Stromprah's Practice

Here's another rough taste of Stromprah's talents.
On paper?! Yes.  For now at least.

The Deadliest Warrior: Rajput vs Roman Centurian

This is about a guilty pleasure which is not actually a guilty pleasure. Which is to say some may hope I felt guilty for loving SPIKE's The Deadliest Warrior, but I do not.

For those who don't know what it is:
The show pits historical and contemporary warriors against each other in a virtual battle, warrior vs warrior.

They have never met each other in history before. How is this battle judged?

2 experts from each camp choose which weapons of their traditional arsenal they will employ against their foes. With these weapons they attack ballistic dumbies (fake bones and organs wrapped in human flesh-esque jelly), blood filled mannequins and pig carcasses filled with blood and naturally, extra bags of blood. The "scientific" results of these faux massacres are recorded by an emergency room surgeon, a military/martial arts expert with a Phd and a computer programmer. The programmer inputs the results of the weapon rounds and other data into a program that will simulate 1000 battles between the warriors. This simulation is strictly math based but the show pretends that the program generates a dramatization-style action scene.

Reasons why I love The Deadliest Warrior:
- As seen above, it is great fodder for sketching weapons, armour and other costume elements
- The carnage of the weapon challenges, though often stupid are also educational and a good reference for explosions, swordplay etc.

Reasons why I hate The Deadliest Warrior:
- It always, ALWAYS turns into a pissing contest.

Reasons why I love The Deadliest Warrior, Part 2:
- It always, ALWAYS turns into a pissing contest.

I don't get into pissing contests, but there's nothing quite as funny as a pissing contest when you're the spectator. They do some serious trash talking, oblivious to evidence and the fact that they end up looking like total assholes.
Now I'm no fool, I know that they are being goaded by producers into lobbing half-formed and dimwitted insults back and forth but that's integral to the final result. It's that license given to them by the facade of the show that allows them to lose themselves in the moment of pride-piercing competition. The guys who aren't used to being assholes stumble over themselves in equal parts, adorable and disappointing ways, and the dicks who come to it naturally get this gorilla god complex and quickly revert to schoolyard mentality. This phenomenon is the sensationally clumsy heart of the show. But back to the stats...

Here's the rundown of the Rajput's weapons:

Khanda
Chakram
Katar - you may remember these as Voldo's weapons from Soul Edge
Aara

I don't care to list the Centurian's weapons. They are just a bit too boring for my tastes. They lack the flare of the Rajput arsenal.

The Rajput won in the end, a nice twist. The most interesting warrior doesn't always win. Apparently, the Rajput won due to their proficiency and unpredictability one on one, supposing that the Centurian was only dominant when in their vast units.

Maybe everyone has bailed halfway through this post. I understand. It can be unnerving to read something so elaborately written about something so inconsequential and tacky. But I love dissecting reality TV and peeling back the layers (which are there). What is the show trying to make you think? What methods are they using to lead you to this conclusion? How are they editing the footage to craft an exaggerated narrative? Where is the line between scripted and spontaneous behaviour? How are they arranging the footage to keep this line ambiguous? Should you care about any of this? No, not likely. But I do and I feel zero guilt about it.

Pattern Recognition

Here's a page that started out as an exploration of woven patterns sparked by a section in Amarina's fashion illustration textbook.  It was the link stitch that started the party then on to cheetah spots and crocodile skin naturally becomes reptile lady.  The crystal is inexplicable as are most crystals.

Studies in Lewdness and other portents NSFW I guess

Some sketches done from Dian Hanson's: The History of Men's Magazines, Vol. 1, I believe.  These books are great for reference of variety in the female form and face.  You really can't tell what you're going to find on the next page.  Well I guess there are some safe bets.  It's all part of my research and development.  Things coming out of Cyclops & Owl can get a bit steamy but maybe that's not quite adequate.  Maybe there needs to be some C&O goods in unmarked brown paper sleeves.  Tucked underneath the counter.

Coincidence for Sale at Monastiraki in Montreal

So we went on a glorious trip to Montreal. We killed it! We thrive on adventure and particularly roadtrips.
Thanks to design sponge's amazing Montreal city guide we spent a whole day on bixi bikes be-bopping around Mile End, a fantastic neighbourhood with an amazing independent art scene.  A place that wasn't on the city guide but could not escape our curiosity radar was Monastiraki.  When we arrived it was Billy Mavreas, a wicked artist in his own right, at the helm.  Monastiraki is...well their description is perfect...

Founded in 1998 Monastiraki is a hybrid curiosity shop/art space. We host openings, book launches and micro-concerts, support a myriad of local and international artists, boast a huge selection of silk-screen prints, carry small press and zines, overflow with paper ephemera, have a fitful relationship with antiques and collectibles....and is a magical place sure to enchant the curious.

