Categories
art personal

Impending move, cool art

Impending move, in many senses.

In one, the summer has flown by,
too fast,
and I’m left anticipating that too-soon departure;
again into that impenetrable wilderness.

In another, less frightening way,
I may transport this bloggy realm;
ineffective though it may be,
over to precision effect.
Ineffective more speedily.

As for cool art,
I highly recommend checking out
the art of Barnaby Ward.
His sloppy lines,
tough (if skinny) women,
and long-limbed robot monsters,
make for a winning combination (plus he has an alice gallery).

Categories
art humor webcomics

A story of love.

rated K for kickassSinfest started on the 17th of January, 2000, with decent black and white art and a couple interesting characters. Since then, it has evolved to become one of the most well-polished, consistent, and funny webcomics I read. I’ve just been catching up a bit. Considering that Sinfest updates with near perfect consistency, seven days a week, there’s plenty there to look at, and nearly 2500 strips to read if you want to start from the beginning. There’s plenty of schwag too, if you’re in for that sort of thing.

The strip pictured is one of the sunday strips, larger and in color, with a different style. I love the styling on Monique in the “of love” panel, though for some reason it makes me think of Final Fantasy games. Honestly, one of things I like about Sinfest is that it does a great job of being a really sexy comic, without ever crossing the line.

If you’re interested in crossing the line, on the other hand, check out Jess Fink’s “Dirty Limericks” over at adultwebcomics.com. It is what it sounds like, so probably best not to read it anywhere you might get in trouble.

Categories
art tech webcomics

Comic Life for Windows

Comic Life, a comic creation program previously only for the Mac, now has a working beta for the Windows OS. Shit … I keep running out of reasons not to make a webcomic of my very own.

Categories
art photo tech

Saturday Round-Up

Riya is a visual search engine that lets you upload, tag, and search your own photos or any other photos in their index.  Pretty normal, right?  The neat part is that it has some capacity for recognizing objects, including individual faces (with some margin of error).  Once you've taught it to recognize your friends, it will automatically tag your photos that those friends are in with their names, making it easier to search for them later.  Riya can also breakdown searches into related tags, letting you jump to similar interests or narrow down your search.  The main downside right now is that all large images are automatically resized to 800×600 pixels.  And let's face it, in today's digital photophile age, that's a pretty big downside.  Adult pictures are removed, though it appears that they may rely on user-policing to mark "adult content", and I was able to find some without much effort.  In the name of science, of course.  All in all, it's a neat idea, definately in beta, but worth keeping an eye on.

The ButtKicker LFE Electromagnetic Transducer has a fancy name and a fancier purpose: to make sound move you.  Without creating any additional audio, it can be placed below or attached to your couch or chair to make you feel the bass.  At $200, I seriously need to get one of these.

Table of Malcontents is a daily read (when I have the opportunity), and has enough good stuff over the past few days that you should really just hop over there and check it out.  But if you need my encouragement, I particularly enjoyed: Pirates and TreasureModern Living/Neurotica Series (though it's super-creepy), and 787 Cliparts.

Categories
art

rachelEM illustration

commishb by Rachel Morris Today's Blogger Blog of Note is a lovely sketchblog by an artist named Rachel E. Morris.  Rachel is an illustration student at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, though she'll be graduating this December and, I imagine, will start making her way as an artist in the world.  She describes her sketchblog as "where I will put things as I do them, before I get off my ass and stick them in the official webpage gallery."  The rest of her website is annoying to navigate, but there's definately some nice art there, so I recommend gritting your teeth and checking it out, if you're into that kind of thing.

Categories
art cinema love

Everyday

Everyday is a sweet, romantic, predictable animation that simply made me smile, so I thought I'd share.  I'm sure it helps that I've been in a wacky, romantic mood lately.

(via lore

Categories
art humor webcomics

“Insolent Mountain”

Our SCAC guest entry To mark its anniversary, the Secret Crocodile Adventure Club is going sequential!  Or at least, as the Archcroc V admits, "sequential for as long as I can stand!"  I've been a member since pretty early on, and enjoyed it immensely.  Theo and I even competed in the first (and so far, only) guest-croc competition, in which we placed moderately well and which earned a lovely print that now hangs proudly on my wall.  Even so, I'm really excited for Stig's promise of sequential crocodile stories, and a more story-telling, webcomicky feel.

If you enjoy it, I really recommend signing up for the weekly mailing.  The rantings and ravings of the majestorial Archcroc V are just as if not more amusing than the illustrations themselves.  For now, go check out Prince on the Mountain, page 1.

