|
[04 Dec 2009|05:38pm] |
 I have known my good friend Bennet since I was in the 8th grade (he skipped the 7th grade). Its probably because I've known him for so long that I never quite realize how brillant he is. He spent all last summer doing colon cancer research at the Mayo clinic, has been accepted to official medial schools and the lab he works at in Richmond was published in some Cancer journal extolling some discovery they made about cancer. He's a year younger than me.
Last weekend he was telling us a story about how in that cancer researching lab, he had been growing Zebra fish. Zebra fish are a naturally occuring fish (they sound fake, don't they) but they were growing them from the cellular phase, which is not naturally occuring in a lab. I guess the story goes that he moved something around, an amino acid or some DNA or something so that when they were fully developed they had mutated. He lovingly deemed them "doughnut" fish, as in each fish had one head and one tail but between those two fish parts, they each had two bodies complete with all the proper sets of organs and functions. They even lived a decent amount of time before the whole lot went belly up.
That is so so cool. A hundred zebra fishes! With two bodies!
 In other news, I am done, officially done with that Roller derby story!
 When the anthology comes out, I will let you all know. Until then, I'll wet your whistle with three pages. Its SO out of context, but posting anymore and I felt like I might as well just post the whole thing then.
I'll set the scene for you. Its been a long night of Rollerderby practice and out young defenseless heroine, Frankie Steinberg is leaving the locker room when she is confronted by a small Igor-esque character.
 </div> And, SCENE. Thanks to Jill Beaton, my editor at Oni for her patience with my inability to make my deadlines and to Mrs. April Bozada Armstrong for her script and whom I hope likes the comic once I send her the pages! Senior year has been absolutely crazy and unbelievable and wonderful so far. Half the stuff that has happened I can even vaguely believe are real. Its like a bunch of stories I've over heard about a kid name Jeremy Sorese, who surely isn't me. I think its sorta a lot like movies set in Highschool that climax at Prom. Prom is just the cafeteria, where an hour and thirty minutes of plot have happpened already. Where huge fights and rivalries have gone down and all that mess, but now its Prom night and everyone is dressed up and is really exciting and it doesn't feel like the cafeteria because it now has theme decorations like "Las Vegas" and the lights are off. But its still the cafeteria. OH, and before I forget, I did a comic a month ago for FML.com. Doing this comic has now added the phrase "sucks donkey dong" to my vocabulary. I say it more than you would think. |
|
| RINSE, LATHER, REPEAT. REPEAT. REPEAT. |
[13 Oct 2009|04:25pm] |
 Senior year is in full swing and I am doing really well. Exhausted and nervous and still awkwardly making things awkward, but good. I'm now, finally, 21 and a senior in college, two milestones that I've imagined reaching for years and I still don't know if I'm qualified to be either. I should be so much cooler now that I'm legal. I read Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli and weeks later I'm still not quite sure if I have the mental maturity to completely appreciate how wonderful and amazing and spell binding that book is. It now sits proudly, spine out, on my desk and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't reread parts of it. Its just so great so find something that rationalizes why I bust my bones, day in and day out, on comics. I'm almost done with Bee Season by Myla Goldberg. Its going to be a sad day when I'm done. Remember back in High school that perfect little window when everyone reads Catcher in the Rye and the words just sing themselves into your 16 year old heart? I could not have picked a better time in my life to read Bee Season. I can't remember the last time a book made me weepy 62 pages in. Bee Season just perfectly exemplifies how stressful it is to be a youth with "potential" and if there is anything I can relate to, its that.
AND the new Whitney Houston album is so good! No joke! I've spent many a night doing the dishes to this song. There's this other song, a duet between Akon and Whitney called "Like I Never Left" that gets me every time. Besides that, I do homework.    Hope all is well with you all!
|
|
|
[08 Sep 2009|05:05pm] |
     My entry for this year's Subterranean Anthology. I don't know why but all of my projects I've been working on are filled with nothing but strong willed angry women who are either furious at men or completely devoid of them. The Rape of Io stuff has a peeved Hera and a cheating Zeus, this has angry belligerent wife and her insensitive husband, and the Roller Derby project is filled to the brim with smirking and aggressive women wearing elbow pads and helmets and there isn't a Y chromosome to be found for miles.  And a thing from today to try and warm up my long dormant computer coloring skillz. I'm sorry if you are sick and tired of hearing about that interview I did, but I totally forgot that I never posted about it over here so after this last mention we can all pretend it never ever happened. The interview is up on over HERE! |
|
| WHAT I DID WITH MY SUMMER VACATION; an essay by Jeremy Sorese |
[28 Aug 2009|07:54am] |
|
Coming up in two weeks is the "Small Works BIG Idea" gallery show at the APW gallery in New York and I was lucky enough to be invited to participate!
Each piece of the four pieces depict one aspect of the Greek myth concerning the rape of Io. As the story starts, Io was a priestess in Hera's temple that Zeus had kind of a thing for. Under the cover of thick storm clouds, Zeus had his way with Io, as seen here. For this piece, it has a moving component. When you rotate the small temple on the top of the piece, it moves the view finder hidden by Zeus' hands to reveal Io in the throes of passion! Also each piece has a 'certificate of authenticity' on the back of them, like the one depicted above.
