Cotton Candy Doggo (CCDog)

CCDog - Alien Doggo Variant

CCDog - Brite Doggo Variant

CCDog - VibeRant Doggo Variant

CCDog - Demon Doggo Variant

Deep Green Doggo Eyes

Art Event 1

2/14 - Telling Tales : Illustration, Narrative, Communication

A highlight of this experience was Caitlin Skaalrud’s “Houses of the Holy” ink on bristol board in the corner of the exhibit. She planned her work in non-repro blue pen and inked over it on bristol board and made these gorgeous elaborate works that were just panels in her graphic novel of the same name “Houses of the Holy”. Although I didn’t get much time with the book I did notice the surreal nature in which she works and writes her stories. There was a series of panels  in the book (and displayed on the wall) that caught my eye. The main protagonist of the graphic novel is holed up in what seems to be the inside of a tree trunk made apparent by the streaks of negative space that defined the innards / pieces of bark (or what the audience is supposed to interpret as bark). She’s inside the tree closed off and alone as she is for most of the book but she’s sad here, kind of scraped up like she’s had a pretty rough day. From the bark of the tree we see 2 hands piercing through, slowly inching their way towards the girl. This figure is defined by negative space and is all black (ink) with little sparkles of what seems to be like stars spotting the skin all over. When the girl looks up and when we finally get to see the creature it had a human’s body with a ram’s head with horns and all. We see fear drench the woman’s face but what’s really quite odd about this panel / work is that the arms crept up on her maliciously and then caressed her face in a caring manner. The figure seemed to comfort her.

This work really intrigues me and influences how much I can really do with the limited materials I’m given. I’m currently working on a project of a similar medium and like mangas of the far east - this graphic novel does wonders with the absence of colors and I absolutely love it.

As for the rest of the event they showcased several pots with all sorts of images that seemed to comment on the current social climate here in the US. Next to that (near the entrance) there was several prints that the artist described as “paying homage to the original printmakers’ work of the past” that were really interesting. They were comments on our complex relationship with nature just like the romanticist painters of the past. Down the ramp and to the left was an illustrators work with what I can only describe as a anthropomorphised mole punk band. It was interesting because they had some process sketches and mock up designs for the characters which is interesting considering how put together the final products were. The final products to the right featured parodies of other groups but with animal names kind of meshed into the band names. This was reassuring considering I’m getting my start in design and how the process of the idea comes together was really cool to showcase. Past Skaalrud’s Graphic Novel and up the stairs there was an Artists collection of an event in New York in efforts to shut down prisons and stop the rate of incarceration. It was interesting the kind of imagery that such a movement had - this particularly caught my eye because of the event’s logo on a T-Shirt and how much it stood out from so far away. You could see it from downstairs even though it was in a corner and that upstairs terrace was dimly lit.

Art Event 2

2/22 - Design Thinking : Why Do Art and Business go Together?

Lecture by: Meg Luce

Although this lecture was less about Art & Design and more about how to creatively use a Designer’s mindset to work out ideas and work through problems in the modern era ; I still had an interesting and enlightening experience during Miss Luce’s Lecture. She detailed her career and how exactly she ended up working at her consulting firm. Her way of linking up with tons of people through LinkedIn was really pivotal to her career and how she connects people in and out of her career today. During the Lecture the speaker talked about how companies just can’t function how they used to - stagnant and stuck in the ways of the past. Companies must keep changing cycling through this design mindset in order to keep up in today’s society. It was brought to our attention that companies spend all this money on innovation teams and yet they give them little to no resources to actually innovate and reinvent the facets of the company that need it. That’s where her firm comes in and provides exercises to encourage a new school of thought to the companies that desperately need the revamp. This allows Luce to learn tons of new things and meet new people further expanding her base of knowledge to do her job more effectively and improve her relations with people.
This lecture actually gave me tools to think about assignments I’m given and projects I’m working on - both personal and those for school. For example, she told us to embrace failure and fail as fast as possible. This time is probably the best time for us to fail considering how much we can learn from our mistakes now. LinkedIn is apparently a much more useful tool in the modern era of networking than I first thought. Having gone to this talk I can confidently say that using her firms method of design thinking - I’m going to be looking at my creative process in a completely different way.

Art Event 3

3/1 - CANO Oneonta : Members’ Show

Wilber Mansion

This was my first off campus art event and I was pleasantly surprised at the turnout for the CANO Members’ Show. While walking about the mansion, I noticed several works from artists I recognized. Professor Richard Barlow had some printmaking pieces for sale at the gallery which were quite nice. They were black and white with large words that I can’t recollect but took up a vast majority of the space in the piece making a very distinct focal point. On a similar piece right next to it - he reused assets from the “original” piece which was the long thin trees in the background and had that as a stand alone piece. There was live music by a pianist by the name of Wendy Slicer which was quite nice. Refreshments at the back of the venue and an overall nice vibe in the mansion. It was a bit crowded as previously stated and a large portion of the clientele were older men and women who came to admire and perhaps purchase some works from the gallery. There was a piece that intrigued me quite a bit - one of the few photography pieces in the gallery which involved blurred images and a few pictures of the photographers child. Something about an infant as subject matter that really vibed with me - perhaps it was a pure encapsulation of a time far gone. It feels very familiar and yet I have no recollection from that time - it feels like looking at your own baby pictures, a blank slate untouched by the struggles of life ahead. Price points here were quite interesting because simplistic pieces that didn’t really intrigue me and the person I was with - they were staggering. I was curious if anyone actually buys these pieces and supports the simplistic “Typical Modern” work. Perhaps I’m biased but creators I follow on social media who pump out gorgeous elaborate pieces of work in a matter of days and post them online for free deserve to sell their pieces for higher prices rather than the simple pieces we saw at the Members’ Show.