Categories
art cinema humor

The Amazing Screw-On Head

From the creator of Hellboy and starring Paul Giamatti, The Amazing Screw-On Head follows the anti-espionage adventures of President Abraham Lincoln's top spy, who just happens to be a robotic, metal head with some nifty attachable bodies.  You can watch the entire pilot on scifi.com, and I really recommend it.  It's freakin' hilarious.  From the site:

In this hilarious send-up of Lovecraftian horror and steampunk adventure, President Abraham Lincoln's top spy is a bodyless head known only as Screw-On Head.

When arch-fiend Emperor Zombie steals an artifact that will enable him to threaten all life on Earth, the task of stopping him is assigned to Screw-on Head. Fortunately, Screw-On Head is not alone on this perilous quest. He is aided by his multitalented manservant, Mr. Groin, and by his talking canine cohort, Mr. Dog.

Can this unorthodox trio stop Emperor Zombie in time? Does Screw-On Head have a body awesome enough to stop the horrors that have been unleashed? Where can we get a talking dog?

All these questions (O.K., maybe not that last one) will be answered when you watch the thrilling tale of The Amazing Screw-On Head!

 (via r.stevens)

Categories
art book cinema

Tintin and I

TintinFrom 1929 to 1982, Tintin entertained us with his adventures as he traveled across the world, traversing danger and mystery with aplomb.  Tonight, PBS' P.O.V. premiers a documentary of Tintin and its creator, Hergé.  It's not playing here until the 20th, sadly, but maybe I can catch the Oregon broadcast somehow.  Click here to check your local showtimes.

Both character and creator were unambiguous. Tintin was literally and emblematically a Boy Scout who always lived up to the Boy Scout code, no matter how dire, dark, strange or adult the situation. Tintin was the ideal with which Hergé totally identified. But, as revealed in Anders Østergaard's "Tintin and I," it was the treacherous and uncertain world around Tintin into which Hergé poured the reality of his own life. Based on 14 hours of audio interviews recorded in 1971 — heard here for the first time — "Tintin and I" shows that Hergé, while trying in life to live up to the idealized Tintin, ended up creating in art a powerful graphic record of the 20th century's tortured history.

(via comixpedia)

Categories
art

Three artists for a Saturday

Reading through PC Magazine today I paused over a full-page illustration for an article titled "Do You Know Where Your Kids Are Clicking?"  The illustration (viewable here) is by artist Asaf Hanuka, who lives in Tel Aviv and who does a lot of amazing commercial work.  His blog is particularly interesting because he illustrates (pardon the pun) the process of planning out sketches, which sketches are chosen, and the final polishing for commercial use.  He also has some great illustrations up on his site, as well as a link to a comic he does called Bipolar.Andrea Offerman

With a little blog-hopping, I also came across Andrea Offerman and Tomislav Torjanac, who are both certainly worth a look if you have an extra minute.  All three artists submitted illustrations for a Life of Pi competition, which makes for interesting comparisons in themes and styles (apparently it was Tomer and not Asaf who entered the competition).

Categories
art humor webcomics

To boldly Tweep where no man has Tweeped before.

I read a lot of webcomics review sites.  I read Websnark, obvs, with pleasure.  When the Webcomics Examiner posts articles, I enjoy those too.  I have a love/hate relationship with Fleen, though I do at least skim it on a daily basis.  I read Drunk Comic Reviews before they hung up their hats flasks, and I check out Comixpedia when I feel the whim.

I enjoy reading about webcomics almost as much as I enjoy reading webcomics, but that's not the point of this post.  The point is, none of these sites, in my mind, mention Tweep often enough, and Tweep charms the hell outta me.

And today's comic pays homage to My Fair Lady.

However, aside from individual strips, there is a lot that Tweep does on a consistent basis that impresses me, and that I don't see a lot elsewhere.  For one thing, the art style is unique.  Granted, if you look at the early strips, it looks like Ben drew the comic out in Paint.  But he's been at it for over three years now, and his style has come a long way and really smoothed out.  Wanna check the progress, quick-like?

Here's an example from March 19th, 2003.

And one from March 17th, 2004.

From March 2nd, 2005 (contains street pirates!)

And finally from March 8th, 2006 (with a Beckett reference!).

Ben has come a long way, and obviously put a lot of effort into making Tweep look polished, and I think he's done a good job.  The characters are distinct, sassy, and colorful.  He also likes to employ pictures in place of dialogue (example), which as a technique I think could fall way short if not done properly, but here it is pulled off very well.  The story wanders a lot, and honestly, if you go through the archives, I don't particularly recommend reading the entire To Catch a Rabbit storyline, and to be fair you're offered the chance to skip it under each strip.  But then, I guess if you really like rabbits and old movies, then maybe you'll really enjoy it.  You know … if you're into that kind of thing.

