Optional Sketchbook Assignment 3: Characters Drawn from Life (and Death)

For this week’s sketchbook assignment we are offering two options: one for Track A learners (more visual-based), and one for Track B learners (a written response). Do one or the other, or both! Please note there is a separate forum for each track. 

Track A 

1. Look in a local newspaper or online source for death or marriage notices. Find one that is interesting to you but don’t choose one that includes a photograph.
2. Make a portrait of a person described in the notice (deceased man or woman, bride or groom). Use any means and style that you like--drawing, painting, photography, collage. Think about how much of the person you want to show, how s/he is posed or framed, how much context is given through background, accessories, etc. Whatever you choose to include in the portrait should say something about the character you have chosen to depict.
3. Important: In respect of others' privacy, do not include any names from notices, or link to them, or use images without permission.
4. In this forum ("Characters Drawn from Life (and Death) TRACK A"), start a new thread and post a scan of your image. Give your post a title, and submit!

Track B 

1. Find a public place. Sit down and make yourself comfortable. You might be here for a while.
2. Watch the people.
3. Choose one person and invent a life for them. Think about who might be in terms of occupation, relationships with family and friends, pets or lack of them, personal possessions or lack of them, personality quirks and flaws, likes and dislikes, obsessions and dreams, crimes or acts of bravery or charity in their past. Don’t give your imagination completely free rein; try instead to link everything you say to something you can observe in the person. Write about 300-400 words.
4. Important: In respect of others' privacy, do not include any names, or take photographs or videos of your subjects.
5. In this forum ("Characters Drawn from Life (and Death) TRACK B"), start a new thread and post your text. Give your post a title, and submit! 

My Mental Map

Star Wars the Old Republic


Diablo III


Game of Thrones


Game of Thrones



Vikings


Star Trek Online


Star Trek


Anita Blake banner by jeza-jezaro




http://www.indeath.net/topic/16436-graphics-in-death-eve-dallas/page-79

Also, I just wanted to add a link to one of my favorite artist's website. Michael Parkes He does painting, sculpture, lithographs, etc. Amazing stuff! Here's a pic of one of his sculptures

"Angel - 2012
Three Quarter Life Size
Custom Patina"

Optional Sketchbook Assignment 2: Mental Map (Tracks A & B)

It’s good to try to know yourself as an artist and visual thinker. And it’s interesting to learn from others. This week I’m asking you to tell your own story in images and words, and learn about things you might not know from other people’s stories.

Live!: A History of Art for Artists, Animators and Gamers
by Jeannene Przyblyski, Ph.D.

1. In your sketchbook, assemble ten (10) images, books, films, or even music/songs that provide a history and context for your current work or interests in art, animation and/or gaming, whether as a practitioner, viewer or player/participant. Choose works that are important to the way you think, and just as importantly, works that inspire you in ways that you can’t always perhaps put into words. Reach back into your childhood (where you may perhaps find some unexpected sources of inspiration) and look around you to collect some contemporary resources. (This assignment is particularly well-suited to a digital sketchbook, like a Tumblr or blog, but as before, if you are posting content that is not your own, please cite where you retrieved each image with a link.)
2. Sequence your images/items in a way that makes sense to you, chronologically or thematically or some other way.
3. In this forum, start a new thread. Give your thread a title, write a short intro (100-200 words), and post your images/list of links, or a link to your digital sketchbook/blog where you created your sequence.
4. Click “Create New Thread.”

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Further Reading and Web Resources:

Bayeux Tapestry at the Museum of Reading, UK

See the work in fine detail, panel by panel.

The Caves at Lascaux, France

A simulated walkthrough of the caves.

Kerry James Marshall Lecture at National Gallery

Marshall’s 2012 Elson lecture at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., The Importance of Being Figurative, is worth a listen (recorded March 12, 2012).

A list of some photographers working in a way similar to Jeff Wall:

Edward Burtynsky
Andreas Gursky
Thomas Struth

Persepolis (the book), 2003, and Persepolis (the film), 2007

Marjane Satrapi’s 2003 graphic novel is highly recommended, and we encourage you to see her 2007 animated feature, too. It’s available on Netflix if you have access to it in your part of the world (membership required), or on video.

Charles Baudelaire, “The Painting of Modern Life,” in The Painter of Modern Life and Other Essays, 1964.

