A Little Crossover

Does it count as fanart if it is your own stuff? I have no idea. Thanks to my friend, the Ardent Sluggard, I started watching The Mystic Archives of Dantalian. In Japanese, the title is much shorter, but I went with this one anyway. The main characters, Dalian and Huey...well, being anime, I probably can't sum it up as easily as you'd think. Basically, they collect books, especially a certain type, called Phantom Books that are essentially Grimoires. There is fighting and sweets and all the other things that go into animes of this sort.

The dynamic of the two characters (in the three episodes I have seen) is comparable to Alexis and Cain, although Lex is not a pushy princess Lolita. But books are involved, and I wanted to do some cross over fanart. I guess you could say it is my characters cosplaying as their characters.

For the record, this is picture I was mostly going off of:


And here is the owner and the one employee of The Opheliac:
Normally, Lex smiles much more than this, but I was trying to keep some aspects the same. Cain pretty much always glowers like that. There were shenanigans, and yet again I got sick of tweaking. This is why I am not a good artist, I'm not a perfectionist enough. But I still like how it turned out.

Some Not-Very-Good ECS Pics

I sort of apologize for this. I did the lineart around two am yesterday and every now and again, when I'm coloring in Photoshop, I go 'hey, that gritty/half finished look is actually pretty cool' and then come back to it and realize, no it really just looks like I half assed it, but by that point I don't want to fix it. SO...

PreTat Jael

Jael, as you probably worked out, is my Archivist, the Homo Gnosis Faustus of Emerald City Spiral. The purpose of this picture was actually cuz I was going to do tat and makeup shenanigans which clearly have no happened yet. So uh...sorry about that.



This is Matt. He has a tendency of telling some people his full name is Matthew and other people that it's Matthias. Matt does this because he has a problem. The Bible says that 'No man can serve two masters.' Matt would agree to this, with an added, 'Especially if one of them is a total bitch.'

Actually, in some ways, Matt got very lucky. As Powers go, the two HE'S forced to call Master are more sane than most. They just happen to play for different teams (which also isn't totally fair, since everyone is on their own team).

Like Ezra, Matt is a Tyr. In fact, Matt was made a Tyr specifically BECAUSE of Ezra Once Matt was a very competent-if-not-particularly-passionate detective. As you can gather from his current garb, that is no longer a profession he is able to pursue.

It is said the PowersThatBe do not make mistakes when they choose their warriors. Matt calls BS on that, because no way would a Warden Power intent on protecting the Mundanes from the homicidal madness of an Incarnadine pick a Vampire's familiar.

Matt is aware that his personal sanguinary boss is not the worst and is actually (worryingly) enjoying his work for her more and more as time goes on. But righteous defense is not something the Vampires are known for and his Master is no exception. She also has a rather cruel sense of humor, which is why he looks like that.

Thanks for tuning in. =)

The Killer and the Morlock

Two fresh pieces for you today, with absolutely nothing in common.

I have been watching a lot of X-Men: Evolution lately (thank you, Hulu), and Callisto recently showed up. I personally really like her, probably because I would like to think I can relate. Unlike the other Morlocks, she doesn't REALLY need to stay down there, she could pass on the surface. One gets the impression that she does because they need looking after and she is taking care of those that others won't. That's legit, in my book. So this simple fanart is for her.

Another reason I've always liked Callisto is she doesn't fit the normal 'female comic book characters' stereotypes. She's a big girl, tall, broad of shoulders, built without being beefy. Has something of the Revolutionary look to her, I've always felt, practical and maybe a little defiant. Obviously she's pale because she never sees the sun. I know her eye isn't always red, just when she's using her power, but I wanted to do it anyway.

And over here in Original Character Land...

Guess who totally had fun with patterns today? :D Technically, I suppose those bricks should be red, but I liked the contrast too much.

This is Ezra. He is a Tyr in Emerald City Spiral. That is not an arrow behind him, it's a rune (Tyr or Tiswar, depending on who you ask, the 'spear'). According to Nordic/Teutonic legend, Odin impaled himself with a spear upon Yggdrasil in order to achieve enlightenment. Likewise, the warriors of Thor and Odin had to slash the rune onto their flesh in order to enter Valhalla. When the Nazis were making a big deal about the Spear of Longinus/Destiny, they were linking it to these legends. Just as the farmer plowed the field, so it was believed the gods plowed/wounded the human soul in order to teach it and grant it wisdom.

