Life drawing and the Masters program at SCAD

A few weeks ago I did a still life drawing for my portfolio submitted to the SCAD MFA in Illustration application. I had fun coming up with what I was going to draw. I thought it turned out really well for a 2 hour rendering.

Check out my whole MFA in Illustration Portfolio let me what you think.

Octopus ladies all over the place!

About 2 years ago I started to notice a lot of octopus paintings that had women in them on the web. I still to this day don't know why there is such a phenomenon. I love octopus and I'm currently working on a watercolor painting of an octopus, but no ladies. Maybe I should have put one in there. Take a look at a web gallery I created and let me know if you know why there is such an abundant amount of these. In most cases I tried to credit the artist.

Infringement or Appropriation?

Recently there has been much discussion with my peers regarding copyright infringement, when is it OK to "reference" another artist work. Where do you draw the line on copying reference too closely? Should you get permission? Should you give credits? Once the work is created (copied) can you sell it, sell reproduction rights to anyone, can you even register the copyright of a slightly changed image? Well that's a lot to discuss and I currently don't have the time to go into detail with all of it but I wanted to make some points and share some links about it here.



Shepard Fairey of Obey Giant and the famous Obama Poster is getting some criticism about infringing on other artist rights.

Learn more about it here from a critique by Mark Vallen.

I can't say that everything that Fairey has done has been fair use. But I believe most of the political stuff is perfectly legit.

From the words of Julie Mueller Brown: "He "appropriates" work from older styles and changes it to fit his agenda, he is anti-capitalistic and makes reference to early socialism posters. Its perfectly legit!

Mike Lowery says "I say he's legit. The whole point is that he work references old propaganda in a way that strips it of its message and content. It's the same as Liechtenstein's comic paintings or Warhol's diagram paintings, no?"

Rick Lovell sees this as a great opportunity to learn about what right and wrong. I whole heartily agree!
"There is clearly a great deal of debate among artists, art historians and attorneys about appropriation and it's implications. This entry on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appropriation_(art) (not the most scholarly source) is the tip of the iceberg, but it shines a light on an age-old dilemma about what art is, and what is art."

Steven Heller of the Daily Heller comments about this showing other interesting appropriations of art in his 02-11-09 post.

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Now here is a case where copying is done on the sly and is wrong.
Comic Book illustrator David Mack has traced his way to fame.

Todd Goldman has many infringements to his name.

There is another infringement issue I would like to mention but it's still too fresh since it happened today and hits home. Ask me about it.

So the next time you use reference think again about if it's appropriate or not.

Here are some resources to consider to learn more.

What is Copyright Protection?

Stanford Copyright and Fair Use

10 Big Myths About Copyright Explained


Jay

World of Wine Map!

This map is a long time coming. I started working on this in July of 2005 with restaurant owner Tim Moore. It was to be a 11 foot by 5 foot mural for his restaurant Terra Grille which is now Terra Terroir. We went through what seemed like countless revisions and tweaking with all the info on the map.

It's a vinographically correct map of the world. A term we coined when producing the map. The state and countries are enlarged to the size of importance and quality of vineyards in the region. On the left hemisphere is the "old world" way of wine making and on the right hemisphere is regions that produce wine in a relatively modern way. It has tons of facts, popular vineyard locations, and interesting tidbits for all wine lovers. When seen at a large scale it's great conversation starter for wine enthusiast.

Then sometime in late 2006 the job stopped for due to a change in direction of the restaurant decor and Tim starting a family. The job was put on hold indefinitely. Then in late 2008 I decided to finish this map and make it my own since no reproduction rights were ever sold. I changed the name of the map and some descriptions and made it more my own. Now it's done and available for sale as prints, posters, and reproduction rights. Click on the map to see an interface where you can zoom in to all the different areas of the map.

25 Random Things About Me

I spent so much time on this and posted it on Facebook and I thought I could post it here to to make it more worth while.

1. I was an orphan for about 1 month before I was adopted in Decatur, GA in July of 1970.
2. My Dad is a Baptist Minister and my Mom might as well be too.
3. When I was 4 years old I drew tons pictures of big headed people on the church bulletin while my Dad was giving his sermons.
4. My big brother Monty was always better at everything than I was without even trying. test taking, girls, popularity, sports, friends, partying and for while drawing and painting.
5. I worked for my Dad’s company as a paper shredder for 2 (seemed like 3) Summers while in High School.
6. My first "real job" at 15 was skeet ball and other games operator at Six Flags over Ga.
7. My mom wanted me to play the piano and I practiced for 2 years in Middle School and did not get far.
8. I was second chair Trombone in Middle School for 2 years.
9. I played Soccer from 8 - 18 years old.
10. I missed 2 days of classes from 1-12 grade. I was one day away from getting and ward for it. But they only gave awards to perfect attendance and missing one day.
11. I was 10th in my class in high school out of 15… no no no… out of about 200.
12. My art teacher at Pebblebrook High School died my senior year of AIDS and I won a partial art scholarship to a college of my choice.
13. My curly hair was down to my shoulders all one length in college. Loved it, but then loved it short too my senior year. Now I’m in the middle.
14. My first “real” freelance job was my 6 qtr at Portfolio Center for Flowers Bread Company. I did two realistic billboards for Nature’s Own Bread for $3000 dollars. Wonder if I could get that price these days?
15. I met my wife on the 99x radio station phone dateline. A computer basically hooked us up based on our interests and profile.
16. First date was at Café Tu Tu Tango in Buckhead. No longer there.
16. I proposed to Cindi live on the air (on 99x of course) at The Beer Garden in Buckhead, GA. No longer there.
17. My Dad officiated my wedding, my bother’s, and countless cousins of mine.
18. Cindi and I went to Greece for our honeymoon for 7 days. We crashed driving a moped and Cindi got a huge bruise and hurt her ankle on Mt Olympus but we endured and were not going to let it ruin our honeymoon and it didn’t. I love her very much!
18. Our first child was born 33 weeks premature and my wife came very close to dying with a bad case of HELPP Syndrome.
19. My son Jackson was a stressful but pleasant surprise being 15 months older than my daughter. I love them deeply!
20. I work 7 days a week at least 14 hours a day. But it does not seem like work.
21. I wish I could draw out of my head better.
22. I wish I could get affordable health insurance for my wife with no riders.
23. I’m wondering how I can manage getting an MFA, teach 3 illustration classes, keep up with my freelance for needed income, spend time with my family, and eat and sleep.
24. I truly wish I did not have to sleep. I would get so much more done with my life rather than wasting it on sleep.
25. I wish I had more face-to-face time to spend with my friends on Facebook and visitors to my blog.

Thanks for reading.

Jay