Maelstrom Arts Blog

This is not graphic art related, nor is it about my career… it is about my dear friend Charlie Rodriguez. This blog has been posted on other sites, and since this is my personaly blog I opted to copy and paste it here as well…

I may be completely out of line for the following post, and for it I apologize before hand.

One of my best friends, Charlie Rodriguez aka ‘Charlie Chulo’ aka ‘Paulie’ was killed a few days ago by a stray bullet. I do not know all the details, actually nobody knows yet, but I am very upset and pissed off at the entire situation, especially since he was such a happy person, full of life and lover of music and performing.
We shared in two bands together in Puerto Rico, the Spanish rock band ‘Eclipse’ and the Spanish punk band ‘Coraje de Tres’. I was the bassist and he was the drummer… we, as many musicians know, were the backbone of the music being performed. I have plenty of great memories of this beautiful person, whom I am missing greatly right now.
It sucks that we, as human beings engulfed in our own daily bullshit, forget about those people whom we have shared such great times with, and for brief moments we forget that we are mortal. Well, my friend Charlie was a performer, hell he would play for free, he enjoyed the crowd so much, and seeing everyone enjoy themselves with music. For him to be lost to such a tragedy is complete and total bullshit. He is a man who should have died of old age with a crippling arthritis while trying to hold a goddamn drumstick in his hand instead of stupidly losing his life to some morons unbelievable disregard for life. Bullets were shot, one went stray and that is the end of my good friends life, while he was in his apartment.
I mean, what the fuck man? Why the fuck do there have to be so many assholes with such a low respect for the one fucking life that God has given them, so much that their anger and disregard for others causes them to think they can take lives as they wish, completely forgetting that the bullets they shoot will hit an innocent victim on the side… THAT is how my good friend died.
Guns don’t kill people… people kill people, intentionally and unintentionally, and that is the sad, sick reality of life and I am goddamn pissed off about it.

Charlie, I love you brother. Be sure to bang those drums hard and heavy while on the steps of heaven. Rock the choirs.

And to the individual who held the gun, forgiveness is given with as much pain as I feel. Charlie had two children, a boy and a girl… now fatherless. May you not meet the sad end you caused him, but if it were up to me and if I were to set aside my spirituality and beliefs in a life after death, I would say… fuck you and your weak world you damn sad excuse of a human being. God forgive me for the thoughts…

Take away an innocent life by your ignorance. You know whom you have to answer to and may HE have mercy on your soul.

There is absolutely NO WRITTEN LAW that specifies how a creative program HAS TO BE USED. This idiocy has pissed me off beyond belief. SURE, there are rules and guidelines to follow when using a certain program, but NOWHERE does a manual state that tools have to be used in a certain way. If we, as artists have the ability to create, we sure as hell have the freedom and the RIGHT to use all tools and all mediums as we damn well please. In the great scheme of things, no one, and I mean NO ONE has the right to censor or conspire against the rights of an artist and their freedom of expression. And as for the supposed ‘Orphaned Works’ Bill… that is the most ridiculous crap I have ever heard. Artists, protect your works, protect your integrity and for Pete’s sakes don’t let ANYONE dictate what you create which, by artistic and creative RIGHT is your voice and your vision.  Corporate entities, the voices of fake superiors and the individuals who claim that their eye is superior can all kiss my ass. 

Getting a Degree… that is. Myself and many of my fellow students have decided to continue studying. So, classes have started and it is now time to ‘put up or shut up’ when it comes to the duties and responsibilities involved with extended studies. In other words, time to stop wasting time, hit the books and study.Oh yes, ladies and gentlemen. College life, especially for those of us who have a family, can be quite time consuming. Priorities have to be rearranged and one can only hope that somehow and someway the day gains a few extra hours in order to complete all the assignments and projects. Personally, I would say that it would be a lot easier for those students who don’t have children, live at home with their parents and work a part time job. But, then again I can be wrong. Each and every case is different.However it goes, many individuals spend their idle time with ridiculousness instead of putting what they learn into practice. ‘Schoolwork is for the classroom and homework is for the last minute’.  I can honestly say that I too have fallen into this trap, where procrastination becomes the hindrance to our capabilities. In other words… laziness. Even the top students in every school have their moments of ‘ho-hum’.It gets depressing at times, but what is someone to do? There is no magical formula to balancing out life. Each person has to find the combination that works best for them. I have no problem with waking up at 4:00 a.m. in order to work on a project; but that’s me.  Others may find that method ridiculous because they’d rather catch a few more z’s. Then there’s the possibility of ‘hanging out with the guys’, or ‘ladies night out’ and assignments get put in the back of the mind. In another instance, it is the 40 hour work week that becomes the stone in one’s path. For each student there are different situations which makes one’s life either a breeze or a complicated Picasso.So, what can we do? Plan ahead? Does it always work? Nope… but we can surely try. The most important thing is not to lose focus and concentrate on the big picture. With each closing chapter there is always the next one and with each passing moment we need to take the necessary steps and make the required decisions and sacrifices to achieve our goal. Yeah, I am using a lot of big words and trying to sound philosophical. Blah. Here’s the way I should really say it…Stop wasting time and get your ass in gear… and of course, I am including myself. … and every other Thursday it’s sushi and saké at Fuji’s.  Beautiful. 

