Bringing it back to base; back on task and accomplishing much with all the time on my hands. So much time spent sitting at the computer working and you'd think I'd have more to show (which I do) but much of what I'm working on seems to be in a constant (re)flux. That is to say, I'm working on a handful of things at once which I don't think is very productive but I've fallen into this routine and rather than fight against the current I'm deciding to go with the flow (water just get warmer?) for better or worse. Suppose then this is a product of the "digital workflow" I've adopted now and feel comfortable with. Currently I've been finding myself unleashing my inner George Lucas in the way of taking older works and re-doing / reconstructing them entirely in Photoshop.
Yea, sure... it might seem counter productive but with my latest batch of re-worked chipboard pieces I've A.) learned a great deal, 2.) it never hurts to put time in on the Wacom, and C.) I've been able to salvage pieces that I would've otherwise have just cast off unfinished. Then again maybe somethings are best left unsaid/unfinished. Still, with the halloween holiday coming up I feel I've stumbled into a happy accident. Many of the chipboard pieces I'm re-working happen to be themed for the fall season. One of the more enjoyable parts to the process I've found has been delving into the creation of my own textures for use in toning or as a surface / background behind the illustration. Having some experience in the past with StrataVision 3D 4.0 has helped me figure it all out again. In high school when I used Strata's texture mapper I'd always tweak-out some of the surfaces in it's library by importing the image files into Photoshop (3.0) and going to town on them. I guess why this appeals to me is cause it feels like whimsey; I'm going for an organic-looking product in the end - organic usually involves a lot of experimentation. When I first got the idea to start re-working some of my older pieces I hit on the idea of doing them with canvas backgrounds - in a vain attempt to ape pretension - so many artists like to paint and draw on wooden blocks/slats or faux-canvas and mock-fresco. I've often thought this looked rather sporting but have never had the inclination to paint (a whole 'nother animal) my art on something like that. The next best thing I've found is simply creating weird textures and surfaces to draw on in Photoshop. It's fun just trying different effects and patterns and laying them up against some high rez images of canvas and even different stocks of paper.
As it's been said, I've had a little bit of time on my hands. Hours at my day-job had basically dried up but I'll be picking up some this weekend - thankfully. It's been nice not having to go into a casino for an extended period of time. Nice not having to hear the loud never-ending din throughout the entire place, is sweet not seeing people flushing their money down a toilet and even better not having to deal with rude and/or drunken guests. I've been doing it for a number of years now and if it's one thing I've learned about myself is that while I can bare down (like any sensible person) and do the job - it ain't what I should be doing. There's people I've talked to at work who deal even more in aggravation with the public than I do; namely the people who work in the players club. Notice sometimes too that it takes a certain type of person to deal with folks like that all day, surely someone with more patience than I'm able to muster.Waking up today I decided to embark on a "G-Funk musical odyssey" via Youtube. Simply typing in "g-funk instrumentals" gave me hours and hours of melodic enjoyment, kicking it all off with Warren G & Nate Dog and finally capping off the day with a heady dose of Dre. Often times I work only to instrumentals for the reason that when I hear lyrics, even familiar ones, I tend to pause and think about them. With instrumentals I get into a groove and just work - all the better when one must get shit done, yeh? Hip-hop instrumentals are especially good cause they help me find a rhythm and I'm able to keep time and my productivity seems to ebb and flow with the beats.. least I feel it in my lazy bones.
