In My Life: My final art project finished! *dialup warning, lotsa pictures*

[DarkTirade]

The project was to first find a source of inspiration, some work of literature or music or something of the sort. So I chose the Beatles song "In My Life". That was the first song I ever performed by myself in front of a crowd. Our assignment was to make a book that tells a story of some sort without using words. So I made it semi-autobiographical. :)

What I was going for was...

a book that looked like you were looking at everything through the soundhole of a guitar. Most everyone else did what the teacher originally suggested, they took an old book and covered up or tore out pages to make room for their stuff. I think only one other person actually made his own book, and while his was a pretty nifty idea it didn't work so well. Was kinda falling apart. :)




Me in the school chorus... hiding away in the back.


Same in orchestra. Getting plenty of musical experience, but no experience with being in front of people and really performing.


Getting older, but still more of the same.




Me picking up guitar on my own and learning it myself.


Comfortable enough now to play in front of other people, comfortable just hanging out and being myself.


Walking out on stage into the bright lights.


Sittin' down on the edge of the stage, right in front of everyone. Singing and playing right to them. (That guy with the lighter with the hugely tall flame... yeah, that actually happened. I had a friend who thought it would be a good idea to 'modify' his lighter so that it was basically a miniature blowtorch. :P )


And while I may have an electric guitar that I can plug in and rock out with...


At the end of the day, I still go home to my old acoustic guitar. :)





A few more pics at http://www.stickmanltd.com/personalstuff/artproject/


If I'd known more about woodworking, I woulda sanded the wood down better before I put the lacquer on there. Ah well, c'est la guerre. We learn from our mistakes. And I would have planned the binding a little better, it's a bit messier than I'd like.

[swag]

1. Well conceived and well executed.

Very appealing work of art.

Congratulations!

Keep going!

[DarkTirade]

2. Thanks.

I'm not much of an artist, but I like makin' stuff. :)

[NV Whino]

3. Nice project

Hand made books are great, and yours tells a great story.

[DarkTirade]

5. Thanky. :)

I figured since we were supposed to choose a work of literature/art/ect. to inspire us that was personal, I might as well go with a personal story. So I went with a love story about a boy and his guitar. :P

[NMDemDist2]

4. doncha love it when a plan comes together?

:applause:

[DarkTirade]

6. Well, the epoxy helped keep things together too. :)

:P

[Tuesday Afternoon]

7. really nice! I enjoyed that very much.

very talented and creative you are :D

thank you for sharing that.

[DarkTirade]

8. I spent so long working on it, I couldn't NOT show it off. :)

[DarkTirade]

9. Kick, 'cause I wanna show it off. :)

[Guava Jelly]

10. Dude that is cool

:applause:
Very original idea.

[DarkTirade]

21. Thanks.

I don't think I could have come up with it if he hadn't made us pick a song/piece of literature/ect. to inspire us. :) But of the two Beatles songs I was thinking about using, that one inspired a story and the other one, while meaningful to me because it was the first song I ever learned to play on guitar, didn't really tell a story. ("Hide Your Love" from Help!. Good for learning chords. :) )

[skygazer]

11. Oh, I really like that

I love the way the detail in the drawings becomes sharper and sharper as you become who you are. Very nice. :applause:

[DarkTirade]

22. Yeah, up until now in class I'd been kinda playing to my weaknesses to try and improve them.

But for the last project I figured I'd play to my strengths. And what I'm best at are simple lines that show concepts and motions rather than detailed pictures.

I.E., I first got into drawing by doing stick figures and flipbooks in all my old school textbooks. :)

[La Lioness Priyanka]

12. analytical. thoughtful. well executed. kudos.,

[DarkTirade]

23. Thanky. :)

I'm not much of an artist, but I like makin' stuff. So I tried to play to my strengths with this project and do what I do best.

[stuntcat]

13. A++ !!

or whatever they give for grades now, I mean. This is perfect! What you say are mistakes are not messy, they're just part of the art.

[DarkTirade]

24. I'm not normally a perfectionist, but if I'd had enough time I probably woulda

experimented with different levels of sanding and whatnot first and then I woulda known what to do. But every mistake is a learning experience. :) Better to try and come gorram close to the mark than to never try at all.

[Maraya1969]

14. That is really nice and very creative!

:thumbsup:

:hug: <<<<< For your life

[DarkTirade]

25. Aww, thanks.

:)

[zanne]

15. I hope your teacher knows enough to appreciate it...

I think it's brilliant. Please let us know how it goes!

[DarkTirade]

26. It's an intro to art class, so he tends to grade on how well thought out it is

and how much effort we put into it, rather than how pretty the pictures are. :)

[ThomCat]

16. Very cool. Awesome concept.

Very well executed, especially given that you did that on your own. You should get a damned good grade for that. :applause:

I'll bet few, if any, of the other students come up with projects as tactile as yours. :)

[DarkTirade]

27. Well, there were a few that stood out

and at least one that made a few people get a bit misty-eyed. But I think people liked mine. :)

[lost-in-nj]

17. What a great idea!

and what a wonderful finished product!!!!

I am impressed!!!


You are very creative and talented.....