The title of this blog is not to be taken lightly because it has to do with personal growth. We, as human beings tend to follow our hearts and with it come the trials and tribulations of the journey.

A little over two years ago, along with several other hopefuls, embarked on an educational journey at the Nossi College of Art, and last Thursday April 24th, we achieved our dream of obtaining our degree, for some it is the first, for others their second. The majority of us started our education in the summer of 2006, and we witnessed as many of our cohorts chose different paths during our time together. Of course, we wish them the best in their endeavors, but we remained and kept our creative dreams alive… and here we are, at our Portfolio Review, showing-off our stuff! And now, with our Degrees in tow, we plan on making our mark throughout the creative world.

This blog is a tribute to them and I would like to invite all of you to visit their websites and support their creativity. I am proud to network with these individuals and I am also honored to call them my friends. So please visit my website and check out my links page to visit their sites.

Later…

Oh by the way, a handful of us have decided to continue our studies in the Bachelor program… so another two years of books, homework and very little idle time. Spiffy.

So the time has come to walk down the aisle and obtain something that was sought after and fought hard for…

No, I am not talking about a spouse, I am talking about a Degree. You know, the ‘other’ love of your life that takes time away from your family and friends. Well, that time is near for me.

So, happy day.

So, what has been achieved in this long illustrious journey? A lot, and it has seen both extremes, from the most satisfying creativity to the downright frustrating creative blocks. I’ll be damned if I’ll be a hypocrite and say that it has been easy because it sure as hell wasn’t. yeah, there were times when I thought, ‘What the hell am I thinking?’ It is at those times when I had to reach down and find the true inspiration… and get caught in a zone of creativity, but in order to do that i had to shut myself off from everyone and everything… which can be a very bad thing.

I don’t want to lose focus on what is most important to me, especially my wife and kids. My love for art and my fanatical desires to achieve greatness has been a burden in many ways, and my family has paid the price many times. It is shameful and sometimes I regret the idea that I even returned to art. So, I have to find the true medium between my hobby and my responsibility. It can be trivial, but in the end it comes down to this… without my wife and kids I would have no inspiration for my art.

So, I dedicate my degree to them.

In the meantime, you guys can have fun looking at my latest creation…

The following portrait was created in Photoshop and by use of an incredible camera… the Photo-booth tool on the Mac-Book Pro. YEP! There are lots of cute bells and whistles incorporated into the Macintosh which can lead to hours and hours of unstoppable creativity. I took approximately 40 pictures of myself, using the different filters and a cheap $5 spotlight strategically placed on my desk. then, I imported different images into Photoshop and played with the filters to see what would happen. There is absolutely no science behind it. As a matter of fact, the only ‘illustrating’ I did was the grid I placed on the image and I lowered the opacity and used a filter on it as well.

is this a ‘thought out’ piece? No, not really… it is just how I spend my time while waiting for the day to end.

Yeah… I love you too.

Besides being one of my beliefs, it is also the name of my latest piece.

I really wanted to create another piece that symbolizes something important to me and my views, but I wanted to create it in a different manner.
It all started out with viewing some pieces by M C Escher. I know that he was a genius and his works are truly magnificent, but how the hell did he do it?

Math… that’s how.

Now, I am not a mathematical genius, but I do enjoy playing with shapes and dimensions, so I decided to take a crack at it. This design started off with a simple hexagon. I drew one lizard on it to finalize the ‘placement’. Then I scanned the image and imported it into Illustrator, made it a template and started to build from there. Now, even with a template there is a lot of work to do in regards to spacing and dimensions, so I had to use a series of guides.

