This fascinates me. iConji is a nacient pictorial language inspired by the way that TXTing is essentially becoming symbolic LOL , ROTFLMAO CU L8R. It looks like a modern rebirth of Egyptian hieroglyphs. If you know about computer science, then you might also note that it is sort of like a P-code. In computer science, a P-code is an intermediate language that is not native to a particular architecture, nor is it something that you would choose to use as a programming language. Instead, P-code is easy to read for any particular kind of computer, and easy to produce from any particular high-level language. It provides an intermediate stage that has only a small performance-hit but with the advantage of architecture independance.
iConji fulfills a similar function. Many spoken languages could be usefully represented by select symbols, and these symbols can be usefully translated into another language. Hence you instantly have the ability to create an internationally neutral string of symbols. Pictograms are not new of course. Obviously there are several methods of writing which use little symbols to represent objects, ideas and so on. What IS new, is that the iConji is served up for use by computer assisted end-points. At present, the iPhone, and a web application, and a Facebook app, perhaps more, and soon, perhaps many more when and if an application builder is released. You might be wondering why I am writing this on a site dedicated to art... well, it's because they have a call for artists. See HERE. But that's not the entire reason that I've got energised about this. The other reason is not about the symbol, but about the metadata that it carries. Once a symbol is "born", it carries with it the original artist's name, and even a little story about how it came about. This is new. It's really new, and you have a chance to get in early before the next 50,000 symbols are created. At present there are less than 2000 symbols. If you create a symbol, then you will have the ability to track it throughout its use in the world. I find this amazing, and the possibilities for use (and misuse) over time are staggering. Here are the commercial terms. I am not going to tell you what to download or how to use it etc, as this is easily discovered on the official site. They also have a twitter feed. (@iconji). The one question that will obviously be asked is, "How do I cope with 50,000 or even 2,000 unique symbols?" The answer is of course that the end-points are 'computers' so each will have the ability to allow you to look up a symbol using your native language when creating and reading it. If you like this, please comment. If you don't like it, please let me know what spOOks you, and if you get a symbol made and accepted, then I'd love to know.
0 Comments
JL: Matt, we met on artpapa and deviant art, then facebook, and now twitter! I guess the graphite-artists seek each other out. I've seen your awesome drawings and peoples' favorable reactions. What do you see for the future of this medium in the art world?
MD: I'm not sure what the future holds for this medium in the art world but in my opinion, and from what I've seen, pencil /graphite drawing is becoming increasingly popular and more appreciated. I do feel it's been under appreciated in the past though, particularly when it's put side by side with other mediums. It seems quite common for oil and acrylic paintings to do well in juried competitions but pencil work rarely seems to get the same praise. I'd love for pencil work to be on a more level playing field as oils, acrylics and other popular art mediums. I know it's all down to personal taste and preference but I think maybe the average person/non artist appreciates or understands how much work goes into some drawings. I think as soon as you mention 'pencil', people assume it's going to be just some quick sketch and that often they don't realise that these days highly realistic drawings are being produced by some damn fine artists and with damn fine results. Take people like Armin Mersmann and Paul Lung (to name just 2 from so many thousands of talented pencil artists), and see just how detailed their drawings are. JL: How log have you been drawing, and why did you start? MD: Well I've been drawing since I was about 7 years old (I'm 35 now) and have always had a good eye for perspective, form and light and shade so I'm lucky in that sense. I was always told that my drawings were very good and I always thought they were too.............until a couple of years ago when I discovered Deviantart and saw for myself the truly amazing drawings that were being produced by people with a simple pencil. It was at that point that I took a long hard look at my drawings from my past and thought "okay, they're not bad but they are far from good or great". I decided then to reteach myself 'how' to draw using tips and techniques that I read about from other pencil artists on DA. The advice and help that I was given was invaluable and helped set me on a new road with regards to my drawings. As mentioned earlier, I was already blessed with some form of artistic talent but I desperately needed to hone those skills if I ever wanted to accomplish my dream of having my art on show and someday for sale. Also, several years ago I went through quite a bad time in my life that completely demotivated me and thus I lost the will to