LIFE DRAWINGSSSS

some more

the one i did today is the best so far, but i dont have a pic of it :\

life drawing

life drawing

life drawing

life drawing

life drawing

life drawing

life drawing

life drawing (hella wrong forshortening)

1.5 weeks of class left!!

old life drawings

life drawing homework (5 minute sketch)

life drawing (pre spring break)

life drawing (pre spring break)

life drawing pre spring break

life drawing pre spring break

life drawing (one of the firsts)

i feel like ive done way more, but i cant find them at the moment…

TGIF!

so many good experiences took place today

for starters

i found this in my box at school today:

vday

vday

aside from the bad handwriting (i hope you draw really well..jk)

and the candy being from mexico

i was damn suprised someone left this in my box

and since i realize there are too many possibilities of who couldve left this

a friend playing a prank, my teacher who felt miserably sorry for me, the mexican immigrant i hired in front of lowe’s on ranier, my friend from elementary school named “Im N. Telling”

it just goes on

so i wont waste time analyzing this situation

it’s merely free candy..correction

free bad-tasting candy..

the candy was like crack, its so bad..but i was starving in humanities and science so i ate one

one became three..three became six..six became twelve..

and then i cut myself off

i do appreciate it though, so if youre reading this

thanks for the corazones dulces

on another note

ive finally got in contact with my mother’s side of the family

to put in short, my mother left when i was very young, about 1-ish

i havent spent much time dwelling over it these past few years,  a decade even

which is why most of my friends dont seem to know about it

but now, 18 years from then

ive finally been able to get in contact with a member from her family

i had been searching for my grandmother for a few months now

after talking it over with my dad, i had felt an unbearable amount of guilt

from my responsibilities of being a grandson who very much like his own mother

had abandoned someone who had no fault to blame

my grandmother was not the one who left me

and there was no reason to extinguish our relationship

but i was too young and powerless of any actual consciousness to decide anything then

how many times can a single-parent raised child tell themselves

“its not my fault”

before the guilt is gone

i would never subdue myself to that extent

and rob myself of an experience that so few (and at the same time, very many)

have the chance to do

to explore life at this great of a degree

and question these meanings and experiences

and most importantly

to take everything that it means into your own hands

from what i last remembered, she lived in chinatown

and for myself, someone who spends so many hours of his damn life

walking the streets of jackson to maynard

i often question to myself when i look into every elderly asian womans eyes

“is that my grandmother? are you my grandmother?”

ive had a very deep rooted history in chinatown

from being raised in the homeless shelter at a very young age, to growing up on jackson square in little saigon in the early 90s, to experiencing the thrills and tragedies of what it means to be in a “gang” and avoiding the now terminated gang unit that patrolled the district, to getting my first real under the table job in chinatown, the list just goes on and on

and i believe that every single experience that has occurred in my past

has brought and molded me to where and who i am now

and it will continue to do so

i was able to find (or my cousin thi was able to.. thanks!!) my auntie (mom’s cousin) who now lives in dallas, tx through facebook (imagine that!)

and we’ve been able to exchange words with each other, catching up in a somewhat awkward but proper manner, and have exchanged numbers

to her and her two sisters that live here in seattle, as well as my grandmother

so i can only hope that i will recieve that call soon

although i dont know how to feel

its an exciting and nerve-wrecking moment

there has been so much ive wanted to do and say

but now that its here, im sort of at a lost for words (go figure)

BUT THATS NOT FUCKING IT!

