Portfolio - Last Adjustments?

How to Boast in the Right Things

Well, here we go...the first official blog post in my series on art and faith!

"Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight."
(Jeremiah 9:23-24)

Last semester, I was sitting in church when an interesting thought crossed my mind: What if the reason I have remained outside of where I think I should be so that I rely on God more than my own abilities? It's an interesting thought.

Envy is an easy thing to slip in to. If we want wisdom, we may envy those who we think are wise; if we want strength, we envy those we think are strong. And if we want to make perfect and amazing art (and somehow still have enough time to make perfect and amazing personal projects), we envy those who seem to have endless energy and skills. Speaking from personal experience, this comparison is not the best thing to have running through your head with deadlines approaching...

I wonder what it would be like if we suddenly got what we wanted. What if every artist was able to pick up their pencil and suddenly everything we imagine is able to perfectly appear on the page. Let's be honest, it'd be pretty nice.

But I also wonder how much that would affect our relationships with God? Would we gradually, or even suddenly, stop relying on His strength to get through those oh-too-frequent times of insecurity? Like the rich, strong and wise men of Jeremiah 9:23 start boasting in something that could easily be taken away? It's not out of the realm of possibility.

It's important to remember that, like these men, the skills that I think make me the best (or at the very least, competent) can easily be lost.

Another vital thing to remember as we work is that we are not owners of the skills and gifts we possess, we are merely stewards.

We don't need to boast in our abilities, because there is something better to boast in. We can boast in the fact that we know God, and that no matter what our abilities are (or aren't), He is still guiding our lives.

That fact makes those times where I fall short of my artistic expectations at lot less painful.

Taking the Time

I'm about to start a project on this blog that I've been thinking about for a long time.

To start out, I want to explain my thought process behind this. Every once in a while, I'll be in the middle of my devotions, or reading a blog and want to search and see if there's a blog that speaks on art and faith. Usually (unless I've been looking in the wrong places), I'll get kinds of results.

1) By typing in the word "artist" I'll get something that revolves around musicians, or worship leaders.

2)I'll get a blog that deals with art as more of a hobby or a passion, rather than a profession.

I have been looking for something that I can't find, because I think I have a very specific idea of what I want in my head, and as always, no one can fully understand those specifics but me.

The first time I came up short in my search, I felt God plant a seed of an idea in my mind. What if I was the person to write on the things that I'm looking for? Maybe there are others like me: someone who's art is so ingrained in their life that to not have it is to not function properly. Maybe like me, someone is wondering what God has to say on the subject of art. It's been a long time since I first thought about that idea, and every once in a while I'll think about developing this into a reality, but things have stopped me.

The biggest thing that has stopped me from doing this is the fact that I am so busy. I guess this isn't really an excuse, but I find myself so consumed with the pressures of producing art for school that I pretty much leave everything else behind. I don't work on personal projects (unless I'm feeling particularly prcrastinate-y that day) and forget about taking breaks to do nothing. Sometimes, I even forgo my mornings with God because I'm worried that there aren't enough hours in the day to fit in everything.

But today, God has nudged the idea for a series of posts about art to the front of my mind. It's true, maybe I can't always find time to work on this. But if I have to find the time to reflect on my art and my faith, then it's almost like it's an afterthought instead of a priority.

Finding the time to do something, whether it's working on my figures, doing exercises to prevent my tendonitis from flaring up, or spending time with God is not what I should strive after.

I need to take time to do this. Taking the time means intentionally planning ahead and setting aside some time to work on personal projects.

Without taking the time to do something, all of my dreams stay just as they are: dreams. Vapors.

I want to make this idea a reality.

Portfolio - final (I think....)

Our Abilities and Insecurities

“It matters not what my abilities may be then, provided that I possess you, Lord. Do what you will with this insignificant creature. Whether it be that I should work, or become inspired, or be the recipient of your impressions, it is all the same. Everything is yours, everything is from you and for you … Mine is to be satisfied with your work and not to demand the choice of action or condition, but to leave everything to your good pleasure.”

Jean-Pierre deCaussade, The Joy of Full Surrender

   This is one of my favorite quotes, because it speaks about the way that I want to live as an artist. As an artist, it's really easy to become drained and discouraged if my heart isn't in the right place. There have been many times where I have considered my artistic efforts to be unsuccessful because all I can focus on is how much I feel like I'm failing. The funny thing is, many times my worries don't have any basis in reality. But unless I focus on something other than my failures, the reality of my work will never be noticed by me.

