Disco Cool Surprise 2

Wished to share a couple of new things since the last post on

Disco Cool Surprise

(the Soot Sprite produced super band).

The one-off project was well in the works for over a month and executed brilliantly by all of those who had participated. We had a great time and vowed to bring the concept back from time to time.

In this new posting we'll take a look at the elements that gave the group their overall look and attitude. In addition, the actual art happening can now be viewed in the accompanying video.

Here's to hoping Oprah wouldn't mind....

A handful of dresses were made and assigned to the 
band and its dancers. 
 Based on smart cocktail dresses they were 
fashioned out of black felt.

The front fields of the dresses served as canvases 
with a number of design elements added to 
distinguish them from one another.

"Where Fireworks Are Born"

We follow rain as it feeds blooming flowers, 
filters through roots, water tables, sedimentary layers, 
fossils and the Earth's core. 
 At the end of the rain's journey is the revelation of 
where fireworks are born

"Cold Case"

A cross-hatch view of an iceberg that has seemingly 
collected a number of odd stowaways over the years. 
At the water line we don't see but a fraction of the iceberg itself. Once underwater we see a UFO, a polar bear, an eskimo, 
a fish and Walt Disney encased in ice!

This will make an excellent time capsule someday.

"Dunkin Donuts Doesn't Exist"

My tribute to the Dukin' Donuts logo -- 

a beautiful marriage between orange and pink.

"A Dress You Can Eat"

Seriously! After a fun night out on the town you could peel off the colored macaroni and boil it for a yummy pasta meal! In one way or another each dress featured craft foam, poms, gems, macaroni and felt.

All dresses inspired by and dedicated to Leslie Hall!

http://www.lesliehall.com/

Another component to the band's look were the musical instruments....

In another life the Disco Cool Surprise synth 
was a box of puppy training pads!

It found a new use as our faux noise machine 
slathered in foam, gems and pipe cleaners.

We have a front and rear view here.

The guitar was made out of plywood, poms, foam, counting chips, yarn, ribbon and scrapbooking elements. We received enthusiastic reactions from the good folks at Music Unlimited in Monterey (who were kind to allow us to photograph the instruments there)

http://425alvarado.shopping.officelive.com/default.htm

The drum was made out of an Ikea trash can, felt, crayons, macaroni, gems and poms.

A special thanks again to the band, Richard for the fab fotos and Peter for letting us use his video camera!

Hope you enjoyed your backstage pass to the wonderful world of Disco Cool Surprise!

Small Wonders

We were pleased to find ourselves at the Alternative Cafe once again in the same week.

Friday the 13th brought us the opening of the 'Small Wonders' exhibition in the Seaside, CA cafe/gallery. We were greeted by a warm reception party and impressive bodies of work by the likes of Anne Faith Nicholls, Patrick Segui and Travis Louie.

It was particularly nice to come across signed copies of Travis Louie's book, "Curiosities".

It was something we were hoping to find once it had made its appearance at this year's ComicCon.

The show runs until December 13 and is worth checking out! For more details please visit the Alternative Cafe's site at : http://www.thealternativecafe.com/index.php

More info on the featured artists can be found at the following links:

Anne Faith Nicholls : http://annefaithnicholls.com/

Patrick Segui : http://www.artslant.com/global/artists/show/57646-patrick-segui

Travis Louie : http://travislouie.blogspot.com/

Another event attended this week had been the Seaside visit by the Dr. Sketchy's Anti Art School. The folks at Baby Tattoo (who host the Los Angeles Sketchy's) had been on a tour of California to cities that do not have a chapter in town.

Having read about these 'Anti Art Schools' for years it was nice to finally get a taste of what the events typically feature. Timed studies of models dressed in lovely costumes that crossed Victorian garb with a dash of Steampunk.

It was well attended and it was good to meet so many good natured people who were serious about their craft. I could definitely see this becoming a staple at the cafe.

