JOURNAL: Big Big Truck (E K)

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  • And my SHOES, man / they're so far away I can't BELIEVE it / I got a real indication / of the life comin' on 2002-01-15 10:17:06 Deadpool:
    "[EK] keeps talking about doing art. I know she does art for art's sake (hey, she's an artist; it's what they do), but then she says she does a piece of art for someone. So...we have to pay her, or does she do it for free for we anime fans?"

    The pic I did for Yuri was basically a thank-you note... I'd written her back before Christmas, asking if I could buy her new doujinshi directly from her, and she was so surprised that someone overseas liked her work that she offered to send it to me for free.
    I was really grateful to her, so I really poured a lot of effort into saying "thank you" with that picture.
    (Which I can spot MASSIVE problems in now... proof positive that I should take TWO days to do CG art, rather than doing it all in a stretch. Anyway.)

    I really only do gift art when the whim strikes me. If someone asks for it, I'm a bit *less* likely to do it, because I feel pressured.
    Usually, I'll see someone's webpage and think, "Wow, hey! That's really cool!" and send them a picture because their art inspired me in some way.
    Sometimes I do pics as Christmas cards or something... Or if an artist I really like gets a certain hit count (say, 5000, 10,000, whatever) I'll draw a congratulatory picture.
    Really, it's just "If I feel like it, I'll do it". That's why I usually don't do art for people who just email me asking for it.

    Same thing with AMV's - the idea has to be mine for me to want to do it.

    If it's not my idea, then I'm doing it on barter or commission...
     
  • UMBABARAUMA!!! 2002-01-15 00:33:32 Sigh.
    Bound to happen sooner or later - found a website that was ripping off my CB art. This wouldn't bother me, except they're using all the really old, ugly stuff! T_T

    I finished that pic and sent it to Yuri...
    and NOW I'm noticing all the MULTITUDE of crap that's wrong with it.

    Just great.

    -_- 
  • Umbabarauma, homen gol / umbabarauma, homen gol 2002-01-14 16:37:53 Yes, I have nothing to do today.

    Had an idea for a video set to "Umbabarauma" by Jorge Ben, but tossed it out as soon as I realized what they were singing about. Ah well.
    I need to write my Tainted Donuts review soon. That's a damned impressive video, but it was kinda weird seeing Jet and Spike yelling (in tenor voices) about black water and stuff like that @_@ 
  • Pretty... phone sex girls are not pretty... / pretty... phone sex girls are not pretty 2002-01-14 15:16:49 Hsien: sounds good to me. If you want to send me any files fer list'nin, just send them to my AOL address. My 56k isn't too keen on receiving 1+MB attachments. (I gotta get cable modem.)
    I actually have a few ideas I wanted to toss out to you exclusively, since some might be for AWA, and since we seem to see eye to eye artistically.

    Speaking of art, I finally got started on that VERY belated thank-you pic for Yuri-sama. I'm using a new Painter/Photoshop composite method that I hope works well.

    (HERE BEGINS ART GEEK TALK)

    I drew the original sketch with a .5 mm lead on bright white paper, scanned it into Photoshop, dropped to blue, and inked in Painter like I usually do - except the inks are real rough, and I left the blue lines in.
    First, I colored the back walls (the image is Spike & Jet in a seedy bar), the shelves, and the floor in Painter, and saved that as a separate TIFF file. Then I reopened the line art file, colored the bar, stools, and jukebox, and saved that as another separate TIFF file. Now I'm working on coloring Jet & Spike.
    After the 3 separate images are done in Painter, I'm going to layer them in order in Photoshop, and erase around the main elements. I'm going to take care of highlights with the Airbrush tool in Photoshop (already done shadows in Painter), since I'm more comfortable with that... Spike's leaning against an old Wurlitzer jukebox, and I need to make sure the light reflects off his clothes a little bit. This pic has 4 light sources: 1. lamp hanging from ceiling (unseen), 2. jukebox, 3. reflected light from bottles behind Jet & pilsner glass in his hand, and 4. cigarette.

    AAAHHHH! FUCK!! It didn't occur to me to give either of them a pool cue!! D'OH!!

    Anyway, I like how it's turning out so far. I'm tightening the details as I near the foreground. There's a dark, warm, gritty texture to it so far. Made sure to include touches like knots in wood panelling, tears in the poster in the background, splits in the barstools where the stuffing shows, etc. Pretty fun.
    I stuck a little bit of fun for Austinites into the background. :-)
    Also, see if you can identify the poster & some of the bottles on the shelves - they're all based on real ones. (I used photoreference for the jukebox, too.)

    These are about 1/6 size, so there's a lot of detail that's missing:

    Here's the line art (I left Spike's face un-inked, just because I don't like how his face looks when I ink it ^^;)
    http://www.big-big-truck.com/temp/spikejetbarsm1.jpg

    Here's the first colored layer (I love how that poster came out; yes, it's based on the real movie poster)
    http://www.big-big-truck.com/temp/spikejetbarsm2.jpg

    Here's the middle layer (I hadn't finished detailing the jukebox yet when I made the small file)
    http://www.big-big-truck.com/temp/spikejetbarsm3.jpg

    Also, the colors get lighter and warmer as you get closer to the foreground.

    Wow, this post has turned into a tutorial. Oops. Sorry ^^;

    Just for fun, here are some other images to make ye giggle.

    BALLS OF STEEL:
    http://www.big-big-truck.com/temp/0525.jpg

    Why you should make sure to use A GOOD, CLEAR FONT:
    http://www.big-big-truck.com/temp/mega.jpg 
  • Everybody knows that the dice are loaded 2002-01-14 11:22:05 MC Wagner: yep, I see the correct time here - 10:05 am CST.

    Nuther link:
    http://www.lileks.com/screed/art.html

    "But in the arts world today, reality defers to theory, and the theory always has a political tone. This isn’t to say that art has lived in a nice sealed non-political environment until 1967. Of course not. I once had an argument with a friend that ALL art is political, inasmuch as it does - or does not! - reflect the tastes of the ruling class. In a sense she was right, but you can also say that because the rich tend to have air conditioning more than the poor, and hence do not leave their windows open for cool air, mosquito bites are political. Everything’s political, if you’re interested in seeing the world through that dreary lens."

    Did I mention I *heart* James Lileks?
    He's more conservative in his creative choices than I, but damned if he doesn't hit the mark in his new essay.

    IMO, Shock is DEAD. It's DEAD. Spumco killed it. Mapplethorpe (well, actually, his howling detractors) killed it. Spike & Mike's killed it. Snooty magazines killed it.
    It's OVER.

    This kind of goes back to the Bill Plympton/Don Hertzfeldt filmfest I went to a few months ago. With the exception of the "Ways to Quit Smoking" short, I found Don's work MUCH more entertaining. Bill kept going for gore, sex, or gross-out stuff for his punchlines. Dude, it's been DONE. Make us laugh with something unexpected. Going for shock value alone just smacks of laziness to me.

    I WANT WIT. 
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