Showing posts with label links. Show all posts
Showing posts with label links. Show all posts

Saturday, 27 November 2010

Science-Art Scumble #4


Scumble:
"A painting technique in which semi-opaque or thin opaque colors are loosely brushed over an underpainted area so that patches of the color beneath show through." 
From The Artist's Handbook, by Ray Smith.  

A weekly digest to highlight some of the posts I found most interesting, most provocative, or otherwise caught my eye from the Science Artists Feed. Sit back, have a coffee and enjoy.


Click here for earlier scumbles.
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Foraminiferal Sculpture Park: a question of scales, Geology in Art.

Darwinian Theory of Beauty, Gurney Journey.  James Gurney's straight-on take about Denis Dutton's recent TEDTalk.

Making my own dinosaur, The Tyrannosaur Chronicles. Kid-friendly site!

Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter, lines and colors. Charley Parker reviews James Gurney's new incredible book, which in part grew out of Gurney's blog posts.

The "Lost Women": science popularizers and communicators in the 19th century, Bioephemera.

Pink Dinosaur Wrap-Up, Art Evolved.  Admin & catalyst for this charity drive Peter Bond gives us a grand finale: all 248 pink dinosaurs created by dozens of artists collaged together in a single image.

The artwork has changed drastically between conception and execution.  Therefore it has no meaning, The Art of a Carbon-Based Lifeform.

Slide lecture given about biomimicry, Hybrids of Art and Science.

Sketching at the Royal Ontario Museum, News from the Studio. 



Walcott's Quarry #123: Waiting it Out, eTrilobite.

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Great science-art posts not in the Feed:

An artist's interpretation of a teenager's head exploding in science class, A Journey Around My Skull.

Geology History in Caricatures: Dr. M. in extasies at the approach of his pet Saurian, History of Geology.

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For next week:

There's been a change on deviantArt, that popular website for artists.  They now have RSS feeds for individual galleries.  I'll be adding a few of these to the Science Artists Feed for next week, including some of my favourite artists who consistently challenge and delight.

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Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow
under Creative Commons Licence.


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Saturday, 20 November 2010

Science-Art Scumble #3

Scumble:
"A painting technique in which semi-opaque or thin opaque colors are loosely brushed over an underpainted area so that patches of the color beneath show through." 
From The Artist's Handbook, by Ray Smith.  

A weekly digest to highlight some of the posts I found most interesting, most provocative, or otherwise caught my eye from the Science Artists Feed. Sit back, have a coffee and enjoy.


Click here for earlier scumbles

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Old Paintings, Omegafauna.

Artist Organization Goes Virtual, Britt Griswold, Guild of Natural Science Illustrators.

Big Bang Ball makes a Big Bang, Britt Griswold, Guild of Natural Science Illustrators.

More Life of the Cell Animation, Boulders 2 Bits.

War Paint: Styracosaurus, The Optimistic Painting Blog

The Space Age Enters the Stone Age, Visual Science

Andrew Vomhof Mapps the Cosmos in the Rings of Time, Hybrids of Art and Science.
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These next few posts weren't in the Feed, since their blogs don't primarily deal in science-art.  Check these out!

Closer than Expected, Dan Dos Santos - Muddy Colors.  (Art and life comparison with astronauts.)

Giant Isopod Stained Glass panel, Deep Sea News.

San Francisco: Imaginary Foundation art show and pop-up shop, Boing Boing.

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Original artwork on
The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow
under
Creative Commons Licence.
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Saturday, 13 November 2010

Science-Art Scumble #2


Scumble:
"A painting technique in which semi-opaque or thin opaque colors are loosely brushed over an underpainted area so that patches of the color beneath show through." 
From The Artist's Handbook, by Ray Smith.  

A weekly digest to highlight some of the posts I found most interesting, most provocative, or otherwise caught my eye from the Science Artists Feed. Sit back, have a coffee and enjoy.

Click here for earlier scumbles.

- - -
Leonardo Thinks: new blog section, Roger Malina.

Medical imaging used to probe Tower of London mural, CultureLab.   

For the Fallen, eTrilobite.  (Science-art only possible in a free society.  Thanks Marek.)

How long does it take for you to look at a painting? (James Elkins), lines and colors.

Sprout utility ventricle, A distant ugly mountain.  (I see an ear: what do you see in this new painting by the inimitable Chris Hutson?)

The Duomo and the Dinosaur, Stories in Stone.  (Not in the feed, don't miss this!)

Amazon is Amoral and Complicit, Renaissance Oaf.

