Merav

Here is a drawing from the other night at my life drawing group. It's a good example of how sometimes the best drawings aren't the long ones. This was a ten minute pose from early in the evening and it is better than most of the twenty minute poses the rest of the evening. I've only got two more sessions this term and will then be taking a break as the new year begins and things get busier at school. I

Coil Cones

One of my all time favorite music groups is Coil. This Flash animation I was working on was inspired by the cover art on the live disc series Coil Live Four: Vienna and Prague. I recreated them in Illustrator and then brought them into Flash. I hope to keep expanding it piece by piece and then put it to some of their music. I heartworm COIL!

Blue lights..delights!

After years of being adverse to color in some ways, I found myself drawn to blue. Blue lights, variations of blue, blue flame, blue clothing, etc. I like the way blues can be warming and cooling. In some ways the color even became totemic for me. There is a strength and replenishing feeling that comes from blue light. This picture is a manipulation of a shot taken on an iphone, of a cheap,kids fiber optic flash light with sparkly dolphin. I also got some video footage of it that has since become source material for VJ visual effects background projections with quite wonderful results. The last stage of manipulation of this image was done on an ipad using Filterstorm.

Gulp!

Thrown off course as they entered our atmosphere, these extra-terrestrials find themselves plunged into the middle of a fierce electrical storm far from any land. A hapless pilot is trapped while the others can only look on in dismay. This oil painting was done a few weeks ago and emerged from a blue splattered masonite panel I have had sitting around for at least a year now. I had originally envisioned in a sketch a crazy rat fink style alien in descent, but came up with with this anxiety ridden cute alien splash down. The color scheme was somewhat dicated by the tubes I had lying around. I have deliberately tried to start working and pushing myself to work with and respond to color in less predictable ways.

Luna

Pencil drawing inspired by an old pin-up postcard, that I can't find anymore. I improvised on the clouds, hair, moon. Just a little sketch to post for your viewing pleasure. I like trying to draw from photos and pictures once in awhile. It's a very different approach than actually working from the figure in life. I want to take this into Photoshop and practice coloring and painting. If it goes well I will post it. I have a few more drawings like this that I will try and add to this post later.

Adger Bacid Video/After Effects Project

Here's a short video piece I'm working on with my good friend DJ Badger. This is a rough version of the initial edit, with more layering and tweaking to come. Just wanted to post it so he could see how it's going. I will update with newer versions as I progress.

I truly wish I had seen and understood the beauty and elegance of Graphic Design when I was younger. For the last ten years or so I have worked to teach myself as much as I can about Graphic Design, I can never give it as much time as I would like (like many of my endeavors), but I did get a chance to explore my developing sense of minimalism. I have been trying to work on projects and exercises that could stand as portfolio pieces. Here are my imaginings for a minimal techno singles series. It was fun working on this project for the cohesion aspect. I like how the text holds it together and that the play or variation is in the line work. I wish I had a bit more time to work on the size for display. I knew it was going to be small, but wanted to put it out there. I may revisit soon and try a different format. The piece on top started as a tiny grid sketch on a small Rhodia sketch pad. I scanned and then built the components for the piece in Illustrator. This is actually the second variation on the idea, where I selected and removed certain pieces. I am wanting to spend some time practicing layouts using grids.

How I learned to love fashion..

Over the last few years I have developed a fondness and appreciation for men's and women's fashion and fashion design. After spending years walking down the street and passing by the clothing places on 24th St. I began to enjoy the various window displays and arrangements. I took more time to notice the cuts, the shapes, the forms, the patterns. My favorite place is Ambiance. The window displays are almost always beautifully integrated arrangements of color, pattern, and form. This photograph was taken from a dress in one of their displays. I rather enjoy the scalloped shapes and the amazing contrast of the warms and cools. I took this into Photoshop and messed around with the color and saturation levels a bit. I always look forward to their new displays. Oh, yeah the Phoenix bookstore also has fun arrangements of books based on color schemes. This is always fun from a color and text perspective.

