20 Questions Tuesday: 403 - Art

It is another edition of 20 Questions Tuesday on a Wednesday.  Here we go!

Art is in the eye of the beholder. All of my D&D buddies are now quietly saying to themselves, “But the beholder has many eyes.”  Well, good people, art is many different things.  This week I aim to answer 20 Questions about art.  Let’s do this.

Thanks this week to KSig, Nicole, LSig, Wes, Amy, Susan, Brian, Gavin and some other guy. Answers are a’comin’!

1. Two part question. Are they still making Arts today (as in people named Art)? I don’t remember going to school with anyone named Art and neither do my kids...and in the history of Arts, the name is mediocre at best. Art Schlichter, Briles and Model can all rot in hell. Don’t get me started with Art Linkletter and Rooney. Art Carney chili, overrated (shout out to Mel). Other than the name Adolph, is there a more disappointing group of names than Art.
Part the first: People are named Arthur and nicknamed Art. That being said there are not many. The name is ranked 245 for 2018.  I would imagine it is mainly a middle name these days. 
Part the second: The middle name of Wayne… that just screams “I am going to eventually murder someone.”

2. What is art?
Simple, yet difficult question here.  Art is any creative expression that is intentionally created/performed/done to invoke an emotional response. So… almost everything can be, but the intentionality of the making of it is necessary.  Making a fork could be art, provided the person is intentionally creating the fork as a creative expression.

3. Do you think of yourself as an artist?
Sometimes.

4. What's the difference between "arts" and "crafts"?
Absolutely nothing. 

5. Do kids benefit from art class in school?
Of course they do.  Just like kids benefit from physical exercise during their education, they also benefit from artistic expression. Artistic expression forces kids to think much more generatively and promotes creativity and ingenuity.

6. Do you like art museums?
Yes, but not as much as one would think.

7. Can you explain the diff between art and pornography? Or do you just know it when you see it?
I see what you did there, but I will answer nonetheless. The line where things flip from art to pornography is different for every person, however there are typically lines that can be generally agreed upon as making something one or the other. I think the big difference is the intentionality of the creation process.

8. What are your top 3 works of art?
My top 3 that I have produced? Or my favorite 3 pieces that I enjoy looking at.  We will go with the former instead of the latter because there are too many of the latter to choose from and the former promises to be more fun.
2 of my 3 are my award winning fantasy maps that showed at a digital cartography art show in SoHo NYC about 5 years ago.
The first is “Something Swampish This Way Comes.” This one is more of a custom dungeon map done for a Cartographer’s Guild mapping challenge years ago.  The challenge was to take a set of primitive shapes and make an interesting minifig type map from it. The task I set forward on this map was to create multiple planes, and to have the viewer realize that there is a ground level, and it is above the water-line.

The second is “The Tenorous System.” This map was another map done for a Cartographer’s Guild mapping challenge about the same number of years ago. The challenge for this map was to create a solar system map. I wanted to make a more artistic old world style map that is set in a highly developed set of societies.

Both of these maps were in that digital art show.

My third is a piece I no longer have access to that was a still-life I did in college as a part of my Drawing II class. This piece was selected by my art prof to show in a Kent State student art show back in 1994. It was an ink wash with some raw umber and white conte crayon highlights still life of some random stuff I had on my desk at the time. I only have my flawed memories of this one, but in my mind it kicks all kinds of ass.

9. What do you think of those “artists” out there that just pee on a cross and call it art?
Well, that is very specific, I think you may be grumpy about the National Endowment of the Arts’s funding of controversial artists.  Here’s the thing, we do not know what these artists’ applications were to ask for funding. For example let’s think about the piss and cross example from above. The actual application could have been for funding to create an artistic “work” in order to stoke a media controversy and cause a religious fervor and backlash.  Maybe the grant was not for the artistic artifact but for the performance art that the artifact generated? How do you like them apples?