The Person You Love is 72.8% Water - Teagan White, Street Anatomy.


A bioart experience resembling a TSA millimeter-wave scan - performed by bacteria. (Would you respond to this ad?), Bioephemera.


Tuco-tuco, Changedwind's Ink.

The Angel Academy of Art, Gurney Journey.  (Interesting debate in the comments.) 

The Lanzendorf Collection, Love in the Time of the Chasmosaurs. 

Pink Dinosaur #248: Our Final Submission!, Art Evolved.  (Bravo to Peter Bond and everyone who made this charity drive so much fun.)

Two Upcoming Events at the Hunterian Museum in London, Morbid Anatomy.  

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Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow
under Creative Commons Licence.


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Saturday, 6 November 2010

Science-Art Scumble

Scumble:
1. To soften the colors or outlines of (a painting or drawing) by covering with a film of opaque or semiopaque color or by rubbing.
2. To blur the outlines of: a writer who scumbled the line that divides history and fiction.

Several weeks ago after a Twitter discussion with Bora Zivkovic, I created the Science-Artists Feed which is also carried on ScienceBlogging.com.    It's proven to be relatively popular, and to date, there's over 60 blogs represented in the feed. So I thought I would create a kind of weekly digest to highlight some of the posts I found most interesting, most provocative, or otherwise caught my eye.  And because I come from a narcissistic Fine Artist background, I'll probably throw some of my own in the mix too.

This first one may reach a little further back than a week.  The feed is full of fascinating science-art and illustration.  Please feel free to suggest some I may have missed or did not highlight. As well, you might suggest some in the comments below.

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Gustave Klimt's mysterious embryos by Amy Maxmen, CultureLab.

Epic Art Science Exhibit and Exploration, SaCrIt.

Pink Dinosaur #200! at Art Evolved.  This charity drive for breast cancer research has professionals and amateurs alike sending in art with Pink Dinosaurs.  The 200th one, and it's still going!

Using Engineering Principles to Reconstruct Leaf Shape by Marlene Hill Donnelly, GNSI.

(no title: about Mylodon and modern sloths), An Eye for Science.

Mushroom Festival: the final art, Katura's Sketch-blog.

Sidney Nolan's stunning Antarctic paintings at the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge, by Richard Moss, Culture 24

American Waters by Alex Kirkbride, Joris Van Alphen

Fish Fleet, Gurney Journey.  (A whole different kind of flying trilobite!)

Ent-o-Lantern 2010 Part 2, Biodiversity in Focus.  This isn't the LOTR one that made the blog rounds; it's as in entomology.

vLog from the past! , The Tyrannosaur Chronicles.  Finally we hear Traumador's voice!  Kid-friendly.

Now online: In Defense of Space Art: The Role of the Artist in Space Exploration, Roger Malina

Color Vision & Art, lines and colors.

Vintage Dinosaur Art: The Gishosaurs, Love in the Time of the Chasmosaurs - they breathe fire!

"I aten't dead" Pink Dinosaur #164, by Trish Arnold, Art Evolved.  Addressing the media's "oh noes, triceratops never existed" nonsense.  Trish's delightful blog is here.

Stained beauty, naked neurons: visualizing the brain through history, Bioephemera.

Anatomic Fashion Friday: The Donor, Street Anatomy.

Finally, I touched a nerve with this:
Why don't more science bloggers cite their images? , The Flying Trilobite
A Diplodocus-sized Pet Peeve, Love in the time of the Chasmosaurs
Glimpse at image credits on science blogs, The Flying Trilobite
And I thank all the commenters on the blogs and Twitter for their support.

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Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow
under Creative Commons Licence.


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Friday, 29 October 2010

Glimpse at image credits on science blogs

Thanks to those who tweeted and commented and posted about this morning's rant. To follow-up, I had a look at some science blogs, and who is citing images.

I'm not out to be a big jerk and point at exactly which blogs I looked at, so instead I've done this by network.
Looking at Scienceblogging.com between about 11:45-1245 est today, I looked at the first 12 blog networks listed, and then looked at the 5 posts under each heading. And then I made this table:


click to enlarge



A few notes:  

  • I tried to use a colour-code from green (properly linked and cited) to red (what are you thinking?). 
  • If the image was clearly the author's own, (a photo of them, perhaps) I included that in the green bar, as a properly cited and linked image. 
  • I didn't count videos. 
  • I only counted images in the body of the post, not the sidebar or banner. 

