I’ll have more pictures from Artopia up over the next couple of days. For more information on Artopia click here.

Google Sketchup is a free 3D modeling freeware that promises to get you up and running in a few hours. I never believed that. 3D is 3D and even for someone who has had some experience with 2D design software, going 3D is a bit like Columbus setting foot in North America for the first time.

I’m not being paid by Google for this but all I could say is two thumbs up. Indeed, a few hours into my first tentative attemps, I’ve come up with objects and shapes that more or less matched what I had in mind. The following are the first 3 models I made.

my idea of a small loft-type condo (missing SIMS2 badly)

my second model was for an aircraft carrier

my latest was for a battle tank (ah, too much WWII history on Wikipedia, I guess)

The last model took me almost 3 days to do. the tank treads alone took me more than 2 days to finish. The final rendering isn’t as impressive as those on other 3d programs but the simpleton in me really liked the basic fog-and-shadow effect on the last two models.

There’s a lot of things you can do with your finished model. You can even upload your models on the Sketchup warehouse for others to download and render to their liking. If you’re into architecture, you can create a 3D model of your building and upload it on Google Earth to get a 3-dimensional view of your house or whatever.

In my opinion, anyone who wants to give 3D modeling as a hobby should start with Sketchup first.

In Artopia, art is gender-neutral. This does not mean we deny that women, for one reason or another, cannot offer art that deals with what are sometimes called “women’s issues.” And men can deal with “women’s issues” too, or for that matter, topics deemed male or manly by our weird little culture: sports, war, guns and cars (as if women were immune to these). Nor do we need to ban particularly womanly subjects such as birth or menopause. In fact, participant perspectives are always worth having, as I think Judy Chicago proved ages ago, with both her Dinner Party and The Birth Project.

The point is that unless you are ridiculous enough to hold to the old-fashioned notion that art itself is gender-specific (i.e., specific to males), it behooves us to look at the art itself. Some men have mothers, wives, daughters and want to know what goes on inside of their heads. If we need art at all — and we do, now more than ever — we cannot afford to avoid more than half of the art produced, simply because men have not produced it.

Statistically, more male than female artists are famous, but this is merely documentation of oppression, or at best the sociological facts. In our culture, little girls are expected to be “artistic.” In spite of this, some of them go on to art school and actually develop the notion they can be full-fledged culturistadors, on a par with Michelangelo and van Gogh.

So the short answer to my question is that women artists want to be treated fairly as artists. Women want success.

Let us leave aside for the moment the definition of success that equates it with commerce. Even what we might call spiritual success in art is dependent upon support systems and supportive persons, but at this late date, when feminism is thought to have won out, there are few fully developed support systems and support persons for women artists, even among women. Show me the art dealer who represents more than one or two women artists; show me the art critic, male or female, who writes about more than one or two female art stars; show me the collector who puts her money where her gender is.

John Perreault
Artopia

To the unacquainted, Georgetown is a relatively “rundown” part of the city, but in a good way. It’s chock full of antiques and old-school personality. With portions of an old brewery and malt plant still intact, the neighborhood has established itself as a pretty good art niche as of late.

Upon first getting there, we were met with crafts to do. Carve your own clay tile, they said. Partake in our creature swaps, they said. Eat free popcorn, they said. Play in our strongman competitions, they said. But that was just the beginning!

Sand painting, with powdered paint. Powdered paint?!!

Yoga ball alley does a body good. How do they come up with this stuff?

Power tool racing. This was all the rage for some reason. In this particular race, the new generation tool beat the old generation tool. Unfortunately, I’m not sure what tool it was…

Numerous colored paints, one record, and one centrifuge = spin art.

An experimental film setup of sorts.

A contraption that’s a little like a seesaw, but when you stand on the end, it’s similar to a flipbook. You think about that.

Jethaniel “Spyder” Peterka‘s Anatomical Icons. Oil on panel and what looks like gold leaf. He was a former (or current?) Gage Academy of Art student. I know nothing more.

