Haterade

Two down, with a third about 3/4 done and the last two prepped and on deck.


Some lingering issues:

1) That text really irks me. I'll wait till all five panels are painted and then re-do it all.

2) I didn't notice at first, but my studio neighbour astutely pointed out the abrupt transition between the panels. Again, I'm going to wait till I've got everything done before adding some cross-panel drips to smooth it out a bit more and add a bit of visual continuity. (Thanks, Nick)


On a side note, whilst prepping my remaining panels with a yellow undercoat the baseball player I'd painted earlier turned out as pictured. Dig that soft look. People have been telling me to include it in the sequence but I think homogeneity's an important part of this project. Maybe if I had a mulligan I'd steer the whole thing in that direction, but it's surely way too late now.

Frontiers

A quick recap:

I had this idea waiting on deck pre-semester so was able to hit the ground running -- concept sketches, materials, laying-out and image prep was all done in the first 2-3 weeks. And then a month and a half of flatline. I had my subject matter down, knew how and where everything had to be, but just couldn't figure out the painterly aesthetic that I wanted.


E.g. three early iterations of the first image I tried painting. I'm actually quite fond of the one on the left but (error of all errors) I plotted a new course after some negative feedback from the one teacher in my class whose opinion I actually value. Hence, the increasingly butchered attempts. In terms of the figure, it turned out okay but I immediately and adamantly knew that I could do better.


Behold the breakthrough (above). The lightbult moment came as I was staring at the texture of the floor in the painting studios during a group crit, and was further reinforced by the chance discovery of this jacket cover for Matt Kindt's "Superspy". This led to the profuse experimentation with dripped solvent and glazed paints. I'm extremely happy with the end result. That background combined with the slashed paint strokes on the astronaut give the piece the whole street art feel that I was so depserately searching for.


Now all I have to do is get the rest of the pieces up to speed. Which isn't too bad considering that the astronaut only took me two days all up and I've got the blueprint for the whole process in my pocket. Most importantly, however, is that this project is now fun again. No more banging my head against a wall.

Only four teacher assisted weeks left in the semester and counting so I'm glad that things are finally coming together. Let's see how it goes from here.

Bumaye

Three cool animations made by NYC label/agency No Mas in celebration of the 35th anniversary of 'The Rumble in the Jungle'.

"Zaire" by David Rathman



"Round Zero" by Jerome Lagarrigue



"Godfather of Soul vs Greatest of All Time" by James Blagden



I particularly love the look of "Round Zero". One day, if I ever have the time, patience, and talent to paint like that, I'd love to try my hand at a much more ambitious animation project.

[Note: apologies, I can't get the videos to fit full screen and it's driving me nuts. Here's another link to be safe.]

Amsterdamage

Detail from one of the panels that I'm working on. This particular piece could use a little more yellow/peach in the upper left but other than that I'm keen to start painting the figure.


I've currently got six of these panels for a proposed 2x3 grid. For this semester, realistically, I think I might be able to squeeze in an extra two or three for either a 2x4 or 3x3 grid. But I could totally see this as an ongoing work (at least rolling over into the next semester). I'm thinking 20 to 30 pieces at least, gradually moving on to more progressively damaged and de-limbed figures. We'll see, I guess.

Knowing Is Half The Battle

Exactly two weeks since my last post and I am determined not to let this blog die. A lame excuse, but I have been having some issues uploading images on my up-and-down internet connection.


Here's some tonal underpaintings for one of my projects (my first foray into acrylics since the unfortunate mess that was foundation painting). I deviated from my initial proposal somewhat and instead decided to focus on the stilted posture and plasticised expressions of these six old G.I. Joe action figures. They're both endearing and alien to me; comforting and lonely. The backgrounds definitely need to be flattened a bit more but so far I am liking where it's headed.

I'll keep you posted -- promise!

Time Capsule

The last roll of lomography from my trip to the States (plus one leftover shot of the Sydney Harbour Bridge). Got it developed yesterday.





A strange feeling.

Naga

This has no bearing on my major works but it does tie into a project that I'm working on the side. Outside of this, the finale from "Way of the Dragon" (i.e. the one where Bruce Lee goes to Rome) is widely considered the greatest fight scene of all time. And it stars Chuck Norris!



Personally, I am more partial to Bruce Lee's fight against the Japanese school from "Fist of Fury" (apologies, it's in French). But I do love the dialogue-less interplay between Bruce and Chuck. That look in his eyes when he snaps his neck is heartbreaking!