So, this isn't technically doodling, so I kind of feel like I'm betraying the spirit of this blog. However, I think that the pictures I took today are pretty darn cool, considering the camera that I have (Sony Cybershot 7.2 megapixel).

The trip was to the Big Basin Redwood National Park, and I went there with my mom, who came up for the day to chill with me. It was amazing fun, and I definitely plan on visiting this and other local national parks over my spring break, because the park was absolutely gorgeous.

This is the entire bunch of ~250 pictures that I took at the park before my camera's battery died.

Doodle of random boredness.

I did this in my art history class instead of take notes. Well, I took some notes, but none so important as this. It's just Sharpie on paper, the fat chisel tip Sharpies and regular old computer paper. I had to gussy it up in Photoshop because I lack the scanner required for translating analog into digital. I'm thinking about turning it into an Illustrator image, just so that the lines aren't so choppy.

Speaking of Art History, I have a few hours of reading to do. I should get on that.

I got bored. And so I started doodling. And then I decided to translate one of my doodles into Illustrator. And then I did that. And then I decided to make a post dedicated to my Illustrator doodle. That would be this post.

I don't know why I doodled a mushroom with eyes. I could make something up, but I don't feel like it. Although, the doodle before that one was of a brain and its stem. Maybe I'll draw a brain in Illustrator next.

Radiohead

So, Radiohead is the best band ever. That's all you need to know. Yes, better than the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and Led Zeppelin. Take that classic rock.

This is a project that I did for my Graphic Design 2 class last quarter. You may have heard me mention it in my last post. I'm very eager to share it with you, as I think it's one of the best things I've ever done.

The project was to create a design for an existing band of our choice. I, of course, chose Radiohead. I wasn't the only student to do so, actually, which I found pleasantly surprising. The other student went a different way with her design than I did, but I think she had a much better understanding of the tools that we were using (ie Illustrator, which I was basically clueless about last quarter).

I did all of my art work in Photoshop, using my Wacom tablet. The guy in the picture is from a picture I found of a 3-D practice rendering using newish software that Nvia (I think that's right) created. The original is creepy. Until I read the site, I wasn't sure if I were looking at a real guy or not.

The colored ones are the ones which I ended using for the finished project. I threw in the others because I think they're just as interesting as the others.

This link will take you to the merry land of the Radiohead.

Double the fun.

I'm throwing these two together because I did them in the same lesson for my Illustrator class. I thought they were nifty. The lesson was basically just learning how to manipulate text in interesting ways, as well as boring ways. (The boring ways are character and paragraph styles.)

The "House of Cards" one was particularly fun. It's nice to know that I haven't forgotten the last lesson (which involved manipulating objects, and was, frankly, a lot to cover in one chapter) and that I know how to use the "Help" function. The "spoon" one was just fun and easy to do. I like the colors I chose in both, but the "spoon" piece is probably my favorite, color-wise. "House of Cards", by the way, is the title of a track off of "In Rainbows" by Radiohead. Of course, all of you should know this already.

Hm. I was just reminded of a project I did for my graphic design 2 class last quarter. It involved designing a CD case for a band of your choice. I really enjoyed doing that one. Mayhaps I'll post the pics from that one for your viewing pleasure.

On crazies and Art History profs.

Having had to attend a short lesson on how to use the library (outside of class, of course), put on by my Art History professor, I'm a bit disgruntled right now. Well, that and people are crazy. There's a lot I could blather on about, but my thoughts are too scattered for them to make any sense.

I will say that the only thing keeping me sane right now is knowing that I have an excuse to read for the next 12 hours. Of course, it's all academic reading, which is pleasantly dry.

Ok, I do a small topic to focus on now. When my professor rails against the Internet and the misinformation it tends to spread, he comes off as unpleasantly anachronistic. The internet is here, ok, and it's probably not going to go anywhere for a while. People are going to use the Internet as a tool. They need to know proper researching techniques before they use it. Someone who doesn't know what a primary source is will fail at research no matter if they're doing their research in a library or on the Internet.

And instead of complaining about the misinformation and dumbening of people through the Internet, he could, I don't know, do something about it. Other than spend ten minutes of every other lecture telling the entire class that the Internet is a horrible place, sure, this is an Information age, but the information is crap. What are we supposed to do with this rant? Nod and agree? Throw a few lolcats at him? (Hm, actually, lolcats would be hilarious to put in my research paper - which is on manuscript illumination). He's the one with the college degree. He could start a blog, edit a wiki, any number of things.

I suppose my thinking is a product of the eAge. There are many bad sources of information, but there are great, vast, amazing sources of information too. And Wikipedia is not the demon he makes it out to be. It's not peer-reviewed, per se, but it isn't just some random git uploading whatever s/he wants to (which my professor seems to think happens all the time - because, gee, nobody would notice wrong information on the internet).

