Friday, October 22, 2010

Episode 84---Illuxcon is nearly here!

This week Drew and Jeremy interview Illuxcon organizer, Patrick Wilshire.
They discuss the upcoming 3rd annual Illuxcon event to be held in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
The conversation also winds its way various topics such as The Illustration Exchange, art collecting, the value of doing personal work, and the challenges of procuring beer in Altoona!

10 comments:

Gordon Napier said...

Thanks for another interesting episode Jeremy. Illuxcon sounds like an awesome event. Ralph Horsley will be in good company, John Jude Palencar does stunning pictures, up there with the old masters.

MuYoung Kim said...

Man, I wish I was going to IlluxCon...sigh :)

On the topic of less variation/individuality in digital art v. traditional, though, I have to strongly disagree.

Artists like Andrew Jones and Craig Mullins (just to name a few) have shown that the digital medium is just as varied and individual as any traditional medium. Rather, I feel the prevalent sense of "sameness" in much of digital art (like in video game concepts) is due to the demands of the industry: in games, there's certain set of "trend" looks that are perpetuated, and as new artists come up, they tend to follow those same trends as those styles are what they see the most of...it creates a rather vicious loop, actually. It's not the media that is inherently limited, but the what the "industry" is asking for.

Or something like that...

mikeburns@mikeburnsart.com said...

I agree with MuYoung. While viewing a digital image will never be quite the same as a viewing a traditional painting and having an original physical object, there are some advantages to digital as a medium besides just efficiency and I think MuYoung gave some great examples.

Awesome episode, it has me even more pumped for the con :D can't wait!

Andy said...

Jeremy, I think MU got it right about digital art. This is one Ninja who thinks the medium is irrelevant to the result.

Ninja Mountain said...

I happen to agree with you, guys.

I should make it clear that I was a digital artist in primary for a number of years. It is a great set of tools and I still use them in my own hackneyed way. In my personal experience, it did not meet my own needs as a growing artist and that speaks far more about my own limitations than that of the medium. I grew troubled with the results I was personally getting. But hey--that is old news on the show.

I happen to enjoy digital art and enjoyed doing it and have spoken in needless defense of it time and again.

I only now realize that "sameness" is too simple a term to apply to what I am experiencing. I think certain visual trends have prevailed. Mu makes a great point about market trends and pressures. I think we've examined this on previous episodes as well, in fact.
I KNOW that I have cited the work of prominent digital artists with nothing but respect for their unique abilities.
I apologize if that admiration was not addressed during the discussion with our guest.

Mr Wilshire certainly gave props to his favorite artists--digital or otherwise. Illuxcon has a number of digital artists who were hand-picked for inclusion at the event and digital demos are planned as well over the course of the event.


As for the presence of a digital image over a traditional. In the land of print, the issue is moot. Dots on a page are all equal. Only so many dots per square inch are available on the printed page. My traditionally painted work printed next to a digital piece appears much the same and the question of medium is unimportant.
Hanging on the wall? ---Well the physical art object is a different animal as it is employing different physics.
I've had the pleasure of seeing great illustrations as they appeared in print or on-line and then the actual physical original and been blown away at the world of difference I found. For good or bad.

As for the end result. Quality is king regardless of medium. I've produced some decent stuff with both sets of tools. I've produced some horrible stuff with both sets of tools. I would take an awesome print over a terrible painting any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

I received an angry email today over some of the comments made on the show without too much in the way of what specifically angered them. I may have grown tone-deaf over my long tenure with the show. I record weekly and edit late at night.

What do you folks feel was most objectionable about what was said? Have I missed something important?

I would feel terrible, if this episode was taken as a marginalization of a medium.

Except wood-burning. I don't know if I've ever seen a decent wood-burned illustration...

---Jeremy

Ninja Mountain said...
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Ninja Mountain said...
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mikeburns@mikeburnsart.com said...

I didn't see any problem with what was said in the episode. You were just having a discussion.

Ninja Mountain said...

Thanks, Mike.

I have been agonizing over this for the past day or two.
Our next episode will discuss in broader terms some of the topics inspired by my interview with Patrick Wilshire.

I think I half-begun a few topics during the discussion but realized I needed more folks on hand to give them better treatment. Patrick did offer his opinions on them, but I think a panel discussion will better serve the topics in terms of the broader illustration market.

I was a big clumsy monster last week on the show.
Sheesh.

I am glad I didn't burn bridges with listeners for my gaffes.

Another thing I was reminded of by Mu's awesome insight was that the same types of trends have traditional corollaries. Many famous cartoonists started their careers under house styles.

It is amazing how many guys got their start as Romita or Kirby clones. That was a head-slapping moment for me as I lay in bed.
The vicious sound woke my wife up, in fact.

And you are quite right, Mike, that digital has many advantages. Many stylistic choices verily depend on familiarity with digital tool sets. How many people airbrush any more?
An acquaintance of mine--Jerry Lofaro--is a well-known illustrator who is highly regarded and sought after for his airbrushed illustrations.
He eventually adopted digital tools to replace his air compressor and pigments.
His work is as strong as ever and remains in demand.

---Jeremy

Jeremy McHugh said...

Hey guys, I just realized that my posts here had pretty well addressed most of the concerns I had for the show last week.
I think we will be moving onto a new topic in the next episode. It will be awesome fun though.
The latest post will be going up later today. :)
--Jeremy