Monday, December 5, 2011

transcribed interview with lois van baarle of / / / loish.net



KK: When did you receive your professional commission and how did your
client come into contact with you?
LVB: I've been doing commissions since 2003, so it's hard for me to think
of what my first professional one was. I did artwork for
superhoroscopes.com in 2007, that may be the first company that has
ever approached me for work. They saw my work online and wanted female
superhero versions of all of the horoscopes, so they emailed me.

KK: How do you come into contact with most of the clients you make work
for currently?
LVB: It's pretty much the same story as the previous question - the client
sees my work online and contacts me to make artwork via email. I have
gotten some of my work through people that I know (students or
teachers that I worked with at animation school), but all of the
clients that I don't have any kind of existing connection with contact
me via the internet based on artwork they've seen.

KK: What kind of work do you get asked to do the most?
LVB: I get asked to do illustration and design work most often, although
roughly half of the work I do is animation related. I decline a lot of
the offers I get for illustration work, which usually include artwork
of various kinds for games (concept art, backgrounds, characters, etc)
and logos or illustrations for promotional purposes.

KK: Do you have a preference of what kind of work you like doing the most?
poster design? website layouts? personal portraiture? etc?
LVB: I enjoy doing animation work the most, because it is more challenging
and involves bigger and longer projects. In terms of illustration
work, I enjoy doing things in my own style, such as recent work that I
did for an ice cream franchise in singapore. They wanted various ice
cream flavors personified as female characters in my painted style,
which is a lot of fun to do and of course I feel most comfortable
working that way.

KK: Do you mind doing commercial work, and is there a certain kind of
company that you'd never make work for?
LVB: I don't mind doing commercial work at all, as long as I can combine it
with a good dose of personal work every now and then. If I had to do
only commercial work for a year, I would go crazy, I think. As for
companies I'd never make work for, I can only name the most obvious
situations: companies that want me to participate in promoting racist
or morally questionable ideas, or that don't want to pay a reasonable
amount for the work I do.

KK: How long are you usually given to make something for a client, or how
long do they usually give you? Do they typically set a deadline or do
you?
LVB: Every job I've had so far has been radically different in this sense.
Some people approach me with a deadline of just a week or two, whereas
other clients give me months to do some simple work. It varies a lot
and depends of course on the sort of work that is being asked. Some
clients approach me with a deadline, because they need the work for a
specific event or purpose, whereas other clients negotiate

KK: What is your work schedule typically like when you're working on a commission?
LVB: Again, it depends on the actual job and how complex it is. Either the
client or myself will usually break illustration work down into a few
phases - sketch, rough and final - with feedback and adjustments for
each phase. I usually plan dates for each of these moments and stick
to these deadlines. For larger animation projects, a schedule is
planned ahead of time which all members of the animation team must
stick to.

KK: Are most of the clients you work with agreeable about the finished
product? and if they aren't, how do you go about trying to satisfy
their wants but still try to maintain your own integrity about the
work?
LVB: Most of the clients I have workred with are agreeable about the
finished product. They are free to clearly and directly state what
they would like changed before getting the final versions, and since
the client has almost always seen rough versions of the work before
getting the final work, they know what they can expect. Some clients
make unreasonable demands or ask for too much to be adjusted at the
way end, which doesn't become a problem because I make a written
agreement ahead of time which specifies how much can be changed at
that point which the client must stick to.

KK: Do you ever revert back to traditional media to make or to assist on a
digital piece?
LVB: I sometimes use pencil linework which I scan in instead of making
linework on the computer. Digital linework can be a pain in the butt.
But I usually work purely on the computer.

KK: Do you think that digital media measures up to physical media? Do you
think it surpasses it, even?
LVB: I think digital media has great potential but is fundamentally
different from physical media. so it can't really be compared in this
way. The whole process behind a digital vs. a physical piece is so
different that they need to be looked at in different ways. I do think
that the uniqueness of a traditional piece (only one exists), as well
as the absolute quality of the colors and textures (each screen reads
digital artwork differently, each printer creates a slightly different
print) makes traditional pieces more valuable and personal to the
artist, but this is not an absolute statement - i'm sure there are
exceptions.

