Adventures
To kick off this fabulous month of October (which by the way if you didn't realize or know, has 5 Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays and won't happen for another 823 years, crazy I know) one of my best friends introduced me to what is now one of my favorite shows. Unlike Ghost Hunters, the cast of Ghost Adventures actually believe in the paranormal, and give you results then and there. Believer or not, the show is still intense, at points humorous (well, duh, it's 3 guys provoking ghosts, shit's bound to happen...) and of course entertaining. The cast consists of Zak, Nick, and Aaron, and the first part of the show is them interviewing eyewitnesses and historians of the place they are at. I like that they give you a detailed background and history of the places they go to. Also they don't pick boring places really, they go for the ones with the reputations of being very haunted with lots of activity. After they interview everyone, they mark the spots they are going to visit, then have themselves locked in the building from dusk til dawn (who does that? Guys that are crazy, that's who, and that's a reason why this show is awesome). The first episode I saw was when they went to Rolling Hills Asylum in New York, and after that I was hooked. They go to places most others don't, such as Poveglia Island in Italy (another intense episode), and Waverly Hills, etc. You can find this show on the Travel Channel. Check them out here.
Photo Project: Assingment 1 Anti-Cliche
I'm already working on my second project now, but earlier this semester, for my intermediate photo class, our first assignment was to photograph things not normally seen, things that are anti-cliche. Everyone first presented what was seen as cliche today, such as: the myspace type profile picture we've all made, the large flowers with bees, family portraits, swirling staircases, sunsets, that sun glare everyone seems to include in their photos too, waterfalls, beaches and palm trees, tree lined walkways, etc etc. I've taken all these photos too I admit, much of my beginning works dealt with bees and flowers close-up. I was so fascinated with close-up and that I could be next to a bee and catch it on camera! I'll have to post those pics sometime. But it is fascinating because what we see as cliche now was not considered so at one point, also, what we see as new and inventive now, will at some point become cliche because everyone will be wanting to make those pictures.
Anyways, I started just going out and taking pictures at Disneyland, then inside my house. We have a giant (I'm sure almost every asian family has this) family portrait by our front door. I played around with this idea of blurring out the faces in the picture. You can still see the blurred silhouettes, but no detail, like that family portrait means nothing, it could be anybody's family, no one would know.
Another picture I used a cup and had my sister hold it against the kitchen light, it looks more like a graphic piece, I was just playing around with different things to create various effects in a picture. Note: these are scans from my negatives, not scans from the actual prints themselves.
My Sketches: My Dead Dahlias
So it started senior year of high school, in my AP studio art class, I was doodling in my sketchbook and started drawing a girl with a big head, crazy wavy hair, and a ridiculously long elegant neck. I kept it simple with focus on the big eyes and hair.
So I decided to develop the idea more, it has been coming along slowly and I more doodle the idea of a character here and there in random places, but I perhaps plan on making a series, I don't know yet if I want to paint them or leave them as sketches. I thought about the name of this series of twisted doll like shaped ladies, and am deciding to stick with the name Dead Dahlias. The last picture shown is the most recent one done beginning of this year, so enjoy or lemme know what you think :)
Movies in a Cemetery: Cinespia
September 18th was the last cemetery showing of the season for Cinespia, but me and my friends first showing. We watched Night of the Living Dead projected onto the wall of a mausoleum, I believe, with blankets, snacks, and each other. It is held at the Hollywood Forever cemetery, and it is almost pitch black walking on the way to our spots, this only made me more excited. If you ever decide to go if you haven't, mind you, it is gonna be frickin crowded, and the website doesn't tell you this, but it is also $10, kinda pricey, but I enjoyed it and plan to do it again. There is also a dj that plays before and after the movie. When I went DJ Nobody played and he's got some good stuff, a mix of techno and jazzy classics. Anyways, check it out here.
Incredibly Sexy Poster
I had to buy it, I couldn't say no to this picture, it is so sexy! While I'm procrastinating right now and on a blog craze as of yesterday, I decided I have to post this picture. I was at ConRev last month (for kicks ;), and they have mostly mediocre art pictures, but good ones every once in a while, and when I saw this one, it was like YES. Big boobies, unspoken eroticness and naughtiness, and a Betty Page lookin chick?! I think yes.
