The beautiful catastrophe of alcohol

Alcohol never seemed to solve anything, or make anything better for that.

To drink excessively in a nose dive matter of trying to forget the frustrations of everyday life end up making those difficulties larger than actuality.

In search of filling “loneliness”, desperately searching for some sort of something. The only thing alcohol becomes good for is convincing you more that you need that something, increasing sexual lusts to an extent that you’re willing to do something with anyone just to ease that craving.

Sadly.

Alcohol, the stupidity of mankind. Causing errors in the flow of life, causing regrets , embarrassment. To look back and realize I took desperate measure, becoming desperate enough to talk to someone I told myself I wouldn’t, to send a message to someone not available, and to call someone I put in my past for a reason. All the things I have worked hard to do were put to waste that day that I took in all that alcohol. It’s an evil thing, that drink. To cause misconceptions in your very thoughts, thwarting and mixing up emotions, feelings, thinking. That’s what you don’t want yet that’s the very thing alcohol does.

I couldn’t agree less. After reading up on it and watching countless upon countless videos, I can’t help but feel that SOPA and PIPA are ideas not thought out too well. And there is something about the Government having more control over what we do to be quite daunting. I just don’t like it. The government constantly trying to obtain control is a reason why the USA is in so much debt, is why the economy has tanked tremendously and doesn’t seem to be improving at all, is why many from outside of the US dislike the US so much.

I think if the United States is so concerned with Internet Piracy, they will figure out better means to protect the rights of others content. Many have mentioned that SOPA and PIPA will only weaken the internet and create greater amounts of hacking which is what the US is trying to avoid. Their “idea” can possibly make it that much worse, yet they seem to almost not care.

After a while, you can’t help but get sick of the government claiming to be doing what is right, only to find out it’s some sort of scam, or they aren’t being completely honest about their reasoning behind their decision-making, law making, etc.

If you want to learn more or are interested in signing petitions to stop this SOPA and PIPA nonsense I have some links below.

Let me know what you think about all this.

Mozilla Firefox – Sign petition Link
Google – Sign Petition Link
Avaaz – Sign Petition Link
Debate on deviantArt Link
Video about SOPA and PIPA Link

For those interested in becoming a part of this but not an US citizen you can still take part and help stop SOPA and PIPA - Link

Really interesting article on what music artists have gone through. Here’s an excerpt:

“Earlier today, Megaupload released a pop video featuring mainstream artists who endorse the cyberlocker service. News of the controversial Mega Song even trended on Twitter, but has now been removed from YouTube on copyright grounds by Universal Music. Kim Dotcom says that Megaupload owns everything in the video, and that the label has engaged in dirty tricks in an attempt to sabotage their successful viral campaign.” Link

We all need to become a part of this to make a difference. IF you are against PIPA and SOPA make sure to click one of the links above and sign the petition. Don’t forget that every person makes a difference. We can’t give up or stop now. We need to make sure we are heard.

And for those for PIPA and SOPA, please comment and let me know why. It’s always good to see both sides of an argument.

Enjoy <3

I would suggest anyone in the creative field to watch it Click here The video is by Nick Campbell. He goes on to say some pretty amazing and inspiring things. I’ll probably go on to talk more about the video in my next post but for now I’ll talk about two things that came up in the video.

1. In order to become a better artist you have to draw everyday. That’s where the project called Draw something Cool Everyday came to existence. Not my idea. It was I believe Nick Campbells or another artist he was speaking of. Anyways the point of the project was to draw something everyday, to force yourself even if you don’t feel like drawing. It can be a doodle, a scribble, a graphic, a full drawing, a sketch or outline, etc. He mentioned that drawing everyday will help you become better and better as an artist as you strive to make each drawing better or more unique than the one before as time goes on. Since I’m getting my Masters in Fine Arts; Illustration with a concentration on Concept Art, I figured what better way then to also do this project.

1a. Drawing everyday also helps with deadlines that you face in the real world when you become a freelance artists or work for a company as a (fill in the blank) artist.

2. Then he mentioned that many artists don’t want others to see their crappy work (doodles, sketches, etc) It makes an artist feel uncomfortable. But you need to be comfortable being uncomfortable. Not everyone’s going to admire or like your work and many are going to criticize it so the best way to get over that is become used to it. Put yourself out there and post the crappy and amazing drawings. It will help the artist become detached to their work. And this is where this post comes in. I am going to post everything I draw everyday just to put it out there. I don’t care what others will think, and I am aware that a lot of it will be crappy but as Nick Campbell mentioned, it takes those 100 crappy drawings to get your 1 amazing one. So I might as well get the crappy ones out of the way so I can get closer to the amazing ones.

