January 23, 2012 - Comments Off on Mussed and Melted

Mussed and Melted

Got much too caught up in my coloring this morning. It's already the afternoon! I had a small doodle of this piece for awhile and decided to flesh it out more today. I was trying to go for something art nouveau along these lines but due to my own style and time constraints I didn't quite get there. However I managed to cover it up with some Photoshop blending and other trickery.

Absolution

I was trying to keep my lines cleaner to make coloring easier but really I need to color in Illustrator and then finish in Photoshop to get the look I want for such graphic pieces in addition to exploring stronger line weights (need a new pencil!). But I might have found some great reference material in the beautiful photography of Claire Oring. Her skills clearly cannot but contained to photography as her site also exhibits her strength in a number of mediums. Add to this that we are the same age and I can't help but feel inadequate. Just another reason for me to go back to school for a BFA if I truly want to get good at this kind of thing.

Water

Water

I've always loved water. In fact I think I've even brought up this point before here. If you've never swam in a waterfall I highly suggest it. Doing so was a life changing experience for me. Often in the shower, I'll put my hands over my ears and listen to the sound of the water against my skull...that's about as close as you can get at home. Water is life itself however it manifests itself, waterfalls being to most visual, powerful and stunning. However some of the most important incarnations of this liquid life are invisible to the human eye and definitely at risk. The Dangers of Fracking aims to illustrate how the process of fracking, forcing oil out of subterranean rock, is a huge environmental hazard to such invisible water sources. The fact that such a damaging and complicated procedure is preferred to further investment into green energy shows how terrible the current energy policy and problem is. The site is a beautifully illustrated inforgraphic the user interacts with by scrolling, clicking here and there for additional details. I especially like the vertical symmetry of the site that narrates the story of a drop of water passing through the fracking process.

Dangers of Fracking

Lastly in video I found this haunting animation by Sean Pecknold for the song "The Shrine/An Argument" by the Fleet Foxes. I like the Fleet Foxes as is but this video furthers my taste for their folk sound. The animation style reminds me of lo-fi animations done in paper cut style in the 60s. As to the story, I'm still unsure what's going on. I think I need to watch closely a few more times, perhaps with the lyrics at hands. Regardless, the video is gorgeous to the last frame. It leaves me speechless, a hard feat to accomplish.

The Sketching Mechanism is a series of weekly posts, published on Mondays, containing the artistic musings of Mobile Designer/Developer Ben Chirlin during our Monday morning meeting at the NY Creative Bunker as well as his inspiring artistic finds of the week.

Published by: benchirlin in The Sketching Mechanism

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