Sarah Fansler Lavin – Bite, Tear, Chew, Gnaw #2, made of cast plaster and steel. Here is her artist statement:

“My work is a response to where we have been and where we are going. For me, Blacksmithing is the connection between the worlds. It reflects the physical effort and human struggle in the confrontation with matter. It is an ironic nod to tradition and the labor intensity eschewed today. My work explores the issues of human fragility/natures tenacity. This imbalance is the subject of my recurring dream: Teeth falling out. This common dream represents fear of losing control, not being heard and our caged instinctual and primal instincts.”

I’ve always loved to draw as far back as I can remember. My mom even told me that as a toddler, I messed up most of the house walls and curtain with a big, bad, black marker. That will hardly qualify for art but I guess it was a start. However, my earliest memories of my own “respectable” attempts at art date back to maybe 24 or 25 years ago. I remembered sitting on my bed with a small blackboard on my lap drawing a chalk figure of an angel and demon in a fight to the death. I believe my inspiration came from the Komiks that my father used to bring home everyday. Komiks is the filipinized version of the word “comics” and basically presents much of the same content as its western counterparts: outlandish stories, fantastic superheroes and long, meandering storylines. The last frame of most komiks stories end with the phrase “itutuloy” or “durugtungan” which means “to be continued”. These installments can last anywhere from a few months to a few years but people really took it as a legitimate past time. Before the rise of the telenovelas and internet video gaming in the 90s, almost everyone I knew read Komiks. Suffice to say, reading Komiks is as much a part of the Filipino psyche and culture as fishball (a filipino street food) and the jeepney (the most common means of transport hereabouts).

Im not a big fan of reading back then, (Heck, I can’t even read at 4 years old) I just stared at the drawings and boy, how I loved the artworks there. My dad used to bring home a lot of Komiks. Sometimes two or three at a time. I still vividly remember most of their titles: Weekdays normally mean a mother lode of Pinoy Klasiks, Pinoy Komiks, Aliwan, Holiday ( which is a horror komiks inspite of the cheery title), Pioneer, True Ghost Stories, and of course Funny Komiks which Dad usually brings home on Saturdays. If my memory serves me right, the only Sunday Komiks back then was Hiwaga Komiks.

A lot of popular Filipino movies have their roots in Komiks whose popularity steadily grew right after the 2nd World War. Some of the classic komiks characters back then were Kenkoy, Kalabog and Bosyo, Palos and of course, the immortal Panday which catapulted the late King of Filipino Movies, Fernando Poe Jr. to meteoric heights of popularity. The success of Panday allowed the franchise to have its own cartoon version, movie series and TV series keeping the name alive over almost 30 years.

Before shifting into antiques restoration, my father dabbled briefly in Komiks illustration as well. His idol back then was Steve Gan and Francisco Coching, the dean of Philippine Comics Illustrators. Most of these names won’t ring a bell to the younger generations but these people along with other prominent illustrators like Hal Santiago, Nestor Redondo, Vincent Kua, Larry Alcala, Jim Fernandez, etc. were the finest examples of native talent in the fine art of Komiks illustration during their time. I became so enamored to their work that I can tell who’s the illustrator of a specific story merely by looking at their artistic styles.

Sadly, some good things never last.

With the rising cost of paper and ink, and the rise of other diversions, the Filipino Komiks lost its mass appeal and most artists found themselves looking for greener pastures abroad. Some became very successful in foreign soil, like Lan Medina who did some of the Aria, Fables and The Punisher: MAX comic book illustrations. Lately, other Pinoy/Fil Am artists based here and abroad have been making waves in the international comic book scene. Names like Whilce Portacio, Wilson Tortosa, Gerry Alanguilan, etc. have become bywords by virtue of their exceptional talent and world-renowned mastery of the nuances of the craft. With great advances in digital art production and software, even budding illustrators today can create great artwork with a stunning degree of detail and realism but it simply cannot be denied that we owe everything to the ones that came before and blazed the trail when the world was not looking.

