Artist #4: Levni Yilmaz

This artist is one of my favorites on Youtube. Levni Yilmaz creates unique animation along with thoughtful monologue by himself. His short storylines are often about everyday things that happen to almost everyone, but that no one would admit to. His art style is minimalist and truly is just plain ink cartoon drawings that are captured on film.What makes him unique is is manner of capturing the film. They seem to appear as if drawn by an invisible hand. In reality he draws it backwards, that is, from the other side of the paper. The paper is placed on a clear surface and the camera is directed up towards it. Light shines down through the paper but the light is blocked out by the drawing that Yilmaz makes. I'm pretty sure he showed this technique in one of his videos, but I can't seem to find it now. Anyways...what I love most about Levni Yilmaz is that each animation from his Tales of Mere Existence holds an honesty and humor that draws in the viewer.

If you've never heard of him please check him out and subscribe!
http://www.youtube.com/user/AgentXPQ

 Here are a couple of my favorites! :)

 

WEBSITE!!! :D

Well, I had created a website for a computer art class I took, but I wanted to redo it because it didn't have much on it besides the things I made for the class. Plus I won't be using CNU email for all of my life so I figured I'd just remake one. Sooooo.. this is what I was working on earlier today!


https://sites.google.com/site/corinnacampbellportfolio/

I'd like for it to eventually evolve into a more professional webpage for my artwork. We'll see though...

It should at least end up with the rest of my artwork from college and include the stuff that I will be making in Senior Seminar! :)

Artist #3: Mariel Clayton

Mariel Clayton is a self-taught photographer. She got inspiration from a miniature toy shop in Tokyo and began shooting dolls in staged, miniature sets. Clayton's photos are unique in the stories they tell of the dark side of Barbie and twisted humor. The images are often violent in nature and bite back at the usually sweet and girly doll. Check out more of her stuff at her website. Also found a good interview with Clayton here.

Artist #2: Dinos and Jake Chapman

     Dinos and Jake Chapman are brothers from London, England that work together on various projects. They are known for their poignant sculptures, prints and installations that focus on contemporary politics and morality. Their website is here.
     This particular group of artwork is from the series My Giant Colouring Book completed in 2004. Many of these pieces can be seen at the MoMA. This series of work is a group of etchings, some of which are colored in with watercolors. The prints are made to look like the connect-the-dot children’s book. However, instead of being light happy scenes of childhood story characters, they are somewhat disturbing images with dark macabre scenes. It seems to be an interesting way of working backwards to leave some areas unfinished and having only the numbered dots to fill in spaces with the viewer's mind. After all, what we often fear the most is the unknown.

Artist #1: Cooper Edens

From “Caretakers of Wonder” by Cooper Edens Cooper Edens is a writer and illustrator of children's books. He is a contemporary illustrator who published his first book around 1970. Edens has written and illustrated many of this own books and done illustration work on some of other people's books. “If you have butterflies in your stomach…ask them into your heart.” -from If You’re Afraid of the Dark by Cooper Edens. 1979. The only book of his that I have read is If You're Afraid of the Dark. I have memories of taking this off of my mother's shelf when I was young and enjoying the pictures. I also came to enjoy the writing just as much now that I'm older and it carries special meaning to me. Especially as someone who writes poetry, I would love to have my own published along with my own illustrations! If You’re Afraid of the Dark (cover) by Cooper Edens. 1979 The illustrations by Cooper Edens in If You're Afraid of the Dark have a distinct style. They appear as paper cutouts and collage images. Each image seems to share the quirky fantastical style that Cooper Edens' writing has. The imagery is fun and playful and has a vintage style. “If you find your socks don’t match… stand in a flowerbed.”  -from If You’re Afraid of the Dark by Cooper Edens. 1979.

The Plan of Attack

      After 3 looooong weeks of a Biology lecture and Biology lab, I have completed my May term! Pretty sure I did well in both so its on to my next order of business of which I seem to have fallen far behind on D: !!! But worry not because I plan on kicking myself in gear to get this summer assignment stuff for senior seminar started today! :)

And so... the to do list is:
      1. Hopefully glaze fire my ceramics from last year ( >_< I still never finished them) before I have to move them back home.
      2. Finish my incomplete in Crafts (because Fall term was hell).
      3. Have 50 inspiring artist posts... and narrow it down to 10 artists into a binder with written responses that show how they influence the work I plan to create in senior seminar.
     4. Senior seminar sketchbook!
     5. Visit some museums!!! :D
     6. Create 3-5 sampler artwork!! <3
     7. Breathe? ...nah... don't need to do that.

Well to start off I looked through some older posts from the senior seminar facebook group and found these two posts that were very interesting and helpful!
         First was an article that really focused on what it means to be an artist. To "steal" or find inspiration in things that have already been done and making it your own. It also talked about how important it is to just do your art every day and get it out there to be seen by other people.
http://www.austinkleon.com/2011/03/30/how-to-steal-like-an-artist-and-9-other-things-nobody-told-me/
       The other was a more professional view of being an artist and how to much you should be making art, how to prepare a portfolio, sell your art, and get your art in galleries!
http://www.xanadugallery.com/absolute/sixmistakesfull.html

My First Blog :D

Well here it goes. This blog will be maintained for this summer (possibly over the next year) as a part of my Studio Art Senior Seminar. I will be posting links to art/artists, things I find inspiring, sketches, etc at least once a week. I'm actually really excited to get this started and to see where it takes me. The things that I will be posting on this blog will lead to the creation of artwork for the Senior Seminar Exhibition during my next spring term (which I might also post as a conclusive installment of this blog.)
I look forward to posting possibly later tonight or tomorrow. :)