My Falcon Sorceress Portrait

This is a documentation of my artistic process regarding my fan art of the MOTU (Heman) Sorceress of Castle Grayskull (she wears a Falcon outfit). In my previous essay I got into the philosophy of fan art regarding copying vs creating, and comparing originals to originals in Art. So if you want a deep dive into the madness of what is considered a ‘good version’, I refer you to the waffle feast there. To summarize that essay, NO I am not trying to make an exact copy of the most popular version of the Sorceress as drawn by Filmation, but I do love how she looks so I am basing my version on that original.

Mostly here I want to show photos, and how I use my face to check if im close to realistic proportions. I know that my face is not the most masculine or the most feminine, or average in all ways, but it is the face I have and I have been told it is similar enough to a human face to pass as one. Despite what the haters say, and yes I hate my own work sometimes because I see things that look wrong too, and this is one case where I have checked over and over because it bothers me, but I did get the spacing very close to my own facial proportions by coincidence. I was trying to blend cartoon features with realistic features that I like when looking at female faces, and I accidently used the same proportions I have in two critical dimensions. Now maybe that means it is ugly by the normal standards of proportion, but whatever because to my aesthetics it is at least acceptable.

As these photos show, I started by drawing what felt right based on looking at the Filmation face of the Sorceress. You can try it yourself, by placing your fingers on your face, and then try to lock them into position – hold your fingers in the same position while moving them to the canvas, and compare where your fingers touched on your face with the face you are working on.

But I also added my own style of ‘long face’ that some people have and has been done in Fine Art historically by exaggerating necks and limbs etc. To me having a long nose can be beautiful, like a bird’s beak; so I feel it is appropriate for a Falcon Priestess to have features that remind me of a bird. When I went looking for other examples of faces that have the look I was looking for, I came across Aimee Mann. I could not believe how much she looked like the longer nosed Sorceress with feathery white hair!!! Well my painting will not look exactly like her either, no offense to any woman goddess, fictional or real. This is just one version, of a blended face; blended from others like all faces are.

Also check out how different a face can look from above, straight ahead face-to-face or below! Perspective does change how we view proportions.

I will post more versions of this painting, as I add on more layers. No idea when I will finish it, I might even stop working on it for a few years, and pick it up later.

[more later]

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Is Art About Copying?

As beginners we start by tracing to make copies of what we epitomize as what a franchise brand tells us is the best image of that thing we like; this is also how we study existing examples and conditions as architects. As artists the more we are taught to be original, the more we realize that tracing is just one type of art, that is more akin to photo-copying. If we like an original piece, we want a copy of that thing to have around us, it is natural to some extent. However the psychology of the “real thing” vs the “reproduction” or “fake thing” quickly becomes apparent in stories like ‘The Golem’ or ‘Frankenstein’ or ‘Pygmalion’ or ‘The Portrait of Dorian Gray’ or ‘He-Man vs Fakor’ and on and on.

My process of creating is a constant debate between hating everything i have done, and loving it. Thinking the eyes are too small, changing them, then wishing i hadnt. I will keep adding layers of paint until i convince myself i cannot improve it anymore. It might take years or months or days. Most people do not realize that we learn by copying, but forgeries are the same thing except for the criminal act of saying the copy “IS” the original. Here is an example of how critical artists create: we think the eyes are too close, then move them apart, and later realize our own are closer than hers. It is interesting some of the optical illusions that shading and perspective creates. And some people really do have different proportions by centimeters than the norm.

Random people might not know or care about one of my mentors, Thor Carlson, but he encouraged me to make my own versions of Tolkien’s characters. He did not like that my versions were so similar to the cartoon artists. Yet my style is a blend of both original professional painters, and corporate commercial artists and their brands. My style (whatever look it ends up being for any particular piece) is both the best I can do as an artist and that kind of creative blending is what I enjoy doing because it is similar to what we call “playing” except its also work. My work is not for everyone, but opinions are a study of their own.

I do not think we should make exact copies in the Art world or in the industrial commercial world. Even in a line of action figures, I think deviation on the paint job is as it should be; and certainly when a new line is produced it should be markedly distinguished in some way (even if it is just a maker’s mark and date stamp) from other sets. Historically professionals like historians and mechanics and collectors find their ability to distinguish differences important, compatibility aside.

