Culture Aficionado Magazine Issue #2

 

Hello and welcome to the first stop in a four part journey through media, culture and art. I am thrilled to showcase the project that I started about 2 years ago and just recently resurrected. I like to think of this magazine as a constructive collaboration of artists, musicians and filmmakers with like minds. Please proceed to indulge in the writings, productions, creations and interpretations of all types, included in this magazine. Thanks for reading and enjoy the free magazine!


Russell Xavier

A.K.A.

Abstract Thought


Culture Aficionado Magazine Issue #2

Culture Aficionado Magazine Issue #2 (iDevice)

Arte Especial

INSPIRATION

A lot of my inspiration for art pieces that I construct over a long period of time comes from a constant source, such as another person's blog or my own collection of digital and analog photographs. The project above illustrates the focus that needs to be present when I am creating art pieces, with attention to detail and and eye for organization.

MECHANICS

I went about placing each of the unique skylines close enough to each other so that they blend into a infinitely growing city, stretching miles past the horizon. I next made sure that the differing shades of grey, black and white would go together well, in that the clouds covering the cities are casting shadows.

AESTHETICS

Strictly for aesthetic reasons only, I placed a private jet in the sky, overlooking all of the many microcosms below. I also made sure that the clouds were reverse colors.

MUSIC

Recommendations:

Zion-I feat. The Grouch- Silly Puddy

Jurassic 5- Jurass finish first

Dilated Peoples- Ear Drums Pop

Moondog- Minisym #1

David Axlerod- The Warnings Part 1

PEACE.

Nuevo Exhibición Artistico

Hey whats up?

Making progress on my new edition to my magazine, with all sorts of interesting stuff to view, read and fill in the blanks. I've just been going to class and making art at all times of the day and/or night, playing disc golf here and there, as well as DJing in my free time. I like to display whatever kind of art I can whenever I can and pretty soon I'm thinking about doing a little live art while music is played by a DJ or band. My goal is to get a reaction, any reaction to the art and music that I like to make. Enjoy the post and KEEP IT REAL.

ART

INSPIRATION

This piece of art displays yet another interpretation of my taste for music illustrated through my art. As you can tell, I wanted to get rid of the square picture edges, so I embellished the image with a couple different stylized brushes with vines and leaves.

MECHANICS

I used multiple records, including one broken into pieces and with blend modes I melded the pictures together. I replaced the outside corners on the centered turntable image with vines and leaf brushes for a more dramatic look.

AESTHETICS

I made sure to maintain the original vintage look of the centered turntable image and by doing that I kept the surrounding objects in the same general color scheme. Just for personal reasons I didn't change any of the contrast, although I did add some saturation for a vignette type of look.

Continued..

Nu Art (3 of 3)

INSPIRATION

I am a part-time DJ and in my spare time while making art, I am sometimes influenced by different ideas that I have while DJing. This piece is a good demonstration of what DJing feels like to me when I do it live, in front of an audience. 

MECHANICS

I was having a rough time getting used to the patch tool so I instead started working with the clone stamp tool to recreate portions of the city (Seattle, WA). I made sure that it was authentic looking enough to where I could successfully display a DJ setup over the view of this city at sunset.

AESTHETICS

For aesthetic purposes I decided that the color of the setup have blue undertones to establish the cool blue mood. I next made sure that as the viewer looked at the city below the DJ setup, that there was no distracting parts or anything drawing attention from the entire image, 4 corners, center and all

MUSIC

Music Recommendations:

Moondog- Frog Bog

Miles Davis- Move

Yesterday's new Quintet- The One Who Knows

Herbie Hancock- Sly

Moondog- Surf Session

PEACE.

.

Continued (2 of 3)...

INSPIRATION

Infusing different types of media is a specialty of mine, and in this image I was able to incorporate a very natural group of leaves, vines and flowers into a circuit board.

MECHANICS

Little by little, over the course of a month I put layer styles over the outlines of plants that I drew previously. Originally I had no idea where this piece was going, although now I am glad I still kept it. The circuits behind it represent a larger computer which encases the plants in the center of the image.

AESTHETICS

I always like to add text to decipher the when and where of the art projects I make. In this one image I used a unique font I discovered on the internet as well as multiple different hues going from pale leaf green to dark emerald.


Continued...

Wildebeast from the east

Whats up?

Making progress getting used to my new portable DJ setup, I finally figured out how to record my Kaossilator in Virtual DJ. Thanks to my partnership with my band mate, DJ Adsynth, we can now collaborate and create  original beats.
Moreover, The magazine Culture Aficionado (Issue #2) is scheduled to be released in the first week of June. I have a line up of 5 issues to be released throughout every 2 week interval, this summer 2011. Please stay tuned to this blog and other blogs like this, for new updates on art, including how to make certain types of art in Photoshop CS-CS5. I will also be including new music links and/or recommendations in each post.

ART

INSPIRATION

This piece came from myself watching too many Twilight zone episodes, reading too much Ray Bradbury or possibly watching 2001: A Space Odyssey a few too many times. It is reminiscent of a computer of the future, although the tribal-looking intricate patterns scrawled behind it add a touch of visual distortion. 

