Thursday, 30 June 2011
Trilobite Boy chibi!
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Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow under Creative Commons Licence.
Wednesday, 29 June 2011
The Aura of Oil - classic Flying Trilobite
(This post originally appeared here on The Flying Trilobite back in November 2008.)
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The aura of painting exists in the mind of the viewer, and in some cases the mind of the illustrator when seeing their own work reproduced. The idea of paintings having an aura or presence is something that has fascinated me since university, as discussed last week. Some excellent comments were made by artists Sean Craven and Chris Zenga, check it out.
Okay so from my non-scientific anecdotal samplings and personal experiences (oh the sins against science I commit! I will say ten ATP-->ADP reactions in penance), I doubt the existence of original paintings having a quasi-mystical aura or emitting a presence to the viewer. You can read a bit more about this "aura of authenticity" from an art historical perspective here, and from the side of new age-laced artsy language here (10th paragraph), and here.
It's head-shakingly amazing how fear for loss of the aura is dovetailed with a fear of technology.
Is there anything special or unique then, about an original painting that does not lie entirely within the biases of the viewer? In case of oil paintings, I say yes. And looking at last week's comments, Chris Zenga guessed the point of this week's Artwork Monday while thinking about a D.N.A Candle Vanitas painting I gave to him and his wife for their marriage (at right, original post here).
I love oil painting. I enjoy the scent of the oil, and the buttery consistency flowing together under a horizontally-held fan brush. And most of all, I love the depth glazing can bring about in the final work.
Oil painting differs from other types of painting in many ways. Oils do not evaporate as they dry like watercolour or acrylic painting; instead they absorb oxygen from the air. This is called a siccative quality. The way I think about this, is like the oxygen molecules are pineapple chunks being added to Jell-o in a confined bowl. Adding more will increase the density and stop the Jell-o from jiggling. I don't know that this is a chemically-apt description, so please feel free to tell me there's not room for Jell-o in the comments if I am mangling the science of siccatives.
For this reason, it's important that oil paintings are painted in thin layers with an increasing amount of oil in successive layers. It allows the oxygen to permeate evenly over the course of six months to a year after painting, and helps prevent cracking. The rule is referred to as "fat over lean".
So oil paintings, particularly by Renaissance and Baroque masters, contained many thin, mostly transparent layers of paint, each tinted with a little pigment. And herein lies the aura of a painting viewed live versus online.
When light hits all these layers of oil, it permeates each oily membrane and begins to reflect back out. But some photons will bounce back into the oil layers off of the pigments, and back to the lower layers before pinging back out of the painting, and onward to the viewers eyes. This optical effect literally creates a glow. It's also the reason for the incredibly deep blacks often found in the backgrounds of portraits.
So the illusion of depth in an oil painting can be profoundly eye-catching, and similar to looking at objects in water, the oil-glazes draw our eyes and captivate our pattern-seeking centers, making the paint feel alive. No unscientific aura necessary, just wonderful chemistry interacting on our biology.
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Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow under Creative Commons Licence.
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The aura of painting exists in the mind of the viewer, and in some cases the mind of the illustrator when seeing their own work reproduced. The idea of paintings having an aura or presence is something that has fascinated me since university, as discussed last week. Some excellent comments were made by artists Sean Craven and Chris Zenga, check it out.
Okay so from my non-scientific anecdotal samplings and personal experiences (oh the sins against science I commit! I will say ten ATP-->ADP reactions in penance), I doubt the existence of original paintings having a quasi-mystical aura or emitting a presence to the viewer. You can read a bit more about this "aura of authenticity" from an art historical perspective here, and from the side of new age-laced artsy language here (10th paragraph), and here.
It's head-shakingly amazing how fear for loss of the aura is dovetailed with a fear of technology.
Is there anything special or unique then, about an original painting that does not lie entirely within the biases of the viewer? In case of oil paintings, I say yes. And looking at last week's comments, Chris Zenga guessed the point of this week's Artwork Monday while thinking about a D.N.A Candle Vanitas painting I gave to him and his wife for their marriage (at right, original post here).
I love oil painting. I enjoy the scent of the oil, and the buttery consistency flowing together under a horizontally-held fan brush. And most of all, I love the depth glazing can bring about in the final work.
Oil painting differs from other types of painting in many ways. Oils do not evaporate as they dry like watercolour or acrylic painting; instead they absorb oxygen from the air. This is called a siccative quality. The way I think about this, is like the oxygen molecules are pineapple chunks being added to Jell-o in a confined bowl. Adding more will increase the density and stop the Jell-o from jiggling. I don't know that this is a chemically-apt description, so please feel free to tell me there's not room for Jell-o in the comments if I am mangling the science of siccatives.
For this reason, it's important that oil paintings are painted in thin layers with an increasing amount of oil in successive layers. It allows the oxygen to permeate evenly over the course of six months to a year after painting, and helps prevent cracking. The rule is referred to as "fat over lean".
So oil paintings, particularly by Renaissance and Baroque masters, contained many thin, mostly transparent layers of paint, each tinted with a little pigment. And herein lies the aura of a painting viewed live versus online.
When light hits all these layers of oil, it permeates each oily membrane and begins to reflect back out. But some photons will bounce back into the oil layers off of the pigments, and back to the lower layers before pinging back out of the painting, and onward to the viewers eyes. This optical effect literally creates a glow. It's also the reason for the incredibly deep blacks often found in the backgrounds of portraits.
So the illusion of depth in an oil painting can be profoundly eye-catching, and similar to looking at objects in water, the oil-glazes draw our eyes and captivate our pattern-seeking centers, making the paint feel alive. No unscientific aura necessary, just wonderful chemistry interacting on our biology.
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Monday, 27 June 2011
Forgotten art for a late night.
