The Aisles: A short film

This is the three-minute film I created for the Line Project in Advanced Drawing.

Dealing with the juxtaposition of order and chaos within the realm of a supermarket, this film critiques how organized and calming the grocery shopping experience is supposed to be, and how instead I find it to be stressful and full of disarray.

The "line" aspect refers to both the setup of the maze-like rows of aisles, as well as the literal line you are forced to wait on when it's all over.

The lovely music used throughout is from The Beach Boys' "new" album Smile, a truly ingenius piece of music and art.

THE AISLES

I shouldn't have to say this by now, but you should watch it at YouTube itself in 720p HD for the full effect.

First time using Adobe Illustrator!

If I'm to make this Thesis animation project easier for myself, as well as get my foot into the graphic design world, I'm going to need to learn Illustrator.

So without further ado, my first attempt!

I call it, The Dinosaur Age. Despite the seemingly randomized shapes, it IS supposed to resemble a prehistoric landscape. The color choice is what I think brings it out the most to be honest.

More photo edition experimentation

Continuing to play around with various editions of a single photograph, I think I'm getting better at expressing different moods depending on the color, brightness, contrast, etc.

This time, instead of making sure it was a (fairly) recognizable object, I abstracted it to the point of unknowability. Can you guess what this originally was? TRY.

Reminds me of some kind of mask, or face, or alien...

Chance Show entry

Here is my piece for the Mason Gross Undergraduate Annual, Chance.

Titled "Eurynome and Ophion", this drawing takes its name and subject matter from the pre-Greek myth of creation. The Pelasgians, the all-inclusive name applied to the inhabitants of Greece before the Greeks arrived, believed that all existence was born out of pure chaos. Eurynome, the first intelligent being and creatrix of our world, was born from this primordial chaotic void. She immediately created a serpent, named Ophion, out of the chaotic wind surrounding her. In order to warm herself up, she began an exotic dance...and this aroused Ophion so much, he simply had to make love to her. From that union sprang a giant egg, within which our universe and everything we know is contained.

It was nothing but pure chance that Eurynome was born from this chaos, quickly bringing order and balance to reality. What I find especially interesting is understanding this myth in terms of modern quantum physics - our universe as we know it supposedly sprang about by the same chance - the conditions for a universe to last longer than a millisecond in the quantum field requires the perfect balance of energy (in our universe's case that number is a perfect ZERO). In this sense, it was extremely lucky for us that the conditions were exactly as they were, otherwise...there would be no us.

In terms of the composition and style, I was looking a lot at Picasso at the time, particularly his Classical Period. The way he modernized and further abstracted the already schematized Classical Greek forms was, to me, absolutely brilliant as well as beautiful. 

FIRST THESIS PROJECT COMPOSITION! (woooooo)

Fellow student and good friend Will Comer and I are working on a short animated film, perhaps a pilot of sorts.

The setting is a fictional version of ancient Athens and Sparta, during the years just prior to the Peloponnesian War. The Athenians are characterized as being pretentious, artistic, aristocratic, high-brow, conservative, and even lazy in their work ethic. They prefer to spend their time philosophizing, creating fine art, and enjoying food and drink in their symposia. Contrasting with their type are the Spartans, seen as muscle-headed, brutish, one-track-minded, hedonistic, workaholics. They would much rather spend their lives lifting weights, competing in athletic events, and tanning their toned physiques.

When the Athenian king Perikles learns of the Spartans' drastically different lifestyle, and the apparent spreading of this culture like wildfire across Greece, he immediately goes on a mission with two of his most trusted pals to see the threat with his own eyes. Thus, their infiltration mission begins: can these stuck-up Athenians, who know nothing of the hardcore Spartan lifestyle (of working out, tanning, and gelling), successfully blend in to gather the necessary information? What will they discover about this foreign culture? Will they learn anything about themselves in the process? Are they making a big deal out of nothing?

For now, here are a few character and prop designs, drawn by hand and colored/arranged in good ol' Photoshop. The style used here is certainly subject to change.

A typical Spartan

Another typical Spartan

Some everyday objects (drums, hair gel)

A bronze cauldron (a historical prize for winning the Olympics, but in this story it would be additionally used as a very heavy weight - only the toughest and strongest Spartan would have the honor of lifting it, as well as getting first dibs on the delicious alcoholic drink contained within)

An idea of what a given scene might look like.

Experimentation with various photo editions

Lately, instead of making one final version of a digital photograph, I've been experimenting with trying out many different versions of the same one.

Color, brightness, contrast, intensity, filter, temperature, etc. all factor into how an image should be read and understood, even appreciated aesthetically. I guess I'm taking this idea from my days of Printmaking. In both in the Silkscreen and Woodcut prints I would make, I'd always make multiple variations with different inks, arrangements, lightness, and so on. My internship with The Brodsky Center helped reinforce this notion as well.

Industrial photos

These are some more industrial photos taken and edited on my iPhone 4.

Though for the longest time I despised modern and post-modern architectural styles, they've really grown on me in the past few months. I make sure to stop and take a few shots whenever the opportunity arises.