My thoughts:


  • Weird the Scienceblogs.com posts had no images whatsoever in that small random sampling. 
  • Not enough science bloggers use paintings or illustrations. I'm available for hire.
  • Wired came off looking good to my eyes.
  • I ain't gonna point to anyone.  But a couple of these had the Research Blogging badge on the posts with zero image citations or links.  Are we to automatically infer we have to go back to the paper for those? 


It'd be interesting to do this periodically to see the trends look like.

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Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow
under Creative Commons Licence.


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Tuesday, 26 October 2010

The Art Thief vs the Dinosaur Bloggers



This story concerns online art theft, copyright infringement, a plucky band of bloggers, and dinosaurs.

How Not to Steal Artwork Online 
or, 
The Art Thief vs the Dinosaur Bloggers


Dramatis Personae:

  • ART Evolved, the online paleo-art blog and network of approximately 20 paleontology-inspired artists and illustrators who blog.
  • deviantArt (known as dA), the massive online art sharing site.  When I say massive, as of August 2010, dA has over 14.5 million members and over 100 million pieces of art uploaded into it (Wikipedia). For those in the science community unfamiliar with it, it acts like Facebook and Flickr, but heavier on the painting and drawing than photography with lots of manga and comics and inspired amateurs. 
  • Dr. Manabu Sakamoto, aka Mambo-Bob, an artist contributor to Art Evolved and paleontologist at the University of Bristol. He blogs at The Raptor's Nest
  • *theSpinosaurusGuy, aka Brenden, a dA user. 

The events:
Early yesterday morning, Manabu emailed the rest of the list of Art Evolved members about something all artists fear:  someone else was posting his artwork online and taking credit for it. This person, known by the dA pseudonym of theSpinosaurusGuy (real name listed as "Brenden") had posted about 12 of Manabu's dinosaur drawings on deviantArt and was taking credit for them, watermarking them with his pseudonym and posting dA-enabled widgets in his gallery saying they were not to be copied.

Another artist on dA who is also familiar with Manabu's work had alerted him.

You can see Manabu's artwork here in his online gallery.  Click on Allosaurus-top view for example.
You can see in the screen-captured images below, theSpinosaurusGuy clearly claiming this as his own.  Note the same Allosaurus top view drawing on the left. 

Click to enlarge.  Note the watermark on the right-hand image, claiming that as his own as well.
Note the watermark and the "artist's" comment.

It's theft.  Pure and simple.  It's not a re-use, or a fan homage to Manabu's art.  It's not a gallery where theSpinosaurusGuy collected his favourite pieces of art (dA does have that feature, and everything is clearly labeled as the original artists' work.) He is not claiming to be Dr. Manabu Sakamoto, he is instead claiming the artwork as his own labour.

Manabu doesn't have a deviantArt account.  A number of other dA members do however, and with a minimum of discussion, we acted as individuals, but part of a group helping our respected peer.

I started by making a brief comment on the Albertaceratops, the feathered raptor, the top-view Allosaurus and a few others.  DeviantArt is very aware that this type of behaviour can and does occur, and has a mechanism to deal with it.  Next to every posted artwork, there is a "Report a Violation" link, which allows you to write a brief description of the complaint, and provide a link to evidence it's a violation.

I filled about 6 of these out.  I also left comments beneath each one with links back to Manabu's gallery so others could see for themselves:  deviantArt is a very social site, you can add friends, comment and click "favourite" on art have nested conversations.  I left the comments so new visitors would see that theSpinosaurusGuy wasn't the artist he claimed to be.


The Art Evolved Network reacts:
Letting Manabu and our Art Evolved peeps know what I'd done, I came back a couple of hours later to find that theSpinosaurusGuy had blocked me from making further comments and labeled me a spammer. Of course, the comments I'd made were all deleted.

But it didn't matter.  You see, Peter Bond, of Bond's Blog and one of the driving forces behind the current Pink Dinosaur charity drive is also a dA user, and started to comment on the rest of the ones I had missed. And what Bond did was brilliant: he replied in the nested comments to previous commenters who had unwittingly praised the thief. Now, all of the people praising the work knew Spino-Brenden was a fraud.

While that was done, I had received automated messages from the dA moderators that they had removed the 6 pieces of art I had complained about: within about 4 hours! Not bad for a site with approximately 1.5 million comments daily!

Discussion in the Art Evolved emails was heating up.  More members of Art Evolved, like Ville SinkonnenRaven AmosTrish Arnold and Nima Sassani jumped in and continued to post messages. Ville and Trish posted journal entries on dA about it, Peter re-posted Ville's, and I posted a critique of one of the works. Journals and critiques can't be deleted by the offender.