Taking apart a room due to some slight water damage. Listening to Stromkern (thanks Stephanie!) and Wolfsheim. Here's some of my slate pieces from my final school project scanned and converted to black and white. I almost put this image in my latest print collection, and then skipped it and forgot about it.
Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow under Creative Commons Licence.
Friday, 24 June 2011
Hashtag: 10oclockart
Today's the first day of illustrator Russell Dickerson's fun idea: #10oclockart . I heard about it last night through a conversation Russell was having with Eric Orchard on Twitter about Eric's recent post.
Every day at 10 am, artists should post whatever they're working on, at whatever stage it's in; on Twitter, Flickr, blogs, Facebook, where ever, and use the Twitter hashtag #10oclockart. Great fun! Here's mine:
Working on my donor drawings - almost all of them are done! The swirly one is far from finished. And here's my workstation and studio assistant this morning:
He's helping. And listening to DeadMaus.
Follow me on Twitter! @flyingtrilobite
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Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Scumble #18 - Science-art is the future! Edition
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.
Highlighting recent posts I found interesting, provocative, or otherwise caught my eye from the Science Artists Feed, and other sources.
Science-art is becoming an increasingly popular form of science communication and entertainment. Drawing from fine art, laboratory work, scientific illustration, concept art and more, watch how artists spread scientific literacy and play with the inspiring concepts in science.
Make yourself a cup of joe, put your feet up and enjoy the science-art and art techniques!
Click here for earlier Scumbles.
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World Science Festival 11: The Invisible Language of Smell - Bora Zivkovic with illustrations by Perrin Ireland, Scientific American's Guest Blog. Find more of Perrin Ireland's work at Small n Tender and Bora Zivkovic's at A Blog Around the Clock.
Using the iPad as a Portfolio - Darkstorm Creative: the Work of Russell Dickerson. A couple of years back, I blogged about the iPod Touch as a portfolio. Can't wait to get an iPad. Check out Russell's unsettling horror work while you're there.
"Picturing science" exhibit reveals the artistic beauty of scientific research - Alasdair Wilkins, io9.com.
ScienceArt-Nature-Home - Stanford. This in-process site looks promising, and check out the roster of contributors: includes Carel Brest van Kempen.
Networks are not always revolutionary - Cory Doctorow, The Guardian.
Hominid Skulls wearing Mexican Wrestler Masks - The Flying Trilobite. An example of a failed contract.
CaridianBCT - Quantum Cell Expansion System - XVIVO Science Animation Blog.
EXOSKELETONS...solo show in Melbourne - A Curious Bestiary - art by Kaitlin Beckett. I wish I could see this amazing work in person!
Titration! - Katy's Notebook.
L is for Lacewing - Curious Art Lab by Leah Palmer Preiss.
Art Talk with Marna Stalcup, The Right-Brain Initiative - Art Works.
Mathematics breathes new life into Escher's art - Jacob Aron, CultureLab.
Vintage Dinosaur Art: The Bird Hunter - Love in the Time of the Chasmosaurs.
Earliest art in the Americas: Ice Age Image of Mammoth or Mastodon found in Florida - ScienceDaily.
Of Paintings and Other Things - The Caw Box
Art and Science Team-up for Biophysical Journal - cover artist Klaus Schulten, biophysical society.
Immortal - Is this bioart?
Inter-active Broadcast: Illusion of Certainty - Sci-ence
Kinect for Windows SDK Coding Marathon - The Art of Wa.com
The Mysteryes of Nature and Art - BibliOdyssey. (hat-tip to Michael Barton!)
Evolution - Darryl Cunningham Investigates. Webcomic about evolution!
Pick of the Scumble:
Wallace and his Flying Frogs! - Alfred Wallace Website. Amazing art by Joanna Barnum. (Another tip of the hat to Mr. Barton!)
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Tuesday, 21 June 2011
Hominid Skulls wearing Mexican Wrestling Masks
Not every art project for a client sees the light of day. Here's an example from a few years ago.
(I retained the copyright on the images even if the contract had gone through: in this case, I was never paid so I'm quite sure there's no conflict, and it's fair game to post these.)
The client had asked for a challenging tattoo design.
Up to you to judge whether or not these fit the bill. The concept was three different hominid skulls, each wearing Mexican Luchador wrestling masks. In black line: no colour, no grey scale. See? Challenging. How do you bring out the masks on very specific human ancestral skulls without colour?I got started by working on the hominid skulls and on the layout. Homo sapiens sapiens, Homo erectus tautavelensis and Australopithicus afarensis.
(I retained the copyright on the images even if the contract had gone through: in this case, I was never paid so I'm quite sure there's no conflict, and it's fair game to post these.)
The client had asked for a challenging tattoo design.
Up to you to judge whether or not these fit the bill. The concept was three different hominid skulls, each wearing Mexican Luchador wrestling masks. In black line: no colour, no grey scale. See? Challenging. How do you bring out the masks on very specific human ancestral skulls without colour?I got started by working on the hominid skulls and on the layout. Homo sapiens sapiens, Homo erectus tautavelensis and Australopithicus afarensis.
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| Deciding the layout of the three skulls. |
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| Originally, I drew the concept in reverse by mistake; three masks that look like hominid skulls. |
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| I played with the drawing in Photoshop to get a different view of a "messier" ink style. |
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| Now the challenge of overlaying cloth onto skulls, and making the bold cartoon outlines found on Luchador masks. |
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| Final submitted image. The Australopithecus on the bottom is wearing a half-mask. |
There were more drawings than these few; I like to keep clients informed when working on a project and it's especially important for the personal work involved in tattoos. Ultimately, the project was never fully realized. But what do you think of the last image? Does it read as hominid skulls wearing Luchador masks?
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Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow under Creative Commons Licence.
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