Screaming My Lungs Out (With Nothing to Say)

I know, I know… I’ve been really bad about updating these last few weeks. No excuse – My paintings aren’t turning out well and I’m really self-conscious about sharing them. Here’s one from last week… I guess it’s an improvement, but I still feel like I belong in a remedial painting class.

I’ve got a project due at the end of the week that I’m not really far on and isn’t really turning out well. I’ve actually turned to stress eating and, since I’ve been busy working on these lame paintings, I don’t have time to make it to jujitsu that often, so now I’m worried I’m gonna gain weight. Needless to say… I’m not having a fun summer.

Yup. Painting thing still needs more work.

First homework assignment for Situation and Environment. I don’t think it’s that bad (although this is a terrible picture of it), but I guess we’ll see what my teacher says tomorrow.

So, I guess I’m not as horrible at painting as I previously thought. It just takes me a LOOOONG time to make things look good. Here’s the original photo…

It’s times like these that I hate writing this blog. I know I didn’t update on Monday, and it’s not like I didn’t have “something” to put up. I just didn’t have something to put up that I was “proud” of in any sense. See, I’ve never been a very strong painter – actually, I’ve never felt really strong in any “color” medium. I always feel a bit overwhelmed and just haven’t figured out a solid system for coping. With those nupastel things I just sort of threw color at the paper and prayed something would come out of it – and the truth is that I never was really satisfied with the results. I’ve been trying the same approach with oil, but to no real luck. So, now I’m in a class where everyone else seems to have a handle on the medium, and here I am, the straggler at the rear of the pack, and, because the class is so short (10 weeks to the regular 15), I can’t seem to find my footing. Needless to say, it makes me a little depressed and self-conscious – which only exasperates all the other areas in my life that make me depressed and self-conscious. So, basically, I’ve been in a pretty bummed out mood lately.

Anyways, here’s something I did in that class a few days ago. It’s not particularly good and I’m not particularly happy with it, but whatever.

Yes, yes, I know I didn’t update last night. The truth is that I don’t really have any work I feel “proud” to show. So, here’s a glimpse of something I’ve been working on for the last month or so. It’s not quite finished, but I think it’s coming along nicely.

First in class painting for my Situation and Environment class:

… And so it begins. Oil painting. We have our first homework project due a week from Friday and I”m a little stressed. Color painting freaks me out. It seems like whenever I pick up the brush all my fundamentals fly out the window and I just can’t function. I’m scared that I can’t make sense of color, that I can’t control the medium, and so far my attempts have proven me right. But there’s nothing like a bath of fire to clean this deep down dirt out of me.

Aaron’s pin up is finally finished, and, being the professional that I am, I’m posting it without his approval. In fact, I’m SO professional, instead of sending him the color proofs in an email, I’m gonna just link him to the blog. It’s a wonder that I don’t get any work…

I’m pretty stoked on the colors to this one. I actually added highlights and reflective light and STUFF! So, it took me a bit more time, but I’m pretty happy with the results. Too bad Aaron’s gonna print everything in black in white. So instead of this amazing color version, the comic will have this version…

Lame.

Crud. I didn’t really want to post this piece until it was fully finished, but school started and the last few days have been a little hectic. So, I’m a little low on finished work at the moment.

Awhile ago my buddy Aaron asked me to do a pin up for his comic “The Ballad of YFB”. I, being the accommodating person I am, said, “Sure thing!”, but being the forgetful person I am, completely blanked that I agreed to this. So, about a week ago I got an email asking, “Are you gonna do this or not, because if you don’t do it, then I’m just gonna leave the page blank… Come to think of it, that might look better.” So, being the spiteful and angry person I am, I drew the pin up.

He dug it, but said that the layout might be better if it was vertical. I tend to agree, especially since someone else (Shaun) pointed out the massive amounts of negative space on the right side. So, here’s a conundrum… How do you rearrange the composition of something without redrawing the whole thing? Easy… Photoshop.

Ah. Much better. I think it’s a little weird that the poster is so high over everyone’s head, but just ignore that and it looks okay. Also… See that gap in the bottom of the poster where I cut out the robot’s head? Ignore that also.

Post Script – Hey, I really, really am interested in getting that White Stripes thing I posted on Monday put on some shirts. Actually, I would like to try to sell the design to someone so they can put ‘em on shirts, pay me a little money, and print me one to wear around. The problem is that I have no idea where to start with something like that. Any ideas from all you brilliant, beautiful people out there? At the very least, anyone willing to print me a copy of this? For free? ::wink::

Monday already? Yeesh, time flies when you’re keeping busy. I’ve been workin’ on pin ups and more of that Imagination Nation stuff and… yeah, buncha stuff.

So, good news everybody. School starts up… well, today actually… so you should get to see some new paintings and stuff real soon. I’m taking a class called Situation and Environment, which, from my understanding, is a finger… er… figure painting class. So, I’m a bit nervous, but we’ll see how I do with that.

I had this idea while driving down to Santa Cruz this weekend, and thought it was so good that I’d actually take the time to put it together. I really think this would make a great t-shirt where it has this on the front, and on the back it says, “Rock, Jack. Rock.” I’d hella buy that shirt.

Alternate title for this post: ”I’m Pretty Good Looking For a Girl”