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Remember the time when what you made looked like what you turned to for inspiration? No? This discrepancy can be vast, especially not knowing how your voice is evolving as an amateur visual artist. I’ve slowly seen my consumption converge in taste, and now for the first time, it feels as though I can build a nicely balanced cocktail with those inspirations (rather than a kitchen-sink jungle juice that you slam back before you taste the confusion). If knowing how I want to push my art next is all I get out of grad school, I’m truly grateful. Coming to MICA has also lent me the opportunity to attend my first Small Press Expo in Bethesda, MD. Not only did I get to hear Charles Burns speak (getting over a cold and all), but I picked up Micah Lidberg’s Rise & Fall (Nobrow Press 2010) accordion book and geeked out on Robert Beatty’s Floodgate Companion... only to find out that Lidberg made the album art for Glass Animal’s Zaba and Beatty created Tame Impala’s Currents. I die for these two artists. The colors. The abstraction and composition. The linearity of the artwork. And the narrative, cosmic internal/external tension. Whatever party you two are at, take me there. Show me your jungle juice. Micah Lidberg: http://www.micahlidberg.com/ Robert Beatty: http://www.robertbeattyart.com/

#art #artschool #mica #gradschool #illustration #micah #lidberg #robert #beatty

I’ve only been in my MFA program for a month and a half. The strangest part — stranger than knowing your peers more through their artwork than on a small-talk-let’s-be-friends level, and stranger even than facing your vulnerable feelings about living in Baltimore — is unlearning my polished, soup-to-nuts process of creating thoughtful, ‘beautiful’ and personal work that I’ve trained myself to utilize over the years. It took time and considered effort to establish this process. And by no means is it perfect, nor necessarily where I want to be; my current process is just a useful default. It helps me ideate quickly, weigh the merits of said ideas using parameters that are usually set by a brand or market-driven assignment, and take the art to completion in a compelling and ‘finished’ way. In perpetuity. I came to MICA to learn what my voice is. To understand the rules of my authorship as defined by me. I’m terrified to find out that my voice is dull or uninspiring. I still need “permission” to do things in this program — my relationship with pleasing authority has never become so apparent — and today I was given the “green light” to make BAD art; to personally fail every project this year. It wouldn’t be from lack of trying, or lack of accuracy or draftsmanship. It wouldn’t necessarily look bad, or purposefully have poor concept/intention. Instead, I need practice making artistic decisions that I would normally avoid for one (valid) reason or another (no time, no resources, too many choices, doesn’t fit my artmaking practice, etc.) and run FULL BORE at processes that make me do things differently. Only when I am in this new space, using skills that I have underdeveloped in myself these past 26 years and come up against failure, that I can be spiritually and artistically strongest. I may be able to tap into something that is larger than me. Beyond my control. Beyond my flow, and beyond all the delicate structures I have built around my practice to help it run smoother... but only in one direction. Sometimes you have to make all the bad things before you can get to the good things. Well, art school. I’m here. I have arrived.

#glitchart cats dmv baltimore artschool mfa grad gradschool 26yearsold illustration

A pair of normcore brushy doodles for your Wednesday.

#illustration #fashion #tote #polo #brush #blackandwhite

This cat dog copped some yeezy’s

humansofnewyork

“I don’t enjoy observing people as much as I used to. Everyone acts like they’re on stage. People used to come to The Village sheepishly. Nobody was sure if they belonged. We didn’t know if we were artists. These days everyone walks around like they’re contributing something. There’s no angst anymore. There’s too much certainty. And that’s a shame. Because all the best art comes from people who feel like they don’t belong. Art is a way of proving your existence. When I was a young man, a person that I respected told me that I was an artist. It was one of the worst things that could have happened to me. I stopped walking into museums or galleries with a sense of awe. I walked in feeling like an ‘artist.’ My arms would be crossed. If I liked a piece, it was ‘good.’ If I didn’t like a piece, it was ‘bad.’ I didn’t feel vulnerable anymore. I lost my humility. And that’s when growth stops.”

dianadraws

Yesterday was my 26th birthday. I am neither ashamed or proud of this arbitrary number in relation to my accomplishments, my perceived ‘age’. We are all spiritual beings having a physical experience after all. In the days (and weeks and months...) ahead, I am devoted to bringing writing back into my practice as an ‘artist’. I want to see this sketch blog of mine burgeon into a place where my hand and thoughts meet. This post by Humans of New York is such a powerful place for me to start. Cheers, D

#fashion #couple #sketch #illustration #brush #digital #graphite #pencil #blue #modern #cute #new

#chinese #new #year #lunar #monkey #illustration #cut paper style #red

#constellation #print #stars #astrology

#surfer #illustration #print #aqua #color

EXHIBITION NOTICE: My solo contemporary-art show is coming to Mineral Point, WI this Fall. The event is open to the public here: https://www.facebook.com/events/845516348889276/ Some of my original works will be for sale here: http://www.elsicko.com/

#tiger #poster #art #show