You Know, I Never Really Liked Earth Anyways
The Idea
The phrase that is on this piece was something I just sort of thought for no reason one day during the summer, and I knew I wanted to make a goofy art piece with the phrase on it. It's just so random and makes little sense, except when thought about in terms of my mind. Half the time, I don't feel like I'm even on Earth.
Back in middle school, I was just about as obsessed with outer space as I am now; other kids even started to think I was an alien. I love space in all manners, especially when it comes down to just how little we know about it. I think that's a reason why I fell in love with outer space. It's like my mind in a way—full of interesting things but largely unexplored and just a bit frightening.
Another thing about outer space is that it represents the unknown that people tend to shy away from. We don't know what's out there anymore than what we've explored, and that's good enough for some people. Not me. I want to keep going deeper and farther and find things that no one has ever seen before. By that, I mean in my mind. I want to explore the ideas I haven't seen yet, and show people just how exciting the unknown can really be.
A cropping of the finished piece! It's eighteen by twenty-four inches (18''x24'') in dimensions. It's got glue on it, pen, marker, etc. The figure is a cut-out that's taped to the piece, and the stars are glue and white-out.
I started this piece in the summer, so naturally I wasn't satisfied with the figure in the piece due to the improvement I've made in drawing since then. Here's the drawing I cut out to glue over the top of the figure I originally drew.
In a way, this goes against my third piece in my sustained investigation. I'm getting rid of something "old" and covering it with something new. But I was more in the mindset of my other philosophy of life, "sacrifice the part for the whole". I had to improve the section to allow the overall piece to be at its best.
It's flat Zéta! I scanned the image into the computer.
The Process
This was about where I was when I spent a day in the middle of summer on this. I loved the idea, and at the time I liked how it was turning out. I figured I could do what I did in terms of techniques with my concentration from last year, using the glow-effect I created with my unusual use of mediums.
I started filling in the corners with space rocks to try and make it more space-like, and also to fill up the paper. I didn't realize what I was getting myself into by using white paper.
I lined the figure and started coloring... and that was when I realized I didn't like how it was turning out and decided to take a break from the piece. I liked the idea a lot, but my current skills weren't where I wanted them to be for the piece.
I came back to this piece after a few months and realized that I could just cover the part I didn't like with a new and improved version! I had improved significantly since I had last been working on this piece. I'm pretty sure I went through two markers to get that background done.
I revisited an old "technique" from me messing around in grade school... Where I made paint with glue and markers! Lucky for me, my mom had just bought a bunch of fairy lights for the backyard and let me use the plastic containers for mixing paint!
Basically what I do is color the surface of the palette with washable marker, and then I put some Elmer's glue in it and mix it up until the glue becomes the color of the marker! It makes a handy-dandy tinted seal, although I wouldn't dare put a paintbrush in it unless you want to risk ruining it!
And ta-da! It was done! Because of the "painting" method I used, the piece has a sheen when tilted in the light! It's hard to capture in a photo, but you can kind of see it!
Just some extra WIP pictures!
A comparison.