Professor Maskell's Eccentric Circus!

First things first HERE is the song that inspired this poster. The image really isn't complete without background music.

Excellent point, random viewer! It does seem a bit plain, doesn't it? It needs color, LOTS of color! Dark purple, acid green, blood red, fiery orange, etc! Unfortunately this semester has not quite ended yet, and since I have been working on this poster for most of the time that I should have been studying for finals, I'm probably going to take a break at this point, and start coloring it in later. But rest assured, I will be posting the finished product on this blog as soon as it's ready!

Until then, just listen to the music, and imagine how fantastic it would be if I had my own circus!

Venom Care Bear

("Venom Bear" 2014, Photoshop)

Are Care Bears still relevant at all, or is this a bit dated? I suppose it doesn't really matter. Even if the young people have never heard of care bears, they'll still get a kick out of seeing a big cuddly Venom.

For those of you who don't know what a care bear is. This is them.

Did you listen to it? Wasn't that just the most sickeningly innocent thing you've ever heard? (shudders) Now you know why I had to draw this. Care Bears have had it too cute for too long.

For those of you who don't know, this is what is known as a "mashup" a combination of different genres, themes, styles, or characters that would not ordinarily be put together. It is impossible to spend much time on the internet without seeing examples of these. Salvador Dali illustrating Alice in Wonderland, Disney characters drawn as Star Wars characters (or visa versa), Hello Kitty as a zombie, Marvel heros battling DC villains, the list goes on and on.

(original sketch)

Horror Huggies; so cute, it's scary...

It may or may not surprise you to learn that I am a big fan of horror movies. I don't much care for the kins of horror films that are just about some guy who kills people in an abandoned house for fun. I prefer movies about monsters, aliens, ghosts, zombies, or any other strange imaginative antagonist. Some of my favorite horror films are about evil toys- Chucky, Demonic Toys, the Puppet Master series. Every horror movie about killer toys starts off the same way, a montage of someone building the horrible toy, with creepy music playing in the background. I have a small workshop set up in my parent's basement (gangster right?) and it's full of the kinds of sketches, and tools, toy parts, and sketchy florescent lighting that would be perfect for such a creepy montage, so I decided to make this video, as sort of a personal spoof on those movies I enjoy so much.

The music in the background is form what is probably my all time favorite evil toy movie, Dead Silence.

Enjoy

I apologize for the pixelation on the video. For some reason Blogspot.com would not upload the more high quality version of the video, so I had to upload a cheaper one. HERE IS A LINK to cleaner version of this video.

Why Do I Do It?

Some of you may be asking, why I, or anyone else for that matter, would put so much time and effort into a  fine arts career when there is so little, if any, job security in that field. Well, I do it for two reasons. 1. Nobody was kind enough to warn me about the lack of jobs until after I got my associates degree, and 2. I LOVE ART. I fucking love god damn, mother fucking art! Like for realz, yo. I can’t even. And here’s why...

God Complex

If you can draw, you have a power. In fact, during the Renaissance, artists were often considered superior, and more virtuous than normal people, because they possessed the gift to portray the heavens, saints, angels, Christ, etc. Artists have the power to create stories, characters, anything they like. Any ideas I have I can manifest on paper or in sculpture. 

If I want to see a crab creature with the head of a cat? 

Voila!

What if I wanted to see President Roosevelt fighting off an army of Predators in the name of freedom?

MY WILL BE DONE!!

Communication

If I told you to picture a bear unicycling in a tutu while juggling dynamite. What you picture in your mind would be VASTLY different from what I see in my mind. What kind of bear would you think of? What color unicycle? Did I mean the long red dynamite sticks, or the round black ones with the little fuses?

However, when I show you this..

You know exactly what I’m thinking

(For future reference, you should always picture the little black round ones)

It's like trying to tell someone about a game/book/movie you really love, when you know it would be so much easier to just show it to them.

Art gives people a way to express ideas that they do not have the words or the understanding to express properly.

Boredom

I have often said “If I wasn’t an artist, I’d be an arsonist.” and sometimes I even believe it.

There is so much boredom in the world. That has been made even more noticeable over the years thanks to cell phones and ipads and all other technologies that are almost specifically designed to help us battle every day boredom. Every time you see someone texting or browsing the web on their pone or other devices, that means that person is bored.