draw. After seeking help for my 'problem' and finally getting the help, I was put in touch with an art tutor who took a small group of people in a similar position as myself, for just 2 hours a week, and helped to inspire and motivate us again. It worked for me and that's when I discovered DA. So to sum up, although I've drawn for as long as I can remember, I only consider the last 1 - 2 years as being professional with regards to how I go about producing my drawings now. I've learnt more in the last 2 years compared to the previous 27 years and it's changed my drawing life. JL: Are you from an arty family? MD: No, not really. My father was a good technical drawer and certainly had an eye for perspective and form, much like I did when I was a kid so maybe I picked that side of things up from him. My daughter (who's 4 years old) also has a keen eye for things and she loves to draw whereas my son (her twin brother) isn't so adept. JL: Who do you turn to for inspiration and why? MD: I generally turn to other pencil artists for inspiration. Just looking at other peoples drawings is enough to inspire me although picking a suitable subject matter has always been an issue for me. In the last year I've discovered some really great art forums such as Artpapa and Wetcanvas and these forums have really helped to inspire me. The artists there, no matter what mediums they work in, are so helpful and offer such great advice and constructive criticism and I'm eternally greatful for these forums. JL: I see you would like to go mainstream. What steps are you taking to make this happen? MD: Well at the moment I'm concentrating on building up my portfolio as I only really have 4 drawings that I consider as 'worthy' of being shown. I tend to post my WIP's (works in progress) on various art forums that I've already mentioned so that I can get constructive feedback and advice from other artists. Generally speaking it's through word of mouth, forums and sites such as DA that are helping my work get noticed. Also Facebook, and more recently, Twitter have proved to be a good way of getting my stuff out there. As yet I've not approached any galleries or exhibitions but I will do that once I have a bigger portfolio. Also, people such as yourself, Jeremy, have been so helpful and even this opportunity of doing this little interview is invaluable to me. Once again, thank you for this and hopefully someday I can repay your kindness. JL: Are you going to specialise exclusively in graphite or do you have other plans and interests? MD: As it stands I work exclusively in Graphite but I have worked with Acrylics and pastels before. I don't really get on with pastels but I loved using Acrylics and hope to do some more Acrylic work in the future. I also feel that expanding on what mediums I use will give me better opportunities and make me more versatile as an artist. At the moment I intend to keep concentrating on my Graphite work in order to build up my portfolio and once that's done then I'll put a bit more focus on Acrylics. JL: You put many hours into a given work. Do you see this as a problem from a commercial point of view? I mean, how do you make a trade off between commercial productivity and just letting it flow at a natural rate? MD: Indeed I do put many hours into my drawings. Infact, my last drawing took close to 150 hours to complete. I'm not the quickest drawer in the world anyway but I'm such a perfectionist that this adds to the time that a drawing takes to complete. Everytime I start a new drawing I think to myself that I won't allow myself to get too intricate but I never manage to do that. I generally need to learn to improve on the time that my drawings take but without compromising the quality of my work. I think I will be able to speed up but it's all a learning process and will take me time to get comfortable with working faster. Also, taking so much time on a drawing isn't practical from a commercial point of view as 'time = money'. If I can produce more drawings over a shorter period of time then I will have the opportunity to make more money as it just doesn't make good business sense to put so much time into something that people wouldn't be willing to pay for if I had to charge an hourly rate (not that I'm sure how to price myself anyway) but like I said, I'm still learning and as it stands I don't currently make money from my drawings anyway. JL: Have you been approached by any interesting sources for commission work and so on? MD: In short, no. Many people have looked at my drawings and are pretty gobsmacked when they realise that something's a drawing and not a photo as they initially thought but no, nobody (other than one person) has requested any commissions from me. Hopefully someday they will but to be honest I don't really advertise or say that I'm available for commissions. I also figure that people currently have less money to spend on non-essentials such as a drawing due to recessions etc,. I'm also wary of doing commissions as I worry that I may not enjoy drawing them as much. I noticed whilst drawing my only commission that I just wasn't bonding with the drawing because it was a picture chosen by the client. I had no real creative leeway like I would have if I was drawing from my own reference or from my own ideas and imagination. I guess it has to be a compromise sometimes and that I'll