Bunny babies are super awesome…

Recently in Deviantart, someone posted this message [Link].

In all its honesty, I thought it was a very smart post, which is why I bother to share. I myself has pondered before, what is the point in creating all those personal art (I use the general term “art” for all kinds of work here) ? Simply for publicity? So that you could land a job? So what happens when you get fired then, does the cycle repeat again? Digital programs like Photoshop has definitely reduce the time required to create art, and also reduced the errors and frustrations that happens during the process. But a lot of effort and time still goes into each piece, and the artistic and fundamental skill required has not changed at all.

Unfortunately, many of these works has not served much value beyond a portfolio piece and desktop wallpapers. Don’t get me wrong, not all artwork has to be commercialized, some are done to polish our skills further, some are done as a hobby. But as passionate as you are, if you are working as a professional artist, then I sincerely believes that all artwork should have a potential tangible value that goes beyond a portfolio piece and a desktop eye candy.

While there is an existing notion that “Fantasy” art pieces appeals more to younger and modern demographic, they are also perceived more as a by-product in the entertainment industry, rather than a credible art pieces in itself. There is some validity in such argument of course, in many cases, such works are not suitable to be displayed on the wall, not because of the theme itself, but because it really does not complement or “beautify” the space. In other cases, which is equally prevalent, the viewers doesn’t connect or understand the story behind the art. There are many factors that can increase the value of an art, but today let’s touch on increasing the “value through a story”.

There is a saying that says “A picture is worth a thousand words”. Well, I think I agree on that saying, and many people too, but the bigger truth is, “A picture is worth JUST a thousand words”. So now tell me, what kind of exciting story can you tell in a thousand words? Especially when there is no other source of image or information to relate to, your picture are only speaking a thousand words, when the viewer could actually be wanting more. So I understand, that many of us are artist, we are not so keen on writing as we are on designing. But if you want to make it big/successful, you got to have more than one skill at your disposal and do more than just drawing/painting. Pictures alone can only speak so much, words alone can only speak so much, but when both are combined, they become something larger than the sum of its parts.

Now look at this work on the left. Not exactly a bad image in my opinion, but honestly, this picture will probably sell 10x if not 100 and 1000x more than your painting which you took a week to create (this probably took about 4-5 hours in my opinion). Why? Because behind this image is an epic story that people have read and can relate to. They got attached to it, and the pictures speaks more than what its revealed through the image. As long as its Naruto, and decently made, there will probably be buyers. They might even want to hang it in the house just because it’s Naruto.

Another examples are Contemporary Fine Art. Ok, granted many of them might be “crap-that-my-grandmother-can-do-it-too” in my opinion, but have you taken the time to read its description? Wow, they are some of the best writings for descriptions. Yes, many of them can hardly be understood at all, but many times they makes what an otherwise boring work sounds like a stellar production. Whether you agrees or not, those confusing descriptions often justifies the amount paid for the buyer, and it changes the way people sees at the artwork.

Other examples are artworks from World of Warcraft, Magic the Gathering and Warhammer just to name a few. Stories doesn’t have to be told in words only, like Artgerm’s Pepper artwork, some people relate to it because they have seen so many iterations and variations of Pepper(the name of the girl in the art, not our food pepper) that it began to give birth to the story of its’ evolution. Nevertheless, when an artwork is combined with another medium, it usually yields far greater results, in this case, words.

But let me give you the most extreme example of all in my opinion.

Yves Klein’s IKB 234.

Yves Klein’s monochromes were the first and purest expressions of Klein’s concept of a “zone of immateriality” – a mystic void that he believed existed beyond the confines of conventional notions of time and space. Klein believed man had a kind of sixth sense – an innate sensibility to this mystic zone – that could be stimulated by color. Through the monochrome color of his these paintings he hoped to provoke an awareness in the viewer of the profound reality of this void. For Klein the realm of the “immaterial” not only lay outside of man’s conventional wisdom but was to be the arena of his future. Believing the third millennium would herald a new spiritual age in which the artist as creator would develop a pure freedom within which to interact with this spiritual dimension, he sought through his own creativity to develop man’s awareness to the void and to his enormous creative potential.

