"How could a man be so strong..... yet so tender?"

S o I spent quite a bit of time struggling, trying to figure out how to present the material I'd collected for "love". I began by collaging a bunch of the images from the romance novels, ripping out the pages, and scanning and printing out images from the front covers. I ended up with several large sheets of images that looked like this:

So my grand vision at this point wasn't to display the collages on the wall as images, I was quite excited about making them into a lantern of sorts, because they glowed quite nicely. This is the above image, with a light behind it:

I think that looks pretty cool. I had several sheets of these, and despite the fact they looked great lit-up, I couldn't really figure out how to construct said lantern, or how to present what I had....
Also, a lantern wouldn't really mean very much to the subject matter.
 So, I became a bit disheartened.
However, while doing a course reading, I came across this:

It's a pattern for a zeotrope from the graphic novel "Jimmy Corrigan, the smartest boy in the world". I scanned it, printed it out and attempted to make it with some success (it's very tiny).
I then decided to convert my Harlequin Romance Collages into the shapes from this design, to create the schematics for a Harlequin-love zeotrope. They look like this:

Hopefully, once I scan in all those little pieces (in a layout similar to the original pattern), they will be able to be printed out, and crafted into little love zeotropes for any and all to enjoy. My one regret is that lovely glowing paper aspect of the collages won't get explored, and it feels like a bit of a missed opportunity...
I have yet to actually draw the moving image, which is the centerpiece of the contraption... I hope to get on that. Soon.

it's a harlequin romance

T he theme of our next project for drawing class is "love". I was rather stumped at how to represent this, because it has such a dangerous potential for extreme cheese. I decided to go and pick up a bunch of Romance novels from Salvation Army as a starting point, and I'm so pleased I did. I have povided here a few that I scanned, they are a delight. And if you think the covers are atrocious, just imagine the contents...

Let's wait.... update

U pdate!
[Bahh Glare on the top half]
Some have said this painting looks like a festival, some have called it vair creepy. My painting teacher said I must have an interesting brain. (Compliment?)

let's wait for our bodies to age

T hrough the forest
Down to your grave
Where the birds wait
And the tall grasses wave
They do not
know you anymore

Dear shadow alive and well
How can the body die
You tell me everything
Anything true
-Fleet Foxes

Cut, then Paste, then Paint

I 've recently taken to painting from collages. You'll probably recognize this one, the reference to my most recent painting:

I've made a few more, and have already started painting from one of them... (the first one)

Hamilton

T wo weeks ago we had a little comic-booking seminar with a guest teacher, Amy Lockhart, in my drawing class (unfortunately not in time to be helpful for my last project). She showed us some animations and some of her own work, and her favourite comic books, and then we did a little sketch of our own. We were to start with a character design ( a few views of the character) and then work the panels off of a single sentence, ie. I was writing an exam, and my pencil broke. I did a few little character ideas, but my favourite was dear Hamilton, the Farmer's Melancholy Son. He was doing his chores, when he got egged.

And if you think he's got mummy/daddy issues, you'd be right.

Theatrics and gender

Full View, 13 panels

1-3. (Are you nervous?)

4-5. (Time to get ready)

6-7. (What makes us this way? GET ON STAGE!)

9-10. The performance of a lifetime... between the curtains it always works out

11-12. APPLAUSE!... But what's the powder hiding?

I guess underneath we're all just naked.