   Here's one way that we can focus on something other than our failures: focus on what a blessing it is to have the artistic abilities that we do. To think, even though there are millions of people in the world, God has given each artist unique abilities. There's a key word in that: unique. It's not going to help us if we are constantly comparing ourselves to others. Each of those people who we compare ourselves to is at a different stage in their artistic development. Considering that, it's pretty foolish to compare ourselves to others.

   Whatever our abilities are, they mean nothing if we do not use them to glorify the one who gave them to us. Focusing on making my work perfect, or being as good as those as those around me, is no way to use my abilities. The only thing it's "good" for is to distract me from what a blessing all the abilities that God has given me are.

   Looking at the quote from The Joy of Full Surrender, I think that Jean-Pierre deCaussade understood the importance of putting God before insecurities. When we possess God, when He is first in our lives, we have something greater than praise from the people around us. Whether or not we are praised for our abilities, we know that we are honoring God with them. That gives us more strength than confidence in our abilites ever could.

   What can we do to make sure that we are not bogged down by our "lack of" abilities, or our insecurities? Allowing ourselves to take some time each day to spend time in the Word and in prayer really allows our minds and hearts to get in to the right place. 

One of the other things that I've been doing is printing out my favorite verses and placing them in places where I'm definitely going to see them. One of the best places I have decided to place a verse was on my pencil case.

 I hope that others find this quote as encouraging as I do. I end with a verse that I came across this morning:

"It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans."- Psalm 118:8

Wreck-It Ralph: A Review

 

     Wreck-It Ralph is the 52nd feature of Walt Disney Animation. I was very skeptical when I saw the first trailer, but after I saw this movie I was happy to see that my first impressions were wrong. Wreck-It Ralph is a great film, with compelling characters, beautiful settings, and a great story.

     Wreck-It Ralph is the story of Ralph, the villain of an arcade game called Fix It Felix, Jr. For thirty years, it's been Ralph's job to try to wreck the apartment house of Niceville, only to be defeated each and every time by Fix It Felix. At the end of each game, Felix gets a medal, and Ralph gets thrown off the apartment house into the mud.

      Ralph, tired of being the bad guy, game jumps into a new arcade game called Hero's Duty, in hopes of bringing a medal back to his game, and (he hopes) gain the approval of the inhabitants of Niceville. Even though he actually does get his medal, the story is only beginning. Ralph falls into an escape pod, and eventually ends up in Sugar Rush, a kart-racing game where he meets Vanellope, a game glitch and an outcast, just like him. Now, in order to get his medal back from Valleope, he must help her compete in the kingdom's race. 

       Wreck-It Ralph is a step in the right direction for Disney. One of the things that really surprised me about this movie was how the trailer didn't give away anything about what the plot was really about. I felt like the story was a lot more complex than I expected it to be. I've heard that others have said this movie had the "typical Disney ending", but I'm not entirely sure that's true. For most of the movie, I felt like I could predict what was going to happen during the climax, I thought I knew who the villain was. But during the climax, there was a major plot twist that none of us saw coming (although looking back there were a couple of hints to that twist earlier in the story). I was pleasantly surprised by it, and left the theater very satisfied, both by the plot and the villain's reveal.

      Lately, I have been dissatisfied by a trend that seems to put an emphasis on the actors starring in an animated film, as if they, not the story, should be the reason that audiences should see that film. After seeing the trailer emphasize the voice talent, I was skeptical. But I was very pleased with Wreck-It Ralph's voice casting. Unlike most other animated films, the actors all recorded their dialogue together, giving them ample opportunity for improvisation, something that made Wreck-It Ralph unique.

      Finally, the art direction and animation of this movie was absolutely beautiful, some of the best I've seen from Disney in a long time. I could get lost in looking at the amount of detail each setting provides (even more so if I was able to catch all of the video game homages that others could). My favorite environment would have to be Sugar Rush; the colors were beautiful, and the way that the artists used candy in every way they possibly could. 

      Overall, I am very glad that I decided to go see Wreck-It Ralph. It seems like Disney is putting more and more effort into making a good story with unforgettable characters. I look forward to what they produce in the future.

Another Set of Art

 

I thought I'd start with the piece that I'm most proud of from this semester. It started out as a piece of illustration board covered in charcoal and ended with hours upon hours of erasing to get the picture that you see.

 

This wasn't created this semester, but last summer I was able to learn the basics of Maya and, with help, created my first 3D character: Whatsits.

 This was the last project of the semester. Based on the nursery rhyme "Jack Be Nimble", this illustration was created with pen and ink.