Saturday, October 2, 2010
Thursday, September 30, 2010
unicorn bait
haven't had time to breathe (i feel like i say that a lot...). in any case, it's the truth. started this last weekend and finally found a bit of time to turn it into a sketch. thumbnail and concept sketch:
i love how my thumbnails are so hopelessly indecipherable.
i'm not sure why, but i find this really funny. there's a running joke with my coworkers about how much i love drawing unicorns..but i realized that i hadn't actually drawn one for over 15 years. well, here you go.
(btw: anyone who's anyone knows that unicorns are attracted to virgins, according to legend...or the encyclopedia of facts)
i love how my thumbnails are so hopelessly indecipherable.
i'm not sure why, but i find this really funny. there's a running joke with my coworkers about how much i love drawing unicorns..but i realized that i hadn't actually drawn one for over 15 years. well, here you go.
(btw: anyone who's anyone knows that unicorns are attracted to virgins, according to legend...or the encyclopedia of facts)
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Moon Festival Doodle!
Pretty happy with this one :D New doodle live in china, taiwan, and hong kong: here!
Monday, September 6, 2010
Friday, September 3, 2010
Buckyball!
New doodle for the 25th Anniversary of the Buckyball is FINALLY live on google.com! Super thanks to all the engineers and designers who put up with my insanity and nagging :)
NOW GO PLAY!
NOW GO PLAY!
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Wall of Doodle
This is the full installation where my "e" sits. the artists from left to right:
G, Micheal
o,o, Dutton
g, Susie
l, Ryan
e, Jennifer
unfortunately we didn't win (BOOO), but at least dutton, susie, and i had a really fun late-night-painting-session in the office :)
G, Micheal
o,o, Dutton
g, Susie
l, Ryan
e, Jennifer
unfortunately we didn't win (BOOO), but at least dutton, susie, and i had a really fun late-night-painting-session in the office :)
Friday, August 20, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
In Twain
i'm back from maui and really fucking stressed out. (was that a cry for help?)
tried several avenues to abate my nervous energy today:
1. went grocery shopping
2. cooked cellophane noodles
3. cooked nian gao (didn't win any beauty contests, but it was freaking delicious)
4. attempted to draw
i ended up eating dinner at 4:30 pm (b/c i had nothing better do to) and consumed 1/3 cup of dark brown sugar and 200 ml of sticky rice flour (nian gao) over the next three hours. BAD IDEA. i now have the j-j-jitters from sugar withdrawal.
anyway, i really did attempt to draw something of relative substance to drag myself through a long day, but i just couldn't do it. i've been playing with a new concept for a painting but i froze. a brief phone conversation blocked everything i had planned. couldn't draw. couldn't focus. had to keep myself busy somehow so i decided (or maybe it was the sugar) to actively disregard my own nagging standards of "taste" and just draw something completely masturbatory for the sake of drawing. (fell back on a few old themes/design choices so i didn't have to think too much. god, i miss my sewing machine.)
ended up looking like an asian audrey hepburn + beheading piece, but i initially had Sargent's "Madam X" in mind (or i really just want a black dress with a plunging neckline). the blue variation is the original, the second is an adjusted version.
thumbnail sketch:
i also normally don't do personal work on the computer. that's my day job. at home, i try to maintain my grips on real media. today was an exception.
post four emergency doses of red bean candy and a second cellular installation, the jitters are gone...but i'm left with an insatiable need for salt. i'm recognizing my lack of savory snacks, staring at a packet of soy sauce, and wondering how one defines a "good idea."
i'm just realizing how frantic this post appears.
tried several avenues to abate my nervous energy today:
1. went grocery shopping
2. cooked cellophane noodles
3. cooked nian gao (didn't win any beauty contests, but it was freaking delicious)
4. attempted to draw
i ended up eating dinner at 4:30 pm (b/c i had nothing better do to) and consumed 1/3 cup of dark brown sugar and 200 ml of sticky rice flour (nian gao) over the next three hours. BAD IDEA. i now have the j-j-jitters from sugar withdrawal.
