The Great Art-Dump Post!

I figured it'd be fun to show you guys some of my past and present works. Anything present being things that I'm not doing specifically for a class, and past works being literally anything from the past.
Maybe one of these days I'll show you the horrors of my early childhood sketchbook.

...But then again, maybe not. The point of this is to get people to look at my work, not scare them away.

I was a frightening child.

So, anyway, here we go!:

Now this is, I think, a pretty recognizable photo. If not, then here is the reference for you. This was originally done as a line drawing, but I got super into it and therefore super carried away. My professor loved it, though.
This is from...2009?

I used an HB, 4B, 6B, and 8B pencil on sketchbook paper.

This was done at a friend's request. I couldn't think of anything to draw, so she eagerly sugested a shark vs. squid battle. This was going to get a lovely makeover in illustrator, but I never got around to it. Maybe one of these days I'll find the time, but I have a ton of other works that need to get finished before I can visit this one again. Sadly.

2011.

Just your standard mechanical pencil on sketchbook paper.


This was part of a much larger project. These guys are maybe 9 inches long at the absolute biggest, the greater portion of this project dedicated to a very desolate environment. I don't have a photo of the full thing, because it's the size of a standard poster and it was given away to a firefighter as a gift.
This was a school project in which I had to make a poster for the word "sustainability". Everyone else did something related to the environment, but I wanted to do something with firefighters since they were the first things I thought of. My professor told me that it most likely wouldn't work, and that I would be better off just doing something eco-friendly. Instead, I made the guidelines for the project work to my idea. I went back to my dorm and found this definition for sustain:
to undergo, experience, or suffer (injury, loss, etc.); endure without giving way or yielding.
Just tacked a "the ability to" to the front of that, and BAM! Sustainability. My professor was thrilled and so was I.
2009. These guys in particular were bristol board, acrylic paint, and technical pen. Here's the reference.

I debated putting this piece up because it's really old, but it's still nice.
This was done during one of my fine arts classes back in...2007?
Since it was a drawing from life, I don't have a reference photo. Though if you find a photo of a handkerchief pinned exactly like this, please let me know so I can let my art teacher know we're both secretly psychic.

Charcoal pencils on charcoal paper.

Look! Colour! This is a portrait I did for someone after their childhood pet had died. I'm using this photo, because it also includes the reference photo. Also, I don't have any other photos of this portrait.

This was charcoal pastels on charcoal paper. It also dates back to about 2010.
CIRCA 2010.

This is also super old, but everyone really seems to enjoy it, so here it is. Pretty sure we all know this lovely character, but for those who don't, this is the Joker of Batman fame. Infamy? No, fame; he pretty much stole the movie. This is from 2008, and currently it's framed and hanging up. I've gotten a few offers on this, but it's not going anywhere.
If I could do this over, it'd look better.

Here is the reference. Now excuse me as I still refuse to get over how I straightened out his head.
Charcoal pastels and a playing card on charcoal paper.

I don't know how into Norwegian Folk-Rock anyone else is, but I, for one, am totally for it.
Vote Charbot Labs 2012: We're All About the Norwegian Folk-Rock.
This was the product of a vicious Møkkaman earworm. I decided to draw out what I felt this Møkkaman would look like had I any say in the character design. In his hand, he would be holding a flute of some sort.
I'm aware of how ridiculous the wrinkles in his sleeve are. It looks like an accordion.
2011.
Sorry about the obnoxious contrast; I sketched it out fairly lightly and had to up the contrast in order for it to be visible.

Mechanical pencil on sketchbook paper.

This was me just sorta...screwing around in Photoshop. I took an old character of mine named Stu the Emo Kid, and I gave him a makeover. Now he's older and a hipster.
It started as a sketch, by the way. I didn't draw the entire thing out in Photoshop.

I feel like you should be able to see his other hand, but right hands are so over-rated.
Too mainstream for Stu.

This is also 2011.

Mechanical pencil on sketchbook paper, then a vicious bludgeoning in PS CS5.

This is a current project. I've never done a digital project, so I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. I'm also not going for that absolutely beautiful and amazing photo-realistic portrait look, either, because I was never really into that. I wish I was.
Loki's nose makes me very sad and I'm dreading the day I need to work on it again to make it more...not weird-looking. Everything else I don't mind fixing.
It's just that nose.
And no, his eyebrow isn't monstrously long--part of that is his helmet's shadow. That would be really amusing, though. "I am Loki of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious eyebrow."
2012.

Here is the reference photo!

Last but not least, here's a gif of the WIP of a rotoscope I'm currently working on. I want to say what these guys are being rotoscoped to, but I don't want to give away the surprise.
So unless I get yelled at because of copyright issues, it's staying a secret.
For those who don't know, this is (l - r): Iron Man, Captain America, and Phil Coulson.
I just love Iron Man in this gif.

