Art « Robot Claw

Archive for the ‘Art’ Category

Monster Contest: Results

Saturday, May 6th, 2023

It’s time for the second five subjects – and final results – of our Monster postcard art contest.

To summarize the midway point, I had 3 wins to Bernard’s 2. The voting had been tight, and the art quality had been improving every week. Onto the next five then:

Skeleton

It was clear by this point that we were both taking this very seriously, and both of these show more detail than most of the previous entries. Mine on the left was supposed to suggest a giant skeleton, hunched over due to his massive bulk. He was a king in life, and is a boss in a Soulslike game in Death! Bernard’s (on the right) was – in his words – based on an image he saw on Etsy!

Once again the voting was close and any one judge could have changed the result with the decision. I won 2.75 to to 2.25.

The judges were much more verbose during the second round. Here’s their skeleton comments:
“The skelly on the right is more of a dude.”
“The detail in the skeleton of left is very well done. I like the almost reptilian spine and the massive rib cage. I’m just not sure about the floating crown and laser beams. They seem like an afterthought that don’t really suit the skeleton. Right is bold and striking. I like the blood moon and the bloodied knife but I don’t like his oversized jacket or his button nose.”
“This is a tie. I love the detail on the spine on the left, specifically the curved round saw like vertebrae. The contrast and the samurai tie in on the right are just too cool though.”
“Right reminds me of Japanese flag and Seppuku (I think that was the intention with the yukata), but the sword is too small. Left has impressive depth expression on skull and shoulder bones; I can feel the back pain. I don’t know what that crown is for though. Old king aging or back stabbed by enemy???? And as you know both are anatomically quite wrong.”

Vampire

Bernard is left, I am right. I love that we both went for a minimalistic style here, and I think in each case this was the least ink we used the entire contest. I was going for a ‘poster art’ style but my portrait of Lugosi never looked quite right to me. Bernard’s lady was very subtly vampiric, and even in person the teeth are tiny!

The judging was extremely close and the winner switched with every vote! In the end Bernard won with 2.55 to my 2.45!

Here’s what the judges said:
“Left could be something else.”
“The male vamp is very traditional. Lugosi? It’s also too good not to receive at least a portion of the mark. The reason I prefer the female vamp is it does more with less ink. Sentimentally, it also reminds me of the Redheads matches mascot, despite this gal being a different kind of “bloodnut”.”
“Left gets points for minimalistic hot girl vibes. But I love the kitschy feel of the right.”
“I love that the left vampire is female. I love the sensual curves of hair and the bloodshot eye. She’s fresh from a feast and still dripping with blood and enticing her next foolish male victim. The right vampire is very stylised and cartoonish. He is the classic villain of childhood tales but with laser beam eyes. I don’t like his red teeth.”

Demon

Another subject in which we both spent a lot of time. My original intent was ‘tattoo art’ with my Japanese Hannya Oni portrait (on left) and Bernard went with what to me looks like an almost Tolkienesque depiction of classic evil on the right. Mine took a long time to do since the red ink bleeds into the postcard so I had to be extremely careful not to overwhelm the black. I wanted the Sakura flowers to look good as well, without distracting from the face. Bernard actually covered the entire card in red ink, so his demon appeared flying in a conflagration. It’s a dramatic sight!

The judges seemed very impressed with both, and several indicated this was a difficult choice. Ultimately I was the victor with 3.14 to Bernard’s 1.86.

The judge’s comments:
“…the grinning skull leaps off the page, whereas the twin-sword demon is less distinct and less threatening.”
“I can see some good ideas in both of these”
“Left is immediately recognizable and just drew a tapestry of different texture with these markers. The flowers even look soft! Very clean drawing. I really personally love the style right was going for and credit the use of contrast. I absolutely love the “halo” feature and the wings. Also using a red background was probably time consuming and conveys an absolute MOOD. I can picture this scene in an anime. Ultimately left wins due to excellent & clean lines but I loved both.”
“Left: Love the detail of the teeth and flowers! Right: I like that entire body is shown.”
“I love the detail and design of left. The patternation in the face is very pleasing and the horns are perfectly crafted. The flowers are lovely and well done but the contrast of the beauty of the flowers with the misshapen jaw and teeth of the demon detracts from the overall impact I want the image to have. The form of right is perfectly constructed and the bold use of deeply applied colour is striking but the detail in and around the face is frustratingly lost and blurry”

