Hand Mind Cordination

Its an argument that has existed since the beginging of humankind's art making. Or at the least a contrasting opinion that has long been pondered. And that is what is more important when it comes to art making; craft-the time, skill, and attention given to a work with the workers own hands or content- what is being said with in the work, what is being communicated with the subject. Everyone expresses their feelings on this. Entire schools base entire philosophies around what they feel to be more of a focus. Artists even base their entire careers upon how they feel in this regards.

Personally i feel and know that it is possible to find a fair balance between the two. Duchamp's "Fountain" made it clear that art does not necessarily need to be of the artist's hand to carry the ideas clearly. Then there are sequential narrators such as Chris Ware, whose work appears to be almost mechanical. But craft or lack there of can always lend itself to the content or intent of the entire piece can it not? The work of the mind and that of the hands work......hand in hand....(boooo) Either way they need each other.

Film Adaptations

The past few years have been good for comics and graphic novels. The growing interest and the ever expanding variation of style makes for excellent entertainment. New things are being tried, so new possibilities are being acknowledged. We've come to see that comics are not just the newspaper funnies or super hero oriented, but can have actual developed stories that are more relate able and for more mature audiences. From stories like Scott Pilgrim by Brian Lee O'Malley to David Mazuchelli's Asterios Polyp there is a huge spectrum of story and character that any person can cling to.

So most recently, of course, many graphic novels have been adapted into film. Movies like Kick-Ass, which seems to be more or less of a good marketing plan, and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World have proved that comic style lends itself well to the film medium. Then there are movies like Ghost World and American Splendor. These express beautifully the seriousness and the strong character development that is a possibility. So great things can take place with graphic novels and film. Fight Club is no longer the adaptation standard.

Top 10 Adaptations

Comic Book Movies

Scott Pilgrim

Im OFF THAT

Keep On NOOKIN'

The death of the book is a result of the eReaders. Music is one thing whose format gradually grew to be more and more portable. However, no one will neglect the power that listening to a 12" record has. This isn't exactly over hyped nostalgia, but it is an attention to detail and quality that in recent times has been somewhat pushed to the back burner. The mp3 format has speed up music production, yes, so there is more music more rapidly and that is a great thing but at what expense? We loose sound quality, detail, and the overall experience of the album.

Most recently there is another medium that is in danger of loosing its tangibility; books. The eReader, which included devices like Barnes & Noble's Nook, Amazon's Kindle and Apple's iPad takes digital files like .epub's and .pdf's and makes it possible to read your favorite books on the go. But again i ask, at what art forms expense? Sure, i see the benefit. "oh no i don't want to carry all of these books with me to read on the beach in Cozumel. Whatever will i do?" Yes you can carry an unseemly amount of digital books out and about. That is cool, however it was never a problem before. Also i believe there is an art in a tangible book that can never be replaced. Sure enough you may receive cover art along with your file, but you are with out the entire book design. The way the pages literally feel as you turn a page and crack a spine is an experience that can not be digitized.

There are things though that i like about the eReader phenomenon; textbooks and comic books. No one enjoys carrying around ten 20lbs anatomy books, with an eReader, it make life a little easier. The second is with comics. There has been an extreme growth in comic book interest in the past couple of years in comics, and the format and experimentation has been pushed further and further. I see interesting things happening in the future between animation and graphic novels. One thing that may not be able to be conveyed in a single panel as still image, can easily be animated within an eReader. Look forward to interactive on a whole 'nother level.

Kindle, Nook and Other eReaders to Take off in 2010

Among E-Readers Competition Heats Up

Will E-Readers Kill Comics

Plagiarism and The Electronic Generation

Now is a time where practically all of the world's information is literally sitting right in front of us on our laptops and in our phones. Often the information is even too much, so weeding through it all is definitely most difficult. However when the right information is found what is it that students in most recent times are do with it? Many point out that due to increased ease of access the boundaries that surround what is another's are becoming almost indistinguishable. Once upon a time copying directly from a book was clearly theft and even far more difficult. Today the simple copy and paste aspect makes the use of another's intellectual property far too easy.

But the bottom line is; rules are rules. "The central issue is not that students are becoming intellectual criminals, but that we have to make sure that as things change, the guidelines for proper crediting of sources of information are drilled into people's heads." says MSU-Billings English Professor Deborah Schaffer. For too long teachers have been trying to instill the proper process of writing and citing sources. But the increasing information makes it unclear to students that online information is not public and not common knowledge. So, with the use of programs like "turn it in" and with strong effort of the instructor, plagiarism will soon grow to be taken far more seriously.

Still Drawin' Circles...

Here are the rest...

Drawing Circles...

We started with one hundred 3" circles. They were then painted, all different colours. Then, with black lines, linear elements were added to these circles to transform them into different distinguishable images. Here are my 25 favorite.