January 29, 2023

Weight :235.7

Development

Art, for me, is ninety percent preparation and ten percent execution which applies to all facets of life. The deeper I dive into the creative process, the more prep work I have overlooked. In other words, the more you know, the less you know. Currently, I’m in a prep development stage of creativity where I’m trying to refine the creation process through meticulous research and practice. One example of that is, as of late, I’ve been melding tech with art and coding to facilitate the prep work further. I’ve been slowly introducing scripts into Photoshop and Maya to give me more control of the outcome, and the results have been pretty surprising and compelling. But I don’t want to celebrate too early because the more I know, the more I don’t know.

I’m developing a plug-in to help me facilitate the coloring and manipulation of value ranges while being sole in replacing said value ranges with an overlay of templated textures. So far, I have a clunky replacement for an adjustment layer, but with a bit more control, I still have a lot more testing to go, but I’m confident I will have something solid in the following month.

Permanent dream state.

Some of my favorite illustrators, artists, and filmmakers have talked about making art in a subconscious presence. David lynch creates a state of dreamlike monotony by creating a strict routine (i.e., wearing identical clothes and having the same meal ); doing so allows him to free up his mind of the meaningless things that take up mental space. Roman Murodov, one of my favorite contemporary illustrators, talks about creating his best work immediately after waking up to use that half-asleep mindstate to freely concept out ideas.

Now that in approaching 60 days of limited social information, I feel that I’m in this permanent meditative dreamlike state. I now wake up with a complete sense of wonderment, leading to what I like to call naive execution, which thus far has been one of the most exciting things that have happened to me during this experiment. In this state, I don’t have creative mental blocks or limitations. Removing the social component of an idea seems to free up creative energy to search further. But there are some adverse effects to this. It created a form of anxiety; being how time has been a loose concept, I tend to have momentary lapses of stress caused by the fear of not having enough time to develop these ideas.

Project 1344

Project 1344 is a painting endeavor my brother and I thiughtbkf on our last painting outing. For the remainder of the year, between work and life, we will paint four quick paintings daily( One in the morning, one at lunch, one post work, and another before bed). Those painted will be accompanied by a short description of the day. We hope that after 336 days, we will be able to see how certain things affect our ability to make.

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Lost and found

Recently I found myself hypnotized by the works of loose painters Like Olle Skagerfors, Benjamin Björklund, Piet reamdonck, and the great west painters like NC Wyeth. The results of such hypnotic influence have been these quick explorations using lost and found edges to create harmony and definition—energy as the driving force of composition. I’m far from achieving anything of substance, but I’m now content with a rabbit hole to crawl into. The goal is to create a symphony of lines in a rhythmic pattern to sell the feeling of a mood. I still have many more bad paintings to go, but I think I’m heading in the right direction. Onward to discovery through failure.

January 18,2023

Weight 248.1

Mood : Chill

Thoughts

Hollywood giveth and Hollywood taketh away! As of late, a slew of projects have been canned due to tax write-offs from studios. A few projects I have worked on are part of that wipe to some; it sounds like a terrible situation. But I see this as a glass half full. I dig the work more than I dig the end result; I am sure others will agree that half the fun is trying to figure out how we make the damn thing. Sure, work gets lost and won’t see the light of day, and portfolios will be forever password protected. Honestly, who gives a fuck! I say we keep making dope shit.

Life Updates

I am on a few projects, and I couldn’t be happier. Will they see the light of day? Who knows, but if they do, I hope they elicit a reaction, good or bad, because, in the end, it’s what art is all about. Hate watching it, criticize it, boycott it, and fandom the fuck out of it either way; creatives win. I don’t know where I am going with this other than I’m having a blast.

Shaved my head, my hair was getting really long as much as I should be grateful for still having a head full of hair I can’t stand it. But the beard is still alive and thriving.

Got a second phone# just for the family last week. I keep getting calls and texts from people, and I don’t want to go back to having a social life any time soon. I got a second number to avoid being sucked into a social circle. Shit is going to smooth right now.

I’m passively on social media, which is ok. I guess I just post and ghost just to keep an active art page.

