Marc Johns

by Marc Johns

HI!!! Eoys are coming soon and the work above pretty much describes me these few days..... -_-

Anyway, this is the first post I'm doing up since the deadline of this e-portfolio (for grading). I'm definitely not gonna stop drawing/ painting etc after aep draws to a close!!!!!! 

never ever ever ever ever

So here I am! Introducing....... MARC JOHNS (click the link at the caption!)

I first found this artist on tumblr, where his signature post-it drawings were being reblogged by so many people. so I got bored today (while studying for sova hahahhah) and decided to search him up.

Here's what he has to say about his post-it drawings, which I find quite cool:
"I like the format; it forces the drawing to be simple, and the concept to be focussed. It's not so much about the craft of drawing, but more about the idea, boiled down to just the essentials." 

And by "essentials", he really means it!!!! view here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcjohns/sets/72157594384659839/

I like his quirky style alot and although many might not regard his post-it notes as real works with much substance, I really enjoy the simplicity of them!!!! I like how he's so unconventional and creative and most importantly, unafraid of what he tries to bring across (even if it seems totally brainless and to put it bluntly, retarded) Actually, most of his post-it drawings appear to be really random and pointless....... like this (which btw is considered rather complicated for his post-it series):

Honestly?????????

But I like marc johns :) yayyyyy

SAY NO TO DRUGS

This was one of the first few bigger paintings that we did back in 2009. I remember doing lots of good prep for this and I'll find a time to add them in asap!

This assignment was done in view of anti-drug campaign submissions and the medium we were expected to use was water colour or poster colour paint. And just a random thought, I realise in aep we've never really been taught how to use a certain medium, for example water colour. It kinda gets integrated into the curriculum when we do assignments like this >>> this is what I didn't expect when I first entered AEP in 2008! How we picked up new art skills so subtly is actually quite fascinating!!!

Back to the painting...

I'm happy with how the sense of depth was achieved in the final work! I tried very hard to achieve this by overlapping the different pills, capsules and tablets (aka drugs), and introducing jet black background in the spaces. The work is obviously not meant to be very realistic, but sadly in the process, the face became a little too distorted. Then again this was the very first time I painted a human face, so I guess the tones rendered are considered not bad?^^ the eyebrows are too bushy though, and the thick lips make the gender of the figure a little.... ambiguous. 

What I also realised was that sometimes, things that turn out good happen my chance. For explain if you look at the syringe, the prep work I did for it was actually must better and well-blended. but for the glue, I think the final painting of it was more realistic, with a very light shadow to it. Also, some of the drugs suffered a sad fate cos I applied too much water to it, causing the paper to start to flake off. 

As for the story behind the work, I just hope to highlight that taking drugs is something that you can't back out of. The jail bars are supposed to symbolise both prison bars (which drug abuser will land themselves behind if they were to be caught), and metaphorically, a sort of entrapment --- once you start, you can't stop. The drugs were deliberately painted in a wide array of attractive colours to represent how they seem so harmless. Yet of course we all know what harm they can bring yes?

So in conclusion, the same message applies till today

SAY NO TO DRUGS EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!!

Look around you

Got bored of doing math practices which explains the sudden spam of posts. I was thinking of what to blog about other than the 2 posts that I just did up (scroll down). So I took out the cam and started snapping things around my house that I don't usually notice. And I realised that there was actually so much to take notice of. I was quite fascinated by the "treasures" I found around my house!!! the nooks and crannies that seem so insignificant actually look really pretty when you look closely :-)

 1. I found a spider web near the window at the main door!!!! of course my first reaction was GROSSSS. but then I took a closer look, and I realised how beautiful the pattern of the web was! the web was so fine, so fragile, so delicate, and I really think the spider who spun it is a true artist. No human will ever be able to create something even close to that. Of course, I didn't destroy that fine piece of art. Maybe I'll see the artist crawling somewhere around my house later............

Colour Pencil

Pear still life colour pencil by Alyona Nickelsen

I started on my final coursework on 20 july. The medium I had decided on from the very beginning, was colour pencil. Why? 1) I wanted to try something new, something we haven't been trained to use in aep, 2) I had an interest in colour pencil cos I was inspired by Alyona Nickelsen's book, "Colour Pencil Painting Bible"!!

