Some shots of some of my fan art

Now before anyone says a word, I’m aware of the not stellar quality of these photos. My camera is just a an old cell phone that no longer is attached to a service and has a usb port, taking proper pictures is difficult at best given it’s screen display issues when the sun is out and finding the right lighting in this house is an ongoing quest. Some day I will be able to get a proper digital camera but until that day comes, meh, this is what I got to use. Some of them I cleaned up in photoshop.

All the pieces in this are several years old. Several. I’m not so very into doing fan art so this is likely going to be the last time I put fan art up. I much prefer creating my own characters, and working on art that is not based on some one else’s. Please note these should fall under fair use as I mostly was doing them to learn how to illustrate and they are just fan art.


This was 1 of 3 pieces I did for my godson’s 1st birthday, somewhere around 2001 or 2002, the originals were sent to him & his mother (Grasshopper!). Above is Superman done in watercolors and india ink.


Here’s the second, done with watercolors, india ink and a touch of white out, I also applied some special glow in the dark paint which had a little glitter in it. SpiderMan at the extreme front, on top of one building is Black Cat (her hair was done in white-out) and atop another is the Punisher. Figures can be seen inside several windows on the original as well, and I included a window washer on his rig.


Here’s the third of those for my godson, done in charcoal with a little of that glow in the dark paint applied, Batman.


Above is Roman Dirge’s Lenore, in ink, done 2002. The 1st is taken directly from my sketchbook and Jhonen Vasquez’s Happy Noodle Boy can partially be seen next to her. The second image I cleaned up in photoshop, and enhanced the name.


Above is Spawn in pencil & charcoal, perhaps 1999. Drew him maybe twice. This one is a 12’ by 18’ I do believe.


My one playful attempt at Harley Quinn in 2000.


The above is based on Anna from Shaman King in 2004.


The above was loosely based on a figure in a Brom painting. I want to say 2007.


The above was my first real crack at a manga style drawing, about 1999, based on some random manga character, not real sure who, I am sure some of that is my own embellishments though.

Love making up my own characters way too much to spend much time dabbling around with fan art. Anyhow hope you liked them. I might bother to get higher quality photos out for these but then because they’re fan art, might not.

Who has ever drawn fan art? Did you enjoy that? Who’s your favorite characters to draw? Do you ever make up your own characters? Who among you has big plans for your own illustrated characters?

Slave to the Music

How in the crap did people survive without music in their daily lives?!! Music is something I love beyond reason. It has kept me sane in moments where madness seemed the only possible result. In moments of madness it still gave me something to hang on to. I genuinely believe mp3 players should be developed as therapy devices, covered by health insurance, and allowed in the work place as an assistive device. Aside from music helping me to concentrate when I feel like my brain is trying to make a run for it, it also helps me fight stress, keep my mood on an even keel and helps me keep track of how long I’ve been at a task I might otherwise be at too long. In my writing and art, oh please, it is, forgive the pun, instrumental.

Sure some may need the quiet to write or make art, etc. Silence is more than a little horrific to me, and never really all that quiet. For me in particular it is an essential ingredient to the art and writing process. Even if only some days to keep me from spacing out or losing my train of thought.

There are moments where the music runs through me and I realize, ack I have been still for way too long. So I’ll get up and take a dance break. Instant exercise for those tasks which are too easy to allow to be incredibly sedentary activities.

I’ve never found anything that can get me into the mindframe of specific characters and worlds, whether in writing or drawing them, faster than certain songs, playlists or types of music.
So many feel that music is crucial to them, I can’t help but imagine times before music was so abundantly available as at best lost.

Writing poetry without some pounding pulsating rhythm echoing in my headphones, is not something I even care to think about. Some may have difficulties keeping the lyrics from invading their written word. This is not a problem I personally have had, and I’m sure there are plenty out there who can keep it more than separate. It helps my pen fly across the page and my fingers glide across the keyboard. You’d never guess I’d been listening to Buried Alive by OTEP as I wrote this paragraph. It helps build rhythm.