Haven’t heard, read, or watched the news in 48 days. By now, life is a daily trip to the mind. I’m out and about, and I don’t know the happenings of anything. It’s kind of a hyper focussed reality. It’s also rewarding in a chemically balanced sort of way. I used to be distracted and always felt exhausted because it was so much effort to pay attention to people and, more importantly, engage with people. Although I am an extrovert, it was a fucking drain to put a filter on my opinions and thoughts. Anywho it’s pretty cool, and I’m carefree; ignorance is genuinely bliss, lol. Side note I try to offset the shutting off of the world by learning some interesting shit.

Breakthroughs

Just finished the following books

The aesthetic mind: Philosophy and psychology

Designing the Mind : Principles of psychitecture.

The creative Habit: Learn it and use it for Life

Building a second brain

How to take smart notes.

As a result, I ended up ordering more fucking books and also putting together some Notion formulas that are making me more efficient at work and just overall in life. Once I get through the beta versions, I will post them.

I’m slowly getting the hang of c++, and I’m starting to apply it to some shit at work, which has made working with unreal easier.

Been using 3d more, which, up until a few months ago, I only used to cheat certain things, but now I can sculpt and model my ass off; shout out to Udemy and Gnomon!

That is all for now.

January 9th ,2023

Weight 254.2

Moral: Normal

Talk about the recharge. This weekend was needed. Honestly, this day feels like it’s day one of the year. I got my schedule settled, and some years’ goals(work) feel very attainable. I spent most of this weekend researching Notion templates and reading through Tiago Forte’s book Building a second brain; currently, at work, I am designing a ton of various assets and building them in 3d. Some of those designs I don’t get built get sent to a vendor, so keeping track of shit has been challenging. Today’s goal will be to create a project management formula in Notion to keep track of assets, notes, and where we are in the build. Ah, damn, this is being in your late 30’s getting a kick out of creating project workflow solutions…yay!

Man Cave/ Home improvements. This week I am hoping to get working on our bathroom. Getting in some new tile and new fixtures by the end of this month. I will be turning the garage into a man cave. Over the past few years, I’ve amassed a shit ton of books and camera equipment so I need a place to put them. Trying to have this house upgraded and ready to put on the market in 24-36 months we are looking to upgrade in the near future.

No Shave, No Haircut. That’s going; my hair (head and face) is pretty long, or at least as long as I’ve had it.

Freelance. These next few months will be hella fun because anytime I get to paint without designing is a treat. Marvel contacted me to get some BGs painted for an unannounced show. Painting without designing a layout feels like I get paid to color.

January 6, 2022, weight 255.00 moral: high. Sanity: on the brink of crazy ( but a good crazy).
Update, I’ve been more active on social media. I don’t engage with anyone, but because of work, I’m online much more than I’d like. I am looking to build out my team, and I need to scour the internet for talent, so I’ve been online in social media land a lot more lately. I still have little communication with anyone outside my immediate family and co-workers. It’s been 37 days since my isolation, and I can’t complain. Something about being isolated makes me focus more. I’m not dwelling on the goings-on of people and or life. It’s almost like living in a sensory deprivation tank. Although the adverse effect of isolation is losing the concept of time, the less I know about current events, the harder it is to drop markers in time. I often lose track of what day it is, and if the day is mundane/uneventful, it doesn’t register, almost as if it’s shredded. I’m sure many exciting things are going on in the world, but I am now oblivious to them. Part of me still wants some social interactions; I’m starting to think I subconsciously made this blog a coping mechanism for not having social interaction. How will these posts evolve the deeper I go into this isolation rabbit hole?

Creativity! It’s at an all-time high. I’m currently taking some online courses in C++ for Unreal Engine; I wouldn’t be as productive in a different setting. Also been painting and trying new styles, which for me is exciting. I can’t wait to apply them to some IPs I’ve been sitting on.

Pitfalls. I’ve been sandbagging on my workout routine. This past rain made me lazy. Hoping to get up and running as soon as tomorrow morning.

Note. I stopped shaving my beard and stopped getting haircuts. I want to wait to cut either until my isolation is up. I am still determining how this is going to work out.

Yesterday took half of my lunch to paint this in Photoshop. Los Angeles is so desaturated when it rains. I was Driving down Sunset and thought this sight was Impressionable, so I went home and painted it from memory. It’s been a while. Something is zen about painting from memory.