Ideas: Photo Project - Fabrications
For my second photo project this semester, I'm at a loss as what to do. We are supposed to in some way incorporate ourselves into the picture, not necessarily our physical self, but show that we've manipulated the subject somehow, not just a scene of nature for example. We could build or create something. Some ideas I have in mind are either too expensive, or are going to take up too much time that I don't have at the moment. Plus I feel I'm at an artist's block right now, which sucks. It also doesn't help that my mom is starting to complain again that I'm doing nothing with my life, but that's another topic.
I was in the halloween store with my sister yesterday and came across this raven mask. It was supposedly going to be in a movie, but got rejected. Well for some reason, I have a strange attachment and attraction to this mask, don't ask me why, it's weird and creepy and I love it. But it's a little out of my budget of broke-ness to get it for my photo assignment. So maybe that will be another project, maybe a series. Well, I guess time to go back to the sketchbook and brainstorm some more...
My Photos: Digital Camera Beginnings
I've been feeling a sense of nostalgia lately, so I've decided I will probably be going back and forth between work I'm doing now and work I've done in the past. For my digital background, it mainly started about my sophomore year of high school. I took an ROP class for digital design, where I self taught myself to use Photoshop. Shortly after, before my junior year of high school, my mom bought me my first really nice Sony digital camera that I still use on occasion now. It has lasted me such a long time and been so good to me.
I'm more of a Canon and Nikon fan now, but I loved my first camera. I was going to take a photo class that spring, so I started playing around and messing with my camera. What was me messing around with close-ups and whatnot started to become more serious for me as I started to think about my pictures more and observe what I could take.
I really loved taking pictures of nature (flowers especially), dead things, or old rusted things. I also had some ideas of these simple pictures and my first models were my brother and sister oddly enough. Anyways, here are some of my first pieces. When I got into my photo class, and shortly after learning how to use illustrator, I created my signature I would put on my photos. I remember it took me about 2 hours, but I was pleased with it and still am.
Fujifilm Instax Camera
As I was shopping earlier last month at Samy's Camera (great place by the way) for some film for my photo class, I came across what is pretty much the new Polaroid (since they discontinued Polaroid film sadly enough). This one is by Fujifilm and the 210 (which makes the bigger pics) looks like an overgrown kid's toy camera, but it works well enough. I prefer the cuter somewhat reasonably sized Fujifilm Instax Mini. It's the same thing but produces smaller, wallet sized pictures. They are kinda pricey but still, I can't wait to get mine!
Humor: Hurt Feelings Report
If someone ever hurt you (mainly the military) you can now file a report to them. Haha, no this one's for kicks. Although, I'm sure you could try sending it in...
Life Drawing Class: Portraiture and Final
Even though I'm no longer in life drawing seeing as the class ended in May, I have made note I am quite a few months behind on my blogging and am going to be catching up for a while. After gestures and drawing the figure, my class moved onto portraiture. I was not at all very good at drawing face accurately, but after I learned how to do this, I was amazed at what I could do.
We would still start with marking where things were and drawing a triangle to get a feel where the forehead and chin were. Then we would carve out the light from the charcoal, then gradually move onto detail. First starting with a chamois then moving up to finer tools such as an eraser. So here are some of the portraits I did (keep in mind some of them are unfinished since the models we had in class were only there for a few periods).
For my final, we had to do a self portrait, mine doesn't look like an exact representation of me for those that know me. Yet I did it in 7 hours and spent more time brainstorming about the piece. I chose a blue toned paper to bring this feeling of melancholy, and I wanted to focus on this one feeling because that was all I was thinking about. I was somewhat depressed during this time. I got a hold of a broken mirror (thanks to my dad) and cropped it so the cracks would be at the edge and cause this sort of tension and uncomfortableness, also that the cracks, spider web like are creeping into the picture. It represented this chaos and distortion, brokenness and sadness. I had one light source and the things in the background I blurred out because they didn't matter, at the time I didn't care about anything else. We were supposed to spend about 20 hours on it, but my teacher loved that I put thought into almost every little detail. Yay for a good semester of life drawing, one of the best classes I've ever taken :)
Life Drawing Class: Midterm
For our midterm in life drawing we had to reproduce a Vermeer painting using charcoal. I chose the picture of the Woman Holding a Balance. She's reassessing the importance of certain things in her life and I enjoy the quiet softness and thoughtfulness of this painting brought about by her calm demeanor and the shy light coming through the window.
