Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Falcon in Flight Finished Rendering
Here is the finished rendering of the Peregrine Falcon I've been working on. This was a piece that became more and more fun as it went on, originally I had thought about leaving it very lightly rendered, showing only the shadows and depth involved and not the tone of the bird. Now I feel it needed to be taken as far as I did, it would be too unfinished... even though I like doing many unfinished drawings, but they end up being unfinished only because I saw that the dynamic of the pose or the description of the subject was done and there was no need to move on. This is a drawing that had to be "finished".
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Sensitivity and the HUMAN Right to Free Speach
This is a portrait of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, in an obvious "Uncle Sam" pose. I could explain my meaning and why I would do something so inflammatory, and most of you wouldn't care, but I don't feel the need to. I feel that good art should have a reason or a meaning, and this one does too, but I think its more important that we see what it means today. A few months ago, two of my favorite contemporary artists cam under fire for their satirical commentary of the prophet Muhammad, Trey Parker and Matt Stone the creators and minds behind South Park. They had a two part episode that adressed the taboo nature of Islam, in this episode all of the celebrities that the show has poked fun at or attacked joined together to capture Muhammad in order to steal his ability to not be talked about at all. The celebrities, led by Tom Cruise, held the entire town of South Park hostage in until they brought Muhammad to them. The most clever of all things is that in the South Park world, it was just as it was here, in order to bring the Muhammad to the celebs, they needed to see his, or expose him to the "public" eye, obviously the town was in fear of attack for doing so. They devised a plan to have him transported around which was perfect, a U-Haul truck and a bear costume. This is all the viewing world saw, a bear suit and a U-Haul truck, he said maybe six muffled words. Because of all this, there was mass responses from Islamic people and various representatives, Comedy Central saw no alternative other than to censor and then censor eve more (most of which without Trey and Matt's knowing), to a point that the season is on hold and the episode is not being shown online as all others are. This is in excusable, even if you thought that these men were directly trying to harm the Islamic people, you can't threaten or censor them simply because you don't like it. This is not just a principle of the US, this is a ideal that should ring clear throughout the world. All people should be allowed to speak their minds, without fear of repercussions from a government or organization. If you disagree with what a show says, simply stop watching it and if enough people agree with you, the show will slowly fade into nonexistence. I've heard from Matt and Trey that most of their shows have very little intentional meaning, they're just having fun. This is the reason why I feel I don't need to explain my meaning when I present this drawing, it is here to incite. I want you to think about the consequences we face in censoring, "...Evil should be averted by more speech and not enforced silence". I think the thing that angers me most about this subject is the nation of Islam condoning violence towards anyone who would dare show their prophets visage. When the prophet Muhammad said that imagery should be averted, he spoke of idolizing, and taking away from God (Allah). This is a wonderful idea, but the holy, taboo nature Muslims have given him has risen him to a point of a deity already. By holding above all other people you defeat what he had intended. I personally feel that Islam has many wonderful ideals, but as with most religions, the people who follow them have bastardized the essence that made it important. I will say that I am not a Muslim, nor should it matter, I am a child of this world and my beliefs should not hinder my existence nor yours.
Barn Owl Portrait
As an artist, or more specifically, as a person who loves drawing I have a subject that has been my bane ever sense I started drawing; the Barn Owl. I've always been mesmerized by their look and continually try to draw them, always feeling like I've just skirted what needs to be captured. I did this one last night while watching a good movie (which is the normal way to find me being creative, or with alcohol in addition) and found a photograph online that I just needed to stylize. I like it but still feel a little is still not entirely there. It may just be the the quest to better myself and the ability to see improvement is a good thing, annoying some times, but...
Falcon in Flight
This is a piece I did, and am still finishing, for a gentleman who came across my work on Google images. He found my Blog and emailed me requesting a falcon not unlike the Peregrine Falcon portrait he found online. He said he wanted a drawing of the same species of falcon in mid-flight, and I told him I would be more than happy to. I did several quick studies and really loved this pose, it gave the impression of the bird banking slightly into the wind, most likely due to seeing prey. It is one of those pieces that I enjoyed drawing so much that it will be of some pain to send it to its owner. The comfort knowing that this gentleman liked my work so much that he sought me out to have one of his own. I still want to do some light rendering on it, and possibly a flat tone to accentuate the dark blue/gray that the falcon has on its entire back. Seeing as its a commissioned piece, I feel that leaving it up to the client is important. I'll post the final piece as soon as I've completed it.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Holy Grail of Production
I've been dealing with a "problem" lately that I hope to correct soon, a artistically diverse and versatile show that still has a quick and simple production line. This is the Animation Producer's "Philosopher's stone", the almost impossible quality of any company but for animation, even more rare. Animation is a time consuming and costly medium, once the commitment to a story is done, the ability to change or adapt is almost gone. The other side is having the free nature of creativity in your work (whether it be TV or a full feature) obviously limits the quality of the animation. A good example of great story and free creativity is South Park or Archer, but obviously the "style" they have chosen is very minimal, identifiable but still limited in animations as an art. If the look is more the importance, you either have an amazing story, the money to spend the time on story, or a lack in story all together. I want to find the Holy Grail, the medium, the right amount of animation to be able to express myself and the ability to fluidly write a story and produce it all in little time with little production cost. Right now the best answer is 3-D cel shading with simple character designs (that are reused for the most part) and the most open and fluid amount of story writing. I think that the easiest explanation for now is a Warner Bros, Chuck Jones, short-style production but still having the 2-D animation quality in a 3-D easy production. All of this is not too rigid as to restrict any artistic fluidity.