KK: Do you have a full or part time job in addition to doing freelance?
LVB: I don't have any job besides being a freelancer :]

KK: Who is your favorite illustrator/artist currently?
LVB: At this moment, I'd say eric fortune is my favorite artist. It varies
a lot though.

KK: Who were the artists that influenced you when you first started
drawing/making artwork?
LVB: Definitely a mixture of disney animation, Alfonse Mucha and Aurore Blackcat.

KK: Do you feel like the internet has made being an artist easier or more
difficult? or both?
LVB: It has definitely made being a commercial artist a lot easier, since
it is easy to get exposure through the internet. For me, online
exposure has fuelled my entire career so far and has been essential.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

meta farts sketches

Sorry I didn’t show you my originals, if these are insufficient lemme know and I’ll re-do
Sorry ur sick, also.

aging, fear, revolution, leadership, and love

greed

the divine..and isolation

Thursday, October 6, 2011

meta farts

    Welcome!
    target-pulled hair/stress, source-a shining knight/a good idea, ground-none, tension-hair is only logical in context of a head, a man on a horse w/a  sword is the sum of a whole story.
    The image of the knight shows the frustration of lack of ideas, clearly illustrating the frustration of blocking your own ideas by being so stressed.
    juxtaposition
    target-suburbia, source-a tidal wave/whirlpool/blackhole? ground- none, tension-suburbia is man made, whirpools/blackholes are natural events.
    Seeing the torpedo of diminishing houses makes the suburbs truly seem like a huge maze.
    Fusion
    target-a neighborhood, source-scary claw thing, ground-they're the same color, tension-a house is manmade and a structure for people to live, a hand is that which makes the house. 
    The fact that the hand is as large as the houses emphasizes the menacing quality of the idea of a predator
    The hand is replacing he shadow of the house
    target- bomb? source- a symbol of peace, ground- they're both green, tension-one is a symbol of war, the other of peace
    Seeing the  dove of peace inside of the gun shell or bomb or whatever fully realizes the ambition of the idea of bombing for peace (like fucking for virginity)
    Juxtaposition
    target- stock charts, source-a drunk dude, ground-they're both unstable, tension- one should be reliable and logistical, the other is an organic matter and living.
    Alcoholism is pathetic and weak. Comparing a figure to a debilitated drunk person makes it seem like it couldn't get any worse.
    Replacement
        Thomas Fuchs digital portfolio
        target-chef, source-rain, ground- they're both mushroom shaped, tension-one is an article of clothing, and the other is a natural event
        Turning the hat that is essential for any chef into what is destroying them makes their pain seem more essentially unavoidable
        Replacement
        Thomas Fuchs digital portfolio
        target-the internet /spyware, source-cowboy, ground- they're both wild and untamed, tension, the internet is virtual, cowboy world is physical/real
        Comparing the decisions you make on the internet to firing guns makes the act of spyware seem intensely more violent.
        Replacement
          Thomas Fuchs painted portfolio
          target- people  receiving severance, source-skydivers w/ no parachute, ground- both falling hopelessly, tension-people with severance aren't falling thru the sky so much as life
          The fact that the person is opening a package instead of a parachute is obviously a little bit scary.
          REplacement
          Thomas Fuchs painted portfolio
          target- comedians, source-a heavyweight lifter, ground-they both have a heavy burden, tension-the burden for lifters is physical, for comedians it's mental.
          The idea of supporting a smile is more than depressing
          fusion
          Thomas Fuchs painted portfolio
          target- new york budget, source-emtpy gas tank, ground-both are based on numbers and facts, tension-a gas tank is for a single car, the budget of new york is for many other people.
          New York's tank is on empty... more clever than "New York works with low budget" ..yea
          Fusion

        Monday, September 26, 2011

        Illustrator Interview

        I chose Lois van Baarle as my illustrator to interview.
        her website is http://loish.net

        Thursday, September 8, 2011

        coming soon

        Select six subjects that you would like to make images about. Create a blog post for each subject. Each post should contain the following: a written summary of the subject (written from the assumption that the reader is not familiar with the subject at all); a written statement of your personal opinion about or experience with the subject; at least three links to useful sources of information about the subject; and 5-10 images relevant to the subject.