But as I started, people began asking me, "Is this your final?", and after awhile I started to wonder why that question was even necessary. Looking around the room, I got my answer. I saw people working on all things BIGGGGG SCAAALE--- oil on big canvases, huge boards of wood, and even paper marche. And a thought hit me, that colour pencil on paper just wasn't really recognised as a medium for something huge like coursework. 

BUT WHY???? Why the 'discrimination' against colour pencil as a medium? Just because it isn't a medium commonly used by world famous artists, therefore being 'incompetent' next to other options like water colour? Just because it's something we've been exposed to as four year olds, therefore being labelled as something that doesn't require much skill? Just because, perhaps, it has been stereotyped as a medium that's only good enough for preparatory studies/sketches?????

I beg to completely differ.

Colour pencils might not be the most high-end medium to work with and I might not create the most stunning work at the end of everything, but the joy I get out of what I've been doing so far means so much more than peer recognition and a grade. I'm having sooo much fun experimenting with colour pencil techniques every week and I have absolutely no regrets in the medium I chose! :) It's just sad that I have to reassure everyone over and over again that YES,MY FINAL WORK IS GOING TO BE 5X COLOUR PENCIL DRAWINGS. And that I like simple, I like colour pencil, and I like something I can work on at home in peace! Hopefully the next generation of artists will incorporate more colour pencil into their works. It's time that this beautiful medium gets recognised.

"I find working with color pencils to be so extremely fulfilling and uplifting.... So what makes this medium so special? Well first of all, color pencils are very affordable. If you are on a limited budget like me, you will be glad to know, that color pencils are very low-cost medium... Second, they are very portable. I can relocate to any place in my house or even outside, to work on my artwork. Not many other mediums allow you to relocate or to tote them around to other places. Thirdly, you can get as detailed and controlled with color pencils as you want, or you can treat them like a very loose watercolor painting. Last of all, you can mix color pencil with just about any other medium and they can be applied to many different types of surfaces as well, from paper to wood. "

 -http://www.mooresartgallery.com/colorpenciltips_techniques.html

What dance means to me

It's been such a loooong time!!! I've been very very caught up with dance lately, with syf. But I'm back!
The last aep lesson on the wednesday after my syf, Mrs Tan asked the question, "What does art mean to you?". It wasn't only directed to visual art/what we did in aep, but also other art forms like music, and for me, dance. I managed to write a whole chunk effortlessly about dance, and I filled the whole post-it up in a matter of seconds; and I think I know why.

Dance to me is the most beautiful form of expression. You don't even need a pen, nor paper, nor an eraser, nor any form of colour. You don't need an instrument, or music scores. Sometimes you don't even need music. You just need your body. You need your soul. You need your passion. So when we were given that little task, it was really easy to unleash my thoughts!!! I think that having passion for any of the arts really changes a person. Though I might not be as "on" when it comes to visual art as compared to some of my peers, we all definitely have 2 things in common: the artistic eye and undoubted passion.

So with a few clicks of the keypad, and with the help of photoshop, came up with some inspirational images of my dance memories! This has been over quite a period of time.
Photos aren't taken by me, some quotes aren't mine! Photo credit: Justin Koh and my friends :-)

The rest are at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=332359&id=722773487
Enjoy and I hope some might be of inspiration to you!

First post

Today we had our briefing on SIA 2011 (aka this blog-folio) as well as more coursework discussion. Can't believe we're finally into the final year of Nanyang AEP. Anyway just to note down I've had a few inspirations for coursework here and there, but totally not confirmed!! Definitely not gonna do photog/video/media stuff, not gonna do big scale painting cos it's not my forte. Considering a mix of sculpture/clay/plaster of paris with pen. Vague themes in my mind include dance obviously, either dance forms or something about how the audience only sees the final product and never sees the process: the blisters,... burns, bruises!!!! Then I thought of doing a cast of my poor foot. Ok will branch out on this. BB