Swimming With the Art Sharks

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I've noticed a consistent theme with the beginning of each blog, which is how I can't believe how long it's been since I've written anything down. I contribute this to consistently writing for my job, which somewhat discourages me from writing personally. I think I have this incessant fear in my head that I have this cap of how much creativity is available each week, and if I use it all then I'll end up stone faced with a blank page and no ideas to lay down. It's insane I know, but for some reason, even with my personal artwork, I have this plaguing thought that if I make something great, I'll never be able to pull that off again. Believe me I'm working through that.


So, why the Transformer's Animated image to the left? I got into a recent debacle with my good friend Shawn McCauley about the art value of the image you see to the left. I personally loathe it and find it terrible and not just because I'm a die hard fan who has this idea of what Optimus Prime should look like. Truthfully, when they created the Beast Wars series and made Optimus an ape, I hated the idea but could appreciate that he was a decent looking ape. This series however just has just had me in a rage ever since it came out for the following reasons, they are robots not Gumby rubber figures, Optimus should not have a figure like Barbie (tiny waist, tiny feet), and again they should look like robots.

Which then forwards me to the topic of good art and bad art. I'm not the greatest artist, in fact let me re-iterate that compared to those who I aspire to be, I'm light years from being where I want to be. But, I was fortunate to have really talented folks tell me my work sucked and how to get better in order to develop a sense that just because it's labeled art,does not mean it's excluded from being labeled bad. There are clear examples of good art and bad art out there. Many "elite" artists feel that graphic design, video game artists and even print artists don't create work that classifies as "art" because it's commercial and supposedly outside the realm of creative expression. I have one thing to simply say, which is it takes incredible talent to make work that is so devastatingly beautiful and immaculate while still satisfying commercial needs.

My favorite artists include

www.Fausto3d.com(Game Artist)

www.Hejz.com(Graphic Design/Illustrator)

Professionally I've been engaging in a lot of mixed media lately from editorial work to product photography and of course designs and illustrations. I love what each has to offer, and ultimately I'm utterly grateful that I get to explore my creativity in my work.

With that, I'm sorting through my work to update my portfolio, and am reading through what seems like a hundred articles to pick the best ones for my editorial portfolio. On many levels, I think every aspect of my craft involves moments of self doubt, paining aspirations for greatness, slivers of astonishment and achievement and ultimately a continuing journey of growth. People always spout about how life is too short and we should embark on things that we love, but rarely do people allow themselves the freedom to do so. I'll push for great success, but I'm just glad to be able to do what I want to do and that I have great people to tell me when I'm not doing it well.

So in addition to art and work, my days have been occupied lately with sports, video games, rock climbing and cooking. I actually bake now. See you all again sooner than later.



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