Wednesday
Jun222011
Utne Reader Illustrated: William Brown
Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 3:52PM Utne Reader art director Stephanie Glaros discusses a recent assignment she did with illustrator William Brown. Read about their process.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 3:52PM Thursday
Feb102011
Klutzy Cupid by William Brown
Thursday, February 10, 2011 at 10:04AM Klutzy Cupid
He's the fat little baby with wings and a bow and arrow. You see his picture every Valentines Day on cards, posters, and chocolate boxes.
But, that's no baby, he's an ancient god the Romans called Cupid and Greeks called Eros - as in "erotic." in other words, the flying fat-boy is the ancient god of Whoopee.
Mister Whoopee's job was to make sure humans, creatures, and even plants Did The Deed so that life could go on.
But Cupid bungled his biggest assignment, and his MOM was the client. Considering his mom was Venus, goddess of beauty and love, this was a bad move. Venus is not somebody you want a bad business (or any other) relationship with.
Venus was jealous of a mortal hottie named Psyche. "Psyche" means "soul," by the way - this story gets Deep. The goddess sent her son Cupid to sneak into Psyche's bedroom and, um . . . prick her!
No, no! Not like that! Prick her with an ARROW! Cupid had magic golden arrows that - you know this part - make people fall in love with the next person they see.
The PLAN was for Cupid to prick Psyche with his magic arrow. The PLAN was that Venus would make sure that the first person Psyche saw when she awoke was an ugly monster.
What was NOT in the plan was that Cupid, Venus' son, was a KLUTZ! He snuck in, accidentally stuck himself with the arrow , glanced down at Psyche . . . and cue the hearts and flowers music!
"Uh, mom? I had, like, a little problem?"
"WHAT?"
"Like, you know that arrow?"
"The golden magic arrow? The one you were to prick Psyche with?"
"Yeah, yeah! Uh, . . . I kinda, like, just grazed . . . myself. With it.
"WHAT?"
"It's ok, it's just a scratch? But, you know, then I, like, looked at Psyche? And, . . . um?"
"BY THE GODS! Can't you do ANYTHING right! You're worse than your father! [Mars - but that's another story]
But, that's no baby, he's an ancient god the Romans called Cupid and Greeks called Eros - as in "erotic." in other words, the flying fat-boy is the ancient god of Whoopee.
Mister Whoopee's job was to make sure humans, creatures, and even plants Did The Deed so that life could go on.
But Cupid bungled his biggest assignment, and his MOM was the client. Considering his mom was Venus, goddess of beauty and love, this was a bad move. Venus is not somebody you want a bad business (or any other) relationship with.
Venus was jealous of a mortal hottie named Psyche. "Psyche" means "soul," by the way - this story gets Deep. The goddess sent her son Cupid to sneak into Psyche's bedroom and, um . . . prick her!
No, no! Not like that! Prick her with an ARROW! Cupid had magic golden arrows that - you know this part - make people fall in love with the next person they see.
The PLAN was for Cupid to prick Psyche with his magic arrow. The PLAN was that Venus would make sure that the first person Psyche saw when she awoke was an ugly monster.
What was NOT in the plan was that Cupid, Venus' son, was a KLUTZ! He snuck in, accidentally stuck himself with the arrow , glanced down at Psyche . . . and cue the hearts and flowers music!
"Uh, mom? I had, like, a little problem?"
"WHAT?"
"Like, you know that arrow?"
"The golden magic arrow? The one you were to prick Psyche with?"
"Yeah, yeah! Uh, . . . I kinda, like, just grazed . . . myself. With it.
"WHAT?"
"It's ok, it's just a scratch? But, you know, then I, like, looked at Psyche? And, . . . um?"
"BY THE GODS! Can't you do ANYTHING right! You're worse than your father! [Mars - but that's another story]
Personally, I feel bad for the ugly monster. He's standing there in his best suit, a box of chocolates in his paw, expecting the hottest babe on the Mediterranean to rock his world, but the only rock he gets is the slimy one Venus flings him under as she storms out of the meeting with Cupid.
These days, Cupid gets depicted as a baby, but he was definitely a teenager at the time. Isn't it just like a teenager to be so klutzy?
Consider his thought process - you can tell his cerebral cortex was still mushy. He decided to woo Psyche, whom he was now head over wings for, by talking to her from the shadows and from behind walls. Is that fuzzy-headed, self-loathing teen-angst, or what?
A fuzzy-headed teen herself, Psyche decides that his invitation to live together in a castle where they will only meet in the dark seems like a good idea. Bliss is short-lived. Psyche's jealous sister suggests her mystery lover is hideous. Psyche wants to know, so she sneaks up on Cupid for a peek while he is sleeping.
When she sees him, thinking "Oh - the - gods, he is, like, SO hot!" he wakes up. But, does he say "Helloo, bay-bee!'" - which seems like the sort of response you'd expect from the God of Whoopee? No, he kicks her out of the castle! Teenagers!
