Brett Rants

Digital Art

Growing up, I never considered myself much of an artist, as I could barely draw a straight line. Though, if I really concentrated, I could make decent enough doodles. Anyway, that lack of drawing got translated (by me) into the notion that I had (little or) no artistic ability. I no longer believe that is the case. You, of course, are free to disagree. But I no longer feel that way.

Maybe when I was thirty, at a time when I felt flush with money but rather devoid of meaning, I was looking for hobbies, something to do, something to fill that Existential Void. And one of the things I did (ever so briefly, like most everything I dabbled at, back then) was Wire Sculpture. I took some cheap bailing wire (costing mere pennies a foot) and with the help of a pair of pliers (for leverage) and a screwdriver (to spiral around) crafted a sculpture or two. The one I remember best was of a Meditating Man.

Well, at the most deconstructed, we have three circle, connected by a vertical line, all in yellow oorange, I see it as a man sitting lotus style, that's the bottom oval, a circle above that being the arms raised above head, and inside of that circle, a smaller representing the mans head

Now, Meditation Man may not have been very good... and in fact, he may have been total crap. But let's not judge it on some Absolute Scale. Instead, let us judge it on the Artist -> Non-Artist Scale. And for me (at the time, in the moment), Meditating Man (not that I ever had a name for the sculpture while it existed) tended towards the Artistic.

I mean, for a Non-Artist, Meditating Man was pretty darn Artistic... which was about when I decided I had been spending my time working in the wrong mediums.

I like to believe 16x16 Grids are not such a bad medium for me. But then, opinions will differ. And I invite you to have at it.

I has been a good half year since I started this project and how one describes nearly abstract block drawing with any degree of accuracy is beyond me, it is a person, basic, the start

Between the last and this there is not much difference, and given the four minute difference in the time stamps June 12th 2200 Hours and so on in the year 2019, it is clearly a continuation of the prior piece, adding curled up arms and a increase in the brow, which my eyes read as a mustach

It is a simple face with one red and one yellow eye both looking to your left

The name Winter Coats comes months after the fact, so hardly what I was doing, just an impression, it is another full body (similar to the previous two full bodies) constructed slightly differently, more hollow

The first full on abstract pattern, looks like and X with a bit of a square done mid-range

A Face, eyebrows shifted left, orange eyes in big eyeballs looking left, mouth turned down... once again, left

In the notes, I have some slim notes, the next are called out as three evil clowns, the first is the most minimal, flat mouth, small square nose, two eyes slanting upwards, the lot consisting of 16 black square on a field of white

As before, but everything has been widened a bit, the clown definitely seems evil, the prior maybe a bit hopeful, game for whatever, this one has a plan, and I am not convinced it is benigh

The nose is shaped better, the mouth turned up more, red nostricls and red eyes (replacing four pizesl which were previously black) have been inserted, he looks happier than the previous.

This is sort of a rabbit, ther tall upside down L forming ears, whiskers and a nose, the nose being a pleasant two toned grey

Here we have a fair bit of abstraction, nothing like a rabbit, tall ears, off to the side, maybe an eye composed of two pixes, and a flat line mouth

A Face, a study in upside down U with those forming the eyes, with orange and red single pixel pupils, U nose, and wide U mouth, the flat line eybrows add a lot

The next three are RED Xs and represent three deleted images as in the end, I feel I was copying another artists work too closely, originally, this was inspired by a Poster, it is now a Red X bordered by a Red Square

This and the next were copies form a magazine, in which the artist was doing something similar to what I am doing, to the extent what I ended up with was a poor copy of that artists work, thus instead, we have the same X as above with a slight hollow

This is the most elaborate X, full of holes and extra bumps, fairly baroque for a Red X at this level of resolution

Two humans back to back it looks like the are getting ready for a duel to me, holding guns

A grey hat is prominent on this one, long red slant eyes, with a two tone effect, which makes them seem like a scanning robot eyes, with a two tone flat mount

You know those bald guys, like bozo, with the long fros split down the middle, this is simar, two red eyes, flat nose, and a frown mouth that comes out more like a chin

Actually, this one reminds me of that boxing promoter, straight up black grey hair and a face

Slant Afro, this and the last one were original copies of the style that I decided not to publish, this one reminds me of the guy from the IT Crowd

My notes read... Sketch of my workstation at library, magazines, cds, grey hat with glasses inside, black line us umbrella... with further notes... Previous explanations were all after the fact, brought on by the realization even I wouldn't know what the Library Desk Setup was in a few months. In the future, I intend to record in real time

Map of Iceland from memory... I was taking a Virtual Vacation to Iceland at the time of this images creation

I am going to guess this was drawn at about the time I went to a Global Warming Seminar, as the content matches the content of a line drawing I did at that time, we have two mountains on a sunny day with a riveer going down the middle

It's supposed to be a bear, but after I was done, it looked more like a dog to me

A stylish interpretation of An annoying guy on his computer, no doubt drawn at the library when someone, it was the same someone for many a week, was talking on the phone, making sales calls, making it impossible for me to concentrate on the magazines in front of me, so I drew him... sort of

It is quite obviously a Happy Face, it looks very nice, detailed, so more involved, with two tone nose, double line eyes, and full flesh color fill, it is a happy sort of face

Moss covered shore rocks at sunset. Not very good. In that, no one would come close to interpreting the pinkish sky and two tone black and green landscape in such a way without a caption

The right half is the face of a girl, stylized, while the left is mostly black, long hair, eyes bright, with a smile

I am going to assume this was supposed to be a sailing vessel, as I sort of remember creating one of those, but starting from scratch, I'd label it... Man Rowing Boat, who knows what will come to mind the next time around, or what I really intended, I see a man holding a cane, as well

