Decisions, decisions...

This video has an interesting viewpoint and treatment of space. Instead of being in the belfry or right up on the castle, the viewer is seeing the castle from a distance, as if standing on the edge of a precipice. The surprise is that the bat, which is the main subject of this video, flies out of the viewer's space and circles around to the castle. The castle is perched on an bow arc-shaped cliff and overlaps three mountains. The bright full moon is the lightest value, followed by the ghostly drifts of fog at the bottom of the foremost part of the picture plane. There is a subtle modulation in value, from unadulterated whites to grayish-blues and bluish-grays to dark blues and finally black. The curved forms also give this composition energy and a fluid sense of movement.

The thing I particularly like about this music video is the lighting and the occasional inclusion of red objects. The black-and-white color scheme appears, in some scenes, almost blurry, and the whitest whites almost cast a glare. The sweat on the DJ's high-resolution features adds to the dramatic mood the videographers were shooting for. The best relationships between positive and negative spaces in the video, however, are in the shots that contain architectural facets, for instance, the stairwells.

This short clip has an interesting perspective and point of view; the angle it is filmed from creates a right diagonal. The crow itself is the darkest value in the picture; however the modulation of the grays, whites, yellows, and greens make up for the lack of dramatic lighting. The relationship between the space in the landscape is fluid in parts, with curved cross diagonals, and a little more crisp in others, hence the fence, the fence pole, the airplane rudder, and the crow's legs. The emphases are placed in the mid ground planes and the vegetation of the foreground planes.

Images of works by Francisco Goya, Albert Bierstadt, Willem Claesz, and Paul Klee

 

 

 

Messy, messy, messy!

That's all I can really say about this. The end product of charcoal erasure drawing is beautiful, but the process quite frankly vexes me. Well I'll just have to get over it. But I do have good news. I'm in 2D and 3D design this semester, so having already taken Drawing I has been quite helpful to me, particularly where sketchbooking is concerned. Also, right now in 2D we are basically talking about and working with the same ideas as we are in Drawing II! It excites me to have similar types of homework assignments for two classes.

I just read the most fascinating article on CNN.com about video games and art. It includes brief allusions to Michelangelo's David and Van Goh's Starry Night. Whether or not every one agrees with the notion of some video games being called "art" the article points out some interesting considerations and makes a good point, and the opening paragraphs consist of Webster's and Oxford English Dictionary's definition of the word art. It's just an article I happened upon, but unfortunately I would have to sign in to CNN.com to have transfer it to the blog, and I am not getting a membership for that. So, if anybody is interested, please go to http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/gaming.gadgets/08/31/video.games.art.steinberg/index.html?iref=NS1 (this is not an active hyperlink).

Newly refurbished!!

     Hello, drawing 2! I am a returning student to MCA, but I'm still considered a freshman because I don't have enough credits. Anyway, I am here, primarily, so I can get the training to become a cartoon animator, and, hopefully, to eventually become a producer. I came to MCA because during my senior year in high school, a representative of MCA came and gave a presentation to our art class. I was an APAC (Academic and Performing Arts Complex) in high school, and I feel very privileged to have been in the APAC Visual Arts program. Obviously, once I receive my degree, I would like to get a job that will give me a decent financial start, and then, carve my pathway to animating and producing cartoons.
    Despite my huge ambitions, I am open to other career paths and am glad to receive the opportunity to attend MCA. As a bonus, it is relatively close to my home in Jackson, Mississippi. It is the closest art school to my home, and art school is where I wanted to go when I graduated. Hoorah! So, I am trying to stay as close to home as possible, and hopefully, I will be as blessed as I have been so far and get the opportunity to found a cartoon studio in, of all places, Jackson, MS! Work hard, dream big, and do what you love! (Always have some back-up options, in case your first dream doesn't work out.)

HELLO!!

I have returned, folks. I...am reborn!!
I don't have anything neat and newfangled to post yet but after a month's deliberation and respite I decided to return to the blog, if only for less than a handful of followers. snicker, snicker But, since my site already has such a cool name, I won't be changing the title. (I should change the note under the title though, since I'm not in Drawing I anymore). I hope someone, other than myself, is enjoying the site. Ciao for now!
P.S. This blog is still going to be about art.

At Semester's End...

Well everybody, I have that feeling again--that nostalgic feeling, and we're not even gone yet. I have grown used to struggling to get to class on time with my cumbersome Drawing equipment every Monday and Wednesday. I have grown used to drawing while listening to Prof. Jason's music, and laughing to myself when a song comes on that's full of obscenities to the point of being hilarious. I started liking this hatching and cross-hatching exercise. It's probably one of the most fun things we've done all semester.
     I have to say that I wish I had done a better job in this class; not just in Drawing class but my other classes too. I've grown as a draftsperson overall this semester; I can now nearly finish some in-class assignments, which is a huge stride for me since I could hardly fill up the page or get more than halfway finished in high school art. And, now I can draw on huge paper like 22" x 30" without getting overwhelmed. At the beginning of the semester, I thought 18" x 24" was big. Hah! Anyway, drawing in general has become much easier for me, partially because I trained myself to hold the pencil correctly from the beginning of the semester and partially because I had to move faster if I wanted to even come close to getting the numerous in-class assignments done. Not that every class period had a lot of assignments; I was just so used to high school, in which we would spend a 3-week session with one of our 3 art teachers at a time, and were expected to produce three artworks in that time. Some days in Drawing I, we've done two or three drawings in one class period.
     I've always found it a big advantage that we were only producing drawings with line. In high school, we had to shade or paint or whatever to make a complete composition. We had one sketchbook homework assignment every week, but I sometimes had difficulty finishing those, and that was in a thin sketchbook, compared to the one we're required to have here. Now, I can make two-page spreads with little to no difficulty, depending on what the spread is about. That's a huge improvement from one page a week, worked on for two hours, or more, in my books. So, I actually think I've grown a lot as an artist in this class, although I still have a ways to go. Some of you guys draw great compositions and at a much faster pace than I do. I think I'm the slowest drawer at this school (at least in the class anyway). And, sorry Ira, but I have to say you always do such professional quality drawings, in my opinion. You other guys are good too, and we each have our unique drawing style. Actually, Ira's drawing style reminds me of a classmate I had in high school who did high-quality work too. Of course, everyone should be good in at least some of the areas; that's why we're all here at Memphis College of Art in the first place, right?
      I wish I had managed my time better this semester and made my blog more interesting, informative, and entertaining. Some of you I may see next semester, some of you I may not. It's been an interesting semester and I'll miss going to class with you guys (somewhat). So, I hope every one got from this class what I did this semester, and maybe I'll see you next semester. Bye!