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radiodark
Jessie @radiodark

Age 35

theater artist etc

Baltimore, USA

Joined on 3/31/10

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radiodark's News

Posted by radiodark - January 3rd, 2024


My friend Biff is in his early 20s and put a ton of work into busting out his first film, a wacky high school hijinks type comedy! I didn't do that much (holy cow movies are a lot of work) but I painted the flying bumper prop, kinda stage managed for a shoot or two, helped them find a last minute shoot location, operated one of those slappy film cue things for like 45 sec, and when an actor didn't show up I got hurriedly cast as a giant henchman. So proud of Biff- the sheer volume of details to juggle in directing is enormous, esp. without a budget.


Check it out!


Posted by radiodark - August 9th, 2023


HEYA FOLKS! I worked on this stop motion earlyish in the pandemic times and it's just now arrived online- please give it a watch because it's crazy good! It's like the borrowers but with more cannibalism!


I just made some props so I don't deserve much of the credit but please enjoyyyyyyyy, full love and praise to Zeb and Kim and everyone else that spent their sanity to bring you this!



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3

Posted by radiodark - November 28th, 2021


oh hello animation website, check out this sweet stop motion short film i got to work on! other folks did a lot more of the work (i just made some props) but i'm still super proud to have contributed at all. catch it at your local film festival sometime soon! it's like the borrowers but with more cannibalism.



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Posted by radiodark - August 17th, 2021


HELLO THANK YOU FOR YOUR TRIBUTE


ON THIS, DAY OF ALL DAYS, I ACCEPT YOUR ALLEGIANCE AND WILL LEAD YOU ALL WITH GRACE AND DIGNITY. COMMENCE THE REVELRIES!


until 11:59 EST anyhow


Posted by radiodark - February 19th, 2021


life is weird! failing new news, it's the one year anniversary of the last time i did a real theater show:



This was a devised show about the threads of human connection and serendipity that run through libraries, with a focus on kinds of seeking and the lesser known woman and nonbinary historical characters you might uncover through research. I'll made a glowing hot air balloon out of an umbrella i held in my teeth and told a story through shadow puppetry of a pioneering woman aeronaut with a terrible husband and economic hardships, using high flying monarch butterflies as a metaphor for growth and a release from fear.


i miss theater. and people.


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Posted by radiodark - January 3rd, 2019


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@jackdcurleo is reviving the Friday Flood! The theme this time around is Dinosaurs. Check it out! More info here.


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Posted by radiodark - October 26th, 2015


Back in May I got to join the band Community Center in building and populating a bohemian vagrant camp in the woods while they shot their latest music video- now YOU TOO can know a smidgen of how much fun that was.

ALSO I've been playing their latest album on loop for weeks and you all should give it a listen.


Posted by radiodark - March 4th, 2015



Hey all! Love-of-my-life the Baltimore Rock Opera Society (BROS) is doing a fundraiser to support their journey in becoming a proper 501c3 nonprofit, creating paid positions for their volunteers, to put on a six-pack of mini rock operas this May, and to put on the space-time hair metal show Chronoshred later in the year.  I've been working with the BROS for years now and I've never met a more inspiring group of multimedia-talented artists- please consider donating to our Indiegogo campaign here. There's just over two days before it ends!

Also, watch this dumb video we made! It is pretty funny and I am in it a few times.

xoxo,

Jess

 

 


Posted by radiodark - May 31st, 2013


I find myself giving out the same advice over and over, so I figured I'd put it all here in hopes that people will find it helpful.

General Art Advice

Don't be Discouraged Just Because Everything You Make Looks Like Crap

Everyone goes through this phase, and it sucks. No one is born with the ability to make excellent work off the bat- art is like any other skill set, and it takes a lot of practice and studying to hone.

It's hard to believe you're an artist when you aren't proud of anything you've made, but I'm of the opinion that people only need two things to earn the label: the imagination to envision art, and the drive to try and create those mental forms. If you can develop compositions in your mind and you are willing to try and make them real, you are an artist regardless of whether or not you are successful. That success will take practice and practice takes believing in yourself.

Learn Basic Drawing Skills

This sounds kind of condescending, but there is nothing that you will find more useful as an artist. We've got some tutorials here, and there are plenty more online you can find by googling. Art classes will serve you even better.

I particularly recommend studying perspective, shading, line work, and composition. When you've mastered those (and it takes a while), I recommend that you study some color theory, figure drawing, and art history.