10. Can anyone make art? Or can anyone craft, but art is different?
Anyone can make art and anyone can craft. Now, not everyone can make good art or craft well, but we can all do it to some level.

11. If everyone can make art, can everyone consider themselves to be artists?
Sure, you can consider yourself an artist regardless of talent.  That does not mean that others will consider you an artist though. I can think myself the King of My Own Home, that does not mean that others think that as well.

12. Which famous Art is your favorite and why?
Caspar David Friedrich because he is a not that well known gothic artist.  If not him, maybe Thomas Eakins, because he took some of the color pallette of the more “realistic” expressionism pieces and really tightened it up while keeping things soft.

13. Can anyone become really good at art?
Nope, talent is necessary in some instances.  Skill and practice will only take you so far.  That being said, everyone can be better at art.  Everyone.

14. Is Roy Lichtenstein stuff actually art?
Oooh, this is a tough one. It is… however it is really art done in a shady way. Copying someone else’s work that was most likely not paid well, and selling it for a significant mark-up without crediting the original piece or compensating the original artist is shady as fuck.

15. People look at lots of modern art like Jackson Pollok’s stuff  and say “What’s so special about that? I could do that?” Could they?
They could not, because they have not. If they could have and found a buyer, the should have.

16. In a world leading country, is public funding of the arts a privilege, a necessity, a right?
Some level of society driven arts patronage is a necessity. Elsewise we become un-creative automatons.

17. Do the arts help civilization or harm it?
The “arts” help civilization by helping to determine where lines of acceptability by poking and prodding the edges and creating some cultural mores and values.  These change over time because art pushes those edges. 

18. Should only the wealthy be allowed to personally decide how to fund arts that they like?
Nope, there is a democratization of art funding happening at the moment through micro-funding platforms like Patreon and Kickstarter. Historically the arts have primarily been patronized by the rich, because the rich were the only ones who had the disposable income to throw at artists.  I think there is an Adam Ruins Everything about rich people arts patronage that gets into some of this.

19. Is art a commodity?
A commodity is a raw product that one can predict the contract value associated with that product in a future’s market, think oranges or pork bellies. I do not see art as a commodity because there is no futures market for “art.”  One might be able to create a futures market for either artists or art supplies, but not art.

20. Is the (potential) lack of funding for the arts a reflection of the lack of value the arts has in society, or are some people just not understanding the value?
It is people not understanding the value of arts in a cultural, educational, or developmental level. There are an insane amount of peer reviewed studies, written by non-artists, that show demonstrably the benefits of art in culture, it really is a non-question as to whether or not arts are necessary for a culture and therefore funding should be.  If you can win in Civilization VI by having a “cultural victory,” it is an important thing.

To recap:
The Winter Olympics coverage on the NBC’s has been weak... super weak
I have only seen the first teaser trailer for Black Panther
I am still beyond excited for seeing the movie on Friday
Not as excited as my wife
Something about Michael B Jordan and Chadwick Boseman

I cannot argue, thems some beautiful mens
I hear the movie is a bit of a game-changer
Superhero movies need a bit of a game-changer
They are getting a bit formulaic
The wife is in St Paul at the moment
Her work has her staying in a conference center that was once a children’s hospital/children’s mental hospital/children’s sanitarium
Creepy. As. Hell.
She is staying in this room 

In this building

Yikes! Creepy. As. Hell. Seriously. Creepy. As. Hell.
Happy Valentine’s Day
Have a great week everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 342 - Bill Doran

This week I get to ask the delightful Bill Doran 20 Questions.  "Who is Bill Doran?" you ask.  Well, dear reader, stop interrupting my blog with your questions. If you would have been patient, you would have been found the answer to your question. I ask the questions around here.  This is my house, my rules.  Anyway, before you rudely interrupted me, Bill Doran is a guy who creates amazing cosplay armor and weapons, and creates props for some movie makers (For example Bill created the ankle bracelets in the short "Proximity" for the movie maker I interviewed in 20 Questions Tuesday: 285 - Ryan Connolly) He is the owner/operator of his company Punished Props and has created costume pieces, replica props, and original props for multiple genres. Seriously, Bill's work is incredible.  He has a YouTube channel where he goes over tips and tricks for creating your own props and has published some books on the subject as well. He really is a badass, and I feel very lucky that he is taking time to answer my questions. Before we go any further, I apologize for not getting this posted yesterday.  The wife is out of town and I had an IXDA event to go to last night that kept me from formatting and posting this.  One day late is not too bad.  20 Questions Tuesday… on a Wednesday.