Alien

Bernard is left, and I’m right. For me this was the most difficult category since the possibilities seemed endless, but I made an early decision to not do a grey alien since I thought there was a good chance Bernard would. I debated characters from shows such as Star Wars or Doctor Who before going with the iconic extraterrestrial itself: ET. He’s an ugly bugger and hard to draw, but I think I nailed the face enough to be convincing (just don’t look at his shoulders closely…).

Bernard on the other hand went with an amazing rendition of the cabinet art from the side of the original Space Invaders arcade machines. It’s an extraordinary work since the detail and colour saturation is amazing: it looks printed and not hand drawn. Obviously this image spoke to me, but I had a feeling it would be lost on most of the judges…

The results were closer than I anticipated. While I won with 3 points to Bernard’s 2, one judge gave him the entire point since mine wasn’t scary enough! Once again therefore, the result could have changed with the votes from a single judge.

Here’s the comments:
“I always appreciate the more detailed drawings! Also right one has better use of red color.”
“Excellent likeness of both a Space Invader and E.T.”
“Very good contrast on the left”
“I love these images!! Left is everything I want an alien to be. His terrifying form is beamed out of space with dark and electrified menace. He’s a black hole come to life to diffract and suck the light out of everything around me. Right is so well known and beloved by all. His image is beautiful and endearing. The line work is superbly executed and his tiny red spark just so adorable.”
“It’s hard to judge this one as both artworks are incredibly well done and pleasing to look at. I ask myself what I want to see in a monster image and unfortunately it is something scary, unsettling or disturbing not something I would cuddle up in bed with.“
“Left is interesting with the contrast but… I wouldn’t call it an alien! Wolf man maybe? Gets some points because of how much effort went into the black contrast. Right: I mean, I really like it and I didn’t really like ET as a child. The movie terrified me. This is a great rendition. It has me wondering, did the artist play the long game? Marker color choices are perfect for this content. I’m just saying we might be dealing with a Kira level master mind with how far ahead this artist was thinking. Anyway, great ET, I can see the whimsy in his eyes and that he comes in peace.”

Werewolf

Mine is left; Bernard’s is right. I think these are the two most similar images of the entire contest. I originally started drawing something else but had to colour over it with solid black since it wasn’t working. The tail was a late addition and the moon an afterthought. I originally told Bernard mine was weak but grew to like it more after I had mailed it. His has incredibly detail (the fur texture looks oily!) but – in his words – his art has ‘a fatal flaw’! Did the judges notice…?

Yes they did, since a few of them mentioned that Bernard’s was more wolf than werewolf. Once again I was the winner, and a bit more decidedly here with 3.2 points to 1.8.

Here’s the comments:
“I love the angst of the left werewolf howling at the full moon and the striking moon against the red sky. I love the line work on the right werewolf. He is a ravenous beast dripping blood from his fangs. I particularly like his pointy ears.”
“Wow!! These are great! Both are really great.
Left wings for the high contrast red black and white. Amazing! I feel like this is something I could have drawn haha. So… I love it. Right is an excellent wolf man head!! I would have loved to see the paws and claws, haunches, tail, etc. obviously a wolf head, but where is the man???”
“Head/Mouth detail on right is great. Like the full body view with moon on left. Get a sense of his torture.”
“They’re both technically proficient. However, the drawing on the right, in not showing the body, could merely be the head of a large wolf.”
“Both look like Shiba inus but I figured out with my keen eyes that the intention was werewolf.”

Final Results

With ten subjects drawn, posted and judged, what were the final results?

I won, with 7 victories to Bernard’s 3!

This was a hard-won victory, since what I had assumed would be a leisurely (only two colours) and somewhat whimsical contest turned into a real struggle with every week being a battle! I think if you look back you’ll agree the quality increased week-to-week.