Aside from his occassional and lengthy asides, the story in Tweep mainly deals with a handful of twenty-something kids out there in the world, watching movies, falling in love, working in cafes and music stores, being poor, buying food, and making art.  And sometimes, just sometimes, it has space monkeys.

I'm not sure why Tweep doesn't get mentioned more often, but there ya go.  I've done my part, at least.  Now, go get your Tweep on.

These Tweepish peeps say this comic is for keeps.

Categories
art humor

Spider-Man Comes Out of his Web

As part of the Super-Hero Registration Act, Spider-Man bravely stepped forward to reveal that his name is Peter Parker and that he's been Spider-Man since he was 15 years old.  Good on ya, Petey.  Originally covered by the New York Post , but be sure to check out Gawker's coverage as well. (via Comic Foundry )

Categories
art

Gobelins Students’ Blogs

Il me semble que …

Oops, sorry, I've been reading too much French this morning.  Hmm?  Why have I been reading French?  Because I've been perusing French blogs, of course!  Namely, I found that there are a ton of Gobelins animation students who have personal blogs, and they've posted some fantastic art.  And hey, since it's art, you don't even have to worry about that French bit.  You know … unless you want to.

nenette

Geneviève Godbout is a 2D animation student at Gobelins from Quebec.  She worked on one of my favorite of the Annecy films, Sébastien.  The work on her blog is soft, luscious, and playful.lasco

Mr Fabulon is a 3D animation student, and worked on the Annecy film Cocette Minute.  His artwork appears a little more abstract, the pages are generally busier, but it's all good, and certainly worth a look.

Also be sure to check out: Polyminthe and Seï and Monster Shop and Julien and and and … and then just link-hop to your heart's content, as I did, because there's a ton there to enjoy.

Categories
art cinema

Gobelins, L’Ecole des Sorciers

If you've not yet seen them, every year the animation students at Gobelins, L'Ecole de l'Image, submit a handful of short, animated films for the Annecy International Animated Film Festival.  All of these films are absolutely beautiful, and many of them use image very effectively to communicate ideas, transcending language barriers (or I hope so for your sake, since most of them are in French).

All of the films are available on the Gobelins website, and they're all worth watching.  They date back to 2002, and the older ones are definately simpler than the new batch from 2006.  Theo recently observed that the animation industry in France has boomed since the success of The Triplets of Belleville, an animated film by Sylvain Chomet that ran against Finding Nemo and Brother Bear for best animated film at the 2004 Academy Awards.  In a sense, Triplets is the culmination of a French animation boom that began in 1998 with Kirikou et la sorcièr, a film by Michel Ocelot that may have been the first French animated film to challenge Disney's domination of the market.  (story here)

France is the largest producer of animation in Europe, and the third-largest producer worldwide (following Japan and the United States).  Even American directors are looking to French animators for help creating their films.  Steven Spielberg recruited animators from Gobelins for help with his film, Prince of Egypt.  In many ways, the French animation industry is still getting off the ground.  Compared to Disney and Japanese animation studios, France is the new kid on the block.  But they've proven that they can bring something new to the scene, and that they can do it with a certain je ne sais quoi that I find lacking in a lot of American animation these days.

Unfortunately, there are a tonne of European animated films that are not making it into the US.  I have no idea why more US distributors aren't chomping at the bit to sell these movies in the States.  Disney recently started distributing all of the Studio Ghibli films, and they've been selling like hotcakes to American audiences.  If you're not sure what you're missing, Animation World Magazine has an extensive list of animated films made in Europe that you've likely never heard of.  While you're waiting patiently for the next Chomet film to come out (like this one), make some online noise to get these other films released on DVD in the US.  If you pull it off then I'll be greatly in your debt.

In the meantime, Renaissance will be released on film in the US this September.  You can get a quick Chomet fix with this excellent commercial he created.  And finally, to get back to the point of this post, you should go watch the short films by the students at Gobelins:

2002200320042005 & 2006  

For extra credit, once you've watched Pyrats, be sure to check out their website detailing the creation of the film, as well as their blog.

(links via Drawn!, lines and colors, and Bolt City

Categories
art book internet

BibliOdyssey

Mentioned by Blogger’s Blogs of Note, BibliOdyssey claims dominion over matters of Books, Illustrations, Science, History, Visual Materia Obscura, and Eclectic Bookart. For the most part, it seems to cover illustration in various literary works, and caught my eye for its post on Hans Christian Andersen illustrations by Edmund Dulac.