As for me, I never made made any serious attempt to become a comic book artist. The closest thing to that would be the one comic event I attended in my whole life. With a couple of free tickets given by a friend, I went to Glasshouse Studio’s comic workshop in Megamall with my sister ( back in 2002 if I’m not mistaken ), my precious comic book studies safely tucked inside a clear book. After the event, I joined the beeline to Glasshouse honcho David Campiti’s makeshift office inside the Megatrade Hall where a bevy of aspiring and professional artist showed their opuses in hopes of landing a stint in the international comics scene. I gave David a glimpse of my art, which was promptly rejected on the basis of “not establishing a clear point of view on the opening frames.” Waaah!

I learned something new that day: being able to draw anatomically correct human figures does not a comic book artist make. I never lost heart though. I lied low for a while after I made a career shift from creative work (I was then working as a copywriter/graphic artist for an ad agency) to outsourcing aka “call sener” but I never lost my passion for art in all its forms and permutations. Even while employed as a call center agent, I made use of whatever resources were available in the office to sate my hunger for self expression. The result was a series of crude mouse-drawn MS Paint drawings I’ve collected over the years. Here’s some of them:

titie: Old Silver

Title: Nameless Girl

Title: Landscape

Title: Self portrait kuno

Title: Pisces

Title: Still Life in Red

Oscar Wilde, incidentally said that “beauty is the highest form of genius.” I beg to disagree. Einstein ain’t beautiful, but I digress.

I’ve always thought that people who make a living (and a killing) out of their art are the luckiest people alive. For what else can be better than reaping the rewards of the labors you would readily give for free just for the sheer love of it? I don’t know about other people but for me the best thing about art is the labor itself. The finished product is just a bonus. Nothing beats the natural high of seeing something come out of nothing just because you willed it to and fashioned it as such with your hands.

As an artist, I can say I’m no good at my craft yet but I’m trying to squeeze in what little time I can to learn a few things here and there. Several years ago, I was trying to learn the tricks on pencil and paper. Nowadays, I’m more about photomanipulation using Adobe Photoshop. Time’s a-changing, really. That’s one reason I decided to join this community of artists that regularly post their artworks online. The community is called deviantart.com. Somehow, being a deviant has less of the stigma attached to it after I joined this group. You can check out my artworks there by clicking on this link <a href=”http://magnusatthva.deviantart.com

“I’m going to treat you the same as the Grade 1s and 2s I sometime teach” said Peter, at the beginning of the workshop yesterday.  Sixteen potential artists from all corners of the ABC in East Perth sat, now slightly nervously, in the foyer and looked up at this – it must be said – somewhat manic artist.  We’d been living with his art on walls around the building for the week and were keen to have a go ourselves.

“I’ll start with cartooning, ” says Peter “but remember I came out of the womb with a pencil in my hand so I draw quickly.”  He drew two circles with dots in the middle.  “I always start with the eyes, and the only decision I make is big or small. And the rest kind of draws itself…”

Well it did for him – suddenly there was a man on the whiteboard, and then a hippo in underpants, and another throwing up with bits of vomit flying from his mouth (“The kids love it when I draw this”, Peter explains).

“The second thing to do is put in the emotion.”  And with one line – we saw happiness, sadness, anger and suspicion…

We drew cartoons for a while… some of them were quite good.  The next exercise was harder.  We drew a basic skeleton of a person – front on and side on – and then put another sheet of paper over the top and filled in the body around them – you can see the skeletons on the right behind Peter’s head in the top photo.  We practiced bodies. 

And then the big challenge.  We were to draw the person opposite without taking our pen off the paper. This was hard.  Some even tried side on views.  Really hard. But some of the drawings ending up looking like the person.  Some of us were surprised they had a passing resemblance.

All agreed it was a great workshop and thank you Peter for entertaining us while encouraging our inner artists into the light.  The next event for ABC staff will be an “ABC Archibald”.  Our drawings will be on display and staff members will be encouraged to vote for their favourite.  The prize – a bottle of champagne.

10.00 am

Every surface of the studio likely to get spattered with paint has been covered in plastic drop sheets. It looks like we are going to commit murder.