Despite the storm clouds, Hera comes to investigate what her husband is up to and discovers a large white cow. To hide his shame, Zeus transformed Io into a cow before he floated off as a group of clouds himself.
Hera, a frequent cleaner-upper of Zeus' affairs, knows whats what when she stumbles onto the white heifer and moves the cow to her personal garden for close surveilance under the watchful eyes of Argus, Hera's personal grounds keeper/ watch dog. There Io spends her days, tethered to an olive tree as a cow. The sides of the piece illustrate how Zeus sent Hermes to put Argus to sleep with his music in order to slay him and free Io. Aware of what's happening, Hera sends the maddening gadfly to bite Io, causing Io become enraged and break free of her constraints. For this piece, the inside of Argus' head is hollow and when you look in his eyes, you can see what he sees as he keeps vigil over Io. 
While her in gadfly frenzy, Io runs around the world cursed by Hera with no rest.
This piece is based off of those children's bead toys you always see at dentist offices. Io the cow is split over three beads and you can too can move Io around the globe, chased by the gadfly (also in bead form).
Looking back on this month and a half of work, it was a lot of fun I am just SO invigorated to get back to comics. Gesso-ing cardboard and x-acto-ing tiny doric columns was fun but I miss word balloons and panel borders!
AND if you are in the New York area or know anyone that is, please try and stop by the APW gallery for the opening! The open reception is Sept 4th, from 7pm to 9 and my mom is going to be there and she's awesome and there are like 250 artists participating so you should totally go. The gallery website is HERE, if you need it!
|
|
|
[04 Aug 2009|09:37pm] |
  I'm sorry that I'm so tight lipped about all this work in progress but I assure you, when the floodgates do open it will be totally worth the wait. It has been really nice to stretch my brain this summer getting really crafty, using actual nails and wood glue and spackle and electric drills and gesso. Comics are cool but I'd lose it if that's all I did.  Speaking of comics, more work in progress panels. This isn't from the Rollerderby story but for something completely different. I've been spending a lot of time trying to craft better comics and not just being a pretty face. Strangely enough, this comic is set in the contemporary now which is a rarity for me. Now that I've been working on, doing more stories set in 2009 are all I can think about! Stories about cell phones and weight loss plans and swimming pools and car accidents and stuff I genuinely know a thing or too about is really exciting all of a sudden! Finding reference for cargo shorts and mini vans was just too much fun to ignore. It finally clicked for me when I re-watched One Fine Day, a movie that if you tried to explain to someone would sound so lame but when you sit down and watch it, is really wonderful. I'm its wonderful BESIDES having Michelle Pfeiffer and George Clooney in it. I guess its just all in the finish. |
|
|
[14 Jul 2009|08:37pm] |
 First off, a work in progress for something coming up. I don't think I've been this busy in quite some time and for all my little freak out moments, I am so lucky to be given all of these opportunities to do what I love to do.  Also, the ubiquitous Harry Potter fan art. I am SO excited for this movie. For those that don't know, I'm a huge fan of moments in life paralleling each other such as momentous events happening on the same day years apart. For example, I broke two separate bones on the same day a year apart when I was in middle school. This movie is coming out in just over three hours on July 15th and the book of the Half Blood Prince was released four years ago on the 16th of July. I still remember desperately inhaling the book while I was at a month long summer camp, nervous about my Senior year of High School and feeling like I was finally coming into my own as an awkward sixteen year old. And now this movie is coming out, me an awkward twenty year old, finally feeling like I'm coming into my own and nervous about my Senior year of college. I'm hoping that I can handle more Harry Potter hallway snogging than an episode of Degrassi. It just seems that all kissing scenes pale in comparison after I've seen this one.
