Joe Mills

Art in Progress

I don’t normally post artwork in progress, but I’ve been sort of in a groove with this one lately. I’ve been discovering some of the things I really like about Illustrator, and making these contrasted portraits are definitely something I like. It does not use Illustrator to its full capabilities, but you just can not achieve this look well in any other program.

The picture above is a compilation of portraits of characters from The Wire. I had been trying to figure out the best way to capture the essence of the show in a piece of artwork, and this just seemed to work the best for me. I’ve been trying to make portraits for as many of the “main” characters on the show. I think I still have like 50 left. My goal is to be done by Christmas…it is lookin good so far…

NEW: Here is a link to a larger version with updates.

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New Stuff…

Not a lot to mention, but it never hurts to make an announcement…

I’ve made my last B: The Hip Hop Puppet Video. This time, I wanted to experiment with a green screen. I actually made 8 total, but I’m only going to post 6 on YouTube. He might come back later depending on my mood, but I want to concentrate on my Illustrator/Photoshop designs for now.

Speaking of illustrations, I have a new one that focuses on fantasy baseball personas.

Finally, I was in New Zealand recently and wanted to chronicle the trip on Google Maps. It can also be found in my artist section. The pictures are from a new SLR camera I bought. I don’t know if it was the scenery or the camera, but I think I took some fantastic pictures.

Enjoy…

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The Real Photoshop

Something cool I came across. I’m still sort of on the fence about taking things from popular culture and turning it into “art”, but I have seen that when it is done right, it can look fantastic. Check out the larger picture here.

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My Favorite Quote

Like any person (I think), I like a good quote. Sometimes other people can say things better than you can, so when I see something that particularly strikes me, I want to remember it. This quote was actually on the door to the office of my first boss. Here it goes:

Be regular and orderly in your life like a bourgeois, so that you may be violent and original in your work.

-Gustave Flaubert

 The quote I stared at for three years did not have the part about bourgeois, but I guess the one above is more correct. I like this quote because I think it describes me. I’ve often thought that I am kind of a paradox. I have always thought of the sterotypical artist as flighty, irresponsible, and just weird. On the other hand, I take being responsible seriously and go to great lengths to make sure I am doing things “right”. With all the energy I spend on being regular and orderly, I certainly do not give off this vibe that I even make art. In the end, though, I think that is how I am able to even be artistic or creative. Since the rest of my life is, by my accounts, taken care of, I can spend all of my “extra time” being violent and original in my work. Although, I’m not sure if I would actually call it work, but it keeps me interested…

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Duke Nukem

No, I am not talking about the current incarnation of Duke, I am talking about the original DOS game that I played when I was in high school. The two original games were made in 1991 and 1993 by Apogee, and I thought they were the greatest. As you can tell from the above screen shot, it was not graphics heavy. At the time, though, this is what you could expect from a computer game. I have forgotten the basic premise of the game, but luckily, I found a place that still offered the game. I might have to find out one of these days.

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Fancy Pants Adventure: World 2

This will be the first of two games I will be showing. the screen shot you see above is from a game called Fancy Pants Adventure: World 2. I am not familiar with World 1, but I was impressed with World 2. I am not much of a gamer, but every once in a while, I like to play a fun and easy to understand game. This is why I bought a Wii. Anyway, the graphics are simple, but the game runs smoothly and the movements of the main character are well thought out. In other words, the designer thought about the nuances. The only instructions given at the beginning are how to control Fancy Pants, but you receive further instrcutions as you go to each level. That’s all I need…

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Open Source Hardware

Wired recently had an article about the Arduino board. Open source software is not a new concept to me, but this one was. Here is a quick explanation about it from the Wired article:

That’s because the Arduino board is a piece of open source hardware, free for anyone to use, modify, or sell. Banzi and his team have spent precious billable hours making the thing, and they sell it themselves for a small profit — while allowing anyone else to do the same. They’re not alone in this experiment. In a loosely coordinated movement, dozens of hardware inventors around the world have begun to freely publish their specs. There are open source synthesizers, MP3 players, guitar amplifiers, and even high-end voice-over-IP phone routers. You can buy an open source mobile phone to talk on, and a chip company called VIA has just released an open source laptop: Anyone can take its design, fabricate it, and start selling the notebooks.

I continue to be flabbergasted at the continued success of these open source ideas. When most companies are so focused on making money at any cost, it is refreshing to see these open source companies have any kind of success. It breeds a sense of working together and collaboration. The reason open source pioneers like Linux and Apache have lasted so long is that the focus is on the best working product, not the bottom line.

I guess it doesn’t make a great “business plan” but I wish these kinds of companies were more prevalent in our society.  Or, the companies that already exist had some sense of working together. As consumers, we deal with so many propiertary items and closed systems (hello…iPhone) that it feels like the only reason we are given the “choice” of buying all this extra gadgetry is to increase the stock prices.  Why can’t all the plugs I have just be universal? Why can’t I switch phone services without it being a huge ordeal? I guess all of this requires some cooperation on the part of the consumer, but I think we are entering a part of our history where we just can’t throw money at every consumer good that hits the market. With this kind of collaboration from company to company and company to consumer, I think we can have better consumer goods and more profitable companies. I guy can always dream…

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Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals

I know this has already made the rounds, but I just wanted to post it again…in case it had not been seen. Other than the skit itself, I think the thing that cracks me up the most about this is how this idea even made it to air and how Andy Samberg hid this apparent “talent” for so long.

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Sacrifice…

I just watched my guy win the presidential election. I’m, of course, extremely happy. The thing that was really inspiring about his speech was his use of the word sacrifice. I think one of the things that has bogged this country down over the last 25 years has been selfishness. For all of the people who have supported Obama and voted for Obama, I think you need to be ready for a bumpy ride. I think he is going to have a rough first term. We have a lot of major problems in this country that are not going to be fixed in his first 100 days in office. Obama knows this. I think his tone tonight showed joy, but it showed that he knows he has a lot of work ahead. I’m glad he knows that, but the rest of our country has to be ready to work as well. I hope that our country is ready to sacrifice over the next 4 years because I think that is going to be the only way we turn the corner back towards prosperity. If people turn on him at the first sign of trouble, I might have just voted in my first and last presidential election…

Congratulations to Barack Obama and Joe Biden!!!!

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