I guess it particularly irritates me because I've heard him mention wrong information once for sure, and probably at least one other time. He is in the "omg cell phone radiation causes cancer camp." Why? "Because we don't know about these sorts of things. I mean, it was military technology just rushed into the consumer market, and they didn't do the proper tests to make sure it's safe."

Guh. I could tear into this on so many levels. I'll just restrict myself into stating that cell phone "radiation" isn't actually radiation (ie, rapid atomic decay that results in bursts of high-energy particles that are small enough to damage your DNA and cause you some problems). They're a form of radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves which have less energy than infrared. Ie, they are more "sluggish" than visible light, which hasn't ever been implicated in causing cancer (yet).

And don't just take my word for it. From the NASA site: "Radio waves have the longest wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum. These waves can be longer than a football field or as short as a football. Radio waves do more than just bring music to your radio. They also carry signals for your television and cellular phones." (Bolding mine.) It's a helluva neat trick for a light wave the size of a football to damage your DNA.

And the crazies. Oh boy, don't get me started on the crazies.

My cat is awesome.

My cat is awesome. Period. About 20 minutes ago he was ferociously attacking my left foot, and now he's curled up asleep on my bed. I wish my life were that simple.

I'm giving you all a painting today (and it would appear more than one person is reading/glancing at this thing, so cheers!). It's a little something I did in my final acrylic painting class. For the last two quarters of this three quarter series of classes, Acrylic Painting B & C, the students were able to set parameters for their paintings, ie a theme. My theme for B was figure painting, and my theme for C was superheroes.



This is my favorite of the four or five that I completed for that class. It's based on "Superman: Red Son," a great comic, by the way. I actually free-drew the entire thing, except for the symbol. I had to reference the comic for that.

I really enjoyed my acrylic painting class. I really wish I had the free time to continue painting - maybe I'll take a whack at it again this summer.

2buckchuck post.

Aaaaah. Half a bottle of wine does me well.

As I may have mentioned, portraits are (currently) my favorite theme. I like drawing body parts in general, hands, feet, legs, torsos, heads, etc. Figure drawing is big in my life, I'm just lacking models at the moment. I have the seeds of an idea germinating in my brain right now, but the idea is going to have to simmer for now, as I'm slacking on responsibilities I've made for myself.

This is just some random drawing I did that I currently have on the wall of my room. The proportions are a bit wonky, but it still works. Hey, wonky proportions worked for El Greco, I think I'm allowed to play around with the human body as well.



I've also got a bit of an obsession with drawing people smoking. No reason. Ok, well, it might reflect my own slight addiction to nicotine. Or does it? I have another drawing around here somewhere, if I can find it, that's vaguely related to this one, if only because I drew it and it features a cigarette. I'll try to put it up in my next post. Assuming I remember that I promised to post it and that I can find it.

Midterm finished, woo!

It is done. Marvel at it's marvelousness! I can't hear you marveling!

...

I'm sure you can compare this to the earlier sketch I put up, so I won't insult anyone's intelligence by critiquing this one. However, leave feedback if you want to!

And I just want to thank the sitter (who shall remain anonymous, except to those people who recognize her).

Bleeding hands and group projects.

My art history class is required to do a group seminar, which apparently is a less formal group presentation. And doesn't have to be performed in front of the entire class. Due to my extreme laziness, which I mentioned in my previous post, I was forced to chose the extremely exciting group on "Renaissance and patronage." Yippee.

Half of the time that I met with my group (the total time was about 10 or 15 minutes) was spent arguing about how to talk to each other. I suggested email or meeting after class, and tried to stress the complete lack of time that I have. Someone mentioned Yahoo groups. Blech.

I am definitely not a big fan of group projects.

The sketch I've uploaded today is just something I experimented with years ago. I know I sketched the hand and flower in pencil, but I can't quite remember what I used for the blood. Potential candidates are watercolor, colored pencil or acrylic paint. I mean, I could just look at the actual piece, but I can't remember which sketchbook it's in. And yes, that's my hand. The blood and flower are fake, though. I went through a phase where I couldn't get enough of drawing hands and objects, especially in weird juxtaposing like this.

Personally, I can see this being a really great painting. I might do that one of these days.

More.

Well, thanks to my relative laziness, I seemed to have missed a couple of slightly important things in my Art History class. Hoorah. I also get to work in a group with other people, which I detest being forced to do. I don't mind working with people, except the part where I have to work with people. Especially college students who may or may not be invested in the class. Or college students who are just as busy as I am. However, my boss is being nice and I've got a stretch of three days off, without loosing any hours. So at the very least, I should be able to not only keep up with my homework, but enjoy some relax time.

But I didn't just want to gripe about how hard and difficult my life is (or isn't), I'd like to share some more of my previous works.



This is a sketch from a few years ago, I think. Or maybe from last year. I should try to keep these things straight.

