Thursday, October 30, 2008

A Serious Message About Voting



Pillow and Pillow would like to point out that being an informed voter is very important. They would also like to add that it is your civic duty to thoroughly clean your monocle or pince-nez before entering the voting booth so you can see the ballot clearly and mark the appropriate choices.

While voting for president is fun and exciting, you actually get to vote on lots of other things, like propositions and measures and whatnot. But, since reading about all of those things takes so much time, perhaps you could vote based on recommendations from someone you trust. That's right, Mr. Tusks has carefully researched all of the candidates so you don't have to do it yourself.



As you can see, Mr. Tusks is very serious and responsible. Here is a closer view of his recommendations:



It seems that Mr. Tusks plans to write in his own choices, which he is allowed to do, assuming he is registered to vote.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

THEE DOGSUIT!

I just found these photos on Channing's computer, so now you may see it! It's made of what was once a heavy velvety curtain. 

This was from the first stage of construction: the chicken nugget stage.

"Roooooo!"




Here I am with ears, about to attach the nose, practicing panting. 
 
And, finally, pretending the nose is attached so I could see what it would look like. 

After this I added the paws and tail. As you can see, in these photos the dogsuit is all bunched up so I could use my arms. After it was completed it covered my entire body, much like in the chicken nugget stage, but with paws. 

I will eventually get a still from the movie so you can see the whole outfit. 

Saturday, October 25, 2008

beaver backgrounds

I've decided that I shall complete the stage set for the beaver's song next. Here is my inspiration:




But with more logs.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

A rant about money

I've always thought it would be cool to get paid to make the things I want to make. I've had very limited success in selling things I make, especially the movies. I sold some (like 10) at the zinefest, but that's all. And even though I make most of the things in my movies out of trash or cheap things from thrift stores, the expenses still add up. I think I spent $4 (and 4 months) on making Snowfakes, but just buying and developing the film for Dreamboat cost probably $200. Maybe more. With travel expenses and craft supplies added up, this golden retriever movie is bound to be the most expensive yet. So obviously I can't expect my friends to support these movie-making ventures by buying a dvd for $7, because it's not happening. Not that I expect all of you to buy one. I totally understand that everyone is broke and unemployed. I too am broke and unemployed (although I start my job on Friday) and wouldn't really want to spend $7 on anything. I'm glad that people enjoy my movies even if they don't want to give me money for them. And even though I've gotten recognition from galleries and even a museum and have been honored to show my work at such places, I haven't made any money off of it. (Unless you count $2.50, which was made at a fundraising event. Round trip bus fare is $3.) But, unfortunately, money is something I need in order to make movies. So... maybe I can get a grant? 

Last weekend Channing and I attended the first part of a fundraising and grant-writing for artists workshop.  The first part was fundraising, this weekend is the grant-writing portion, which we're also planning to attend. I left the workshop feeling really enthused about finding grants to apply for and immediately looked up a bunch of grant opportunities. Almost as immediately I became pretty discouraged. There are thousands of grant opportunities out there, and most of them are really specific about what they want. That's good, because it saves you the trouble of applying for one that definitely isn't going to fund you, but bad because it's hard to find the ones that you do qualify for. Especially for me. 

My art isn't about social issues or women with cancer or multi-culturalism. It's just about making people happy. If there are grants that want to fund things like that, I have yet to find them. It does seem like there should be such things within the thousands of grants that exist, so maybe I just need to spend more time investigating lists of 19,000 grant opportunities to find them. 

I'm also having a problem, as someone who has essentially never been paid for or spent much money on my artwork, with the idea of requesting what seem like huge sums of money. When you're seeking funding, you have to include "artist's fees" in the amount you request. Which is really cool, because it means you get paid for the time you spend making art and that you get to pay the people who help you. That's what I want. I understand that my time is valuable, but it's the kind of thing I don't know how to put a price on. One bag of stuffing and a yard of velcro, $7. One dvd, $7. One joke book about sea creatures, $1. Those are easy. Three days spent painting a cigar box to look like a black lacquer box with golden bone details? I have no idea. 