For example when doing a portrait of a popular commercial character I might love the facial proportions used by the Filmation artist here, it is a very pretty face and it is certainly the ideal original for me that many of us respect or try to copy. I do keep copies of Filmation originals and cannot change what they are even if i wanted to, they exist and thank goodness no one can delete them from existence. I do not think I will try to copy it exactly, because people can make prints of this how it is, i cannot improve on it.

For the critics we can apologize (not that it will help), as I did with fellow fans – “Sorry im not doing an exact copy of Filmation, mainly for copyright reasons, but also because i have some other ideas for how i think the Sorceress should look based on my imagination. You can do your own. Im basing the design on the Filmation basics, but also considering the toy figure and other face types (from cartoon to real life). I have always thought not all women in the show needed the same tiny nose, i think a longer ‘beak’ is fine.” 

With the MOTU Sorceress it is interesting that her facial measurements match my own, both vertically and horizontally (except i made her eyes wider on purpose). The tiny details of her nostrils and how im shading in a cartoon kind of way, are of course different than reality, and different than the original that i am not making a copy of for this project. As with Race, it is important not to focus on comparing things that are meant to be different in some ways AND similar in some ways are to each-other, because it becomes pointless and evil.

Social idealizations are a major psychological reason why so many females want surgery. However both with many real ‘deviant’ faces (there are more than you think) and cartoon faces, we can notice how the mouth can be larger than the average proportions, which are usually in line with the nostrils. Here the eyes also appear wider and further apart than usual. When we laugh our nostrils can become stretched by our mouths, all kinds of odd things that do not seem correct by ‘normal’ standards. So we know eyes can be closer or more recessed (set-in) than may be attractive to us, but our ideals of ‘beauty’ aesthetics are not the same as Art, they are an important part of how we perceive art and what we call ‘Art’, but Art is larger than aesthetics because Art is not just superficial. True Art makes us think, and not always in ways we like all the time; in fact critics will often not call it Art when it does that, but they are being silly and are wrong about that. True Art is not always ‘fine art’ or ‘high art’ or even popular, it can be literally trash made by commercial industry.

A good way to handle critics is to realize by allowing them to comment, you can gauge who is friendly and who wants to be receptive to your work in the future. Too often people give advice to be able to say they are the master, and you are doing it wrong. You can try to please them, but you wont know until its too let whether you can or not, so it is important to be equally critical what is popular or you are told you “must” or “should” do. The spirit of true Art is not about conformity, it is about freedom. Brand worship that tries to stop others is not the way of people who love imagination in a “brand” more than corporate conformity. As critics we can also try to be self-aware when we are too personally invested in our own desire to put someone else down; hey it happens because we do not all get along!

Thank everyone who offers real support! Remember beware taking advice from critics who will not pay you a cent, even when you do what they argue. Many people just want to argue and disagree, I find myself doing that even internally, and it tends to be more destructive than healthy or helpful if the conflicts are not resolved successfully enough to be able to practice art AND enjoy it. It is actually ok if other people do things different than we would if we were doing it or have done it before. Critics often do not care what your reasons for doing things different are, and their opinions might be part of a problem of public perception you are challenging. It is ok when art is not just tracing a commercial product, but if people do trace, it is ok to practice line study too.

As an artist who has been a teacher here is my advice: Remember kids, there is a difference between tracing, and doing your own version! Heh actually even when we trace we rarely copy it as good as the original. In Art it is better to make your own, as close as you want or as close as you can do to what you like, but it does not have to be just one source of inspiration that goes into what you make. Make it your own brand.

[more later]

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Trumpian Economic Report 2020

Artisan Vs. Commercial Market Selling

By Drogo Empedocles – January 2020

In a Trumpian economy most of us are forced to be beggars even when we offer work in return for money, due to an excess of labor not needed or desired by the rich. Trickle-down Reaganomics has failed us, and is still being pushed on us by Trump and all corporate politicians who sold out. We must resist falling to the attacks causing the destruction of our lives and plan to not just survive but rebuild a better world for our children.

Trump’s tax plan benefits the rich, and diminishes the middle class. The estate tax is gone now so that rich children can inherit all their parent’s wealth freely without earning it, while poor children suffer without deserving it. Personal exemptions have been removed. You can still itemize donations, but the standard deduction bar was raised with an overall .5% tax rate reduction. Those basic changes might negligibly benefit lower incomes, but average to upper middle class households are losing thousands on whole due to other changes in the tax plan.

