Summer Fun! R2KTiki!

I am so glad summer vacation is here! One more semester down at school and a few projects lined up and ready to go! Starting with my new fabric design, something fun for summer and my love for all things Star Wars. Please welcome R2KTiki! You can order by the yard from Spoonflower.com

https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/runyajade?sub_action=designs

Keeping active. The Calendar of activity

The following is a calendar for my class, a full months worth of topics to talk about. I have to say that a couple of them make me a bit nervous to talk about with the world wide web with current day topics and feelings that can become prickly very quickly and things taken out of context. But there are time that there is no way to avoid it. So many ideas and so many different views of our world and of our universe. 6/1. Blogging Calendar Schedule 6/2. Historical inspiration 6/3. Where ideas come from when you have artist block 6/4. The best of your medium 6/5. What movies inspire you? 6/6. Observe your world outside. 6/7. To commission or not to commission 6/8. Are trading cards worth the time and effort 6/9. Daily sketch check in 6/10. The life and times of Alphonse Mucha. 6/11. Just a few of my favorite things. 6/12. What's new in Illustrations news? 6/13. What is art and what is just copycatting. 6/14. My friend Joe. 6/15. Creating new characters 6/16. Art work to merchandise? 6/17. Does your artwork, network? 6/18. Never stop learning something new. 6/19. Daily sketch check in 6/10. The art of Leonardo da Vinci 6/21. The importance of learning anatomy 6/22. Adding exercise to your daily drawing routine 6/23. Knowing how to dress your characters 6/24. Be original, Or do what everyone else is doing? 6/25. New animation trends, are they using lazy designs? 6/26. Don't take yourself to seriously all the time. 6/27. When criticism hurts, keep drawing. 6/28. The life of Michelangelo 6/29. Cultural appropriation, or Cultural appreciation 6/30. 30 days 30 sketches? #Art #Illustration #OpenMind #KeepLearning #KeepMovingForward

How good is your Google-fu?

As of late, a lot of my posts across all of my new social media outlet sign ups have been about homework. Most of thos have been "What is trending in your major." For me that would be illustration. Oddly enough that has been somewhat of a challenge. Odder still is I thought it would be easy to just google "Trends in Illusration" and have multipul listings of what is hot in gaming and movie illustration popup. To my surpirse that hasn't been the case. Long lists on nonending exspresionism inspired posts often with rude gesters and words scrolled across my screen. Frustrating to say the least. So was it me, was I looking in the wrong place, was I being to broad in my search peramaters? Tighting my search down to "Disney Illustration, Lucas Film Illustration." Didn't help much either. Part of the assignment is new trending topics. My search was only coming up with news that was a couple months old. And I sort of understand why, new works in progress (WIPs) are kept extreamly hush hush until such time the company feels that it is ready to start promoting the project. Finding new trending articles can be a challange. So what do you google when trying to find the latest news in trendnig Illustration, I mean real illustration. It seems to need to have a very wide network off illustrators that are currently working in the field to see whats really new. But that is also if they are non under any current NDA (Non disclosure agreement) contracts, so even that can be a dead end. Not that it really matters unless your grade depends on it.

It’s okay, It’s just homework.

A few friends have raised an eyebrow or two in the past couple of weeks with my name popping up a couple of times here on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and on Facebook. It's okay, I'm not being hacked or coppied it's just required homework for my college class. I figured I had better start explaining before someone starts turning in my accounts as being hacked and then making my homework twice as hard. Don't worry, it is really me. I promis! :) Please feel free to comment on any of the posts I have made if you have found something interesting. But do, please excuse the occaitional misspelled word, or wrong puctuation. I do try to catch as many of them as I can. Thank you! :)

Gina Canady Doodles  presents, How to use your vacation for artistic inspiration.

It has been noted by researchers that people who take vacations are more productive and more creative. That goes without saying. I know that the long hours of a day to day work week, over months can ware a person out. At the same time not everyone take just pop off for a week vacation to a tropical paradise, or even a mountain retreat. However, for an artist there are things one can do at home or in their local area if you are willing to look, also called the Staycation. For myself, after a year I'll be going on vacation, thanks to my boyfriend. I'll be spending a week at one of my most favorite places and called the happiest place on Earth. Disney World. It offers me a week of access to the work of hundreds of artists and 94 years of amazing work. I'll will be surrounded by that creativity which in turn renews my own creativity. Most of the time, I have to take "staycation" due to the cost of traveling. So the trick becomes to try and surround myself in that level of inspiration. Part of my problem is that I work outside of home as well as lots of homework. That doesn't leave me any real time to create art that I want to do. so what I do is stick in a movie, and grab my sketchbook. It also includes going out to the movies or to my favorite park. Trying to reteach myself on how to relax and find my zen.

Where my friend’s eye lingers.

