So I throw all these words out to explain my #art but really, it comes down to mood as the #artwork progresses. This was first focused on #hair – I am not apologetic for objectifying luscious locks – then it moved into the #goth #vampire realm ( #notsorry ) and then setting back into #nature (which I love) – I’ll let you figure out how vampires are #victims and apply that to the damage humans are doing to our madre de #nature. I really shouldn’t even bother with trying to explain it, but for my three fans I will sacrifice :). I mean, it’s not like an influencer like Waagen is going to come along in 250 years and hawk my stuff to wealthy Parisians, while calling it emblematic of the American Golden Age to make a buck. But I digress. Hope you enjoy it.
The genesis of this digital artwork is a couple things. First, I worked on it right after watching the Netflix documentary about Elisa Lam and the tragedy at the Cecil Hotel in L.A. This isn’t about her though, no connection, unless you want it to be a positive one. No cyber bullying, like what happened to Morbid. I’ve also done rooftop art scenes in the past, so it may be a theme of mine. Finally, the challenge was to make a realistic looking city without building all the city resources – which would tank my rig. I took the cheap way and created a 2D primitive with a city picture I found on Pinterest. The next challenge was to bring about a 3D feel, while getting the visual angles vis-a-vis the camera correct, and integrating the background with what’s going on in the foreground. After that hurdle, I had to get the ambient lighting of a rooftop correct. So, there’s the moon, the city below, the towers above with their red-lights, random rooftop lighting, etc., in order to bring it all together. Let me know what you think?
This is both fan art and a statement. It started as a momento of what I have always thought the perfect woman was, the Goth Girl, which goes back to high school. Hint, it was the Nerds who were totally interested in you, not that it mattered. There’s a girl, Desiree was her name, that I was infatuated with in high school, but was too afraid to talk to her. She disappeared after graduation. I have no idea weather she still walks the planet. so this is kind of a tribute to her.
It’s also a tribute to one of my favorite movies. Can you guess? Artax? Atreyu? The bog? Yup, it’s the Neverending Story, or Die Unendliche Geschichte, which is the book that is the origin of the movie. There may be some copyright stuff here but fanart should be covered by fair use.
Today’s doodle is a dyoptych. Technically, a dyoptych doesn’t exist, as it means two fold. In the art world a polyptych typically start with triptych, or tri-fold, a series of three paintings. I’m lazy, so I invented the dyoptych. What’s it about? Beyond the usual celebration of the human form, its an imagining of the Dervish, as portrayed in the DnD world.
Dervishes (aka Whirling Dervishes) in the real world are male (though it’s changing) and focus on the universal values of love and service, deserting the illusions of ego to reach God (Allah). In most Sufi orders, a dervish is known to practice dhikr (previous sentence) through physical exertions (dance) or religious practices to attain the ecstatic trance to reach God, but they are not weapon focused, that is pure fantasy.
Second Panel of the Dyoptych – focuses on the glitter, because there is no life without glitter.
In Role-playing Games (RPG) Dervishes are a dancing order, more like belly-dancers who carry weapons, who have an affinity for water (as noted in the Guild Wars video game), and are deadly assassins – the Mideast equivalent of Ninjas.
Here, an unnamed dervish, let’s call her Anya, dances in practice for a coming performance, drawing power from the water surrounding the holy site in which she dances, unlike the assassins or ḥašīšī ‘hashish-eater, also of Mideast origin and the genesis of the term assassin, she draws her power from music and form. Now, the music is totally in her head but is definitely Mideastern in origin (why substitute for a good thing :).
The second panel of the Dyoptych was accidental. I was positioning the Scythe and said to myself, “Self, this is a good angle for a picture.” Beyond being an artist I’m also an aspiring photographer.
It’s a silly title but I can’t think of another, except untitled, so I’m going with it. It’s yet another portrait of a fantasy beauty. Yawn, right? Okay, but created artwork is worth two in the artists head. Besides, maybe it’s not about the girl at all? Maybe it’s about camera settings, what you can see but can’t see. Maybe it’s a technical exercise. Or maybe it’s art and unapologetically about the girl. That’s the beauty of art.
This started as another portrait focusing on hair. I was nearly done and was, like, ‘meh.’ It needed something, so I popped in the first thing that came to mind, turning it into a portrait of life.
My time has been sucked up by other, more worldly needs lately, so here is another video of my artwork from around Spring. I created it in the bowels of the night while my insomnia had me staring at the ceiling. The music lends an Edward Scissorhands / dreamy feel to the composition. All the individual works are available on this site in various blog posts. As with all videos, some artwork may have been created prior to other but I’m doing these videos based on their order on my phone, some of which have been reposted or modified for light, etc. point is, don’t hold me to any timelines. If I ever become recognized / rise above the churn of much more talented artists on the net, I’m sure someone will catologue everything 🙂
I was super busy with my day job and totally not able to do any art today (sigh, again) so here is another chapter in the art of 2020. I feel like I’m missing images, so it’s probably not a complete treatise. As far as the background on each artwork? It’s in the posts. Hope you like it.
Part two in the march-backwards through l’ histoire de l’art de moi. I’m getting better at the video thing. I think this is July through Halloween -ish.
I’m truly sorry I’ve not done anything in the last couple of days. I’m working through proposals at work (to pay for my art!) and skin cancer to boot, but last night at 3ish, I made this video of recent art (going back to October (ish). I’ll get creative again soon! I kind of want to do a full length video of all the artwork I’ve done, but it would be significantly longer than 2 minutes – more along the lines of an hour. Maybe over the holiday weekend.
“Her reputation preceded her, judging by the gasps of the people on the way to the castle. She was synonymous with evil, and had adopted the nickname of the light bringer, Lucifer. There was irony in that it was the same as the weapon she used to dispatch justice on those who had wronged her as she made her way back to the root of the problem. As she crested the hill, the familiar ramparts greeted her, and she smiled, in her unsmiling way, a most wicked smile; for she was home.”
Some hot off the render digital art I ginned up over the last couple days (and a backstory). The castle you can barely see in her eyes, which were the focus of all of this. Actually, it was reflections therein I was working on.
This is four digital art paintings in one. It represents the things a tree would see over a lifetime. It got messy putting them together, but art is messy when trying new things. I may turn it into a gif.
The layers I used are each represented below in order. Layer 1 is infancy and youth.
Layer two is love and hope.
Layer three is strife and conflict.
Layer four is denouement and loss. The ghosts become real.
I suppose it could be a snapshot of any century, but I relate it to the post-9/11 world.
