From Start To Finish: Re-Inventing Typograpy

Hello dear readers! After reading Austin Kleon's book SHOW YOUR WORK!, I have been following his advice about sharing both the process of making art, as well as the finished product. So here is another brief post about the work that went into my latest piece (As of today!).

From Start to Finish, my latest little typographic sketch: Re-Inventing Typography

The initial sketch of all the letters

The detailing and filling in of the first line...

Repeating the process with the smaller letters...

Almost Done! On this line I decided to use a 0.5mm pen because it was lacking some contrast...

Voila! The Final Sketch

Details

 And as you can see... it seems like this will be the year for Typography!

Until we meet again
Talia

From Start To Finish: The Skull From Beneath

Hello again dear readers! No this is not an entirely new post... but as you may have noticed in previous posts, there have been snippets of a work in progress, and that is precisely what this blog is meant to show!

So today I will show you the makings of my latest work, which I completed roughly half an hour ago. This post will show the process from start to finish.

The journey of: The Skull From Beneath

The first sketch and outline of the skull in HB pencil. This takes a lot of time to get all the proportions accurate.

The very first words filling the page. I like to start at the darkest, most central point of the image.

Slowly the words begin to ripple outwards, filling the gaps and crevices marked by pencil...

This is quite the slow process, seeing as I use 0.5, 0.2, 0.1 and 0.05 mm fine liners. My personal preference is Unipin Fine Liners

A bit of patience and the skull starts to materialise...

And Voila! We have the completed skull!
Click here for more details on the drawing

Detail of the final drawing

And so dear readers, I have one more completed work to tally for 2015... Hopefully there are plenty more to come!

Until we meet again
Talia

The Manufacturing of Time

So, this week I had an epiphany... and it happened to be art related! A few days ago, someone very close to me asked why I haven't entered any art competitions yet... I was surprised by my speechlessness when I was supposed to answer the question like a normal person. And then the realisation hit me like a taxi driver in Johannesburg...

I've never entered an art competition because I am in fact an idiot who chose not to seize opportunities.

Initially, this might not seem like the most mind-blowing epiphany... but when I thought about how many opportunities I'd missed by choice, I felt like slapping myself. Repeatedly. With a paint filled palette. When I was in high school and during the semester at varsity, my excuse was that I didn't have the time. And the truth is... it was just a pathetic excuse:

This saying I stumbled upon also slapped me in the face a few times, but it was a good kind of slap, the kind of slap that makes you face reality (pardon the pun). So for this year, I have decided to seize opportunities, no matter how small or  insignificant they may seem. You never know where a good opportunity my take you, so why reject it when it could take you places? And the funny thing about the creative field is that it seems like there aren't all that many opportunities, if you don't look closely enough. The truth is that there are more than you could ever imagine, all you have to do is pay attention.

And so dear readers, I am off to go draw and maybe grab a few opportunities along the way... If you have any suggestions as to how I may exhibit or show my work (Both in South Africa and abroad), please let me know.

Until we meet again

Talia

AWOL

Typographic Work In Progress (made by going AWOL)

And so another week of the New Year has passed, and with each passing week the beginning of varsity draws closer... It finally seems that the compulsion to draw, paint and just being creative in general has returned with even more urgency than during the later stages of 2014.. But I've discovered another sense of liberation that seems to have lain dormant in me for many years.

About two weeks ago, my next door neighbour invited me to walk to the park with her and her puppy. Even though I'd driven past the park almost every day during the semester, I'd almost forgotten that people were supposed to actually walk through it. The walk to get there didn't take long, but the pure joy of not having a phone with me was the most liberated I'd felt in a long time.

Without the perpetual distraction of a phone with me, I was able to enjoy the place I was in with all my senses without the persistent online distractions. It was unbelievable just to be outside and not have to worry about a phone. Now I don't mind talking to people on the phone, the instant communication can be quite gratifying... but sometimes it's just plain healthy to disengage. Breathe the fresh air, feel the grass tickling your feet, listening to the sounds of children laughing. There are so many tiny miracles of life that just get ignored and ultimately forgotten because we are so tangled in the world wide web.

I also find that concentration is so difficult when you're constantly checking your phone, your email, or whatever else is pulling away at your attention. So now when I feel like I want to draw, I end up putting my phone on silent and hiding it under a pillow.

So dear readers, you might be offending a few people but choosing to go AWOL, but you might just save your sanity and give your attention the things that really matter.

Until we meet again
Talia

The B-Word

Today is the 10th of January, 2015. Already 10 days of the new year have passed. 10 DAYS. There is still a month left before I return to varsity, and the truth is... there is so much work and things to do I can't actually decide what to do get around to first. Considering how much I know I can get done each day, I have to say I am baffled by how anyone can say they're bored.

Okay readers, here's a fact. Every Single One Of Us is going to die eventually. Every day brings a new opportunity to do something. Whether you get around to that chore you've been putting off for weeks, donate something to someone who needs it, spend time with someone who deserves it or actually make something... Every day is the chance to actually get something done, so how on earth could anyone be bored?

I'm not even back at varsity and I can feel the need to make and create something everyday. There is actually so much I want... have to do I have no idea what to start with first. On my list of 100 Things To Do During Summer (see http://artistinworkingprogress.blogspot.com/2014/11/100-days-of-summer.html), I have accomplished exactly 20. So that alone is 80 tasks that have yet to be completed. But on the bright side of that daunting list... I have started drawing and creating again!

So dear readers, at last it is time to see a work from beginning to end. This is one of the first artworks I've done for 2015:

The Skeleton of a New Drawing

Filling in one letter at a time...

Detail of letter interior

And Voila! The finished drawing

I read a saying that said "Only boring people get bored", and I have to agree dear readers. Boredom is a procrastination at its most potent. If you dare utter the B-Word, even in thought, just go out there and make something, learn something... and for goodness sake, seize the day!

Until we meet again
Talia

Hope

Ah Dear Readers... I have returned yet again, and I am quite proud to say that I have survived yet another season of silliness! No, I don't hate Christmas and No I definitely do not hate the New Year... In fact, I've grown a certain fondness for the celebration of a New Year.

The build up to the New Year is one of the few times that almost people seem to have a connected energy that fills the air with the kind of electricity that is deeply exhilarating. I read a little quote today (whilst it was still New Year's Day, mind you) that summed up this phenomenon perfectly.

"New Years Eve. The evening of little miracles. Peel away the exploding fireworks, roaring countdowns and ridiculous resolutions and what you are left with is hope. Small human hope. The hope of better days, of fresh starts and perhaps, if you are very lucky, a kiss."
-Beau Taplin

Quite the perfect summary isn't it? Hope. Such a simple little world that bring the whole world to celebrate one night that will bring every dream and aspiration that much closer to us achieving them. I never thought about a new year bringing something as instinctual to humanity as hope. If you're not too hungover on New Year's morning, it's difficult not to feel the infectious air of this being the year you can change the world.

And the truth is, you can. You can change the world. Starting now. Chase your dreams like time is about to swallow you into oblivion. Chase your dreams like they deserve to be chased. No one will ever be able to live your life for you, so if you've been putting off those resolutions for two or four years, make the effort to actually see them through.

Hope is infectious. Bottle up whatever you can now whilst it's overflowing from every human being. Savour it for whenever you feel like you can't pick yourself up again. You've just been given the clean slate, now start your new chapter.

Happy New Year Dear Readers.

Until we meet again
Talia