Matt Datchuk

Tumbld

2011-07-20T19:07:00.001-07:00

Been posting to my Tumblr lately. When I have a minute I'll link them, in the meantime check out http://mattdatchuk.tumblr.com/ or feel free to follow if you use tumblr more.

Hmmmmm...

2011-02-06T14:14:00.000-08:00

School is back in session and that network of creative thoughts is humming again. Truly inspiring and motivating.

Hence:

and we're just getting warmed up.

Ughmurikah!

2010-12-16T12:53:00.000-08:00

18x24 charcoal on toned paper

Eureka!

2010-11-22T23:13:00.000-08:00

I have been having major paint handling issues until this piece. I finally have a starting point.

Sometimes...

2010-11-16T22:24:00.000-08:00

I make odd things I really love.

I may look 1000,

2010-10-12T00:37:00.000-07:00

but Clint Bittenbinder is one hell of a photographer.

Studies

2010-10-01T23:29:00.001-07:00

That I did this week.

Figure Drawing Homework

2010-09-27T00:51:00.000-07:00

For figure drawing we keep a sketch book on top of homework and classwork. Actually, come to think of it I guess I do that for all my classes.

A new found self

2010-09-02T18:56:00.000-07:00

portrait.

They say you can never go home again...

2010-08-24T09:38:00.000-07:00

but what the hell do "they" know?

I spent my break between summer and fall semesters back in Ohio. It wasn't the best visit I've had, but it gave me a few beautiful days and I'm thankful for them.

40mph

If you look closely there's a 100lb snapping turtle in the middle of the water.

I love this drive.

Horses!!!

Thanks

You're a dead man McClain!

2010-08-14T18:35:00.000-07:00

The end of the semester and here is my analysis of form final.

18"x24" charcoal on paper

2010-07-23T11:52:00.000-07:00

Midterm.

18x24 charcoal

Art School...

2010-07-03T12:23:00.000-07:00

...is amazing. Especially in San Francisco. It's exactly what I want in my life right now. Interesting people. Art of all forms everywhere. Teachers that tell me hard work and dedication pay off. I don't know if I've ever wanted anything more in my life than I want to succeed here.

The phrase "People who had to move to think." from Sir Ken Robinson's 2006 TED talk keeps resounding through my mind. This really does feel like home. This hive of creativity, talent and passion that is art school. I feel like there are some people that I can talk with rather than atabout art. I've met some people with a fervor in their voice that I notice myself talk with sometimes and it both inspires and calms me.

I'm taking a course that is an introduction to Photoshop which is fun and improving my speed with the program. The curriculum has some fun projects coming up throughout the semester. However, the class I'm ecstatic to go to even when I'm tired is Analysis of Form which is a foundations class for photorealism drawing. I love it. I have never been a perfectionist before, but this class makes me want to be able to do everything as precise as humanly possible. I hang on every bit of instruction my teacher (David Choong Lee) gives me and I do studies at home on the reg. Below are a few samples from the first two weeks of class.

The first is black and white charcoal 9x12 and the second and third are black charcoal on 18x24 paper:

The cup isn't perfect, the top ellipse is a little wonky. I was doing it at home and I used some white charcoal to try and make the glass highlights stand out more, which is not allowed in class. I think I'll do something similar or chrome on some mid toned paper. The ball is done and could probably use a little more touching up, but it was more an exercise so I won't bother with it. The drapery is only at the blocking in stage though. I have a few hours of getting the values perfect and fine detailing still to go. Man I love art.

Lawng thyme. No sea.

2010-04-19T12:44:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've updated the blog. I haven't been producing too many things that I'm happy with lately. However, it's mostly because I have been stepping out of my box and experimenting a fair deal more these days.

I recently completed a coloring book for the county of San Bernardino's Bi-Centennial and I will include a couple shots from that below.

In June I move to SF and begin attending college at the Academy of Art Univ for Fine Arts Painting and I turn 28. I have not been this excited about doing something with my life since I was in college to be a paramedic. I can not wait. Life is a bit of a blur and I'm itching for things to pick up more still, but I plan on trying to do more updates once school starts and I have lots of fodder for your eyes.

"If ya do it, it'll happen."~G.M.

San Bernardino Community Hospital

And one of the Wigwam Motel that I digitally colored real quick for fun.

Wow

2010-01-22T01:51:00.000-08:00

Busy month or so now. I'm working on some illustrations for a job and teaching myself adobe illustrator and everything else I can lay hands on. I've had a few other things going on in my life and that is why there is a lack of updates. Here is my first adobe illustrator work. Heh.