Categories
art

Friday Art Links

Friday’s make a nice day to sit back, drink some tea, and look at art. Here are some of my favorites that have crossed my path this last week.

The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello is a highly-awarded animated short done in a beautiful silhouette style. For plenty of info, including plot summaries, check out the Wikipedia article.

Directed by director/animator Anthony Lucas, the DVD has a runtime of 26 minutes, which looks to be a very well-spent near-half-hour. You can buy the DVD from their store for $24.95.

(link via Drawn!)

Dennis Brown uses vivid colors and soft lines, but most appealing is how much character and emotion his work portrays. Along with the paintings, he has some first-class sketches to look through, and a book available if you like his work.

(link via Drawn!)

Lines and Colors has been mentioning some really great artists lately. So many, in fact, that it is difficult to keep up. So here’s a list of sorts of artists that appealed to me.

If you haven’t seen Dragon, the wonderful, essentially wordless, animated ad for United Airlines in which a father tucks his son in bed and flies off on the back of a bird to meet with knights at a round table, defeat a fire-breathing dragon and bring home the rewards, you’ve missed the most beautiful 64 seconds of animated television in recent memory.

The drawings were lively, fresh, slightly cartoony but highly rendered and with delightfully realized and very imaginative backgrounds and settings. I was immediately taken with the visual joie de vivre and went home happy with my discovery, but disappointed that I couldn’t carry home a stack of Barbucci albums with my Moebius, Beltran and Gillon.

Grounded in traditional drawing and painting techniques, Dixon now prefers to work entirely digitally. Professionally he does concept art for the gaming industry.

So as not to copy out their entire archives (bear in mind I’m catching up and in the future I’ll ‘appear’ more selective), I also really like: Craig Mullins (pirates!), Gilles Tréhin (autistic savant), and Tsukahara Shigeyoshi (more animation).

If you’re interested in buying some nice art prints:

The Foundation Gallery has some beautiful silkscreen prints for $25-$40 in very limited editions. It’s sad, thematic work involving war, violence, capitalism, and heroism.

Penelope Dullaghan has a lovely thumbnail gallery of her work. She only has a few prints available, as well as a tee shirt and two original paintings, but they’re certainly worth checking out.

If you like creepy pictures of weird children in weirder costumes, you should certainly go check out Misery Children. All the prints are $50, but it’s just what you need if you’ve been looking for art featuring a squid baby in a bear suit with a bluebird.

(prints links via weheartprints)

Categories
art music

A couple of art links

Catching up on some remaindered art links before I start getting into new stuff, hopefully next week.

Lines and Colors generally mentions some very worthwhile artists. I was particularly taken with their post about Ree Treweek, an artist whose work reminds me a bit of Brian Froud. Ree is a South African artist, though her style shows influences from all over.

Ree (pen name for Cherie) Treweek is a South African artist and illustrator. Her fascinatingly detailed illustrations and drawings usually start as an ink drawing that she brings into Photoshop to be fully developed, occasionally in collaboration with Jannes Hendrikz.

The images look anything but digital and modern, however. They seem to be from another era; or even from another, perhaps mythical, culture.

And here is another Lines and Colors post, this time on Jamie Hewlett.

English comics artist Jamie Hewlett made a name for himself as the co-creator of the early 90’s irreverent, over-the-top, punk-camp comic series Tank Girl, (which was made into an unbearably campy movie in 1995).

In 1998, Hewlett teamed up with former flat-mate Damon Albarn of the british band Blur to create Gorillaz, a virtual “zombie hip-hop” band in which the band members exist only as cartoon characters drawn by Hewlett. Gorillaz has gone on to be by far the most successful virtual band ever, selling millions of records.

Categories
art poetic

Typo Graphics

wtfIf you read Kottke, and you should, you saw this link already. I’m a burgeoning typography geek (or at least I’d like to be), and thought this was absolutely fantastic.

You can check out the forum I stole this from, here.

Categories
art photo

Belated DC, part 2

Outside the Modern Art Museum, then inside. A strange argument. Hand-outs. Men are not for burning. Miro for Emily. The dog casts a shadow.





Categories
art photo

Belated DC, part 3

I AM modern art. So is this warrior-bunny dude. The “No Exit” sign appeals to my Sartrian side, which is most of me. I am having so much freakin’ fun on the carousel. Two artsy carousel pictures. Spin, spin, spin!