train of thought

the song is 'train of thought' by mother mother, a canadian indie rock band

half of basically all my 2d Work

chapter: Space, p1 by ~yokotei on deviantART
and the rest of my Week A sketchbooks here

a more interesting idea

i've decided i'm going to use symbols from my dreams, things that represent me on a subconscious level, rather than the obvious. this way y projects will be more about self exploration than reflection. and i dream a lot cooler stuff anyways.
i used to be really into figuring out what my dreams meant, so i have a journal in which a write them down fro time to time. this will come in handy for seeing which symbols occur most frequently.

some symbols i know off the bat:
1. Teeth. In my Dreams they have a tendency to fall right out of my head, and having had dreams like this several times, it's not suprising that this is one of the first things i think of. i use Dreammoods as my online reference for symbols, and they have a whole page on the various meanings for teeth dreams. with dream interpretation, it's best to look at the symbol's personal meaning to you, and if that is unknown, to look it up and take the meaning that makes the most sense to you. my teeth dreams usually have to do with my insecurities.
2. Failed attempts at flyingdreammoods says this represents a "lack of power in controlling your own circumstances" whilst dreams where one can actually fly are lucid dreams, where one consciously controls the dream (meaning you're aware within the dream and thus can do whatever you want). Since coming to Temple i have yet to have a failed-flying dream, but i still have never had a successful flying dream either.

I still may use symbols from my waking life, so right now i'm far more engaged in the idea of using these symbols.
setting up my paper and stuff over the break, will probably do it as tiles or panels on bristol board.
all for today, full symbol list when i get around to it.

a little autobiography, in a rap i could never perform myself.

i knit, crochet, watch anime
it didn't always used to be this way, at least
the way i'd spend my day

ne'er considered myself a social creature
raised to the white noise on tv, the cartoon preacher
cause y'see, my mama, don't think she had a hobby
and daddy was a movie, buff
so i spent my time inside
no one said 'play sports' so it didn't cross my mind

i'm not saying i don't have friends, that'd just be sad
i've had my crew since middle school, or at least had
some come some go (and good riddance to buttery trash)
at while we're not close at the moment, i don't think you could lash
together a tighter crew than mine

and i call them my crew
because i misfortunate endeavor
led to the birth of a webcomic i called 'notebook paper'
i'd give you the link, but i'm sorry to say despite the group effort, i could never sit down and say, actually work on it.

little autobiographical thinking, in preparation for my drawing final.

Art = Commodity?

"The point is that every piece of art changes your whole perception of the rest of the world for the rest of your life.
And it's not a joke! And if it doesn't, then it's not art, it's a commodity."
- Lawrence Weiner responding to a question from Liam Gillick in "Between Artists"

I agree wholeheartedly with Weiner’s words, though it took some thinking to understand just why. Art should change the way you see everything -- in that sense, when walking from piece to piece in a museum, you compare the first piece you lay your eyes on to the next, and the next to that one, and so on and so forth. Changes in perception can be subtle, but it is the evolving comparison of art in our waking lives that changes. I believe it is possible to 'step back' as well, for example, viewing a renaissance masterwork in a museum, and then going home and reading the newest copy of your favorite comic. But there are still qualities for which you can search -- line quality, value, form, perspective, and all the other elements of design -- we weigh them against each other form piece to piece. What is prevalent? What falls flat? Is nonexistent? These are all aspects of our perceptions.
When you stop looking at art is when it becomes a commodity -– it’s the ‘refrigerator syndrome’ when you look at something often enough, without thinking about it, you may forget why it’s there in the first place., like the sticky note reminding you that you had a dental appointment today. Things that are deemed kitschy have this quality –- kind of cute, mass produced and easy to overlook. You forget why you appreciate those creepy figurines of pale children, so they sit and collect dust. While all things that are created are at one point touched by the hands of an artist, or can be perceived as art, if they lose the appreciation of the audience, they lose their artistic status.
Take for example a hand-thrown mug. My mother has several of these. They have beautiful patinas with textured, porous-looking surfaces, and the rustic feel and color treatment of each makes them look similar, but unique from both each other, and the large collection of mass-produced-in-china coffee mugs that keep these few company in the shelves of her kitchen. But again, she wakes up in the morning and so long as the coffee lands in the mug, she doesn’t really pay attention to which one it is. To my mother, the art in these handcrafted wares has been lost. It is easily recovered though, by stopping and thinking about the mug – beyond the caffeine laced contents and utilitarian function.

Art and commodity can be two halves of a whole – a lot of art is created in material objects, which can be traded and sold, utilized and mistreated. But when they are treated as art, they may be on display, or archived, hidden away and preserved for the pleasure of future generations. Again, it depends on how you see and use the piece.
The duality of art and commodity is most apparent to the artist themself. While it has not been my own experience, I've known people who were mg classmates who received offers on their artwork, which was on display at a school art show. Some of these classmates were excited by the idea of having the opportunity to sell their work-Maybe they had nowhere to store it at home, or they just did it for the grade. Or perhaps their parents were not too keen on hanging it in the dining room. But others were move reserved in their experience reluctant to sell a piece that if they were to continue pursuing art, could be an invaluable part of their portfolio. And the last example: the kid who was too emotionally attached to their art to even conceive letting some stranger try and purchase it.
And why shouldn’t they be attached to their work? Not only did they put hours of work into it, but at this stage, the piece is truly an artifact of their growth as an artist. And I’m sure this is one of those universal truths: art is the artifact of the person, community, and culture that produced it.
Each piece I’ve produced(while it still feels pretentious to call my own work ‘art’) has been evidence of my growth into artism. Everything else I’ve made is just crap: unfinished sketches and comics, anything that tried neither my imagination nor abilities, I wouldn’t look at and call art. Practice, maybe, but not art. Weiner has a strong and valid point – an object is not art if it doesn’t challenge your perception, imagination, or standards for the next thing you see.