Another difficult aspect of applying for funding is the timing. I enjoy making plans. I wrote down almost the entire sequence of Snowfakes before I took a single photo. But then I started taking photos the next day. After applying for a grant it generally take 6 months to hear whether they've decided to fund you or not. Knowing generally what I'm going to do before I start work is not such a big deal, but making a plan and getting all excited about it and then waiting  six months before working on it seems almost excruciating.

But obviously, I'm going to try it. Because maybe I can get $10,000 and make the best movie ever!

Monday, October 13, 2008

Goals...


I'm experimenting with setting deadlines for myself. I wasn't sure if it would work because it's not like something bad will happen to me if I turn in my work to myself late. But I told myself that if I really want to take my movie-making seriously (or to ever finish) then I have to be serious about actually working on it. And it's going pretty well. The first deadline (and only one so far) was to complete Pillow and Pillow today! TICKTICKTICK! Time's a-wastin'!

But I think I can do it. It's only almost 4pm and I'm almost finished. Only a little stuffing and some monocle-making remains. They might not get eyeballs today, because I think I want googley eyes, which I don't have. But those will only take a moment to attach, and there's no way I'm going to the art supply store today. 

On a related rant: why doesn't Oakland have an art supply store? I don't understand. I've heard tell that there are more artists per capita here than in any other American city, or something like that, so why do we have to go to Berkeley or Emeryville to get supplies? It doesn't make sense at all. 

So, dear reader, what should I work on after today's deadline? Cat puppet? Giraffe puppet? Beaver puppet? Emily puppet? Maybe I should look and see what kind of fabrics I have before I decide. I also got a job! Hooray! So I should probably find out how many days I'm going to be working before I set my next deadline. 

But for now, back to work on that monocle. 

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Pallin' around with the Pillows


Thanks to one of my bed pillows for modeling the moustache for the non-completed Pillow. Doesn't Pillow look nice? Channing thinks he's horrifying, and that Pillow's gaping mouth is likely to bite him. This is probably true, but since his mouth is made of cardboard I doubt it would hurt very much. Hopefully he'll be less scared when I finish adding the rest of the facial features. UPDATE: Channing is slightly less scared now that Pillow has a moustache. 

I also finished a very rough cut of the beginning of the movie! Hooray! 


Tuesday, October 7, 2008

A Heck Of A Team!

This is what I'm going to be working on for the next forever. Making the hosts is the first step. 

If you're interested in writing a song to possibly be performed at this vaudeville show, let me know and I'll give you more info. 



Monday, October 6, 2008

CELEBS!!!

We were in LA for the weekend. Here is an artist's rendering of us having fun at a fancy event:



We also saw some other celebs:
Air Bud!!!

I talked to them for a while about being golden retriever superstars and I learned a lot. Mostly that once you're a golden retriever superstar you get lots of curly rawhide treats. Which I guess is good. Maybe they're an acquired taste which I will learn to love when I become a golden retriever superstar and can afford such luxuries. 

I also got food poisoning, barfed in a parking lot, and spent most of the weekend in bed. I did make it to the Tokyo Nonsense show, which was the reason we went to LA this weekend. Channing's friend Antonin (Digiki) got flown in from Tokyo to DJ at the opening, and he graciously allowed me to sleep in his hotel room while he and Channing went to the Getty without me. We really enjoyed the show, especially the video pieces. It's pretty unusual for me to enjoy video art, which might seem strange since I'm a video artist. It just seems like so much of the video I see is just boring. I get really angry when I see videos made by people who seem to think that no one has ever seen something in slow motion before. I don't think making a video slow makes it art. It just makes it boring. And, in case you haven't been to the same galleries and museums as me, there are a TON of videos like this. I like seeing things that are unexpected and witty and creative, and most of the videos in this show fit that description exactly. But you don't have to take my word for it... (cue art gallery rainbow theme)