Art Exhibition

Hello everyone!

Just a quick word to let you know where you can see my work around halloween!

First of all, beginning on october 19th and running until christmas, my latest oils will be on show at the art gallery "Le Mur Insolite", which I mentionned a few times until today. The gallery was an old convenience store that has been transformed in a dark artist's haven and now works hard to bring the unusual and the bizarre to the general population.

Also on display will be one of my shrunken heads, my hand of glory, and my feejee mermaid, all of which will be available for sale.

For those who can't make it to Quebec City but live close to Montreal, until halloween, I will have a few oils & watercolors on display at the Usine 106U gallery near the Plateau Mont-Royal.

On the Aging of Statuary

OH EM GEE GUYS!!!! I ain’t dead. For real!

I was just busy, y’know, selling shoes. Painting. Stuff like that.

THAT BEING SAID, here I am again, with something that might be useful for you, in these days prefacing halloween. (Prefacing? Is that even a word? Or is that a francisism or something like that?) In any case, I’m gonna show you guys how I usually proceed to give an antique patina to 3D objects. In this case, a sparkling new bust of King Tut.

Art Show Tonight

Hey there peeps!

It's my second solo art show's opening tonight at the Temps Partiel. Lots of fun to be had and beer to be drunk. If you come by Quebec City, stop by the bar and take a look! My paintings will be hung on their walls for the whole month of july.

Here's a link to the event!

Live Painting at the Temps Partiel

Last friday, I had the chance to share the stage with my friend and incredibly talented artist Marie-Pier Lapointe at the Temps Partiel, painting a large, 30" x 60" canvas in front of the bar patrons, in under 3 hours.

That night at the bar was actually a fundraiser for Le Mur Insolite, the darkest, friendliest, most bizarre gallery in the province of Quebec. While we tried to give something to watch with our painting, DJ Kronos was spinning great industrial music, tickets to win two gorgeous pendants by local artist Rottenz were sold and the gallery kept about 15% of all sales of alcohol, courtesy of the bar.

While the evening started with the bar almost empty with the worst thunderstorm I've seen in years raging outside, it ended up being a success, bringing about 400$ to the gallery, and an invitation from the Temps Partiel to do that again every three months.

The finished canvas is now on sale at the Mur Insolite.

Dead Citizen - From The Void Above

Hey there guys!

For the last few months, I had been working here and there on the design and illustrations of a concept album, produced by a talented, passionate local progressive metal band called Dead Citizen.

The lyrics from the album tell a story, and it was my job to create the universe around it. I'm very grateful towards the band members for giving me a chance to make their work come to life, so to speak, and I've designed every element, from the band's new logo, to the humongous bio-mechanical antenna towering over the city in which the story takes place, including an illustration for each single song.

Now, the album will finally be released. If by any chance, some of you are around Quebec City on the 8th of June, stop by the Temps Partiel, a friendly local alternative bar, at around 21pm, to attend the release party.

The band will play the album live for you guys, with Mire doing the opening.

I'll be there, enjoying the show while downing a few cold ones with a couple of friends, and the album will be on sale, though I don't know at which price.

Here's the facebook event if you're interested!

My final school animation demo

Hey there folks!

I recently deposited, at last, my animation Demo Reel, done during my final year at Collège Bart in the 3D animation program.

Now, the hard part: Finding a job as an animator. If anyone got any leads, let me know!



David Gagné - Demo 2013 from David Gagné on Vimeo.

The Clarksville Alien

The very talented Jacob Petersson is at it again.

This time, instead of a fae folk body, he presents to us the corpse of a small humanoid alien. Lovely work.

LINK

Ren & Stimpy

"Realistic" paintings of Ren & Stimpy by talented artist Nick de Spain.

Facebook Page

Hey there guys!

 I just finished setting up a page on facebook on which I'll post my creative work. On there I'll post work in progress shots, some insight about my work, interesting events and whatever artsy stuff I found on the net that tickled my fancy.

 You can also see what I have to offer on sale, often at prices lower than on my etsy shop.

 Please take a look, and if you like what I do, follow me! I'll try not to disappoint ;)

LINK

The Lady ParaNorma

Here's a beautiful, spooky short by Vincent Marcone, featuring Peter Murphy as the narrator, and music by Janine White.

The mix of live action, 2D, and 3D animation gives quite an interesting look to this short, which evolves around a strange, solitary woman, haunted by the voices of the dead.

