Website Review: ConceptArt

Alright, I'm not sure how one reviews a website--is such a complex of links and pages really a single "website"?--but I'm going to give it a shot.

I'm not much of an artist any more--peruse my posts and you may find a basking polar bear I drew, and I can assure you it isn't stellar. At least, I'm better with a shutter than a pencil. Certainly my digital painting skills aren't up to professional standards. Actually, unless you count Facebook Grafitti digital painting, I've never done it. However, this does not mean that I don't appreciate veiwing good examples of digital painting, and if you want that, ConceptArt might very well be the place to go.

I spend most of my time at ConceptArt perusing the weekly contests: Character of the Week; Creature of the Week; Industrial Design of the Week; and Environment of the Week. The genre of these tends fall under Speculative Fiction, but this is not always the case. If you're a moderate nerd like myself, that genre is not such a bad thing. This is especially low-stakes, as you needn't commit as much time and emotion to looking at these pictures as you would to reading a book or watching a movie, either. So we can indulge in the somewhat stigmad genre without fear of being labelled a conoisseur of that genre. (I swear I'm not a snob; I don't ming fantasy or sci-fi. I just cannot stand bad sci fi and fantasy and since there is so much of it I am worried that any association with the genre as a whole will reflect poorly on me.)

I admit I spend very little time with Industrial Design of the Week, actually. It is not my favourite. If you like the idea of space ships and probes and mechanized devices and seeing a literal interpretation of "Hell's Bells," then this might actually be for you. I prefer narratives, though, and IDoW doesn't provide that for me as much as the others do.

Creature of the Week was where I first learned to enjoy ConceptArt. My brother introduced me to this site by spending time over the summer looking at all the creatures. These are generally fantastic; the emphasis is indeed on developing not only interesting images but also concepts for images that people will find interesting. I suppose I ought to discuss the very genre of concept art itself: concept art is the work visual artists produce when asked to represent something a movie, novel, or video game producer asks them to draw. That's a clumsy construction, so I'll give you an example. You can buy big books for Star Wars' concept art, which contains the pictures artists drew to help the film's producers visualize what they want on the screen. They say, I have this sequence where the characters navigate underwater in a boat, and we need many large carnivorous sea creatures that try to eat them. The concept artists then draw assorted creatures and refine them with the director's guidance, and then the visual effects people and the screenwriters etc. pick those they like and make them using special effects. So the idea behind CoW is that admins for ConceptArt will give a concept and the artists in the community submit pictures that match this concept. Since you have to develop ideas of new animals, it is pretty much limited to speculative fiction.

Environment of the Week is less restricted to fantasy, though this is a recurrent theme nonetheless. Sometimes the genre is said to be 'open'; the subject of the drawing may be "A Deserted Saloon," and if the genre is open the artist is free to have the saloon in the old west, in ancient China, in a fantasy kingdom of their own making, in Stephen King's Gilead, or in outer space. These can be breath-taking images, and I sometimes find them evocative: the best artists present hints of narrative or unanswered questions in their environments and I like developing stories around these. They are often like Chris Van Alsburg images.

Character of the Week is my favourite haunt. These, to me, are the most evocative of narratives and I admit that I go through these contests like catalogues, looking for characters that I want to borrow and remake as my own in my writing. Obviously I would vary them enough that I would not violate copyright--I don't want other people's characters but rather something to ignite my own. I would still likely credit the artist's avatar, though, if I did borrow the concept for a character. Only fair, right? Like the others, these can be menacing, ugly, beautiful, fantastic, or funny, but there is the added possibility of being noble, innocent, or sexy.

If such rigid, themed subjects do not appeal to you, there are also galleries of artists' work. You can go through profiles and follow links to artists' sketchbooks and blogs. The admins and the best of the best have their avatar in the banner at the top of the main page. Click on these to see some of the most professional images on ConceptArt.

Problems I have with the site include stylistic and thematic focuses I disagree with. The emphases on sexuality and violence are, uh, problematic for me. Certainly I consume lots of culture which has these two emphases; they make for most of the world's most famous and enduring narratives. But I'm sure we all know the difference between honest portrayals of sex and violence, moderate portrayals of sex and violence, and 'exploitative' portrayals of sex and violence. Some artists venture well into the latter, moving from pretty girls and implied violence through pretty and teasing girls and explicit violence to nude women and gore. There are ideological issues about the conflation of the two latter which I will not get into here, but let's just say that if this bothers you excessively then you may want to avoid these images. If this intrigues you more than anything, I suppose I'll have overhyped it by now. So I'll move on.