Here’s some of our own opinions on the contest:

Bernard felt his best piece was alien, and I agree with him. He felt his worst was dragon, and I also agree with that.
I felt my best was demon but Bernard thought it was my sea monster. I felt my worst was zombie and he agrees.
Bernard believed he should have won alien and I agree.
I believe I should have won bigfoot but he disagrees.
When asked for a comment for the judges, Bernard said: “They all ought to be ashamed!” (ouch!)
As for me, my comment to the judges is: “It’s reassuring to see that they looked past sensationalism and recognized the souls of the artists :)”

What remains is the awarding of prizes, which will happen soon. While I’ll be sending Bernard a special prize for his Space Invader unfortunately since he didn’t win he won’t be getting the amazing $8 retro 1980’s sticker I purchased for that purpose. It’s a good thing there’ll be another chance in the 2024 postcard art contest…

What will the theme be? That’s a surprise for now, but I will say as with 2022 the judges will once again have their say 😉

Posted in Art, Family, Postcards | Comments Closed

My 10 Favourite Nick Cave Songs

Wednesday, May 3rd, 2023

I’ve been listening to a lot of Nick Cave recently, and also reading about his life and work. It’s interesting how different people like his catalogue in different ways, but this isn’t surprising since he’s been going for 40+ years now. Coming up with a list of my favourite songs was a herculean task, but I’ve done it. Putting them in order would be impossible, so here I’ll present them chronologically:

The Mercy Seat (1988)

I hear stories from the chamber how Christ was born into a manger
And like some ragged stranger died upon the cross

This is one of his signatures now isn’t it? I was a big fan before this one was released, but when I first purchased and played the (vinyl!) single I had a feeling Nick Cave wasn’t going to remain ‘my’ guy any more. Previously I had tried to turn my friends on to him with no success; after this one it was easy. And rightly so; it’s a fantastic song and a deserved classic.

The Ship Song (1990)

We talk about it all night long, we define our moral ground
But when I crawl into your arms everything, it comes tumbling down

Nick Cave had emerged from the wasteland with his Tender Prey album (in 1988) and now he was on TV and magazine covers and (at least in Australia) most people no longer said ‘Nick who?’ And then this song – the first single from The Good Son album – came out, and the whole world started paying attention. It’s not that he hadn’t written love songs before, but I think this was the first time his signature mix of melancholy and beauty reached a sublime level. I’ve heard this countless times over the years, and it can still bring a tear to my eye. This one will be played at my funeral. (Also this unique cover version is extraordinary.)

Loom Of The Land (1992)

I told her that the moon was a magical thing
It shone gold in winter, and silver in spring

The 7th album Henry’s Dream was a tour-de-force, and while Cave himself apparently was not a fan of the production, it was around this time that I felt the band transitioned from making great albums with a few fantastic songs into fantastic albums with nearly perfect songs. For me this one is the standout of the album, and one of my all-time favourites of his. Here he tells a seemingly simple story of a boy and a girl using poetic lyrics laced with menace and despair. The melody and instrumentation are beautiful, and his vocal is virtuoso. This is a masterpiece and – for me – quintessential Nick Cave.

Do You Love Me (1994)

The moon in the sky is battered and mangled
And the bells in the chapel went jingle-jangle

Another raw ‘love song’ that suggests violence, madness and death. This was the first single from the Let Love In album and it’s yet another step in the path that led to Murder Ballads. This is a melodic and very singable song that celebrates the darker sides of life and I have loved it since the first moment I heard it.

Do You Love Me? (Pt 2) (1994)

Dreams that roam between truth and untruth
Memories that become monstrous lies

I hesitated to include both Do You Love Me‘s, because I didn’t want to eclipse this one. It’s the last song on the album, and wasn’t released as a single, but for me it’s without question the best song on that album and a fitting mirror of it’s namesake. In lesser hands this would be a dirge, but Cave transforms it into a beautiful and moving chronicle of (his?) lost youth and innocence. Do we love him? Of course we do!