Peter is calm and excited – if you can be both at the same time. He got up at 3 this morning with another idea. He’s going to paint the boys… and then his plan is to swivel about 90 degrees and paint the view through the glass into the control room. But will he have time?

In the studio… Glenn Mitchell (in green), Ken Judge and Jon Dorotich.

10.30am

10.30am Paint hits the canvas…

10.30am First pass…

10.35am Glenn’s green shirt appears…

11.00 am

Peter says the painting is different to what he envisaged. He’s thinking in abstract terms – the red blind behind Ken, the gold of the desk, the grey window. There’s a lot of technical stuff on the desk which he’s suggesting rather than detailing. He’s only got two hours and two paintings to do!

He’s using an oil based medium and a range of brush sizes… the big one you’ll see soon is used to soften the painting.

He’s just told Ken Judge “You’re a wriggler! The biggest wriggler of the lot.” He wants Ken to fold his arms and point his finger. Jon has a great fist says Peter.

Glenn would like a little less “gut” if possible and Jon reckons Peter has his eyebrow down pat (and wants us to send him a photo of the finished painting – so he must be happy).

11.05am

11.35am Finishing touches

11.40am Buggered

“I’m buggered. My energy has just gone. I stopped when the communication finishes and the communication finished.”

Peter is now sitting in the control room to watch the last few minutes of Sportstalk.

“Hey that looks pretty good.” Peter sounds amazed but for Roanna Edwards who has watched this painting come to life well, we’re not amazed at all.

“For me, who sits here every week watching these boys, you’ve got them exactly!” says Roanna. “The body language… Glenn slouching in his chair, Doro very upright and Ken leaning in at the table… this is what I see every week.”

“There’s no time for me to get all the proportions right and I know there are little glitches but it’s about getting the message across and what you said Roanna… that was the message.” Says Peter. He sighs loudly and sits back. “I won’t be able to do a second one… I’m done.”

Well we’re happy with the painting you’ve done Peter – Awesome work!

11.40am Signature

11.40am Details

11.45am Finished painting

11.50am Painting and subjects

Glenn has just said on radio: “The biggest surprise for me this season is how good I look on canvas.”

A statement which has us rolling on the floor!

11.50am Peter is interviewed by the Sportstalk panel.

12.00 noon Roanna thinks the painting is spot on. Clint is in the background admiring Peter’s work.

So be it on his work here or wherever please feel free to ask a question using the form below.

Finishing touches

Buggered

Signature

Details

Finished painting

Painting and subjects

Peter is interviewed by the Sportstalk panel.

Roanna thinks the painting is spot on.  Clint is in the background admiring Peter’s work.

What Peter sees…

Paint hits the canvas…

First pass…

Glenn’s green shirt appears…

Peter Kendall gives instructions as Russell draws.

This is what (kind of) ended up on the page.  Mona John?

Jason Chatfield spent the day doing caricatures of the speakers.

Russell thought he could have been kinder.

Artopia is now in full swing.  There is a lot you can do and take part in.

Dianne Bain:  Eating and Talking.

I found Bobbie really bright and animated but like so many people when concentrating the whole expression changes.

Julian and Elliot from Rollercoaster.

Wandering around the ABC I see a lot of desks and started to see little worlds.

Inside the OB Van.  Brandon, Claudia and Mark.

Boundary Riders.  1/4 time at the WAFL.

First of all – be friendly.  All the comments made are pre-moderated which means we check them before we post them.  Nasty comments of a personal nature will not be posted.  Remember that the artworks are created by a real person and the subjects are real people too.  That said, have fun with it! 

Okay so you want to comment, here’s what you do:

Click on either the title of the post OR the comments link under the post OR on the title of the post under “Recent Comments”.  This opens up the post’s individual page.

You’ll now see a simple form underneath the post. Fill out the form. You can use your real name or a “handle” or nickname. Your email address will NOT be posted and feel free to add your website if you have one. Note that business websites will be moderated in line with ABC Editorial Policies.

Then, in the larger “box”, add your comments!

Note: Your post will not appear immediately. It will be held in a queue until we have a read of it.

So… go nuts! We can’t wait to read what you think.