This is all well and good, but what if such understanding was forced upon an individual? What if they didn't ask to be enlightened and the gods chose them anyway? In the eternal struggle between the various Powers That Be, warriors, avatars of their sires, are chosen to fight the proxy war. They are not given an choice. These are the Tyr.

As you might imagine, forced illumination frequently has...side effects. Like...homicidal insanity. Or maybe Ezra is just doing as his master bids. You never can be sure in these situations.

Sketchbook: His Chthonic Majesty Dreams of English Summer Rain

Saint Pandora

The first Homo Gnosis Faustus, patron Saint of those who would know that which is meant to be unknowable.

I drew this first in pencil but it didn't save, so I'm afraid I don't have it for you.

This was intended to look like the stained glass window of a church, and it will hang in the as-yet-unnamed Archivist's chambers. Saint Pandora was meant to have something of the Madonna to her, beatific yet distant. She looks down into her box, crying tears of acid, yet she smiles. It is better to know, her eyes say.

The original picture done with marker with a minimal amount of smudging for the fire effect. Protip: All those runes are important. Well, her rosary/necklace thing and the rune in the back. But that would be spoilz.

Was going more for a 'woodcut' look here. But it is harder to make out her smile.
Kind of a 'blown glass' thing here. I like filters, okay? And finally...


The actual 'stained glass' effect. not what I was going for, but as something like a 'chipped mosaic' piece, it kind of works.

Which do you guys think works best?

New Month, New Art!

Today I bring you the Duchess of Milan, from the sort-of-story I told you about yesterday.

Her name is Haidee. And she is the most dangerous little girl in Europe.

This is the first version. I am particularly fond of the lolita gasmask, though it needs depth and texture.

Today, I decided I would try to shade it a slightly different way. All the base colors are the same though, so the differences will probably be subtle.



With this one, I was trying to go for a simpler shading, and also to more strongly indicate with direction light was coming from (in this case, from the upper left hand side). It sort of succeeded, though clearly needs work.

Thoughts?

Black and White

Today, I have two simple pictures, one old and one new.

A Doxic Priest

As you can see, this was drawn on notebook paper and is basically a doodle I made at school. The world it comes from is still evolving in my head, and yet again, there's no actual plot, just characters and a premise.

At some point, air becomes toxic. The wealthy nations knew this was coming and made air filtration plants but pretty much refused to give them to the poorer nations. As such, whole populations were lost. Also, things like aeronautics becomes quite difficult. This is essentially an excuse for why the story focuses on the Eurasian continent and why I'm not going to worry about America or Australia. I am forcing an oversimplification on the world. As I continue to think about it, I add more and it becomes more complex so those sorts of things will undoubtedly be modified. But one thing at a time.

There are two superpowers...because I like contrasting dichotomies. In the West...that is, the Western European nations that still exist, government has reverted to city-state republics, ruled by Dukes, Duchesses and so on. Regressing (or re-progressing?) to an eram uch like the Renaissance, a kind of intellectual arms race has sprung up, a competition to have the best minds in one place. The greatest rivalry is between Florence, Venice and Milan. The Vatican is yet again a major player in politics, though nominally uninvolved. As you can imagine, there is frequently tension between the ruling nobles and the Vatican, but no one can really move against them.

In the East, they do not have this problem, as everyone knows and accepts that the Princes of Rus are subject to the command of the Patriarch leader of the Doxic church, in this case, the Pontifex Primarquessa Erzebet of Muscovy. There is no division between Church and State. As you can imagine, the apocalyptic reality hit the east harder and most of the continent has become an arid wasteland. The only people who live beyond the control of the Princes are nomadic warriors that bear a suspicious resemblance to Fremen and Mongols. As such, the Doxics are a hard and utilitarian people. Where the West is done in jewel and metal, the East is steel gray. It would be like if Renaissance met the Soviet Union.

This isn't to say there isn't hella court politics between the Doxics. The Princes of Rus constantly backstab and undermine and Erzebet herself has a problem with her own sister, Kateryna of the Volga.

Everyone has to wear breathing masks, but in the West, they wear full masquerade masks, and it's considered a sign of intimacy to actually show your face. Really elaborate ones. In the East, they are very utilitarian and straightforward. That being said, there will be some fun designs on both sides.

As the Pontifex is ruler, most roles are filled by priests. The color of the armbands the priests wear indicate their affiliation. Pro tip: You don't want to cross the blue ones. Or the red ones. Or the grey ones.

