Pho is my Phriend

 

There's all kinds of comfort food, but for me, little rivals pho (a Vietnamese noodle soup, pronounced "fuh") for sheer miraculous goodness. After a long day of work, cold, damp, and stress, Bear and I went out for pho last night. I could almost feel my immune system snap back into place. 

You're looking at a bowl of noodles, chickens, herbs, spices, sprouts, onion, basil, and cilantro, along with all the other amazing and mysterious things that make up pho.

Pho Jasmine, over on Killingsworth across from PCC, has wonderful pho, and generous portions. I recommend them.

A Fascinating Resource for a Perpexing Issue

I found a really interesting blog about copying/plagiarism vs. inspiration: You Thought We Wouldn't Notice. It's helping to fill in one of the gaps left in my education at PSU.

I came up through the anthropology program at U of O with a very strict outlook on plagiarism in academic writing. Basically, if they thought you were copying someone else's work, you would wind up in deep shite indeed. Even improper citation could land you in trouble. I was pretty much death on the subject of plagiarism, so in anything I wrote, I was incredibly careful to properly cite the source for any idea that was not my own.

In PSU's art department, things were very, very different. While they do not, in any way, encourage direct plagiarism, students are occasionally encouraged to "copy" for inspiration. I'm still very confused about the differences between artistic plagiarism vs. homage vs. inspiration, but reading through You Thought We Wouldn't Notice has been helpful in starting to sort things out. There are still a lot of gray areas, though.

For example, I've been looking at a lot of vintage illustrations lately for inspiration:

The image on the left is a vintage magazine cover that I used as inspiration for my drawing on the right.  Comparing the two side by side, the inspiration is obvious. However, an artist friend told me that I'd reached the "changed enough" threshold for my work to be creative, rather than completely unoriginal. Should I end up selling this drawing, I would add the information about what inspired it. And that seems to just about safely cover the ethical bases for creating a derivative work.

Nonetheless, I'm still a little worried. I'm working to develop my skills as an illustrator and further develop my own creative voice, but part of that is being deeply inspired by vintage imagery and visual conventions. I'm basically an honest person, and want to make sure I stay within the spirit of ethical boundaries, not just the letter. I had a lot of fun creating this particular drawing, and I think my own visual voice comes through. As I go along, I hope to hone my sense of where the line is, and maintain my ability to stay far to the right side of it.

(Sorry about the poor image quality, I'm hoping Santa brings me a scanner for Christmas.)

In a Blur

I can't believe it's already the sixth of December! The month is going by wicked fast.

The last two weeks have been one long adventurous blur. I went on a long road trip with my boyfriend, Bear, to spend Thanksgiving with his family. We drove in the snow through the Cascades (150 miles driving on chains!), through the Mojave Desert, into Sedona and up through Flagstaff, through the mountains of Utah and Nevada, and along the Great Basin. We came through the Donner Pass (chains again), the Sacramento Valley, and home again, with many stops along the way.

I saw snowflakes and starlight, mountains and monuments, Christmas lights and cactus. It is a beautiful world out there.

Flying Calamari

I'm beginning to find some narrative in my illustrations - stories waiting to be told. This drawing gives me clues to go forward – to look for stories and find ways to hint at them in pictures. The idea of "ah, therein lies a tale" intrigues me suddenly.

As a designer, I'm used to the idea of imagery being used to communicate, usually in concert with type. Also, much of my favorite art is illustration and is inextricably tied to stories – designed to communicate in concert with words. I'm reexamining art that I like that isn't illustration. I see places and characters, but suddenly I'm also seeing stories.

Tentacley Work in Progress

Last night, I learned that giant squid are fun, fun, fun to draw! I see many tentacles in my artistic future. So far, I'm very happy with this one, although it seems to need just a little bit more. I'm thinking an inch more border to the left and above. Squidie should still be popping out of the frame, though.

The picture really doesn't do justice to the vibrancy of the colors or the texture of the water. A small, portable scanner just went on my wish list.