New Possible Horizons coming my way...very excited!

So about a couple of weeks ago my best friend Lena (she lives in Moscow) asked me a favor to help her design a poster for an upcoming event sometime in the winter in Moscow. It is the first ever event of this kind so she wanted it to be special. I'm not exactly sure the official name for the event, all I know is it's an international meeting/convention of dentists from all over the world gathering in Moscow for the first time! Just a little insight, my best friend is a doctor and she is very much involved with the domestic as well as international medical affairs.
So i promised her I'd play around with some designs and photos and see what I could come up with. The idea was to incorporate some sort of familiar image/images of things that defines Moscow and Russia in general! So I chose to recreate an image of St. Basil cathedral. It's a pretty well recognized building and the best part is that I have visited there several times myself when I was younger. So I after a long evening of painting and editing I came up with this...

I sent it to Lena with hopes that she will tell me if she likes it or would have wanted it to be different in some way. A few hours later she wrote back and told me she Loved it, and what was left now was to get it approved by the official people that needed it.
The final decision was made. THEY LOVED IT!!! Of course they would need to add text and a logo on top of the image and I told Lena I'd help her with that as well.
This was basically my first assignment outside of school that will be put to good use! It was great practice for the future when I will actually be getting paid for it. I still got a long way to go but it's a definite start. And the best part is Lena told me that she may need me to help design tshirts, mugs, etc for the same event! I'm stoked!

It's not copying when you're learning...

If I had a penny for every time I heard people say "It's not considered your work if you're copying from other artists, it's cheating".  In the case of those artists who actually decide to make profit off of the artwork that they copied, yes I must say that's totally Messed Up, not to mention it's illegal in many cases, and obviously it's a reputation crusher. But if you happen to be like me and a few other out there who consider recreating other's artwork as a way of learning how to become a better artist, to understand concepts, and most definitely a way of practice, then Congratulations...You Have An Open Mind.

I must admit I wasn't always open to that idea until I had several conversations with some of my instructors who told me that even the Greats copied from other Greats! Even Glenn Vilpu, who I consider one of, if not the best artists out there today, said to not be afraid to copy from the works of the artist that you admire, in his case he was studying Renaissance artists' works and the human figure.

Since then I have done several paintings who were originally done by artist I admire quite a lot, and I must say I've learned quite a bit just by studying how they created those particular paintings, and I've acquired a certain way or should I say steps in creating artworks that come together quite nicely.

I'm going to post some of them just to share how I've done. I'm not taking any credit for the ideas for the painting, they obviously belong to the artist who created them. I just want to share my versions of those artworks.

Original artist: Greg "Craola" Simkins

Original artist: James Jean

Original artist: unknown, I found a photograph of this graffiti art on a brick wall and I just thought it was pretty cool..kudos to whoever came up with it. I changed mine a little.

 

A picture of Ganesha, a Hindu Deity, also known as the "Remover of Obstacles"! 

 

This was an Old Indian Motorcycle Ad that I decided to use for a project... I am a big fan of vintage pin-up art and artists such as Gil Elvgren!

P.S. If anyone is interested in watching a pretty awesome documentary about art plagiarism and the people that make profit off of it, whether you agree with it or disagree, I still think it's a gutsy movie! It's called "F for Fake" it's Mr. Orson Welles' final directorial effort. Check it out!

Take me to Egypt...

I have to admit, I Love Me Some Egypt...let me rephrase that, I Love Me Lots of Egypt. I don't know if it's the history that fascinates me or the fact there is soooo much unexplained till this day about ancient Egypt, the architecture of the pyramids (supposedly built by aliens), or the secrets of the tombs, queens and kings alike, mummies, I can honestly go on forever =)

So I decided to dedicate this post to my love for "Egypt"

The reason why thought it might be an interesting topic is actually because I stumbled upon something that I thought I have lost forever. Mind you, I made this little guy when I was 16, back in high school, Oh so Long Ago...lol. Anywho I figured he was gone for god and I actually found him yesterday with his crown and beard broken. After a little glue and fixing I finally put him back together. I still can't believe I made this 10 years ago...I feel ancient..Get it..haha. nevermind, I'm a dork. Either way, here it is...

I will definitely return to this topic very soon so keep your eyes open. Until then I bid you Adieu!

Just a little something I did...

This was an assignment in one of my classes...to create a portrait made out of the first letter of my first name...here's my attempt at it...Ms. Jean Harlow everyone!

P.S. As you will notice she's is favorite of mine among classic movie actresses (particularly the 30's, 40's, and 50's). I like painting here quite often.

First Blog Entry Ever...Be Nice!

I have been attending college since i graduated high school. I am 26 now so you do the math. I am not embarrassed to admit that I haven't graduated with some sort of degree already, I am just going to say that that's what happens when you can't make up your mind about what you want to be when you graduate. I started as a Film student, changed my degree to Art halfway, and finally changed schools to find what I was looking for and the quality of education I needed to succeed in reaching my goals. So let's all keep our fingers crossed and wish Irena good luck! =)

I decided to start posting the works I do in school and in my own free time to see how my art progresses and hopefully gets better! Hope you all enjoy, whoever happens to stumble onto my blog. Feel free to ask any questions regarding art and other things.

Cheers.
Irena T.