Evaluating Interest

I recently ordered a poster from Jonathan Koshi (The LEGO one), and I started thinking. I've got a couple of designs done over the years for amusement, some of which I briefly (and rather unsuccessfully) attempted to sell as t-shirts. I've been meaning to get some of them printed as posters, and thought that I might have some success selling them. So, I'd like to see what kind of interest people have in the following designs. Which (if any) would you consider purchasing if it were available as a poster? And - because I'm pretty inexperienced as far as these things go - I'd love any suggestions you might have as far as selecting a printing company, style of printing, type of paper, etc. Out of the lot, my favorites are Red Golf, the Top Hat Appreciation Society, and Escher, You Bastard.

Note: If you want one of these printed, please leave a comment telling me so! I can't decide if I don't get any input!

Without further ado:

Red Golf

Justice vs. Ninjas (I'm a bit sure about the color scheme on this one - either print it on colored paper or change the scheme?)

Reject Propaganda

The following sketches would obviously be updated to digital format and edited somewhat. For example, I'd probably go for a Victorian-age look for the Top Hat Appreciation Society.

Top Hat Appreciation Society

Escher, You Bastard

Thanks for any input you might have!

Lost it

Thought I'd post my latest sketch (click on it to go to the larger DeviantArt image!). Reference image here - apparently this actually happened, and one lady got killed. Scary.

Oh, and the stuff I mentioned in my last post (Minecraft, real life-y stuff) will go up sometime soon. Maybe today.

Hurfblargh

So, I guess it's probably a good time to update on what's been going on. Lessee...

I've been continuing to do sketches and suchlike. Apart from those five, I've also got a few ideas queued up for later - that is, whenever I've got some time to sketch.

School's been continuing as usual, though I just got sick the other day, and it's irritating as hell. Runny nose, sore throat, a headache, the works. I took a two-hour nap after my last class today, woke up feeling only slightly better and unsure of what day it was (I hate how that always seems to happen), went to eat dinner, where I decided to drink some red Gatorade because it looked like cough syrup and I was wondering if it'd work as a placebo (It didn't), and then went to a chemistry test which I had decided not to study for. Actually, I just got back from said test, and it went fine, though it took me a bit longer than expected due to the whole "head-felt-like-a-compressed-balloon" thing.

Outside of school, we've been working quite a bit on my apartment for next semester, and it's coming along nicely. I've got some pictures on my phone, but I'm too lazy to put them up now. Suffice to say, the walls are pretty much all painted, the bathroom's getting close to completion, and we're starting to work on installing the new cabinets in the kitchen. I should probably start thinking about furniture and layout soon.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure I got a job today as a lab assistant at the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) labs just off campus. Duties will involve lots of data processing and some work with their instruments. I'm excited.

On a completely irrelevant note, I purchased my Halloween costume today, though it has to ship and such. Unfortunately they only had it in small size, but I'm desperately hoping it'll fit. I won't say what it is now, so I can do a big dramatic unveiling or something.

That's all for now!

A (Hopefully) Short and (Hopefully) Reasonable Discussion on Art

People often ask if I'm taking an art course when they see my sketchbook, and more often than not they're surprised that the answer is no. Truth be told, I actually haven't taken an art course since elementary school (No, that graphic arts class I took freshman year of high school doesn't count - it hardly even counted as a class at all), and it's actually for a relatively specific (In my opinion, anyways [What's with all the parenthesis in this post?]) reason: I don't believe that art courses, as they are usually taught, are able to teach people art.

Now, before you get all uppity (I'm looking at you, reader!) with me, allow me to elaborate. I think a structured art course can teach certain aspects of art, namely the technical ones: Perspective, shading techniques, etc. What art courses fail and are unable to teach, however, is an artistic way of viewing things. You're perfectly fine showing someone the technique of drawing what they see, but it's an entirely different matter to teach them what is worth capturing and in what way.

