Tuesday Inspiro

I love Cartoonists.

 No matter how much I will dabble in realism or other styles of artwork as I get older, cartooning is something that will always be very dear to me.

I remember when I got my first cartooning instruction book when I was five. It was from a dollar store, and I also got a purple leapord-print steno book to be my "sketchbook". I filled that thing cover to cover as I copied the pages of the instruction book, and, eventually, moved on to creating my own characters. {Some of which are still my dear friends to this day}

 Other art has so many rules --whether it be intentionally or not-- but with cartooning it can be as simple or as complex as you want. And, to me, that's very reassuring. No matter how bad I am at painting or drawing realistically, there will always be the tiny cartooning gnome in the back of my mind picketing for me to  illustrate something. Really, it makes me happy.

Melissa Mendes is a cartoonist that I will constantly keep coming back to. Her comics are what cartooning is all about: simplicity, nostalgia, and cathartics. It's honest and straightforward, something I can really connect to. HER COMIC FREDDY IS BASICALLY LIKE THE BEST FRIEND I NEVER HAD AS A CHILD. Like Melissa, I find myself pulling experiences from my own childhood into my own work constantly.

By Melissa Mendes

Plus, not only is her work awesome, but she's married to a cartoonist too! They are adorable and spend their days making artwork and being in love. That's only my unrealistic lifetime goal.

Do the art that YOU want to do. Just create something. The End.

-Lexi

Happy Birthday, Art.

Art Clokey, that is. {ie: the creator of GUMBY and pioneer in stop-motion animation. My FAVORITE. In case you couldn't tell by the sidebar.} Have you seen Google today? I love you, Gumby. I love you, Art. Here's a picture in case you missed it.

90 beautiful years! Also, I am hopefully getting this for Christmas.

xo-Lexi

The year was 2008...

{picture courtesy of Entertainment Weekly}

...And I was at a family reunion. I read and re-read this issue of entertainment weekly many times. And when I got home, I ripped out this picture. Is that what started my Beck obsession? I don't know. But you can all expect more Beck posts in the near future.... He's comfort music. And pretty much anytime music. Plus it helps me get my mind off of the end of school. And Stuff.

It's also not a good thing I found all these Beck websites. I'm going to end up doing absolutely nothing this summer.

The Becktionary

1000 Beats Per Minute

The Horse Unbridled

Hamless

I'm annoying. Sorry.

-Lexi of the past

In which my brain explodes.

GAH!!!!
-Lexi

Not a pasta sauce.

{photos courtesy of www.artnet.com}

Meet my good friend Alfredo.

His work is in every way a representation of the human soul. His paintings show so much emotion: curiosity, pain, and in all else, hope. There is sadness in the eyes of the men that he creates, a sense of self-doubt hiding behind ego. His characters are, in a way, vulnerable and headstrong, once rambunctious, and now lost.

Alfredo Castaneda's work is by far one of my favorites out of the modern painters of our time. He manages to evoke so much feeling from his paintings and tell a story as to the characters background as well. I love how he incorporates impeccable details like the eyes and the hair. It creates an atmosphere that you may not even realize that what you are looking at is grotesque in a horribly beautiful way.

Although all of his paintings share similar traits, each is so unique and lovely in its own way, which makes it almost ironic to feed upon.

Favorite painting: "The dialogue of two poets disguised as birds" -unable to find on the internet. sorry.
What I wanted to listen to when I first saw it: Cornerstone by the Arctic Monkeys.

I really do love this song.

Regards-Lexi