Being as I have no example of this idea, I'll leave with a facial character test I did for my first Thesis idea; a Mandrill character going through emotion tests...
Being as I have no example of this idea, I'll leave with a facial character test I did for my first Thesis idea; a Mandrill character going through emotion tests...
Friday, May 14, 2010
Brown Pelican
Stylized Drawings 2
This is a Sketch I did of a Peregrine Falcon that I really enjoyed doing. The best drawings that I've done (in my opinion as the artist) are not the ones that are the most aesthetically pleasing, but the ones that are the most fun to create. These are the ones that I spend hours on and I get so lost in the moment that I feel no time passing at all. Allowing yourself to just go with whatever feels natural is actually harder than it sounds, but worth it.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Stylized Animal work
Here are a few Drawings I did, the start of series that displays a specific style I want to continue. The style is mostly about clean lines that are found using the most economical motion in my wrist. Some time ago I wanted to create a style all my own that could be well recognized and easily created (Honestly expressing myself).
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
"Froogal Flakes" rough
"Froogal Flakes" is the name of my thesis project that I will be working on during the summer and then producing and documenting over the year. Froogal Flakes is a 3D animated short that satirizes the cartoon cereal commercial. It's about a Scottish cereal that is hawked by the "Scott" (current short-hand name) who is an angry, cheap, crazy Scotsman that yells and endorses his product with the help of his mascot; a one eyed pitiful goat. This is a gag driven short and I haven't nailed down any concrete story.
I want to list a lot of hanging possible gags...
- For the opening I'm thinking about a 50's black n white style introduction that involves an innocent "Leave it to Beaver"-like character, "jeeze misters" and all.
If I do end up using the child in the final, I want to have the "Scott" treat him like crap, yell at him constantly, and eventually knock him unconscious.
-At some point ( 3/4s probably) I want the "Scott" to address his competition (parodies of current cereal mascots, including "Lucky"). Cardboard cut outs of each of these pop up and Scott takes a golf club to each of them, and yes accidentally hits the young kid. Oh, and while Scott is breaking these cut outs, he's also breaking them apart by saying all the wonderful mascots, marshmallows, and wonderful prizes are not what any kid would want.
I want to list a lot of hanging possible gags...
- For the opening I'm thinking about a 50's black n white style introduction that involves an innocent "Leave it to Beaver"-like character, "jeeze misters" and all.
If I do end up using the child in the final, I want to have the "Scott" treat him like crap, yell at him constantly, and eventually knock him unconscious.
-At some point ( 3/4s probably) I want the "Scott" to address his competition (parodies of current cereal mascots, including "Lucky"). Cardboard cut outs of each of these pop up and Scott takes a golf club to each of them, and yes accidentally hits the young kid. Oh, and while Scott is breaking these cut outs, he's also breaking them apart by saying all the wonderful mascots, marshmallows, and wonderful prizes are not what any kid would want.
Authority Zero Design Contest
One of my favorite bands is holding a design contest for new ideas to be used on t-shirts, merchandise and concepts for the new album. Authority Zero's music embodies the beach loving, drinking, easy going, partying, pirate that this Irish bastard loves, so the concepts I'll be deigning are more about fun than getting my name out there, or winning some prize... all are good thou. I'll put some up soon enough.
(Oh, and this picture I posted is not of my creation, I just wanted to display something of Authority Zero's)
Joe.
Tenative Mission Statement...
Art is first and foremost. We are committed to honestly expressing ourselves without compromising the essence of the art involved. Self refinement is essential, but not to the point of second guessing or baiting demographics. We are not limited to any one medium, only our experience in that area. Efficiency is paramount as long as it doesn't sacrifice the artistic expression, regardless of current standards.
Current projects involve
-3D Animation
-Storyboarding: Feature Film, Short Film, and Music Video
-Graphic Design
-T-Shirt Design
-Feature Film Story
Founder, President, and Lead Artist
Joseph Turner Kennedy Hogan
Current projects involve
-3D Animation
-Storyboarding: Feature Film, Short Film, and Music Video
-Graphic Design
-T-Shirt Design
-Feature Film Story
Founder, President, and Lead Artist
Joseph Turner Kennedy Hogan
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