The point of the story is to conflate history. That is to have characters heavily based on real people interacting, even if they didn't necessarily exist at the same time. Part of the inspiration came from reading a 'What If' book written by prominent historians. One of the situations was the Mongols assaulting Venice and one of the statements were 'One shudders to think what they would have done with Leonardo.' Not only do I not shudder, I think that is an AWESOME idea.

I like this picture because I so rarely draw with pen and it actually came out pretty much exactly as I wanted. You should expect to see more from this universe in the future.

Probably the Most Emo Picture I Will Ever Post, Promise

This is undoubtedly, a very cliche type thing, and I'm sure I could find a dozen similar images on DeviantArt, but I don't care. I think most of us have felt like this at some point. It is a complicated thing. The cracks, the wounds are real, and they don't just go away, but we put a smile on and tell them that it's okay, and we mean it too, at least to the extent that we're not consciously lying. We're okay but we're not.

I was going for a doll look, and tried to make it purposefully androgynous because like I said, I think most people, male or female has been in this position. I was originally going for a porcelain doll look, hence the cracks, but also a little bit of Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas. I especially like how the broken smile came out, because it leaves open the question...is it forced? If it is, who is it trying to convince...them or you? Or do you mean it, but doing it still hurts? Nothing is ever simple.

Materials: Sharpie. I did the background and text bubble in photoshop obviously because I wanted the contrast but everything else is just simple ink.
Sketchbook: Such Mad Hope From The Gates of Horn and Ivory

Two-Fer!

I swear, I didn't forget yesterday's update, but I had to run errands and by the time I got back, it was just not happening. SO, to make up for it, I have both updates today.

Echidna

Echidna is one of my favorite mythological figures. The Broodmother, the Mother of Monsters. Is there a scary being under your bed? It probably popped out of her. You can read more about her here. I'm also including the link for the purpose of full disclosure, so you can see that I used a bit of a reference.This is actually not how I usually draw her, but I wanted to focus on the 'nymph like' aspect, the alluring seductress who needs your seed to continue her race of creatures, rather like Grendel's mother.

Originally I wanted to put up the line art, and then contrast it colored in Photoshop as opposed to markers but Photoshop was being a butt. So...this is what you're going to get instead.


Photoshop Lineart



Markers


Attempts at shading were clearly...well, attempted, with varying degrees of success. I'm sorry I didn't draw scales, I did not feel like it would really help. I don't hate it, And some things worked better than I expected, though I imagine I will do another version eventually.

Sketchbook: His Chthonic Majesty Dreams of English Summer Rain

Kahlan




This is actually something of a redo from some pictures I put on Deviantart a few years ago.

For those in the back, Kahlan is the second main character from Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth Series. Both of these pictures are inspired by the second book, 'Stone of Tears.' It was extremely good and extremely traumatizing to read, which is why I haven't finished the series. I'm not even kidding, this book shaved years off my life. The top comes from a battle scene in which Kahlan leads a small band of Mud people (that's what they're called) against the armies of the Bad Guy. She rides a horse naked, covered in mud and pretty much pwns face. I obviously did not draw her doing that. This comes directly after the battle as she is wrapped in a wolf-cloak and staring out at the carnage. I like this scene because it is Kahlan the Defender, the Warrior, protector of her people.

The lower half comes later. I don't want to say too much because it is one of the major climaxes of the book, but as you can see from the link, it's called 'The Gratitude of the Masses,' so that should tell you something. This is Kahlan the Mother/Guardian, the Servant, at what is probably her lowest moment. Well, no, there is one other time, and I would LOVE to draw it as a stained glass Triptych, but that will take more art skillz than I currently possess.

I love this character because she avoids so many aggravating tropes. She IS strong, but not at the expense of her femininity, she is smart without being abrasive, caring without being weak. And she's pretty. And Richard is one of the best protagonists. Really, I should just finish these books, assuming my heart can take it.

Sketchbook: Such Mad Hope From The Gates of Horn And Ivory

NEW ARTZ

You know, if I actually do manage to keep up this posting fing, I may have to make a whole new blog. BECAUSE I'M COOL. Or I could get around to ever posting anything else here. It isn't like I don't think of things.

To contrast yesterday's much older art, I bring you something I finished today, hopefully contrasting that I suck slightly less.


Today I have two original characters, only one of which is mine. They come from totally separate universes and the only things they have in common is warding sigils tattooed to their skin and the fact that neither of them have names yet.

