Final Drawing Project!

So here it is: My final drawing project! Bring 'Em Back Alive or A Magnum Rock Opus.

Bring 'Em Back Alive or A Magnum Rock Opus, 78 x 50", ink on paper, 2009.

For this project, I was interested in the idea of translating an idea from another medium into drawing. A classmate of mine had previously done it with the poem Kubla Kahn, so I figured that literature was out, since it had been done already. Naturally, I moved to music.

I chose Audioslave's Bring 'Em Back Alive because that song has ALWAYS made me think of an epic situation (although I'm saving that one for something else!) and I liked the allusions to the story of Icarus in the lyrics. I modified the story slightly, going along with the lyrics - instead of falling into the ocean, Icarus falls into a crowd and they bury him alive.

I was thinking of the old, old, OLD wall drawings and paintings we studied in art history, where an entire narrative (or large chunk) would be handled in a single panel. Kind of Surreal, with the playing of space. So I looked at the anticipation of flight to the fall.

Part of what I liked about this was that it reflected my views on society: it's a few who dare to step out and try, but if you fail there's never a shortage of people who criticize you for it. I avoided the whole allusion of Icarus being a model for the artist because that's WAY too overdone. Artists tend to evangelize themselves way too often for my liking.

On Struggle...

These are documentation photos I took of my installation project I did for my 3rd Year drawing class. I had my critique yesterday, and I think it went pretty well, despite not being able to install in the room I had initially wanted.

Angels detail, 2.5'x5'

Demons detail, 2.5'x3'

I had an Angels and Demons thing going, which was something of an introspective work. I had initially planned on working with science and new age material, but I really wasn't feeling it. So, as I struggled with that idea for a while and as I got stressed out about it, and got busy with all my other work, it came from a desire to want to give form to the 'demons' that were bothering me. So, I wish there were more figures in the piece, but there are concessions that have to be made when you have a last-minute change of idea. I definitely dig this subject matter more.

Perspective view of the space created by the projection

View of how the projection was created

I held over my initial idea of wanting to work with light via projection. I liked the idea of creating an intangible presence that was vulnerable to people entering the space, which they had to do if they wanted to see the drawings of the demons. Unfortunately, the room wasn't as dark as I'd have liked, and the silver sharpies weren't as reflective as I had hoped, so there's a bit less luminosity on the pages. In a perfect situation, I'd have managed to conceal the projector somehow, because the light-leak is atrocious.

View of the Angels with the Gates projected on them

View of the Demons with the Gates projected through them

I was really interested in how nobody in my class responded to the religious subject matter, and only seemed to comment on the installation and the space itself. On the one hand, I had worried that the religious content would be somewhat over-powering so I was happy that nobody seemed to take issue with it, but on the other hand I was a little disappointed that nobody wanted to challenge me on it. I'm glad that the space was commented on, 'cause it means I'm doing something right!

New Post, Old Product

Here's an example of the junk that floats around on my desk consistently, although this one is from the summer. I'm pretty happy with how the rooster head turned out, only downside is it took me longer than it should have because I spent the entire time chatting on MSN and watching TV while I did it... Blah...


The human head isn't that bad, although the skull is screwed up. I think I'll upload some of my other sketch papers. I tend to find them more interesting than final drawings, because they're rough and overlayed. Seems more genuine...

Ah. That's how it's done. Sorry for the terrible quality, but I recently (read, yesterday) had to reformat my entire machine, so no Photoshop to color correct and a new digital camera make for wonky white balance. Oh well... Easier than film processing!

The work is untitled, and is roughly 4x5 feet in size. Ink on paper. Made for my advanced drawing class earlier this academic year.

EDIT: Boom! Color correction, yeah! Don't care about the slight flare in the corner, 'cause it's kinda late. Just made it clearer, so that way it doesn't look like I live by candlelight. I think I'm going to leave the previous one up, 'cause I just like to see the difference post-processing makes.