[Muzman]

Allrighty. I thought this might give me some amusement, and possibly others too.
I did this silly practice pic and I'm gonna post up pics as I refine it.
Why? you ask. Not sure exactly.

Anyway, the pic you see below was done while taking a break from a larger project. Everything I do gets bigger and more elaborate; you can learn a lot that way but I have to keep reminding myself that 1) I'm a hack and 2) I need to practice more.
So I drew something; you know how it goes, trying to force something out.
"what to draw what to draw.... Ahah, a skull. A skull on an orange table against the wall. Why? There is no answer to that question."
So at the start of Orbital's two track epic "Out There Somewhere" I decided to draw this. Just before the song ended I stopped, so this is about 20mins worth of wannabe Mullins action. No references, nothin'.


You don't have to say anything, but feel free.
Next up; fixing the light source, the perspective, the skull shape etc etc

[Jessica Tobine]

I know what you mean by forcing something out... it's hard to draw / paint when you're not feeling particulary inspired. I feel that way all the time. Even when I'm writing a poem, it sucks bad if I'm trying to force something out just for the sake of writing. But it helps better your skills they say. Anyway, I like your still life. I can't wait to see it enhanced more.

Do you really feel like you're a hack? Sometimes I'm embarassed to show my work, because I often feel like I'm nobody to call myself an artist, do you know what I mean? Like it's not worth being considered art. But I probably just have issues or something...

Anyway, keep drawing and painting

. . . - __ /\j e s s



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what a nightmare... am I sleeping?

[Affected]

Sorry to take this off-topic, but anyhow:
Jessica: I think I don't have th right to call myself an artist, and it's not that I think I'm a complete loser imagemaking-wise. I just think it would be too much like self-praise for me to decide that I'm an artist. And besides, the word 'art' really annoys me. So I woulnd't say you have issues.
Also, everyone feels inadequate sometimes, especially when one sees some excellent work way above one's level. I've found that it helps to turn that into a determination to get better.

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Affected
http://affected.cjb.net

[Funfetus]

I don't want to get into one of those godawful "what is art?" debates, but I think that calling yourself an artist is basically the same as calling yourself a mechanic, or a school teacher, or a welder. If that's what you do, that's what you are.

------------------
Funfetus
iCE VGA Division
http://www.funhousedigital.com

[Affected]

That's fine, I don't go about clobbering people over using the word 'art'. All I ask is that people shouldn't call me an artist, since I don't feel comfortable with the word. (I can just see a sarcastic remark coming on.. :P)

[Shrimpish]

Heh... Funny stuff. You don't wanna be called an artist cuz you think your ego will explode? Dang, dood...

That reminds me of this Christian dude, who was also a welder, and at one point, the company asked him to get a license for welding in gold and platinum, or something, or his job would be in danger. The guy said that if he got that license, his ego might blow out of proportion, and cause him to fall away from Christianity. So he quit.

So, Affected, you're an artist! Don't get too involved in the 1000 meanings of a word.
Words are just... words.

[Giant Hamster]

words are more than words....their a horrible way to talk!!! lets just wave are arms in the air and make clint eastwood faces at eachother! it would be fun...trust me! hehehe

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-JameZ the Giant Hamster-
the Hamster Alliance
www.mp3.com/jamezthegh
ICQ: 43691064
Musician,2d/3d artist, programmer,overall guru :)

[Jessica Tobine]

thanks for not thinking i'm psychologicly phucked

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what a nightmare... am I sleeping?

[Muzman]

yeah art is a loaded word
it also doesn't help that there's a lot of emphasis on technique around here.
That's fine, it's the idea of the place. but often I find some piece I think is great and I'm fairly certain it would get panned here because it's used a lot of filters and effects. Whereas some bland study with nice texturing would get piles of praise.
Before I get jumped on; the point is there's so much taste involved it's barely worth worrying about.

I feel like spouting optimistic made-for-television stuff like "imagination is the thing. Don't let elitist bastardry direct you or stop you!"
But it will, it'll get all of us from time to time.

[DuKEZ]

i know the feeling.. do you guys like in school and stuff.. (just cause you know how to scribble some lines and make a picture).. people just assume art is yer favorite subject?? :P i hate that..

like last time, the teacher went and asked everyone their favorite subject.. when he got to me.. before a word came out my mouth.. someone yelled out.. i bet its art.. :P

anyways its not :P my art class sucked.. boring ass hell.. auto mechanics was more fun..

anyways being an artists is not just drawing and uhh coloring.. thers the dance art..literater art and drama art.. :P so dont call me an artist call me creative (or crazy)

[Jessica Tobine]

I opt for crazy

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what a nightmare... am I sleeping?

[Affected]

I think an artist should do way more than just scribble something on paper... an artist's work should open new worlds to the viewer, and if I were to say my work did that I'd be an egoistic asshole. So I won't say I'm an artist. I realize other people hold very different opinions on what the word means, and that's fine. I just think that it's fair for me to ask not to be called an artist, no?

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Affected
http://affected.cjb.net

[n8]

hmm...o yeah

[Muzman]

Try and keep it under fifty posts before I put up the next one.
I don't need any help looking slow :P

[Muzman]

Ahh, right then where was I?...

There might not be much interest in this now I guess. Everyone's probably saying "Well! Mr fancy pants doesn't want us chatting in His thread eh! Well lah dee dah."