Oh man...

2009-12-12T12:19:00.000-08:00

Last night I got to go see my favorite artist, James Jean, speak about his art. It. Was. Amazing. Only about 30 some people showed up, I assume because of weather coupled with the fact that this didn't seem to be very heavily promoted. Whatever the reasons I'm glad not many people were in attendance. I think it allowed for a much more intimate setting, which was enhanced by the heckling of some fellow artists (David Choe primarily, who is also a fantastic artist) that Jean knew. I've heard he's always been rather reserved and brief in discussions and panels so I was really pleased that this was all about him and he really seemed to open up (somewhat begrudgingly at times, ha!) about his world. He spoke about everything from his schooling to influences both old and new, technique, business, where he's heading with his art and just himself as a person. I could not have been more pleased, but then I was.

After the show he spent some time in the lobby meeting everyone and signing prints or anything of his that you had. I, being a super genius, didn't bring any of my copies of his books. I was just so excited to be going that I completely blanked. However he was doing small sketches on fliers and I asked if he would do a sketch in my book, which he did! Then I took the picture with him after my friend told me I had to or I would regret it. I'm the grinning idiot and he is the brooding-uber-cool-rock-star-artist? I am just so completely in awe of his work that I just freeze up when I'm around him. I tried to say something while I was standing next to him but all that came out was "hublubuh mumble mumble..." quieter than a breath. Then like a five year old that has no other way of expressing his appreciation for someone I gave him a pack of my buttons and mumbled something about "these are my thing uh button here I just doodles not very good here, thanks". I feel like a complete idiot, but I don't really care. Even if he just throws them in a drawer I'm kind of glad I did it.

One thing I found interesting was that he seemed to feel like he wasn't really appreciated for his painting because it's somewhat overshadowed by his illustrative work. Even though he's really only getting going on his personal work, I'm sure people will be talking and writing about his fine art body of work for a long time. Besides, the lines between the two are so blurred. It was a really inspiring night and I really hope to some day be even remotely as talented as he is already.

Ahhh...

2009-12-10T17:53:00.000-08:00

For my life drawing final I had to do myself as an iconic figure. The most natural choice was shaggy from Scooby Doo. I mean, I even own his outfit and I wore it to class that day. I look a little joker-tastic in the face and the skin tone is a little off because the tips I followed had me using some violet that even after burnishing had this off-putting color next to the green of the shirt. Now that I have a month off I hope to finish a handful of projects I've been picking away at during the semester. A munny, a skateboard, a few small oils and get back to sketching. Oh sweet doodling, how I've missed you. Here's a page from my sketchbook.

Avocado anyone?

2009-12-04T20:35:00.000-08:00

I recently started to do some still life drawings. Here's one I did of an avocado in colored pencil.

Bonsai

2009-11-28T10:12:00.000-08:00

This is my first gouache painting. I did it on a thin sheet of maple and gave it to my painting teacher as a trade for some paints. I wasn't able to tweak the colors very well in photoshop to make it look quite as rich as it does in person. I really wanted to paint a bonsai tree for some reason and I added in a little alien presence for my teacher (David Charles Rosales) because that seems to be a common theme among his work, which you can see here http://www.elpayaso.com/.

Self Portrait...

2009-11-11T16:00:00.000-08:00

... FROM HELL!!! Or the copier. We smashed our faces on the copier and did self portraits from them. There's drool on my lower teeth. Yum!

I go to have a look at the Art Center in Pasadena Friday. I'm really excited to see what an actual art school is like, but I'm pretty sure it's going to make me willing to risk taking out a student loan.

Life drawing

2009-11-04T17:10:00.000-08:00

As promised, some life drawings. The first is ok, I was happy enough with it to keep it. It's the hair I really appreciate. The second I did today and I think it's my best so far. I wish I could get a better picture of it because there are some subtleties that you don't see as well in the photo. Then between the lighting and contrast correction it isn't quite as smooth. I'm feeling pretty good about my art though after a couple weeks long down swing. Aweshom.

Blerg...

2009-11-03T23:01:00.000-08:00

I feel like I'm spinning my wheels a little. I keep working, but I'm not producing anything I'm really happy with at the moment. One or two things are Ok. Tomorrow I'll take a photo of my life drawing I think came out alright. Today I just wanted to post something since I haven't been keeping up on this lately. So here is a sketch for a painting I'm working on. The thing is that for some reason I ended up doing this rough quick stroke method to make the flowers and now it has an unusual look to it. You'll see soon enough. For now, just the sketch.

"Uneasy lies the head..."