Do you pinterest?  It is an interesting website as social media websites go.  Thousands of user, with thousands of interests and million ideas. Everything to cooking, to history and to art and artists.  One of those artist is a friend of mine by the name of Lawrence Allen Williams.  I have know him and is lovely family for over 20 years and I have watch his work and style develop into the most amazing artist.  When it comes to words, it’s hard for me to describe, it is something you have to see for yourself. 

https://www.pinterest.com/gliridian/artist-allen-williams/?lp=true

The question that has been the question for hundreds of years. Why must artists struggle?

I had been digging around the internet for inspiration for one of my college classes at AAU.  While Blogging: Content creation & Promotion may not sound like an important class.  For every artist, knowing how to promote one self is just as important as it is for a corporate business knowing how to advertise it’s product. The the basic sense, they are one in the same. An artist needs to be a business person who knows how to advertise their product aka, art.  Many artist struggle with this, being able to create full time is the only way to do it. But many artist have a second job to just pay the day to day bills which cuts deeply into creating art.  Myself included. I have a few more semesters to go before earning my BFA in art. A degree that is actually requested and required for a lot of jobs that I have applied for, but I am falling a few classes short.  What’s worse is that I am so close and yet so far due to the need of money for those classes.  School isn’t cheap or free and finding scholarships and grants are almost a full time job in itself.  Thousands of website, most of which are scams to get you to sign up for classes, or switch schools.  A few that only offer a handful of grants or scholarships that are submitted to by hundreds and even thousands of applicants.  It’s a needle in a very large haystack. 

But digging for suggestions for an assignment I ran across a TED talk. Now I like TED talks on occasion.  I’m mesmerized by the positive ones on science and art. I always come away feeling a little more empowered and ready to take on the world.  So this one was not only a pleasant surprise for my assignment I’m hoping that it will help me find what I need to continue and finish my degree. 

(https://www.ted.com/talks/hadi_eldebek_how_artists_contribute_to_the_economy_and_how_we_can_support_them?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare)

When you want to start drawing, but don’t know where to start.

Like all artist, every once in a while I get the same question. “You’re a really great artist. How do you do it?” Some people think that you are just magically born with the gift of being able to draw or paint. Just like anything a person does it’s a process of study, practice, practice, practice as well as trial and error, and then more studying and more of practice, practice, practice.  But other than the studying and practice, what else do you need to become an artist? Here is a small list of  the down and dirty basic’s of what any artist needs to start with.  Keep in mind that some of the items vary due to personal preference.

1. Pencil.

The most widely used instrument in the creation of art. Every artist has at least one, some have hundreds. Some artist will tell you that you need to invest in a very expensive set of pencils. Everything from 2B to HB.  Me? Well, I have been using a .05 technical pencil for years and it works for me. If I’m traveling, it’s a heck of a lot easier to tote around 1 technical pencil and a small thing of refills than it is to carry around a case of 5 or 10 different types of lead, plus a pencil sharpener, plus some sort of trash bag every time I have to stop and sharpen said pencils to get the fine tip I like working with.  That would be a whole lot of sharpening going on and a whole lot of wasted time and trash. Even then there are literally thousands of types of technical and mechanical pencils out there. It’s not a bad thing to start with a cheap one from Walmart or your local drug store. I personally use one called a Draft/Matic. It was required for one of my classes for college and has stuck with me.

2. Kneadable eraser.

The artist’s best friend really.  It can be kneaded by hand to take the shape of a small point, to erase small lines and smudges, kneaded again for a clean surface without leaving shredded eraser bits all over your paper and you. I have even used it a little like silly putty.  Flattening it into a pancake to carefully peal off some graphite to make an area lighter with out scrubbing out any fine details. I always end up playing with it while I work too. I will knead and stretch it, or twist it into spirals and squish it as I’m thinking about where to go next on a drawing.  It can be fun to play with as well as highly useful.

3. Paper.

It’s hard to draw anything with out paper, well I guess you could draw on the walls or table. But people around you might not be very amused by it.  Finding the right paper to me, is somewhat of a personal thing.  I have sketch books that offer a good weighted drawing paper that isn’t thin and smooth like printer paper.  I wouldn’t suggest using that type, unless that is all you have access to.  My favorite type of paper is a French Rag paper, it’s thick more like a heavy watercolor paper, but it’s very durable and doesn’t buckle under a lot of layering or a lot of erasing.  But the down side is, French Rag is expensive, so I wouldn’t suggest that for everyday doodling. A good mid-weight spiral sketch book is a good place to start.

4. French sticks or Smudge sticks.

Depends on who you talk to when it come to what they are called.  They are great things to have on hand when shading, giving your work that little extra polish. They come in a wide verity of sizes and the tips can be used like a sharp pencil when working in finely detailed areas. 

History  before our eyes.

On March 14, 2018  George Lucas finally broke ground on one of his newest visions. The LA based Lucas museum of narrative art.   The expected billion dollar museum should be completed in the year 2021. Dedicated to the art of visual storytelling.  

 "I think it's important to have a museum that, as I was joking and saying, supports all the orphan arts that nobody else wants to see, but that everybody loves." ~ George Lucas.