|
|
|
[03 Jul 2009|04:48pm] |
 Way at the beginning of last quarter, my mom told me that we we're giving our two dogs up for adoption for very legitimate reasons. Chief, which I guess for all extents and purposes was my dog, we had gotten as a pup when I was in the 8th grade. Needless to say, losing that dog stunk. A few weeks later the woman who was in charge of the doggie adoption center for cairn terriers told my mom that Chief had been adopted. Not only that, but he was adopted by two gay men who share an apartment in the upper east side of Manhattan. They spend their weekends out at their vacation home in the Hamptons and they have a professional dog walker come every day and walk MY dog. I still miss that dog ( A LOT) but the idea of him parading through Central Park or sunning himself by a window that overlooks busy Manhattan streets is just too wonderful to be sad about. I guess that's what my life has been like for the past while. Things stink and are strange but then get unexpectedly wonderful. I had my hernia operation a few weeks back and it was (cross your fingers) completely effortless. My doctor even deemed it the "Mack truck" of hernias because in his umpteen years of performing surgerys on active duty military men, my hernia was the biggest he has ever seen. Also despite having a hernia last quarter, I someone found myself a boyfriend and my first official relationship. If you told me a year ago about any of the stuff that has happened, I'd never believe you.  Right now I'm working on a short comic for ONI about Rollerderby girls. I didn't write it but I'm trying to draw the heck out of it. I actually started it way back in March but trying to balance classes with this project was abysmal. Recently, I found out the project's been generously extended so I completely ripped up my old pages and old character designs to start a new. It wasn't that they were bad, per se, it was just they could be SO much better.  I think my decision was a good one. I'm trying to use stronger blacks and thicker lines and less hatching and just have a lot more fun doing comics. Once the pages are done, I still hafta color this beast. Besides that, here's a sketch of Scylla the greek monster from the Illiad. She is nothing but wolves from the waist down!  Did I also mention, I'm on FLICKR now? And I am SO excited about this movie! Cooking! Meryl Streep! Stanley Tucci! Amy Adams! Oh my goodness! |
|
|
[30 Mar 2009|07:50pm] |
|
Dave is moving out come June and I still need a new roommate. Searching in the sequential building was pretty lack luster so I'm broadening my net and trying all the other departments. I secretly just want an anime girl roommate with Chobits wall scrolls who fills me in on what happened this week on Inuyasha.
Or at least the new Pickering to my Henry Higgins.
|
|
|
[28 Mar 2009|10:49pm] |
 This year's SCAD sequential cover is finally and irrevocably complete! All that's left is to put a few SCAD bumper stickers on it. Life is pretty gosh darn wonderful right now! I have this huge project I'm working on, due in less than a month that is the scariest thing I've ever had to tackle! But I got it! I just gotta have a little faith a-faith a-faith! |
|
|
[16 Mar 2009|03:14pm] |
 I finished reading Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying" and I absolutely loved it. Back in high school, I think I may have judged it hard because of its Hot Topic title ( knowing its a line from Homer's The Odyssey still does not help). It was really wonderful to be proven so wrong. It was even stranger, I picked the book up on a whim and I couldn't have picked a better time. It damn near close mirrored my life beautifully. Molly's Grandmother passed recently and it was two weeks of quiet waiting, exactly like the book. Playing poker is never going to be the same without Jean. Dave and I were looking at those sweet Bluebook magazine illustrations from the 50's. That beautiful two color look is so wonderful.  A quick invite for my little brother who's graduating from Highschool, which is crazy. Where did all that time go since when I was a senior? Three years gone, just like that. I can still remember making my graduation invitation. Another year and I'll be graduating myself!  In other news, I have another hernia. This time last year it was on the left, now on the right. At least I'll have two symmetrical scars now. Having to get surgery has thrown a real monkey wrench in my summer plans but I'm still really positive. With all my troubles these days, in the grand scheme of things, they don't really matter. The way I look at it, things can only get better because they always do. Also, we all had to say adios to Mr. Brian Ralph last thursday, and I painted him a goodbye present which he posted on his blog! I really hope he comes back in the fall! |
|
|
[18 Feb 2009|08:27pm] |
More homework. I stole the whole idea from this really beautiful A.B. Frost painting. Just that subtle use of color and that man holding that lion just so. I was trying to get those weird venn diagram panels to read as that man's blurred vision explaining why he didn't see that hiding man, but I'm not quite sure I got it. Any pointers would be much appreciated. You'd think for a kid whose worn glasses since the fifth grade, painting blurred vision would be no big deal.
And a journal comic that was more homework. There's an epidemic going around school of really "easy" journal comic-ing and I thought I was inoculated. I went to a party earlier on in the quarter and I was busting some moves and I guess this girl really liked it something.
AND I read this really killer poem this morning. Its from a short story by Sergei Dovlotov called Katya and it goes a little something like this...
It's plain I've come at an awkward moment,
The phonograph has long since stopped, it whispers,
Better let's wait for a waltz, Katya,
It's easier for me not to dance this one...
AND its a really beautiful blustery night out and I feel like riding my bike till the wheels fall off.
|
|
| WORKWORKWORKWORKWORK |
[16 Feb 2009|08:22pm] |
 And a thing to round this mother off.  Sorry that this post is longer than the day is short. AND how I have I not seen this yet? |
|
|
[27 Jan 2009|02:16pm] |
Our next project in B. Ralph's class is super cool because we're redesigning really atrocious mascots and making them better! Its the "I'm-going-to-pretend-I'm-Ms.-Dresitadt-for-a-week" project! I'm going to use paper cutouts!
I'm mostly excited to not have to pump out another one of these crazy paintings for a while.
Also, Francis Vallejo has probably the coolest blog I've seen. His work is cool, don't get me wrong, but at the bottom of the page is the most astounding list of contemporary illustration blogs ever!
|
|
|
[26 Jan 2009|07:35pm] |
I'm just sayin', if they call it SPORTS ILLUSTRATED...
|
|
|
[20 Jan 2009|10:48am] |
|
|
| navigation |
| [ |
viewing |
| |
most recent entries |
] |
| [ |
go |
| |
earlier |
] |
|
|
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
derbyartist's journal
