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FatherAlabaster's Art and Illustration


FatherAlabaster

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  • 1 month later...
28 minutes ago, Natassja said:

So interesting to see the process animated! So very talented. I really really like The Farmer, any stories behind him? He intrigues me. 

The animations are fun, right? They're helpful for me to look at too, they remind me of all the choices I made and things I could have done differently along the way. What I was thinking about when I came up with The Farmer was getting ground down by how my life goes on after losing friends and loved ones, how that tells me things will keep moving along just fine without me, too, and how life on this planet in general will adapt and fill our niches long after we've killed ourselves off. I was trying to paint the saint or minor deity of Telling You You're Not That Fucking Important While Shoveling Earth Into Your Grave. I was hoping for the body language to say "are we done here, I've got work to do, we'll be seeing each other again soon enough". There's a bit of irony in trying to illustrate that with a human figure, but hey, it's supposed to be relatable.

Having said all of that, I don't usually like to go into detail about this kind of thing because I value hearing other people's ideas about the paintings, when they're generous enough to share, and I don't want to foreclose any other perspectives by telling anyone what a particular image "really means". It really means whatever it means to you... otherwise it doesn't mean much at all.

 

On 11/15/2019 at 3:18 AM, Requiem said:

I'm repulsed and amazed in equal measure. And both are at high levels. 

I meant to thank you for this comment a while ago. That's exactly the combination of feelings I hoped some of this stuff would evoke.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I just stumbled across this drawing from a little over twenty years ago - right before I went to college. Colored pencil and India ink on wood.

3UdRfRc.jpg

 

There was this girl I liked whose parents were regular customers at the restaurant I worked at, and they bought this from me as a gift for her during my "leaving for art school" sale. She was a hell of a piano player.

Nine and a half years after that, she and I got married, and now we can finally hang this up in the new place. I kinda wonder if having the painting and the girl means I owe my in-laws their money back.

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5 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

I just stumbled across this drawing from a little over twenty years ago - right before I went to college. Colored pencil and India ink on wood.

84472905_10215523883040108_6829288254529

There was this girl I liked whose parents were regular customers at the restaurant I worked at, and they bought this from me as a gift for her during my "leaving for art school" sale. She was a hell of a piano player.

Nine and a half years after that, she and I got married, and now we can finally hang this up in the new place. I kinda wonder if having the painting and the girl means I owe my in-laws their money back.

Awesome piece. .

and I think you may do .. :) 

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  • 1 month later...

Thanks guys :)

19 hours ago, Balor said:

Awesome!  With something this detailed, how do you know when it is finished?

Totally subjective, but it's all about finding a balance. I keep working until there's nothing specifically crying out for more, and then I sit with it for a while, maybe take a photo and consider that, maybe sleep on it. At some point in there I decide that I can let it go. I had a pretty good idea of how much detail this piece would need, based on the small stuff like the child's hand, and I tried to zero in on that by refining it further with each layer. All of the areas have to support one another for it to feel unified, so any work on any one section will require a lot of nudging elsewhere, and I try to achieve that balance with each layer. In a sense I "finished" this at least twice as I went along. I suppose the actual "end point" is always a little bit arbitrary, in that I could have probably done less or more on certain sections and had the overall piece work just as well.

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3 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

Thanks guys :)

Totally subjective, but it's all about finding a balance. I keep working until there's nothing specifically crying out for more, and then I sit with it for a while, maybe take a photo and consider that, maybe sleep on it. At some point in there I decide that I can let it go. I had a pretty good idea of how much detail this piece would need, based on the small stuff like the child's hand, and I tried to zero in on that by refining it further with each layer. All of the areas have to support one another for it to feel unified, so any work on any one section will require a lot of nudging elsewhere, and I try to achieve that balance with each layer. In a sense I "finished" this at least twice as I went along. I suppose the actual "end point" is always a little bit arbitrary, in that I could have probably done less or more on certain sections and had the overall piece work just as well.

I used to paint a lot of stuff with small, details, so it is always interesting to hear the processes of others.  It's a weird feeling to put so much time/effort into something and then to suddenly have it finished.  I really like what you said about trying to work in balance with each new stage - it seems like a strategy that has worked very well!

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  • 3 months later...
On 7/18/2020 at 5:41 PM, FatherAlabaster said:

Years and years of practice. I loved trying to draw hands when I was a teenager but I really jumped into them as a subject in college. I spent a lot of time on nothing else, would just sit there drawing hands. Still not where I want to be with it!

Madness, I am checking this record out based on the artwork alone.  Congratulations on stirring the 12 year old in me.

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On 7/19/2020 at 2:41 AM, FatherAlabaster said:

Years and years of practice. I loved trying to draw hands when I was a teenager but I really jumped into them as a subject in college. I spent a lot of time on nothing else, would just sit there drawing hands. Still not where I want to be with it!

You're continuing the tradition of the Florentine masters. Just amazing work. 

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