As you can probably guess, the one on the left is one of my characters from Emerald City Spiral, a kind of urban fantasy that I play with every now and again. Think of her as the Intel Analyst of the supernatural, whose job it is to know what other people don't or can't for the sake of their own sanity. Needless to say she has a lot of vices, mostly drinking. And she's a little crazy. Funfact: She dyes her hair blue because the color it naturally is now disturbs people. That's right, the electric punk color is her doing YOU a favor as the LESSER extreme.

On the right is an Inquisitor from the Warhammer 40,000 universe dressed in the equivalent of a plainclothes police officer. I won't give any details because it isn't my character to spoilz.

Materials: Pencils, inking pen, Photoshop
Sketchbook: Such Mad Hope From the Gates of Horn and Ivory

Summer Art: Cheating with old stuff

I have a totally cool piece of art for today, but I have to ask permission to use it first, so while that happens, plz to enjoy this concept art from Wasteland: Earth, which you can still read by following the link at the right hand side even though I haven't updated it for months (in my defense, the computer it was saved on blew up).

I should really recolor this now that I suck slightly less at Photoshop, but it is good to see whee I came from.

I would describe the character and story, but seriously...the link is right there. There's only like ten chapters, it won't take long.

Line art:
Colored profile:






Materials used: Pencils and Photoshop
Sketchbook: On Her Once White Wings, the Raven Wheels Above The Wasteland

Summer Art Cont...

This really needs no need to explain this.
Materials: Waterproof meant-for-kids markers
Sketchbook: Such Mad Hope from the Gates Of Horn And Ivory

Summer Art

Because he is infinitely cooler than me, I'm going to see if I can emulate my good buddy Holden who posts art he has made every day, sometimes new stuff, sometimes old stuff. You can check it out (and I strongly urge you to do so), here.

Today, we have some characters from the Ivory Tower.

The Ivory Tower was/is a concept I'm still mucking with, but as with most of my ideas, I enjoyed the conceptualizing and pretty utterly failed at the execution. The basic premise was the anthropomorphic personifications of academic subjects. The point was to explore the relationships between them. Humanities students don't identify with Math students who don't identify with Art students, and so on. And within the basic houses, there are huge differences.

I once walked in on a furious debate between a History student and an English student about who had to write more papers. The argument was silly to begin with because so much depends on what teachers you have. Some teachers assign 3 papers a quarter, which determine your whole grade (I HATE that, for the record). Others require a page long paper every week. And of course, the KIND of writing is different. While obviously, most English students can and do write research papers, and History students can and (though less often) do write creative works, the emphasis is still very different. But I didn't want to introduce a Quantity Versus Quality dynamic to what was already an asinine discussion.

Engineering students frequently don't relate to Physics students, even though there's so much overlap. Drama kids rarely get along with band kids. The point is, there is a culture to subjects, at least on the university level if not throughout academia, and I wanted to represent it with characters. Of course, all of this is through my perceptions of said subjects, and others have totally different ones, which was why I had wanted it to be a rather collaborative effort, and indeed, got a lot of tips and ideas from various individuals.

So the Ivory Tower itself is a giant...castle/private school. Rather like Hogwarts now that I think about it. It is presided over the rarely seen Polymath and broken into the 3 main houses mentioned above: Humanities, Sciences and Art. Of course, even here, there is some difficulty. The Physikies...Physics, Chemistry, Biology, etc...disdainfully look down on the Softies...Psychology, Anthropology, Sociology (triplets), Political Science and so on, which bounce between Science and Humanities as the Social Sciences. Mathematics and Physics don't get along because they are the two big guys in the little sandbox and they're just alike enough to hate each other and just different enough to not merge into a crazy amorphous blob. No one knows what to do with the art students. Or the philosophy students, but for the most part, they stay out of everyone's way.

So with that longwinded introduction over, here is the first couple Students I worked up.

Statistics is that girl everyone kind of hates, but also wants to be with. Sociology has a huge crush on her, but since they're so often in the same study group, he doesn't say anything because he doesn't want it to get 'weird.' She's the kind of girl who actually runs for the ASC. And wins. Her brother, Mathematics, particularly avoids her because she so often tries to one-up him and twists his words around in knots. She never goes steady with any one person for long and frequently makes rounds among the Softies. Her younger brother, Probabilities is always trying to tag along but he just mucks up her scene and she's always trying to distance herself from him.

Speaking of...



Meet Probabilities and his best friend Quantum Theory. Quantum Theory is Physics ginger-step-brother. Literally. But he doesn't let the weird stares or the nearly universal awkwardness and sidelong glances get him down. Probabilities and Quantum Theory hang out a lot, mostly because they get ignored or shunted by everyone else, and because they're a little young, they don't always relate the same way the others do. This, however, leads to lots of (truthfully, hilarious) pranks and shenanigans as they try to get everyone to just lighten up.