have to give up being creative on the occasions that a commission may come my way. JL: Thank you so much for your time. Is there any advice that you could offer to other graphite specialists out there? MD: I don't really have any advice with regards to marketing or selling work as I'm only learning that now myself but in terms of advice to do with techniques, then yes, I can make suggestions based on what works for me. Firstly, these are things that work for me and may not work for others. I never/rarely blend my drawings although I did once. I've found that using the 'circulism' technique is my preferred method of drawing, although this technique takes quite long, hence why some drawings take me 100+ hours. By using this technique I'm able to get a smooth look but not an unnaturally smooth look. It's perfect for drawing skin as it gives the impression of tiny pores. If I do ever blend then it's usually only very tiny areas and I use a tortillion, very lightly, for this. When using the tortillon I also use the circulism [a.k.a. circularism] technique as it gives a more natural looking smoothness in my opinion. JL: I think the blending advice is sound. You pointed to a tutorial at Duey's Drawings. And I've got one in this blog too. Well good luck with your career! -Jeremy 1.2.33 Depth
This is a term which can be used to describe several things about a drawing. Good contrast might give depth, but so might the subject matter in an emotional sense. Control of focus and all the other elements might contribute to depth. It might be easier to describe this by imagining a person who is shallow, and then one who has great depth. It's hard to put these concepts into words, but if you can imagine the person who has depth, and then apply the feeling to a drawing, then this is what we are trying to understand. Depth can also be part of the history of the drawing, and of the conditions and life of the artist. It is for this reason that some reasonably ordinary works get sold for a lot of money: the artwork is inextricably linked to a time, place, world-view, political environment and the trials and tribulations of the artist. Do not overlook this important and intangible concept. 1.2.31 Angle
Lines which are drawn or implied which are not either horizontal or vertical create a dramatic effect. Diagonal and angled lines help to accentuate a subject or lead the eye to a specific place in the drawing. Sometimes, the diagonal lines are made from parts of the subject. Sometimes the lines will be part of the background. As with any tool, don't over use the idea. Ideas that are over used become boring. 1.2.32 Composition You will be able to obtain a whole book dedicated to the topic of composition, so I'll mention that it is very important, and advise that you find some extra literature on the subject. The purpose now is to define the term. Composition obviously comes from the verb to compose which means to put parts together into a new whole. In a picture, the parts that are available include at least the following:
A good composition will hold the viewer's attention, and let the eye explore the drawing and rest on the desired subject matter. All the elements should compliment and enhance the subject, and there should not be two or more equally competing objects in the drawing... unless of course you want and can control this effect. It is also a good idea to arrange the objects so the viewer's eye is held within the frame. A drawing which contains an arrangement that causes the eye to leave the frame is unlikely to hold interest. Some, or perhaps most people can feel a good composition when they see it even without being able to explain the theory behind it. If you can do this, then take advantage of it by playing with the elements until they feel right. This is a good reason to draw several sketches. I've written a tutorial on how to draw skin texture without blending. It describes circularism - at least one way to use it to simulate the pits, marks, pores, creases and little features that help to promote realism. Click HERE.
1.2.30 Feeling
It might seem strange to talk about feeling in connection with drawing, but one of the goals of art is to induce some kind of emotion in the viewer. You can use expression on a person's face to convey a feeling. This might be sadness, shock, tiredness and so on. Also, the background, texture, composition and the way that objects are presented will have an influence on the feeling of a picture. Colour invokes emotion but in our graphite portraits, we have only shades of grey. Although this might seem a disadvantage, it can be very dramatic and deep. It is interesting that black and white photography used to be the cheap and easy method, while colour photography was considered expensive and elite. But today, we find that the processes for colour photography has become mass produced, cheap and common. Black and white photography is now considered dramatic, arty and elite. At the time of writing (2008), graphite art is slowly making progress in the art world. Hopefully, this is because great graphite works are so capable of showing feeling. The absence of colour should be treated as an advantage to bring out the drama of a subject. We continue with the word-definitions for graphite drawing. There are a lot of terms. Once this is complete, we will see some techniques and examples.