My only lament is that there are very few clothing places for men in this neighborhood. I do enjoy dressing up myself, especially for work or work related things. I still love my Carharts, black t-shirt, and baseball cap, but I have developed a fondness for nice button down shirts, ties, pants, and shoes. I was already headed this direction, and then after watching Don Draper and Co. on Mad Men for the last year or so, I really developed a stronger appreciation for dressing up. When I dress up I feel accomplished.
On the flip side of dressing up, I have also taken an interest in finding t-shirt designs. I found a couple that I really liked at the recent Threads fashion event in SF, and ordered another from BrassTack Apparel.

Now, after years and years of drawing the nude figure, I find myself interested in spending more time drawing clothed figures and clothing. I like looking through fashion magazines for interesting figures, portraits, styles, and trying to draw them, but would prefer to work from life. I am looking for any interested models, who may have some interesting outfits, or arrangements.

Minilogue - The Leopard (Extrawelt remix)

Here's another track I found recently that I really enjoy. I can't get enough of Extravelt, and this remix is one reason why. I hope you like it as much as I do.

Grumblebug

Illustrator is great for character design. This was once a quick sketch done with a Sharpie that I then scanned and built vectors over. It's also all set up for animation in Flash. I just added it to a bug filled street scene that I haven't touched since last summer. I was gonna leave my computer at home when I travel to Vermont next week, but have since changed my mind. I want to keep getting some more of my digital work done and the ipad/iphone just won't cut it for the serious work. I want to finish and animate the bug filled street before the end of summer, even if its only a short scene.

Praxis

Using the name of the anarchist collective I've lived with, in, around for almost fifteen years, I did this exercise in which I first hand drew the Old English letter forms by hand, then built the vector version of the letters in Illustrator, added flourishes with brush strokes and brush styles. Then I rasterized the whole mess and exported to a Photoshop doc and used drop shadow, outer glow, and emboss for final touches. I know layer styles are somewhat scorned by professional graphic designers for their overuse, but what the hey, I don't know about you but I'm always pretty happy when things are glowing and all soft around the edges.

Missing my Life Drawing Group

Here's a portrait drawing from sometime around Nov. or Dec. of last year. Probably one of the last decent drawings I made in that session. I stepped away from my figure drawing group in the Spring, as I was feeling too stressed about work and other projects. I was having a hard time relaxing and enjoying myself. Now, I am missing it very much. I am thinking about returning when the next session starts in July. I love drawing the figure! I hope to have a much bigger showcase of the figurative work up on my website in the next couple months. I also really want to work on some clothed/costume drawing sessions with models. Anyone got a fabulous/stunning/hot outfit they want to be drawn in? I usually need a couple hours to work with a model to get warmed up and get a accurate drawing done. If you are seriously interested let me know, maybe we can work something out. I would love to draw people I know sometime, as opposed to the models at my drawing group (who are by the way some of the best life models in the Bay Area). I have been drawing at Michael Markowitz's drawing studio (http://www.users.interport.net/m/c/mcm.dnai/) at 23rd and Chattanoga, SF for many years now. Michael has run the place for nearly two decades now. I really appreciate and admire Michael's dedication and artistic output, and can't thank him enough for providing such a quality experience when it comes to the drawing from the figure.

Besides pushing pixels, I can push paint too!

This painting was done several years ago and seldom gets seen by anyone as it lives in my bedroom. I had done some other Caravaggio studies a long time time ago, and I always loved this painting, so I gave it a shot. I didn't do any drawing before hand, just a reproduction in a book and a gessoed panel. My technique is probably rather thick and heavy handed compared to the artist's original approach. I hope to paint at least one painting this summer. At a minimum I could always do another study like this one.

BAL TV in lights

Another fun tutorial I followed, using the name of our school's in house television broadcast show. It's all about light brushes. This was one of those effects I would always see and be like "How you do that?"

Living the Second Life!