anyway, i really did attempt to draw something of relative substance to drag myself through a long day, but i just couldn't do it. i've been playing with a new concept for a painting but i froze. a brief phone conversation blocked everything i had planned. couldn't draw. couldn't focus. had to keep myself busy somehow so i decided (or maybe it was the sugar) to actively disregard my own nagging standards of "taste" and just draw something completely masturbatory for the sake of drawing. (fell back on a few old themes/design choices so i didn't have to think too much. god, i miss my sewing machine.)
ended up looking like an asian audrey hepburn + beheading piece, but i initially had Sargent's "Madam X" in mind (or i really just want a black dress with a plunging neckline). the blue variation is the original, the second is an adjusted version.
thumbnail sketch:
i also normally don't do personal work on the computer. that's my day job. at home, i try to maintain my grips on real media. today was an exception.
post four emergency doses of red bean candy and a second cellular installation, the jitters are gone...but i'm left with an insatiable need for salt. i'm recognizing my lack of savory snacks, staring at a packet of soy sauce, and wondering how one defines a "good idea."
i'm just realizing how frantic this post appears.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Seamstress Final
it's not a doll, it's a sculpture.
so this was a major time-suck (fig-1), but it was really fun to get out of 2D land for once :) this is part of a larger effort for my team (i obviously had the "e"). tomorrow is the final installation for all the letters so i'll have photos of the full piece in the next few days. anyway, here's the second half of the process:
DAYS 6/7: sanded and painted the figure and sewed the basic structure of her dress
DAYS 8/9ish: found that an old bottle of painkillers (left over from my date with the DR) was the PERFECT height for her seat. (see walgreens tag peeping through) penciled in the pixels for the "e" and began to sew the pieces. NOTE: sewing 1" x 1" squares of fabric with a standard size iron is decidedly unwise...though i only burned myself once (SKILL).
DAY 10/11ish: painted the shadow box to fit the palette of the fabric. something unfortunate that i learned when working with textiles is that YOU ARE AT THE MERCY OF THE TEXTILE DESIGNER. you can't change their palette, so you have to just suck it up and alter your plans...or layer sheer and opaque fabrics.
DAY 12/who-knows-what-anymore: final composition thoroughly secured with the help of mr. elmers, a handful of pennies, and Susie's trusty glue gun! i sewed the girl onto her seat and replaced the drugs with pennies (yea, i know, significantly less fun :P) so she wasn't top-heavy.
so there you have it! it was an awful lot of fun to work on, though my volcano-ash-and-sawdust-filled lungs may disagree. i have to say to my credit, though, i DID actually buy a dust mask...and i did use it-- only i didn't open any windows. apparently tiny, lung-slaying particles tend to linger in the air, so when i took my mask off, i gained a respiratory system full of foreign bodies. cheers to a shorter life span!
i also never addressed the subject matter of this piece. the restrictions of the project were only this: make an "e." well, ok. that's significantly less specific than my other assignments. considering the tumultuous nature of recent events, i decided to fall back on an old favorite subject: the seamstress. and only b/c this is the only subject i've consistently revisited, i feel like indulging myself and taking a walk through a bit of ego-centric history:
it started in the winter of 2008 (january 3rd or 4th if i remember correctly). i took a textiles class called "pojagi and beyond." in this sweat-shop-like environment, i stitched away for at least 300 solid hours....in about 6 weeks. ended up with several obscenely self-serving pieces. the three below are "armor," "swell," a 15 foot installation, and "the kiss," based on Klimt's palette (his painting of the same title). i found the act of sweat-shopping strangely comforting. it was agonizingly repetitive, vaguely empty of thought, and extremely meditative.
it was a mindless means to an end-- but mostly a means to a means.