Via The Art of Darkness

Interview with R.S. Connett

Here's a very interesting interview with Robert Steven Connett. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

LINK

Artist Feature - Michael Hussar

Born in 1964 in Southern California, Michael Hussar is an american oil painter who works in a style reminiscent of the work of the old masters, with the talent to go with it.

Self Portrait, Oil on Canvas, 2001

Trained at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, he taught portraiture for almost 10 years at his alma mater some time following his graduation. He possess a great mastery of alla prima portraiture, but still, his best work lies in the grandiose, opulent canvases, in which he depicts in a voyeuristic approach a grotesque menagerie of freaks and libertines.

Weathering Tips with Adam Savage

I thought you guys might find this interesting;

The folks at tested.com made this video with Adam Savage of mythbuster fame, where he shows tips and tricks for weathering a wooden box, based on his many years of experience in the model making and special effects industry.

A Few Sketches

Banker - done in class instead of animating

I don't have much to talk about these days, so I thought I'd post a few sketches that I might paint over later.

Transfiguration

Here, for your viewing pleasure, is a breathtaking, unsettling performance by french artist Olivier de Sagazan.


Olivier de Sagazan from www.labomatique.com on Vimeo.

More on him after the jump!

New products on Etsy

Hey there! Time for some shameless advertising.

 Today, I put a few watercolors, heads, and the hand of glory for sale on etsy, at as reasonable a price as I could. If you'd like to help a dirt-poor college student afford art supplies and beer, go take a look!

You might find something interesting.

  Click Here!

Artist Feature - Hans Memling

Gotta love him. German then Flemish painter of the 15th century, he painted mostly religious and biblical scenes, like many of his peers. He was perhaps a tad bit more creepy though.

From HansMemling.org:

"Hans Memling (Memlinc) (c. 1430 - 11 August 1494) was an Early Netherlandish painter, born in Seligenstadt/Germany, who was the last major fifteenth century artist in the Low Countries, the successor to Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden, whose tradition he continued with little innovation.[citation needed]

Born in Seligenstadt, near Frankfurt in the Middle Rhein region, it is believed that Memling served his apprenticeship at Mainz or Cologne, and later worked in the Netherlands under Rogier van der Weyden (c. 1455-1460). He then went to Bruges around 1465."

Triptych of the Last Judgment

1467-1471

A common subject for painters of this era, which allowed many delightfully creepy

possibilities.

The Backwater Gospel

Set in a small, god fearing community in the dust bowl during the 30's, The Backwater Gospel is the bachelor project of 8 students from the Animation Workshop.

Featuring a sinister undertaker who's presence is an omen of death, a one-legged, guitar playing tramp, and a preacher seeking to manipulate his parishioners, this short presents a delightfully creepy story with raw, gritty graphics which fits perfectly over a soundtrack on which Sons of Perdition performed.

A truly enjoyable 9min32, which I'm sure you'll love.

The Backwater Gospel from The Animation Workshop on Vimeo.

You can find production notes and pictures on the official blog.

Breakdown Of An Oil Painting

As you probably know by now, I enjoy dabbling in "fine" arts now and then. Nothing works better to boost up one's mood than a solvent high. I recently made a quick little painting of Cthulhu, and I thought I'd show you how I usually paint.

My art studio, AKA the floor of my 1 bedroom flat.

Following the jump, I'll show you pictures from each step/sitting with an explanation for what I'm doing. Keep in mind though that it is in no way intended to be a tutorial, but simply a way for me to present the methods I've developed through trial and error in order to achieve somewhat satisfying results. Oils are still a mysterious and frustrating medium for me, though, but y'know, practice makes perfect.

I still have lots of practice to go, that being said!

Why Don't We Taxidermy Humans

The good folks at V Sauce present a very interesting short video in which they explains different ways by which a human corpse could be preserved, and the legal and technical reasons preventing the taxidermy of human beings.

It is a must watch for anyone interested in what happens post death. Also, if you go on youtube, in the description of the videos, there is a cornucopia of links about the different subjects addressed in the video.

Good to pass an hour or two of your time!

Insects Preserved in Amber (NOT!)

Carim Nahaboo, Illustrator and all around great artist, shared on his blog these pictures of what looks like ancient insect specimens preserved in amber.

However, he created those beautiful things by the much simpler (and quicker) method of casting the insects in tinted polyester.

This method should probably be quite simple to replicate with a little resin casting know-how, and has the potential to produce quite convincing fakes; right now, I imagine mixing this process with Shadow Manor's mummified fairy tutorial I covered before.


