1035 Worrisome.

I’ve had a weird urge to sculpt recently. Longtime readers will know that I actually spent most of my school time learning to sculpt in a fine arts capacity. I haven’t done it seriously in years. The last thing I partially sculpted was Memnom Vanderbeam from Starslip Crisis. I didn’t bother to cook it. It would have been cool though.

There were two art guys teaching where I went to “college” one was a fairly skilled painter, the other a sculptor who was, in my opinion, terrible. Terrible in a way that suited his place in the world. At the time, however, he made it seem like you could really fake your way into getting paid to do fartsy art. I’ve always been sort of at odds with fine artists, and other artists in generally if I’m honest. The big concept weirdness and whatnot of the gallery scene has always seemed like a long con to me; a facade of words somehow holds together the nonsense of asking for thousands of dollars for a pile of candy… It irritates me. I don’t think that kind of thing is without value. I’ll give you that the thinking something like that may cause could be good in some way, but fuck, anyone can heap candy in the middle of a room.

Crazy paintings, weird sculptures, or what have you, are only going to ever be worth the materials and time spent working to me. No ammount of big idea can tack on thousands of dollars of value to something. That said, if I could figure out how to get in on the con I would. I have no qualms about seperating a fool from money.

I went on an art trip to Taos when I was in High School. Two actually. I don’t remember them very well, but I do remember parts as sort of a conglomeration memory. In one place there was a sculpture that Mike Judge made of a drive in theatre with a drawing of Beavis & Butt-head as the screen. It was pretty shady seeming. Lots of the stuff needed a speech to make them seem to have value. Never a good sign. The kid I was buddied with was trying to impress the girl keeping an eye on the place by commenting about stuff. Eventually he made some snide remark about some stupid looking thing and she was like “My mother made that.” Which caused me to laugh my loudest most sincere laughter. It was such a perfect movie like moment it was instantly seared into my mind. I’m sure I’ve told this story before. It’s one of my favorites.

Anyway, I looked at a lot of stuff on those trips but was never able to shake the idea that 75% of the artists were just trying to pull a fast one on everyone. There was one gallery that had really cartoony sculptures of coyotes and stuff. It was very similar to the kinds of things I was making at the time and my teacher made a point of showing me. He was like “See there’s a place for your style too.” I thought that was nice of him. Even then I wanted everything to be super colorfull and saturated.

Whatever. I don’t know where I was going with all of that. I might see if I have some Sculpy around and try to make some of the little dragon guys Terezi plays with in Homestuck. I think they are cute.

Every so often I see dolls on DA and it makes me want to try and make one. I don’t really sew though, so I don’t know how I’d clothe one. It’s just a weird fantasy I entertain sometimes.

10 Comments

First- I love the way you draw ears

Second- I love your anecdotes. You are the only webcomic artist whose comments I read every time I view your work

Third- why not sculpt a doll and paint on clothes?

I wound up picking up sculpting again yesterday… I made a Met, from Megaman, about three inches across. My intention was to have something that’s highly defined on a small scale to test a laser scanner I’m building, because I’m waiting on parts for said scanner. Then I’m going to see if I can sculpt something and then duplicate it with a 3D printer + laser scanner.

I’m skilled in 3D printing, there are just some designs that I think could be done a lot easier with clay… That, and being a trek fan the idea of a pseudo-replicator is just the neatest thing ever.

I think the Start Trek replicator was just the love-child of a 3D printer and a transporter. Which would be so cool.

Sculpture is fickle. Unlike with other mediums (say, webcomics), there’s no intimate connection after a few minutes, which closes the door on the Goldfish-Attention-Span-Gang that is practically the entire US. Even then, it’s the names that get sought after, not the genuine talent of the artists at work. So trust me when I say that it’s not the easiest portion of the realm of art to gain a foothold in. (Not only this, but statuary is often relegated to the background.) Now, if you created small merchandising statues to help promote the webcomic, you’d have both success and hobby- a win-win scenario.

Also, the expressions in the final panel correspond well to the ultimate declaration of “Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.” One of the many words in practically everyone’s vocabulary, from age 7 onward.

We skipped the book signing entirely? :O

Also is it just me, or are there two ways to interpret the last panel? Almost seems like they turned a corner and saw something.

Loving the artwork. Character designs seem to be evolving :)

You sculpt too?! This is most joyous news!
I don’t think any of my sculptures would be worth more than a few dollars, but I do enjoy it.
Also, have you considered selling artwork on Etsy? I’ve heard it’s a good place to sell hand-made stuff, but I keep putting off getting an account.

So, do we think Carol will get pissed at Thomas when he tries to convince her not to be Assistant Manager?

Also, just finished plowing through the archives for the first time. Great, great comic. Makes me wish I worked in an office/retail with friends just to have experiences like this.

I love Between Failures. Your comic makes me smile and laugh at times when I really need a good smile and laugh.I used to mess around with Sculpey and Crayola Magic Dough a lot. Like you, I like a lot of cartoons and funny things (like Smurfs and Gnomes and whatno.)I also like sci-fi and fantasy. I paint fantasy miniatures, and i’ve sculpted some tiny details on one or two that were lacking, like fur or hairstyle. and i’ve made a few animals from the Forest Moon of Endor for my Ewok display in Star Wars. I’d love to customize more and sculpt more, but alas, work time, she is a harsh mistress. As far as dolls go, for Valentine’s Day last year (I LOATHE that holiday, btw!) two good girlfriends of mine gave me a couple of BJD Dolls, which really made me very happy. BJD’s are expensive as hell, and they were kind enough to give me two, a boy named Chai and a girl named Latte. So I think you should go for your sculpting ideas and make a doll. It’s all cool!

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