Don't Draw on Lined Paper

Lined paper tells me that someone didn't care enough about a drawing to find suitable materials. I recommend picking up a sketchbook and carrying it with you everywhere- it's a great way to make sure you have good quality paper around whenever the desire to draw strikes you.
You can take class notes on unlined paper, but you can't make good drawings on lined paper.

Learn to Document Work Properly

Check out the tutorial here.

This includes knowing how to crop- If a work is done in a spiral bound sketchbook, the spiral adds nothing to your piece. Even the simplest visual editing software can crop- including MS Paint.

MS Paint and Other Programs

Speaking of Paint, it's a horrible program with minimal functionality. A lot of beginners use it because it's free, but unless you do nothing but pixel art it will be painful to use. I tortured myself for years using nothing but MS Pain and a crappy free editing program that had some limited filters. Don't do that to yourself- download some of these lovely and free programs.

If you have money or poor ethics, I recommend ArtRage for painting (it imitates traditional media beautifully) and Photoshop for general raster editing. Honestly I'm a huge fan of Adobe's entire lineup- they are the industry standards for a reason. Illustrator for vector and InDesign for layout work.

Draw from Life

If you want to learn to draw realistically, I strongly recommend starting with observation. Draw objects, people, landscapes from life until you truly understand their structures and how light interacts with them. Drawing from your mind is wonderful- -don't give it up- but it won't be convincing unless you have the skill with which to make it believable.

Learn Anatomy

Everyone knows people have a set number of limbs and digits, but there's a whole system of proportions most artists learn before being able to depict the human body realistically that you might find useful. Also it's important to learn bone and muscle systems, so that when you draw people you understand what to look for and put in.

Brief lesson:
For example (assuming someone is standing up straight and facing forward, arms down), the human body is approximately 7.5 heads tall (although many people choose to draw them 8 heads), and the wrists and the bottom of the groin are approximately halfway up the body. Knees are a quarter of the way up. For faces, the eyes are halfway down the head. The nose ends halfway between the eyes and the chin. Split the area between the nose and chin into three. I'd put the lips on both sides of a third of the way down, and the narrowing of the chin on the other third.
The face should be five eyes across, with an eye's width of space fitting between the two actual eyes. Assuming the mouth is relaxed and not smiling or frowning, the corners of the lips should line up with center of the eyes.

Keep in mind different artists use slightly different systems, and that human bodies vary a little bit.

Draw Your Own Characters, or Make Other People's Characters Yours

Fan art is rarely better than the originals, and it's hard give people full respect for an image when they're imitating a style developed by another artist. If you are going to draw another person's character, make sure you do it your way. Put your own twist on the scene, so that it's clear that you are creating something new out of someone else's ideas rather than just reheating leftovers.

Get a Tablet for Digital Work

If you really want to dedicate yourself to the digital side of art, you will probably want a tablet and pen at some point. Wacom makes the good ones- other brands sell much cheaper versions, but at least in my experience (I bought the cheapest one I could find about five or six years ago), the cheap versions aren't even worth trying to use. I'm not pulling from a large sample there though. This will enable you to make nice clean lines and control your piece much more easily.

There are artists who manage to draw beautifully (and animate) with a mouse or even a touchpad, but they are crazy mofos and I don't know how or why they do that to themselves (I. have. tried. so. hard.).

Tips for NG People in Particular

Scouting System

The scouting system can be confusing to beginners, so check out Ornery's Handy Dandy Scouting Guide if you haven't seen it before.

Start an Art Thread

This is great for if you're looking for more feedback than you're getting in the portal.

Art Chat
The Newgrounds art community has three parts, really- the portal, the forum, and the chat.
If you want to get immediate feedback on something or just get to know some of the NG artists a bit better, try the art chat on tinychat.

A Note on Commissioning Artwork
Stop, Collabinate and listen!

Generally if you want something made it's best to find an artist (ideally on the collabinator) that suits you and PM him or her. If you can't pay, say so at first. Not saying so makes you look like a douche and people won't want to work with you.
Also, it might help to know how artist commissions usually function. The below system is set up to protect both parties from loss of time/money.

A standard formal art commission might involve an advance of say 1/3 to 1/2 of the overall pay, which is nonrefundable in recognition of the time, effort, and materials an artist puts in to a piece. Commissioners should be familiar with an artist's body of work, so that they won't be surprised by what they get. A contract is an excellent idea, to avoid "he said-she said" arguments later. If the artist shows the commissioner frequent works-in-progress, unpalatable results can be avoided with minimal wasting of time.


Posted by radiodark - February 25th, 2013


I'll probably delete this later to keep the art tips on top, so ask while you can!