More pictures HERE and HERE.

Alligator Boy Hatchling for Sale

The talented Steve Cotroneo at Autumn's Oddities currently has a gorgeous, creepy alligator boy gaff for sale on Ebay.

According to the listing, it is made of latex, polymer clay and urethane foam, and comes nestled with an authentic ostrich egg inside its wooden crate.

At 350$, it's a bit too expensive for a broke student such as me, but considering it's a piece of original art, it's still quite a good deal!

Artist Feature - R. S. Connett (possibly NSFW)

Hey there!

First off, let me introduce you to something I want to implement in this blog.

When you take a look of my posting history, you can see it is very sporadic. If we take the year 2011 for example, we could even say "non existent". This is something that I need to remedy, so I started wondering why posts didn't happen more often.

The reason I came through was that although I am quite passionate about the content that comes into this blog, I simply have to broad a range of interests to cater exclusively to this niche of which my blog is part. Thus, when you see months that are busier than others, it's simply that in these periods, instead of sharpening my woefully poor animation skills, or perhaps painting a few canvases, I crafted something nifty that I wanted to share with you, and thus dove right back into this creepy crafting niche.

Thus, I believe if I want to make my posting more regular, I should broaden a bit the range of topics I discuss over here, and perhaps talk about other things I'm passionate about. One such interests is art history, and visual arts in general.

In this mindset, I thought about featuring now and then artists whose works I enjoy, and which would fit in the general thematic of my blog (i.e.: no kittens and cute little cherubs!). Sometimes, it'll be artists with an historical importance, artists whom everyone and their mothers know about, but whose work I believe should continue being celebrated. Other times, it shall be more underground artists, folks who don't know much fame, but have the talent and creativity to catch my attention. This, I hope, will garnish the pages of my blog, and will be of interest to you guys.

In any case, the first artist I want to present to you is Robert Steven Connett.

HADES, R.S. Connett, ACRYLIC on Canvas - 16" x 16" 

Hominid

A short, creepy animation by Brian Andrews based on his series of photo composites mixing human and animal parts.


Hominid from Brian Andrews on Vimeo.


I love how the shading of the characters so closely ressemble diaphonized animal specimens, a chemical process which stains the skeleton and makes the flesh transparent.

Photo of diaphonized minnows from The Brain Scoop

Via The Art of Darkness

Amazing Robotic Dress

From Youtube:
"Exploration within the realms of robotic dresses; a spider dress gave birth. A cute little host creature created by fashiontech designer ANOUK WIPPRECHT and hacker & engineer DANIEL SCHATZMAYR - A prototype of a mechanic dress equipped with sensors indicators and controllers, created with the aim to give more power and 'psychological thrills' to the sugar sweet character that performative wearables often have. Sensoric, servo controlled, mechanic, microcontroller based and reacting//attacking upon approach, inspired by the game LIMBO. "



Via Neatorama

The Hand of Glory - Part 2

The hand of Glory is finally finished, looking all pretty in its shadow box, and ready to... hang! (BWAHAHAHAHA! HANG! like, it's already been hung? y'know, hand of a hangman? no? someone?)

If you stumbled here first, I strongly recommend you to read Part 1 of this tutorial, 'cause we're jumping to the finishing touches right after the break!

The Hand of Glory - part One

In the good old days where you could be accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake for the simple act of living past 40 years old (Caveat Lector! I may or may not be making this up.), the european continent was riddled with strange and creepy beliefs.

One of those was the Hand of Glory; the mummified hand of a criminal who died at the gallows. It was believed that lighting a candle, made from the fat of the same man, or each individual finger, depending to whom you ask, would plunge a whole household in a deep sleep, which would last until the flame had been snuffed, either with blood or milk.

This made the Hand of Glory the perfect tool for burglars and other sly folks with crime on their minds.

Following the reading of this post by the good spirit behind Propnomicon (Is it a man? a woman? an unspeakable horror? who knows!), I decided to make myself a mummified hand. Not only that, I was also going to make it with some ghetto-ass materials.

The Finger of Nephren-Ka

Propnomicon just posted pictures and a very detailed walkthrough of a mummified human finger prop he recently made, using traditional gaff making techniques. The results & presentation are quite impressive, and makes me want to try making a whole hand. That's definitively on my to-do list.

You can go take a look at it and gather all the info you need by clicking HERE.