Man vs. Art

From around the age of six, I have had a passion for drawing the shapes of objects. From about the age of fifty I produced a number of designs, but nothing I did before the age of seventy was worthy of attention. At seventy-three, I finally apprehended something of the true quality of birds, animals, insects, fish and of the vital nature of grasses and trees. So, by the time I am 80, I will have made much progress, so that by ninety I will have penetrated to their essential nature. By one hundred, I will decidedly have attained a higher state, indefinable, and at one hundred and ten, each dot, each line shall surely possess a life of its own. May Heaven, that grants long life, give me the chance to prove that this is no lie. Hokusai (who lived to be 90) On today's show I put together a collection of emails and voice mails for a massive buffet of art talk. So Buckle your cartoon belts and let her rip!

Artistic genius across three different artistic disciplines. Picasso’s genius for painting; Chaplin’s genius for film making; and the Beatles’ genius for songs are fine examples of how artistic creativity can be used to approach complex problems. These guys all were masters of creating art that depicted universal experiences that could be appreciated by us all. They were spontaneous and intuitive in their approaches at first and then built discipline and persistence as their projects evolved. So to understand creativity , we must understand the character of the artist.

Holy smokes! Has it been 50 episodes already?! I've had a blast producing the show. I've learned so much about art, artists, and about myself. Since day one, I decided to produce my show to a higher standard of quality than most others in terms of production value, editing, writing, music, comedy, and honesty in the content. The inherent difficulty and comedic irony of producing a show about Visual Arts in audio. Why on Earth would I choose to produce an audio podcast about visual art? What am I stupid?!

Ever notice that whenever you begin an new artistic project like a new book, painting, portfolio, short film, etc that the darned Fear of Failure Demon always seems to drop in to petrify you? You spend sleepless gut wrenching nights where all you can imagine is doom. You toss and turn with dark visions of both yourself and your art as objects of scorn, ridicule, or even worse objects of pity. So you put off trying for the thousandth time, and ditch your dreams. Ask the top painters, cartoonists, designers, illustrators, comic creators, animators, poets, writers, directors, and they will all claim that they are no different! They too have had to deal with the Fear of Failure Demon and have had their shares of crushing disappointment. I'd like to give a shout out to Krishna Sadashivam The creator of the killer web comic PC Weenies! He called in and left a voice mail question on the Man vs. Art Minion Hotline! He asks what animation studios are looking for in terms of Storyboard Artist Portfolios. Check out the podcast if you want to know what I had to say on that. Born in 1920 Isaac Asimov was a writer of some of the greatest classic Science Fiction stories of the last hundred years. Of his works The Foundation Series… The Galactic Empire series and his Robot series were major contributions to the world of sci-fi literature. And These are just a few among the 500 books that he wrote or edited in his lifetime. In particular Asimov’s Robot series generated 2 lasting concepts in science fiction including the invention of a robot’s ‘Positronic’ brain and the 3 laws of Robotics. Both concepts were featured in the movies ‘The Bicentennial Man’ and ‘I Robot’ which were loosely based on his characters. Lastly I'd like to present you with some samples of the 2D Traditional and some 3D digital Animation my students did from my History and Principles of Animation and Timing for Animation Classes at the Gnomon School of Visual effects in Hollywood California.

Jerry Beck Cartoon Animation Super Curator on the Man vs. Art Podcast! Jerry Beck is an animation historian, cartoon producer and is the L.A Editor of the mind bogglingly cool animation blog http://www.cartoonbrew.com! He joined me for a little cartoon talk on Man vs. Art today and it's my pleasure to share it with you.

I'm going to make a big sweeping generalization right now. I'm going to "paint with a broad brush" so to speak. It's tough being an Artist. Yup. It always has been I suppose. There's a bunch of crap we have to put up with! But you know which artists have it the worst I think? Little kid artists. Especially lower income little kids. In the hood there is no support for the arts. The kids have no access to supplies, equipment, training, mentors, books, or even a place to sit down and draw. Luckily for the young artists in El Monte California there is a guy like Enrique Diaz, a wonderful and generous man driven by a great passion for the arts!

Today I want to rip apart and put to rest 7 awful myths and misconceptions about of art! These Myths are totally wrong and mess up the integrity and purpose of art. 1. Art means whatever people want it to mean. No way Jose! A professional artist, always has intention, and it’s his job to communicate that intent through mastering their craft and applying their skill in the form of hard work. 2. Art is all a matter of opinion and is subjective. Hello! Every kind of response to art is an opinion, so that’s not news. What the myth implies is that all opinions are equally valid. That is FALSE! Some opinions are better than others. Opinions that are based on better reasoning are much stronger than opinions based on bad or zero reasoning! Not all art is subjective. Some art is objectively good, and some art is objectively bad. The correct assessment depends on the evaluation of the criteria, not on the viewer's whims or tastes.

