Well, made it through another Inktober. Wheeeew, while I do enjoy the creative challenge, the timing rarely is great and the pressure of some people mentioning how much they are looking forward to it makes it a bit stressful. A few highlights here, nice to get a break from the computer and do something with my hands that’s tangible, I’m not complaining, but that Banksy quote "If you get tired, learn to rest, not to quit” always rings true around this time. See more cardboard art here or on my instagram here.
SALVAGED CARDBOARD ART — INKTOBER 2021
Visit my instagram to see all of them for the month https://www.instagram.com/jordanfretzart/
After creating cardboard art for the month each day (I may have missed one, we’ll get it back though), I did an exercise with some friends to tell me their top 10. This was wild to see how subjective art truly is. Some valued the idea more, some the execution/ just art of it and some just were downright confusing how they haven’t seen the Shaw Shank Redemption. All in all these types of exercises for me are really valuable to stretch creative muscles and continue to get better at both illustration and quick thinking. Well, til next Inktober, I’ll be pot-shotting ideas here and there as I get time.
TRIUNE CHARITY AUCTION
I had a great time at the Triune Art Auction at Noma Square in Greenville. All sales went to the Triune Mercy Center and the work they are doing for the homeless. The event had a silent auction as well as a live auction with over 50 pieces of artwork. Its was exciting to see the charcoal panda among the top few sellers. Not bad for a salvaged piece of cardboard :).
CARDBOARD CHARCOAL PORTRAITS & DRAWINGS
I love nothing more than a new identity, branding or advertising challenge. However, creating art is a close second. It's great to be able to break up all the computer work with art in the evenings here and there or over a weekend. I remembered having really enjoyed drawing on brown paper once before in the past ,with then pencil (H's to B's) and using a white piece of chalk. I've always been amazed by charcoal artists using just a stick of charcoal and achieving such incredible levels of contrast in their art. After watching a few videos and getting some charcoal pencils, I grabbed a piece of cardboard from the garage and started testing my skills. Brown paper is great, but cardboard adds a texture and it's stiff enough that I can just hold it in my lap without any backing board (super convenient). Using a black pencil, white pencil, kneaded eraser and q-tips for blending, I was able to create some detailed artwork with little expense. I started an Instagram page showing some of my work (@jordanfretzart) and plan to create some advertising with future drawings. I have shown a .gif below showing one of my portraits come to life and I am still experimenting with the best ways to preserve/show off the work. Getting off the computer in the evenings has sparked added creativity and inspiration for current projects. I encourage any designer to do it whenever they can and experiment with new mediums. A few last bits of advice: don't over-erase on the cardboard, don't use too much force with your pencils as it will create impressions/dents and keep your wife's cat away from smacking the pencil you're using.