First, let's look at graphite shine a little more... 1.2.28 Shine Since the graphite flakes are flat and shiny, if you rub a pencil hard on the paper, it will flatten the tooth and lay all the flakes flat on top of each other. Light will reflect off this smooth surface and cause shine. This is undesirable because a shiny surface will not properly represent a shadow. It is wise to lay down the graphite and preserve the tooth so that each individual flake of graphite reflects light in a different direction. Carbon and charcoal pencils are made of rough bits of black carbon grains, and do not reflect light so easily. For this reason, carbon and charcoal are very useful for deep dark areas. Some types of paper cause shine more than others. You will need to experiment to find out what suits your style. The effects of shine are reduced a little when the work is mounted under glass, and if you use a spray fixative it tends to remove some shine. 1.2.29 Grade Pencils are marked with a grading system. There are two measures: B and H. Each letter could be preceded by a number which indicates a weighting for the letter. B represents the amount of graphite and H represents the amount of clay. Graphite is soft and shiny, while the clay is hard an matte. On a scale from soft to hard, we get: 1. 8B 2. 6B 3. 4B 4. 2B 5. B 6. HB 7. H 8. 2H 9. 4H 10. 6H On any given paper, each of these will give a very dark (8B) to very light (6H) value. For any given pencil grade, it will give a different value depending on the paper used. Some papers takes darks better then others. HB is sort of the middle and is a general purpose pencil that we use in schools. Softer pencil marks, when used lightly are easy to erase while harder pencil marks can damage the tooth of the paper and leave an impression. Therefore, very light pressure in many layers will often produce superior results when compared to heavy-handed marks. Really! It's all because of the lens. When an image is focused onto the sensor or film, it has to pass through a curved surface, and basic trigonometry demands that the XY coordinates of the flattened image are not in proportion. You would have to project onto a curved sensor to fix that. But a digital camera could automatically do lens distortion corrections. I am not aware of any in-camera lens distortion software. Hopefully you can tell me and other readers if you know of any cameras that offer it.
But there is some software which will automatically correct lens distortion in the digital darkroom. PTLens is software that corrects lens pincushion/barrel distortion, vignetting, chromatic aberration, and perspective. It recognises many commercially available lenses and exists as a stand alone application or a plugin for photoshop. 1.2.27 Tooth
Paper is not perfectly smooth. If it was very smooth, then you would not be able to draw on it. The roughness of the paper is called tooth. Very rough paper resists fine detail. The grade of pencil that you choose will make a different mark on smooth paper compared to rough paper. This is because the pencil is made of graphite, and the graphite flakes are bound together to form the lead core, where the tooth of the paper is abrasive enough to grab the graphite flakes. Pencil lead is not really lead. It is actually made from a composition of graphite and clay. The tooth on some paper allows deep dark values with little shine, but on some others the graphite shines because the tooth is delicate and when the tooth is flattened, the graphite flakes lie flat and shine. In that case, be very gentle when applying the graphite. It's best to use several layers, possibly with a light blend in between. This is a new category. I'll be listing and describing some drawing exercises. After all, if you are a musician, then you practice scales or rifts or something similar. If an athlete, then squats, lunges and other strength exercises help performance. But even thinking about your sport can improve performance. This surprising snippet of information is backed by research as demonstrated in an article stating "Mental practice-based rehabilitation training to improve arm function and daily activity performance in stroke patients."
So this implies that you can get better at drawing just by thinking about drawing. If you are caught in a queue, or on a bus with nothing to do, then close your eyes, and draw or paint a picture in your mind. Choose and mix the colors, arrange the composition, build up an image, make corrections. When you next put pencil to paper, or paint on canvas, you just might find a little new skill or two. |
(C) Jeremy Lee 2010, all rights reserved.
Note: I am allowing the blogs in the category 'Book' to be stored for personal use only, but not for distribution or commercial use. Should you wish to reproduce any material, please contact me for negotiations. Categories
All
spOOkspOOk's art is owned by Jeremy. He has practiced drawing and painting for about 40 years, and might get good at it one day. spOOk's art is focused on graphite portraits. Archives
October 2016
|