There is more of it, but I can’t bear to post it all, you can read it all here [Link] (I think this is the pinnacle of Art Description, if you know any others, tell me)

So ultimately, what I am saying is, there must be something more to the picture that you are creating. You need to give the audience more insight to it, whether it is a fictional story or the story of the process of how and why it is being made, to increase its value, to make it sell-able, and ultimately enable it to serve other purpose than your portfolio and becomes a piece of art itself.

This is but one example to create an additional value to your art, there are many of them, but most importantly, next time when you create an artwork, do think of its’ purpose, the value that it contains and the places that it could go. That way, the time spent on creating those masterpieces will be more worthwhile. Do share with me your opinion on this if you can.

Now this is more like it, you might think that this post is about my picture, but actually its about “Posterous”. Let me just say it’s good stuff, Posterous lets you post your blog or whatever from a single source and link it to all other social networking sites you are at, Twitter, BLogger, Tumblr… you name it they got it, if they don’t just tell them and job’s done. So probably, this is how I’ll be blogging from now on, just from Posterous.(Nope, they didn’t pay me any advertising fee…)

Signing off now, and look out for more interesting and mouth watering news in the future. Cheers!

….

“Andromalius is a character design entry for Dominance War III 2008, and my first attempt to write a short story for a painting. I post it here for keepsake purposes and to see how far I’ve improved as a storyteller in the future.”

Andromalius-The Seventy-second Spirit in Order is named Andromalius. He is an Earl, Great and Mighty, appearing in the Form of a Man holding a Great Serpent in his Hand. His Office is to bring back both a Thief, and the Goods which be stolen; and to discover all Wickedness, and Underhand Dealing; and to punish all Thieves and other Wicked People and also to discover Treasures that be Hid. He ruleth over 36 Legions of Spirits.

Half a millenium ago, during a slighty more peaceful moment in the Cgsociety history, The Council leaders decided to further expand their military base to prepare themselves for the uncertain future. They went to the uncharted lands in the North, where the violent storms and tundras were born everyday. They thought it would make a good spot, despite the unforgiving weather conditions, it would also provide them a natural continuous defense against any invaders. And as they reach deeper inland, they come across the most unexpected thing. A young incubi child, sitting alone in the midst of the storms, yet unharmed in the slightest. Curious, they moved closer to inspect him.

And they saw that his 3 eyes was perfect obsidian black, gentle and innocent, yet also cruel and devoid of pity. His ears are pointed and his skin was was white as porcelain, glowing with magical aura, yet there is something incredibly eerie about it.He has two human arm, but the other equipped with a delicate and deadly claws, slithering like a parasite that clings to the host, grasping on a dead serpent. As young and harmless as he was, there is something profoundly sinister to him. They do not understand how but they knew that this mysterious child would be their perfect ally, or their greatest nemesis, and so they took the risk and adopted him. “Andromalius” he cried.

Over the years, he has constantly surprised his mentors. His mastery of arcane spells is awesome and terrible to behold, for how can one manipulate the ethers of magic so effortlessly within such a period of time is incomprehensible. But of all the different elements of magic, Andromalius true mastery is the Darkness element, the most frightening element. With the aid of the gauntlet, Bazaroth, he achieved superior control over darkness that is unsurpassed by anyone before him and unlikely anyone later. With no more than a whim, his Dark magic will engulf, smother and deconstruct any physical things before him and all ethereal beings will dissipate into nothingness, even magic barrier will be dissolved into the void. Thus, there no armor or magic barrier that he could not penetrate. The only offside to this is that it drains his stamina rapidly should he uses it frequently, and that’s where his artefact weapon truly shines.