Weird Awesomeness: Beard Championships
I just found out from a friend of mine after watching Dinner for Schmucks with Steve Carell, is that there really are world beard and mustache championships. Teams from Canada, the US, and Europe compete with categories for best mustache, best beard, there is a freestyle category, it is crazy what people can do with their beards...I have yet to see the bearded lady though. The first national US beard championships happened in June earlier this year in Oregon. Sad I missed it, but I'm sure there will be more to come from this. hahahaha. World Beard and Mustache Championships.
Journal: Quicksand
So I'm taking a poetry class this semester and my teacher suggested getting a small notebook to carry around. I recently got one for ideas, observations, pieces of writing that may be thought of during the day or whenever.
Here's a random thought and unedited writing from that little journal I now carry around:
Love is Quicksand
it happens all so fast and once it does, you're stuck and you keep sinking deeper and deeper. you get pulled out a little here and there only to sink faster than before. you keep sinking 'til you can't breathe anymore and become asphyxiated and at that point, no one can save you.
I'm almost to that point.
Artist: Sylvia Ji
I've taken a long summer break away from blogging I know, but to jump start things again, I've decided to post about an artist I recently discovered while flipping through one of my favorite illustration magazines, Hi-Fructose. Her name is Sylvia Ji, she currently resides in Los Angeles and creates paintings with simple materials (mainly acrylic on wood panel). I love the feel of these paintings something that attracted me to them so much was a mix of Day of the Dead, beauty, luscious flowers, and culture. She might draw you in as well...her work here.
Elle Magazine: Keira Knightly
When I was growing up, I loved loved magazines. I'd always tear out fashion pictures and make collages from them. I loved them (magazines) for the beautiful pictures, and I still have an attachment for beautiful pictures because it defies reality.
In 7th and 8th grade a friend and me designed clothes together and I thought about being a fashion designer. Yet I look at that world now and go...nope! I'd rather photograph it. I discovered a blog, Design Scene, which is now my current addiction instead of magazines, it just cuts right to the gooood stuff, and since I haven't looked at a magazine in such a long time, it's fueling my unfed desires.
I love this shoot done in Elle magazine (spring 2010) with Keira Knightly, it's soft, romantic, and some pics have a bit of playfulness to them. They're photographed by Carter Smith and I believe he did a beautiful job. Anyways, enjoy.
Want a Piece? My Rebel Re-Label Project
So I did end up sticking with Orbit Gum for my product project. My best friend helped me come up with a name as long as ideas. Since sugarfree gum contains sugar alcohol, if eaten in excess, this can cause diarrhea. Sadly, I've tested this and it proves true. So I've renamed my product MoreShit! A sort of half rhyme with Orbit, and it now (in my fantasy world at least) comes in Laxamint. Which by the way, in my search about different things for Orbit, I've found that laxative gum already does exist, so my product will have a spot on the market. Heh heh.
My bestie also gave me the idea of a sort of Bertie Bott's every flavor theme, which I think is another great idea considering Orbit gum has every unnecessary flavor out there possible.
After I finished my product, I wanted to see how it fit back into the world! I went to the liquor store by my house, asked to place it on the shelf, I did, and photographed it. Oh, my bastard child from Orbit fits so well into the gum social scene.
Some technical stuff if I must, I created it in illustrator, I found an Orbit box template off the internet (thank God for the internet) and I just used the box outline. I pretty much started from scratch. except for the ying yangish "O" logo in Orbit. That I used Live Trace and recolored it. I created a signature in high school in illustrator, but that's about all the work I've done in Illustrator. So this project I shall say was a bit of a learning experience. A good one mind that, and I tried keeping it simple for myself. Anyways, hope you find some humor from it, and enjoy. :)
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