kollektief

So I’m going to this Small Press Expo (SPX) this coming weekend, and I’ve been in a flurry of prepartion. First, I made a display stand that has my yeti character on it.

And then I decided to be more ambitious and make a stand that could hold two comics where you can still see the character (one of the flaws of the yeti one… it has space for a 2nd comic, but you can’t see the yeti if you put it there)

That one uses this drawing I did of my interpretation of god. He has a lot of hands to get things done, a lot of eyes to see/know everything, a lot of ears to hear all the prayers, but only one mouth (e.g. the word of god, not the wordS of god). Took me like 2+ hours to cut it out and another 2+ to paint it all. The yeti only took like 2 total! But I’m super happy with it and I think that both of them will attract people to my table and help me sell comics. At least, that’s the hope.

In other preparations, I’m working on making small cards printed on the gocco press. I’ll post those up as I finish them. I should have four different designs total, when all’s said and done. Everyone loves greeting cards, right? Or something.

(if you click on the photos, you can see them larger)

So I got here around four, maybe five.  I had put the fouth coat of gesso on these four sheets of chipboard on Wednesday, and they were basically glued to the floor with gesso, so I cut them off, the first hour or so was removing gessoed chip board from the floor.  The the sweeing.  I found a broom.  I was very greatful for the broom.  Coffeegrounds everywhere!  But not anymore, because of the broom.  And so then I called Whitney because she is having boy problems in California.  Then I did a lesson out of the Adobe Photoshop CS3 Classroom in a Book (actually pretty awesome).  Then, finally, around 8:30, I got to work.  here are some things that I made: http://www.solidstatecircus.org/update/Studioland_Special.html Feel free to be scathing.  I really like the one with the face in the wine glass.

so since I have no job right now, i’ve been trying to figure out things to keep myself busy and on a somewhat regular schedule (to keep myself not depressed). the graphic design class at SVA sort of helps with that, but I really want to explore what I can do with comics as a medium. to this extent, i’ve decided to start doing a comic that i will (for the foreseeable future) only put on the web. it’s a way for me to explore new techniques/colors/etc without the worries of how the hell to fund a self-publishing. i’ll post a new update of it every wednesday on my livejournal page.

also, i know i’ve already asked blake, dan, and irene, but i’m looking for a name for the comic. maybe after a few more pages one will appear? suggestions are always welcome.

stay tuned! read my comics!
(also, I have two new for sale if you didn’t know at my etsy store. one of them even has a robot in it! explosions! and is a full 24-page story!!)

Yesterday I gave a 32 slide presentation on breeding to my whole company during lunch, which I had requested to be sushi and sashimi, but ended up being a small portion of sushi and sashimi and lots of noodle dishes.  Alas.  I’ve exported the presentation to HTML and put it up on solidstatecircus.org.  The export to HTML feature in Keynote.app (by the way, a much more pleasant program to use than Powerpoint) seems to just turn each slide into a big .png file and add little navigation button at the bottom, so there are a couple of pictures in there that are supposed to be movies.  Maybe if I feel motivated later I’ll figure out how to put the movies in.

The address is:

http://www.solidstatecircus.org/clownfish/clownfish.html

By the way, how does one create a hyperlink here?  I don’t see anything obvious.

I’ve just spent the past three hours cleaning and arranging things in the place that I think I really need to stop referring to as “Geeta’s Apartment.”  See that chair in front of that sexy white desk with the sexy MacBookPro on it and the glass of eleven dollar a bottle five dollar a bottle wine from Whole Foods?  That’s the chair I’m sitting in now.  It’s pretty sweet.  I just wish I didn’t have to bike home, go to bed, wake up, and go to work in the morning.  I’ve got Friday off, though, so I might even get a painting started.

I’m not quite sure about the protocol for this whole sub-letting thing.  I mean, I’m here for the next eight months, at least, but all of Geeta’s stuff is still here.  How free should I feel to re-arrange things, to throw stuff out?  I think I’ve been pretty liberal about moving things, but pretty conservative about throwing stuff out (the package of dried mushrooms, for example, which is in the fridge, plus the two dozen different kinds of tea).  Also, today I found out through Steve, who lives downstairs, that Geeta is planing on visiting this weekend!  I’d be surprised if she wasn’t planing on staying here.  Seems odd.  I mean, for all she knows I’ve started slicing up sharks in formaldehyde all up in here.

And I meant to make drawings while I was here but got all caught up with the cleaning.  Perhaps I will make some now.

in the hey out there mode: hi! i’m an m.arch student now; i can no longer simply imply that m.arch’s a somewhat inferior and strangely old species. and apparently i live in new york; i was biking up park ave (which sucks by the way above 97th st because it is one lane between abandoned buildings and a big stone overpass) thinking wow, i’m on park ave. like monopoly – there’s monopoly money all over the place here!

but what i was thinking i would post was that i – sit down and prepare yourself – … bought a digital camera! my first really functional medium quality camera ever. and it works really nice. i just got a powershot but the med-high end with a really good zoom lense for taking pictures of the tops of buildings and getting in to see air bubbles in ice really well. because our first project is watching ice melt… and drawing it of course. anyhow so instead of plowing through the 75 pages on rococo architecture i’m supposed to be reading, i’m playing with it. 

this is my building – you can come visit me here! we have a futon couch thing.

these are drawings of my ice lump – oh boy!

So I did a silly thing and tried a 24-hour comic (24 pages in 24 hours) and was successful, though hallucinating and really tired at the end of it. Now, it’s printed along with my next Jumbly Junkery (#5), both of which are available at my etsy store. I’m really excited about them both!

Getting them printed was an absolute nightmare. Suffice it to say, I will probably never go back to Kinkos again. They take ineptitude to a whole new level.

I had my first art opening, as well. Four paintings into a group show up in Albany, NY. The opening was crowded and stayed so for the entire night! I managed to sell a few comics during the opening, and left some there for them to sell during the show. I hope that someone buys a painting. It was super exciting to have my stuff up, though. Hopefully I can make more paintings and get some more shows around here, instead of having to go upstate.

Summer has been good. Majorly productive. Pretty happy. Running out of wall space for paintings. Tired of putting together Ikea furniture. Wanting to run away to the country. That’s about it.

I just finished moving all of my stuff over to my new studio.  It’s all still in boxes.  The appartment is still basically a disaster–still need to buy the soap so I can wash the dishes, et cetera–but I have high hopes.  I’ve cleared some space and am excited to get to work.

It’s weird for me to have a space that is all my own.  I’ve been living the communal life style for quite some time now.  It’s going to be so strange to be able to just sit and think without being disturbed by room mates, cats, co-workers, security guards, cleaning people, study groups, tourists, or drug dealers.  Though, it remains to be seen how much I will actually be left alone there.  The past couple of times I’ve been there I’ve found evidence that someone else had been in there.  Probably Lee, the landlord.  The first time the refridgerator I’d left turned off in order to melt the solid block of ice the freezer had turned into had been turned back on, and a plant had been taken.  This time, the front door to the apartment had been left wide open, a lamp had been turned on, and the windows had been closed.  I suppose it could be much worse.

Helloo.

I am an art student now.  I am surrounded by art students.  Art students are not like engineering students.

My first project for the school is a contact mic recording of a bicycle ride around the city.  Check it out:

bike.mp3