Oh well, hopefully it didn't come across like that.
here's the next installment anyways


I had a look at a few references, just to get an idea of what a skull looks like. (Lycos image finder is great!) I neatened the whole thing up and took out the shadows etc.
You can also see the beginings of the mantle piece it will be sitting on.
The working size is now also 2048x1536 too, might even go larger depending on how it goes.
I listened to Autechre's album EP7 twice while doing this; so that's almost exactly two hours. This stage always takes the longest; getting everything looking right is essential for moving on. I'm not sure this is quite there yet for a lot of reasons. eg. The right cheek bone is more of a cheek flap at the mo

anyway, comments and diatribes welcome.
'til next time

[Affected]

Well, it's improving a lot. I would next look into getting some curvature below the nasal area, you know, where the teeth meet the skull. (I'm too lazy to find out the right terms. And even if I did, they'd probably be in latin.)

------------------
Affected
http://affected.cjb.net

[Muzman]

I'll settle for "upper jaw"
yeah, it's there but the lack of shadow kinda wrecks it. The teeth aren't helping much either

or you're talking about making it stick out more? further forward from the head etc.


[This message has been edited by Muzman (edited January 05, 2000).]

[spooge demon]

spoogeskull

God that was fun.

Great idea Muzman.

I think an artist is someone who does anything at a very high level. The ultimate is to be a top amateur. You don't have the luxury of inspiration when you do it to eat.

Let's see if I get the ubb right the first time...

[n8]

spooge does it again

[Shrimpish]

oh, hell yes!!!!
and the spooge man strikes again. LOL!
I love that, man.

One question: How the heck do you still keep a hang of the overall feel of the image, when you can never look at it as a whole? Since it doesn't fit on the screen, etc.
Jus' wondering.

[Shrimpish]

dammit, n8, you posted the same thing I did, a minute earlier... LOL!!!

[Muzman]

I'll wager that one did fit on the screen ok, or close too it.
it's only 2000x1600 after all, uber Mac would have no trouble.

yeah anyway, you can all just get the hell outa my thread now, thanks very much.:P

but seriously, since that cigar and ashtray thing didn't seem to take off, maybe everyone will start doing skulls instead.
drop by anytime spooge.

[imdaking]

hey muz! finish dat skull pic! but fix da nose a lil, i think it needs to come out just a bit more or something and also fix the damn teeth!! =O Looks cool though! also... uh, Spooge.... can you maybe give us a quick tutorial or osmething on how you sketch so damn good in photoshop =) thankee sir! ^_^

[Ben]

I'm just wondering, a couple of replies earlier, someone asked how he drew that huge skull pic without seeing the whole pic all at once. Am I a complete idiot, or does Photoshop not allow you to "zoom out"?

No offence, but this seems painfully obvious! I just copied and pasted the pic into a new photoshop image and I could obviously zoom out without a problem and see the pic in all it's glory all at once.

Well anyway, try it if you want to "see the whole thing".

-BEN

[Muzman]

I think they are reffering to the fact that it's easy to lose perspective when working close in on a pic for too long; and zooming in and out all the time can be rather time consuming and annoying particularly with big res pics.
sure it's worth getting used to and quite a skill when you're good at it; big scary harware power can smooth the way too

[Ben]

Hmm . . . you're exactly right Muzman, I thought about that after replying.

I wonder if there could be a way to work on a pic zoomed in, and, let's say, on another monitor have the pic zomed out so you can see the whole thing while you're working on it zoomed in. I don't know if this would help much in doing higher res stuff, but it's just a thought. Who cares.

-BEN

[Binke]

Ben, sure you can if you have a Matrox G400 Dualhead support for two monitors/TV/LCD.
its the Dualhead MultiDisplay function.
(where you can have two independent desktops on two different screens)

[Ben]

Binke - Actually I have two monitors hooked up to my pc. Stupid me, I just learned you can open a picture up twice and see what you're doing on the second copy as you work with the first one zoomed in. Hmm oh well.

I don't know if you know this, but you don't actually need the G400 to have two indapendent destops on two different screens. Windows98 Has a Multi Monitor Function where if you add a second video card and plug in another monitor, you can "extend" your desktop onto it. This is totally "plug-and-play" meaning you just hook it up, set it up, and ... well it's up!

***Read the following if ya want, it's just a little story as to how I came to figuring out that Windows can do this. It involves two FutureShop employees who don't know jack $hit about this stuff. It's rather funny if I do say so myself.

What I did is I had an old 14" monitor (<-crap) and bought a new 17". I also have a few video cards to add to that, from other upgrades and so on. I just had the old hardware sitting there collecting dust, so I decided to try to use them somehow after seeing a monitor display at the local Future Shop, but they were all the same desktops. The point here is I asked the guy behind the desk if he has a "box" or "splitter" that I can use to "extend" my desktop. He said smartly, "Yes, but it cost about $700 CAN! It's kinda on the pricy side!" Then another guy who acted like he was King $hit of Turd Island walked up and said, "Actually, if you want to do it that bad, you can add the second videocard and monitor and adjust some Windoes registry setting!" Supposidly, this is something which is very difficult to do.

So when I got home, I did a bit of research on the Net, and low and behold I found it. The stupid @sses at Future Shop were totally out of their minds. All you have to do is add the second video card, hook up the monitor to it, start up Windows, which automatically recognizes it, and you're done. Totally free, and totally easy.

Now if I could only replace my 14" with atleast another 17" if not 21"!

Just something I'd like to share with y'all.

later

-BEN

[Loki]

be aware that this only works with '98 and 2000 - '95 can't do it.

btw - you don't have to open another window to see an overview in photoshop. just use the 'navigator', you'll find it under 'window'...

[Ben]

LOKI - Actally, I knew Windows 95 couldn't do it. The main reason I didn't mention it was I don't know anyone who still uses 95. I take it there are still some people though.

Thanks, I didn't know about that navigator window. It's pretty cool.

-BEN