Anyway, it's another of my friends, and if I remember correctly, I did this sketch on the sly. Take that modesty! Portraits and the human figure are my favorite kind of art, at least my favorite kind of art that I like to do. Other people's portraiture and figure drawings are nice, but I just absolutely love the experience of drawing the human figure. It's personal without having to actually interact with a person.

I especially like that you're able to capture both the person that you're drawing, and part of your own self when you do draw someone. I don't mean that in a spiritual, namby-pamby, "essence of art" kind of way, I mean that any time that an artist, or anyone, really, sits down to draw something, they are attempting to communicate their own experience with others.

When you're doing portraiture, it gets a bit more complicated than if you're drawing a cup, for instance, because when you're doing a portrait, you're trying to communicate the character or personality of the person whom you are drawing. (Did I use whom correctly? Anyway.) But even when you try to strictly stick to the person in front of you, it's that person as you see them. It's what you see in that person that you're drawing, and what you see in the person that you're drawing is unique to you. Five thousand other people can draw the person that you just drew, and everyone of them will be unique.

The whole snowflake thing that gets thrown around applies here. It's not because the person who is being subjected to the pressures of 5001 people drawing her/him, although I'm sure that would be a bit unnerving, it's that each of those people will have a different subjective experience of the subject that they're drawing. While subjectivity can be abused (a lot), it does have it's place when you're viewing any art, or when you're creating any art. Who you are as a person is reflected in what you see in art or what you put into your art.

I could go on for much longer than this, I'm sure, but I'll just leave it at that. Look at my art and be astounded! You're interpreting my art through your collective experiences from your life and my art is a reflection of my collective experiences in my life! Isn't it just grand?

Also, I'm not entirely sure that the above completely makes sense, but I don't care! Ok, I kind of care. Not enough to edit anything, though.

Shameless plug.

This piece is just a little something that I threw together for a lark. It was inspired by a podcast that I follow somewhat religiously. What's the podcast, you ask? Well, let me tell you a little about it, if I may. (I'm going on the assumption that I'm not talking to myself, by the way. I'd like to think I'm not.)

The podcast is called "The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe." Now, if you're at all like me, you'll be outraged. The apostrophe is clearly in the wrong place, but this has been mentioned to the hosts of the show and there ensued a long, several page semantic argument that was only interesting to the grammar nazis of the podcast's forum. I'll spare you the tedium and simply related the results: the apostrophe stays in the wrong place.

Anyway, the pic was created in Photoshop, using a picture of a slice of bread and the face of the great, the skeptical, the infamous Dr. Steven Novella. He hosts the Skeptics' Guide with his two brothers, Bob and Jay, along with their friends Rebecca Watson and Evan Bernstein. The podcast is great, everyone should already be listening to it, blah blah blah.

The picture was created as a parody of the phenomenon of pareidolia. Pareidolia is everywhere and is fun when you know what's going on. It's what people are actually experiencing when they see the Virgin Mary on toast, or Allah written in a bagel.

Midterm project, oh joy

So, midterms are here, and it would seem that I only have one midterm this quarter. This makes me terribly pleased with the universe.

This is a sketch, fairly complete, of a friend of mine - who heroically allowed me to take pictures of her. There were a couple which would have worked well for this project, but I had to chose only one.

The project is just your basic "draw a face using pen strokes" assignment. I'm using loose cross-hatching. I'll be damned if I do another stippling project. I'd rather set myself on fire, really.

But since I haven't set myself on fire (yet), I should probably add that I used Photoshop and my beautiful, lovely, wonderful Wacom tablet. As I said in my write-up for the assignment, I feel more confident using Photoshop. Besides, part of the assignment was to trace the image, and I don't actually have access to a good preinter. Or a light table.

Hello world.

Well, I've finally decided to give in to the overwhelming pressures of the Web 2.0 and start my own personal blog.

I suppose this is where I wax poetic about how interesting my life is, or how much knowledge and intelligence I have to share with the world. But, alas, I'm about as interesting as the other 6 billion + people who currently inhabit this little world.

The purposes of this blog are simple, really. I want a place in which to share my doodles and creativity with as many people as I possibly can. And I want to be able to talk about whatever I want to, as well. I've heard that you can do that on the internet.

I'm currently a student in the Bay Area. Not at one of the fancy art schools (yet), but the community college I'm attending has a fairly diverse and interesting array of art classes. I'm learning a lot. I plan on majoring in Illustration, if possible, and I have an interest in Graphic Design. What I really want to do with my art is show how awesome and amazing the world is, dealing specifically with scientific themes and concepts (especially astronomy). It's a niche that is pretty empty right now, what with all the post-modernists and pop surrealists running around. And what happens to niches that aren't filled? Why, creatures adapt to them!

So, yeah, science + art = great.