Please visit the Baby Tattoo website:

http://www.babytattoo.com/

Pinktopia (A Rumor From Ground Control)

Return with me to Pinktopia for another heaping serving of

my pinky mad-ventures!

These are great exercises in solo Photoshop tennis and for

learning what else is hiding in that crazed piece of software!

"Erin's Assuring Field Office"

Composed of thirteen photographs and one vector

(Erin Esurance takes a deserved break from her adventuring and commercial pitching.

As she contemplates the day from the comfort of her field office it's assuring to see her friends enjoying her company)

"Summer Treat"

Composed of ten photographs

(With the Summer now over it's comforting to revisit a familiar scene involving a dessert item I've never really explored. Beyond chocolate (and its many incarnatons) I've been too loyal to try out other flavors.

I keep meaning to but it's never quite worked out.)

"Ice Cream Kisses"

Composed of thirteen photographs and one vector

(Okay, so another ice cream themed piece was created around the same time....

What can I say? I like ice cream! )

"Queen Kathi's Quaint Quarters"

(Composed of twenty photographs)

(Queen Kathi looking pleased as she's surrounded by the many things she adores and deserves.

The guard that keeps her safe, the maid that does the cleaning and the funny butler who's wise beyond his years.

Throw in ponies, pups, desserts and roses and a happy girl is guaranteed.)

"The Empire Kicks Back"

Composed of fourteen photographs and two vectors

(Looks like we may have entered the wrong bar as the Empire rears its ugly head into the joint.

Having just been paid, off-duty stormtroopers revel in the streets. Whilst Vader contemplates the dark side of an ale.

Circus of the Mind

We have a local facility called MyMuseum that both socializes and educates children through community programs, events and of course a nifty playing area!!

On November 7 they celebrated their one year anniversary

at their current locale by staging the 'Circus of the Mind'".

A family friendly benefit dinner that featured fixed and roving circus acts with music and other forms of entertainment.

We had a blast running about the show floor

helping where we could.

One of the coolest chores was assembling candy apples!

It felt as if we too had run away and joined the circus!

We were so impressed to find many wonderful local restaurants bringing

in food that we might sample.

It was as if we had attended seven or more restaurants by night's end.

It was nice to see familiar faces and so many families having a great time. I would strongly encourage you to visit MyMuseum if you plan on visiting Monterey with your family any time soon! Here is their link: http://www.mymuseum.org/

The folks at MyMuseum have always been super deluxe kind and honored me by asking for

one of my dress sculptures to be used for the event.

It was so heart-warming to see my

'Frolic Frock' on a human being!!

She certainly was the "Queen of the Creation Station"

(as she termed herself!) She merrily led kids to crafting areas and supplied them

with goodies to make cool circus themed items.

Hmmmm, let's call this one : "Disco Era Barbie"

...and this one is : 'Moonlit Snowball Fight'

Disco Cool Surprise

The better part of October was spent in creating a series of costumes and props for a local company's 
Halloween costume contest.  

Long hours over a glue gun and foam bits led to some nifty creations that some work mates brought to life!

Part of the fun was to invite folks from other departments that don't normally participate in Halloween revelry. They honored me by taking their roles seriously and by having fun with the entire premise.

It was an awesome challenge to use only materials that our company manufactures and sells. Besides foam I used plastic jewels, felt, macaroni, stones, pipe cleaners and colored poms.

The group was ultimately christened with the name, Disco Cool Surprise (a play on words for the company's name/catalog :

Discount School Supply)

The gang got into the project by bringing in their wonderful flourishes (i.e. wigs, make-up, leggings, boots etc.)

On contest day the 'band' mimedthrough 
a Flock of Seagulls track and had a great deal of fun. 
From the sound of it the audience enjoyed it too!!

It was a pleasure creating these items and playing 
with the fellow co-workers.

Over the next few days I will be sure to include pics 
of the event, costumes and even a video of the performance! Hope you get a kick out of it too!

Major thanks goes out again to the great 
Halloween Gang for having made this such 
a positive experience!!!!!!!

