I thought I’d share how I arrived at this design. Ready? Go:

Reference. Sketch. Draft.

Legend has it that Pablo Picasso was sketching in the park when a bold woman approached him.

“It’s you — Picasso, the great artist! Oh, you must sketch my portrait! I insist.”

So Picasso agreed to sketch her. After studying her for a moment, he used a single pencil stroke to create her portrait. He handed the women his work of art.

“It’s perfect!” she gushed. “You managed to capture my essence with one stroke, in one moment. Thank you! How much do I owe you?”

“Five thousand dollars,” the artist replied.

“B-b-but, what?” the woman sputtered. “How could you want so much money for this picture? It only took you a second to draw it!”

To which Picasso responded, “Madame, it took me my entire life.”

Stole this from Drawn!. It just put my mind at ease when I started to think of how much I should charge people for color prints.

Update: 9/4/06
I told this story to a friend, in which he replied (in all his programmer glory): “he’s been paid his entire life.” At which my reply was, “oh.” So, I guess I’m where I started. One day I’ll rant more about this issue. I’m still thinking it over. That, and I want to sell some art before I seriously decide that all art should really be free.

While Crystal and Voytek were in Europe, they put up a few of my stickers. Spain and Amsterdam. If you click below you can see the picture of my sticker in a red light district nudie booth. Awesome? Awesome.

Read the rest of this entry »

Sorry I had to do this, but I really don’t want to spoil the fun. I actually did make some stuff tonight, but I really want to keep it secret until the show. I spent the whole day at Borders looking through comics, and I must say, I’m really behind in my comic reading, and on top of that: comic art is kind of bad. I mean, I understand why… but still. I was looking for inspiration in both super-hero poses, as well as just compositions for multi-character designs. I think what I need was an art book, rather than sequential comics. Ah well, I did find some useful stuff.

And I’ll try and come up with better substitutes for posts. On a more positive note, an old lady with a sweet Jamaican accent complimented me on my earrings at Borders. Something about old people. They always seem to like my crazy junk. What’s up with the middle-aged people “not getting it”? Some old dude at the gym the other day told me he liked my puma’s. He had the same pair in friggin 1968. Old people are cool.

Eff creative block.

Guess what! I’m at the effin’ ‘Bot! I think I’ve found a new place to chill and make art (eff coffee shops and book stores). Even better, I can pick up some comic books. Also, the music is better.

And I’ve found an effin sweet new use for the webcam on my mactop. Instant scanner, go!

Oh, and the word for this post is “eff,” in case anyone is interested. I’ll have to share my Digg adventures with you later, I feel like looking at some comics.

My expert design skills are tingling. They ‘re saying, “it doesn’t look right.” I was trying to just do a really simple version of Sumo. But I’m too tired to come up with one I like, and I wantd to at least post something by tonight, so this is all you get. Even though this is titled “draft 01,” It’s actually like the fifht version of the logo. I thought you might enjoy a look into my creative process.

Also, for those of you who visit bulius.com on a regular basis, I’m going to start toning down my posts. The PB & Jellyfish show is real soon, and I don’t want to give away all of the surprises. Actually, some of the stuff I’m going to show has already been posted, but I wanted it to be at least a little exciting. And speaking of regular basis, rather than a daily post that I once thought was a good idea, I’ve been doing a Monday/Wednesday post schedule (simply because for some reason that’s when I get the most visitors). So if you want to make your interweb travels more efficient, just come on Mon/Wed. Since I’m already talking about it, can anyone tell me why Wednesday is so popular? I understand Monday, but Wednesday?

*Click for postcard
Überbot/Winter Park, FL/Oct. 7th
Me Llamo Jellyfish

A list of things to get you by in the Art World

Suck at Traditional Mediums

Painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, videography. Eff it. As they say, “it’s been done.” Even if you’re good at any of these disciplines, pretend you’re not, and then tell people you are.

Practice BS’ing explanations

It’s all about convincing your audience. Oh, and learn big artsy words like: composition, balance, contrast, negative space, and my all time favorite — juxtapose.

Be a Minority

Make sure you do a lot of pieces about race and gender. Non-minorities will tell you their best friend is of said minority. All conversation will consist of the non-minorities past experiences with minorities in an attempt to relate. It won’t work.

Do Drugs

And swear by it. Alcohol counts too. Any abuse of the body probably works. For instance, sleep deprivation. If you don’t do any of these things, just lie about it. Don’t really do drugs, they’re bad for you.

Be anti-large corporation

Make sure to wear clothes that don’t have visible tags, so people don’t know how hypocritical you are.

Memorize Names out of Art History Books

And then tell people that they are your heroes. Memorizing dates will only add to your credibility. Don’t worry about reading their manifestoes, or actually doing research about what the art is really about. And use big words. (see above , Practice BS’ing explanations

Start out with a Real Major

Go into school while majoring in something that’ll make your parents proud. Then change when you get to school. If you’re a hardcore artist, double major in some business major. It doesn’t really matter which one, they’re all bullshit. That, or they’ll get you a job with an actual salary.

Build Your Art Endurance

Another important aspect of being an artist is being able to sit through shit no normal person would. Performance pieces, poetry, obscure art films, experimental music, experimental anything. If you’re able to endure these things, you’ll be to be all the more snottier than people who can’t. Make sure you point this out to people. Oh, and stay awake. Every time I fall asleep, I miss the parts where there’s nudity. No joke.

Don’t Sell Out

Until you have to pay back loans.

Use Clichés

Yeah, they’re overused, and if someone brings up this point, just say that’s why you used it.

Make Art

Last, but not least. I’m not totally sure you really have to do this. Extra points if you get other people to do the work for you. In fact, remember those artists I told you to memorize? Just copy their work. And if people point out that you’re stealing their work, tell them it’s intentional.

Happy Birthday, Mama D!