Help an artist! Answer some questions!

[Drashner1]

(1) When you're not here on OA, where do you go on the web?

YouTube, CNN, Slate, Politico, Daily Beast, New York Times, Washington Post, Amazon

(2) What are your favorite books, movies, games, and TV shows? 

Books = Culture universe by Banks (also the Algebraist by Banks), the Polity universe by Asher, plus other SF that likes to think big. But I also really like the Miles Vorkosigan books and the Laundry Files books by Stross. I also like fantasy such as the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher and the Nightside universe by Simon R. Green.

Movies = The Lord of the Rings, many (but not all) of the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, many (but not all) of the Star Trek films,the first three Star Wars films (by order of creation not by numeric order in the films). Other films of various sorts, not all of them SF or fantasy.

Games = I don't really play games.

TV shows = Babylon 5, various elements of the Star Trek universe, Battlestar Galactica, Elementary, Dr Who, Sherlock, The Big Bang Theory, The Daily Show, The Rachel Maddow Show.

(3) What magazines and blogs do you read?

I don't read blogs. I have been subscribed to Analog SF for forever, and occasionally read Popular Science or Popular Mechanics or Time Magazine.

(4) What causes do you care about the most?

LGBTQ rights

(5) Who are your favorite artists?

I don't really have any. I may occasionally find a particular piece of artwork interesting or aesthetically pleasing (I particularly like blown glass or carved wood or mixtures of these) but generally don't find any form of art (visual, musical, performance, etc.) all that engaging to the point where I would worry about who the artist was. I don't think I've ever encountered a visual artist that moved me sufficiently to make a point of finding or acquiring their work (combined with attitudes of 'who needs another dust catcher?' and 'I could use the money for that for so many more important things'). I occasionally find some singers (individuals or groups) pleasant enough to download a number of their works - but virtually never purchase entire albums anymore.

(6) What gets you excited about an art piece?

Virtually nothing. I don't really equate the concepts of 'art' and 'excitement' as having anything to do with each other.

Hope this helps,

Todd

[emalin212]

1: I like to keep up with real world science and tech developments, so I read non-fluff sites like MIT Technology Review, Science, and Nature. I browse the Google Patent utility; one of my methods for finding artistic / sci-fi tech inspiration. I used to be a member of a couple of transhumanist groups on Facebook, but they got too damn political and annoyingly flaky in other ways, so I dropped out. I drop by Deviant Art sometimes.


2: Now, I mostly read educational books. I used to read more sci-fi, but I haven't seen anything new that grabbed my interest in probably around five years. The kind of stuff I really enjoy is packed with ideas and cool, e.g. Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age, Baroque Cycle and Anathem or any of Shirow Masamune's pre-balls-out-pervert work. If a sci-fi movie gets a "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, odds are I like, or would like it. Hard or soft-SF, I don't care. I don't really care for most "Western" fantasy that isn't humorous. I had to really struggle to get through the Lord of the Rings movies. I can't even imagine the torture the books would be.

3: I used to read K. Eric Drexler's blog, but he hasn't written anything on there in three years. Very smart and thoughtful man. 

4: The development of molecular manufacturing as soon as possible, humanity living in space (all eggs in one basket is a bad idea), non-flaky environmentalism (I'm pro-nuclear energy and pro-GMOs).

5: Syd Mead, Shirow Masamune, Doug Chiang, Jean Giraud, H.R. Giger

6: Real creativity. There are many artists who have great technical skills, but their work is uninspired, it could have been created by anyone with equal or greater skill. For an example, H.R. Giger-aping work is a dime a dozen on Deviant Art. Some of it even looks photorealistic, "better" than Giger's own, thanks to digital tools. Do I care about it? Not a bit.

1. Google Patent utility?? I didn't know that existed! That's really cool, I'll have to check that out.

2. I've heard over and over again that I should read Anathem. I guess I should put in on my list?

5. High five for Syd Mead and HR Giger!!

6. I agree with you there. I enjoy the Gigeresque style, obviously, being a huge Alien fan. But it's very clear when something is just copying his style. I can't think of many Giger-copycat artists whose names I remember.

[emalin212]

(1) When you're not here on OA, where do you go on the web?

Youtube, various content-streaming sites (netflix, etc.) a couple other writers forums in different genres

(2) What are your favorite books, movies, games, and TV shows? 

Books: Good fantasy. Bad sci-fi. Lots of that weird 70s crap that was both good fantasy and bad sci-fi at the same time. I care much more for the story than the props on stage in the story. You can tell the same story in just about any setting if you are both talented enough and try hard enough.
Video games: Well - since the early 1980s when video games made the scene in a big way, I've always been kind of a game loyalist. I find a game I like and play it to death. Highlights include Ladder (Donkey Kong knock-off written for the CP/M operating system back in 1982), Jumpman Junior (C64 expanded Donkey Kong knock-off from 1983) Impossible Mission (C64 puzzle/platformer from 1984) Doom & Doom II (FPS from early to mid 90s) Quake (fps from mid to late 90s) Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 1 and 2 (PS2 3rd person fantasy action/rpg), the last few years has been Minecraft (digital lego) and the Fallout games (sci-fi action rpg). Since modern times, I tend to gravitate to games with a strong modding community. In college, I wrote several Quake game overhaul mods.

