Thursday, May 31, 2007

Cindy Valquist of LSD Stargirls



Cindy is the Keytarist and programmer for the New Wave/Electronica band; LSD Stargirls. I may or may not draw similar illustrations of her bandmates.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Awareness

I may not be drawing much these days, but i have been reflecting alot.

Tonight i was discussing this thing about how there are like two types of people; People who like to learn and be aware of things (let's call them A's) and those who do not (let's call them B's, not that A is suppose to be of a better class necessarily, it's just to simplify the terms).

Most people seem to be of the second category, B. Im not saying that B's do not learn at all or are stupid, on the contrary, many will indeed be very knowledgeable in certain fields, however these people seem to be inclined on learning things only when there is something to gain directly from it. Example: Someone will take a plumbing class to become a plumber and therefore make money. An A person likes to learn for the simple pleasure of gaining more knowledge and generally being more aware (not that anybody would necessarily take a plumbing class just out of interest, it was just an example).

B's seem to be much more lazy too. A typical B person will tend to enjoy simple films (whatever is playing in 10 out of 20 projection rooms at the local cinema) and simple music (whatever is palying on the radio), because they tend to require less sensorial development or mental alertness. B people like going to the movies to lose themselves and not think for a little bit. A's will tend to enjoy films with more content that require more "mental effort" if you will. They like learning and stimulating their brains even when relaxing and being entertained. It's as if B's keep work, effort and learning completely seperate from fun and entertainment, whereas A's get fun and entertainment from working and learning.

B's tend to be people who live in a "bubble". An extreme example of a B might be a really religious person who refuses to believe in Dinosaurs and evolution despite scientific facts of such things. But there are many many other cases. Everybody is afraid of the unknown, it's instinct. But B's tend to REALLY be afraid of the unknown to a point where they close themselves off to the world.

I read something interesting today that explained the 3 stages of truth: 1.Ridicule, 2.Violent Opposition, 3. Acceptance. I found the stages to be very accurate and very representative of how B's often react to new knowledge. Example: Jimmy, along with most other people believes that the Earth is flat. Vicky, an astrologist or whatever, tells him it's round. Jimmy initially ridicules Vicky for saying such nonsense. To him, and most people, it's obviously flat. She continues to tell him it's round. Jimmy eventually gets angry, afterall, he's spent his whole 50 years of life believing it to be flat, he's not going to stand there and be lectured about how it isn't. Eventally Vicky shows him calculated proof and Jimmy finally accepts the truth. Many people today won't even get to that final stage, often because the truth can often be so shocking that that person would hafto radically change his or her's way of living to accept it. I've personally been met with some weird opposition just because of my vegetarian nutritional habits, which many people simply don't understand and often don't want to understand.

This whole "I don't want to accept this" thing also applies to other things such as Art, for example. A so-called B-type artist, let's call him Joey, might enjoy a certian style of figurative films. One day, Joey watches some abstract films in his Film History class. Joey, being a B-type, is so caught up in his "bubble" of figurative films that he cannot accept these abstract ones and therefore leaves the class. He might think it is useless for him to learn about them because he wants to be a figurative artist. An A-type so-called artist, even one who does necessarily like abstract films, would probably stay and watch them regardless of his personal feelings, and perhaps learn WHY he doesn't like them and gain knowledge from this. He's isn't afraid of this "unknown world" of abstract art. There's also a difference between liking something and respecting/appreciating it, but that's another can of worms.

Anyway, I'm not trying to say that B's are stupid of inferior to A's, but it's really something i've been thinking about. I personnaly like learning just to be more aware of the world around me. I don't like being ignorant. However the more i learn and grow, the more I find it difficult to socialize or interact with people who prefer remaining ignorant. It's scary because some of these people are friends or family.

Did all that make any sense?

Wow, typing thoughts down is fun.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Lack o' Posts

Yeah haven't posted much, heh. Going through some things...

Here's some stuff i finalized for my portfolio at the end of the school year:







On another note, I got a summer job at Mandarine 24 which is really really exciting. They do all sorts of animated work, notably some awesome music videos! Check them out at www.mandarine24.com.