:hi:

lost

[DarkTirade]

28. Thanks. :)

The idea came to me in an instant, but it did take a bit of work to put it all together into a coherent form, and a whole lotta work to actually make it. I did discover something though... a drill press with a dremel cutting bit in it works just fine when you need to cut thin wood and you don't have a router or scrollsaw. :)

I think that's probably my best talent... I can look at a situation and say, "Okay, how can I get this done with what I have?" Side effect of not having all the cool toys everyone else had as a kid... I had to make my own entertainment. And then I got into computers, and learned how to take the ideas in my head and use words in a programming language to make them come to life... and now that I can go to the store and buy parts, I can use those skills for the stuff I like to make.

[RetroLounge]

18. Dude! That is totally cool...

The view thru the soundhole is a great concept...

:applause:

RL

[DarkTirade]

29. It just came to me in a flash. :)

... and then I spent several hours actually making it happen. I didn't have much (any) experience with woodwork before the last couple of weeks. :) And other than my dremel, I didn't really have any tools good for it either.

Actually the hard part in pulling that off properly was making the front look like it had the depth of a guitar with the shadow and whatnot, even though it was less than a quarter of an inch deep. First I just tried to stain the lower part a much darker color, but it just didn't have the darkness and lack of color that something in shadow has. So I found an old can of black spraypaint, and stood with the spraypaint about 3 or 4 feet above it. Just let a tiiiiny bit of the spray touch it, and slowly darken it and cover up some of the color until it was the right shade.

[electron_blue]

19. I love this! What a great idea.

and well done!

And fwiw, almost everything we do in life ends up being messier than we'd like and could have been done better. The important thing is to do it, anyway.

[DarkTirade]

30. Yep, like I said above, better to shoot and get close than to never try at all. :)

And even when we do something wrong, we can learn from that and do better next time.

[zingaro]

20. That's awesome. I hope

your instructor appreciates it properly. Nice job. :)

[DarkTirade]

34. Me too. :) I think it'd be pleasantly ironic to get an A in my art class

when I'm not very good at art, but not one in my MIDI class, in which I learned practically nothing because I already knew everything ahead of time. :P

[graywarrior]

31. Fantastically awesome!

I really love it.

[DarkTirade]

36. Thanks. :) I worked hard on it.

[Fox Mulder]

32. That's really sweet.

Great job. :)

[DarkTirade]

37. My guitar may not be the prettiest one in the world, or the nicest sounding...

but she's mine and I love her. :)

[SallyMander]

33. Love it, DT!

What a cool idea!

I also enjoy the changing hairstyle! :D

[DarkTirade]

38. Heh, one girl in the class is a hairdresser and she commented on that too.

I told her it was 'cause I stopped letting people like HER near my hair. :P

[TZ]

35. Neat!

I wish I had half the artistic talent you do...:)

[DarkTirade]

39. I wish I had half the artistic talent I wish I had. :)

It was kinda interesting when I was living with The Animator, he's a damn good artist and I can barely draw stick figures. But when it comes to actually putting stuff together and making them, he didn't really know what he was doing all that well. So every now and then we'd have something to work on together, and we'd both add our best qualities in and it would work out.

Although he did a pretty good job when he experimented in woodworking a while back when he made a big prop axe and shield. All I did was offer a little construction advice.

[DarkTirade]

40. Mental note: if I want to kick something when people will notice it, Saturday afternoon is best.

I got 4 responses on Friday... and then I kicked it and got 20 or so. :P

[siligut]

41. You are so creative!

And talented.

[DarkTirade]

46. Aww, thanks.

:blush:

[Heidi]

42. Error: you can only recommend threads which were started in the past 24 hours

GORGEOUS. And believe me, it will _always_ be a bit messier than you'd like. That's art.

:yourock:

[DarkTirade]

47. I dunno, I can recall a few times when I was trying to make something messy for style reasons...

and it ended up neater than I wanted. :P

[applegrove]

43. Neat - O!

[DarkTirade]

48. Thanks. :)

[BarenakedLady]

44. Very nice.

:applause:

[DarkTirade]

49. I'm just glad it came out at all.

I was worried that my concept would be too hard to make and I'd end up having to do something that wasn't what I was shooting for. But as soon as I figured out how to cute the circles in the wood, it all fell in place. :)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

45. My dear DarkTirade!

Wow, sweetie!

That is wonderfully made...

I just love how you did this!

You had a lot of personal growth here...

Both in the art project itself, and in learning how to play the guitar!

I'm really impressed!


:yourock:

:hug:

[DarkTirade]

50. Thanks. :)

I think I learned a lot from this class. It exposed me to ways of doing things that I hadn't thought of, and forced me to work on some things I'm not very good at. Which is something I think I need in general. Most of the things I do are the things I'm naturally good at (like music. I was born with a damn good sense of pitch and I come from a musical family so I was exposed to it early.)... so I don't HAVE to work hard at them. :) It's nice to actually work at something and put effort into it and grow from the experience.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

Delete - dupe

[DarkTirade]

52. What did you call me? :P

:P

[SalmonChantedEvening]

51. Wondefully done DarkTirade :)

And a lesson learned from the lesson itself.

:applause:

[DarkTirade]

53. Thanks. :)

The reason I go to school isn't to get a degree, it's to learn. And so that's what I set out to do in that class too. :)