Ask the Artist: vicious_sock
Hi y’all, I’m vicious_sock, I’ll be your "ask the artist" host for this fine month of November. Many thanks to oxoniensis for inviting me, this kind of navel-gazing is very healthy for my otherwise fragile ego. :D So here we go!
(image heavy with NSFW-ish art)
About me
My name is Vic, I’m a twenty-something living in Canada, better known as that northern country where Supernatural is shot, and I’m a middle-management type dude whose life outside of fandom is completely devoid of art and magic.
Supernatural is my first and only fandom. I’ve been a casual viewer of the show since day one, but after watching 5x04 I had this sudden and inexplicable urge to google stuff about the show. It didn’t take me long to discovery livejournal (I actually know of tumblr before LJ!), and damn you talented writers, I was hooked in a heartbeat!
That thing about crack
I’m mostly known (to the five or so of you) for drawing crack art, my fanart decision tree goes like this:
(I do indeed cry in the corner often)
So yeah, I figure I should talk about humour aspect first. Now, the first rule of humour is that there is no rule of humour, people’s senses of humour are different and there will always be people who think your jokes are lame, bottom line is if it makes you chuckle, it’s good enough. That said, I found Scott Adam (creator of Dilbert)’s '2 out of 6' rule is pretty handy. You can read about that post here:
The rule basically said you need at least two of the following six elements to make something funny, they are pretty self explanatory, and this applies to all media:
* Familiar
* Bizarre
* Naughty
* Cute
* Violent
* Clever
Of course this is not to say you get two of those and BOOM! Funny happens! Otherwise it’d be a laugh riot at those really exclusive sex dungeons. Like I said, it’s just a handy tool for novices like myself; but you can see why fandom is particularly suited for humour/crack. You are guaranteed that your audiences are familiar (and emotionally invested) with your content, so you’ve already get one down from the off.
Here’s one I think I bagged "Bizarre" and "Naughty". Plus there’s a reference to both the show and an internet meme, so I scored big on the familiar front, not too shabby eh? Speaking of internet memes, they’re quite useful in oomphing up that familiarity factor since obviously most if not all of my audiences are internet savvy folks who know about the popular memes, but don’t use them as the only hook,
The second one was a promo art for balthazar_mini's artist sign up post, it's probably funnier in enochian in context.
(It just hit me, don’t you think the more I try to dissect how the art is supposed to be funny the less funny it becomes? Damn you words!)
You probably already noticed the 2 out of 6 rule says nothing about delivery, which is very important but how it's done effectively varies greatly among different media. If there is a rule for humour delivery it would have to be "less is more". Often time I found myself editing words out or cutting out a panel. But still it’s much simpler for comic artists because the impact of an image is immediate, I can’t even fathom what it’s like to be a humour-fic writer.
Actual artsy fartsy stuff
My art background:
I have zero art training/education. My graduate degrees are in business management and biological sciences, so on paper I really have no business at all mucking around with art. Actually, part of me still resists being called an artist because it felt like such a fraudulent thing to say lol.
My art style:
I don’t think I have an established style per se, but you can probably recognize my art by all the little drawing quirks I have XD. And you can tell from the little decision tree above, if I think the humour can stand on its own then I pretty much play fast and loose with the art lol. There are times, however, if I think a particular style is needed to better convey my point then I’d try to put more effort into it.
My default mental state is "a hair too obvious", so, fittingly, my colour palette veers towards the bright and the garish. Time and again I have to remind myself to tone that shit down, but that doesn't always work. Lol.
My art process:
Oh goodness if I have any sense of shame my face would be red right now. I do most of my sketches on the back of scrap papers and, I shit you not, I do digital paintings with my mouse (it’s a miracle that I don’t have carpal tunnel yet). That said, colouring is my absolute favourite step. I usually do my sketches with 4H pencils and line with Staedtler pigment liner, the rest is all Photoshop.
Lastly, fun fact, according to my DeviantArt stats, this is my most popular piece, which failed my own decision tree spectacularly. I'll probably need to look at my life and choices soon. XD
That’s about it, feel free to ask me anything. I'll get the obvious ones out of the way first: I prefer cats to dogs, briefs to boxers, skin to shirt, new and exciting flavour to chocolate or vanilla. :D. Fire away!
