Author: James

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Bench Project

A few months back I recovered some pallet wood from work.  We wanted a picnic bench in the back so I thought this would be a little cheaper than buying wood.  After I got the pallets home, I had to tear them apart, discarding what was too bent to use.  I started with the idea of a bench that had angled legs, but found this at a restaurant:
After months of doing a little at a time, by bench is finished:
Of course, I did have some help in the final assembly:

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Commissioning Art

For many years I was an avid collector of comic books.  I love the stories, but I especially loved the art.  After many years, the cost of paper books was just too much and took up too much room, so I sold them all away.  Nowadays, I collect art.  Specifically, I love meeting the artists that are out there creating.  I spend most of my time in “artist” alley at the comicons which have as much or more space than the tradition vendors.  I don’t limit myself to just comic creators either.  I love talent in all forms.

I recently had a piece done that has taken almost a year to complete.  I wanted to have a piece done using the Chinese Zodiac creatures for each of my girls.  Originally, it was going to be a tattoo, but the size and complexity changed it to wall art.  I originally approached an artist, who will remain nameless because I have lost their name.  This was the piece he eventually sent me:

After trying to communicate with the artist for a couple of months, I gave up.  Later I took the final sketch he had sent, since I liked it so much, and passed it to a new artist I had met and started following on Facebook.  David Faught is an extremely talented artist with a wide range including the human form, animals and fantasy.  I sent the piece to him and asked if he could ink and color it.  He did more than I ever expected.  He redrew the piece to make it his own and even made adjustments I wanted, specifically the placement of the dog and dragon.  He spent many hours inking and finally giving me two color versions, one digital and one watercolor, mostly because of a miscommunication.  Here are the stages of the piece:

First pencils


Adjustment to switch dragon and dog


Inked


Digital Coloring


Watercolors


While I have been doing this for a while, this piece taught me some valuable lessons about expectations and being clear with the artist what you expect.

  1. Be clear about what you want.  Even if you are going this is an “artists choice” be clear what you are hoping for.
  2. Communicate clearly what you want.  The worst that can happen is the artist will tell you no or they cannot do as you ask.
  3. Get the money talk out of the way early.
  4. Be patient.  The creative process is much different than a regular day job.  It requires being in the right frame of mind and having the time to work their magic.  If you want it done right, wait for it.
  5. Keep the communication open.  I like to see a rough then a semi-finished before they are completed.  The rough helps you and the artist get the concept down and the semi-finished gives you a clear picture of what it should look like before it’s completed and any adjustments are still relatively easy to make.
  6.  Money will need to exchange hands. 
Here are some questions you may want to think about to define your project.
  1. What medium does the artist work in? 
  2. What character do you want?
  3. Is it a head shot, torso or full body? 
  4. Will it be pencil only, inked or colored?   If colored, do you want it digital, watercolor, ink, other?
  5. How much will it cost?
  6. About how long will it take?
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Mixing it up

I was looking through the blogs I follow and was really impressed with the layout that my cousin uses, so I totally stole it (called Magazines in the Dynamic Views Templates here on blogger).  After doing that, I realized I had bee neglecting this space for my Tumblr so I did some clean up here.  Why have both?  Well, they each do something well.  Blogger is easy to use on a desktop, but no so much from the mobile device.  I find it harder to post and repost things in Blogger.  On the other hand, I like the commenting and more feature rich setup here in blogger.  In order to do both with as little work as possible , I use a third service called Posterous.  It lets me post to numerous place at once and then I can go to the individual spaces and edit as I need.

Update:  Since I wrote this, Posterous appears to be tanking thanks to being acquired by Twitter.  Also, I shifted www.jamesthegeneralist.com to point to Blogger rather than Tumblr.  Tumblr is by far much easier to share posts on Facebook, but I prefer the look here on Blogger.  

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Do You Love Me?


a lover asked her beloved,
do you love yourself more
than you love me?

the beloved replied,
I have died to myself
and I live for you.

I’ve disappeared from myself
and my attributes.
I am present only in you.

I have forgotten all my learning,
but from knowing you
I have become a scholar

I have lost all my strength,
but from your power
I am able.

If I love myself
I love you.
If I love you
I love myself.

-Rumi

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Polonius’ Advice to Laertes

As good today as it was 400 years ago…
A father’s advice to his son how to conduct himself in the world: Don’t tell all you think, or put into action thoughts out of harmony or proportion with the occasion. Be friendly, but not common; don’t dull your palm by effusively shaking hands with every chance newcomer. Avoid quarrels if you can, but if they are forced on you, give a good account of yourself. Hear every man’s censure (opinion), but express your own ideas to few. Dress well, but not ostentatiously. Neither borrow nor lend. And guarantee yourself against being false to others by setting up the high moral principle of being true to yourself.
Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportion’d thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar;
The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch’d, unfledg’d comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel, but, being in,
Bear ‘t that th’ opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice;
Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express’d in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man.
Neither a borrower, nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
William Shakespeare.
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Christmas walk

I often walk my dog aroung the neighborhood, but I make it a point to the day before and/or after Christmans.  It is usually pretty quite, but those who are out are very friendly.   The after Christmas is fun to see all the kiddos out on their new bike or playing with some other new toy.  Have a walk arounf your neck of the woods this year to calm you from the harried Christmas season.
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A Little Bragging

I am getting all the work I have commissioned over the years digitized.  In doing so, I came across some pieces I did.  Don’t get your hopes up too high, these generally took me a long time and only when I was really inspired, but I think they turned out pretty darn well.

This is Dado (short “a”).  Based on my father about 45-50/yo.  I made a couple of comic strips (think Plugger) using him.
Dado

At one time I have been the proud owner of six ferrets.  One year I decided to do a X-mas card and this is what I came up with.  I printed out the cards and colored the hat in red.
Ferret Card
In another lifetime, I was a Mormon and served a mission in Perth, Australia.  Since there is no TV or reading books or magazines (though I did ;^) ) I had more time on my hands.  I spent many days and hours drawing this copied off of a photo in a church magazine.  Like any good perfectionist, I just didn’t think it looked quite right.
GBH
The next two were birthday cards I made for some people.


This was an image I found in a paper advertising a book called “Deadmeat”.  I traced it and used it as an exercise for shading.

OK fans of fantasy…where is this creature from?

Another exercise in shading.

My DW…

And finally a little geometric coloring.