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Not everything has a name. Some things lead us into a realm beyond words ... By means of art we are sometimes sent - dimly, briefly - revelations unattainable by reason. -- Aleksander Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
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You know, doing little art like this is both freeing and challenging. It's freeing because I always have my phone with me, and so I can strike up the opportunity to do art at any time. I don't need any tubes or water or brushes. I can just doodle at any moment, save it, and then come back to it later.
It's challenging because it's an imperfect medium with a limited palette.
Those are the colors available to me for this. No orange, strong purple, brown, gray... to mix colors, to achieve orange, for example, is to find a way to set the colors next to each other in such a way that it gives that impression.
I remember when I lived in Ames in my late teens that a friend who was an art student at Iowa State University told me that his favorite project thus far was to create two-tone icons for given ideas.
So in a 1/2" x 1/2" graphic, using only two colors, he was to depict "Work." Or "Relaxation." And so on. In a clear, uncliched way...
It's about communication and connection, and about aesthetic and attraction.
Similarly, how do I best portray what I see to those that view my art, with the limited palette available to me and a small, slightly awkward workspace?
Therein lies the fun. Because given anything I view or imagine in my head, I get to play with conveying that, which becomes a challenge that both stretches me and improves me incrementally.
Yesterday, I posted the "Drawing My Thumb" effort. Personally, I didn't like that one so much. In fact, I considered not posting it. But it feels to me that I need to be honest about my attempts with this. Some will succeed, and some will flop. And that's okay because it's part of the process, and the process is everything. The process is always more interesting than the finished piece to me.
My friend, Jeff, suggested that I make a video about drawing on the Dare. So here it is.
He might have intended that I actually draw on the Dare and record it. But I can't have the camera running and accurately draw at the same time, I discovered.
What I hope is that more people come to the Dare and create art on their cell phones as a result of the video.
A progression I've considered...
The cell started out as an instrument for communication.
Then the cell phone became an instrument for productivity, with the addition of email and calendaring.
With the iPhone, the cell phone became an instrument for entertainment.
I think we're moving into a period where the cell phone becomes an instrument for creativity.
It will be interesting to see if others start using the Dare to draw. I know of a couple of people, but they don't really post their artwork in a central place.
It's been a little over a month since I bought my Dare phone... here's a recap of pictures I've drawn on it.
What I've learned in that time is that having the right phone can be a blast, and I feel like I've reconnected with my artistic chops and improved my output as I went.
My favorite is the chess pieces. I did that one while I watched America's Got Talent with Tamara. Which is frankly what makes this so cool. No tubes of paint, no pencils, no canvas, no water. It's all clean and easy. Non-intrusive...
Fun!
I think I'll take a break from it for a couple of days and then do another month's worth.
And I hated it. As a result, I didn't display it on the site.
Now sometimes when drawing on my cell phone, the limited colors makes it really difficult to do some images. And you can tell that by what I did, because I can draw and do art on the Dare, but there was nothing to like about that couch.
I experimented and found that I can expand the palette by using the rainbow tool. The colors change as you draw, but if you time it right, you can get turquoise, orange, and a bit of a purple.
Here's a video showing the progression of the revised (re-upholstered) couch.
And the finished drawing:
The limitation in colors is still a bit of a challenge, but it helps me render a better result, so I'm happy with that.
For now...
I want to see if I can influence LG to expand the Drawing Pad application to include the ability to create my own palettes and offer a blending effect. If I can get that, it's wide open.
About three weeks ago, I implemented the ability on my web site for people to sign up for my daily LG Dare art and receive it by picture message on their phone. I have 14 people who receive it daily now, and one who signed up for it today, a guy named Blake, is also an artist.
How cool is that?
Drawn on Blake's Verizon LG Dare Drawing Pad:
He's just getting started with it, and his first effort is certainly a good one, so when he sends them to me, I'll include them in my daily post as well.
So here's my thought: it would be oh so cool if a group of about ten artists traded their work, created on their phone, with each other. Ever heard of that before? Me neither. In fact, I think, after Googling it, I'm the first person in the world to try and use his phone as a persistent artistic platform. The more, the merrier, I say.
Blake sent me this in email when he subscribed:
After watching your youtube video on your dare art I was inspired. I love to try new things so being an artistic, musical, (right brained person) i decided to do one of my own. I noticed that my style of art was very simular to yours. I would like to send you the picture of it. It didnt take me very long and yes i do agree that the limited colors make it hard to contrast objects. I just wanted to suggest maybe putting a fan art gallery area on your site. I think that it would be very interesting to see other methods of art on the dare with such limitations from people everywhere.