Sail Away (1994)

She came beside me amongst my coat
Her breath was warm against my throat
We clung to each other so very close
For the worst had come true

This was the b-side to the Do You Love Me single, and I’ll never understand why because it is – and probably always will be – my favourite Nick Cave song. There’s so much great about this – the music, the performance, the delivery – but chief amongst them is the wonderful lyric, which contrasts innocence and fragility with literally ‘the worst’ coming true. Like all Cave songs it doesn’t matter to me what it is about, since the emotion it evokes is more important, and here those feelings are painful and so close.

That’s the thing with Nick Cave: his lyrics are so often dark and tortured and describe horrors that most people would run from (he wrote an entire album about murder) but they are also transcendent, and strangely reassuring. The best Nick Cave songs make you happy-sad in the best way: they remind you of life, and how special that is. For me, Sail Away is one of the best examples of this.

Black Hair (1997)

Today she took a train to the west…

For me, The Boatman’s Call is the best Nick Cave album; so good that it was a true struggle not putting half or more of the album on this list. The album – which Cave has since described as a “heroic melodrama born from rejection” – was spun from a turbulent love affair with singer PJ Harvey, and the songs and performances are intentionally slower and simpler than anything he had done before. It’s a poignant and sincere album filled with exquisite examples of his craft, and perhaps more than anything he had previously done it makes the listener feel they are right there with him as he sings. This particular song is a musical mantra, repeating over and over again his wish that Polly (and her Black Hair) perhaps didn’t choose to take that train and leave him. A moving song about failed love.

Where Do We Go Now But Nowhere (1997)

If I could relive one day of my life
If I could relive just a single one
You on the balcony my future wife
Oh who could have known, but no one

This is one the saddest songs he has ever written: the lyrics speak of love and loss and addiction and death and there’s no sunny sky on the horizon in the singer’s world. Put this one on when your overwhelmed or need to be sad, or when you just want to spend a few minutes ‘nowhere’.

Oh My Lord (2001)

They claimed that I had lost the plot
Kept saying that I was not the man I used to be

By now the young anti-establishment punk from Melbourne had become an acclaimed songwriter and performer that was being called the next Leonard Cohen. He was a ‘superstar’; famous worldwide. Of course the more famous one is, the less private one’s life becomes, and if this song is sincere it speaks volumes of the difficulty he had with the intrusions from the media into his private world. A dark topic for him perhaps (at the time), but once again he managed to spin the negative feelings into a marvelous and powerful song.

Nature Boy (2004)

She moves among the shadows
She floats upon the breeze
She moves among the candles
And we moved through the days and through the years

There’s always been that thought in me that Cave writes (and delivers) his lyrics with just a little twinkle in his eye. Could it be that his talent is even greater than we know: that the pain and darkness he puts onto his songs is an act delivered by an entertainer of superhuman ability? If true, then surely he would drop that disguise every now and then and show us the ‘real’ Nick Cave? And if he did, then surely it would be this lovely and wonderfully happy song about love.

(For the record I don’t believe the above. I think the truth is he is an astonishingly talented writer and performer that has always struggled with addiction and loss and even guilt and – to our benefit – has successfully channeled his struggles into verse and song. I don’t think there’s any doubt he’s one of the most talented songwriters of all time, and quite possible the best alive today.)

As I said this was an impossible list to compile, and even writing this I removed and added songs several times. I also omitted cover versions, despite some of them (Long Time Man, Running Scared) being amongst my favourites. You’ll also note the latest song is almost 20 years old now, since Cave’s last few albums haven’t spoken to me like his earlier work (especially the mid 90s stuff) does, despite them being amongst his most acclaimed.

I know a few of you are big fans of his work as well. Which songs did I leave off that should have been on this list?

Posted in Art, Music, Time | Comments Closed

The Great Wave off Kanagawa

Sunday, April 23rd, 2023

The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Hokusai is probably the most famous Japanese work of art:

It was a woodblock print first made in 1831. About 8000 copies were eventually printed, of which about 100 remain. The remaining copies are shockingly valuable now (one recently sold for almost 3 million), but their (relative) abundance means you can see an original in many galleries around the world. We’ve seen one in Japan, and another at The Met in NYC.