Upright

A Whirl by ~yokotei on deviantART

What-t-t-t

Tilt by ~yokotei on deviantART

Perspective Drawing Week 3

Mezzanine by ~yokotei on deviantART

Where are weeks 1 and 2? good question :D

Do Things When You Think of Them

Touch My Heavy Heart by ~yokotei on deviantART

ready for print.

Pushing the Gottverdammt Envelope

situational irony.
'Conventional'. lately this word has begun to sting as much as 'uncreative' and 'unoriginal', maybe even to the degree of 'cliche'. however, how does one overcome the conventions to which they are accustomed, and thus evolve?

Layers Are Like Onions

Subtle Build-up FTW. one more layer, but i need the drawing back to photograph it.

Three rolls of tape on a Rainy Tuesday

this will be reworked sometime in the near future...

Sleepy Tape by ~yokotei on deviantART

Contrary to Popular Belief

I was not under the influence of illegal substances when this was conceived.

if i ruled the internet by ~yokotei on deviantART
I was, however, sleep deprived and sugar/caffeine high.

Catch Up Day

Since I got to Catch up on one hour of Sleep, I figured today would be appropriate to catch up on blogging as well! I woke up in a really good mood - as soon as I was conscious enough, i picked a book up off the floor and was able to read/study a bit. It forebodes well, considering my usual abilities of concentration.
Project one for 2d, set up as it would be glued down on paper (relative to the borders on the cutting board, anyway)

So, for every hour I'm awake Today, a Blog Post! To catch up on work i haven't been posting, and events that you wished happened to you.

fish armada

the robocops of fish


fish fish fish armada by ~yokotei on deviantART

smoke smoke smoke

Der Raucher Kultur by ~yokotei on deviantART


Rauch frei by ~yokotei on deviantART

Freshman Lecture Review

this week - H. John Thompson

Things I liked:
1. There is no set definition and medium for 'a drawing'. Thompson's work is not confined to pencil and paper, in fact, his definition of drawings were small scale and very polished looking studies of architectural elements, in materials that imitate their real life counterparts.
2. It's okay to live in your parents' basement. or in his case, the basement of his grandfather's bakery. While he does work inside his studio just as often as he works outside, he has a really nice setup, perfect for his work ethic and storage needs. The collection of oddly-scaled chairs are interesting and cute as a source of inspiration.

3. Draught Horses are amazing and intense creatures. Thompson's work inspired by draught horses and decide 'found' objects ( the old truck he disassembled) is very strong conceptually and visually - the way the finished piece took up almost the whole gallery space at Uarts, just communicated the dominating presence like that which he described in his encounter with the horses.

"And that's when the turkeys showed up."

face smoosh face

facefaceface by ~yokotei on deviantART
scanner face is a happy face.

Why, Gap, Why???

Gap changed its logo. and it looks like crap.

Prior to this watching parts of Helvetica (the movie) in class, I didn't have a problem with the font, and I still don't. But in the case of this logo (which affects me personally, because i have a part time job at a gap subsidiary) it looks like crap. The old logo felt very mature and respectable, actually reflecting the characteristics for which the clothing brand is appreciated, but this is just so neutral and pales in comparison.
if they had at least gone with a look more reminiscent of the first gap's storefront, it wouldn't be awful. at least that looks modern. Again, in comparison, the helvetica looks tired.(photo courtesy Carnesaurus on Flickr)
And why the tiny gradiated square? It looks shy and uncomfortable in that corner

Single Shots of Wisdom from Derek Sivvers

Our assignment this week was to watch a TED talk and review/ share our thoughts about it. After wasting dutifully viewing a handful of videos for about an hour, I settled on the short but inspiring talks but Derek Sivvers. He seems like a cool guy – started his own record company by accident – and upon further research I found that he also has a blog of inspiring stories and lessons, some of which are based on his TED talks.

His three talks, “Weird, or Just Different?”, “How to Start a Movement”, and are all based partly on conventional wisdoms, partly on personal observation, and a little bit on a ‘recent study’.

His first speech, “Weird, or Just Different?”, not only educated me on the street system used in Japan (did you know they name their blocks, rather than their streets?) but emphasized the importance of being open to information that challenges that to which you may be accustomed; in other words, “whatever you learn somewhere, it might be the opposite somewhere else”.

“How to Start a Movement” was actually quite entertaining – after initially watching the TED talk, I found it on Sivvers’ personal website and viewed the narrated version of the video, which features a shirtless dancing guy. Sivvers emphasizes that while he will be named the leader, and remembered as ‘beginning’ the giant dancing crowd that forms around him, his true functions are: A) to inspire a single individual, who becomes the ‘follow’, and B) to nurture that ‘follower’ by encouraging them in their fellowship

It’s just plain funny, but still has enough going on to have substance.

“Keep Your Goals to Yourself” is kind of self explanatory – Using findings from ‘recent psychology tests’ (quotation marks because anything citing a recent study really needs better citations) and the 20^th century writings and findings of several psychologists, including Peter Gollwitzer, who conducted the recent tests (Qualifier! Eh? Ehhh?) Sivvers explains that you shouldn’t share your goals, and “if you do need to talk about something, you can state it in a way that gives you no satisfaction”. I have definitely been having this problem lately with class, between procrastinating and general time management failure. So quit asking me what I plan on doing for my next piece :P

In other news, now that I’m aware of it, I’ve been seeing TED talks everywhere on the Internet. Mrs Q. posted the cutest Texan kid talking about organic food here, and the hilarious but offensive LATFH.com called out this mutton-chopped robotics engineer here.