it was a long winter:
running into the spring of the same year, i did a retrospectively weak digital painting called "seamstress" (yawn). unlike the previous series, this piece detailed my resolve:
in 2009 i was surprised to find myself in need of my dear, old friend. this time it was not so much the physical act of binding pieces together, rather, depicting it. these are two of an eight-part series that explores the button as a vehicle for attachment. it also put to good use my childhood obsession with collecting buttons off the floors of department stores (more specifically, Syms). "red blood" and "white blood" appear at the end of the series:
this brings me to the shadow box. unlike my previous works, the purposes behind this piece not only changed nearly every other day, but were in direct conflict with each other. the circumstances surrounding its creation kind of fucked up my reasons for using the subject matter in the first place. typically, i had a singular voice in anything i created with this theme. i had one thing to say to my motivator. after this particular project, though, i don't know what to say to my motivator anymore.
i've already said everything, and now i'm passionately neutral.
i'm not sure where this experience leaves my relationship with the 'seamstress.' this might just be the death of that theme since i'm finding myself scrambling for new symbols. regardless of whether or not i could ever find comfort in this subject again, the process of this piece served its purpose (see fig-1).
so this was a major time-suck (fig-1), but it was really fun to get out of 2D land for once :) this is part of a larger effort for my team (i obviously had the "e"). tomorrow is the final installation for all the letters so i'll have photos of the full piece in the next few days. anyway, here's the second half of the process:
DAYS 6/7: sanded and painted the figure and sewed the basic structure of her dress
DAYS 8/9ish: found that an old bottle of painkillers (left over from my date with the DR) was the PERFECT height for her seat. (see walgreens tag peeping through) penciled in the pixels for the "e" and began to sew the pieces. NOTE: sewing 1" x 1" squares of fabric with a standard size iron is decidedly unwise...though i only burned myself once (SKILL).
DAY 10/11ish: painted the shadow box to fit the palette of the fabric. something unfortunate that i learned when working with textiles is that YOU ARE AT THE MERCY OF THE TEXTILE DESIGNER. you can't change their palette, so you have to just suck it up and alter your plans...or layer sheer and opaque fabrics.
DAY 12/who-knows-what-anymore: final composition thoroughly secured with the help of mr. elmers, a handful of pennies, and Susie's trusty glue gun! i sewed the girl onto her seat and replaced the drugs with pennies (yea, i know, significantly less fun :P) so she wasn't top-heavy.
so there you have it! it was an awful lot of fun to work on, though my volcano-ash-and-sawdust-filled lungs may disagree. i have to say to my credit, though, i DID actually buy a dust mask...and i did use it-- only i didn't open any windows. apparently tiny, lung-slaying particles tend to linger in the air, so when i took my mask off, i gained a respiratory system full of foreign bodies. cheers to a shorter life span!
i also never addressed the subject matter of this piece. the restrictions of the project were only this: make an "e." well, ok. that's significantly less specific than my other assignments. considering the tumultuous nature of recent events, i decided to fall back on an old favorite subject: the seamstress. and only b/c this is the only subject i've consistently revisited, i feel like indulging myself and taking a walk through a bit of ego-centric history:
it started in the winter of 2008 (january 3rd or 4th if i remember correctly). i took a textiles class called "pojagi and beyond." in this sweat-shop-like environment, i stitched away for at least 300 solid hours....in about 6 weeks. ended up with several obscenely self-serving pieces. the three below are "armor," "swell," a 15 foot installation, and "the kiss," based on Klimt's palette (his painting of the same title). i found the act of sweat-shopping strangely comforting. it was agonizingly repetitive, vaguely empty of thought, and extremely meditative.
it was a mindless means to an end-- but mostly a means to a means.