And here’s a LEGO kit I bought last week! It’s the second in their LEGO art series, which seeks to reproduce famous works of art in LEGO form (the first was The Starry Night by Van Gogh).

The set has over 1800 pieces, but a few hundred are small flat circles to make up the sky and clouds! You build it in six plates which then go together to form the full image. Here’s a shot before the 3D surface elements are added:

The ‘wave effects’ cleverly use white flower and bird pieces, and it makes a clever illusion of a frothing wave, especially from a distance:

Here’s a comparison between the original print and this set, showing Fuji and some of the fishermen:

About half of the finished piece is the frame (which is optional). All told it took me about five hours to finish, and while a very easy set, was enormously satisfying and relaxing to build. It looks beautiful complete:

It’s designed to be hung on a wall, which I intend to do, but it’s somewhat large and quite heavy so I need to think carefully as to where I’ll place it. I like this even more than I expected I would. I wonder what art sets LEGO will make in the future?

Posted in Animals, Art, Toys | Comments Closed

Picross For Bastards!!

Sunday, April 16th, 2023

Remember that insane Picross book I blogged about last year. I finished the Bastard!! puzzle. Here it is:

The accompanying contest required the entrant to identify the character in the puzzle from the three choices of Dark Schneider, Kall-Su or Tia Noto. Can you see which one it’s supposed to be:

Yep of course it’s Dark Schneider! That would be like making a Star Wars picross and having someone like Sio Bibble instead of a leading character!

The puzzle took me many hours over the last seven months, although to be honest I gave up on it at the end of last year before returning to it today for a five hour bender that has ruined my eyes. Alas I’m 7 months too late to win the Dyson vacuum cleaner, but I’ll forever have the self-satisfaction that I beat it.

Now about the >100 other puzzles in the book, not to mention the second book I bought since that last post…

Posted in Art, Otaku, Puzzles | Comments Closed

Monster Contest: Halftime

Saturday, April 1st, 2023

Once again Bernard and I are doing a postcard art contest. This year the subject is ‘monsters’ and we collectively decided on 10 subjects before starting. Each week we’re taking turns picking the next subject.

The rules are a little different this year. Firstly we’re using identical media, specifically only the markers in the above pic. I bought two sets of each and sent him one, and (aside from pencil for the initial sketch) this means our art is black and red only.

Secondly I printed the postcards in advance with the subjects on the front. This means, unlike previous years, we only get one go at drawing our art and can’t just grab another postcard and start again if we don’t like it or make a mistake!

The judges are the same as last year (JF, JK, SMS, SS and AW) and as far as voting is concerned the only change was I formalized that they could split their votes (which most of them had been doing last year anyway). We’re now half way through and here are the results so far:

Bigfoot

Lessons were learned on card one. I hadn’t done any testing of the markers, and was very surprised to note how much they bled into the cardboard of the postcard. I had visions of fine detail in our pictures that faded fast when this became apparent. Even so I think we hit the ground running, with Bernard’s creation on the left and mine on the right.

The voting was incredibly close, with Bernard’s 2.51 points just beating my 2.49. Most judges commented how difficult it was to choose, and how surprised they were by the quality 🙂

Some judge comments:
“It’s a strong start. The depiction of trees in the first artwork is very well done as is Bigfoot striding through the forest. Although I would have preferred for him to refrain from smiling at the artist.”
“The second artwork is stunning. The shape of the head is very pleasing and the use of negative space creates effective dimensionality. He’s a scary beast even though his square chompers are only built for chewing grass.”
“I like the way we see him in his environment in left image. And I like how scary he is in other image.”

Ghost

Mine is on the left, and Bernard’s on the right. This was another tough one for the judges, although I had a ‘judging question’ about the lack of red in the right picture (it is there, just difficult to see without zooming in). Some judges questioned whether mine was even a ghost!

