blog – Page 12 – SKETCHMAN BORIS

Cartoon blog day 30: Lizards, snakes and phobia

20181117 CBD30 Geekdom

As you might have noticed by now, I don’t mind sharing my secrets. I had the idea for this cartoon because I have a phobia of lizards, no matter the type, the size, they shake me to the core.

I haven’t quite put the finger on it, I think it has to do with the way they move. I argued that this weird movement is actually one of the reasons I find practical effects scary compared to the CGI alternative.

I made a video proposing practical effects as a way to improve the quality of special effects in Indian movies (YOUTUBE channel: MOVIE MESSENGER). Some would say, no you are scared of lizards because your ancestors must have fought against lizards and that is now programmed into your brain.

I live near this (I’m not in a prison it’s just my balcony has steel bars):

IMG_20181108_130012958

And there is a Monitor lizard swimming sometimes here and I often have nightmares where I wake up the moment some sort of lizard or lizard-like creature appears. By the way they are called Monitor lizards, I thought they were called Molitor lizards, what are they monitoring?

What is your phobia?

Bonne journée.

Cartoon blog day 29: Geekdom

Everyone is geeky about something … or someone right?

How is buying more shoes than you need is tolerated more than buying comics to read stories you can see nowhere else.

Again we keep coming back to the same topics: ATTACHMENT, whether it’s your national sports team, your favorite TV show or your nation itself. You have to be receptive of criticism, because there are some good ones out there.

Because it’s by being critical that we improve ourselves and the environment around us.

Balance, as complicated it is to grasp should be the path to follow. But we rarely think about BALANCE.

Stories I consume in different mediums (comics, movies, series, novels, etc.) feed my imagination. And unlike what most people tend to believe, imagination is always based on something human. So I always learn something which is why I created a whole Youtube channel for that (check out my Youtube channel MOVIE MESSENGER).

When students ask me how can I draw things from nothing, you can’t. You have to express intangible concepts from your mind to the canvas, meaning ideas from other ideas which exist in your head.

All this ARTxplanation is good but how do you know if you are off balance?

This is where ART comes in, art keeps things in check. Here is one way in which you can test yourself from obsession: If you are a pseudo-religious Batman fan and you are comfortable laughing at yourself, in other words laugh at comedians who make fun of Batman fans, you are in a healthy mental relationship with what you love.

Bonne journée.

Cartoon blog day 28: When do you become an artist?

This is my favorite topic.

Why is this question difficult to answer? Whenever you create something you are an artist, right?

Defining an artist comes down to defining ART itself. Many have given definitions to ART, for me ART is a language.

OK, language means we communicate something. So what do we communicate as artists? FEELINGS.

It’s DIAGRAM time (that’s not a diagram):

Artist lives his life –> Experiences life –> He learns something and feels something –> He creates what he can with that feeling in mind in the attempt to transfer that feeling –> the audience is exposed to the art work and feels what they feel.

So then an artist is someone who communicates his feelings successfully. Well if it was a brochure, sure it’s pretty straight forward but in most cases experiencing experiencing ART is like doing the Rorschach test you get what you get.

So what’s the point?

I think genuinely artist is one of the rare professions where others have to in a way knight you as one.

Anyway for business purposes don’t just introduce yourself as “ARTIST”, what kind of artist are you?

Bonne journée.

Cartoon blog day 27: Motivatonal quotes

Why don’t I like motivational quotes when I myself cite quotes from artists and philosophers?

In my opinion, the road to knowledge, wisdom and ultimately meaning is a difficult one.

Although the intention of a naive motivational quote may be well placed, it removes the mystery, and most importantly it removes the process.

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, if you are purely result oriented you may be a suitable candidate in a corporate environment. But the laws of the universe in which we live are more blurred and are not as clear as the borders of a spreadsheet.

So I should fall in the post-modern thought process of : there is no one way to interpret life events therefore there is no one meaning I should strive for?

There are differences between meaning and results just like there are differences between vision and objectives.

“Do something you love, so that you can be someone everybody admires” – Me.

Confusing isn’t it? Yes, be confused, confusion should lead to curiosity to find your WHY.

Then you won’t look for guidance in motivational quotes for which you don’t know the origin, but you will look for guidance in people. I don’t mind quoting Dwayne THE ROCK Johnson because I know the quote comes from him and I know he works hard even though he is not an artist nor a philosopher.

Bonne journée.

Cartoon blog day 26: Unique

Do you exist as an unique human being or are you an unique combination of human beings?

Let’s take an example, imagine you want to become an illustrator. You might have an unique style of rendering an image but that style is the result of many influences you have been exposed to.

This idea of being unique has to come in part from the belief in soul, the importance of the individual in a democratic society which is the best system we have come up so far.

Before I say anything stupid you have to understand the nuance for the benefit of balance in my statements.

Between “You are the same as your social group” and “You are the only version of yourself that exists” there are many versions.

It all comes down to the question of what your goal is, the goal linked to the meaning you have assigned to your life. Your opinion, your contribution is important not because you are unique but because we are all different.

I think uniqueness can lead the unwise to become self centered whereas thinking you are different makes you consider about the state of others. And if you are wise you might even take a moment to put yourself in others’ shoes.

Bonne journée.