Book Binding Workshop: 4/23/10

Today we brainstormed ideas for our bigger book binding project. I figured at first that i would just make a sketchbook, but the problem was the word, "just" haha. So i thought about it a little more, and came up with something. While in Ecuador, I didn't journal that much, unfortunately, and a lot of my journals were addressed to my ex, who i'm clearly no longer with. Not only that, but for my journal, i also used a book him and i bound together, which would, under normal circumstances, be okay, but he's refused to speak to me over the past four months, and i kind of resent that a little. But anyway, i want to make my own post-Ecuador journal about my experience and for me completely. I want to include photos and my own synoptic stories of my experiences. I think it's going to be really cool and definitely really intentional and useful.

Book Binding Workshop: 4/21/10

Today we finished making the small books by gluing the folio to the cover. I was so excited to see it complete. I've made my own sketchbook and i think that's truly amazing. I created something I never even thought of making. Ever. It's stuff like this that makes me want to explore things I've never done before in college, because perhaps i haven't done the one thing i like doing more than anything in the world yet!

What I'm Doing Fourth Quarter

I'll be painting! I'm really looking forward to this. I don't really like using acrylic, and water based oils apparently don't function anything like them, so i'm excited to use this form of paint that i've never used before. I'm so used to drawing, and i think painting with either challenge my drawing ability and growth or support it. Or rather, my drawing will support my painting. I'm not quite sure what will happen, but i'll blog about it when i come to any realizations.

Book Binding Workshop: 4/16/10

In Friday's workshop, we created the covers for the books. They're really starting to come together. It's kind of awesome. I love seeing progression and seeing my work build up. And even though book binding is somewhat of a mechanical, technical process, it's still a release of creativity, i think. Creativity encapsulates two types of creations: creations for production purposes (like crafts, i guess) and creations for originality and one of a kind-edness. And this book binding is the former, as of now (the plumbing), but I think will gravitate more towards the latter upon making the second book.

Book Binding Workshop: 4/14/10

In today's workshop, we bound a small sketchbook. It was a lot easier than i thought it'd be. I had no idea a needle could go through several pieces of drawing paper. Which might sound silly, but whatever. I got really excited when he said we'd be making our own sketchbooks...so i can use this book for my own sketches and i made it from scratch. And Karl is REALLY cool and when i was drawing he was giving me advice, which is awesome. I'm really looking forward to the rest of this set of workshops.

Book Presentation

Over all, i thought my oral presentation went pretty well. I sufficiently spoke for five minutes about Molecules of Emotion and got across to my fellow STACies what i wanted to get across. On the other hand though, I should have done more preparation. I should have taken notes while reading or used post-its for what information i thought i'd use in my presentation so that I would have been more prepared and collected.

Realization

Last night, i drew Vincent Gallo half asleep using pencil. Pencil is probably the most controlled medium of all mediums. I haven't really drawn with pencil in a while...i've been using soft pastels, watersoluble graphite, charcoal, and brush markers. Those are pretty hard to master and control. Over time, with lots of practice and some screwing up, i've gotten better at all of them. It started off with charcoal..I did a LOT of charcoal drawings [i was in love with it]. Then from there, i got a good sense of control and i learned proportions pretty well. i was able to wrok with brush markers after that, which i fell in love with also. But i learned a good deal of...eyeballing things..i don't know what you'd call it. But i learned how to see things and how to replicate proportions at first attempt. Then i did a couple of watersoluble graphite drawings and soft pastel drawings, and those are more like paint, which is really cool. I imagine that if i ever start painting, it will make a nice segue.
So anyway, my realization was this: while drawing Gallo and this random dude the following day, i realized that i have SUCH control over my pencil now. These drawings are not realistic, but they show realistic factors and proportions. Not only that, but they greatly resemble the original subjects. It kind of blew my mind when i realized this. Because i was able to make a mere few strokes of my pencil and it suddenly already started looking like the person! IT'S SO AWESOME! I can't believe it. I love how so much practice with so many different mediums has made my drawings become so....easy and so accurate. I'm not tooting my own horn, here. I'm really just observing my progression and feeling very proud of how far i've come. This is truly amazing. I'm blown away. I reccomend this to any artist in any discipline using any medium. DO ART EVERY DAY.