(3) What magazines and blogs do you read?

none
For youtube/vlog content I'm partial to DIY kind of stuff. Everything from blacksmithing to home metal casting to DIY electronics projects, etc. etc.

(4) What causes do you care about the most?

I like long walks on the beach and really want to see World Peace.
Seriously, one of my topics of interest is destroying consumerism and corporate oligarchy through science and self-sufficiency. The end goal would be something like Star Trek's replicators or an OA consumer-grade nanoforge. With that we'd no longer demonize honesty, charity and kindness, and we'd stop (or at least slow down on) rewarding theft, fraud and abuse of others. I believe that if people could have whatever they want, they wouldn't want as much as they already have.

(5) Who are your favorite artists?

Assuming visual media such as painting/drawing for "artist"
Edward Hopper
Neal Adams
John Romita, Jr.
Ron Lim

(6) What gets you excited about an art piece?

As a writer, I'm partial to everything telling a story - and I want that story to be both easy to see and not "beating the audience over the head".  Too blatant and heavy-handed, and it turns into a piece of propaganda or a sermon. Too subtle and it won't find a wide audience. Both Hopper and Adams are masters of this. If you look at Hopper's "Nighthawks" and don't wonder what kind of day the man in the hat that's facing away has had (and don't imagine that he's some sort of private eye unraveling a murder or secret agent that's just had a hard day fighting enemy spies) then there's something wrong with your head. If you don't hear a smooth jazz horn playing softly and imagine that the tired diner worker is a little grumpy and surly, you're missing the point of the piece. And the shockingly over-dressed red headed woman....Damsel in distress? Femme Fatale? Both? Neither? And what the hell is the green thing she's looking at? Supposedly it's a sandwich, but I doubt that.
The other end of this spectrum is Jackson Pollock. His "art" doesn't tell a story...doesn't even suggest a story. "Number 5" it's called? Nah, looks more like "Number 2" to me. 
But what do I know? I'm evidently a Philistine. I've got the physical size for it, I guess. Hell - in my list of four artists, I put one realist and three comic book artists (those guys are good at telling a story with pictures *shrug*)

1. Ooh I perked up at the writer's forums bit. I'm looking for some good forums to get involved in, any suggestions?

2. YES to modding! Some of the best gaming experiences I've had have been on modded games. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II, Jedi Academy, and Skyrim are just a few.

4. I appreciate what you said here. I also believe that when we're able to produce and equitably distribute everything the population needs, a lot of our problems will go away.

6. I'm right there with you! My goal with my work is to tell stories through art. So I understand exactly what you're saying.

[emalin212]

I noticed a few trends here, btw! Seems like several of you spend time on deviantART and Youtube. Which brings up another question for me:

If I regularly posted my art on deviantART, and maybe branched out into posting videos on Youtube, do you think you (or people like you!) would be more likely to see it? How do you find the content you like on those sites?

Thanks in advance

[selden]

DeviantArt and YouTube are gigantic. I often find things of specific interest to me because I come across links to them on some other site (like here). Of course, they're also good places to find things "randomly" by doing an appropriate search.

[Avengium]

I follow a lot of people on deviantart. But at one point, one can'T follow more people on deviantART without forgetting other artists in the process. Dumbar number i think.

[Liam]

(1) When you're not here on OA, where do you go on the web?

Youtube, for music and free lectures and whatever else else happens to capture my fancy. The Guardian and Independent for news. Sometimes I do writing competitions. I don't generally browse dA, but I find myself on there quite often.

(2) What are your favorite books, movies, games, and TV shows?

I always struggle with this question because so many answers leap to the forefront of my mind.

My top SFF books would be something along the lines of: Kefahuchi Tract trilogy -- M. John Harrison; the Bridge, Use of Weapons & Inversions -- Banks; Bas Lag novels -- Mieville; Blindsight -- Peter Watts; Gormenghast -- Mervyn Peake; Cyberiad -- Stanislaw Lem; Xenogenesis -- Octavia Butler; Cuckoo Song -- Francis Hardinge; Vurt -- Jeff Noon ... James Tiptree Jr., Caitlin Kiernan, and Angela Carter are all up there too.

And that's just scraping the tip of the iceberg. Favourite television is mostly split between American space opera (Farscape is top at the moment, but I'm also very fond of Firefly, Stargate, BSG, DS9, etc.) and British comedy (Red Dwarf, Father Ted, Blackadder, the Thick of It, Green Wing, etc.). Good cartoons have made their way onto my radar lately (Avatar, Samurai Jack, Steven Universe). Pride of first place probably goes to either BUffy or Red Dwarf, depending on my mood.

No answer to Q3 -- I don't tend to follow blogs.

(4) What causes do you care about the most?

I can get fairly grumpy about a whole bundle of socialist causes, but nothing in particular stands out.

(5) Who are your favorite artists?

I don't tend to follow art that much, but I'm quite fond of the grotesque: Goya, Picasso, Hieronymus Bosch, Francis Bacon.

Closer to home, I mentioned Samurai Jack earlier. The art behind the new series was great. And I really like Peake's Gormenghast sketches.

(6) What gets you excited about an art piece?

Aside for the grotesque, I like a strong sense of style. Photorealism is less important to me than style. As part of that, a strong colour palette. Right now, I like a degree of minimalism. It helps things stand out more.