Overall, I find it an interesting site and have collected images from it onto my computer. I have saved most of those pictures I have found either intriguing or particularly conducive to that elusive "inspiration." I have obviously peppered them throughout this post, largely without credit. For those whose artists I have recorded, I will post the information here:

(from top to bottom)

1) Cheshire Cat by deadred (ChoW); 2) Orange Sea Leviathan by Tyranx (CoW); 3) Flying Bazaar by Corrick (EoW); 4) Huge Deep Sea Creature by duddlebug (CoW); 5) Rufus-breasted Cavediver by Dave Neale (CoW); 6) Swamp Forest Skull Island by Gaius (EoW); 7) Pirate Cove - I do not remember where I got this, but it wasn't a contest that I recall; 8) Siamese (ie Conjoined) Twins by Chate Noire (ChoW); the description asked for conjoined twins who were guides through a post-apocalyptic wasteland; they were to be part mercenary, part warrior, part shaman, part guide, or some such thing; I liked this one because it gave both a sense of their different characters but didn't have exaggerated polar opposites 9) Supervillian Self-Portrait by Villa (ChoW); the artist was to draw themselves as a supervillian; 10) Spike the Dragon Dentist by Stephen_R (ChoW); I like this one because the artist decided to use tiny dragons, not big ones; the dragons are cute; 11) this is from the profile of Matt Dixon; 12) this is Duq's interpretation of the Cheshire Cat (ChoW); obviously this contest allowed for a lot of free reign, and Duq used that to create something quite interesting; I find this image very evocative of a narrative, and I see this Cheshire Cat as a sort of freedom fighter; 13) WIPs for CHOW 139: Jiao-Long, by Adam Schumpert (ChoW); Jiao-Long was supposed to be a sentient velociraptor found in the forests of the Ming Empire and raised as a counsel to the Emporer; I like the WIPs for the narrative, again.

Pirates are ambiguous

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edelweiss_Pirates

They were cool until they turned on the Allies. But I still think pirates are winning.

On Soundtracks

Nothing spears a movie-goer as well as a real and engaging score, one that resounds within the audience's physical bodies, fills the space so well that the hearer is no longer aware that that space exists, is fixated only by the sound and the screen.

The angle and pitch of the cinematography, the contrast of shadow and glare, the rasp of the hero's beard or the slope of a heroine's cheek--these are all strong incitements, do not get me wrong. The spartan poetry of a good script, the crimson stirring of a pre-battle speech--these are all rewarding. But one of the quickest, dirtiest, most relentless way of winning the audience is a soundtrack that does what it ought and does it without reserve.

I listen to soundtracks. They rarely have lyrics to get in the way, which I originally thought meant I could better study with them. This is not true. I cannot read for English courses with music in the background, because soundtracks are specifically designed to be overwhelming. The score buries the prose. If I try to write with music on, that music seeps into my writing; my writing cannot work without the music driving it; my writing cannot stand alone. (That being said, I wonder what you make of this writing, which must have been influenced by a few different songs. Maybe I'm wrong?)

I bring this up because I was scanning pages into my computer, reading a book about the music of writing, and how to be a good 'composer of words,' when a song from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End came on. I was immediately driven to anticipation. I could almost feel the sway of the ship, the tang of sea-salt air, the cool heat of a tropical coast, and the deep pulsing excitement of the exotic. I recalled first seeing that movie in theatres, the hysterical glee of first watching it, the rabid intensity with which I anticipated the second film. The success of those movies, I am sure, comes not just from the acting, the brilliantly convoluted script, the stunning visual effects, or the aesthetic supremacy of pirates, but the tidal power of the score. That soundtrack can pull your body into Tortuga, can release all of the pent-up desire for the sea, can deliver to you a taste of that exoticism which you will but only sample.

The score's power is evident in some of the biggest blockbusters we have today: Lord of the Rings, King Kong, Spider-Man (you may not be able to hum the music, but listen to it sometime; it's pretty good), Troy, Gladiator. Think also of the older collossi, such as Star Wars, James Bond, or Indiana Jones. Where would Vader be without his Imperial March? Indiana without his plucky theme? Bond without his suave swing?