I lost some financial support despite my working through the holidays on several projects. I won’t be able to do as much free or low-budget work with others, until i can secure more income to cover my own expenses at least. my income is only $700 a year recently, so i feel like i get by with quite a little actually. I only currently use one sound program most weeks, and focus on word (writing) programs, which have glitches between formats, but i am able to publish that way. So for over a year i have only been using two editing programs.

Most people should know that any work has a price; and so my work is for sale, as with any artist; we need means to live so we try to sell prints and originals if we can. If people do not know how to want to share money with others, i am not sure how i can help them except to remind them by bringing it up sometimes. I focus on my work more than sales, because i do it for the work not the sales. If i am asked to be more of a sales person i would not do it. i dont know if stating that i will keep doing my own work the way i want no matter what will reduce interest in investing in me or increase it long term; but i really do not see many options to sustain my career legacy. I may get some temporary side jobs like working for Census, but even if i got a huge increase in income what matters to me is what is created with what i have ultimately.

SCOD social capital has increased overall i believe, which is hard to define since it is not income based. I am close to founding a tristate network for hosting art, music, and writing events; but the design is mostly socially dependent, using properties in WV, MD, and VA. The financial components like ticket sales and payments are totally based on how many people i can get to coordinate together. we currently have several proposals still being formed, for multimedia broadcasting and sharing local events, i can pursue these negotiations without financial losses. ive felt on the verge of something big over the years, but i never know when the tipping point will come because … and this is the hard part to talk about, the complex dynamics of partnerships.

I am proud to ‘beg’ with something of quality to offer in return. When you buy my work, you support many other people; because I collaborate with and buy from other artists and friends. To anyone that thinks I am begging by being honest that I do not earn much, I argue that bragging about how good your work is and saying you have been ‘financially successful’ by taking more than you need is worse than begging because to me that could be considered just as unworthy of support. Getting money from other people is not proof of deserving money, it is simply how people pay their bills. Also I am not just begging because I offer plenty of services and products in various fields. I am simply saying why I could use more income, as opposed to those who do not need more for basic living. I have many jobs, and i do them. I tend to give things away for free and make reasonable deals to work with lower income people.  I apply to better paying jobs, but I do not get them, and when i have had them before i cannot keep them for psychological reasons, one being i cannot stand authoritarian control because i desire to fight back against bosses the same as I would with any willful cruel or ignorant jackass; but when we trade self-respect for money we suppress our resentment which can fester and build to a break-down or illness.

I will not spend time defending myself by arguing against assholes, they are not worth my time. I am too expensive for them because they cannot pay me enough to work for them, and it is easy enough to block them and delete their petty comments. Their attempts to troll me are pathetic when i can shut them down easily. It is amazing that people will ‘friend’ me only to wait for chances to attack, without ever once being kind.  These are the type of people that would tell homeless street musicians to “get a job” too.

If fees are low enough with time i can advertise more without major losses on more websites; in hopes to get at least a few sales. Social reception is usually less than enthusiastic on a whole from audiences on platforms. Amazon is the best example ive had because ive been using it for years, i struggle to get a few sales a year even when i post the links and talk about them etc. I know it is not because my books are not as good as ‘Diary of a Whimpy Kid’ or ‘Captain Underpants’ which are best sellers, it has to do with commercial control of the market at the high levels. I mean sure we could argue whose art or story sucks more, but with enough exposure anti-authoritarian subversive books like ours do well with children and ne’er-do-wellz, which are a large portion of the population.

Ironically most of the people who buy my books are part of the vanishing middle class; not the lowest or the highest earning. There are more lower middle class people so they do buy more books, compared to the few upper middle class people who are interested in my books. I have had people with large incomes talk with me for hours, and i gave them books and they still did not buy any, so spending money has more to do with personalities than wealth; which is why those with less wealth will spend more if they have an income, which creates financial flow and opportunities in an economy.

All of these opinions of observations are reasons why many of us are not satisfied with status-quo commercial politics. We want more leaders like Bernie Sanders and progressives on the right or left who can be held to account by their voters who are also the majority of their campaign financing. We cannot afford allowing corporate sell-outsto further rig our own economy, environment, and country against us.

[ see also Lucas Chancel, World Inequality Lab ]

 

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is an American politician, educator, and political activist. On June 26, 2018, Ocasio-Cortez won the Democratic primary in New York’s 14th congressional district. She fights for civil rights and environmental causes; against corporate greed and pollution. Her campaign funding was door-to-door real neighbors, so she serves the actual population of people, not just rich people.