Collage: Stellaluna

I need to catch up on my scanning, so here is a postcard sized crop of a collage I made.

Postcards: Bert the Turtle

Bert the Turtle, folks.

Postcards: Et Sic In Infinitum

Sometimes I just like a simple idea and steal it.  This is from Robert Fludd's illustration of the Nothing before Existence.

Postcards: Sort of not postcards

You remember the Shigir Idol, right?  I have a tiny sculpture of the Shigir Idol... sprouting tentacles?  being consumed by eldritch horrors?  I'm not sure really, but it was good practice for drawing without outlines.

The simple form of the Shigir Idol inspired me to look through other early sculptures in search of forms that I could adapt using the same technique.  The Idol of Pomos was perfect for what I wanted to practice. 

My buddy Neal said he really liked the postcard I made; he said I should trying making a larger version.  I then attempted to redraw my 4x6 Idol of Pomos as a 5x7.  It did not go 100% smoothly.

Not terrible, but not satisfying.  I went at it again, using watercolors instead of inks.

Perfect?  No.  But I like it.

Postcards: Joy

I told you I was practicing my watercolors, right?  Well, this is what practice looks like sometimes.

Postcards: I Am Terrible

Being terrible at something does not always diminish my enthusiasm.  Sometimes, I seem to forget that I am terrible at something and throw myself into it.  Once it is again revealed I have not really honed any skills outside of photography I go back to being salty, but for a while there I'm all about terribly doing something.

I kickstarted The Sketching Tin, and so I was jazzed about getting some new art supplies.  I thought I should practice my watercolor drawing skillz.  I took a portrait of myself, using my phone as the kids are want to do these days, and started drawing.

Pretty cool, right?  I thought it was cool.  Off to a good start, certainly.  Oh, if I could go back and just stop right here.

But I didn't stop right there.  I lost control of the thing, and ended up sending Aaron a pretty goofy portrait.  I still like the teeth.

Postcards: Hofstadter's Law

My buddy Nic agreed to make me a book press out of some plywood I had, and in return asked only two postcards.  Pretty sweet deal, right?  Then I asked his preference of collage, drawing, or quote.  He asked for quotes.

Gorramit.

I didn't have any good Nic quotes on deck, so I browsed Wikipedia's list of eponymous laws.  He's sciencey and works in an office; there had to be something useful in there.  Hofstadter's Law is as good a place to begin as any.  I started with a sketch to see how well the text filled a postcard.

And then I took a stab at it.

Almost nothing about that worked out how I wanted it to, so I decided to have at it again switching from drawn guidelines (which I thought, incorrectly, I could blend out) to whitespace guidelines.

Postcards: From Cali to DC

It's pretty gratifying to have a project come together quickly.  I dug through my pre-cut collage material, and found this dog.

I wanted to practice making interior cuts on an element, so I flipped through some magazines looking for a simple shape large enough to contain the dog.

Add in some selections from a recently acquired road atlas and boom!  Collage time.

Postcards: Fun Fact #1999

90's music has dominated my arting soundtrack lately.  Eyeless by Slipknot came on; as soon as I heard it I knew I had to send it to Ross.  We were far more musically aligned in the 90's; he's guarantied to recognize the source.  That said, I had no real plan.  This wasn't a bolt of artistic inspiration from the heavens.  Just an excuse to reach out.  It's been his turn in the postcard exchange since July, might as well just fire off reminder postcards.

If this were solicited in any way, I might have tried it again to improve the text.  As is, I don't think appreciation of this card depends on handwriting as much as familiarity.