Voting was very split and seemed to rest on whether judges liked a darker or a more whimsical ghost. Ultimately I won with 2.65 points to Bernard’s 2.35.

Here are some judge comments:
“Right is clearly Casper!”
“There’s not much I don’t like about left. I particularly like the flame, and the teeth. Right…… it doesn’t capture me unfortunately.”
“Love the bony hand and lantern flame!”
“…I do actually like the left pic better. But right is a much better ghost.”

Zombie

Bernard is left, and I am right. This one led to another judges question about whether multiple subjects was acceptable. We hadn’t discussed that in advance, and after this one we decided to keep it at one only going forward. By this third week some judges had observed that one of us was using the same style weekly, and the other was mixing it up. Although they didn’t know who was who, I suspect this began to be factored in to their judging (one suggested that variety was advantageous).

Bernard’s apocalyptic vignette scored him an easy win with 3.26 points to my 1.74. None of the judges noticed that mine was supposed to be Michael Jackson…

Here’s what the judges had to say:
“The vertical lines speak of skeletons, the horizontal lines the prison of the life of a zombie endlessly driven to feed. Baby zombies barely exist and the mushroom cloud of death is a creature of its own advancing on us. The bloodied satiation of the zombie family gives the viewer a moment of peace to view the encroaching doom before the hunger takes hold again.”
“Right is a punk zombie head on a red gingham picnic table cloth.”

Sea Monster

I drew left, and Bernard drew right. I had a vision of a medieval style ‘monster on old map’ which didn’t quite work out, but I love that we both basically drew the same idea. Both artworks have a lot of fine detail; I wonder how much the judges noticed?

Voting on this one was very split, with three judges giving us equal points! Ultimately though the other two preferred mine and I won 3.1 points to 1.9.

Here’s the judges comments:
“Both squidtastic!”
“Impossible to choose.”
“I love left. But right will get a few points because I dig the night sky contrast.”
“Left is very well crafted. The use of white space, the detail of the ship, the twining tentacles, the striking contrast of the bold red of the monster, the minimal detail of the background that gives the artwork perspective. I like everything about this artwork??”
“Right which depicts a sea monster attacking at night conveys a terrifying sight with the cavernous mouth and enormous teeth about to envelope and destroy the ship. The detail of the ship gets a little lost in picture with the tentacles of the monster and the waves of the sea. The spotty creature looks a little diseased.”

Dragon

Mine is left; Bernard’s is right. This was a somewhat controversial piece since two judges have very strong opinions of what dragons look like and one of the above pieces not agree with their expectations!

Voting was a blowout, and I won 4.05 points to Bernard’s 0.95. I was pleased by this since I put more effort into my dragon than any previous piece, but had been nervous since I had wanted to draw hind legs but couldn’t work out how to add them! I also liked that judges noticed I’d gone (more successfully this time) for a medieval art style.

Here’s what the judges said:
“While I’d like the artist to have shown the back legs as well, I prefer it to the “hairy” dragon on the right.”
“Left: great detail of body, especially scales and excellent flames. Right: Torching guy!”
“Left is really charming. Reminds me of medieval illustrations. I tip my hat to right for the dynamic flaming I feel in its depiction!”
“I love the shape of the flame and the traditional look of the dragon on left. A good solid effort”
“Right is a bit of an abomination I’m sorry to say. Being an ardent fan of the dragon I emphatically reject the enormous hairy slug that is for some reason breathing fire. The only saving grace of this artwork is the charred remains of the valiant knight who is a charming and comical figure.”

Halfway through I’m ahead 3 to 2, which means with five subjects remaining this is still anyone’s game.

I asked Bernard for his comments at this point and he said: “Once again the judges appear to be unable to recognize true art when they see it. My remaining five pieces will be of the same stellar quality as my initial five pieces have been.“

As for myself, I’ll probably still continue trying a different style with every piece and hoping the judges appreciate the detail and work that has gone into my mini-masterpieces 🙂

Come back in five weeks to find out what the remaining five subjects were, and who wins this years postcard art contest!

Posted in Art, Family, Miscellaneous, Postcards | Comments Closed

Robot Claw