attack of the Suckmonster

So, for Graphic Design class we had to had to pick a poem and with it create a typographical design. Sounds simple enough, right? Weeeell… that’s what I thought until my head started banging against the keyboard and the clock said it was time to turn the assignment in. Then I might have sobbed said a thing or two about how I was NEVER going to make it as a designer.

Because there’s something about the sucky days that makes them the worse ever. And they always seem like nothing is ever going to be right, and that if you keep looking at what you’ve done your eyes will fall out. And it’s all woe and you become a tiny ball of anger that bounces around snapping to people –that is, until the next sucky moment comes around, then that one becomes the worst.

Just like when you get burned. Have you noticed that the immediate pain always seems like the worst ever? It’s like your brain gets so overwhelmed by the alarms your burned hand sends that it doesn’t remember that breaking your leg on two places last year might have been a tad more painful. So if you could survive the pain of snapping your leg, you are probably going to be able to handle a minor burn.

That’s what happens to my brain. I tend to forget that the Suckmoster permanently lives with me, but that more often than not, it CAN be dealt with it.

So yeah, after a lot bit of panic and running around, I turned in the crappy project, and distracted the Suckmonster with an essay. Then became a total neurotic overachiever and found myself another poem and started from scratch. This is my second go at it:

 

It’s not perfect, but my instructor said it was such a drastic change that she would forget ever seeing the first try. Yup, it was that BAD.

So do you have any advice/stories/whatever about dealing with your Suckmoster?

Learning from the Masters

The latest on my painting class is Master Portraits.

Yup, it basically means we are coping making a reproduction of a portrait done by a famous painter in art history.

I picked Portrait of Alice Perry Grew by Lilla Cabot Perry.

See, when I was trying to decide, I was first attracted to the work of really famous artists, like Caravaggio, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Raphael, Rubens, Vermeer, Van Dyke… but then I looked at the prompt and read this:

MAKE SURE YOU CHECK THE LIBRARY FOR AVAILABILITY, SOME FEMALE ARTISTS MAY BE DIFFICULT TO FIND OR BOOKS MAY BE CHECKED OUT

And I was sort of hit with the realization that I hadn’t even CONSIDERED paintings by women! I mean, there ARE plenty of female artists through history –successful ones. Why is it so hard to find their work? Sure, there are fewer women painters because during some periods and places they weren’t allowed to paint. But it is NOT for lack of talent. Seriously, why didn’t I think of women before?

I bet there are lots of reasons why, some more direct than others. But I came up with a theory [I’m big on theories]. Could it be because before art history classes, most of the reproductions I’d seen were from the work of male artists –like the really famous artists I initially thought of?

Mmmaybe.

Whatever the reason is, I don’t like that thought process. And that’s why I reconsidered my pick. I didn’t end up working with Cabot Perry’s painting because she was a woman. I chose her because I liked her painting and because I thought I could learn something from it. I found her because I considered her.

I’m not deluded enough to think this means things are going to be better for women. Hell! We have a looong way to go. But I like to think this helps change something, even if the only thing changing is me.

I think that’s not enough.

Día de Muertos

Yesterday was el Dia de Muertos, and I got a little calavera!

When I was younger, every November I asked my mom to buy me one, and each time she would refuse because, according to her, I would never actually eat them and would end up just making a sugar mess of myself. Only, after lots of whining, puppy eyes, and promises on my cleanness and maturity, she would eventually get it. Of course, la calaverita would sooner or later end up as broken as my promises.

This year, I’m proud to report, didn’t end up making a mess, so if you don’t count the smudges of paint of my hands, I’m pretty clean. I still won’t eat it though.

I don’t think I ever wanted calaveras for the taste, but I think there’s something cool about having your name on a cute little skull. I mean, yeah, I know they are supposed to represent the dead person you are celebrating, but my little morbid self is content with getting a skull of her own.

What’s the meaning of this?

This is my midterm project for my Painting I class.

It was supposed to be a conceptual still life self portrait, so the objects had to have some kind of symbolism as well as personal meaning. For the project we were also asked to explain it all, from stylistic details to iconography, on a brief essay.

Honestly, the hardest part of the project was the ESSAY. I mean, I think I finally understand** why authors moan so much about the “where do you get your ideas” “how did you came up with X idea” kind of question. Because it IS hard to answer!

For me, the process wasn’t as clear as the outcome. What I thought I was doing is NOT exactly what I got. And the difference shows on the stuff that ended up on my essay. The meaning I told my instructor I intended was SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT and A LOT more influenced by the interpretations I was getting from the people that saw it than what I really had set out to get.

Seriously, I’m surprised by the interpretations people give me when I tell them the painting means something. Sometimes they give me an answer I expect, but sometimes they make me look again and re-evaluate what I did. And that is totally AWESOME!

It never stops to amaze me how you and me can be looking at the exact same thing and get absolutely different responses. And I see it happening not only with my painting, but with my classmates’ paintings, and on the books I read, and really, everywhere.

For all I know, you can be seeing this painting or reading this and think it’s utter crap.

And that’s okay. That makes it interesting.

**not really, some part of my brain (the one that’s patiently waiting for her Hogwarts letter) still thinks they won’t say because:

A) The information it’s protected by the Super Sekrit Society of Authors (where the YA Mansion is a branch).

B) Their genius can’t be explained to us mortal minds without our heads exploding, and they’re kind enough to keep our brain intact.

Book Cover

If you read book-related blogs, especially YA, you might have seen some discussion about book covers. This interests me not only because I love books, but because I’m also a graphic designer-on-training and those conversations brought to my attention a graphic aspect of books that I hadn’t consciously paid attention before. *coughs* Yes, some art student, aren’t I? Anyway, since then I’ve been more aware of the stuff dressing my beloved books, and I’ve found the obvious – all covers are NOT created equal. The quality gap between excellently and badly designed covers gets impressively wide.** Some covers are amazingly attractive and insanely creative at the same time as being representative of the book,*** while other covers are not so much. I mean have you seen the covers that get slapped into amazing books?****

So, when my instructor told me I had to incorporate text into the vector portrait I was making and one way to do it would be create a book cover, I was excited. I mean, this was my chance to put in practice the what-not-to-do wisdom I learnt from seeing all those hideous covers. I was going to show them how to do it RIGHT!*****

As you might imagine, it turns out it wasn’t as easy as I thought. To begin with, the only thing I had was my illustration of a creepy-pyromaniac girl,****** but no title, no story, no theme, no nothing. How do you make a book cover without a BOOK?! I’m sure that an actual graphic designer could have just done it, maybe titled the portrait and used it for the book’s name. But my brain doesn’t work that way. Practical, I mean. Instead I had to think up a whole story that matched the image, get the story’s theme and THEN name the book.

This was the result:

I wonder how many of the covers have been designed without the actual book. How many designers had just a summary or concept as guide? And of those how did the covers come out? Is really knowing the novel a requisite to a successful cover design? I think having the book is essential. But maybe, I’ve been hanging around writers’ blogs too much for my own good.

In any case, I don’t think I showed anybody anything with my cover. But I did like seeing my name up there, even after the instructor had me make it smaller because I wasn’t a bestseller author.*******

**I guess, just like the books themselves, but that’s another thing

***Because I think good covers represent the book –don’t even get me started on how maddening is when the inside and outside have nothing to do with each other

****And vice versa

*****Last week Me was so… naïve

******My sister

*******Like I was an author [or a writer] at all…

Sequel

Hai,

This is yet another attempt to blogging –because there are never enough of my procrastinating endeavors.

So yes, run! This is a warning signaling the start of the zombie apocalypse. 

 I will EAT your brains!