This is the result of the two hour live painting session from last night. Looking good so far.
Ran another live painting stream last night at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/catagraphus.
This piece is now almost done! That went pretty quickly — thanks for the company!
(Background audio may include LCD Soundsystem, Justice, Goldfrapp, Thievery Corporation, The Postal Service, Four Tet, Imogen Heap, Portishead, Ulrich Schnauss, Aphex Twin, Dntel, Björk, Moby, Fischerspooner, Stars, Múm, and Underworld.)
They threw a party — a party with snacks, drinks, smoke sticks, and gambling — and told none of us!
From left to right: Angus (drink tester and erstwhile leader), Lucky (lucky), Project Glowyrm (official snack laserer), The Mache Giraffe (taking meeting minutes), Outlaw Cat (treasurer).
(Had the idea for this piece a few weeks ago. It’s nice to finally see it realized.)
Inevitable outcome is inevitable. Or inedible, if you prefer.
Obviously, this is one of the older Outlaw Cat comics. Sadly, its veracity is unchanged.
(Rigorous week thus far. I’m already exhausted.)
Here’s an example of how I go from conceptual sketch to final painting. This piece is titled Our Library and was done as a Christmas present for a friend with two cats. The cats are named Casper and Peekaboo, are great buddies, and — strangely enough — are almost completely identical.
Illustrating the unique qualities and similarities of these two cats is always a challenge. For this piece, I first decided on an appealing setting — a warm, comfortable sitting room — then divided the space and modified the poses, palette, and compositional elements to individuate the subjects. (If you compare the sketch to the final piece, you’ll see that an awful lot of detail work was done after the concept stage; this is perfectly fine if you’re confident in your ability to fill empty space with interesting things.)
Note all the artifacts in the background! Like most cats, these two are often occupied with adventure. One wonders what stories are associated with such a diverse collection.
Don’t worry — we’ll try to pick up the thread with Calliope and Duck again soon. Assuming I can get any sleep. I keep forgetting to pack my pencil and eraser in the mornings.
The demos for the new iMovie and iPhoto are impressive. However, I haven’t shot video in ages and use Adobe Lightroom for all my photo management. These products aren’t really for me. They do make me want to play, though… and maybe pick up one of those new hot high-def-movie-shooting DSLRs.
I’ve been playing with a neat little application named Brushes. It was developed by some hoopty frood named Steve Sprang.
Look at this result! Simple at first glance, but quite advanced given its context. How many people were responsible — really — for bringing this fearsome portrait to fruition? Think of the centuries of generations which have passed in an effort to elevate my art to this point!
Are exclamation points appearing spontaneously above your skulls yet?
(I think my finger is broken.)
Finally! An explanation for all those mysterious skull dents!
Apologies for falling down on the updates in recent days — I have been organizing a logistical miracle. Recent days were full of conversions of gallons to cubic inches, measurement and consideration of boxes and boxes of books, and careful planning! I’m not yet done, but the light at the end of the tunnel is visible. With the right equipment storage is a solved problem.
Posts will continue to be made ad hoc until next Monday or Tuesday. Stay tuned!
