Paintbrushes and the Shoutout

It's done! The rap is finished! xD

I still don't' know how my creative process works, so when I start formulating raps, it takes a couple of sessions before the final thing is set. Just now, I finished working out the tough spots and it's ready for video! YAY.

The internet wasn't working last night, so I couldn't post this blog like I wanted to. Just some notes about painting class so far:

Finally started painting Wednesday =D. We're just working on painting nude models and stills for several weeks. Each painting is worked on for three weeks. This first week is over now. The class has four models, two men and two women, and they pose at both ends of the classroom, so any student sitting anywhere has a view and choose which set of models to study from.

My first time painting nudes. The process is a little different from drawing nudes. Where I'm used to warming up and doing a lot of gestural drawings of one model, and having that model pose many different ways, painting nudes require them to pose the same way the whole time. We sketch initially onto the canvas first, and that is where you should be able to work out all the proportions and compositions first before applying paint.

And that is where Koreans really excel at. Their technical skill is really amazing. One of the big reasons I decided to go to Korea for study abroad is to improve my technique. What one of the painting teachers, Ingo Baumgartensomething mentioned to me yesterday, though, was that he could tell my painting style was quite different from most Korean students, and that I should be happy about that.

See, these Korean artists studied in an art academy (high school?) prior to taking classes at Hongik where they practice their technical skills all the time. However, their work all looks the same. What my drawing teacher Timothy Blum said once was that most Koreans don't have a distinctive voice in their work, despite the amazing technique behind it. In other words, the conceptual stuff I learned at CCA won't really help me much here, but it's keeping my own voice and style distinctive in my paintings in addition to learning as much technical stuff as I can during my short time here.

I wish I had brought more of my anatomy books but that would have just added another 10 pounds or so in my luggage. >.<

Oh yeah, and the other painting teacher Chang Sara told me that my Taklon brushes aren't suitable for oils and I should get harder bristle paintbrushes instead. Sigh, sorry Mr. Rainbow. I can't use the brushes you gave me for my birthday after all. T_T I really hoped I didn't have to buy more brushes here....gah, the money T_______________T