I may have been at a Poster Exhibit... or I may simply have wanted to draw something iconic, which I would think a Christmas Tree is

Continuing on from the previous with a few more flourishes, both are three toned, black, red, and pink, if forced between the two, the more complicated wins out, perhaps because it represents more work, thus more loss if lost or destroyed, not that I would bother recreating either

A total abstract, green above, blue below, black figure in center, I see it easily enough given a name, but otherwise, it seems unlikely

I know what I like... I believe this was inspired by an Art Exhibit, likely Manet at the Art Institute, I am sure the brown square is a necklace pendant, which is really quite stylish artwise, if I do say so myself

with alpha channel, the next is with a white background, both are stylized portraits of Mescal the Mule, my friend

Lightning, Bos faithful steed, was getting ansy on the train ride home, went off looking to score, we all thought a young filly, but he came back with Mescal in tow, a Drug Running Mule... and from there the imaginary festivities began... Mescal has been with me (off and on, more off as of late) for quite a few years, he has had a good run, one that he would like to keep going, or in his words, dont go writing me out, just yet

Colourful square grid splitting the image, geometric abstraction, all four corners being equal reflections

I am sure the next three were done in sequence, this is a nice red and blue, with black outline, kapa-kahi face, all wonky

Less Wonky, red highlighted black outlined face, with the tongue sort of licking the side of the face, yes, that is exactly what it is, not some hopefully forward looking interpretation by the artist, magificient, superb, captures the essential essence of man in twenty odd pixels

The last of the red, blue, black, trio, this one comes out looking like a Bears face, to me, surprise, that is the dominant emotion

Similar to the style of those I elected to expunge, gray hair, striped with black, green eyebrows, dont ask me why, with face

Two color, black on white, a smirk, mouth raised and twisted to side, eyebrows arched

It really is as the title says, a black outline wine glass, filled burgandy, and a horizontally striped bottle of wine

Abstract, but definitive enough, central circle is plate with odd spattering, I will call it meat, corn, broccoli and peas, vertical lines are silverware, glass of water, possibly salt and pepper shakers

On a light green background, an antenna eared creature, red eyes, blue mouth, rather happy and pleasing

A simple face, who knows what I was going for, big ears, flat mouth, big red nose

Brown eagle on red field surrounded by circle of blue

Just me swiping over the app, signing my name to draw an image of my signature

like the last, black on white, my name in block letters

This is a fairly fun and intricate one, on a blue wave, a brown man rides a yellow board, on a nice day, cloud, sun, and palm tree make up the background

Looking through a porthole or steering wheel on a ship, another ship stands in the background, white hull, black sail, I cant remember what the steering wheel on a ship is called

on a grey background, I got into a colored background period, we have mostly brown figure face, those are supposed to be horns, but it didnt come out so well, he is frowning

Laptop computer with black and white keyboard, mouse to side, blue screen with a pair of icons and a single open window

Abstract Flowers, a repeating pattern splitting the view into quadrants, the same splattering pattern repeated in four different colors, it is pleasing to me

A mustached face, oddly my notes say... Cat, but looks more like a panda

I really think that says it all, rather blocky, but considering the medium, done quite well

Just in case you were wondering, green stick figure with black and red face, I tend to make my eyes red... which is not necessarily an indication of malefeance or evil

I have some desire to work on Slaughter Quest, my version of Role Playing Games, and I thought about incorporating some sort of image, this is a test dungeon, I do not think I got any further

It looks more like a Computer Game Alien, grey background, brown body, pink eyes and mouth with lots of horns and bony arms

This one was done at higher resolution, the typical image is 16x16, but this might be 256x256, six numerals in a vertical column, next to a crappy portrait, so this would be another study for Slaughter Quest

likely another leezard or done right after, or at least, that was the intent, but it is not very representative, a stick figure, arent they all, arms upraised, burgandy eyes and mouth

I rather like this image, it is a stick figure, with a square head, and some sort of gray star in the background, but the limbs are all loosey goosey and twisty, nice

Or Calgary, a hill, with three crosses, I am not religious, and if I am or was or whatever, I doubt Christianity as written would play much a role, but that is basically what this scene is about

I would group this image with the rest of the clown faces, I feel like the five vertical strands of hair must have started as a hand, but the arm looked like a nose, and I just added a V smile underneath

I want to call this A Hand Maids Tale, but I will resist the urge, the hand smile on the left is reminiscent of the previous, while on the right we have a circle over a cross, which looks fairly figure as in human like to me

I am reminded of the idol on the cover of The Players Guide, red eyes, wide red mouth, upraised hands, it is fairly demonic

What more can we say, black and grey eagle, with the two colors complementing each other nicely

Fairly nice once my eyes adjust and I realize what I am looking at, the bottom curve is a nose with two black nostrils, then we have a pair of uneven glasses with distorted eyes behind, blue and green, with raised brown eyebrows above

In four quadrants, clockwise from the upper left, the number 27, a flat face, open face, z slit face, it means nothing, clearly, I was looking for content, something to draw

It is odd how projects go. The time stamps on the images indicate I drew them all within a three month period... and then, I stopped.

I am pleased enough with the pieces so I don't think it was anything negative... well, not negative performance wise.

Rather, I am beginning to believe I have so much time with a medium or project, after which time I tend to drop it if I have not achieved External Validation or Success... a sort of Why am I doing this?

It is hard to say, however.

Clearly, writing and creating web pages have lasted... even if many a thing I write, I never intend to post... or will only be willing to post decades from now.

Whatever.

For anything new to find its way into my life, something old must leave.

Who knows?

Life is a mystery.