Yes, it would. So let's see how influential we can be to get LG or Verizon to increase the palette. And maybe add a smudge tool, for blending.
Cool day :)
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An acrylic sketch I did a while back, reformatted for cell phone wallpaper:
As mentioned a few days ago, I'll be doing more actual art and less work on the Dare drawing pad, like I have been. I'll leave the medium open, but remain committed to creating art daily. Besides, I like changing my cell phone wallpaper every day.
And here's the poster that I've created as a suggestion to promote the creative capabilities of the LG Dare.
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I get a phone call while at work today from Steve Karlin, a reporter from a local news station, KCCI. He wanted to do a story on my cell phone art.
While at the botanical center, I drew the picture shown above, and he interviewed me. How very cool of him and his camera guy to do this. I guess I'll be on the 6 o'clock news later... I'll try to get the video up on YouTube.
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Since I started doing art on my phone and putting a couple of videos out there, I've had a few of people send me their LG Dare artwork.
Hoss is a guy I've never met, who has told me that he doesn't know much about art, but likes doodling on his phone. When he finishes something he likes, he sends it to me.
For a guy who "doesn't know much" about art, his water in the picture above beats any water I've done on my phone. Kudos to him for an excellent job. And the sky is pretty amazing as well.
It just goes to show that it's not the destination, but the journey. I'd say Hoss is well on his way :)
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One of the things I like about drawing on my phone is that it gives me the opportunity to practice my art anytime I like.
This is a woman I saw in a magazine.
This is a man who was seated in the airplane one row up and across the aisle from me when I flew to Vegas last month.
To me, art is: the practice of seeing things as they really are and communicating that to others in an attractive way. Which is why I think that there should be an art class devoted to teaching business people how to paint and draw.
Take the woman I drew above: in as few lines as possible, how do I communicate her warmth?
The man: how do I give the sense of him to you, the viewer?
Business people need to see facts all of the time. Instead of making assumptions, how do you break those down and try to see it as though for the first time?
I'll teach that class someday, I think. It's something I deeply believe in.
(You can sign up to have a new drawing sent to you daily by picture message.)
A couple of the people who share their LG Dare art with me have sent me some cool stuff of their own. First, Hoss, with some really great work. I love his Eiffel Tower...
And then Blake sent these in.
It's amazing that this stuff can come from doodling on a cell phone.
(You can sign up to have a new drawing sent to you daily by picture message.)
Drawn on Hoss' and later my Verizon LG Dare Drawing Pads:
Yesterday, Hoss sent me his LG Dare version of a Christmas tree, which according to him started out as just messing around with the rainbow tool and then turned into a tree. And a darn good tree. But his version had a bunch of colors behind the tree. Nothing wrong with that, but I thought it detracted from the tree itself.
What's cool about the LG Dare is that it not only lets me draw on it, but I can also draw on pictures I take or receive from others. So I washed the background in a flatter color, to emphasize the excellent tree. The result is the first image above.
Collaborative art on the LG Dare. A pretty cool thing to be able to do on a cell phone. And a first for me.
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This is my rendition of a painting done by one of my favorite artists, Charles Sovek. Which is exactly where I think the cell phone can go: a true medium for artists.
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Last night, I got an email through YouTube from a guy who caught my video and asked if I could send him the Joker that I did. Then he told me that he did the joker and some other drawings. That's his Iron Man. Sweet!
Franco also drew a Zippo Lighter and used the rainbow tool to get the flame.
I like his graphic novel style. He did a cool guy with a gas mask.
And so we texted each other for a bit last night, as he forwarded his artwork to me, which I've posted to a page here on my web site.
I believe that the Dare is the first of its kind - a cell phone with viral potential.
Earlier this week, I took advantage of the Dare's "draw on a photo" capability and added a bit of humor to a picture I took with my Dare.
Legible writing is hard to do, but there are lots of possibilities...
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In the slowly growing group of people who've signed up to receive my daily Dare artwork, I occasionally get requests. I still owe Hoss a drawing of his sweet motorcycle, but we're struggling to find the right picture from which I can work.
Another fella, on the other hand, sent me a great shot of him and his girlfriend. I was happy to oblige their request, and it was fun to do :)
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ETC: Went up to Ames today for a business meeting and stopped by my mom's house. She watched Kurt's video and then brought out something I had sketched when I was 17.
Moms keep stuff like that :)
Thanks to AJ, Vanessa, Darwyn, Sarah, MJJ, Kurt, and Elsah from LG and KTLA for a cool experience.