We bought plenty.  A few comics, some vintage maps and a few old photos.  One of which is shown here. This party scene was irresistible.  So much going on and it's all so drunk.  But the sheer drunkenness of the photo is not the ultimate feature.  Not even the guy on the left who is, clearly, on boner guard duty because smiley-poppy-dress girl is within make out distance. The real point of interest appeared MONTHS after we had returned from Montreal.

A friend noticed the picture for it's drunken bliss and then noticed the similarity between the ringleader of the drunk pic and the unsuspecting fellow from my piece "Breach" which I had painted 2 years prior to getting this photo and yet it seemed as though it was post-inspired by it.

What was the real kicker was that we had the photo sitting directly next to "Breach" for MONTHS completely unaware.
So in conclusion, go to Monastiraki if you're ever in the area, especially if you like getting goosebumps, from amazing art and ephemera and some inspiration for your present or past self.

Stratos-fierce! #2

Call it a consternation constellation.

The rest/future pieces can be found HERE

Stratos-fierce! #1

Here's the first piece of a new collection. Goddesses floating around in a nebulous void with varying degrees of serenity and tension.  Certainly not devoid of risqué curves or a sense of humour as per usual.

(Sharpie shown for scale.  Many initially assume my pieces are much larger.  I like that.)

The Sketchbook 2011 Project

Well It's been a while since my last post, to say the least, but thankfully not for lack of postables. There was the Movies and Makers Show and the night before that there was a group show I was in at 1254 Art called A Hidden Place, a gallery beneath where Amarina and I first lived together. Both were a joy and I learned quite a lot. And now it's a whole new year and momentum is in our favour most certainly.

A lot of momentum came from The Sketchbook Project, one of Art House Co-op's many amazing projects. Arthouse Co-op is like if Amazon.com sold participation in international art projects. Anyway, you get a sketchbook that you fill with artwork based loosely on a theme chosen from a list. You send it back. Simple. But there are sketchbooks from 94 countries and over 28,000 artists so you get an overwhelming number of interpretations on the themes and what a sketchbook actually is. They then go on tour through:

Brooklyn, NY Austin, TX San Francisco, CA Portland, ME Atlanta, GA Chicago, IL Washington, DC Winter Park, FL

After the tour, all sketchbooks will enter into the permanent collection of The Brooklyn Art Library, where they will be barcoded and available for the public to view. When anyone checks out your book you receive a notification of your choosing. Text message, email, etc. Neat!

It was a fantastic project and I managed to finish it between Dec 20th, 2010 and Jan 12th, 2011 which really got the creativity churning. I'd been so accustomed to drawing meticulous illustrations over the past year that it was nice to unleash and do some drawings that were a bit less strict.

I chose the theme of Dirigibles and Submersibles, which ended up being more like Things Seen From Dirigibles and Submersibles and the majority of the drawings were from the latter. They will be scanned and put on the Art House Co-op site (assuming that the book didn't get lost in the mail which I'll be fearful of until further notice) but I did my own scanning for the time being.

ENJOY!

LADIES OF MYSTERY - the main collection

"Planetaria"

13.5" x 16.5"
Spray-paint, Sharpie on plexi-glas

Maybe this isn't my first collection per se but it certainly feels like a milestone. It's the first time I've had the opportunity to reveal so much of my work at once. With these pieces as well as the Slims [1] [2], Bitch in the Sky, and the Avianettes [1] [2] [3] [4] I was able to give a wide view of my world. A world where women are crazed and cunning. They make no apologies for their passions and never turn a deaf ear to the voice of their curiosity. Role models, basically.

"Pearl Poachers"
13.5" x 16.5"
Spray-paint, Sharpie on plexi-glas

"The Brazen Peek-A-Boo Ladies"
9" x 20"
Spray-paint, Sharpie on plexi-glas

"Tea Maiden"
13.5" x 16.5"
Spray-paint, Sharpie on plexi-glas

A side note to this one: Rarely but sometimes it's hard to find the right reference material. In this stellar age of knowledge at your fingertips sometimes you still need to know what something is called before you can look it up properly. I couldn't for the life of me find a picture of whatever these tea vessels are called BUT, I DID remember that you briefly see one near the beginning of The Exorcist when Max Von Sydow is digging around in Iraq. I pull out my copy, which I hadn't watched in ages, and lo and behold, about 4 minutes in, Max at some sand-blown cafe and we see, for barely a second, a fellow pouring tea from a contraption like this girl is using. It felt invigorating to be searching for something and actually track it down without the net. Not this time, Google, I got this. Pause Button!

"Rapt"
13.5" x 16.5"
Spray-paint, Sharpie on plexi-glas

"It Was Never Yours"
13.5" x 16.5"
Spray-paint, Sharpie on plexi-glas

"Admiral Nautiluscia"
9" x 20"
Spray-paint, Sharpie on plexi-glas

Now that the show is complete I'm taking time to get reacquainted with my old love, animation. More Cyclops and Owl moving pictures! One primary goal, THIS hushed project which is overdue twice over.