A Call to Arms!

So with the end of another semester winding down I believe that a call to action is in order. I know I have been promising a photo dump recently and I intend to follow through with that as soon as I can photograph my work.

Since this site is all about the growth of each individual reader I want to open up the Floor to anyone who wants to post their work on the site. Email me (artschoolsurvival (at) gmail.com) with 2 jpegs of your work (as well as anything you want to say about them )that show how you have grown as an artist over the course of this semester. More details to come!!


See you soon!

Question of the Week: World Survival at Stake!!! Are you ready?

2012 IS COMING AND THE WORLD IS ENDING!!!  Not really but this seriously is about global issues. I have recently found that the longer my site is up the more readership I have internationally.

I use alot of tools from Google especially Analytics and Webmasters. I found that using these I can find where in the world people are accessing the Survival Guide from. I am finding that Americans are viewing my site more than others with the UK and Deutschland falling into Second and Third respectively.

So for an Uber late Question of the Week!

Where are you all from? How much of the world will survive when the Artistic Apocalypse comes?

New Projects

Okay, so if any of you have ever typed "Light Graffiti" into Youtube.com or Google you know that this is a new artform that has been growing and growing through the use of sites like Flikr and all that. Well if any of you are into this or if you want to get started head over to Lighthenight.ning.com and join our community. See you there!

UPDATES

hey everyone!!

I hope All of you are doing well and that all of my readers here in the US had a fun Thanksgiving Holiday and to all of you outside of the US I hope the end of your semester is going well.

As I said in the beginning of this Blog a few months ago I was going to post some photos of the work I did this semester I do plan on it I just have to get the photos formatted and all of that. So stay tuned, subscribe and we'll see you soon.

Wisdom of the Ages

So if there was ever a great resource for you guys I think I may have found a goldmine of knowledge to help you improve.

“http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=26636


A page on Conceptart.org that is devoted to nothing but tips for improvement and getting you that creative boost. 

Quotes of Wisdom: Disney

“Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”
–Walt Disney


I was watching Meet the Robinsons on TV tonight and when I saw this I was filled with the urge to keep moving forward. If you haven't seen that movie it is a great inspiration. There are a lot great principals that apply.


Such as FAILURE is a good thing
when we fail we learn alot. When we succeed...not so much. When we fail though we have to take another look and think about what went wrong and fix it. 


Great lessons here. What do you think? Post below

Question of the Week: What do you plan to do after Art School?

It is so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of art projects and assignments that it can be easy sometimes to loose where it is that we are going so this question is really all about that.

What are your plans/dreams/aspirations for after art school?
Do you want to be a director? Maybe a Concept Artist, Entrepreneur, Graphic Designer? Let us know.

Leave a comment below and tell us what it is that you want to do.

Dafont ain't da devil!!!

Ok so since I started in graphic design I have heard few things despised so much as Dafont.com. I have heard so much bad press from this site that you would think it should have a "For Mature Audiences Only" sign stapled to the homepage. I hear so many times things like "These ****ing kids need to stay off Dafont.com. This piece sucks." "I know that font, I have seen it so many times!" "Stay of Dafont. It's the devil and it rots away the design lobe of your brain."

Okay so maybe I'm stretching it a little on the last one but you get my drift. So many people really don't like this site and it is a shame because it can be such a great resource.

-Note- I said CAN be.

I say can because the problem I see so many times is a font that either doesn't fit with the overall composition or it is a font that I have seen many many many times. For example there was a levi's commercial that aired a little while ago that was using a font called, Bleeding Cowboys. I immediately recognized the font and was a little surprised that they would use a font that was quickly becoming very common. It was featured on the cover of a Photoshop Magazine in December and I am sure that it has been seen elsewhere. While a type face might be great keep looking because if it is overused it isn't going to look good it is going to look cheap.

If you really want to be taken seriously take this next tip and apply it right now.

USE THE RIGHT TYPEFACE FOR THE RIGHT JOB.

I'll say it again. Choose your typeface clearly. When doing any composition, as some of you may know, death can certainly be in the details. The font definitely goes into this. When there is a bad use of a typeface and there are a lot of poorly used typefaces out there (http://vccgraphics.wordpress.com/2006/10/13/10-tragic-typefaces/) just resist temptation. KEEP LOOKING FOR THE RIGHT FONT!!! The key to any good composition is taking a holistic approach. You wouldn't mix bad colors would you? You wouldn't use boring compositions or elements would you? Well then don't flake out on your type. Don't do it!! If you do you may ruin your piece and end up with not only crappy type face but a crappy piece that will demean not only itself but you as an artist.

Want to learn more about typography? Check these out

For typography basics:
http://typies.blogspot.com/2006/11/15-tips-to-choose-good-text-type.html
http://ilovetypography.com/2008/02/28/a-guide-to-web-typography/

For professional type effects:
http://www.tutoriallounge.com/2009/08/25-astounding-typography-tutorials/
http://techpp.com/2009/03/10/22-stunning-typography-tutorials-photoshop-text-effects/

Book Review: Drawing Cutting Edge Anatomy by Christopher Hart

Well it isn't too often that some things come into my life. Two of those things are Time and Money. It seems like in school I have at least one project or test or sculpture or drawing or something like that taking up all my time. This obviously leaves a fairly limited amount of time for fun projects. This weekend was one of those rare times though that I was able to finally get some time to myself and get some reading done.

I hopefully will be able to get you guys a lot more resources like this one.I wanted to refer all of you to a book that is really helping me with my anatomy. The book is called Drawing Cutting Edge Anatomy. If you are looking for a great reference on how to draw the human form like a pro then this book is gonna become your friend. On Amazon you can take a quick look through the book and see what I am talking about.

I picked this book up from my Local Library (which is a totally awesome force for evil but a different blog entry all together) but anyways, I picked it up and even through this weekend have found some of the principles in it making my drawing improve significantly over just the last few days. I highly recommend it!!  Absolutely!! I'll get some pictures of my drawings uploaded to Deviantart as soon as I can. If you have any specific questions let me know. I am in the process of writing another review for my US History class that is five pages so if I go any deeper than saying that it is fantastic I am gonna break the internet bandwidth.

It's worth the risk. The approach to the book is nice and straight forward and gives examples on many different styles from a few great illustrators/artists. It really talks predominately about the Muscular system and what it is made of and not so much on how to draw it which makes it an incredible reference for poses and understanding the musculature of the human body but skims a little less on the instruction side of things. But as the title states it is the "ultimate Reference" for the comic artist. So there is a level of artistic aptitude that is required to get the most out of this book.

Ok so that is my little spiel about this great book. go get it it is worth it! Enjoy!

Alex

Question of the Week: What is the hardest part of Art School?

This weeks Question of the Week is all about what is difficult for you. What makes you want to pull the hair from your head and break every pencil you own.For me I have been struggling through Anatomy and the proper portrayal of the human form. It kills me every time.

The key to these things though is learning. Don't try an solve all of your own problems by yourself. it won't work get some books, some critique anything that will help you to move on and grow.

So to summarize this two part question.

Let us know...

1. What is the most difficult thing for you?

2. How are you improving on it?