2009-10-24T16:46:00.001-07:00

So I've started to play with oils and I just finished my first oil painting. It's there amid that mess that is my art table. It took me forever after some "learning mistakes" and other projects I've been working on, but I've decided to just stop here. Otherwise I'll keep going and make a bigger mess of things. I chose a scene from "Where the Wild Things Are" because I don't know anyone around my age who doesn't love that story. I haven't made it to the theater to see the movie adaptation yet, but I'll need to go on a quiet late showing towards the end of it's run so no one is there to see me tear up. I guess it's ok for my first oil painting.

Hand studies:

2009-10-07T23:35:00.001-07:00

As promised... boredom.

2009-09-28T23:07:00.000-07:00

Well, I don't think it's boring, but some of you might. I find the very basic art exercises to be very interesting since I'm learning somewhat out of order. What's I like most is I can do some of these exercises like painting a cylinder or cone and actually feel an understanding about the paint click into place. Which is what I imagine they're designed for, so... good job art world. Just seeing the dark and light merging from one to the next. How the paint works at different consistencies. Warm against cool. Analogous colors. A lovely ballet of paint if you'll allow me to romanticize.

My life drawing class on the other hand is... taxing. I am a plod along kind of artist when it comes to realistic proportional images. In life drawing we start off each class with a dozen two minute drawings. They're supposed to be simple blocking practice for shapes. I always want to do more and end up with freakish, overlapping, malformed versions of the model, done in hurried lines, etched in fear of the tick of the clock!

Oh the drama.

Then we move on to the four, eight or ten minute drawings and I have a chance to calm down. Then I relax and remember I'm spending three hours drawing a naked person. Why would I be anything other than happy?

Because I draw wee little heads on people! That's why! I honestly can not tell I'm doing it until I take my work home and look at it again.

Our homework right now is drawing hands, which I actually love to do. This past weekend though I was just having one of those times where I couldn't spit a drawing out to save my life. Well, not of hands anyway. So here are my hands I cranked out this morning before class. I was mad that I didn't have the time to clean up my lighter line work, and even more so when my teacher pointed it out to me very specifically. Oh well, still an A. Four more for next week!

Not a whole lot goin on...

2009-09-28T10:08:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I did plenty of doodles and visited the LACMA (LA County Museum of Art) for class. For now you only get a sketch of Gideon my octopus doll and a bag.

What just happened?

2009-09-21T21:12:00.000-07:00

Me via text to wife: "What's an honors class? Other than hard."

Wife via text to me: "Oh jeez. See you at home."

I think my teacher either bamboozled or hornswoggled me today. While having some small talk I mentioned how much I loved the Getty on my first trip this past Saturday. Some short discussion followed about ideas and if I have any. The next thing I knew I was home signing up for his honors art class on "the contemporary movements in art, and the way ideas manifest in the work of artists." Old man played me like a fiddle. I'm just concerned because I'm fairly far removed from school. Not to mention I was never the best student of conventional school.

This blog's art is a couple pics of t-shirts with my artwork on them. The first I did several months ago when I was first thinking about getting back into art. It's the Class of 2009 Senior shirts for The University of Redlands where my wife and some friends work.

The second is of The Sarge who is my right hand man. These shirts were done for The Team Washburn of Color Ink Book to wear at SDCC09. They were actually misprinted, but I kind of like them that way. Darick Robertson of "The Boys" actually told me he liked it. I gave him a print and was going to get a shirt made for him, but the printer "fell through". I'm learning that's a very versatile phrase in art. Always annoying though.

An enlightening weekend.

2009-09-20T22:19:00.000-07:00

I doodled this while watching the documentary tonight titled "Nerdcore Rising" about the nerdcore rapper MC Frontalot and the whole nerdcore movement. I had no clue it even existed. I am usually a few years behind on the music scene so I'm not entirely surprised. If anyone from the Frontalot or Optimus Rhyme camps stumble across this and want some artwork for anything I would love to do something for you guys.

The real excitement of this weekend though came in the form of a museum. I'm from NE Ohio, where when you say "let's go to the museum" I picture The Butler in Youngstown. Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful place, but I've seen it a few times and you can appreciate the entire collection in under two hours easily. This weekend though I went to The Getty in LA. If you've never been to The Getty I can only explain it to you like this. The Getty looks like when I imagine heaven but for art, and is comparable in size I think. The thought that a place like that exists simply to house and protect art is a comforting thought. I feel almost like I had no real appreciation for the power of art before now. It was like a freaking religious experience. Whew!

A decent start...