2012.



And there you have it, folks! Some of my past and current projects that aren't necessarily school-related. As long as the photo quality was decent enough, I could find the reference photo when applicable, and it wasn't too old, it's here.

Some character studies

Sorry about the lame photo; I'm currently without a scanner. Once I get my scanner back, I'll get a better image up.
So here's what I spent last night working on. It's a superhero character of mine whose story and all that is still in the works. I wanted to play around with inking a little, but since I'm still not entirely sure on what his costume colours would be, I recognize it's difficult to read those random, thin lines as a pattern.
I've never really drawn muscular men before, so I used references. I'm really glad I did, because I'm definitely learning much more than I would by guessing what this particular body type should look like.
...though I think the men I used as references have two sliiightly different builds.
Either way, I'm satisfied with how these turned out.

Here is the reference for the top.

Here is the reference for the bottom.

Oh.

I suppose I should send a shout out to Lithuania for being the main source of my page views.

Thank you, Lithuania!

My muse #1

I had previously stated that I was going to use this blog to also discuss things from which I derived inspiration. For this entry, I would like to discuss Victorian Post-Mortem photography.

So first, let me apologize to anyone out there doing research on the subject who happened to come across my blog because I happened to show up when you googled "post-mortem photography". I'm not a good, scholarly source. I'll try to work on that for you.



I feel like it would be very...astute of me to say "Victorian post-mortem photography was popular during the Victorian era". To get by that, I pointed out how astute it would be to make such a mundane statement. Anyway, photography was still a relatively new technology with a considerably longer exposure time than what most people use today. Due to the slow nature of photography, people had to stand as still as possible for X-amount of time in order to ensure that they weren't blurry. The best way to make sure your subject appears completely in focus in a photo?

Take a photo of them when they're dead.

On the more sentimental side of things, post-mortem photography was sometimes the only photo families would have of a particular family member since photography was also rather expensive. It was considered a very respectful way to commemorate the dead, and much like how a lot of modern households will plaster baby photos all over the place, it wasn't uncommon to see these photos on display in the household.

Now, there were a few ways people went about portraying their loved ones. Sometimes the loved one was posed in a way that made it appear as though they were still alive (like the guy above). When standing, those bodies, like the guy above, were usually propped up with a stand that would wrap around their waist and neck in order to make sure they didn't topple over. You can actually see the stand behind the man's left (stage left) foot. Additionally, stiff wires would be run along the arms in order to keep them in place.

Sometimes the loved one was posed with the rest of their family. When put in this situation, as you can see, something looks a little off. The man in the centre is just a little too stiff.
In some cases, eyes were painted onto the eyelids in order to give a more "life-like" (eerie?) appearance:

You can see the stand behind this young lady, too.

Sometimes, photos were taken which showed that the loved one was quite clearly passed. These photos would range from being very simple:
 

...to some truly beautiful things:


I realize most of these photos depict people standing. I feel like I should point out that's more of a coincidence; there wasn't any rule dictating the person had to be standing. They could be sitting or laying down, too. Whatever the family wanted, really.
Sometimes, the contrast between the living and the dead made for some amazing photos:



It just shows how much living beings actually move, even when standing "perfectly still". It doesn't get much stiller than death.

I have a fascination with dark imagery, so this appeals to me. I admire this practice, and I feel like it's a shame that this went out of fashion. It's a very lovely way to honour the dead, and I feel like it possibly helped ease the pain of losing a loved one. Photography wasn't as easily affordable back then, so what a lovely way to express your love for the recently deceased.

Pixelation!

So today I gathered some classmates and we sallied forth into the wild, blue yonder in order to do an art project.
And by "wild, blue yonder", I mean "random places in the city that wouldn't be heavily populated".
Same thing, right?

The idea was to create a gif of you (or someone else) exploring the city. We got a few successful ones, so I'm going to share those with you, my darling reader. Sorry if this freaks your computer out:

Getting started.

There's a few things I'd like to actually do on this blog outside of post my work.
For one, I'd like to actually work on its theme, but for now that's going to have to wait.

My professor wants us, in class, to do this thing where we bring in a story about an artist who inspires us. We'd do this on a weekly basis, one at a time (as in, one student per week). I'd like to also do something similar to that here as well. I figure it'd be fun to show who I derive inspiration from, even if I don't reflect it in my artwork. The only thing I would change is that it wouldn't just be artist-specific; it'll be anyone/thing I find inspiring.

I don't feel like I have anything truly substantial to upload just yet, but I should by the end of the week.

In the meantime, I'll probably make text posts like this in order to help me get into the swing of regularly updating this.