Materials: Pencil, .4 fine point pent, Photoshop.
Sketchbook: His Chthonic Majesty Dreams of English Summer Rain

Creativity Incubation

Sometimes, I stop to think how cool my parents are. Sure, imperfect, but still pretty great.

One of the best things about my mom, a constant throughout my life, is that no matter how silly, long-winded or convoluted my writing is, she's always willing to hear me read it aloud. I can ramble about anything and nothing nigh on incessantly (and do) and she'll listen patiently, offering insights and new perspectives, and mostly just letting me bounce ideas off her.

Having observeed other families, I've realized some of the consequences of this environment.

One is that I'm not ashamed of my creativity. This sounds odd on the face of it; don't most parents want to encourage their children's passions? The negative answer is two-fold.

The "you can be anything you want to be" is a uniquely Western notion, and one that is slowly losing popularity as people become more aware of the limitations set by race, class, gender and geographical location. Even then, many parents push their children, understandably, to more "practical endeavors." There is simply little security in creative endeavors.

The second, and probably more damaging issue is when parents make the child insecure about WHAT they produce. This is what I see more often.

I have a friend who uses a nomme de plum for everything he writes because he is afraid his parents will read it and interrogate him about it. For whatever reason, they simply do not understand his views and the ways he chooses to express himself.

At best, this makes the individual uncomfortable. At worst, it can make him or her ashamed, which can be very destructive. Certainly, there are probably fantasies, lines of thinking, etc that should be encouraged. But such situations will be rare, and more often, the categorical insecurity that forces an individual to hide his or her own creations from the people who should be encouraging, and maybe even guiding to a point can't end well for anyone. If nothing else, it stifles creativity and can make the individual give up his/her passion altogether.

Considering how many other factors work against artistic types (usually logistical problems), adding more to the burden is unfortunate.

This may seem trivial, but it's only a short stagger between being embarassed by your creation and being embarassed by yourself. We put pieces of ourselves in everything we generate, and having it overlooked, shredded or in other ways abused can truly affect us personally.

I think I had more to say but I can't remember it now. I guess I'm just glad that I've always felt comfortable sharing my writing or "art" with my parents and even if they didn't care for the subject matter, they were always willing to listen.

Maybe I will ask my mom what she thinks.

Eff you, Samuel Clemens

A common staple of The Internet, especially from the nerd-sector, those proud members of NetGen is the Nerd/Geek/Gamer Webcomic. Love them, hate them, argue over them, people have their faves, their disses and there's an entire subculture built around this.

It has reached the point where you click a link, an advert and then think 'Oh great, another one'. This crossed my mind when I first saw Homebr00d. And to be honest, it really is just Fanboys, but not quite as endearing (or professional, lol) and without a decent female character. But I read the entire archive (there aren't that many, it's pretty new), and I walked away with a conclusion.

It does not MATTER how original a webcomic is. Well, it does. Obviously you don't want clones. But I would never tell an aspiring writer/artist to not give it a shot simply because the idea "has been done before". For one thing, most of the ones I'm referring to are just doing this as a side project. They have other lives, jobs, so they don't need to take themselves so seriously here.

I've often wondered what Gabe and Tycho think about being the standard. Virtually any comic you read will reference them in some way and will DEFINITELY be compared. I don't think this bothers them, nor do I think they feel remotely threatened. They're freaking Penny Arcade, no one is going to usurp their position, they occupy the highest echelon of webcomic greatness.

It would be like Tolkein being offended for every fantasy story that ever comes out.
How many of us have read a book, especially in the sci-fi/fantasy genre and thought 'well I've read that idea before'? Sure, it may bother us sometimes, especially if it's just a carbon copy but we accept that there are certain norms that will probably pop out a lot and that is okay. You know why? Because we LIKE them. Homeb00d didn't offer a lot I didn't already know (though there were a few thought provokers that I'd never considered before) but I'm glad I read it, and will probably keep reading it because 1) I want to be supportive and 2) it's still funny. And more importantly, relatable. That's what we read these for right? There's something kind of perversely pleasurable in reading a joke you know many people wouldn't get. It's a community experience, it makes you feel special and part of something at the same time. Plus it says that out there, people experience and think about the same things you do: Arguments about PiratesVNinjas, RROD, DCMA laws and so on.