Art Event 4

3/14 - From Moles to Skunks : Stephen Shaskan

Stephen Shaskan’s talk “Moles to Skunks” was jam packed in the dome lecture room. Even though I arrived to the lecture early - the dome that the lecture took place in filled up fast. The space was so packed that stragglers had to stand in the back of the room in order to watch the presentation. Shaskan started his talk by explaining his Design background and many years in education. Stephen Shaskan started his career attending a design school along with our very own Professor Richard Barlow. After graduating and being involved in a band with Professor Barlow, Shaskan started looking for a job to pay the bills and eventually landed a job teaching very young children (Around Pre-K level). His love of picture books was fostered while he taught young children. While working with young children at his first school he met his wife and they connected over their love of rock music and childrens books. After leaving education, Shaskan and his did one-off work for several companies - meaning they got one check and no royalties. This helped pay the bills and get their name out there, so they were content with no royalties. The premiere topic of the talk was Shaskan’s process of creating Punk Skunks. Him and his wife created the book together and wanted to make a story personal to them since they used to play in a band themselves. The original concept was “Kit and Buzz : Rock Star Nosed Moles” - thus the name of the talk (Moles to Skunks) the original concept was pretty cute, both the characters kit and buzz were star nosed moles, a specific breed of moles with 22 little tendrils on their noses to help them while they’re digging. It took place in a New York City - esque environment in which they lived in an underground apartment. The premise was that they disagreed on what to play together as a band. This story drastically changed when The Shaskans found a publishing company and editor who helped guide them to make their book more marketable and steer in a collaborative creative direction that benefits everyone involved. This encouraged me to start trying to experiment with different ideas and bring them to my art advisor, friends, and family to get different thoughts on my work so I can shape it over time to create something truly wonderful - just like Punk Skunks.

Art Event 5

3/15 - Character Design Workshop : Stephen Shaskan

This was my personal favorite out of all the events I attended, although I arrived late because I had take notes during a lecture for another class at the same time I still learned alot from this workshop and even stayed afterwards to talk about my Senior Thesis and design questions with Professor Barlow and Mr. Shaskan. There was a methodology to not only how he designed characters but how he positioned them - tips and tricks on how to do it. For example, Shaskan used simple shapes to dictate the forms in which his characters take and he gave me a very helpful rule in which a silhouette helps distinguish your character. Like if I designed a character and made it completely black and stood it next to another character and somebody else could completely tell them apart then I’ve successfully followed the silhouette rule. We learned that who your character is impacts what they look like - I received a really helpful list of questions to help break down characters. Because if you know how they walk, talk, what makes them happy, what colors they enjoy, who they are as people - then it’s so much easier to determine what they look like and how their appearance is supposed to influence your perception of them in order to maintain accuracy. We also discussed useful tips and tricks in photoshop that help to give art a bit more personality, we played around with different brushes, overlays that helped give texture to the art and creative decisions that helped infer a tone or meaning behind your work. A highlight of this workshop was the emotions segment in which we played around with the concept of making our characters super expressive since cartoons often over-accentuate emotions in order to emphasize a character’s thought or emotion. Overall, this was a very engaging and informative workshop that really helped me further my design process for my personal project.

YO DOG

OddShotDoggo

Dog gone swimmin'

This doggo is trying to go for a nice afternoon swim but something is wrong with that water. Looks like this poor doggo is gonna have to find some other time or place to doggy paddle. 

Cooking Doggo for Nintendo DS

If you give a mouse a cookie he will ask for one everyday. If you give a dog a stove they'll forget to turn it off... Silly Doggies

Epawsode I : The Vacuum Menace

What do dogs fear more than the Sith? The Vacuum - a menace unto the galaxy. 

May 19, 1999 

Hamlet Meets Doggos

COMING SUMMER 2019 :

THE DOGGO KING

What if instead of lions we had big ol' doggies taking over the african savannah running around, wagging their tails, playing catch in the savannah - it'll be great.

Dog X Bloc Boy Shoot Dance

Click Here to start doing the "shoot dance" with your favorite orange doggy that's blinged out in supreme gear from snout to paw.

Wee bit Trippy little Puppy Doggo

Grab a pair of them 3D-imification glasses y'all because this doggo is coming at you in some whole new dimensions. Look at those cute little puppy dog eyes that this adorable little dog is giving you hmm. It's almost like this doggo is asking ya to give them a little pat on their little dog head.

Super Dog fighting a thiccie Robot

Somebody call Marvel Studios to sign this dog on as the next big super hero. After all the other heroes fail to save the universe - super doggo comes in to save the day.

#dog #doggity #bloggity #dogblog #dogwithablog #superdog #flyin'dog #fighting #huge #mecha

This Doggy is trippin'

Doggy goes for a Trip

This doggy is having a psychedelic trip through the cosmos of  it's senses and they're having the time of their lil' doggo life.  Plus we don't ever see mandalas and dogs put together so why not have it when the dog is high as heck? 

Doggies had a Revolt

Revolución Perros

 A couple of sassy Dogs here revolting for people and dog- kind alike. What a couple of sassy doggos.