Granted I listen to some stuff that many artists & writers probably would never attempt to write and do art to, or even listen to. I think the last time I was into mainstream pop the Bangles had just been walking like an Egyptian, of course I was also digging stuff like Pink Floyd and Ted Nugent’s Stranglehold as a kid, then in the late ‘80’s Enter Sandman by Metallica was high on my list of adored music. My taste is fairly eclectic, I’ll listen to some visual kei, then switch to some aggrotech, then put on my favorite band- Tool. I also like: belly dancing music (examples – Hossam Ramzy, Azam Ali), Talvin Singh, Beethoven, Tricky and other random things. Was into hip-hop, r&b and rap for about five minutes in the 8th grade.

I also enjoy singing, dancing and making music too. I’ve been writing songs since high school. Never had much access to instruments or anything aside from a brief attempt at saxophone in the 5th grade, wanted to play bass but they told me I was too little.  Every time I got my hands on one I’d end up making patterns on them especially if I could play with the instrument when no one was around. If someone were to give me a drum set…oops drooling now. Anyhow I digress.

There are times when writing  story or for a series that if you listen to the same playlist it can instantly re-acclimate you to the whole thing.  Especially if you made the playlist specifically for the series, character or whatever.

I’ve also found music to be great at helping to fully visualize an art piece during the layout stage.
Music is a great way to help dissolve the brute force of distractions.

Anyhoo that’s what was on my mind this early am. I find that music only awakens and edifies the muse. And it’s something I develop further in my own creative endeavors.

Here’s a few places online to check out the music I listen to:

• my Last.FM profile
• my Pandora profile
• my playlist profile

You may be interested to check out this: Musically Enhanced Free-write

Do you listen music while you write? While you create art? What kind of music best helps you with your creative efforts? What works best for you?


 




























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Flaws in the Organization System

From outward appearances this blog may appear to have been forgotten! Oh, how can this be? Simple, it’s an illusion. Over the past several weeks, amidst the inevitable chaos of my life, I hunkered down and made a plan for what I wanted to do with this blog. I made schedule of days and which topic types should be addressed on those days. I also spent some time developing a few ongoing columns for Artistical Exploration. The system is flawed and I aim to do more than slap a band-aid on it.

Couldn’t forget about this blog if I tried. In some strange way I really love this blogging thing. Events of the past several months have been of the sort that point out, in harsh contrast, the most extreme fatal flaws of my organization system. Not that I’m complaining. Not at all. I really needed that flashlight shone on those flaws, because I was wanting to know what they were. Without the events of late, I would not have found them as quickly, nor would I have had the chance to spend a bit of time working out a way to resolve so many of them.

Among the things the organization problem affected was the rate at which I could put out new art and writing, as well as just about every other thing in my life. I simply was not taught in school, nor at home how to organize things properly. My mom showed me much about general organizing, sure, but not how to set up filing systems, nor how to untangle my belongings properly after a move. Growing up and until very recently, we moved around a lot. This is not an exaggeration, more like an understatement. The last place I lived, I broke the “2 years at one address consecutively” mark for the first time in my entire life. But I was only able to break it by about 7 months. Where I live now, as I approach the one year mark - some 4 months away, I’m doing everything I can to unravel the mess that our sudden move caused. The cause for the sudden move this time was an extremely positive one, however it took the two & a half years of the last place and the ton of moves before it and scrambled the snot out of my belongings in a way it never had before.

So since we moved here I’ve been trying to re-train myself in my organizing, and well the things that piled on me this year, so many of them I just didn’t expect to clash with that at all. Yet there they were all tangled up. Which I guess, in the end, is lucky. Now, I can see more clearly what needs to be done regularly with what, and which kinds of files I need most, which as it turns out were not the files I already had going. At least my head will not explode, as I thought might be around the bend if I didn’t figure this out well enough by now.

What obstacles do you face in your creative endeavors, especially when it comes to organization?

Did anyone show you what to do with index cards?

I would hear all over the place, oh index cards they’re so useful but no one would go into to any details about what they did with them, so I guess I’ll just have to write a little book about my discoveries with that.

Have you got a proper calendar system for your art, writing, crafting or other such things?

Took me a long while to get my calendars to work with my stuff, they’re just now starting to fall into place. And now that they are I sorta wonder how I kept my head from rolling off in frustration before they started to work right.

Wish they taught life management classes in school, ahh such a pretty dream…

Well, I’ve got to go now lots more to do today, and the day is pretty well gone.

1st entry in the Organization for the Creative column.