Not All Love is Good Love

Heart Monster loves people. Heart Monster loves everyone. Heart Monster loves you. Heart Monster loves you a lot. Heart Monster has a strange way of showing this.

Heart Monster is a character that I invented this last Valentine's Day, in part recognition and part mocking of the day (I was single at the time). The concept of Heart Monster came from the characters Pon and Zi, who are generally accepted as an emo Romeo and Juliet- R&J were tragic and stupid, not emo. Like Pon and Zi, Heart Monster's gender is largely androgonous, but I think it was rather inevitable that Heart Monster become more like a guy in my mind. However, I'm not fully happy with this- the font doesn't seem to fit the theme, and Heart Monster seems like it should be colored differently.

Chickenscratch

 This font has actually been with me for awhile, and I've found several excuses to use it, although I've never done so on a computer. The basic point of it was that I wanted to create a literal "chickenscratch" font, regardless of what others might refer to as such. However, this font can be used for other situations as well, such as when a very simple or primitive style is needed, or when something is actually carved into something else.

My second version of this font is very similar, excepting that the C and G have been been made more complicated for aesthetic value. Another aesthetic change that was made is that the "scratches" now have pointed ends to enhance this illusion.

 

Artist Yay >_>

Today, I went to see a faculty show. Unfortunately, none of the pictures really connected to me. The one to come closest was a photograph done by Anthony Marchetti, of a single chair in an otherwise empty room. I myself have a fascination with broken things. There's just something about something that was once whole that fascinates me. In this photo, nothing was physically broken, but there was a dissonance in the room as a whole. It wasn't empty, nor was it home. It was simply a room with a chair in it- it seemed as though its very purpose was broken. So, yeah, that's how things work in my head.

If I were asked to help promote this piece, I'd probably do so very, very simply. Work to get the work in a gallery, preferably with similar work, and use a basic script such as Helvetica, or, preferably, something similar to Trebuchet, considering my belief that the Helvetica script is an overused easy pass in design. Also, because the title is rather nondescript, I would probably use the picture itself to market it.

Foshay Foshur

I shall put something clever and witty here later, I promise.

I'm A Businessman...

Well, I am, technically. Business owner really, but I decided to NOT have a card based on that and just go with a artistic aspect on this one. The 1WingedAngel thing was suggested by my girlfriend, based on Sephiroth from Final Fantasy's final form, which has almost become synonymous with any boss that 'evolves' in mid-battle, as well as the single wing that I have for my necklace. Besides the title, I have a simplified wing, my name, email address, and phone number set up in a way that I find visually satisfying.

"Artist" Appreciation

I'll be the first to admit- okay, maybe third- that I'm not very good at keeping up to date with current artists, especially considering my major. That's why my list looks… a little 'off'. Don't worry, I checked and double-checked this list, and it is exactly the way that I want it. It is incomplete, yes, and has some people on it that might be considered to be running jumps to the "artist" definition. However, I appreciate ideas more than style, accessibility more than 'creativity', and I firmly believe that art is found in everything that we see and do.

Azuzephre- I like the way that he takes complex and sometimes vague ideas and simplifies them with his characters.

SilverStitch- This person uses a very simplified style that draws players through a journey that they might not have taken otherwise.

Terry Pratchett- Simply a genius with blending his chosen medium- words- with ideas in a way that his audience can relate to.

Eiichiro Oda- Crosses borders with his characters and storyline that I find very impressive.

Patrick Rothfuss- If this man were to write at the same volume and depth and Terry, I could die happy, it's as simple as that.

Randal Keith Milholland- I appreciate the level of commitment that Randy puts in to create a quality drawn and written comic.

Leonardo Da Vinci- The man was undeniably brilliant- it's impossible not to learn something from him.

Tim Burton- His designs and plots simply fascinate me.

George Carlin- Got his message out through a medium largely ignored- comedy- and succeeded magnificently.

Eyezmaze- Has a style that I feel reflects my own fairly closely, but in a distinctively different environment.

As for my artist's statement, I think only one will really do: Azuzephre, since he's the only artist on my list that actually focuses almost entirely on visual art.

For starters, my name is Jeff, and I’m living between Los Angeles and London, in the process of transferring from Art Center College of Design to Maidstone University for the Creative Arts.

I first started drawing Pon and Zi in 2004. I was an angsty, antisocial junior in high school, and the violent themes of the first comics reflected my disconnect from people.

I began dating in December of that year, and as I became less bitter and more cuddly, so did the comics. Originally gray and nameless, Pon and Zi were named and given colors along with different personalities. Pon, colored yellow, is usually the optimistic instigator, and Zi, colored blue, retains some of the disconnect and apathy found in the first comics. Neither is assigned a gender because each of their personalities could be identified by either male or female readers, depending on the comic and dynamics of the relationship the reader is involved in.

Pon and Zi, blatantly very simple in design, were originally drawn as doodles on notes, never to be taken more seriously than a side project to the illustration portfolio I’d been building since before their inception, so currently, I’m going to school, working on my portfolio and seeing where it takes me.

The reason why I find this profound is that this guy is still in school, trying to graduate college, but his creations- doodles, basically, that he likely threw onto Deviantart on a whim- have affected the hearts and minds of most likely thousands of people. That is influence. That is power. That is absolutely among the most amazing things that I've ever encountered.

Updated Brilliance

This is my new, hopefully improved version of my original second Carven poster. I basically did this with four things- first and foremost, I erased some of the blur on the shoulders, taking away that bloody halo effect that was making her bra straps stand out too much. Second, I stripped some excess paint from the heart that I hadn't noticed before. Third, I messed with the bevel that I'd used on the heart and the title. And finally, I brought the title into the "Liquefy" filter and made it bleed a little. Honestly, probably the most difficult part of this was trying to think of ways to make it better. Heh.