On today's episode of Man vs. Art I want to explore how the act of drawing has thoroughly shaped our lives. There was a time when the ability to draw was seen as the primary essential skill of any artist. But in the age of the cut and paste pixel and digital imagery many see drawing as an outdated activity. I want to challenge the modern prejudice that it's not cool to draw. That those who draw are sad Luddites and weird loners stuck in a dead past. Drawing is the most rewarding and essential artistic skill at work in the world today.

World’s will collide and multiverses will be in crisis on today's podcast! Man vs. Art’s Raul Aguirre Jr. and Che join forces with Big Illustration Party Time’s Kevin Cross and Joshua Kemble to tear the art world a new one in an EPIC crossover event so rad we can hardly contain ourselves! The Art Podcast equivalent of Batman Teaming up with Superman in World’s Finest. Only this team up crossover is World’s Raddest!

Minions! I present you Mike White, the creator of the hysterically charming comic Amity Blamity! Born and raised in Canada, Mike has always dreamed about writing & drawing stories about his characters. After 5years working in TV and making award winning music videos, he moved to California enamored by the promise of opportunity. He is now back to his first love & childhood dream: creating memorable stories and characters in the spirit Bone, Calvin & Hobbes, Bloom County, and the many influences/inspirations of his youth.

Today I want to talk about setting goals and finishing your projects, both client work and personal projects. Sometimes life gets in the way of our art and that's just the way the charcoal crumbles kids. The last couple of months have been really bus...

My guest on today's show loves to draw and write! He is Javier Hernandez, a DIY cartoonist, painter, and entrepreneur. He is the creator of such comics as EL MUERTO, MAN-SWAMP and WEAPON TEX-MEX, which he publishes under his own imprint, LOS COMEX.

My guest today is the exceptionally talented Artist, Animator, Director, Professor, and Writer Nancy Beiman. Nancy Beiman hails from New Jersey, likes to travel and owns a cat named Gizmo! She wasn't the first woman to work at the Disney Studio. There were many women before her who worked on Disney films. But Nancy has earned the distinction of being the second woman to be credited on a Disney film. She has taught animation at Savannah College of Art and Design, and taught at Rochester Institute of Technology, School of Film & Animation until 2008. She now teaches at Sheridan Institute's Animation department in Canada. Nancy was offered a scholarship to be part of the inaugural class of the Character Animation program at CalArts straight out high school. Her classmates included John Lasseter, Jerry Rees, John Musker, Tim Burton, and Brad Bird. Nancy was the first woman to graduate from the CalArts Character Animation Program. After CalArts, She went to work at Jack Zander's Animation Parlour in New York. She has animated Bugs and Donald, Snoopy and Goofy, friends of Fievel Mouse and Mickey Mouse, and Don Martin cartoons! She worked with Chuck Jones, Bill Melendez, Gerhard Hahn, Steven Spielberg, Walt Disney Feature Animation, the Disney Channel, Disney television movies, and Warner Bros. Nancy Beiman entered an industry that was pretty much a boy's club. Her raw talent and hard work, combined with an appreciation of tradition, tenacity and courage in the face of adversity served her well.

Hola Minions! In today's episode of Man vs. Art I had the pleasure of speaking with the talented Ken Mora. He's a screenwriter, artist, and independent animator who's determination, warped sense of humor, and resourcefulness have gotten him literary representation, an award winning CG animated short, and plenty of attention. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's begin at the beginning shall we? Ken Mora is one of life's late bloomers. Currently, Ken is adapting the Magnum Farce into a comic book for release at next year's Alternative Press Expo. He is also laying down voice tracks for the Magnum Farce feature, tightening up the script, and planning the animatic with expert help from yours truly, the Man vs. Art. Ken will be previewing the "YouTube" edit of his CG animated short Magnum Farce on Jan 22nd at the "We Don't Need No Stinkin' Badges" show at Geeks Comics in Whittier. For the latest, Ken invites you to check out his website http://www.magnumfarcemovie.com/

There is so much that can be said about Color Theory that it could fill the Library of Alexandria. It can be overwhelming, so for the Man vs. Art Intro to Color Theory, I'm going to give you the underwhelming Cliff's notes version. In 1666 the genius Sir Isaac Newton put together the first circular diagram of colors . Ever since then, artists and even scientists have studied and created numerous variations of this concept. Over the years much debate has been provoked due to the differences of opinion about the validity of one format over another. In my opinion, any color wheel which presents a logically arranged sequence of pure hues is valid.