3.4 Artist Who Uses Social Media Creatively - Adam JK

Adam J. Kurtz a.k.a. Adam JK is a commercial artist working primarily online, and also imbuing his work with the slang and self-deprecating humour typically found online. 

His drawings are often about his interactions online, his social anxiety, and current internet memes.

His drawings often involve text, and that text is generally phrased in a social media specific, or social media ready way. The text takes the form of a confessional caption - personal, witty, self-deprecating, and brief. Adam JK gained much popularity through Instagram and Tumblr, and has since collaborated with Strand Books and Urban Outfitters on commercial projects. 

What I find most intriguing about his work is his use of the internet and internet culture as a subject matter for his drawings, which are then mostly disseminating via the internet. It's a very a self-referential practice, even a meta-practice.

3.3 Artist Who Works With Digital Painting and Drawing - Julian Opie

The first artist I can remember seeing working in digital drawing and painting is Julian Opie (1958, UK). His Blur album cover is very famous, and his work was all over London when I lived there, even in Heathrow Airport. Opie's ultra-clean and very simple lines are unmistakable, and lend themselves to the gallery, public art, graphic design, billboards, and books. Opie works in digital media, and also in traditional media (acrylic paint, sculpture) and even combines these media sometimes.

Blur: Best Of (Album Cover), 2000

Julian Opie Gallery Installation Video

Something unexpected that I discovered while searching for Julian Opie on YouTube was the prevalence of tutorials to emulate his style - many, many videos for this came up in my search. I think this is first and foremost because he works digitally, so his tools are accessible to others, but also because he has such a signature style. His clean lines and clear communication are things which people want to emulate or recreate, and so these videos exist in high numbers and have high view counts. Here is one such video tutorial, for illustrator:

Julian Opie Illustrator Portrait Tutorial

HW 12.1 Light Up Yeti Card

The Yeti makes another appearance here! This is a birthday card for my good friend from college, Stephen. The card is made of layers of construction paper, lovingly cut with xacto knife. The heart lights up via a basic circuit made of conductive fabric tape, LED light, and coin cell battery. The light turns on when the card is pressed in the appropriate spot. 

I really enjoyed being able to make a more polished version of what I learned in class. The basic version I made in class worked, but wasn't finished looking. For this card, I set up all the circuitry on one piece of paper, with a small hole cut to see the LED. I allowed some space between this page, and the page on top and marked the spot to press to complete the circuit. 

This is a more finished looking, and exciting greeting card than I've ever made before. My friend Stephen was sufficiently impressed to make me feel proud - he played with his card out at the bar all night and showed all our other friends. 

15.1 FINAL PROJECT

HW 14.4 Monster Racer (instead of brush bot)