So 1) stop being elitist about webcomics, let the guys do their thing and if you don't want to read it then don't, and 2) feel free to go out and make some of your own! Who cares if maybe it's been done before? You would have to go out and read every single comic ever to be sure that a joke, a story, a plot HADN'T been done before and good luck with that. Samuel Clemens said that originality is dead. Well, if that was the case then, the flies have landed and the maggots have left the corpse.
So be free! Do it because you want to.

A Note on Art

Art is a transcendental concept, I think. It rises above nationality, creed or religion, above social class and circumstances. Art is transitory, amorphous as a child of Nereus and just as desirable.

Most of all, art is universal.

There is, I personally believe, an understood, though frequently unconsidered agreement between the Artist and the Public. But first, a few terms.

Art, in this case, refers to anything the Public deems it is. This means that what is considered art now, will not be art later, and what was scoffed at in its creation is now lauded as classic. This will be readdressed later. Art can include anything visual, auditory, tactile...anything the individual experiences sensually (as in, through the senses).

The Public is exactly what it sounds like, the people, the general consensus, thems that talk. In this way, art is incredibly democratic, for good or ill, though with many, many revolts and revolutions.

I think Art is such a sticky and amalgous (no, that's not a word) subject because its very nature changes when its status changes.

I will give an example to explain my point.
Recently, I was reading the blog of the great Neil Gaiman who was answering a reader's question about whether his blogging on his life and writing process made him more accountable to the Public who now had easier access to him. He (the reader) cited George RR Martin who seemed to be doing [everything in his power to avoid writing this novel and doesn't he owe it to his Public to finish this?] (paraphrased) to which Mr.Gaiman had the single greatest reply I have ever heard come from an Artist:

George R.R. Martin is not your bitch.

~~

This is something of an unfortunate side-effect of the information/net age, though I think the entitlement mindset was always there. The Public feels the Artists are obligated to feed their insatiable hunger for Art. What they don't apparently remember is that Artists are People too (sounds like a button slogan) and in actuality owe them NOTHING. The contract is between the Artist and the Editor/Gallery Owner/Commissioner/Record Label...not you. It is their (the artist's) prerogative if and when you get their work.

Which brings us to Form 1 of Art. As long as he/she is working on it, the Art belongs to the Artist. No one else has the right to judge, critique or interfere with it while it is in this Form/Stage. They can change it, destroy it or put it out.
Should they take the third option, Art takes on Form 2.

Any Art that is PUT OUT THERE, that is, made available for mass consumption (published, hung in a gallery, recorded on a record) it belongs to the PUBLIC. The Artist is still credited, still respected but how their art is received/perceived is up to the Public. This is why the status of Art can change from era to era, because though the Art piece is the same, the Public changes.

This leads me to several conclusions.

1) If Art belongs to the People...if it is there for them to critique, love, be affected by...then they are allowed to do what they want with it. This is why people getting up in arms about musicians who do cover songs aggravates me. If the original musician did not want their work covered, they should not have recorded it and made it available for others. In a similar way, if you are only writing 'for yourself', don't expect to get published. The strongest way I can think of putting this is: The Artist has no rights. This may seem cruel, if not downright blasphemous, but I believe it is necessary for Art to reach its ubiquitous state. It's like the essence has to be released into the aether.
That being said, we are totally allowed to blast an artist for a terrible cover, but you do that based on the merit of the cover itself and if it sucks, not on the fact the cover exists.

Likewise, think about movies. I understand that Alan Moore is understandably full of hate considering the treatment of his work in Hollywood. But I also think he's got too tight a hold on it. It's Out. Yes, it should absolutely be treated with respect and I wish more had, but the fact that someone makes a movie of it? That is their right as a member of the Public.

And Art is open to interpretation. What the artist intended, what they meant when they created the piece...does not HAVE to match what the Public receives as the meaning. This is why Art can be so personal to the individual. Which leads to my second conclusion.

2) The Bible should not be considered a Work of Art.
Yes, it has some beautiful poetry, marvelous imagery. But if you are going to make the argument that it is the Word of God, and that it holds actual Truths...that is, NOT being open to interpretation...then this is not Art. It is a message, just like this blog is a message, or a text is a message. From Sender to Receiver. Yes, every single person is a Receiver and yes there WILL be interpretation which is actually a good thing in some cases, I think. If you believe all the Bible is open to interpretation, that it is up to each individual how they take it, then feel free to call it Art. But I don't think you can have it both ways.

This doesn't mean that Art can't contain truths, simply that it has more to do with the Public's perception of truth, and not the Artist's intention.

Any thoughts from the studio audience?