it was a long winter:
running into the spring of the same year, i did a retrospectively weak digital painting called "seamstress" (yawn). unlike the previous series, this piece detailed my resolve:
in 2009 i was surprised to find myself in need of my dear, old friend. this time it was not so much the physical act of binding pieces together, rather, depicting it. these are two of an eight-part series that explores the button as a vehicle for attachment. it also put to good use my childhood obsession with collecting buttons off the floors of department stores (more specifically, Syms). "red blood" and "white blood" appear at the end of the series:
this brings me to the shadow box. unlike my previous works, the purposes behind this piece not only changed nearly every other day, but were in direct conflict with each other. the circumstances surrounding its creation kind of fucked up my reasons for using the subject matter in the first place. typically, i had a singular voice in anything i created with this theme. i had one thing to say to my motivator. after this particular project, though, i don't know what to say to my motivator anymore.
i've already said everything, and now i'm passionately neutral.
i'm not sure where this experience leaves my relationship with the 'seamstress.' this might just be the death of that theme since i'm finding myself scrambling for new symbols. regardless of whether or not i could ever find comfort in this subject again, the process of this piece served its purpose (see fig-1).
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Seamstress Process
whoa, so it turned out that when my team asked me if i could actually fabricate that sketch into a sculpture and i said, "yea, sure," i wasn't bluffing. what a relief. honestly, i haven't sculpted for four years so i just assumed that i'd be able to deal haha.
received some valuable advice from the lovely sarah greenfield on how to work with paper clay-- so big thanks to her :)
I still have a bit of sanding and painting to do, but for the most part, i'm finished with the basic structure. here's the process thus far.
DAY 1: additional sketches for turning reference and a wire/foil skeleton for gesture and stability.
DAY 2: loose first coating of glue and paper clay. this stage reminded me of plaster casts from Pompeii (was that insensitive?)
DAY 3: started digging into her right hand, back, and legs
DAY 4: completed her left arm and chipped away at the feet (i'd accidentally made the wire/foil skeleton too large)
DAY 5: was only going to work on the feet and legs, but decided to start on the face as well. i actually had to use a size 00 brush and sewing needle to work on her lips. it was a late night...
DAY 6: finished off the face by filling out the cheeks a bit (it didn't turn well from the previous night) and added hair...exactly how i'm going to paint between her hair and face is a mystery to me...
phew! she stands about 11 inches tall and sits around... hell i don't know. the point is she's rather tiny considering she's going to sit in a 16"x16" shadow box. hopefully i'll be able to sand/paint her this weekend and start sewing her clothes/everything else/paint the actual shadow box before the due date.
one minor lesson learned from this project: breathing paper clay dust gives you volcano lungs. unfortunately, i was too lazy to buy a dust mask...though i had six days to do so. perhaps that means i haven't learned a lesson, rather, made an observation.
received some valuable advice from the lovely sarah greenfield on how to work with paper clay-- so big thanks to her :)
I still have a bit of sanding and painting to do, but for the most part, i'm finished with the basic structure. here's the process thus far.
DAY 1: additional sketches for turning reference and a wire/foil skeleton for gesture and stability.
DAY 2: loose first coating of glue and paper clay. this stage reminded me of plaster casts from Pompeii (was that insensitive?)
DAY 3: started digging into her right hand, back, and legs
DAY 4: completed her left arm and chipped away at the feet (i'd accidentally made the wire/foil skeleton too large)
DAY 5: was only going to work on the feet and legs, but decided to start on the face as well. i actually had to use a size 00 brush and sewing needle to work on her lips. it was a late night...
DAY 6: finished off the face by filling out the cheeks a bit (it didn't turn well from the previous night) and added hair...exactly how i'm going to paint between her hair and face is a mystery to me...
phew! she stands about 11 inches tall and sits around... hell i don't know. the point is she's rather tiny considering she's going to sit in a 16"x16" shadow box. hopefully i'll be able to sand/paint her this weekend and start sewing her clothes/everything else/paint the actual shadow box before the due date.