Now let me say this… thank God for the ‘duplicate’ option, because with that tool it is a breeze to develop artwork like this, BUT there are many factor to keep in mind, and you most definitely need a template in order to get the measurements right.

The gradient tool is also a fun tool to play with… it’s always nice to ad texture to a background.

Many people who have seen the original piece have said it would be a great tattoo… hmmm, my heart goes out to whomever wishes to endure the pain for it! However it goes, I am very proud of this effort, and trust me, there will be more to come.

Once again, thanks for stopping by and we’ll see you again.

Peace…

Ok.

Here is the latest piece I have developed.

This piece is entitled Imagination Is Limitless. Why? Because it is… so there.

Ok, onto the story of it’s creation…

I wanted to create another ‘organized chaotic piece’ that involved multiple images and layers, but I had no idea what I was going to do. I had no absolute vision for this piece. Ok, so what images was I going to use? Well, I know that I took dozens of pictures of my kids and I building a snow fort, so why not use those? Ok…so, I just created a blank canvas in photoshop and started to upload images and resize them and I started to place them in rows and columns… not really planning anything.

Ok, so here we go… over 100 images uploaded, and I just stared at the screen. Ok, now what? well, what will happen if I added some textures? Sure, why not… so I started to go through the other images that were on the camera and I found some wacky photos that my daughter Anastasia took that I was about to delete, until I realized something… ‘Hey! I can use these for textures!‘ My daughter Anastasia love the camera… she will work that sucker just as well as she works her way through peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and chocolate milk, and interestingly enough, some of these pictures were pretty good!

So, I started to upload my daughters pictures and ad some filters to those as well. Now we are getting somewhere… I knew something good was happening because my surroundings soon disappeared and the only thing I was feeling was the creative orgasmic flow of adrenaline. And that was a good thing… better than sex at times.

So, after 25 hours or so of uploading, editing, retouching, resizing, cropping and flattening… I give you ‘Imagination Is Limitless‘

Sometimes, when I am sitting at my desk and getting ready to work on a project, I find myself pondering how I am going to complete it. Sometimes I find it a bit more difficult to get the creative juices flowing. What causes this?

Simple. The mind is preoccupied on something else and it doesn’t allow us to focus on the creativity. Personally, I feel that any artist can whip out a great creation at any given time if the heart and soul are truly focus on the moment. Whenever a client presents us with a request, we automatically start to envision something and normally (for me anyway) my initial thought is always the one I try to develop. I usually do not create too many thumbnails unless the customer requests it. Ironically enough I have not had too many clients that have asked me to redo a layout. It’s nice when they have absolute trust and confidence in the abilities of the artist.

So… ‘creative constipation’. Yes, I know it is an awkward title.

Many artists, not excluding myself or those I associate myself with, might say ‘I don’t know how to do this…’ Hmm. What then?

It isn’t that the artist does not know how to create… it’s just that the information provided for the project is limited. Either the client did not provide enough information as to what they want or the client does not know how to express what they are looking for. That is where we as artists come into play and assist. It is up to us to decipher what the client wants. This is where we become customer service specialists. So, when a client needs something, we need to ask the probing questions to narrow down the information to the specifics.

At that moment we become Creative Directors because we are guiding the thoughts and visions into a material form…
the project is developed and completed…
client is happy.
Done.

Well, it isn’t always that simple. Some projects take longer than others so the first thing we need to achieve is a clear ‘creative mindset’. That’s the easy part. What I do is I always see each project as a personal statement and remember that creating is fun for me. The moment I start to focus on it as a ‘job’ it doesn’t seem ‘as enjoyable’ to me to create it. Yes, I know it is an awkward thing to say but it is how I see it. I feel that once an artist starts to see everything they do as a ‘job’, they will start to lose their passion for art and only focus on the ‘monetary compensation’. Sure, getting paid is always nice (I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t say it), but if money fuels the creativity I feel that it loses in everything else. That is how I see it.

I see art as an extension of the individual, but like all other hobbies and vices, it should not overshadow everything else and take over the body. Then it becomes an obsession. Yes, it is good to be passionate about your creativity, but not to the point that it controls every single aspect of your life. Far too many artists get fanatical and become so secluded in their art that their social life suffers and their reputation becomes that of an antisocial. That is never a good thing because the communication gets limited and the views of others become mediocre because the artist refuses to see another person’s perspective. Then the artist becomes a tyrant. So much that any input form an outside source sounds like ‘an invasion’ into their creativity. Unless the artist is creating something truly personal, they should always maintain an open mind to new ideas. If not, there will be no amount of
Inspirational Pepto Bismol‘ to help them get the ideas out.