my dad brought home a new member to the family

the un-named

the un-named

we need a name for her

please leave ideas and suggestions as a comment (;

life drawing sketches

here is a sketch of the most recent class session

model name: pidgeon (awesome name)

pidgeon

pidgeon

pidgeon

homework:

self portrait

we’ve been concentrating on line contour drawings, starting the day off with blind contours to get our eyes in motion

and following up with modified contour drawing, moving our pencil in sync with our eye-movement, carefully getting down every line we see

we’ve also started measuring proportions and negative space

and were doing roll paper drawings next week ^_^

we havent started charcoal, lightning, shading, or anything else yet

which is what i thought would be the main basis of a life drawing class

but i am much more satisfied with doing these

ill upload some older ones later, we’ve only had three models so far

finally

im sitting in the library with nothing to do

so i thought i should finally get back to this thing

ive been indifferent about things lately but that doesnt matter as of now

life drawing is fucking great
the first model was a lady, not too old, low 30s maybe
i wasnt as shocked as i had thought i would be (first time i had seen a nude person close-up)
and we were doing blind contour drawings (how intimate is that?)
and after the session she came up to me and complimented me on how well i did at not looking at my paper while drawing her
i responded to her by saying i was just an obedient student..
shortly after i had realized she just gave me a compliment of staring at her while she was naked
only in art school ^_^

the second man we drew had an uncircumcised penis, that is all.

i will post drawings of them later today
—————————————————
we also have a new president

but more importantly
we are a canon country now

because pete souza is the new white house photographer
who shoots with a canon 5d mk ii

and shot the presidential portrait with the canon 5d mk ii, the first presidential portrait shot with a digital camera

Presidential Portrait of Barack Obama

The settings: 1/125 exposure, F/10.0, 105mm focal length, ISO 100, no flash. You can download the full-sized photo here.

i will try to take more time and reflect on this situation, i feel a little different, a little warmer and slightly fuzzier..

—————————————————

ive been extra busy this month with photos, i made a new years resolution of making double what i made last year (barely anything ^_^)

so the goal this year is $8k from photography

ive booked about $2k(ish) so far, i’m feeling good about this

*queue music: rick ross – hustlin*

although my camera just broke

the ae sensor is malfunctioning so the camera is permanently reading every photo as if there is no light

on Av mode

ie: daylight, iso 100, f/1.4

camera compensates for the “lack” of light and adjusts the shutter for 15″

i can only bypass this by shooting exclusively on M but it is a guess and check game when adjusting the shutter speed and aperture to get the correct exposure with the final image

and i cant shoot candids unless i have a good amount of time to adjust for the shot

ive been looking at upgrading to the 40d or the 5d mk i

sigh

here are some pics from a day before the camera ceased to function

greg, music department

alexx, art department

the fog

here is the only snapshot i got of the week of extreme fog we had in seattle

—————————————————

here is a preview of the portraits ive been shooting this month

Nikola

Nikola

Denis

Denis

Anissa

Anissa

Zozan

Zozan

Troy

Troy

Eldina

Eldina

Eldina

Sara

Allison

Allison

Need portraits? Help a student! Hire me!

Offering prints as well

—————————————————

Also had the opportunity to shoot Chief Sealth’s Winter Formal with Sabzi on the ones and twos

although i dont shoot “club/party” photos

i treated it as an event and tried to cover wide candids with some creative slow sync lightning

Winter Formal

Winter Formal

Winter Formal

Winter Formal

Winter Formal

Winter Formal

Winter Formal

I tried to get some fine art in there as well..i dont know if you could call a high school dance fine art, but i like this image

the only guy who wore a white tux

after the dance, which was held at woodland park zoo

i exited the building only to get myself lost

..in the zoo

..pitch black

i was so bugged out i was hopping fences like no other

after finding the exit, i see sabzi trapped inside the zoo with his van

we were probably going to be fed alive to the animals

—————————————————

new project im working on

i havent been updating myself on the cluster assignments we’ve been having in foundations so ill back up a little after this

from line to mass

its almost done, dont know what it is? youll find out soon enough

constructed of 5 pieces of wire and 4 pieces of black thread

the second day of the semester, the first day of life drawing

im excited for this class, not for the naked people

ive never been taught how to draw formally so this will be a chance to get my shit straight