For the last several years I have logged many hours in the virtual world of Second Life. These are a couple shots of one version of myself in the gallery warehouse space I had created on land I was holding. The works in the galleries ranged from my digital work to my traditional figure drawings. I really admire all the creativity I ran across in Second Life. No one I know locally was ever a part of Second Life. I know many people are like WTF about Second Life, but it is a pretty amazing space. And hell, I've been curious about virtual reality since I saw "Westworld" and "Futureworld" as a young kid. I freaking loved those movies! Not to mention the later and often overlooked classic "Brainstorm". Anyways, one of the things I like about Second Life is the ability to take photos of your avatars, your friends, and the interesting places you can explore. I never quite got to the point of making one, but you can also create Machinima, or video productions in world using avatars as actors.

CAST Motion Graphics

Here's a piece I made last year. Using the name of the academy I help run and teach in at my high school, I animated an Illustrator/Photoshop tutorial project in After Effects. I really enjoyed producing work that combined several different programs. This was one of those moments where I felt like my skill set and intuitive sense of working with computer graphics and motion graphics crossed into a new dimension. I still have a lot to learn, but this is a good example of how far I've come.

Heart with Daggers

Here's another Illustrator piece in the same vein as the earlier posted Pentacle design. I love how easy Illustrator makes it to play with your designs and re-use assets again. I still remember the day when the pen tool finally made sense, and the clouds parted and the brilliance of vector imagery shone down on me.

Fractured City

This piece from a couple of years ago was one of my efforts to explore abstraction in Photoshop. I was a little slow to developing an appreciation for abstraction and minimalism in art and design, and am now trying to play catch up. I like the feel of this piece and the directions it points towards. Maybe a bit too much recognizable source imagery.

Fish Dreams

These four images are from a series of collages done a couple of summers ago during a particularly bumpy time in my relationship. The series of actual collages came from combining the French erotic postcards book that was found alongside a Fish identification guide. There are at least six small framed pieces.

Old Habits Die Hard (Photoshop Remix)

Originally conceived as a tattoo style watercolor, this piece has been done in oil as well. Here the original watercolor has been edited in Photoshop, to hopefully become animated in After Effects and or Flash in the near future. Liked the direction this was going, but could use some more work and attention to detail.

Arson Vector Pentacle

This is one of my early successes with finishing a composition in illustrator, heavily riffing off the tattoo motifs

Lightning Monsters in Illustrator

Worked on this over the last couple of nights. Playing with a creature idea i came up with sewing felt monsters with my daughter. I think i got carried away with the the outer glow. :))

Stephan Bodzin - Luka Leon

Another gem of a song by the amazing Extrawelt - DistTheme (Original Mix)

What's on the plate!

So, with the summer just kicking into gear, I am thinking about all the cool things i can learn, do, make, see, visit, etc. Of course my list will far exceed the actual available amount of time and energy. Nonetheless, I am going to try. This summer's list of projects and endeavors include working on AP Studio Art curriculum, motion graphics for friend Duniel's electronic music, a dark, norwegian forest painting, building and re-building my website, portfolio development, more photography, CAST program planning, upkeep of Animation Lab, return to life drawing group, work with Adobe Lead Teacher program, advance my skills in every program in the Creative Suite, create and film animation project with my daughter, learn more about network systems and programming, read at least one fiction and one non-fiction book, make one new friend, get re-acquainted with the gym, and go out dancing at least once.

What the hell am I doing?

In an effort to produce some semblance of an intellectual voice and response to the work I create as an artist and an educator I am humbly embarking on the beginning of this blog. I am hoping it will serve several functions. One, I hope to just increase my visibility as an artist and dilettante designer. Two, I am attempting my own resurrection as a writer,or at least a journal keeper. I am in the midst of trying to visualize and manifest some new goals over the next few years and writing was once one of my more consistently used tools to help me in those efforts. If you are running across this page and these words and email me or post a message and I will send you an original Arson artwork of some kind.