A museum that will tell the story of story making, from movies to comics. From traditional art, to digital art.  To top it off with a nice big bow one billion price tag is not coming from the public. Lucas himself is fully funding the project, local officials said that it is the largest gift ever given to the public. And what a gift it is.  All those stories that have inspired us to create more stories. Those stories inspire us to create art and movies and in turn, inspiring more generations of writers, artist and movie makers. The state of the art building is being built on a parking lot behind the LA Coliseum that had been the location for the 1932 and the 1984 Olympics.  With more than 10,000 square feet of space it will be able to house an amazing amount of art, stories and movie props. It will certainly be a sight to see and experience.

3/17/2018

Do you know how Luckey you are?

Did you grow up watching Sesame street? Learning to count to a ladybug picnic? I know I did, as did my own children. How about Charles M. Schulz Peanuts characters for Dolly Madison snack cakes? Or even Alvin and the Chipmunks Tv series? People of my generation will remember those well. But if you don't remember the commercials for Dolly Madison, or Alvin and the Chipmunks from the 60s, do you know Woody from Disney's Toy Story? They all have one thing in conman, or rather one person in conman. Bud Luckey.  Not many people in the general public know who Bud is. It's not likely they will recognize his face, but they do know his work and they know his voice and they don't realize just how much he has influenced their lives for the better.  Bud was an animator as well as a voice actor.  For me he bridged the gap between my young years of black and white TV and the western influences of my grandparents and my parents.  Taught me how to count though my early educational years of Sesame Street, and right on through to my children's young years falling in love with Pixars Toy Story, Bugs Life, Monsters INC, Cars, Ratatouille, The Incredibles and the award winning animated short called Boundin in 2003.  He was an old school animator, who wasn't afraid to step up into computer animator.  Bud Luckey passed away on February 24th 2018, at the age of 83.  For those of us who knew of him, it is a huge loss. But we will always have his legacy to inspire us.

Illustration, what’s trending?

Every day there is a long list of news from the Illustration world. What style is hot, what artist is making big changes, and what technology is pushing the edge of speed and detail for the artist to create faster. I personally work in several mediums, just as many other artists do.  The ability to be flexible allows us more job opportunities in an ever growing market.  I enjoy the feel of a pencil in my hand, the thick or thinness of paint gliding across a canvas. But there are times when a project dosn’t give you time for cleaning brushes or waiting for layers to dry before having to continue work.  That is where digital painting can give you an edge.  It wasn’t that long ago if you worked in Photoshop, a mouse was your only way of working digitally. Not the easiest thing in the world to draw and paint with. Tablets came long but the first ones were clunky and the software had a hard time letting the artist create anything that didn’t look like a doctors signature.  The company Wacom with their Inuos series changed the game and that game is still on. A quick google search on the internet and there are many possible choices and a wide range for different budgets and options.  Wacom still seems to be the top contender with the Ipad pro coming up pretty close behind. There is always a personal choice on what your are looking for in a tablet, right down to the feel of the stylus and the reaction time of the software. 

  Making creating on the go, lighter and faster, giving the artist even more creative power where ever they go.

How do you find your artistic voice, in a boundless sea of artists?

It is a question that most artists eventually asks themselves. Although how the question is asked is simply put in several ways, “How do I become a great artist?”  “How can I promote myself to be come successful?”  “How do I develop a style everyone will want?”  How an artist becomes great and successful is not always measured by money.   It has been this way for hundreds and even thousands of years with artists.  Some artists become very popular in their lifetime, only to have their work be lost to history a few short years after their passing. An example of this is the amazing artist who is one of my most favorite and biggest inspirations. Alphonse Mucha, he was a artistic creation powerhouse in his time. It happened almost overnight in the form of being in the right place at the right time. But his work during his lifetime was the stuff of dreams for artists. And we almost lost Mucha’s amazing gifts to time after his death.  It was to the thanks and diligent hard work of his youngest son that Mucha’s legacy was saved.

Some struggle in some of the worst conditions in their lifetime and never see their work grow in value and popularity after they have passed this life. It’s hard to find examples of artists in this situation as their names and works have become lost. We know they exist as unknown paintings that have sat for long years in attics, or dropped off at antique stores and have been dropped or pushed into stacks of rejected paintings, in dark and dusty corners until someone is curious enough to send to an art historian or art appraisers, in the hopes that they have found the work of a famous artist that has been lost, or was simply unrecorded has been rediscovered by the lucky person.  Most of them are turned away as very nice paintings of past eras, with no known artist that created them.  But they still exist.

As an artist, these questions run though my mind constantly as I learn and try to develop my own style and body of work. I often see friends of mine who are also artists make it look so easy from the outside.  Their constant flow of art pieces always generate a consistent flow of excitement and money from their fans. I find it both fascinating to see and a little frustrating that I have not yet found that personal artistic niche.  This is where you, me and this blog comes in.

So begins my journey as I continue my studies at AAU in my pursuit of finding my artistic style, my voice in this world and see how you the reader responds to that journey.