Some of my drawings I emulated another artists artwork. When I do that I will post the link of the artists website so you can check them out. Emulating another artists work is helpful just as much as creating your own work. It allows you to learn and see why their work is successful in your opinion and helps you apply those same concepts or ideas to your own artwork.

Anyways I started on July 14,2011. Todays post will be from 7/14 up until yesterday 8/6.
A lot of the photos are crappy quality because i rushed taking them -.- Oh well!
July 14, 2011 DAY 1 – Aug 6, 2011 Day 24

Descriptions:

7/14 Was just random; the theme was magical girls and I limited myself to circle and lines

7/15 I was in Cape Cod at the beach and I was just sketching everyone I saw at the beach!

7/16 Just a random doodle

7/17 7/18 7/19 and 7/20 Are an emulation of the characters from Tangled. I also have the character designs for the movie which is what I was drawing from. None of the characters are mine. Simply and emulation; I was working on figuring out emotions

7/21 #1 and #2 An emotion and pose I was trying to capture for my character design in the works

7/22 Random doodle

7/23 Doodle; I was in a worshipping God mood

7/24 #1 just a random doodle, I had just finished watching Red Riding good so i drew a girl in a hood

7/24 #2 I saw a photo of a model on dA which I absolutely loved, She was stunning so I drew the photo.

7/25 is a contour drawing which was quite interesting. I was reading the book “Drawing on the right side of the brain” and one of the assignments was a contour drawing.

7/26 Drawing of my hand; practicing drawing hands

7/27 7/28 are an emulation of the artist kinke. In Kinke’s gallery you can find the drawings I emulated. Link None of the characters are mine, I simply attempted to emulate them.

7/29 wasn’t really in the mood to draw; some random robot doodle

7/30 drawing of my foot

7/31 Not in the best of moods

8/1 8/2 Practicing the pose for my character design, still some kinks in the pose. Trying to make it come out smooth. I actually took some reference photos so There should be more sketches coming up soon.

8/3 Negative shape drawing of a chair, another assignment from that book I was reading.

8/4 and 8/5 are just random doodles. I actually came home too late on the 4th so I had to make up for it on the 5th

8/6 An abstract painting I was making for a customer from my job but I don’t like it enough to give away.

Another thing that I really liked about Uncharted – Drakes fortune is that after beating the game, I actually wanted to go back and beat the game in other difficulties to unlock other things. Something I rarely feel like doing after beating a game.

That, and the storyline was great. Kudos to Naughty Dog

“I laugh, I love, I hope, I try, I hurt, I need, I fear, I cry. And I know you do the same things too, So we’re really not that different, me and you.” Colin Raye

WOW…. That’s all I can really say about the movie. I absolutely loved it. The story was amazing. There was so much going on. So much meaning. Hidden messages. I thought the drawings were great. I absolutely loved the vibrancy of all the colors used.

The animation was clever and on point. So many changes from scene to scene just in the beginning credits. I thought all the transitions between scenes were very smooth too. It’s really hard to express how much I like the movie without spoiling anything. I would say you should go watch it. Because I cannot find words to describe the beauty of this movie, not from an artistic standpoint.

I’ve read reviews on it and many have loved it while others thought it was just okay. That’s with everything though. I really like this review that I read about the movie…

Evidence that Japanese animators are reaching for the moon, while most of their American counterparts remain stuck in the kiddie sandbox – Manohla Dargis THE NEW YORK TIMES

I definitely agree.

And finally here is a link for the trailer

Also, when I was watching the movie, it oddly reminded me of the movie Inception, by Christopher Nolan. Many people were upset because they felt Nolan ripped many of his ideas from Paprika, others think that he just expressed his inspiration to the movie. I read in another article that Nolan supposedly gave credit to the movie Paprika as part of his inspiration. Since Inception wasn’t a split replica of the movie Paprika (Some concepts were very similar but had their own unique twist) and Nolan gave credit to Paprika being part of his inspiration, it doesn’t bother it. I would be very upset if credit wasn’t given. Being on my way to becoming an Illustrator, I think there is a very fine line between inspiration and copying. Just as there is a fine like between hate and love. It’s really hard to determine if an artist has crossed it, and if they have if it was just accidental or on purpose. :Sigh: But that is part of the art world. What can you do?

AND PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, ANY OTHER FELLOW ARTIST OUT THERE… DO NOT COPY OTHER PEOPLES WORK AND CLAIM IT AS YOURS. AND IF YOU’RE INSPIRED BY ANOTHER ARTIST, ESP IF IT CAUSES YOUR ARTWORK TO HAVE UNCANNY SIMILARITIES TO THAT OF YOUR INSPIRATION GIVE CREDIT PLEASE AND THANK YOU.

Only as high as I reach can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as I look can I see, only as much as I dream can I be. Karen Ravn