(image heavy with NSFW-ish art)
About me
My name is Vic, I’m a twenty-something living in Canada, better known as that northern country where Supernatural is shot, and I’m a middle-management type dude whose life outside of fandom is completely devoid of art and magic.
Supernatural is my first and only fandom. I’ve been a casual viewer of the show since day one, but after watching 5x04 I had this sudden and inexplicable urge to google stuff about the show. It didn’t take me long to discovery livejournal (I actually know of tumblr before LJ!), and damn you talented writers, I was hooked in a heartbeat!
That thing about crack
I’m mostly known (to the five or so of you) for drawing crack art, my fanart decision tree goes like this:
(I do indeed cry in the corner often)
So yeah, I figure I should talk about humour aspect first. Now, the first rule of humour is that there is no rule of humour, people’s senses of humour are different and there will always be people who think your jokes are lame, bottom line is if it makes you chuckle, it’s good enough. That said, I found Scott Adam (creator of Dilbert)’s '2 out of 6' rule is pretty handy. You can read about that post here:
The rule basically said you need at least two of the following six elements to make something funny, they are pretty self explanatory, and this applies to all media:
* Familiar
* Bizarre
* Naughty
* Cute
* Violent
* Clever
Of course this is not to say you get two of those and BOOM! Funny happens! Otherwise it’d be a laugh riot at those really exclusive sex dungeons. Like I said, it’s just a handy tool for novices like myself; but you can see why fandom is particularly suited for humour/crack. You are guaranteed that your audiences are familiar (and emotionally invested) with your content, so you’ve already get one down from the off.
Here’s one I think I bagged "Bizarre" and "Naughty". Plus there’s a reference to both the show and an internet meme, so I scored big on the familiar front, not too shabby eh? Speaking of internet memes, they’re quite useful in oomphing up that familiarity factor since obviously most if not all of my audiences are internet savvy folks who know about the popular memes, but don’t use them as the only hook,
The second one was a promo art for balthazar_mini's artist sign up post, it's probably funnier in enochian in context.
(It just hit me, don’t you think the more I try to dissect how the art is supposed to be funny the less funny it becomes? Damn you words!)
You probably already noticed the 2 out of 6 rule says nothing about delivery, which is very important but how it's done effectively varies greatly among different media. If there is a rule for humour delivery it would have to be "less is more". Often time I found myself editing words out or cutting out a panel. But still it’s much simpler for comic artists because the impact of an image is immediate, I can’t even fathom what it’s like to be a humour-fic writer.
Actual artsy fartsy stuff
My art background:
I have zero art training/education. My graduate degrees are in business management and biological sciences, so on paper I really have no business at all mucking around with art. Actually, part of me still resists being called an artist because it felt like such a fraudulent thing to say lol.
My art style:
I don’t think I have an established style per se, but you can probably recognize my art by all the little drawing quirks I have XD. And you can tell from the little decision tree above, if I think the humour can stand on its own then I pretty much play fast and loose with the art lol. There are times, however, if I think a particular style is needed to better convey my point then I’d try to put more effort into it.
My default mental state is "a hair too obvious", so, fittingly, my colour palette veers towards the bright and the garish. Time and again I have to remind myself to tone that shit down, but that doesn't always work. Lol.
My art process:
Oh goodness if I have any sense of shame my face would be red right now. I do most of my sketches on the back of scrap papers and, I shit you not, I do digital paintings with my mouse (it’s a miracle that I don’t have carpal tunnel yet). That said, colouring is my absolute favourite step. I usually do my sketches with 4H pencils and line with Staedtler pigment liner, the rest is all Photoshop.
Lastly, fun fact, according to my DeviantArt stats, this is my most popular piece, which failed my own decision tree spectacularly. I'll probably need to look at my life and choices soon. XD
That’s about it, feel free to ask me anything. I'll get the obvious ones out of the way first: I prefer cats to dogs, briefs to boxers, skin to shirt, new and exciting flavour to chocolate or vanilla. :D. Fire away!