And we were civil:  let's be clear here, I think all of us recognized that theSpinosaurusGuy is likely somewhat young and naive about art, copyright and social media. This was not a pile-on with the intent rip him a new one.  Most of us called for the artist to stop deleting comments, feel ashamed, and give Manabu an apology.

More artwork was removed by the dA moderators (go moderators!) Some of theSpinosaurusGuy's former dA friends started to chastise him on his message wall. As I write this, only one of Manabu's drawings, a ceratosaurus, is still on the site.  Another dA user, not affiliated with Art Evolved has found that a computer-generated Barney the Dinosaur parody actually belongs to another artist Spino-Brenden has stolen from.

Message to theSpinosaurusGuy:

Once the jig was up, dude, if you're reading this, you should have apologized and taken them down immediately. Comments like the ones in the screen-capture below just enraged everyone.



    Click to read the jackass-ishness.
 
As I said before, I suspect you are younger than many of us in Art Evolved, and probably in your teens.  DeviantArt is a great place where you can find a niche for almost anything and have positive contact with people, and maybe that's what you were looking for.  

And I get that.  One of the ways to appear as a respectable, sensible adult is to take responsibility for your mistakes. It's still not too late.  You'll continue to take some heat from some people on dA no doubt, but suffer through it, and become what you admire.   
 
What this means:  
There's a reason I asked Manabu and our Art Evolved peeps if I could write about this experience.

You see, the online world has changed things. Now, there's a niche for artwork of every kind, and lots of people with similar interests can find each other quickly.  And while dinosaurs are granted a certain fondness and awesomeness in popular culture, there's a relatively small niche of artists passionate enough about them to be really into it.

Theft is going to get found out.

All of us on Art Evolved experienced a point in time where we made a decision to go online with our artwork.  It's a tough decision, and everyone frets to varying degrees about what will happen if our work is stolen.
  • We slap copyright symbols on it, and some of us put obscuring watermarks on the images.
  • We employ Creative Commons Licences, or rail against Google ImageSearch for making it so easy.  
  • We vary on how much we protect our artwork, and how much we like to share it.  
  • None of us is likely to know if an indie punk band in Vienna has downloaded our Diabloceratops for their gig posters.  

So if you're an aspiring artist looking to get into paleo-art or any kind of image, and you're nervous about making a big enough name for yourself online, here's some stuff you can do.

  • Don't steal. 
  • If it's a fan homage, say it is.  
  • Don't re-post someone's stuff without asking.  
  • If they have a blanket statement saying it's okay, make sure you link back to them and give them credit.   
  • Always give artists, illustrators and image-makers credit. Always.
  • Just ask.  Always ask if it's cool.  Most illustrators love feedback.
  • Use the © symbol a lot. State what you want. 
  • Blog.  Post comments elsewhere.  Reciprocate.
  • Become friends and peers to others with similar interests. 
  • If you can, be part of a network or group online. 
  • "I got yer back" is one of the most heart-warming statements you can utter to a friend. 

If someone steals your work, 
  • make a fuss. 
  • Go through proper channels. 
  • Be civil and intelligent when you dialogue. 
  • Ask for help from your support network.  

I encourage anyone to put their artwork online.  And becoming part of a network makes everyone stronger than without it.

Thanks to:
All of the Art Evolved crew for giving one of our own your support and for carrying yourselves maturely. 
To the deviantArt moderators for reacting quickly.
To other dA artists for shaming the behaviour and not shrugging their shoulders. 
And to Manabu for agreeing I should write about this.

-Glendon Mellow
[All above opinions are my own.  Cross-posted on both Art Evolved and The Flying Trilobite]
- - - - - - - -
All opinions above are my own.
Artwork in those screen captures is by the talented Manabu Sakamoto © 2010 of The Raptor's Nest.

Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow
under Creative Commons Licence.


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Thursday, 14 October 2010

Scicurious Caffeine Swag!

Remember this caffeine molecule tattoo I designed for Scicurious?  



Click to enlarge.

Now you can get that molecule for yourself, on:


variety of mugs

Hyperactive undergarments

Messenger bags

Shirts


The message on all of them is "Are you scicurious?"

All my above links are to the items in Canadian dollars.  Check out Scicurious's online shop
in American here, and Sci's own announcement here.

- - - - - - - -

Original artwork on
The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow
under
Creative Commons Licence.

