Art dump

Eater of the Dead's Secret Lair for Midnight Carriage
Haunting Shark Fisherman for Midnight Carriage
Underground Kraken Insect for Midnight Carriage
City lines Menu design for Minted.com's menu contest.

Tiki Menu design for Minted.com's menu contest.


So I figured I'd do some art on this art blog. Some stuff I've been working on digitally. In a few weeks I should also have some prints made, and some interesting watercolor exercises. Maybe some figure paintings as well.

More on Palin

Why should I try and articulate something (as per last post) when so many awesome women have said it much better:

http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm?aid=3738 - on Palin being a woman and her views on single mothers

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jacob-alperinsheriff/sarah-palin-instituted-ra_b_125833.html - on Palin's shitty-ass contribution to rapists

http://www.feministing.com/archives/011047.html - crazy idiots on Palin's pseudo-feminism and real feminists reply to it.

This is just a start of awesome reads. If you want a jumping off point for modern feminism, take a few days and read through www.feministing.com, and you'll see where I'm coming from.

Minted submissions, frustration at people

"Warmest Wishes" and "FromSFWithLove," my latest designs for the Minted.com community design competition. The topic was geographically-inspired designs. I, as per usual, went with less of a traditional design and went more with illustration-based entries. I hope to break the 2.0 average score mark soon. One day...one day...

But if you want to vote, please go here in a few days and vote (but if you vote you have to vote for a lot of them, and vote according to what you like - don't just give everyone else a 0).

Truth be told, I don't really ever expect to win this contest anyway. My sense of what I like and what the Minted.com community likes are two different things entirely. Such is life, but it would be nice to have a design I can sell :P But I guess when I finalize and get my current side-project going, it won't matter anyway.


Anyhoo, on a more serious note, I know every feminist and their mother are posting something about the potential grim reaper that is Senator Palin. Most people automatically assume that feminists are happy about this, as "she's woman, we want equal rights for women, things should be all good, right?"

Wrong. The simple truth is that although Palin asserts that she is a feminist, she is not. A true feminist doesn't play the sexism card at every possible chance. A true feminist plays the sexism card when it's valid. Now I also don't condone attacking her and saying she's a failure as a mother, how will she take care of her kids, etc., etc. I do condone asking "Why are you against teen pregnancy for inner city children but okay when your own daughter gets pregnant?"

Basically, by automaticaly asserting that any criticism on Palin is sexist, the Republican party is making a play for your votes. Then, once Palin is VP, then they can basically roll back reproductive rights (which are already constantly being reduced), and other feminist measures of equality by saying "She approves it, it has to be feminist" when it most decidedly is not feminist.

Just as I don't support Asian Americans who don't see the issue with the fetishization of Asian women or war veterans who support the current war in Iraq, I don't support women who think that everything is all fine and dandy because they have "made it" and want to support the traditional patriarchal nuclear family and it's oppressive values.

Don't buy into false rhetoric. Just because people belong to a certain minority group does not mean that they are representative of that minority group's feelings as a whole. They way any dominant hegemony stays in power is allowing few select individuals of the minority into power. This way, by saying "look, they made it, why can't you?" it passes the blame of failing to embrace a highly prejudiced system onto you. By holding Michelle Malkin, Condolezza Rice, and Sarah Palin up as model women, they can then say "We don't discriminate against Asians Americans. We don't discriminate against Black Americans. We don't discriminate against women, period!" and most people will buy it. DON'T BUY IT!

I don't know if I ended up babbling incoherently, but I am just so frustrated by how people are actually listening to this nonsense. Please, check your priviledge, check your racism, and really evaluate who the hell is going to be a decent choice to lead this screwed-up nation of ours. If you like our crappy economy, our war, our unemployment rate, our xenophobia, please, vote McCain/Palin. If you want someone who at least understands the working-class people, vote Obama/Biden. They aren't perfect, but they're damn well amazing compared to the alternative.

Humble origins?

I stumbled upon Stockton, CA (my hometown) on wikipedia, and found some interesting stats:

-Central Connecticut State University surveys from 2005 and 2006 ranked the city as the most illiterate of all U.S. cities with a population of more than 250,000.

-In 2005, Forbes magazine listed it as having 6,570 crimes per 100,000 residents^[8] — the highest listed;^[9] and 0.8% of engineers within total employment^[10] — the lowest listed.<sup>[9]

As I posted before, I know it's one of the miserable cities in the nation. Sigh. Despite the fact that my hometown sucks the living creativity out of me and I only spend about 7 days out of the year there even though I'm only about 90 miles away, I still spent 18 years of my life there and I have to credit it with helping to shape me into who I am today.

If anything, it certainly makes me appreciate what I have. I've been able to get an amazing education at Cal, find 2 rewarding jobs in the arts, live in San Francisco, and go for another go at higher education in order to follow my dreams. I'm nowhere near where I want to eventually be, but even getting this far would have been super difficult without the support of friends and family back in Stockton.

Additionally, I don't think I'd be who I am if it wasn't for the high crime rate, the poverty, the conservative thinking, the racial tension, and all the other things in Stockton i complain about. When you grow up in that environment and manage to escape it (although is San Francisco all that different?) it makes you appreciate what you have a little bit more.

Hmmm, not sure what else there is to say. Stockton exists as a very complex place in my heart and mind. Hmm, back to work for now I guess.</sup>

Engagement

So first off, I apologize to all those who see this post and say "WTF?" I have told some of you already, and if I haven't I apologize. I may have not told people because to us, the engagement wasn't a big deal. There was no bended knee, no asking permission from parents, no magical ring surprise. Now, this isn't to say that it isn't a big deal to me and Eve. It is, but in a way, it also isn't. We just sort of decided that we were going to get married in a few years. So even for a wedding invitation-nut like myself, the Save the Dates won't be coming for a while. Anyway, the main reason for writing this post is due to the topic of rings (or as of now, the lack thereof.)

There is no diamond ring because a)Eve doesn't like sparkly stuff (not even glitter), b)of all the spilled blood associated with diamond mines, and c)all the competition and crap socialized into the comparing of engagement rings.

However, I just read this post on feministing community on one woman's reconciliation with her engagement ring. I think it's beautifully written, poetic, and generally awesome. It didn't change my mind about a diamond ring (like I said, Eve doesn't like the sparkles), but it was a nice thing to read on a Wednesday afternoon.

PS - We are looking at rings, but we're not fans of gold and big fancy jewelry in general. We're also looking at necklaces, tattoos, and VERY nontraditional wedding rings (steampunk anyone?)

Wolf in wolf's clothing

This was a recent try at doing something really graphic (as in 'not rendered' as opposed to 'explicit'). I originally did a quick sketch in photoshop with the intention of fully rendering it out, but I liked a lot of the linework and decided to keep it pretty simple.

The title is "Wolf in Wolf's Clothing." Get it?

My portfolio

So I finally made a carbonmade portfolio. I put up some new stuff that I don't think I posted here, but if you want something more organized that deals directly with my art (and less of the politics, rants, etc.) here you go.

Also there, I just added three new pieces to the illustration section which I've been working on for a few weeks now (some of the original sketches, etc. were done..I finally revisited them!). Hope you enjoy.