The gauntlet is not just a magic weapon, it is also one malevolent living being. At the wielder’s command, it morphs into a terrifying shape that suit’s the combat situation, shaping itself into an armor harder than diamond to protect the wielder and into a deadly array of scythes ripping apart armor and flesh as if they were papers, pulsating vigourously as it does so. And as it scrapes through the armor and flesh, it leeches the victim’s soul, ensuring their death and in return replenishing his own vitality and stamina.The shape shifting nature of the weapon means it could shape itself into the tiniest needle and twist and coil into the opening of any armor and strike the lethal blow. Fortunately for victims, the gauntlet is a close combat weapon, with a reach of 12 metre radius, but surely that is already too dangerous.

Surely, someone with such terrible power will evoke fear even to the bravest of Leaders. Worried that he might betray and destroy the Cgsociety, the council has secretly sent him to numerous impossible mission that were considered suicidal, without revealing much information to him. Only to return alive and well with mission accomplished, because as evil and destructive as he might seem, Andromalius knows his benefactor, and that’s where his loyalty ever lies.

Pleased with his outstanding performance and loyalty, the council reward him by inscribing a forbidden rune on his back, to grant him elemental protection. But to everyone’s horror, the spell backfired. Andromalius was blasted a few metres away and began wriggling in the floor with agony. Everyone raises their weapon and prepared their spells, anticipating the worst as they watch him undergoing a strange transformation. Andromalius began to kneel on the floor, with both hands on the ground exposing his bare back. His skin began to bulge and started to tear, in an instance, 8 snake-like being began to emerge from his back. One of the council couldnt wait for the transformation to complete, he hurled a lightning bolt towards the snakes, immediately one of it counter blast it with a spell of the opposing element and rendered the the bolt null. As the snake was about to follow up with another blast, Andromalius raises his hand to halt it, he whisper with a cold silvery voice, “no one hurt shall hurt CGsociety”.

Slowly he stood up, and strange looking runes began to appear everywhere on his body. He began to pace towards an open field while inspecting the emerging runes. As his footsteps stopped, the 8 slithering snakes began to rose up higher, and within a split second, each of them furiously unleashes spells of different elements into the open air. Whether this is the result of the rune or something inside him as awaken none would ever know. The council looked in awe and disbelief, yet terrfied at the same time, it took little intelligence to realise that this frightening combination of powers must make Andromalius the most dangerous Invoker of all time. There was a moment of silence, before Andromalius suddenly teleports back near the council Leaders. He looked at them for a moment, then he knelt before them and said, “I am complete”. From that day onwards, nobody ever questions his loyalty.

For the past century, intergalactic war has been raging between 9 planets, but the Cgsociety Leaders have never sent him out to war, instead he was tasked to guard the grand fortress of Cgsociety, and leave the wars to the machines and other soldiers. But with the occurence of the current 3rd Dominance War, the leaders decided that they could not afford to lose this war, with everyone deprived of war machines, they cannot spare reserving any warriors, having the secret of technology will assure their victory among all. This time they need to dispatch their most powerful units to achieve this, and who better than Andromalius in accomplishing such impossible task? After he is the most capable “to punish all Thieves and other Wicked People and also to discover Treasures that be Hid”.(see quote)

Just before Andromalius depart to infiltrate the wormholes, a dozen of unknown warriors arrived near the entrance of the fortress. To be able to bypass the sentries and guards to arrive so far, they must have been formidable opponents. But just as they were to take another step, they stopped immediately upon the seeing the appearance of Andromalius and their breath halted as the embodiment of death finally emerge. His presence caused the air to hum with sinister energy that would humble even the vilest demon.

Many of the mortal opponents immediately gave up their fight before even the battle begun, for looking upon his eyes is to see the vision of their death within the depthless abyss. There are a few, if any, managed to resist the dreaded vision and continue to stand in resilience. But it is within the instance of his movement, that any sign of survival is shattered. For his movements possesed a sinuous grace, married with an impossible precision that filled his enemy a mixture of awe and horror. In one swift execution, the warriors were sliced apart, and their souls empowers his malevolent energy. The leaders saw the entire scene and smirked.

If they had any doubt that he would win the war, they faded at that moment.

“We’ve won the war”