Crazy Shxt is Afoot

So things have changed big time again since my last post.

Amanda and I are now expecting a little one, and she is 4 and half months along. We actually find out the sex on monday, september 13th.

I've started a tattoo apprenticeship at The LaBoratory in Slidell, LA. So far so good, and everyone there is awesome. Great artists, great piercers, not a christian in sight, all good stuff. I will make a great fit, I believe, and Mike is going to be a great mentor. I couldn't be more anxious to start getting my name out and doing some great tattoos.

A new school semester starts next week for me, so I should be pretty damn busy in the coming months... it's going to be pretty crazy. Work on my Game Design website has stopped for now though, while I pursue this tattoo apprenticeship. Maybe I'll jump into game design work one day, when I'm so far behind on the technology it's ridiculous. Screw it, I've always wanted to do tattoos so this it's my life now.

Can't wait to find out the kid's gender.

3 Months and a World of Changes

So the move is complete, and Amanda and I have settled into Lacombe, LA. The packing and moving was exhausting but definitely worth it. We have begun our slow move away from the New Orleans area. We are now enjoying a great place in a rural neighborhood with lots of green and atmosphere around, NOT apartment neighbors and traffic and city-life hell.

I've taken a break from the website to work on content, in form at the moment of a tattoo industry entrance portfolio. Something I can pour all the wicked designs into that I've been coming up with recently, creatures included. An apprenticeship will be coming soon. I'm also painting a good bit, so that I can begin selling these in the local scene. The Covington/Mandeville area of St. Tammany Parish is very art-friendly and I'd like to see my name get out there.

And of course, after bombing my last semester with the move, I'm back for a new semester with a new outlook and determination. I WILL graduate from ITT with a bachelor's degree if it kills me. In the mean time I'm looking for an internship on the Northshore.

Among other news, Amanda and I are expecting. A child. A human child. Go figure.

I leave you with some recent space art of mine:

//jordan

Mind-melted...

I don't know how I ever believed that Adobe Flash was the program I wanted to focus on for entire career. I don't mind the program when I need it in certain situations, like now as I create my own website, but four days into some seriously heavy Flash work and my mind feels like a tangled mess of keyframes and tweens and symbols and minute corrections. It's the most tedious workflow I can imagine, and I'm not using ActionScript. Here's what I'm doing, instead of the actual artwork that will eventuall fill it:

But I'm doing it, and I won't complain as long as I'm seeing progress.

To take a break, though, I'd like to talk about some other stuff.
I really hope that everyone lucky enough to possess eye(s) has gone to see Avatar. I think it's still playing at the moment, so you have a little time. To be honest, Avatar was the most phenomenal work of art I can imagine being accepted by the mass public. It's by no means as complex as science fiction can get, or will get, but at the moment I think that James Cameron tapped into some serious issues of the modern age and, by adding in the aliens and creatures and whatnot, disguised some incredible messages as mind-blowing cinema. It won't be the same after goes out of theaters, and I have high hopes for the sequels.

As far as music goes, I think Fear Factory did the impossible and topped everything they've produced to date with the latest album Mechanize. As a devotee to FF for almost a decade, this is the album I always hoped they'd make, and it's here and it's brilliant. That said, I think the wait for Crossbreed's new album was in vain. It's a mess, and I'm a huge fan. Sybreed's new album was a bit more on the dark, pessimistic side, but I'm still with them. Metal fan or no metal fan, you need to listen to a song from Sybreed's first album Slave Design, "Bioactive". No one can claim that this band isn't brilliant beyond comprehension. Whatever they do from now on is gold. Mnemic's new album is equally amazing.

But for now, while I'm staring at Adobe Flash, I've got Pandora.com set to Joey Fehrenbach, and I'm somewhere in sub-orbit at the moment.

I needed the break, thanks.

Jordan Madere

New Site Finally Up, Other Stuff...

So much momentum lately...

Two days into this new semester and I'm finally getting a chance to really get together my online representation. With this blog up, I've now got a LinkedIn Profile as well as the new website Galactica Incognita(still under construction), and it's all connected. I'm very proud of the site progress so far; it really gives a professional look to the cluttered mess that has been my artistic porfolio. It pays to get organized, I've realized. Everything feels as if it's converging, and with an online presence, it shows. I'll be doing a lot more work on the site tonight and hopefully have the "Creatures" section up and functional soon.

Artistically, I won't be generating anything new for a few weeks; the apartment and all our things are in limbo as we prepare for the move to Lacombe. When we're there and settled, I'm hoping that the rural atmosphere will be much more conducive to concentration and creativity than trying to get some peace in a crowded apartment building in a putrid suburb of New Orleans. Until then, my porfolio and the creatures I'm working on will be boxed up. In the meantime, I've got some family coming into town and quite a bit of reading to do.

That's about it, I'll be posting again soon.

Jordan

New Blog, Working on a New Website, Etc.

Hey all, although there probably isn't going to be anyone viewing this thing for quite some time, but what the hell. I'll use it as a journal for now, but in the future this will serve as a place to see my current progress as far as my artistic journey and career are concerned. So if you're reading this, stay tuned for pictures of current art, explanations and tips, and a somewhat eccentric look into the mind of a concept artist. Strange to think it's only just beginning...


I am closing in on the final semesters of my extended Associates Degree. I have taken my time, it's no lie. But the scope I've gained is unrecognizable to a Jordan several years younger. I am ready for what is to come, and I've begun to prepare for the climb to the center of the artistic universe, as far as Earthly conceptual thinking goes. It starts with creature design and then who knows what.


Heard some great news today. Over here at ITT in St. Rose we're finally getting decent Game Design speaker coming around to give us some depth on industry. I've found out the hard way that this school just isn't for the lazy and unambitious. I feel like a tree in the grasslands here, searching for more energy than any others around. Or perhaps a primate climbing the tallest tree of the forest. Whatever the metaphor, it fits to say I might be one of the only few who appreciates this speaker, or even shows up. There might even be a corporate business venture seeking my talents when it gets off the ground around here. I will make sure this guy gets his support.


The website will be up soon and then distributed; until then I don't think this blog is going anywhere. Nonetheless, here's a little of what's been going on





Until next time.


Jordan Madere