Daniel Means Business!!

It just occured to me that the reason my blog isn't being followed is because it isn't that interesting. I don't think that people like to see art as much as understand it...

When I say 'Art' I am simply referring to some sort of visual, audible or tasteable form of self expression. I don't mean that it is "good" or "relevant"... I just care that it is pure.

Truth is what makes 'Art' beautiful. When it strips away the pretension... when it isn't trying, it just is. When we think we are seeing something for the first time, but really a person had an idea so they wrote it down, then they showed it to someone, then they decided to act it out on a camera... and pretend like this recreation was the moment that it really happened. Films, television, music, fashion, architecture... it's all art... it's all artistic expressions... and they have shaped our lives and made us who we are.

It really seems like pretension has taken over the art world today... everyone thinks they are famous or thinks they have to be... it's disgusting... it isn't a tight group any more... it isn't 3 people in a room that are "The artists: the most influential people of their time... that have fully effected the world and will continue to long after they have died" now everyone slips on that title...

the sad part is they slip it on so carelessly... you can't "BECOME" an artist... you just are... or you're not... but it doesn't mean that if you are not an artist, you aren't important. Who would applaud an actor in a stage play if everyone was on stage?... *crickets*

The world works because everyone has their part to play... the art world is in an upheval because everybody thinks they are suddenly a movie star/model/musician etc...

What would happen if a foot model tried to do brain surgery? The person would die... because a foot model has not had the training... but that's just it... you can be trained in a craft... you can be taught the "basics" of drawing.. the rules... the science... and some people are those kinds of artists... they are architects or they work on intricate pieces in some way that need to be measured... on the opposite spectrum I guess there are the people who have to just figure it out on their own... they don't want the book because it will get in the way of their creative freedom... they don't want a group of people to tell them what art is and how to create it... they create on their own... they have ideas... they are pure. They have studied on their own... honed their skills to the best of their ability barely showing anyone... trying to get used to the moment their work is made public and they will be under the microscope from everyone... even people they have never met will judge them, and tell them if their work is good, even though they know nothing about the artist and may never actually get what the artist was intending... it sounds a bit like hell to me...

So... the point after this long ramble is that. Here I am... I consider myself an artist, and I say it in the most humble respects... I feel like if I didn't express myself I would die. I have to write (I have written in journals for 8 years... all hidden away. I don't write publicly anywhere... this is actually the first.) I have to draw (recreating some crazy ideas I have sometimes mixed with wierd things I have seen, put together to create story and try and tell the audience something or just entertain them, or both. I have to surround myself with beautiful colors... etc...

I feel like maybe this is me beginning to show vulnerablitiy publicly... which is really hard for me. I am a very private person. I have a close knit group of people in my life, and other than them I don't think many people know much about me.

Ok, so, now changing the mood from me sounding like a creeper... I just wanted to post this to be really open... I want people to see my stuff and understand where I'm coming from... I just watched "Reality Bites" with two of my friends, Bobby and Roxanne... it was a really epic film that I feel was very under rated... It was done so well... and I feel like I was meant to see it... it spoke to me...

I want to document more of what it's like to live as an artist... I don't do a lot of art professionally yet... I don't have time to even do much on my own time... I'm trying to get a better (shitty) job that will allow me more time and money to live so I can work on art... it sucks... I have so many ideas in my head... I write them all out, sketch them... but don't have a ton of time to really put them all together... it is such a slow process... I envy people who work really quickly and can make so much in so little time... I am honestly still working on rewriting a comic series I started working on 7 or so years ago... I can't wait to finally publish it... but it has just taken longer than I'd expected...

I was lucky enough to be inolved in the start of the creation of a cartoon series... right now this idea is dead in the water... we are waiting to get someone to fund the project. I designed all of the characters, which is a dream job!! I love character creation... it is one of my favorite things... we have scripts, music, a teaser... acting from some of us... yet still we aren't working on the episodes... we are all caught up trying to pay the bills doing other things. I feel like this series will be well recieved. Not to say on my part... I think the idea itself is so great... and the scripts are so pure to the idea... I love them... I really want the people I'm working with to get attention from this project because we will all have so much fun working on it... I ultimately want it to be well recieved but no matter what, I have really learned a lot about the whole process... so that is the important part...

Other than that I am working on my own stories... I have several comic book ideas... I'm fleshing them all out... but I am working on multiple things at a time... I really enjoy doing that...

I want to make this Starving Artist section interesting... and I hope that people start to read it... I will try and post pictures that are funny or interesting... of how poor I am and the stupid stuff I go through to try and get work done... I am working on a few little projects that are exciting that I'm hoping will become something regular...

I am drawing pictures, which will soon be posted of a character from the upcoming cartoon, her character, althought memorable, is one of the minor characters... but the creator who made her up years ago, is giving her her own website etc... so I will be posting pictures of Grace soon :)

I am working on a comic book about a Cat with my friend Elyse, it was her idea, and it was really great... we are trying to flesh out the details so we can make it happen...

I was also talking with her sister Monica about stuff and we ended up deciding that we should collaborate... she blogs about the environment and about we can be more green. The thing I love about her and her blog is that she is trying to show us all tips here and there to help out. She isn't being a bitch about it, she is just trying to help... it's not one of those guilt blogs or anything... we are going to make a reacurring character as well as some shorts here and there...

I am doing some stuff on my own... I have some characters from my Junior year in High School that I am fleshing out and mixing with newer characters... I am doing a seperate issue for each character that I want to self print and put in as many stores as I can get it to...

still rewriting and working on the comic series that will take many more years...

as well as other smaller ideas that haven't been fleshed out... or small collaborations that are slowly blossoming...

I am excited to see where the next few years takes me... I'm hoping to have a lot of my work out there that I'm proud of... and just pushing ahead and learning and growing as an artist and as a person...

I am lucky to have the support from all my friends and family... they have truly helped me more than they know.

Anyway... I have been babbling for quite a while now... so... I hope to be posting more of these... as well as more drawings... soon videos... etc. :) I need to draw much more stuff!!

Thanks...

Daniel

A friend comissioned a painting from me last year, she wanted herself in a space helmet... I don't normally design or draw them so it was a fun challenge... in the process I came up with many different designs... but they didn't have the mod feel she was looking for so I decided to keep some of them for later...

Here is the painting of the friend (I don't paint much) I liked how it turned out, except I wasn't overly excited about the purple.. the blue paint I was using had a lot of green in it and it came out a bit different, but I guess things often turn out a bit different than planned... (this was sometime in 2009) Thanks Kristen :)

(this is the alternate design in B&W, I liked the most... yet... she looks a little too much like Paris Hilton)... haha... not intended...

My scanner didn't pick up the color very well, I even enhanced it and am still not too thrilled with the end result...

Here she is before she was colored... not as Paris Hiltony

Here was the original alternate design... I did this in 2009 when I was working on the painting... but I didn't finish this one and color it until 2010