Pinktopia (Living A Boy's Adventure Tale)

My perplexing peans to pink persists and progresses in perpetuity.

It's by no means a favorite color of mine but it sure is fun to color within the lines of the hue.

I hope you enjoy this fresh batch

"Grisly Grizzly And Gorgeous Gal"

Composed of nine photographs -One split in two and another repeated twenty times

(Who could possibly resist working with a lovely photo of a pink Victorian home, a cat-shaped car and a bleeding bear?

That's practically the secret antidote to any and all of life's maladies!)

"Lovely Lily Winterland"

Composed of six photographs and one vector graphic image

(Lily Allen actually pulled off the look quite well and it's doubly exciting to see her in a fantasy setting.

It wasn't until I had completed it that I noticed the graphic on her dress.....um....Merry Christmas?)

"Natalie Portman Pink Clone Navy"

composed of seven photographs - one repeated twenty one times

(The first rule about the Pink Navy, is you do not talk about the Pink Navy!)

(A twinkling assemblage of seaweed caresses the Natalie Portman clones at their sunset launching).

"Riparian Activities"

Composed of five photographs and four vector graphics

(A flurry of fauna and flora fan this fetching female's form--

It's obviously Tuesday)

"Aura Around Bored Alice"

Composed of three photographs and two vector graphics

(Zing in a string of white, hot pink flowers comes the inspiration Alice needed.

Thinking Pink

I've had a blast with Photoshop lately, especially with this current series of collages with pink haired ladies. I've always admired the look of a bright pink wig as i tend to see the wig as a character itself.

By changing the model's appearance completely, the visual begs to be set in further fantasy settings. Animation was a strong influence on my life and the work I eventually went on to do.

The models in wigs (or hair coloring) look like wonderful Anime characters brought to life!

There are flaws galore in the pieces themselves but the overall effect is sure fun.

Not only is it interesting to scan the internet for models, backgrounds and vectors but it's also

a cool challenge to stay true to this particular pallette.

"Super Pink Pal" :

composed of five photographs and one vector graphic

(Lovely pic of model Audrey Kitching caught in heroic pose protecting a purpley pink Manhattan)

"Harajuku Girl Protected By Poodle Balloons Whilst Pink Gundam Looks On" :

composed of seven photographs

(The title says it all but you kinda wish the Gundam wouldn't stand down so quickly--

Why exactly is he so fearful of the dreaded pink poodle protectors?)

"Epic Erin Spy Scene" :

composed of four photographs

(Who doesn't love Erin Esurance? She's just realized the bad guys escaped in a ship

hidden in a faux skyscraper..What will she do next?)

"Pink Pixie" :

composed of two photographs and two vector graphics

(this was my first one so it has a lot of goofs in it -- however, the forest pic is lovely and the model looks cute in this setting)

"Pastoral Pink Sunset" :

composed of eight photographs

(particularly messy when blown up in size but it has a nice sleepy quality to it)

Annual Blog Entry : The World of the Soot Sprite Hive

Do my eyes deceive? It's been an entire year and so many days since I started this blog!

Wow, talk about procrastination!

I so absolutely wished to share the stuff I had been working on in hopes of finding others who shared an affinity for the mediums I use.

What mediums you ask? Well, all of my life I have been an illustrator and pretty much stayed within that area of expression. I love it and as many of you know, sometimes the drawings create themselves - borrowing your hand and pen to come into the world.

It's a thrill to just relax and go where you will with just a pen and a piece of paper. However, for the past year or so I have begun to explore the possibility of doing work similar to illustration but solely with foam, felt and construction paper! Sure, a little Photoshop magic comes in handy for effects-- but the 3d pieces have really turned me on to exploring this medium more seriously. Here are a few examples....

'Summer Plus Good" : construction paper piece

"Spring Garden" : construction paper piece

"Quite The Fix" : construction paper, photograph, sand and foam

"Fishy Fish Fish" : foam, photos, yarn, construction paper, helmet pads and paper fan