2009-09-18T00:20:00.000-07:00

This first week of art classes really made me wonder why I ever wanted to do anything else. I'm sure when I have a million time consuming projects due that I'll be cursing school, but for now I'm really happy that I'm going down this path. Here is the first piece I did this semester, just a contour drawing of a skeleton from my life drawing class.

Also I did a water color and photoshopped it into a flier real quick for a friend of a friend. I need to be more conscious of my spacing, at least before I accidentally rasterize my layers and close the image. So, if you're in LA Monday, Sept 28th feel free to check out "Second Chances" by Jonathan Saia 930-1100pm at the Lonny Chapman Theater in North Hollywood.

Kill Joy Surfboard

2009-09-14T15:28:00.000-07:00

A few posts back I mentioned I was painting a surfboard for kill joy surfboards (the link is to their myspace because their actual website appears to be under construction still) and here's a shot of it. I did a collaborative piece of one of my Unnatural Animal Attacks with Big Money Rodan from The Color Ink Book. You can see shots of more of the boards and us working on ours over at the Color Ink Book website.

The hat.

2009-09-14T00:46:00.000-07:00

Here's a watercolor I did today of my hand picking up my hat. It's a little off because it's a photo since I do not own a scanner large enough. Not the most riveting subject matter, but I'm actually happy with it and glad I finally got around to painting this one. Tomorrow, well today now, starts my art classes at the community college, I owe two different people some art for various projects in the next few days, and I have a few more personal projects that I want to do. So be sure to check back. I plan to post everything I don't absolutely hate.

Lazy Satuday

2009-09-12T23:33:00.000-07:00

I did a watercolor of a bird today. I'm not entirely happy with it. I think I want to do this again with a different colored bird and cleaner looking ribbon. I also think I need to start playing with some gouache paints. When I use water colors they're just a hair washed out looking to me (my fault I know), then I always add some fine black lines to compensate and it just isn't quite right. Oh well, it was a fun hour and a half. Now back to some more pieces I've been putting off.

Buttons!

2009-09-10T17:41:00.000-07:00

Here's my first series of button packs. I sell them for $2 a pack at the shows I do. I'm looking around for ways to sell them online. I know a lot of people use etsy for things like this, but I don't know if that's the best bet for a bunch of $2 items after the fees. I'm also working on some prints, stickers and electronics skins to start having for sell. That's my Munny's foot in the upper corner, more on that once I finish him.

Update: I'm trying out big cartel's free store hosting. Link is on the right.

The lull

2009-09-08T10:33:00.000-07:00

Here is another of my unnatural animal attacks. Not to worry, the squirrels are organized. This I sold to my friend Jared. He insisted it be a purchase and not a gift.

Artist's Alley - Sept 5th

2009-09-05T00:23:00.000-07:00

Just finished painting a surf board with Big Money Rodan and I will have pictures up soon. Just wanted to let anyone who may be around Oceanside tomorrow know that I'll be in Artist's Alley at JC Gallery and Studio 212 C N. Coast Highway from 6-12. Come check it out! Big Money's big brother might even get in on the collaborative action. And since this is an art blog I can't NOT put something in this one, so enjoy this photo I took in my friend Jason's back yard.

Button, button, who's got the button?

2009-09-04T01:37:00.000-07:00

I was doing some doodles of animals yesterday and this little guy popped out, and he is now one of the buttons in my button packs I sell at gallery shows. Speaking of shows I'll be doing two collaborative pieces with my friend Big Money Rodan this weekend in Carlsbad.

The first is a surfboard for Killjoy Surfboards that we'll be doing at Henley's Pub and the second is something we're still trying to figure out. I'll let you know as soon as I do. So if you're going to be in Carlsbad tomorrow (well, today now Fri Sept 4th) come check out the show.

More.

2009-08-31T18:05:00.001-07:00

More for you.

I have a thing with bunnies.

Just my hand. Being eaten by worms.

A taste.

2009-08-30T13:18:00.000-07:00

A taste of things to come:

This is a piece that started me on a series of bizarre animal attacks. More to come.

A friend posed for some charcoal nudes. I can't wait to take a figure drawing class.

Feel free to contact me at mjdatchuk@yahoo.com or leave a comment.

Hello out there.

2009-08-30T13:00:00.000-07:00

My first entry here will just be to introduce myself and get some work up on the blog. My name is Matt Datchuk. I'm originally from just outside Youngstown, Ohio.

I'm still bouncing around amongst all the mediums so you'll see lots of different things up (I hope). I plan on updating weekly (I unrealistically hope) and plan on sharing things that I learn as I work (I hope) since I still consider myself very much in the learning phase of my art career.