Bearded

So much for keeping it weekly. I have literally grown a long beard in the amount of time it has taken for me to get back to this.
That's pretty sad (also pretty funny), but the beard is cool. If you're someone I went to high school with or had as a teacher at that time: I told you it was going to happen.

It shows off my Irish.  

The idea for growing a beard came from multiple sources, but you'll have to stay tuned to learn more about the main inspiration.

I haven't been entirely useless in my time away, which you've seen if you've been following the work I've been posting to Instagram (@d.sohoza). My posting on there isn't even as consistent as I'd like, so really there's a lot more work that you haven't seen.
I swear, in my heart, I'm trying to work up to making an improvement in my consistency. It bothers me, it really does. It's also hard to stay focused when you lose hope a lot, which is another thing I have to work on. There's that quote about being a bunch of flaws stitched together with good intentions that comes to mind...

Anyway, here's a quick look at some of the things I've been working on…
(At this stage they're all works in progress besides the two matted pieces.)

A History of Graphic Design class project, making eight different manuscript pages in eight different styles from various time periods. 

I'm no stranger to watercolors, but it has been a long while since I've used them, so my preconceived idea of how fast I could finish these far exceeded reality.

A two-piece, unnamed miniseries based on a related grouping of five objects. My decided theme was arson. The first piece is a still life made up of cross-contour lines and a bit of stippling. The second piece had to incorporate at least some of the objects from the first in an imaginative way.

This design that I made in Photoshop (I still need to teach myself Illustrator) is one of three. Each of them using the same magazine ad as reference, but portrayed in different design styles. This one is in the Vienna Secession style.

The Rose Cones series. One still life from one perspective drawn in three different mediums in three different styles: pencil contours, values in red and black ink, and gestures in charcoal and conté. Realistically drawing a pine cone exactly how you see it is more challenging than I would have guessed.  

A drawing class assignment to construct an abstract image using only triangles, squares, and rectangles. We had to use changes in value to define the shapes' edges.

If you know me, you know I'm not a big fan of abstract, so it had to resemble something. I'm calling it Approaching Destiny.

Childhood, conté 18x24"

Water & Fire, 16½ x 22½"

I had two still life pieces entered into the LAND's 2016 art contest and conference, Pathways. I didn't win anything and wasn't able to go, but it was a cool opportunity for my art anyway.

Realistically drawing a still life of gourds using cross-contour lines. I also decided to step up my fold game for this one.  

Another cross-contour drawing, but this time, of an animal. This is a viscacha, a relative of the chinchilla. It will be the first piece I get back to work on after the manuscript pages are completed.

…as well as some others that we can talk about later.

And now that you're filled in, we'll get back to your regularly scheduled program.
I hope you'll be back to read and see more.

Spring Studies

     As mentioned in the last post, I'm a student at Henry Ford College. Until recently I had been taking classes sporadically in order to work and come up with some kind of plan. I've had a vague idea, but I needed to come up with something more precise. To make up for lost time, I've registered for two spring classes. Anthropology is the one I was most excited for, and it's even more interesting than I previously figured.

     In short, anthropology can be described as the study of humans and their ancestors at any given time or place. It's a broad field made up of four different disciplines, each specializing in a different aspect of humankind and the lives they led. They include archaeology, cultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and physical anthropology. I'm sure it doesn't sound all that exciting if you don't already have an interest in learning about other cultures, but each field of study plays a considerably big part in helping and figuring out how people and their ancestors relate to and understand each other. 

     Part of the work I hope to go on to do is reconstructive illustration, which involves paleontology and physical anthropology, also known as paleoanthropology. The information, theories, and hypotheses they report give me and other reconstructive artists the information we need to rebuild an ancient place, person, or animal in a realistic two- or three-dimensional format. Cultural anthropology can play a role as well in helping to envision ancient peoples and ancestors when the direct, empirical information being used is limited.
     This means a lot of what the class has to offer is relevant and can be used, which has given me added incentive to study.  

The two books for my course and some class notes. The one opened is Anthropology: The Human Challenge.
Reconstructing the hominin is French sculptor Élisabeth Daynès.

Perspectives of a Homo erectus skull: my version and the book's. Still a work in progress.

Yawalapiti tribe members playing sacred trumpets - from an image in Anthropology: The Human Challenge. 

     Another reason I'm excited to learn more on the subject is because I'd like to do something similar to the work of anthropological and ethnographic field researchers. That would be traveling to a foreign area to learn what I can from whatever group of people resides there. I wouldn't mind if it was part of a research project or not. I would go just to see what I can learn for myself, even if there was no other funding available.
     I've come across some of the work of some photographers who do this, and I'm not sure how they go about it, but I'm determined to find a way.

Examples of some of the field work from Applying Anthropology.
(click the image to view in full size)

     An example of this career practice is one of today's most notable photographers, Steve McCurry. If the name isn't familiar, I'm sure his photographs Afghan Girl and Red Boy will refresh your memory (both were used by National Geographic). He started as a  freelancer, moving to India, and continued onward to be the first to photographically report on the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Through the years he has covered major conflicts, cultural identities, and living conditions in other parts of the world.
     It might not seem like there's much of a point if there's already people out there photographing these kinds of scenes. I personally don't think visual progress and expression should end at photography. It's a different kind of process. Photographers report and show you what they've seen. I create what I've seen, and in doing so I make it unique from the subject as well as displaying the subject as I see it. Making an image from scratch also provides for certain freedoms in the creative process that photography lacks. The production requires very simple tools, which means change can be made without using different equipment and can be done with relative ease.

Steve McCurry, Cobblers, Bombay, India, 1996

     In some situations cameras are seen as intrusive or disruptive, not just by some native cultural groups, but here in the West as well. Cameras are generally not allowed inside the courtrooms of federal cases, for video or photography. We do, however, have sketch artists that record the events at these trials. If a major federal case makes the news, they may show a sketch or two from the collection.
     In terms of reconstruction illustration, there's only so much photography can do. Photographs can be used as reference images and even a beginning step if the task is reconstructing an area, but somewhere in the process drawing has to take place either on the computer or using tangible media.
     Besides being an adventure in itself, one of the things that draws me the most to the idea of traveling to such different places is most likely finding new and interesting subject matter for direct observation and plein air pieces. I'll draw almost anything, anywhere, at any time, but with so many different possibilities out there, it would be crazy to not try as many places as I can.
     Money is about the only reason I haven't started traveling around already. It probably doesn't cost too much to go to some of these out-the-way places, but at the moment just about every dime I get is put back into my education or art.
When the time is right, my more mobile days will start.