An Absurd Memory

New assignment! This is one of the first projects we as students have done for an outside client. The goal was to capture the essence of seven short plays by renowned playwright Samuel Beckett for an upcoming performance at Johnson County Community College. The plays include:

Act Without Words II: In which two people of disparate personalities are stored in sacks.

Ohio Impromptu: In which an old man reads from a cryptic tome to an old mute man.

What Where: In which there are only five left of a group of four men.

Play: In which three burial urns take turns spinning yarns.

Come and Go: In which three women sit on a bench.

Breath: In which there is breath.

Footfalls: In which a sick child either exists or does not.

Death and confusion play major roles in each performance, which is why my main graphic consists of a sightless skull. The icons overlaid on top represent imagery from the individual acts. They are loosely joined by broken, ashy lines, implying the thematic ties that necessarily join each, but only in a superficial - or broken - nature.

Bring your kids!

Lace of the Lacking Lacland

This is a progress shot of a project I'm working on for color theory class. I made this. I like this. This is nifty. And when it's done, it'll likely be a lot more colorful. Because color class.

As it stands, though, this would make a nice internal print for an envelope. It's got that floral insanity thing going for it.

Let It Out

Oh punny titles, when will you stop being amazing?

There's a lot of grain in this one, because when I was printing it I needed to bump the contrast way up. But I like it. It makes the plastic feel rough and the torn wall paper feel gritty. It's a good feeling for this kind of photo.

Significant Form

My most recent project in photography, setting up staged shots of objects and using light to bring out interesting aspects of their shape.
The meaningful qualities of their appearance.
The notable parts of their figure.
Their substantial construction.
Their compelling framework.
Their suggestive model.
Et cetera.

Crazy close-up and extremely contrasty hammock. The construction reminds me of a fishing net, and the fact that all the crazy vibrant colors didn't carry over adds to that association. There's so much motion in this one with that one simple twist.

I tied some rope around a bottle and put a flashlight at one end of that bottle. This whole set would have a very nautical feel if it weren't for all that branding on the cap.

Monochrome Photo Week! Day 6: The Road Not Taken

An overgrown path! This was one of the first projects we were allowed to crop, and I decided that a 1:1 ratio suited the composition better than a 4:5. Highlights have been blown out to give a coarser feel to the texture of the weeds.

Monochrome Photo Week! Day 5: Bursting

Lots of interesting imagery going on in this one. Trees reaching up and over the fence, overgrown flowers casting shade on an old dusty path. And a gate, broken off its hinges, leaned up against the fence, making the garden at once open yet obstructed. The highlights have been toned way down to give it a soft, twilight feel.

Monochrome Photo Week! Day 4: Sparks Fly

A little more abstract today. This was one of the first extended exposures I tried. What you're looking at is a little clockwork toy that shoots sparks as it rolls around. In this photograph, it created a neat little trail of sparks moving in and out of focus.

Monochrome Photo Week! Day 3: Closing

An aerial shot of a local library just before it closes down for the day. A couple folks, some cars, a suburban skyline. Feels very hometown.

Monochrome Photo Week! Day 2: Old Rubber

Don't ask me, I'm just as confused as you are.

Monochrome Photo Week! Day 1: Up in the Rafters

I'm sorry, blog. I've been ignoring you lately. Things have been happening so fast that I lost track of the time. But I'm gonna make it up to you. We're gonna have us a Monochrome Photo Week! Because I've got all this black & white photography! That I've been hoarding! Instead of attending to your needs! I am the best blogger ever.

These are rafters. Have I earned back your trust yet?

Elegance Molders

My most recent print, and my favorite of the first roll I shot. It was originally way underexposed, so I had to do quite a lot of contrast trickery to get to looking alright. Here's a part of that process.

Soft Needles

Printed my first proper print today!

Our instructor didn't want us cropping the image for whatever reason. I like it. The soft edges add to the natural feel. And that depth of field is just scrumptious.

Making First Contact

After a week in photography class I'm finally starting to learn if I can take pictures!

Today we went into a dark room and developed some film, of which I have the first few samples. They're a bit hard to see and a few of them are pretty terrible, but I'll be posting the finished products from this roll when they're ready. In the meantime, have some blurry thumbnails!

Abstract Tracts

Another assignment for 2D Design. This is actually the same project as the fish from earlier, abstraction. I have conflicting opinions about this one, in that my opinion that it's awesome conflicts with several of my classmate's opinions that it's weird.

It looks like an old pen sketch of an old locomotive how is that not the best?

Draw Duel

Two people, two paper pads, two pencils, and an impartial panel of judges. This is all you need to have yourself a proper draw duel.

The rules are simple. A random subject is selected by the judges or generated by an art prompt randomizer like this one from Magatsu. As soon as the subject is announced, the competitors have ten minutes to create the given topic using nothing but pencil and paper before them. Ideally, they are not allowed to see their opponent's progress. The countdown is kept where both contestants can see it, and at ten minutes, it's pencils down, and the judges must select which drawing best captures the subject.

Draw duels are awesome. They're a great way to settle arguments and breed hostility between your friends while honing your artistic skill. Here are a few of the duels I've been involved in. All my drawings are on the left, my opponent's are on the right.

If you click the little pictures they stop being little pictures but it's okay because then they're big pictures.
 
Subject: A Gas Station in the Middle of Nowhere

Subject: Determination

Subject: A Dusty Museum

Subject: Something Sweet

Subject: A Place Time Forgot

Subject: Chest

Paradium and You - The Citizen Guide to Safety

A short public service announcement on the dangers of paradium. Three days from start to finish, then another two days to make it not look like garbage. Or look more like garbage. I distorted it a bunch to make it look sixty years old, so I'm not sure if that's really an improvement.

But yeah, here.

It's Done! Sorta!

Paradium and You has been submitted to the film festival with fifteen seconds to spare.

The reason you're getting the world's least enticing spoiler gif instead of the finished movie is because I'm not quite happy with how it looks yet.

The animation's done, the voice work is done, but there are certain elements of theming that still need work. It just doesn't quite look and feel like a 1950's PSA. I submitted what I had because the deadline was literally seconds away and it is, more or less, done.

You might be wondering why I don't just give you the version I submitted and call it quits. Not a single one of you has even the remotest chance of giving me an award, and in that way you're pretty similar to the film festival committee. But there is a difference about you, my site audience, that entitles you to the absolute best I can give you.

You don't put deadlines on me.

I'll have the movie up tomorrow, when I feel like it, maybe, whatever.

Abstraction

2D design class again today. The new topic is abstraction. This is my take on a fish skeleton. I feel like it's too literal, though. Still pretty cool.

Janice, the Paradium Gal

Posts are probably going to be a little scarce for the next few days. I want to make this animation for the film festival look good and I don't have very much time to do it. Also I don't know much about animating. I've got my work cut out for me, is what I'm saying.

So for a while at least I'll be putting up work-in-progress updates like this one as I go. Meet Janice, my attempt at a fifties-style cartoon character.

It's a good thing I have confidence in the script or this project would be pretty much hopeless.

Paradium: The Threatening Threat

Poster from a short film I'm working on right now in a futile hope that I can get it done before midnight tonight. There's this student film festival I only learned about today, which gives me about four hours to make a six minute film. Unfortunately, I happened to blab a bit to some folks about possibly entering, so now my back's against the wall. Minimalist animation ahoy!

Update: Deadline was just pushed back three days. Now I feel like I can actually put some serious effort behind this! Here's a shot of the "poster" in "action" which is really just a "rushed photoshop job."