PixelDrip Gallery at UGTL

This past April 24th was the first PixelDrip gallery at the Underground Tournament League. Previously, the art was drawn live and sold at the event. J came up with PixelDrip to open up the art contributions to Los Angeles based artists, as well as give the artists more time to create a piece. I think that was a great decision. There were 17 great submissions and I'll talk about some of my favorites since I already posted about my process for "Tiger of Death."



J's "Yoga Papercraft" was a sort of 3-dimensional piece with different layers of paper placed at various distances. It's hard to see in the photo but the piece had great use of depth, something I've always enjoyed ever since I was introduced to the concept of dioramas.



Jessica G's "Casuals" drawing of the characters playing in the living room is jam packed with details. If you take the time to look at everything, you'll notice the decals on the joysticks, the texture of the carpet, and even the Korean writing on the refrigerator. I believe she said it took her well over 20 hours to complete it, many of which were broadcast over Ustream. Again, I encourage all artists to share the creative process through venues like Ustream or blogging. It shows the effort that a lot of us put into our art, which all too often gets overlooked once the finished product is on display.



Celina Armenta's "Make Love, Not War" also turned heads, but in a different way. The painting of Ryu and Ken kissing was definitely on the controversial side. I was watching the viewers that walked by all day and their reactions ranged from laughter to disgust. I remember a couple weeks back, Celina told me she was afraid it might get rejected. I'm glad she went through with it anyways. Art should get people talking. It was also IMMEDIATELY sold once the gallery opened to viewers.



Naomi Baker contributed these three digital paintings. I was a little surprised with how popular Dhalsim was for the artists. I think it's due to his stretchy limbs and fire breathing since they make for some great visuals.



Of course, there was still live art going on throughout the event via Simon and Jessica. They were able to pump out seven larger Street Fighter character illustrations with a couple smaller sketches added into the mix. That's within a span of around six hours. I wish I can draw as fast as those two can.

Diego Paz and Sasha Palacio showed up to the event a bit later so I wasn't able to get photos of their work. Diego created two kick ass digital paintings of Akuma and Shin Akuma. Sasha also contributed two digital paintings of Crimson Viper and Morrigan. I might write another post in the future of the pieces I didn't comment on if I can get good photos of them.

Overall, it was a great turnout with plenty of positive feedback. Setting it up was a little hectic because the Rec Center Studio didn't allow it until the day of the event. Next time, we'll be better prepared now that we have one show under our belt and know what to expect. The Rec Center Studio in Echo Park was a great place to host and I hope it won't be the last time we'll be there.

Sloup's On

Listening to NPR today, I heard something about what some artists are doing out in St. Louis, and I'm sure something similar is going on here, but not being involved in any art circles I really couldn't say, and ANYWAY it seemed like something we ought to look into.

For $10 a bowl, local patrons get some soup and the opportunity to hear several proposals by local artists. At the end of the night, the patrons vote for which proposal they want to fund, and the winning artist is awarded the pooled soup moneys. It's called, "Sloup."

I know I could drum up a few interested people - a number of TFA people I know have expressed serious interest in gallery walks, studio visits, and sloupy situations, so it's certainly something to consider.

Dawn of the First Day

Just to clarify, there was no trouncing. There was a wee-smidgening, and I think it was largely a matter of sheer and godforesworn luck.

That being said, I am damned happy to see this blog getting activity again, and I think the talks regarding the potential for a shared studio/gallery place are unavoidably intriguing. Once again, I am advocating a Downtown position because I am greedy for and ignorant about the LA area and I believe it to be the nearest to where I currently reside.

So dust off those links and get to pestering!!

And Now For Something Completely Different

Originally this blog was used to track an ongoing wager between Meg and myself over who can keep a weekly webcomic going for a longer period of time. Suffice to say, she trounced me.

With that competition over, it's time to transition into the real purpose of this blog. It's time to develop it as a showcase for the talented artists that make up this ever growing group. The various members will be posting pics and/or video of their work. You are encouraged to comment and give constructive criticism. While this blog will have plenty of illustration examples, it won't simply be limited to that. We'll explore photography, animation, sculptures, and other creative endeavours. The contributors will also be posting examples of artists that we find to be great influences and worth checking out by other members. Many of these will be added as links on the side for easy reference. Of course, if any of you want to call out your fellow artist for a friendly competition, you can also use this blog to keep track of it. Just check out how things run by the Wildstorm artists on their Gelatometti blog.

There should be plenty of interesting stuff popping up with the PixelDrip gallery on April 24 and the convention season ramping up for the summer. Stay tuned!

And the Winner is...

Ms. Megan Horejsi. Despite having one post go up a day later than regular, she has proven to be better at keeping up with a weekly posting schedule than myself. Congratulations to her and the awesome work she's been doing with The Conjurors. As per the wager, I will buy her a free lunch or dinner or whatever meal at a fast food eatery. Even though I lost, this doesn't mean that you've seen the last of my comics. Let's all remember that these contests are meant to keep us all drawing and that competitive aspect definitely works as motivation. Now, onward to the next challenge!

M vs. M: Week 3

Week 3 draws to a close and both myself and Megan are still going strong with our respective comic strips. I gotta say, this whole wager was a good idea. I don't know if I'd still be motivated enough to continue pumping out a weekly comic if there wasn't something on the line.

I've mentioned it before to the There Will Be Ink group on Facebook, but I still have plans on somehow transforming this little competition driven art club into a viable charity organization. It will be geared towards promoting an art program for kids and teens in the Southern California area. Right now I'm heavily researching what it takes to get something like that up and running. Luckily, other people have shown interest in the idea. We'll see how it develops in the coming months.

Ladies And Gentlemen

We are now into Week 2 of the competition between Meg and myself. At the moment I'm doing more Hullabaloo comics, a strip I've had going for about four years, at my site but doesn't mean I won't introduce other strips I've come up with over the past couple of months. Due to the unpredictable nature of my work schedule, I won't be able to give a specific time for my updates. That may change, especially if Meg wants to raise the stakes to twice weekly in the future.

And They're Off

I suppose today marks the beginning of the wager, as it were. I don't know about Mark and his projected schedule, but I'm planning to update The Conjurors, a fairy tale, every Wednesday morning. So far I've gotten a few posts up, and hopefully I'll be able to continue along this line. If I ever get a serious handle on it, I might even try for twice weekly.

So there's that. Good luck to everyone else participating.

I Have A Competition In Me...

Sometimes, the best form of motivation is through competition. There Will Be Ink is meant to inspire myself and my ever growing ring of artist friends to continue drawing. Artists are encouraged to come up with friendly competitions amongst each other. They can be endurance tests to see who can keep producing new material the longest on a consistent basis or they can be challenges based on specific skill sets (i.e. composition, coloring, etc). Wagers will be decided between the participants. This blog will keep track of the various competitions in progress as well as any news or links that may interests the artists involved.