Works in Progress 4 (in a manner of speaking)

I haven't been able to get much work done lately.  I tend to struggle with the idea of being thrown out into the week with the command to go forth and do art stuff.  This in mind, it looks like I'll be embarking on a series of somewhat more structured projects.  While I admit it's frustrating to feel like I have to be lead by the hand, it's for the best and I'm excited to see where it leads. 
In any case, the first of these is going to involve The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Godspell (because cross dressing and Jesus-loving hippies go hand in hand, apparently), which happen to be two of my all time favorite musical films.  The project, in a nutshell, is going to involve drawing a scene at multiple points overlapping on one sheet of paper. 
Today I managed to get a bit of a preliminary attempt done-- tomorrow I'll be starting to work for longer chunks of time and larger paper.

 

Just Passing Time

Just a small series of sketches that accidentally formed a plot.

Some Introductions

This also feels like cheating for a post, but I recently looked into some studies from last semester when I worked on a project that involved drawing a few good friends of mine, focusing in particular on unique facial features and expressions.  This is of particular interest to me regarding character design (which has always been my kind of "dream job," like how most kids wanted to be the president or an astronaut.  I know, I'm super cool).  When I draw someone I know particularly well, they start to become like characters in a book or movie to me.  In thinking about my influences and where I'd like to progress from here, I thought I'd make a few introductions.

 Kevin here is one of the most confident people I've ever met, and while I don't consider these drawings themselves to be extremely successful, I do believe there's a lot of him in them somehow.

 Rich here makes some very interesting expressions and has been known to make equally interesting statements seemingly at random.

 And finally, Humphrey looking every bit the mad scientist he is.  And as you can see, I've spent quite a bit of time with his nose.  




These in mind, I'm toying with the idea of swinging to the other end of the spectrum and playing around in my sketchbook for a little while with the idea of creating an identifiable character without any distinguishable facial features at all.  The face has been my focal point in creating a defined character or personality up to this point, so perhaps pushing myself into uncomfortable territory will lead to something.  It sounds like a fun idea, at least.

Comics + Art Humor =

I'll admit this is a bit of a slacking-off type post (largely because I'm still working on how to go about "blogging" without descending into unproductive navel-gazing), but I figured I'd take the opportunity to share my particular love of art humor in webcomics and the like.

(XKCD, Good Cop Dadaist Cop)

 

In addition to often providing a fun window for non-artsy types to catch a glimpse of the various quirks and facets of the art world in a way which may catch their attention, I believe that these kinds of comics also do the great service of humbling the art world.  I don't mean to say that I want artistic culture to be mocked, but I consider humor essential in approaching art, lest one begin to take oneself too seriously.

The next one I'm particularly fond of, as I think pretty much any kind of artist can identify with some of the odder things they might find themselves doing:

(DeviantArt link if the above is formatted too small: LINK)

Interstella 5555

Many people are familiar with the electronic band, Daft Punk, particularly their recent hit, Get Lucky (though from my experience, a lot of people know and love a song or two by them without even knowing the band-- which, as I'll get to later, may be just what Daft Punk themselves prefer).  Personally, I've considered myself something of a fan of theirs for a while, but I only recently got around to watching Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem.  I was completely blown away.  

Interstella 5555 is a collaboration between Daft Punk, developer Cédric Hervet, and Leiji Matsumoto.  Matsumoto had been a childhood hero of the band, having worked on several Sci-Fi themed anime shows and films (the Captain Harlock series being one of the best known).  The resulting hour long film is beautiful thematically and visually, and the animation fits the tone and concepts of the album perfectly.  Daft Punk is a duo who have always put the music as a higher priority than their own image-- even wearing helmets to hide their faces.  Hence, it seems appropriate that the plot of Interstella 5555 centers on a pop band from another planet, as they are abducted, brain washed, and forced to abandon their identities to become performing machines.  

It was a difficult task to choose one segment to include here, needless to say, but I ended up settling on Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.  This is not only because the track happens to be one of my favorite Daft Punk songs, but also because the animation is quite possible to enjoy without the larger context of the entire work (though it does take on an entire new layer of significance when one knows the characters and their situation).  In this section, the four band members are forcibly being altered into their human counterparts in preparation for their new lives as drones of the delightfully over the top villain acting as their agent.

On a Different Note

This may not be entirely related, but man, this guy:

The way he moves looks so surreal, and I think it would be very worthwhile to work on some animation based in this style of dance.  I may work on some gesture drawings from his videos, since in many ways he already looks like he's being drawn.  The things a figure can do are incredible.

Deadly Artwork

I have to confess that Cracked.com articles are one of my greatest addictions;  seriously, I read nearly every article posted each day.  For the uninitiated, Cracked.com is a site primarily comprised of articles about anything and everything, usually in a listed format, and generally with a humorous spin.  Frequently the writers will tackle the art world, and needless to say, this often results in some of my favorite articles.  
In thinking about some interesting contemporary works I may have come across wandering the web, I recalled one of my favorite Cracked articles of all time:  

5 Works of Art That Can Probably Kill You 

I mentioned in a recent blog post that I feel our current culture encourages a sort of playful experimentation in the art scene, and I think the pieces discussed in this article exemplify this freedom to explore taken to a fascinating and somewhat terrifying extreme.