adventures in painting, film and animation…
Alright, its been 2 months since I’ve had a cigarette.
And since I’ve quit - 2 weeks since I had a nicotine patch on either. And thankfully the itchiness is gone too - those patches irritate the skin something fierce.
But you know what? The biggest problem with quitting is - at least for me??
This week’s offerings: Thin Orangey Bricks
This one was a pain to get right - as there is always an amount of lens distortion to fight against, if one wishes to have tiling textures…
Heather called - desperate to take me up on my offer to be a guest blogger.
I thought, hell - she wants to try it, she has an interest in writing and is making valiant strides on her book - why not let her explore having an online audience read, comment on and flame war her work??
But, when she sent me a hit piece about Dan Rather, I had to sit back objectively and decide if it was in the vein of what Fletcher Studios was all about…
And I had to reject it.
“So Fletcher, I know you have a blog,” Kevin says conspiratorially, “therefore you can’t write any of this.”
Its Friday Night, Hell’s Kitchen Irish Pub time. Kevin is part of the 2 man genius team behind the Obama Girl videos. After securing my promise not to write about it, he goes on to tell a very revealing tale of a pretty famous person - and like all celeb gossip - about said famous person’s imminent downfall. We’re gathered here at the pub, to celebrate the birthday of Ninjascott, who is not expecting us, and will be totally surprised.
I’m hanging out with Larry, Kevin and of course, Heather. Her husband is busy at work, but promises to make a guest appearance. I’m hoping so - as I have not seen the good Director since I left for the Midwest, over a month ago…
Ninjascott and his wife show up in short order, dragging a retinue of our friends in tow - his shock and surprise register with equal amounts of delight. Hugs and high-fives all around, and he tells the gang about his new job: working as a tour guide on those double-decker buses you see throughout the city. Funny, of all the people I know; he’s the one best suited for it. It’s a BS job that doesn’t require a whole lot of commitment, considering what they nick the tourists for in fees - the job has gotta pay pretty decent, and knowing how much the man loves his history and a good story; both the NYC history and the crazed touristas should provide his writer’s thirst for fodder.
Pretty soon, the whole gang is present and accounted for, and it feels like a reunion of sorts for all the people I’ve worked with on set. The only person missing is Shannon the Baker and her snark-laden commentary. I haven’t seen the majority of people since Capt. Ron’s party back in July. Far too long if you ask me. Before long, its time to go home, as it is late and I’ve had quite a few ales. As I bid farewell to my friends, I none too subtly imply that my unemployment gig is coming to an end, and if they hear of anything; let me know ASAP. Hey, it never hurts to pimp oneself out, especially over ales.
This time around - the Blue Rust.
Its the back of a dumpster I saw on 29th Street - I had just left my local polling site to vote in the primaries. Oddly enough, I didn’t know any of the candidates - so I voted for people with the strongest sounding names.
My apologies to Mr. Pantywaist.
After a month of being on the road, all over the Midwest, I’m back.
And wow, does it feel weird.
Not only has the weather changed (when I left it was sweltering, not I can feel the tang of fall in the air) but they completely repaved 5th Ave. during my absence and my plants have grown considerably in my absence.
And with all these changes, the realization that I have got to get rolling on quite a few things. First up - if I read the signs correctly, my state funded vacation is coming to an end. If I’m budgeted properly, I’ve got a month before I have to start dipping into my savings to pay the bills. Which blows. I have gotten rather used to waking when I feel like, not having to report to anyone and indulging in whatever skill set I choose to use that day, whether its painting, doing Photoshop work or tossing M&M’s in the air and catching them with my mouth.
Secondly, having seen a nice cross section this great nation, I’m coming to the conclusion that it isn’t absolutely necessary for me to spend the majority of my income on rent. True, I love this city more than any place I’ve ever lived, but it is just too expensive to live here and save up for my own private island at the same time. Plus after listen to the sirens racing down my block for the umpteenth bajillion times, I could use a place that is quieter, thus allowing me to plan my robot clone army that I’ll breed on my island.
But, all is not lost - a mere couple of hours went by before my phone rang, Ninjascott offering me a quick gig for some graphic design work - making DVD covers for the Hitman / Wedding Video films we shot earlier in the year. If I keep going like this, I’ll end up doing a product shots page on the ol’ website showing off the work that I’m totally unqualified to do, but people keep giving me money to do anyway.
Also, new paintings are / will be going up on the site soon - some interesting examples of what I do when I’m not in the heat and heart of the gritty city.
And lastly - I just bought my pre-load copy of Orange Box, since have them already, I have ‘gift’ copies of Half Life 2 and HL2 Episode One for anyone who might be interested. Just drop me a line.
“You’re a fraud,” Shannon the Baker tells me, “how can you photoshop your artwork to sell online? You’re not selling the original, its doctored up!”
Hmm. Why does she always do this?? I’m not used to questioning my decisions, but, dammit, she did it to me again.
I try to explain that any and every image that we see in the media has been doctored to some degree - take any magazine image of the Mona Lisa to the Louvre and compare it to the original. (Yes, I’ll wait.)
As I try and BS her about how every image is color corrected, she politely points out that I was also using the clone tool to remove pencil lines and bits of paint that ‘went outside the line’ - thus improving the work beyond what I originally put on the page…
So - the dilemna: is it wrong to change my sloppy pencil work, mislain brush strokes in order to make my art look better and thereby improve the work in post - or should I simply color correct it to make it look as close to the original itself??
As usual - I don’t have a freakin’ clue how to answer that.
My usual modus operandii would be to correct it - my hand is faulty, and my intention was different that what ended up on the page and by having the digital realm available to make these changes, I avoid the difficulties that previous generations had: correcting a mistake in watercolor usually meant using stiff brushes with water to scrub out the excess pigment, using a razor to carefully scrape thin layers of paper off, and bleach to reduce the remainder as white as possible. Time consuming, and damaging to the paper - not that I’m all that interested in archival quality art (all art is fleeting - but that is a topic for another day).
But - now I have to consider - am I just contributing to the whole ‘media manipulation’ problem that I rail so regularly against? I hate how magazine covers distort women and remove flaws to such an unrealistic degree that they present a version of beauty that NO ONE can attain.
Or maybe I’m just covering up the fact that I’m a sloppy painter.
Decided that I need to expand even further with my offerings to the world.
Since I’ve been playing around quite a bit lately with texture maps, I’ve decided that I would start offering a weekly texture map for download - simply click on the thumbnail below to see the full sized image, right click to save it.
This week: The Always Useful brick texure.
The good majority of these will be tileable - and if I get a favorable response, I may include bump maps and reflection maps as well…
Well, it looks like my tour of the Midwest is extended for another week.
Can’t say I mind really - the company has been awesome, been meeting a lot of new, amazing people, and surprisingly - I’ve been painting.
And doing stuff I don’t normally do.
Those who know me, and the work I typically produce will often use the words, ‘urban, gritty, and noir-ish’ when trying to explain what my paintings usually invoke. And certainly not ‘impressionistic’ or ‘romantic’
Yet, that is precisely what I’m working on:
Well, my rationale is that since I am on vacation, that implies the ability to play, to do things one normally doesn’t do - and why should that remain the sole purview of visiting family, going to Disneyworld, or driving cross county to see the world’s largest ball of twine??
So, its playtime - and it feels like my old D&C class back at Parson’s - emulating different schools of painting, and actually thinking about how this particular school thought and worked. Using color straight from the tube. Mixing on the canvas. Bold, choppy strokes. Not using the color black…
We’ll have to see just how much I was paying attention in class, won’t we??