Biggity Bam, today was pretty productive! I’m sliding into this year feeling pretty good about shit. Woke up this morning and signed up for a few races in prep for this year’s marathon. Last year was a shit show; I had signed up for a Hawaii marathon scheduled for December, and it never went down. But fuck 2022!! This is about 2023, so I’m ready to conquer this mother fucker! Back to the races, so far in the books, I got a 5k in March and April, a 10k in May, and a Half Marathon 4th of July in Portland, all in hopes of getting in great shape for December, where I will be doing 26.2miles on the beautiful beach of Waikiki. The rest of the day was pretty mellow; I’m pretty hyped to get back to work tomorrow and start some side projects. I don’t think anyone cares what they are but fuck you, this is a blog, and here they are anyway.

Podcast: Last year, through a serideipidous mishap, I found myself talking about the philosophy of creativity with a group of colleagues at a bar. This group discourse went so well that we made it a routine to gather at random bars throughout the city and talk shit and get in the weeds of what it is to be creative. The talks involved film, illustration paintings, and how they related to life. Word got out to other creatives, and as most things in the creative field happen by sheer stupid luck, someone that knows someone brought that someone to our bar gathering, and now we are on the hook for a season comprised of 24 podcast episodes. Updates on the release date to come.

Book: I’ve been painting with my brother for about a decade, and this year, we finally decided to publish our first book of illustrations. This, by far, is my favorite thing I am doing this year. Nothing has been more creatively fulfilling than going out and painting landscapes and cityscapes with my brother. Hoping to share that with you all sometime in September

Short Film: I don’t think I will be here this year, but I plan on making and entering a short film into a film festival. I have an Idea, but my technical skills are not quite there yet, but I plan on figuring that out through a series of microfilms I will be making every week.

That is it for now! Fuck I really gotta work on ending with a bang. These past few posts have had weak-ass endings.

Holy shit, it’s 2023! Today’s first and only order of business is AI art. I hate to open up this year’s blog session about this misunderstood subject, but I need to throw my two green patinaed cents into the conversation. Mostly because I’ve had to deal with this topic brought up by obnoxious walking hemorrhoids chomping at the bits in the hopes that my job is now on its way to obsolescence. Sadly for them, this is not the case, so listen up, you rashy assholes, because I’m only going to talk about this shit once. The short answer is no; automation will not take my creative job. The long of it is that it just simply can’t. AI is just a mirror of the average of what humans have created. It can’t improve or innovate and requires a captain to steer the ship. It still can’t function without a human at the helm inputting a prompt; contrary to what these simpletons think, it’s not a magic button that says, “make cool shit I will like.” It requires imagination, a grasp of descriptive language, and a sophisticated understanding of the art vernacular. Creativity isn’t software or hardware. It’s a perspective. It’s an interpretation and synthesis of ideas and experiences. AI is another medium to express a creative idea, not a tool because we’re not on some John Henry vs. Steam power shit.
Personally, I welcome AI art. I think it’s going to fill a void that artists can’t, much like canva and adobe express, provide a solution to those who need creative but don’t have the budget nor care to allocate a budget for it. It will also be a good starting point for communicating an idea or pitching. I think it will save time in a production setting in the form of more efficient communication between nonartists and artists. Also, all you douchebags that want AI to replace artists will finally get a shot at making your tasteless birthday party invitations.
But most importantly, I hope AI becomes a place where all these people with shitty children’s book ideas go instead of DM’ing me on some. Please illustrate my book for 200 dollars type shit. Anyway, I’m off to make some art have a wonderful day.

Welcome scoundrels, pirates, closet heroin addicts, and frauds!! I created this blog to document one thousand ninety-five days of no social interaction. Thirty-one days ago, I was on my high horse, and I thought that isolation would make me reflect on my life and inspire me to create a compelling body of work. But instead, I had a colossal dopamine dip followed by boredom with a relapse of social interaction. But being the stubborn fool I am, I decided not only to continue but extend the time I will be in isolation. At first, I thought a year was good, but now I say fuck it, why not spend what’s left of my 30s in ignorant bliss because even if I don’t create any work, I can sure use less of people’s stupid opinions. So bookmark this shit and check daily as I post pictures, art, and film sketches. Fuck you all but thank you for stopping by, and happy new year!