Take, for example, a still life - a pretty common assignment in art courses. Assuming a reasonably competent teacher, you can be pretty sure that most people in the class will be able to draw the objects as they are presented. But Art - with a capital A - is more than that. Art is being able to look at the presentation of the objects and decide upon a good angle to view them from, optimum lighting, the style in which one captures the objects, etc. It takes a special perspective on the world to be able to do this, and in my opinion, this is something that you can't teach someone. It's akin to telling someone who is colorblind to look at one of those generic "numbers hidden in the dots" images and say to them, "No, no, you just need to view the green dots as a single object" (I realize this analogy may not be completely appropriate to the situation, but it's the best I can come up with for the moment). You're telling the person to view the image using a means that they simply do not have, and trying to teach someone to view the world through a figurative artistic lens presents a similar challenge.

Now, I'll admit that I too am guilty of sometimes just drawing what I see, but I like to think that I have a certain talent for rearranging or creating scenes in a reasonably creative manner in my other pieces. One thing that would appeal to me is a more loosely-run art class, wherein students are given minimal (if any) direction as to their work and simply told to create a certain number of pieces by the end of the course. I've heard that these types of classes do exist, but they tend to have structured classes as a prerequisite. So maybe it is reasonable to have people got through an introductory, structured class, to identify those who can think creatively, before allowing them into a loosely-run class. Moreover, I think structured art courses are a definite necessity for someone who actually intends to go into the art world, because it's assumed that these people already possess the "artistic lenses" and simply need to refine their technique. But for someone who possesses no artistic sense whatsoever, I would argue that it's nigh impossible to teach them to look at the world artistically.

Personally, though, I think I'll just stick with casual sketching for now. Maybe sometime in the future...

Moleskine! Also some other stuff.

(click for a larger version)

Yeah! Pictured there is the first drawing I've done in my new Moleskine sketchbook (From Amazon, for $12).

It really just started out as the central "body" sphere, from which I just started adding details and components and whatnot until I got bored of doing so. I have no idea how to draw water tanks, so improvised.

Now, on to other stuff.

I recently got a free pair of Skullcandy Icon headphones from the "grand reopening" of CU's bookstore. I'm using them now and they're decent - I prefer headphones over earbuds just for comfort reasons.

I also picked up some TUL mechanical pencils and Paper Mate Black Pearl erasers this past weekend while I was at home. I've used one of the TUL pencils before and really like the way it feels when you're writing with it. Haven't been disappointed thus far. The Black Pearls have been recommended to me and they were $1.99 for a pair of two, so I figured I might as well.

Speaking of being at home, I played some Halo: Reach as well (Amazon's currently got a promotional offer going - order Reach and you get $20 in credit towards your next video game purchase). The campaign storyline was fantastic - I think it's true that the previous iterations have been very Halo fan-oriented, with a lot of terminology, etc. Reach, on the other hand, went for a much more human story, and it really comes through. The customization system (You earn credits for doing things, which can be spent on new armor permutations, etc.) and daily challenges are very well-implemented and I was actually motivated to play multiplayer by some of the challenges (Of note - I very rarely play a game seriously. I'm much more likely to screw around.). All in all, an excellent conclusion to Bungie's Halo arc of games.

The Troubles of a Bored College Student

Oh, woe is me.

Week One: Complete!

Made it through a week of classes! Yeah! Checkpoint reached! And it's... well, not very stimulating or challenging thus far.

I'm currently enrolled in Intro to Molecular/Cellular/Developmental Biology (From here on out, I will refer to it as MCDB), General Chemistry for Majors, Intro to Sociology, and Intro to the Bible. My MCDB class is seriously just a review of last year's class, according to the syllabus. However, it also doesn't cover as much stuff, so maybe they go into more detail. Maybe. Chemistry might actually prove to be an interesting class, as it is taught by Thomas Cech, a Nobel Laureate. Thus far, however, it's just been a review of basic stuff - significant figures, units, dimensional analysis, etc. More on that in a moment. Intro to Sociology also seems like it might have promise - the material seems relatively interesting (bordering on IB Theory of Knowledge-esque). However, I'm not certain that the other people in the class are capable of discussing it at an engaging level. Yes, yes, that's me being egotistic. I don't care. As far as Intro to the Bible goes, I'm actually amused since my teacher seems more liable to laugh at the Bible than I am. Hmh. Could be a fun class. Intro to the Bible is also my smallest class (as it is an honors class), with about 20 people. The rest of my lectures are all at least 100.