Onto the Questions:

So, I have a background in cartography, the idea of people and place feels like an interesting story to me.  One of the most interesting stories to me, is an individual's geographic story.  For example, I was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  My family then moved to Montgomery, Alabama for a short jaunt.  Then on my third birthday, the family moved to my childhood home just to the northeast of Birmingham, Al in a little place called Center Point.  I went off to college in Kent, Ohio where I met my wife and settled down with her in Columbus, Ohio.  We are still in the Columbus, Ohio area in the edge city Worthington, Ohio. Question 1: What is your geographic story?

Hello there Scott! I was born in central New York state in a wee little town called Oswego on the banks of Lake Ontario. I was there until my college days where I went to both Alfred and Oneonta, both in New York State. Then a couple of years after college, my friends and I caught a bit of wanderlust and moved all the way across this great country of ours to Seattle, Washington. We've lived here in the Pacific Northwest for the past decade or so and we couldn't be happier!

A cross country move on a whim? Awesome.  I dig it.  Question 2: what would you say the biggest difference between Upstate New York and Washington State?

There is a really large gap in the attitudes of each coast. One isn't necessarily better than the other, but they're different. NY is more fast paced, "get with the program or get out of the way" where the west coast tends to be more mellow and passive aggressive. Also snow. Central NY gets WAY more snow!

That is the consensus I have been hearing... At least with the pacing, not necessarily the snow thing.

Question 3: Cake or pie? Which specific kind and why?

Pumpkin pie. Unless it's a pumpkin cheesecake. Then I'll have that. Mostly anything pumpkin.

Then you are in your happy season, as everything pumpkin's up for the holidays (Editor’s note: this interview started in the Holiday Season of 2015). Since I have had to go on a gluten free diet, pies seem to work better for me.  They are better because pie crust does not have to be spongy and light and fluffy.  Pie crusts can be flaky and it seems that GF stuff can handle flakey.

So, you love you some pumpkin... Question 4: What is a food that you feel you need to avoid at all costs?

Believe it or not, I really do not enjoy salmon. Everyone else I know seems to think it's the bee's knees, but I just can't do it.

I can definitely believe that.  I am not a lover of all things salmon.  I have eaten some really good salmon, but in general I tend to stay away from salmon.  Shrimp and crab can get in my belly though.

You are clearly very talented at making props and replica props for all sorts of purposes.  Question 5: Was there a specific "ah-ha" moment where you learned that not only was this a past time that you enjoyed, but it was something that you were really good at?

A few years ago I was commissioned to make Mehrunes' Razor, a dagger from Skyrim. When I posted the final photos to my Facebook page, the internet exploded with joy and my email inbox flooded with requests from Elder Scrolls fans who wanted their own legendary dagger. After that I started thinking "I might actually be pretty good at this!"

It is interesting that with creative fields, there is usually an instance, a specific time or event, that a person can think back to and know THAT was the moment. I promise to not make this all about prop building, because I am sure you get build questions all the time, but I feel that one or two more are warranted.

Question 6: Do you enjoy building props for any particular genres more than any other and why?

I really enjoy the challenge of making props and weapons from video games. They don't tend to be designed from "found objects" the way movie props are and I prefer to scratch build my projects. As far as the genres are concerned, I tend to bounce between sci fi and fantasy.

