actualhomework

When and how did you stumble upon these things? What do you “relate” to in them?

I didn’t stumble upon these objects so much, since for the most part I've been surrounded by them for a long time. Maybe not these exact objects, but for most of my life I've always surrounded myself with art, stuff to draw with, and technology. Which is to be expected of almost anyone born in the 2000s. The items in these images relate to me in the fact that they are incredibly important tools that have allowed me to both create and explore art. My computer has been integral in this aspect. I was homeless for a long period of time in my youth, so having a computer (a laptop) was incredibly important for me, since I never really had the space to carry around or store any real art supplies, or to store art I made. So despite the initial large investment to get it, it was huge for me in the long run. You’d be surprised how much mileage you can get out of a laptop and stolen wifi. It’s also something I relate to as when moving around to crash at people's houses, it was my best way of keeping in touch with my friends, and fellow artists. Watching different shows, reading comics, and looking at art on forums and websites, on the computer have also all come to be pastimes that I still do to this day. This all goes to say that I relate my computer with a lot of good things for me growing up. The notebook and mechanical pencil I also relate with my time creating art growing up, since as previously mentioned I never really had any other art supplies growing up (outside of maybe miscellaneous colored pencils, markers, and crayons). I also relate them to drawing with friends and family, which i’ve often done throughout the years, since having a paper and pencil is incredibly common. The other pictures, mouse, tablet, also factor into what I mentioned previously, though my first tablet was a little later in my adolescence (and nothing like the one in the image).

Describe what is relevant to an appreciation of these images, objects, clips, etc. Do they tell stories?

These images don’t so much tell stories on their own, but together they weave a story that's personal to how I became an artist, and the tools I’ve had access to in order to create art. To me each of these images act as sort of a reminder for a stage in my artistic development. The cheap mechanical pencil has been a staple in my life, whether drawing in school note books, or sketch books at home, it's been my go to for traditional media for a long time (i’ve only recently upgraded to something more professional. The picture of my mouse is a reminder of a time in which my only access to drawing digital art (which appealed to me a lot growing up) was a mouse, no pen, no tablet, just a mouse. The picture of my modern drawing tablet is a representation of how far I’ve come both artistically, and in access to better drawing equipment. As an addition to the image I decided to put MS paint on it for the picture, since even though this represents my upgrade and progress, there will always be a personal charm to some of these cheaper programs and equipment I’ve used over the years that I enjoy coming back to. The sketchbook is a staple not just for me, but for any artist, though it also holds significance to me, as growing up my brothers always used to show me their sketchbooks and draw alongside me. Finally, I put the computer up, since throughout my life my main source of finding and looking at other art, and artists to inspire myself, has been my computer, and the internet.

How have these images* served your growth as an artist? For example, have they helped you find a stylistic visual language or figure out certain formal or conceptual issues?

These images have not only served my growth as an artist but are the basis for how I became an artist. Inherently an artist is shaped by what they have access to, you can’t be a painter without paint, nor can you be a sculptor without clay, or a chisel. In this way, these objects have shaped the way I have created my own style, and forms of art. Something that influences my workflow, but isn’t so stylistic, is the fact that I tend to work fast and loose, instead of going all out and finishing projects. And I think part of that comes from the tools I use, which can be found in these images. Having things like an instant ctrl-z undo, or only working loosely in pencil has set me up for only doing quick drawings as opposed to something more longform like painting or inking. Which is fine by me since I vastly prefer getting ideas out of my head quickly, I think it's much more fun sketching out 10 ideas rather than completing 1 from start to finish. Of course stylistically I've been influenced by stuff I’ve seen on my computer, it’s been my main source of art exploration, and creation forever. It’s allowed me to find all sorts of sources from internet culture, to comics, to cartoons, to independent artists, and historical pieces. Not only that it’s given me a space to store all of those things as references to look back on and stylize my own work with. Using the tools in my images to work on the computer has been great for other types of growth than just stylization as well. Having so many things easily accessible online has helped push me to try out things I wouldn’t have normally thought of doing like 3d modeling, and editing, which I think is great to grow a variety of skills.