The artist should be constantly learning… not dismissing new ideas and views.

That’s about it.

Cool title for this entry.

Here’s the scenario… So I am sitting here designing a Wedding Program for yet another client, but not like previous jobs, this one is needed for this weekend. Does that bother me? No, I can always work around deadlines, but the way I feel about this project is very different because the client actually gave me complete creative freedom for it. Now, that was the soothing part, but alas, I still have to complete the design, submit a proof for review, make any necessary changes, submit a proof again for approval and then I can print it, package it and deliver it.

So, why did I choose the title Passive Aggressive Artistry? Well, it’s how I feel at the moment. I feel calm because I have creative freedom, but I feel aggressive because I am a perfectionist and I refuse to put out a lame product, especially if it has my name on it. So, for this project there are many things to consider…

First off, it really isn’t a wedding program, per se… this couple has been married for 58 years. It’s more like a celebration of their Anniversary and a Renewal of Vows. With a couple of this age and experience in married life, I have to come up with a design that fits the age, and I do not mean ‘old’. I mean, I have to design something that is legible enough for the elderly, because I am sure that many of their friends from years past will be there. So a font with a lot of curls and crap won’t be legible enough, so I chose Lucinda Calligraphy as the font for this program.

Now, the original product they gave me as a sample of what they would like was prepared in Microsoft Word and everything was saturated with blue… I guess that means they like the color blue. Ok, so blue it is. I chose Pantone Blue 072C, which is the closest color I could find to the one they had on their document. (note: Don’t you just hate it when you get a job and they ask for exact colors and font but they do not provide other information like ‘pantone color numbers’ or font names… and what is worse, the document isn’t even an electronic file…) Just peachy… ok, so I will match it to the best of my ability, and here is where I feel aggressive. I am determined to match what they like, except for the font… they used Times New Roman, which is just as ‘overused’ as Arial or Helvetica.

Now, here is another detail… when it comes to a ’simple’ wedding program like this one, I try to keep the layout simple and keep all the type the same size, but here is the kicker… one page has minimal text, but the other has too much text. Geez. Thank God for tracking and kerning. But the other point to ponder is the font size, if it becomes too small, you’ll need a magnifying glass to read it.

So after reviewing the type and the layout there was only one option… put the ‘appreciations’ on the back of the program. that way all the type will be a uniform size and it will flow easily. Perfect…

But then there was one last pointer… they have a jpeg image they would like on the cover, BUT the image is 328×276 pixels at 96 dpi. Tiny and of very low quality, probably taken with a polaroid and then scanned. What am I supposed to do with this? Hmm, no problem (I think). I opened it up in Photoshop, adjusted the brightness and whatnot and converted it to an EPS. Is this the ‘correct’ way? Heck, I don’t know, but it sure worked!

I finished building the program in Quark, converted it into a PDF at 300 dpi and submitted it for approval.

The couple loved it.

I am a happy man.

… now I have to print 300 of these things, box ‘em up and deliver them by Friday… and I hope they do not ask me to change something after I print them because that would be disappointing.

Here at work I usually have an hour to eat my lunch and do whatever, but usually I am done with lunch in 10 minutes, and that includes the time to takes me to heat it up. Consequently I forgot my lunch today… oops.

I have been reviewing the artworks that I am getting ready to post on my website and while doing so I am listening to Audioslave here at my desk. I have another 55 minutes (supposedly) on for my lunch break. Anyway, back to my website. I am concentrating a lot on what kind of website would best identify me as an artist. i sure as hell do not want to create a mediocre site, and I refuse to use a pre-designed template. No, this website has to identify me the best way possible, from the artworks all the way to the subliminal messaging. heh heh…

Yeah, I am goofy like that. Since when is subliminal messaging negative? We see it all around us, especially in advertisement. Ever notice how commercials for fast food joints have the most exposure right after you get off work? Yeah, trying to get people to go ‘out to eat’ instead of dining in. that’s the way I see it. Subliminal… ooh.

Whatever, I enjoy a good burger every now and then.

This is just a ramble because I can.