I would also imagine that video game elements might be more difficult to find clean imagery or schematics to base your builds off of. Which leads me to Question 7: What is the most limiting factor to you creating your props? For example, the pre-production research work hampers you from creating a realistic prop because there just is not enough reference to create a quality prop, or the technical detail work of the build is beyond your capability just because of how intricate the work needs to be?

The factor that hampers my output the most is time. There just never seems to be enough of it! Every project I work on eventually just needs to get done, so I end up making compromises. That's not necessarily a bad thing though. If I didn't have deadlines I'm sure I wouldn't finish anything because they're never "good enough". All I can do is continue to put out good work and improve my skill and speed.

Oh, the problem with artists.  There is always an edit that can be made and sometimes deadlines are the only thing that can allow an artist to walk away from a piece.

Question 8: Is there any particular piece of yours that you are especially proud of?  A piece that you find yourself looking at occasionally or thinking of fondly?  

Most of the pieces I finish are sent out the door with great pleasure and I try not to look back on them. In fact, I don't even have a copy of many of the props I've finished, even though I have molds to make more copies. However, the District 9 rifle is a particularly fond piece for me. I am super proud with how it turned out and I'm slowly, but surely, finishing my own copy to proudly display in my home.

I really enjoyed the video highlighting the build of the District 9 gun.  That turned out great.  I watched the video a few times with my kid, he was impressed as well.  You are impressive to a jaded YouTube junky, so you at least have that going for you.

Question 9: Do you go from singular project to singular project or do you have multiple projects going an that you work on in stages? How many builds do you tend to have going on simultaneously?

I usually have a handful of projects going on at the same time. I like to have several burners going so that when I need to wait on one part, like drying paint, I can stay productive on another project. For example: I'm currently finishing a space gun kit for a client, writing a new book, constantly filming new content for my YouTube channel, and designing two other client commissions. Never a dull moment!

After watching most of your edited videos, I figured that was the case. There just seems like there is too much waiting to cure/dry/print/etc... time in a single build to not have multiple projects going at the same time.

Question 10: Fill in the blanks:  I find that I am mostly ______.  Others feel that I am mostly ______. 

Blank 1: Optimistic
Blank 2: Idealistic

=)

Those are closely related but not identical.

Question 11: How would you define the difference between "optimistic" and "idealistic?"

I consider myself a "rational optimist", based on a book I read of the same name. Being truly idealistic tends to be less rational. It's all a delicate balancing act. Nowadays my motto is "Hope for the best, but plan for the worst."

That is a delicate balancing act. That is really a good motto to live by.

Question 12: Are there any other personal mottoes, credos, or mantras that you reference in your life regularly?

"Every pizza is a personal pizza if you try hard and believe in yourself."

I might need to adopt that one.  That is great.  The one I have incorporated is from my Mother-in-Law.  It is "Don't let the fuckers get you down." Words to live by.

So we are now at the triskaidekaphobics nightmare.  Question 13: do you have any superstitions or rituals? For example, when I was a kid and played soccer I had a very specific sequence of steps to get dressed and ready to play in a soccer game.  At the time it was superstition because I thought that if I deviated my luck would run out.  Turns out it was really a ritual to help me get into the correct frame of mind... Less superstition and more ritualistic. You?

Gonna let you down here and admit that I don't follow any sort of superstitions or rituals. Although in the past week I've cut my knuckles on the build plate of my 3D printer every single time I've tried to pry a printed piece off the surface. Does that count?

You have not let me down in the least.  I would say cutting your knuckles every day on the build plate could be considered a ritual if there is some other underlying purpose of the knuckle cutting... if the knuckle cutting somehow got you in the correct head-space for accomplishing your task at hand... I will allow it.

This is the question that I stole from Patrick Beja.  I love the depth and profundity of ot while it is so simple.  Question 14: Are you happy?

Absolutely. =)

This is a delightfully succinct answer.  Honestly, it shows in your videos.  You seem genuinely happy in your video posts, and that is one of the reasons I love watching your vids.

