So, today's site is Oekaki based. There's a ton of Oekaki sites out there, just do a search. I think the reason why it's so popular as a tool is that it's sort of universal, and it offers artists a real challenge. It's also ridiculously simplistic. Don't get me wrong, it isn't easy. I've made my own attempts at using it, and had so much trouble that I vowed never to post anything on an Oekaki board again. That may change soon, but that's neither here nor there. Basically, the Oekaki BBS tool is a work station that gives you about the same number of tools and options as the Paint Application that comes with your computer. So artists have to work hard to get their pictures just the way they want. People will spend hours on these pieces of art. And there seem to be two kinds of people working here: Those who go for realism and those who go for anime style. Realism folks use the blending tool a lot. Oekaki, when you use the program, keeps track of how much time you spend on a picture and can actually record your actions so that others can see the process you went through for the final product. Realists use the blend function. A lot. Those who go for a more cartoony style are drawn towards solids and the various shading tools that aren't really shading, but more of a consolidation of pixels. Kind of like zooming in on those old Sunday Comics like Brenda Starr. I have a great amount of respect for people who can use the Oekaki program, since drawing is notoriously difficult with a mouse (I respect people with tablets too, but not as much. I think that's cheating). Go find a place to download the original Oekaki program and give it a try!
October 5, 2003
So I found this site that supposedly teaches you how to do art. This isn't the point of what I'm saying here though. What really caught my eye was the section on digital imaging and using the computer to make oil-paintings. There are some wicked awsome designs in the gallery and it's cool to look at. The artist also has a little note at the top of the page, identifying that it's so much easier to create pictures like these using the computer. The designs are very original, and I love the colors and perspectives; especially those used with flowers and the distorted faces. The fact remains that it's difficult to imagine such things in real space, but when working on a computer, changes can be made and unmade until the perfect effect is found. The UNDO button is my absolute and ultimate savior. I'm only human, I just make a lot more mistakes than other people do. ;P October 6, 2003 Ok, I gotta be honest with you all. I'm a geek. A big one. Ever since the 4th grade I have been obsessed (in one of the deepest senses of the word) with fractals. It's the math demon inside of me that goes, "Oooooohhh, hey that's pretty neat!" and then my mind goes into a frenzy of calculating thought. To be entirely truthful, there's something about fractals that just gets me going. I'm a fractal junkie. Maybe it's the fact that they are representative of eternity, and that just turns me on (well, not like that, but I think you get what I mean). When I was in 5th grade and we had to study fractals and what they meant, I think I passed out from joy. I mean, think: snowflakes. Not a big deal, right? But think. They can be fractals. Something so small and yet it goes on forever to the very tiniest hydrogen atom. So where does this tie in with the blog? Well, of course having computers around has been a big step for fractal lovers. With computers to manipulate equations to the 38th decimal, fractals are even more amazing than ever, and you can zoom right in on some of them and see all those little details. Don't laugh at me. I already said that I was a geek. I'm totally comfortable with that. Of course, now is the realization that with this fabulous new technology, we've got some great pictures. I love fractals so much that for a short while, I had one as my computer desktop background. And the great thing about fractals is that you can do stuff like that. There's so much detail that you can stare at a fractal for hours, and computers can't mess up fractals which is a great thing (I'm a big stickler for perfection). I know you're probably asking where this rant is going to end. The answer would be here. With a link to an artist who specializes in fractals. He must be a geek like me. If you really take the time to look, you'll notice that his gallery links are arranged in fractal-icious patterns. EXCITING! This guy is amazing. He's got fractal interpretations of practically every part of King James Version of the Bible. He has fractalized music (Oh my Gods, I'm going to die happy), and a fractalized poem. This is enough to have any fractal fan OD on these tantalizing little math loves of mine. And if this isn't enough, there are links to other fractal pages. Exponents are your friends. Gods, I love the number 3.
October 16, 2003 Well, I found an enormous online museum that's almost exclusively for computer art. There's some pretty cool stuff on there, lots of different artists and such and a lot of different styles and techniques. Th project taht drew me the most right off was the "Parent and Child" sets done by Dolores Glover Kaufman. That's pretty cool stuff right there. I like how it's almost impossible to tell what the child images are of and impossible at all if you didn't see the parent image in the first place. And the color is very soft. I probably like this series of images due to my previously-mentioned thing for fractals. Quite a few of the later images have some fractalicious things in them. The other projects on this site are good too, but I really don't have time to comment on all of them. Maybe I'll do an entry on a different project later. For now, here's a link to the virtual museum as well as a link to "Parent and Child".
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November 15, 2003
I don't feel like the term is mostly over. Far from it, I don't even feel like I've begun college. Isn't that a hoot? I appreciate a good laugh. This is hilarious. The fact that I feel like I'm still in 5th grade (Gods above, though, that was an awful year) and being silly. Of course, the only thing that's changed is the grade. I'm still silly. I'd be ashamed, you see, but I like being younger than I actually am. (does that make any sense?) Anyway, that's today's little bit about me. Today's featured artist is Ciro Marchetti. I really like his stuff because it's all very playful and graceful. He essentially focuses on machines and his exhibit with MOCA is titled "The Art of Complicated Machines". Many of his pieces bring to mind Mardi Gras (there are a lot of Harlequin designs and masks) meets Some lost civilization you would find in Star Trek. I try every now and then to create an image with machine parts in it that actually look like they would interact and do something. I'm not very successful. But that's why I don't have an exhibit with MOCA, and Ciro does. The following link will bring you right to his homepage. Enjoy and play!
Doesn't this guy look Borg?
November 29, 2003
I'm not a big fan of Dali. I'm not. So you may be wondering about this particular entry. I may not be big on All the melting clocks and such, but I think that his stuff in 3 dimensions would be pretty darn nifty. At my highschool, we used to have a mural in one of the less-travelled hallways that was a sort of 3-D version of the melting clocks. I always admired that piece (done as a class project by some nameless people in the late 90's) despite its decrepid appearance and less than superior conjugation (It was falling apart in several places and wasn't exactly superior as a work). But the fact that people had bothered trying to make all those oozing watches real, that really struck a chord with me. So Now I will introduce you to Tatic Kolja, an artist who makes 3-D Dali-esque landscapes both barren and beautiful. What strikes me most about his work is that it's all very simplistic and yet, there is something that calls to me from it. Everything is very clean and the lines are very neat and crisp. That's probably what attracts me to it. Ok, I'm an art neat-freak, but you already thought I was fairly strange, so it's not like I'm revealing anything new to you. Oh whatever, just follow the link.
December 5, 2003
Morphology, I think, is the study of structure and how it pertains to function. Well now, Here's something strange. I've found an artist who molds her friends' images to those of seashells. The Exhibit is titled "The chtulhu people" and it is easy to think that these people might have once truly exsisted, that they were an ocean people who lived on fish and crustaceans and evolved such structures in their bodies to model after their food. Perhaps those crustaceans had something going for them. Those shells are really protective against the pounding currents and rolling rocks that move with the tides. The way the shells are morphed into these people is captivating and I really enjoyed looking at these images. Perhaps you will as well. Then too, I find it amazing that such things can be done nowadays. The photos are artfully done and look fairly flawless. If you did not come from our world and saw these images, you might think such things could be true. Isn't it amazing what you can do with a computer?