Hello again! Sorry for the lateness of this post, but fate and reality have conspired of late to keep me from getting to all I'd like to do. It's another quiet Sunday night and the rain has passed for the moment. The topic for tonight is minimalism and the focus will be on small works of art. The essential challenge of a small art work is to express an idea in a limited space. Writing tiny poems on post-it notes is a great concept and one that bears further exploration. A poet in Ireland has a blog containing a number of sticky notes with some small and thoughtful verse. A favicon is a 16x16 square image that is used to identify a web page. You can view this cool article about how to create your own favicons with a good selection of examples. Finally, I've found a page with links to 25 brilliant animated short movies. The shorts here are varied and there's something here for just about any taste. And that's it for this tour of small art works. I'll have more stuff to share next week.
The loops of the week are some strange synthesizer loops. The picture of the week was created using Bryce. Click on the image for a full-sized view Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it. Bye for now!
Unusually warm winter greetings. It's a balmy night considering it's January and this old gray cat has been busy. I've been out in the night a bit more this week so the topic is art with the word “night” in the title. The first night encounter is Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik, which has been translated (somewhat inaccurately) as A little night music. After listening to Mozart's lovely serenade you could view Vincent Van Gogh's The Starry Night. I've always liked the dark blue sky set with brilliant stars and moon and wisps that look like clouds or wind. Our tour of the night ends with a classic children's bedtime book Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. It's hard not to feel like a 3 year old in need of tucking-in when you read this beautiful book. I personally recommend warm (soy) milk and animal crackers as a suitable snack to be taken before bed with the 3 night-themed art works. And on that peaceful note I'll heat my milk and go to bed.
The picture of the week was created using Bryce. Click on the image for a full-sized view Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it. Bye for now!
Hello Again! It's another fine Friday in January and the new year is well under way. The topic for tonight is music and the focus will be on rhythm. I've always been fascinated by unusual and ethnic rhythm patterns. The combination of an odd rhythm with a strange instrument sound or sample can be both startling and beautiful. I've started an experimental piece that has that starts in a very conventional meter but gradually becomes more chaotic and less rhythmic. Adding a complex rhythm over a straight 4/4 or 3/4 meter can lend spice and interest to an otherwise bland arrangement. One of my favorite tricks is to start with a straight 4/4 kick/snare pattern and then add a hit every 3 beats on brushed cymbal or closed hi-hat. There are a lot of good DXi and VSTi drum machines out there, and most commercial software studios include some facility for grid entry of patterns. Devote some time to learning one and you'll soon be creating your own killer back beats. Give it a try!
The picture of the week was created using Bryce. Click on the image for a full-sized view The DVD/Movie of the week was Whale Rider, an excellent film from New Zealand.
Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it. Bye for now!
Happy New Year! It's the first Friday of 2009 and it's chilly here in the Gray Cat's loft. The topic for tonight is writing and the focus will be on writing comedy. We've all had the opportunity to tell a joke we've heard but it's far harder to create a new joke. There is in fact an art to crafting a good joke and to combine a series of jokes on a theme. Brevity is a key skill and the silences between words or phrases can be as important as the words themselves. The meter and timing of a joke is rather poetic and at times nearly musical. The other side of writing comedy is performance and the real test of a good joke whether or not anyone will laugh at it. I've recently started attending comedy open mike nights at the local coffee bar and a nearby Mexican restaurant. These informal events allow anyone with courage or experience to try their hand at stand-up comedy. The seasoned pros will often try out new material while the newbies can get their feet wet in a rather forgiving venue. The process of trying your jokes can be daunting, but with practice it gets easier and the jokes that survive and get refined can form the basis of an act. I'll have more on the ins and outs of comedy writing and performance in a future post.
The brand new year 2009 holds promise and hope to balance the fear and uncertainty of the last year. Let's all try to embrace the positive and to give of ourselves in 2009. Help others if you can and keep the hope alive. Make every day an opportunity and seize the moment!
The picture of the week was created using Project Dogwaffle. Click on the image for a full-sized view Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it. Bye for now!
Hello again! It's another late post and the last one of the year. Holiday madness and a full couple of weekends have played havoc with my schedule. For this latest and belated update I have my annual list of my favorite games of the year. My top five for 2008 were:
#5. Civilization III. One of the best turn-based strategy games ever.
#1. Forged Alliance. The sequel to Supreme Commander is pure addictive RTS goodness.
And that's it for this final report of the year. I'll be back with the first post of 2009 soon.
The loops of the week are a set of electronic percussion parts. The picture of the week was created using Project Dogwaffle. Click on the image for a full-sized view The DVD/Movie of the week was The Squid and the Whale. Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it. Bye for now!
Welcome Back! It's Friday once more and it's starting to feel more like Winter here. This week's posting is my 100th and it's hard to believe that over 2 years have passed since I relaunched Mark's Digital Arts. This week I'd like to thank all the good people who have contributed in some way to this web-log. I'll start with my lady love Bella who has always given me good suggestions along with hugs and smooches. My family, especially my highly creative nieces and nephew, have been a continual source of inspiration. Thanks to my BFF buddy Mark, who really should learn to explore his artistic side. Thanks for all the good reviews and kind words to C.K. Lester, a grand master of the Euphoria programming language and a heck of a good guy. A huge thank you to Steve, my sometime musical collaborator in New Zealand. You're a great guitarist and producer and I know you'll go far with your music. Thanks for all the humor and the serious writing to Ben of the Straight Scotch blog. Thanks for all the music suggestions and good vibes to April, of Dorkmuffin. I miss you kiddo. Thanks for including me in the band to Patrick, Michael, Randy, Todd, and Dutch of 3½. Thanks and hugs to Alejandra and Patrick, the other 2 thirds of the Experimental Film Group. Finally, thanks to Mom and Dad, for encouraging me to make music, and to write, and to create art. Here's to the next 100 posts and lots more tools, techniques, sites and tips to share. Thanks again to one and all!
The picture of the week was created using Bryce. Click on the image for a full-sized view The DVD/Movie of the week was Amelie. This film, like it's title character is both eccentric and charming.
Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it. Bye for now!
Cool December greetings! It's a rather quiet day here in the Gray Cat's loft. The topic for tonight is computer graphics and the focus will be on Carrara 5 Pro. I've mostly used and written about the Bryce 5 and Anim8or because they're both good programs and available as free software. I acquired Carrara 5 Pro as a featured free program on a 3D Now magazine disk, but it should also be available at a good discount because there is a later version. The application has always had something of a reputation as a good lower-cost alternative to some of the more powerful and costly 3D packages. I like the marvelous range of options and presets in C5P. You can create a 3D scene quickly using a wizard or roll your own from scratch. Every aspect of creating still or animation from modeling to finished rendering is included as are a number of sample scenes, models and textures. I like how easy Carrara 5 is to use and the high quality of the finished 3D art. It takes a good amount of learning and practice to get good results, but the training time is worth it. Another very cool feature is that Carrara will take advantage of the 2nd processor on a dual-core CPU when rendering. The only drawback is that Carrara doesn't have quite the same recognition as the bigger programs such as 3D Studio Max or Maya. C5P is a great balance between price, performance, and features. If you can get your hands on a copy, then be sure to give this excellent 3D application a try.