I do not make props or do any cosplay, but I watch every one of your edited vids. I watch them because I enjoy watching process and seeing people who are really good at what they do, do their thing.  I find that watching process is oddly calming for me.  On YouTube, I will watch potters throw pots, glass blowers create their pieces, speed paintings, etc...  on Question 15: So, is there any non-entertainment specific content out there that you enjoy consuming, but do not participate in?

I'm pretty laser focused on two things right now: Making things and building a better business in Punished Props. Just about everything I consume these days is either how-to content designed to increase my technical knowledge or books on business. And Star Wars. =)

There is always time to focus on Star Wars. Question 16: How many projects are you working on right now that are primarily for you vs the number of projects that you are working on that are commissions? and do people usually just ask you for a particular piece, or do they want you to create an entire ensemble for a complete costume set? 

We're actually shifting away from doing commissions for other people. It used to be that I would only ever do work for my clients, with little time for my own endeavors, but that's changing. We only have a couple of client pieces on the docket for 2016. Back when we did take more commissions the focus was primarily on single prop pieces like weapons. I tried doing full costumes for a while, but the complications with sizing and design over the internet was so much of a hassle, I didn't want to do it anymore.

Interesting.  I would have thought, through my own naivete, that the bulk of your Punished Props income would be for doing the hard to create pieces for cosplayers. 

Question 17: Is there a question you were expecting me to ask that I didn't?

HA! I don't think so. You've been exceptionally thorough. Maybe my favorite color? It's blue.

Okay, it's the time of the 20 Questions where I turn the tables... I am always nervous about this.  Question 18: do you have any questions for me? 

What was the last thing you built with your hands?

ooh, that is a great question.  I helped my kids (especially my daughter) build some of their Lego sets at Christmastime, but I am not sure if constructables are what you are talking about.  I would have to go to a "racer" that I built for a birthday party my oldest was going to. The party was to have the kids race found object "race cars" down a hill.  It was a pretty awesome party. Anyway, for this party, I used a base from an old shelf, added a kick-board steering axle, a rear axle, bolted down an old kid's booster seat to the shelf, and screwed in four lawn mower wheels (I had to buy the wheels).  It was a fun little build. Other than that I assembled my grill.

That was an awesome question.

Question 19:  What are you taking from these 20 Questions that you did not bring in with you?

I think this is a very interesting way to run an interview. I will sometimes do my own interviews with other professionals in my field and I've definitely gleaned some interesting questions from your batch.

Well, I have enjoyed the heck out of this.  You are an absolute delight and I am very happy to have gotten to know you better.

Question 20: What's next? Be as vague or concrete, as close term or long-term, as philosophical or grounded as you want.

Next is a whole lot of internet video. We're working on getting more, better prop & costume making tutorial content out on the internet. Things have been ramping up and I'm really excited to share all of the really rad projects we have in store for 2016!

Thanks so much, Bill.  This was great.  Everyone should follow Bill on the Twitters, check out his website at Punished Props, and make sure you give a look to his YouTube channel.  His tutorials are amazing and whether you like to build things or not they are enjoyable to watch.  It is always good to watch someone do something that they are good at.  Process is enjoyable to watch when the person is invested in their craft.  Watch and learn folks, watch and learn.

If you are at all interested, you should jump on his Patreon, or buy his books on foamsmithing.

To recap:
I am a day late and a dollar short
That’s the best I can do
Deal with it, peeps
I am on the SnapChat like the kids today
Check me out at mmmmmpig
I’m snappy
Today I said something about my pants... you know, like all the kids are doing these days
Shnazzy
The wife is in Minnesota today but will be back tomorrow night
Tonight I made the kiddos their favorite meal
A meal that both my wife and I cannot tolerate anymore
But the kiddos love it
This is, of course, the incomparable Orange Rice (they ate it all)
I had some frozen pizza
I baked it, but it started out frozen
Bill Doran is a gem of a man
I do not mean that he is truly outrageous though
Have a great week everyone