I've also come to the realization (Er, re-realization?) that I'm really really bad at meeting new people. I was okay in IB because generally people were pretty motivated and intellectually interesting to speak to, but it's nigh impossible to judge that sort of thing in a college environment, with thousands of people walking around. As such, I'm finding myself making pre-judgments of people before I meet them, which might not necessarily be a good thing. The problem is, I'm somewhat incapable of having an extended conversation with someone that I don't already respect to some degree. And it's proving to be somewhat difficult to respect these people. For example, in my first chemistry lab section, we were (again) going over basic things: significant figures, units, and the like. Here's the gist of one of the problems that they gave us:

You have a 5.0 cubic centimeter sample of a substance. It has a density of 1.5 g/cm^3. If you were to double the volume to 10.0 cubic centimeters, what would the density be? DO NOT CALCULATE THIS - JUST GIVE AN ANSWER AND EXPLAIN WHY.

See the part where it explicitly says "do not calculate"? Well, at least three people (Possibly more - these three were sitting right in my vicinity) attempted to calculate it. I tried to explain why that wasn't necessary. One person sort of figured it out after a moment (Or, at least, pretended to). One person couldn't be convinced. One person stared blankly at me for a moment before just writing down 1.5 g/cm^3. At this point, I decided that interacting wasn't really worthwhile and decided instead to draw a picture of the most interesting thing in the room: A faucet. See below.

So... yeah. As I suspected, the intellectual transition to college wasn't a transition at all. More of a fall down a hill. The social transition, however, may prove to be a bit more problematic. I will say that I have met some people who I am okay with interacting with for an extended period of time. Some are Lakewood IB kids who came to CU. Another couple are IB people from other schools. One is my roommate, who is pretty alright. And finally, I met a senior over breakfast one day, after convincing the coffee shop to sell me a cup of milk (I am not a coffee drinker at all). So, I guess there's hope.

Onwards, then.

On a different note, I may have found a potential way to make some money over the course of my college life. A friend of mine who was in debate (Now going to Stanford) is starting up a business, selling debate research to high school coaches, and offered to pay me to design a logo for him. I, of course, accepted, and it seems to be going well (Progress shots to be uploaded at some point). I guess I could do some graphic design/consulting as a small part-time affair, though it might be tricky to establish myself. Something to consider.

Project: Draw Everything

Had nothing to do at work for a bit. Drew my car keys. (Yes, the bunny has only one eye. It's an old bunny. Also, its ears are coming close to falling off.)

P.S. Picture taken with my (less-than-awesome) cell phone camera, so sorry for the poor quality.

P.P.S. I'm also going to try using Flattr out a bit. It probably won't go anywhere, but hey, let's try it anyways.

The Beginning of the... Beginning?

One week until August. Three weeks until I finish with my current job. One month until I begin college. Interesting.

I'm usually not a very sentimental person, but as I move closer to the big day (Of note: That may be the first time that I have ever used the phrase "the big day"), I'm really starting to look around and realize that all of this is going to change. It's strange to think that I've been living in this house for essentially my entire life, and in what amounts to the blink of an eye, I'll be living somewhere completely different, with completely different people. Not to be too melodramatic, though - CU Boulder is just a bus ride away from home, and I fully expect to be coming back to visit at least twice a month. If only to go out for dim sum with the family.

Even still, it's a major reminder that absolutely nothing in life is static, and almost everything about one's current way of living can change at the drop of a hat (Also of note: I don't think I've ever used the phrase "at the drop of a hat", either).

Sentimentality aside, I need to start packing up stuff to bring along with me for move-in on the 19th. I've decided not to bring my (huge) desktop, and will instead be taking my new laptop. Speaking of that, I ended up returning the Lenovo that I had purchased before and am currently waiting for a new HP to come in. More on that particular escapade another time. I also need to go out and buy supplies, notably some sort of organization system. I'm currently considering getting one of those filing crates and a bunch of hanging folders to organize stuff by class, etc. In addition to that, there's the usual: loose-leaf paper, notebooks, whatever. For my... artistic side, I'm thinking about getting a Moleskine sketchbook. It's a bit on the expensive side, yeah, but I figure I'll give the high end a try.

Decisions, decisions.