itesser ink: progress, uncensored

Day off, three ways. I used a photo I took when R and I were last at The Ranch. It was slightly blurry because there was low light and I don't have a tripod.


(inspired by Postal Poetry. I love this image and design.)


(inspired by this Color+Design post)


(inspired by Photoshop Disasters. Mmmm... clone stamp.)

Labels: digital work, excuses, linx, low hanging fruit, photos, poem, the ranch

It's odd. I'm not even that into Star Wars (saw the whole trilogy the first time in my late teens), but each time I see it re-imagined in a different style by an artist, I am immediately taken. First it was Bjorn Hurri's Steampunk Star Wars (C3P0) character designs. Today, however, I'm even more enamored with...

Baroque Star Wars. (Found via imgfave)



My new mode, when finding an artist or photographer whose work I dig, is to google their name and look for a blog. Not only does Mattias Adolfsson have a blog, but he updates it regularly! Daily, even, and always with artwork. He doesn't skimp on the image quality, so you can get a detailed look at his intricate and whimsical designs.

Enthralled as I was at discovering Mattias, I browsed deep into the archives and found this hilarious post: Really Useful Tattoos. I think this is my favorite of the bunch:



Last but not least, he posts video tours of his moleskine sketchbooks on YouTube. The quality isn't spectacular (lo-def), but the chance to browse unedited work is nice.

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Other neat links: Found on this photo collection of unlikely animal friendships... something out of my Cheetalope story?!?!



Reagan says it looks like the not-cheetah in this picture looks more like a goat than any antelope, and I have to agree. Still, highly amusing.

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Cuban-American papercutting artist Elsa Mora created these plant ladies that blow me away with their simplicity.



I'm shocked that she's not offering them on a set of notecards in her etsy shop!
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It's probably for the best I waited a while to write this post. Some of the links lost their luster. But one more.

More for the lol value than any artistry: 30 ways to be electrocuted. Instructional-type illustrations from Germany. Bre Pettis found and posted them.

It's was hard to pick a favorite to share with you here, but I did it anyway.



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If only to make myself feel better, here's a cleanly scanned version of the art I posted earlier.

Labels: bonus post, linx, scannies

If I can't manage to get this post to autosave, it may end up being my normal Saturday post (she says at 7am Sunday morning).

First I must pimp a minimal-ish site I found via MetaFilter Projects. ImgFave. ImgFave is responsible, directly, indirectly, or very roundabout-ly, for most other visual-based links in this post. coming soon to a post near this one. Posting the cool stuff after review would dilute both parts, so I'll hold off a bit longer.

While ImgFave is styled like other social image sharing sites (so I'm told), what I really like about it is the utter lack of "social" (see: minimal). It is linked to FriendFeed which I know nothing about, but the most interaction you ca have with another user on ImgFave is subscribing to their posts/adding them to your friends list. On Friends view you see only the favorite images of users you select, instead of the default public view where you see all faved images.

No social means no tagging of images, no talking about images, no commenting on images, no sending messages to other users. And I like it that way. ImgFave serves my needs of introducing me to interesting visuals. Besides the picture, each post includes a link to the page said picture was faved from, and a direct link to the image alone. My only complaint with the programming of the site is that the feed does not include those links to the image and the source, meaning I have to visit the image's post on ImgFave before I can see it full size or in it's natural environment.

The two things that would make my experience better: other users linking to higher quality images when they are available, and linking to the image in context whenever possible. For example, if this drawing of mine was faved from this url (http://www.itesser.com/updates/uploaded_images/cheetaline-777735.jpg) instead of this url (http://www.itesser.com/updates/2008/12/why-oh-why-are-cop-shows-so-pun.html), a user who comes across it would not be able to see more of my work.

I don't mean to apply this in a selfish SEE ME way, but from the side of the user who stumbles across the image. I often want to see more work from the artist or photographer who has been faved, and it's not always possible to track down the source if all I have is a direct link to blogger or flickr servers. Also, the above example does show the image as hosted on my domain (making it easy to find more of my work), but I'm somewhat of an exception. If I ran my blog through blogger, the image URL would be completely anonymous.

It is worth noting, though, that I dig that site because it feeds my creativity. I don't use it to share or store images as much as I use it to find them. I take away or learn something from almost every image I see, and I believe the time I take to study them contributes to my development as an artist.

But now let's talk about my development as a poet.

The base poem is a couple years old. It's hard for me to judge how well it works as a poem because Randy Newman's always singing it in my head, with a feel very similar to this song [youtube]

Parting Ways

Here's your wishes, all wrapped up
and tied with pretty string,
take 'em back to where you came from
and take all your girly things.
I'm all over and done with you now
pack your bags and let me be.
Dreams aren't like no shopping list
and I'm no grocery store, you see.

That day, through a window,
I saw a sorrow just my size
I was young and foolish
much too young to realize
that even if it fit me
if it fit me like a glove
it would give me too much wisdom
and drain my heart of all its love.

Maybe I gave you good times
maybe you gave me a little fun
But when you cry plenty tears for us both
I gotta stop what I begun.
I've been three kinds of crazy
six ways drunk and seven mad
but meeting you's the only
kind of sorry I've ever had.

That was one of the more intensive revamps I've done lately (while still keeping most of the original). Here are some more emo lines that were attached to it, but I don't know why:

All the words, like water, flow too fast
leave me like sand through a fist
but when I burn this notebook
only the paper will be missed.

Now to spend some time drawing. I don't want to do another digital art post.

There was some before, there will be some after (and you'll see that when I get a real scan of this), but I like the density of them nesting so well together.

Labels: linx, poem, poetry, webcam scan