The Caffeine Molecule Tattoo design is under copyright exclusive for use

by Glendon Mellow and Scicurious.  Ask first kthx.
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Friday, 1 October 2010

Good-bye and some art by colleagues

Today marks my last day working for DeSerres, Canada's largest art craft and creative retailer.  (You need a  postal code to enter the site and there's no shipping outside Canada - here's a Toronto postal code for non-residents who are curious about where I've been working: M6J 2C8).

I've never named where I work directly in a blog post, although you can see where on my LinkedIn profile or if you ask me.

It's been 10 years since I started in the company, most of that time managing stores and working with dynamic, creative people.

I thought in honour of my last day I would post the artwork of just a few of the people I have had the privilege of working with.  Please make sure to visit their websites and blogs.  I wish I could somehow showcase the compassion and talent of many of the non-artsy by essential people who give the company heart as well.  To my colleagues I have neglected to include in this post, my apologies.

I've learned a lot from everyone there, and I hope you've learned some things from me.
* * *




The Affair, © by Jesse Graham.  Blog: ILL Droppings 
A squid and a mermaid!

***



Art ©  by Adam Swinbourne.  His site here - head over for the ka-pow.
I keep meaning to ask Adam if that dog is Laika.
***



Carousel, © by Michael Kuchma.  A review of his work and life at Angell Gallery
I need to pause here and say a few things about Michael.  Michael only worked on my team briefly, for about 3 months back in 2007. He was a fascinating guy, nonchalant and unpretentious and he liked talking about big ideas: the universe, time, and art.  He was interested in urban spaces, both to walk in and to paint.  We lost touch after a while, and in 2009 I found out Michael had died, having taken his own life in March 2008.

Michael was very individual, and typical of the people I have worked with over the years: talented artistically, compassionate towards others, with a really clever mind. He started up a blog talking about art in many of the galleries here on West Queen West, and shrugged off the criticisms with ease and had fun with it.

I remember one day in March 2007, frustrated with my self for having done nothing with my artwork after many years of painting and sitting stewing about while having a day off from work, I decided to check out Michael's blog, and see if there was some way I could teach myself to start an art blog.  If he could do it, maybe I could. Not knowing a damn thing about it, I started The Flying Trilobite that day.  I owe a lot to Michael's example.  

***


©  Anna-Karoliina Koskinen.  Her gallery site is here.
Karoliina's an amazing portrait painter.
Run from the Rainbow Land Sprite, children!
***
Background painting © by Taras Ostapchuk. His blog is here
I love lamp.
***


This roaringly good (har har) piece is © Gillian Newland.  You can read her profile at McClelland.com and Gillians's also a member of Sketchkrieg. Children's books with her illustrations can be found on Amazon.
***



A drawing of Maddy Kettle and her flying boat, © Eric Orchard.  Eric's amazing blog is here, and he updates like every day. You can also see Eric's portfolio here, and his books on Amazon here.
Watch for his upcoming comic book and other projects.
The enthusiasm Eric shows on his blog for art is only surpassed by his enthusiasm in person.
***




Bride and Doom, ©  Holly Gilmour.
Holly has tremendous talent and I expect she'll be picked up by some major studio one day.
Everything she paints would be a cool action figure.
Holly's blog: Miss HollyHoolaHoop
Go and check out the hipster bunny and zombie ice cream.

***
S'long, folks!  But not good-bye.


- - - - - - - -
Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow
under
Creative Commons Licence.


All art work in this post is © to the respective artists.
Please visit their sites for copyright info or contact them before copying this artwork.
Thanks.
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Tuesday, 28 September 2010

Science-Artists Feed growing

The Science-Artists Feed keeps on growing.  This feed is featured on Scienceblogging.com, the science network aggregator, and you can subscribe here, to get all of these headlines in your Reader.

There are a lot of creative people out there exploring ideas that would have been impossible to conceive in earlier eras, before out own current understanding.  Glad to see it struck a chord with at least one science-artist.

Below is the current list of blogs.  Does anyone know of more?  There are a lot of great medical and paleo blogs here, but what about astronomy-art blogs?  




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Original artwork on
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under
Creative Commons Licence.

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Sunday, 5 September 2010

Science-Artists Feed: the list

The other day I announced a Science-Artists feed anyone can subscribe to, allowing them the follow the blogs of over 50 artists inspired by or working on visualizing science. Here's the list so far of who is in the Science-Artists feed I created and has been picked up by Scienceblogging.org.  I'll be adding more as I go, please feel free to suggest more blogs if you know of them!

The List, in no particular order:




Who am I missing?

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