Now, not-so-good movies can fail to profit from incredible music, such as the third installment of the Harry Potter films ("Hedwig's Theme" is Williams at perhaps his least characteristic, at yet it's one of his best later works, I think). Meanwhile, excellent films can falter thanks to an unremarkable score, such as The Golden Compass, which had only the Gypsy Theme to stand out--if they worked with and developed that strain more, I think they would have had more success. We can only see what they'll produce for The Subtle Knife, I suppose.

Computer games are getting on board, now (though maybe I'll want to save this for my other, neglected blog). They always have been, of course, but the hype and availability of computer game soundtracks is increasing. If you've ever heard the mercilessly epic music of World of Warcraft, you'll know what I mean. Fans of the classicly gritty Doom-clone Duke Nukem 3D will be able to attest to how the intro music to this gem could stir the blood. My favourite, though, is the introductory music of the under-appreciated RTS Majesty. I am sure the emotional charge that I get when I hear this music is fueled by the nostalgic quality of the game, but the sound itself is engaging. I'm going to see if I can link the music into my blog somewhere; if I can, listen to it and you'll see what I mean.

Now, I have no skill in music criticism. I know what a staff is; I get caesura to some extent, thanks to my giddiness about sonnets; I know the 'hold me' joke; I understand that jazz is different; I know that percussing on the counter-beat adds that extra edge. But music theory is something I haven't explored with any organization or direction. I'd like to, but, with linguistics, I have little external motivation and therefore can chicken out whenever it gets challenging--which it does immediately. All I can go on is my natural artistic abilities. So I can't tell you what makes a good soundtrack, but I can sure tell you how it makes you feel.

"True Love's First Kiss" from Shrek just came on Window's Media Player. This one is so beautiful. It builds, builds, explodes in majesty, and then lowers you with such delicacy, followed by gradually increasing and perfectly controlled swells, bringing you gently to rest at the end, with just a hint of more to come, ending on the paradox of satisfied anticipation... ah...

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I should go work now. I've been meaning to write this for a while, but just now was moved to do so by the resounding awesomeness of the Pirates soundtrack.

Piracy (and it's on the high seas, too)

A third post on a single day! Wowza!

I have yet more news to share.

In the on-going war between pirates and ninjas, our parrot-toting sea-dogs have wrested yet another significant victory: they apparently still exist, and their numbers are growing.

They are not yet forming pirating societies, granted. They are not yet flying the Jolly Roger. They don't shiver timbers, walk planks, or bury chests of gold on desert isles. There are no pirate empires, as in Imperial China, or sexy piratesses, as in colonial Ireland. But what were once small groups of men who occassionally stole stuff while at sea are becoming actual crews, complete with organization, written pirate codexes, bonding time at sea, hostage-taking, and alliegiances. If things continue at this rate, we may get what's being called a pirate polity on our hands.

By 'our hands' I actually mean off the coast of Somalia. And I do fully realize that this isn't actually 'cool,' but likely a serious problem for the country with lethal consequences. I should not be excited by this. At all.

But, they're pirates. There's an excellent line in Peter Pan that nicely sums up this dilemma, but I've sadly forgotten it. It has something to do, however, with one of the boys having always secretly wanted to be a pirate. However, when he's informed that being a pirate necessarily involves saying, "Down with the king," he cries, "Long live the king!" and sentences himself to horrid death at the hands of the pirate crew. He doesn't die, of course, but is instead rescued by Peter Pan and takes part in the battle that ensues, but that's not the point--what is, is that every little boy, and probably little girls, too, these days, has at some point wanted to be a pirate, and this desire lingers in us still despite the fact that we know piracy involves all sorts of moral trangressions that are frequently quite awful. My, we are perverse critters. (Of course, some would say our fascination with pirates is that we can enact transgressions vicariously through their villiany. That they were democratic and had life insurance seems to undermine that, somewhat. I don't know what to make of this theory. It likely has some grain of truth.)

Anyway, here's the source for my information. How interesting Freakonomics can be, eh?

I shamelessly stole the photo from http://blogs.ipswitch.com/archives/2005/08/in_canada_36_pe.html. If you want to know who owns it, ask him.