one minor lesson learned from this project: breathing paper clay dust gives you volcano lungs. unfortunately, i was too lazy to buy a dust mask...though i had six days to do so. perhaps that means i haven't learned a lesson, rather, made an observation.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Josef Frank Doodle
new doodle for the birthday of Josef Frank (textile artist) here: http://google.com
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
jennifer goes to 3D land!
concept sketch for a future project....IN THREE-DEE!! excitement and anxiety follow.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
scratchings
i have had better days: not much in the sketchbook but writing lately--but these managed to creep into the pages.
pretty sure i also need a new scanner (see streaky fucked-up-attude)
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
French Easel
i just acquired a Mabef french easel. this solves my poor painting posture problem- but sadly also puts an end to my brief yet brilliant career as a professional alliteration-ist.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Teeth, sketches, and android tomfoolery
Hell yes! I have completed a new painting (IN MY FREE TIME!) It's called "teeth," and you can track the process on my joint blog: Father Son Whaling Trip.
Teeth, gouache on paper, 28"x14"
In other news, i've finished a couple of watercolor sketches recently-- her are two of them:
and for those who attended I/O this year, you might recognize this illustration...working on it made me giggle:
something less interesting to everyone but myself: i finally, FINALLY painted on site. my coworker, mike dutton, convinced me to journey out for a quick landscape painting session recently. i quickly found out that i am a total hack. needless to say, i'm not going to post the unfortunate smattering of watercolor, but hopefully i will show future paintings (assuming i get better with practice...)
Teeth, gouache on paper, 28"x14"
In other news, i've finished a couple of watercolor sketches recently-- her are two of them:
and for those who attended I/O this year, you might recognize this illustration...working on it made me giggle:
something less interesting to everyone but myself: i finally, FINALLY painted on site. my coworker, mike dutton, convinced me to journey out for a quick landscape painting session recently. i quickly found out that i am a total hack. needless to say, i'm not going to post the unfortunate smattering of watercolor, but hopefully i will show future paintings (assuming i get better with practice...)
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Oh, RISD students...
I forgot to mention this a couple of months ago, but I found it really funny how I knew exactly when Jon Foster gave out the "Wolverine Netsuke" assignment for this year's Cover to Cover class...b/c I saw a lot of hits on my blog via Google search query "Wolverine Netsuke..." all of which came from RISD campus hahaha.
Anyway, hits for this old blog post cropped up again (linked from another blog) and I was wondering how often pple were finding this painting....naturally, I Googled it-- and this is what I found:
HILARIOUS.
Anyway, hits for this old blog post cropped up again (linked from another blog) and I was wondering how often pple were finding this painting....naturally, I Googled it-- and this is what I found:
HILARIOUS.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010
Tchaikovsky's 170th Birthday
When I was a child, I started my first acrylic piece-- but I did more dancing than painting. Tchaikovsky's "Waltz of the Flowers" blasted on my boom box and it sounded how life is supposed to feel.
New global doodle to celebrate his 170th birthday with San Francisco Ballet: here!
A video about the making of/meaning behind this doodle: here :D
New global doodle to celebrate his 170th birthday with San Francisco Ballet: here!
A video about the making of/meaning behind this doodle: here :D
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Rocket Festival
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Hans Christian Andersen
WE'RE LIVE ON ALL DOMAINS! Thumbelina doodle SERIES for Hans Christian Andersen's 205th birthday. CLICK THE DOODLE to see the sequence! here!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
new doodle
new doodle for belarus here! Napoleon Orda
also an illustration for Doodle 4 Google here: Doodle 4 Google. pictures of my team are also in there somewhere :D
also an illustration for Doodle 4 Google here: Doodle 4 Google. pictures of my team are also in there somewhere :D
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Sunday, January 3, 2010
rodney and the holidays
hope everyone enjoyed their holidays! here's rodney to reaffirm this wish of good will:
i tried my best to draw a narwhal for work...but when that failed i had to branch out on my own. oh well.
i tried my best to draw a narwhal for work...but when that failed i had to branch out on my own. oh well.
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