Baudelaire’s seminal collection of essays has been republished widely. Check your library.

What is art? (I finally got around to the first assignment)

1. In your sketchbook, make or describe something (or choose a work by another artist) that stands for what you think art really should be in your perfect world—if art was daring, bold, unique and special, if it was community-building or affirming, if it made the world a better place or turned the world on its head. Here, you get to decide.

Ok, I can't do just one thing of what I think art is. I just can't. So I will show some various examples from different types of what I think of as art:

First example actually comes from a tv show, Top Chef. http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef These chefs are truly artists creating art in my opinion. 

Another tv show that I watch that show cases some amazing art is called Face Off. http://www.syfy.com/faceoff These people are makeup artists that also do a little prop fabrication that create characters for the movie and television industry. All I can say is, WOW!

Then of course, there are the authors and illustrators for books, comics, anime, and graphic novels. The visual aspects as well as the written word, all to me are fundamentally art. There are so many other things that I also consider art. I suppose for me the main thing about art is it is a creation that someone made that grabs my attention, it makes me stop and think WOW! (in a good way).

1. Then, make or describe something (or choose a work by another artist) that stands for what you think people in the world think art should be—because a teacher or expert told you that’s what art is, or because that’s what you think “good art" is, or because you think this is what the art market wants, etc.

You know what. I'm not going to do this part. I think it is purposely divisive in the sense that "what I think is art is art, what you think is art is not, or is less than art or whatever". I don't feel like playing that game. It's all our own individual perception anyway and everyone perceives how they perceive, and who am I to say, "Oh, that's not art" to someone. So I'm just going to share what I think is art and I am not going to assume or judge what other people think is art.

Optional Sketchbook Assignment 1: My World and the Art World (Tracks A & B)

Well, this is the first assignment (optional) that was given for this particular MOOC I'm taking through Coursera, 

Live!: A History of Art for Artists, Animators and Gamers
by Jeannene Przyblyski, Ph.D.

We shall see...I am absolutely NOT an artist. However, both my children are amazingly artistic, seriously, I'm not doing the 'proud mama' routine, they are both truly talented. I may have to post some of their work as well (with their permission of course) just to show you all. I'm trying this MOOC out to see if it will help me be more creative, if not necessarily artistic, as a teacher and as a business owner. 

This is an assignment I’ve given in my critique seminar for a number of years. It’s a good way to start a discussion about your assumptions about art (whatever they might be) and how those assumptions might constrain or enable your practice (whatever it might be). Again, this is an optional assignment but I encourage everyone to try it. If you are unsure about sharing your work in this class, I still encourage you to do it on your own. Don't think too much about it—just give it a go! Next week, we'll provide more information and examples about giving feedback to your peers' work. The critique is equally, if not more, important than the assignment itself.

To complete this and other assignments in this class, please refer to this page in the Course Overview.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In your sketchbook, make or describe something (or choose a work by another artist) that stands for what you think art really should be in your perfect world—if art was daring, bold, unique and special, if it was community-building or affirming, if it made the world a better place or turned the world on its head. Here, you get to decide.
2. Then, make or describe something (or choose a work by another artist) that stands for what you think people in the world think art should be—because a teacher or expert told you that’s what art is, or because that’s what you think “good art" is, or because you think this is what the art market wants, etc.
3. Photograph or scan your two images/descriptions, or if you are using a digital sketchbook, copy the permalink to your post. (If you are including a work by another artist, please do not post an image that you don't have permission to use; post a link instead.)
4. Head over to this forum, and start a new thread. Paste your two images/texts/links into the post. Include a short description and citation if necessary. Add a title for your post, such as "Sketchbook Assignment 1 - my submission".
5. Finally, if your version of what art should be like and what the world thinks art should be like are the same, great! If they are different, then think about those differences a bit and write down your thoughts below your uploaded images/text/links.
6. Click "Create new thread". You're done!

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Further Reading and Web Resources

Sarah Thornton, Seven Days in the Art World. W. W. Norton & Company, 2008

The second chapter of Thornton's book, titled "The Crit", is a close examination of the late Michael Asher's Post Studio class at CalArts. A recommended read. 

Vincent van Gogh: The Letters

An impressive online archive of all of van Gogh's collected correspondence, including fascimiles of the originals, transcriptions and translations.