Friday, June 10, 2022

More historical info

This is some older information that previously appeared on my updates page, but I decluttered that page by moving this here.  It's not really important.

Here's a photo taken by Brad Benson of me performing with Lauren Stripling at The Magnet Theater in November of 2014.



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          How the updates page started (in 2014):


          I made my very first attempt to post updates on linkedin  

          This was one of those hard knocks things.

          First, they had rather small limits on the lengths of updates.

          Second, they removed carriage returns, so that bulleted lists become garbled.

          Third, There didn't seem to be a way to edit a post once you get it up there.

          Fourth, it was really hard to enter text in there, because they automatically substituted miscellaneous links, while I was typing, and I had to hit "escape" while typing to avoid getting this miscellaneous, unrelated garbage in your post.

          So I deleted my post, put a link to my updates blog on linkedin, and am maintaining it for recent updates.  I also have a link to the update page on my website and on my profile at Paul Michael's The Network. I am grateful to this website for allowing me to be verbose and format and reformat my posts.

          Musings about getting into Art

          Update about commercializing my art


          Some people have been encouraging me to try to put my doodles into the field of surface design: fabrics, carpets, etc.  

          I went to the Printsource convention during the summer of 2019. This is a convention where people selling surface designs offer their wares to the buyers.  Apparently there are a number of such conventions in NYC.  This is one of the few that allows non-exhibiting artists to visit and talk to people.

          Looking at the exhibitors, it appeared that they had all put in several thousand dollars getting their designs printed up poster size and in books on thick display material.  They all had hundreds of designs.

          True, none of their designs looked similar to mine, but that could be fashion.

          I got the e-mail addresses of at least 20 businesses that hire artists for surface design.  I e-mailed all of them with a link to my google photo album.  A few got back to me saying that they liked my art, but they needed art in digital vector form, not hand drawn.  One company said that they need patterns that repeat so that they can be printed out on rolls.

          I’m just not willing to spend the time and money to create this type of exhibit or get the software necessary to create digital images.  I just want to draw on paper.  It’s a stress relief thing.  I don't want to work on making my designs repeat, either. I'm sure it could be done -- likely not too difficult -- but not really fun for me.  I do think my designs would be suitable for a scarf or an area rug, without repeating.

          There are some designers who do hand drawn designs — but companies that hire those designers did not get back to me.

          I have put a couple of designs on spoonflower.com (link to my page), but no one contacted me as interested.  One of the artists at the convention told me that you have to promote them. No one just goes on there browsing.  Again, I’m not willing to spend the money to create a marketing campaign.

          In order to sell from spoonflower you have to order a sample and proof it.  I haven't done that yet, though I might at some point.  


          Original blog on Musings about getting into art

          In the past, I always regarded art as a distraction, not even to the level of a hobby -- just something to do to calm down.  I never thought that I was good at art.  When I was a kid, there were art classes in school, and I never felt that my representational art was as good as that of many of the other students in the classes I took.

          Also, my handwriting was very poor for a girl.  I don't think it was as bad as the boys' handwriting, but I got negative remarks for it.

          I started doing calligraphy to try to overcome bad handwriting. I doodled a lot, the way one might drum one's fingers or crack one's knuckles, just to release stress.

          I've posted some of my calligraphy on this blog before.

          Then, in 2017, I started remembering my mother's doodles.  She doodled in the margins of shopping lists and newsletters -- abstract shapes. I remember thinking some of them were quite beautiful -- but I don't have any of them now, because they were all thrown away with the documents they were drawn on.

          I decided to start doing doodles to give to friends, so that my doodles wouldn't suffer the same fate as my mother's.  Then I posted some on social media. To my surprise, people really loved them.  I've even sold some.  That's hard for me to wrap my mind around.  Someone bought art from me?  Curious.

          Animation/3D Modeling/Rigging

          Samples of my work

          WordPress Blog about my recent studies with blow by blow updates of samples of my skills  http://barschall.wordpress.com

          Courses I've taken

          • Certificate program in 3D Modeling & Animation, wcc Sept 2021-July 2022, Prof: Joseph Thomas
          • Java Programming for Video Games, Summer 2021, Lehman College, Prof: Brian Murphy
          • 2D Animation, WCC, Fall 2021, prof. Deborah Krikun
          #Maya #Java #Zbrush #Adobe #Animator #PhotoShop #Animate #Illustrator #AdobeAnimate #Flash #AdobePhotoShop #AdobeIllustrator #AutoDesk #AutoDeskMaya #AutoDeskSketchbookPro #3DAnimation #3DModeling #Animation


          Wednesday, June 1, 2022

          Uvalde

          Just memorializing a Facebook comment that I wrote in response to a post by Tulsi Gabbard.


           On the one hand, Uvalde was certainly a terrible tragedy. On the other hand, how many people were killed in automobile accidents during the same time as we’ve been watching Uvalde situation unfold? Why is traffic death not newsworthy? Isn’t that precisely the sort of corporate control of media that normally concerns you?  


          And why are we focused just on the mass shootings, and not the enormous number of gun related suicides?  Isn’t that something that the gun lobby wants to hide, that guns are not just showy phallic totems that make the owner look potent; but also the agents of misery, depression, self hatred, and self harm?