..my proportions

..my shading

..and all that other stuff

the teacher seems cool too, although i cannot conclude this yet

further investigation will be required to say that for sure

like if he passes me

if he doesnt..totally not cool

not only that, but this is the epitamy of art school, that is, when i think of art school

i think of drawing naked people, not just me (thats creepy)

but an entire classroom

all concentrating on getting the penis proportion right (just kidding)

how much pressure is on that person? i couldnt imagine, i mean you have to be really, really, really comfortable with yourself to do that

i cant even do it with my clothes on

but hey, atleast i know that much about the person

and ill get to make many more notions about that person as i deconstruct them

the scars, the tattoos, the shaven areas..oh yeah

all chapters of that persons life, a biography taking place in a sketch

an autobiography of the sketcher

thats what we went through today in his lecture, really philosophical dude..thats what i think makes him seem cool to me right now

im looking forward to it

life drawing studio

roman taking a pic

the naked person poses here

anyways, we got out early because there was nothing really to do after the syllabus review

so i chilled downtown, im trying to get to know this place a little better

because the space chances throughout the day, i want to make an opportunity of having these long breaks

i ran into khelil too, it seems im always running into this guy..

khelil

4 hours later, saul picks me up infront of sephora and we head to red mill for some burger

i grab the bleu cheese bacon burger (my favorite)

everytime i go there, im proud, proud that this place is on the top 20 burger joints in america in GQ,with that issues cover being Jessica Simpson in an american flag two piece bathing suit..does it get much better than that?

then we head to EVO gear and i found the perfect camera bag

..but i couldnt afford it

like most things

it

sucks

…

How did I take this?

Chinatown

new lens!?!?! how??? a new style of photos im taking

Today…

ive been at home all weekend catching up on naruto..i finally finished today

ive been playing alot of video games too

it seems like whenever im on a break, i take it as a full on opportunity to transform into an anime-watching, korean music listening, video game playing, top ramen fiending bum..aka me in middle school ): (i need to change this now!!!)

but i wasnt totally lazy today

i went for a walk out in the snow (what was left) with my camera hoping to find the allentown sasquatch that had been spotted earlier this week

but i was left with these black and white photos of what i like to take pictures of on my spare time (mailboxes, fences, and roads..im hoping to start a magazine called  “mailboxes, fences, and roads” one day)

Snow

Snow

Snow

Snow

Snow

Snow

and yes for being super asian!!

SUPERAZN

SUPERAZN

Buddha just copped a Louis Vuitton polar bear fur coat with the matching beanie

and as always, check out all of the photos i took on my flickr site:

www.flickr.com/canhsolo

ps

www.canhsolo.com will be up and running before break ends! i promise!!

a broke artist

I just finished my intro to digital imaging class last week

which took up my tuesdays, my wonderful tuesdays

but now i have them back!

its now thursday, my other day off from being an art student..a day off from being a critical, self absorbed, non-matching, unappreciative, little jerk

god i hate being a freshmen all over again..but there is nothing like being an art student

sometimes i may be a little harsh on myself and others around me, like why the fuck am i here? and sometimes ill ask myself what the fuck are you doing here?

so lets try to answer that right now

im at an art school to pursue art, something i love..thats what were suppose to do in life..but another thing were supposed to do in life is make money..dont bullshit yourself, IT IS WHAT WERE SUPPOSED TO DO!

pursue art + making money = as likely as making it to the nba

its not impossible, but its not likely either

okay, so im probably being a little harsh on myself right now, but i have to be..because this damn school hasnt proved to be worth it yet and the only thing that is keeping afloat is that whisper in my head

“..its worth it..its worth it..“

but that whisper, is the same whisper that tells me i can make it, you know that whisper..its called faith

what scares me the most is, im not the “starving artist” yet, this is only a transition. a 4 to 6 year transition into becoming a full-fledged starving artist and this transition into the real world is going to be the actual cause of my inevitable starvation. loans, loans, loans..

would it have been better to just not go to school and make art in my bedroom?

nah, as much as id like to convince myself about how i am “wayyyy passed” what is being taught to me, i cant..ive learned alot of things, conceptual thinking, newer ways of working, a fresh thought process into art making..but is that worth $26k a year?

can that whisper in my head hold me up after college is done? or even til spring registration?

god i certainly hope so

More In Class Segments

finally with sound

fast foward to 1:10 hahaha