I on the other hand am hardly ever on my phone. Those of us who like to draw, can battle boredom with just a pen and a scrap of paper, which are just as portable, just as distracting, and significantly cheaper than a cell phone.

See this? 

That’s Clifford The Dog battling Godzilla. Why? Because algebra is boring!

The Rush

Above all of those reasons. The main reason I stick with painting, sculpting, drawing, etc. is because I am, quite literally, addicted. 

There is no rush, no high I have ever experienced that can compare to the euphoria that comes form taking your ideas and successfully manifesting them in a painting, a sketch, a sculpture, particularly in a sculpture. The closest thing I could compare it to would be a warm, relaxing, wine buzz.

A great work of art is a constant reminder of your power, your skill, your creativity. A successful work of art will keep your ego strong, and keep a smile on your face... at first. After a while, you need more, more successful paintings, more great sculptures. You need to feel that rush again, to feel that pride and that self worth. It does not have to be a success in other people's opinion, only yours, but the more you make, the more difficult it will be to impress yourself over time. I’ve spent so many sleepless nights working on sketches and sculptures that were not finished, not good enough. It is my drive, my purpose, and my obsession, and I would not trade it for any other addiction on Earth.

Here Comes Peter Cottontail

("Easter Bunny" 2014, Photoshop)

"Fair well, my children! I must return now to my own dimension, but I shall return next Easter to lay my delicious candy eggs on all of your lawns!"

I apologize for my lack of posts over the last couple of weeks. My laptop was being repaired and I could not access my photos. Nor could I use programs like Photoshop, which means I couldn't make any new illustrations for a while (dependence on technology is the one downside to digital painting) BUT I have returned, and I shall be resuming normal posts from now on. HUZZAH!

I shall start with this new illustration, which I finished just after Easter. This is most likely the most colorful thing I have ever done, and I'm quite pleased with it. I do not actually celebrate Easter, but I do admire a holiday that is so obsessed with bunnies and candy, and there's no better time of year to stock up on stuffed animal parts! Every shelf of every store is over stuffed with fluffy toys, and they're prices go down substantially right after Easter.

In case you couldn't tell, this bunny is actually a copy of the big blue bear from my other illustration "Day At The Circus" BUT before you call me lazy and unoriginal, not that I could really argue against that, take a look HERE and see what other illustrators are known for copying the same characters multiple times.

Just Add Skulls!

Back when I was first starting out as a creepy toy maker, I learned very quickly that the best way to make an interesting and faintly disturbing looking toy was to remove it's head and replace it with a skull. It's incredibly simple and not terribly imaginative, but the results are always fun to see. This particular rabbit I won at a carnival/rave that was being held one warm summer night, on the deck of an old battle ship in Salem Massachusetts. Fire jugglers, glow in the dark wands, face painting stations, and scores of people dancing and grinding underneath two enormous tank barrels! I popped a balloon with a dart on my first try and won the aforementioned rabbit, whom I immediately named Raziel.

 About a month or so later, I was on my way to a Halloween party, for which I had been asked to bring some of my toys for decoration, and as I was packing a few popular favorites, I found Raziel sitting next to one of the many plastic skulls I had recently bought (I stock up on them every year around Halloween) So I quickly grabbed my scissors and my glue gun and within 10 minutes I had new and improved Raziel.

Smiley

("Smiley" 2013, fleece and aluminum)

"Hello Clarice."

This was a custom bear, made for a friend of mine who is a particularly large fan of the Batman villain, Joker.

This is far from the first toy I've made with sharp aluminum teeth. Pointy metal jaws used to be a staple in all my toys. I stopped using it as much, not because it was unsafe (there is no sweeter irony than making a cuddly toy that can not be cuddled) but because the only way to get aluminum teeth to stick to a bear is with a hot glue gun, and since many of the teeth I made were quite small (unlike this example) it was VERY tricky to glue the teeth in place without getting glue stains all over the fabric. Of course, the toys I make do have a sort of hand-stitched quality to them and that's completely intentional, but glue stains on fabric is much different than sloppy stitching, or button eyes, or torn and patched fabric. There's something artificial and tacky about glue stains.

Anyway, Smiley here is one of my absolute favorites and incidentally, has no glue stains. He's made of fleece which is a great fabric for making toys if you ever feel like giving it a try. It is not only soft and easy to sew, but it's surprisingly firm and holds it's shape, which is why Smiley's grin holds so well on his face.

Remember kids,

Smile and the world smiles with you.