She goes to Cupid's mother and begs her to help get Cupid back. Venus, the woman who wanted to hook Psyche up with an ugly monster, says, "Surrrrre . . . after you run some errands for me. Muwhahahaha!"
The errands are impossible - such as fetching a cup of water from a spring inaccessible to humans and guarded by giant serpents. But various gods and spirits help her out. She and Cupid get married and Psyche gets immortality. Imagine how happy that makes mother-in-law Venus! Stressed-out family holidays - for eternity!
These days, Cupid gets depicted as a baby, but he was definitely a teenager at the time. Isn't it just like a teenager to be so klutzy?
Consider his thought process - you can tell his cerebral cortex was still mushy. He decided to woo Psyche, whom he was now head over wings for, by talking to her from the shadows and from behind walls. Is that fuzzy-headed, self-loathing teen-angst, or what?
A fuzzy-headed teen herself, Psyche decides that his invitation to live together in a castle where they will only meet in the dark seems like a good idea. Bliss is short-lived. Psyche's jealous sister suggests her mystery lover is hideous. Psyche wants to know, so she sneaks up on Cupid for a peek while he is sleeping.
When she sees him, thinking "Oh - the - gods, he is, like, SO hot!" he wakes up. But, does he say "Helloo, bay-bee!'" - which seems like the sort of response you'd expect from the God of Whoopee? No, he kicks her out of the castle! Teenagers!
She goes to Cupid's mother and begs her to help get Cupid back. Venus, the woman who wanted to hook Psyche up with an ugly monster, says, "Surrrrre . . . after you run some errands for me. Muwhahahaha!"
The errands are impossible - such as fetching a cup of water from a spring inaccessible to humans and guarded by giant serpents. But various gods and spirits help her out. She and Cupid get married and Psyche gets immortality. Imagine how happy that makes mother-in-law Venus! Stressed-out family holidays - for eternity!
Other than that, they end up happy-ever-after! It's a perfectly romantic story for Valentines Day, especially because of the Deep message - the soul is more attractive than beauty.
Thursday
Jan202011
Keeping Godzilla at Bay or Why Bother with a Creative Brief
Thursday, January 20, 2011 at 10:37AM By Kate Tallent, illustration by Val Bochkov
Tuesday
Dec282010
Is Art School Worth It?
Tuesday, December 28, 2010 at 4:42PM Is Art School Worth it?
-By Eric Fortune
First off, I'm not downing formal education. I'm just asking if it's worth getting into $120 thousand dollars worth of debt not to mention the interest for four to six years of college. Especially in our current economic state.
So what does school offer us? Hopefully, teachers and peers who can assist in pushing us to be better than we are(ultimately we have to be our hardest critic). There's also access to facilities and opportunities to produce and experiment in. But these are really just opportunities the student can take advantage of not. You can't force someone to get better. It's a choice to pursue, a decision to push ourselves, to be on time with assignments, to stay after class to finish the still life or do extra reading etc. There's an intrinsic incentive for us to master the craft of our choice. We all know of self trained painters, illustrators, and musicians who are amazing at what they do.
Today we have more access to information than ever before. Let's list some:
- illustration tutorials on dvd that deal with technique process, business aspects etc
- illustration workshops like "Illustration Masters Class" where you may pay a fee for a professional ass kicking and intensely constructive experience.
- art books, the library is free
- video demos online( learned a lot about Photoshop from CMYKilla)
- all types of online art forums where one can get critical feedback from the art community of the world(take everything with a grain of salt}
- art blogs, personal and collective... I'd list some but I'm blanking out right now.
- attending conventions, lectures, and demos to observe, ask questions, and get feed back from professionals
- taking advantage of museums and galleries to view original works
- online classes such as "Schoolism"
- private internships
- You can also find the contact information of your favorite artist and ask some specific questions. I try to answer as many as I can fit into my schedule as well as email others for advice.
Thankfully, there are scholarships to help kids with paying for school. I could be wrong but I would assume the kids who get the scholarships are the same kids who are drawing and producing art even when they don't have to because they want to get better.
Even if you were interested in a Masters Program you could look up the list of professors that you would be learning from and read up on literature written by said professors.
My point is there is an abundance of information out there. You have the same options you have in art school. You can take it or leave it. The choice is yours. We all know people in school who didn't take the time to do the work. School is only as good as you make it. Going to the best art school doesn't make the best artist.
Is staying at home or even with some of your art buddies and learning/practicing via these alternative methods(the same methods artists use even after graduating college)as good as going to an art school? Maybe not. Maybe so and it's just a different learning experience minus the debt. Again, it depends on how much the individual is putting into mastering their craft. The art school environment is great and if art school wasn't so expensive I wouldn't be writing this blog post. Can you get educated for a lot less than it cost to attend art school? What are your personal school experiences/regrets? Would you do it differently if you could?