MECHANICS

I was in somewhat of a daze when I made this piece at 3:30 am, although that may have worked out to my advantage. I used a couple different gradients to synthesize 3 large optical scanners and in addition, the markings behind these have also been filled with a gradient.

AESTHETICS

I wanted this art piece to look as if you could not tell what year it takes place in. I was attempting to create a photo that was not only futuristic but also modern.

Continued...

Mega blast from 1989

Hello all,

So now that I have a good amount of art posted on my portfolio blog, I have decided that it is time to expand my abilities into other fields, such as a media-based magazine titled Culture Aficionado, a clothing line including T-shirts and Boardshorts and also a mixtape as well as future studio album from my band, Standard Deviants. For now, enjoy this mega-sized post of art and music recommendations from none other than myself, Abstract Thought.


ART

INSPIRATION

I like to make art with instruments on occasion, this is a good example of a recent idea of mine that I embellished into an art piece. Guitars are just plain awesome in my opinion and with what I've learned in Photoshop, its always fun to manipulate and create something from something else.

MECHANICS

I started by keeping the guitar centered within the surrounding paint splatters and grungy edges of the image. Next I shredded the top part of it and played with the color and hue options a little bit. Finally I added more grunge layers and colored renders shooting out of the strings. 

AESTHETICS

Solely for aesthetic value I added a different layer on top of the original guitar layer to incorporate them both into an eerie off-white color guitar that blends better with gradients under blend modes. This image was originally meant to look less gritty and more neat, although that soon changed.

INSPIRATION

My girlfriend has an awesome lenovo laptop and sometimes wen I am bored I like to use Photoshop CS5 and make a background for her desktop or a little art piece she can look at whenever she wants. This piece was too cool to let go, so I saved it to my email and downloaded it later.

MECHANICS

Using different liquid brushes and a set of brushes I saved on my 16gb flash drive, I lined the corners with several watery looking renders. Some of the text in this piece is upside down or modified, while others are just layered with other shapes. The greenish looking cloud in the middle came from a smudged gradient oval.

AESTHETICS

This image was originally going to be much more subtle at first, although I enjoyed distorting the different shapes of various hues. A good portion of the images on this blog are very reminiscent of the project above.

INSPIRATION

Space art is definitely a hobby of mine when it comes to the types of art I make of a daily basis. This piece is an outstanding example of a star in space with an emerald hue. I like to sometimes go online and look up different types of space art and then attempt to make my own variation.

MECHANICS

Most of the stars I make come out to a specific style. No matter what color they are, they appear to be fluid and plasma mixed together inside of a large sphere. I strive for this effect and I also make different effects similar to the fire inside of a star.

AESTHETICS

For good measure I added some abstract looking splashes and sprays of green as well as a lightning bolt or three. I was aiming for a realistic looking small star with a ring and vivid outer glow.

INSPIRATION

One day I was looking online at gadgets and I viewed a couple online images of circuits and microchips and immediately I wanted to create or make art with similar intricate lines and patterns interlacing. I took that idea and decided to start in Photoshop and see what I could do.

MECHANICS

Certain parts of this image, you might notice stand out and in addition to creating a group of rectangles with glowing edges, I also added circuitry lines and dust on the other parts. I made sure to keep all of the layers organized with a grid and guide lines.

AESTHETICS

This image was made on my girlfriend's lenovo laptop and probably sometime at around 2am on a weekend night I completed it. I started using more detail when it comes to illustrating shapes and images by hand. I like the way that an image can be more subtle and less intense if I spend more time on it working out the kinks.

INSPIRATION

This image is another piece I produced in the middle of the night on a Saturday on my girlfriend's lenovo laptop with Photoshop CS5. I wanted to experiment with the grungy looking brushes I picked out for my flash drive and also the paint splatter ones I downloaded just recently.

MECHANICS

Lettering and objects with gradients are fun to work with and juxtapose about an image. For the most part I use text for my lettering from a font book, although sometimes I like to create my own letters from scratch by drawing them  by hand or pen tool.

AESTHETICS

Brushes, stamps and tire markings were added in the distance to take out the plainness of the white background. For aesthetic value I also added a couple area codes that I have lived in.

INSPIRATION

This piece was created because of an intense dream I had. In this dream I was surfing a massive wave, although I had no idea where I was. It looked as if I was surfing a wave which happened to be off of an island full of junked surfboards. This is the image that resulted from that dream.

MECHANICS

I made sure to blend the different layers of the wave, and the top crest, a separate layer entirely is also displayed with a outer shine and inner glow. The surfboards were drawn by hand and placed all around the sand bar in view. 

AESTHETICS

I made sure to keep an eye on the amount of waves visible in this image, incase it might look too repetitive or boring. The wave layers were drawn with pen tool then applied to look as natural as water flowing in an ocean.

MUSIC




GENRE: Hip-Hop

Binary Star- Reality Check

Gang starr- Moment of Truth

Slum Village- Reunion Feat. J Dilla

Living Legends- Black Glass

KRS-ONE- MC's Act Like They Don't Know



Big ups to LBizzle and Butterkn!fe Beetz

PEACE

Nu DJ Gear!!

Hey Whats up?

 

I just received my newest piece of DJ equipment, a Korg Kaossilator. It reminds me of a gameboy-sized synthesizer that is an all-in-one powerhouse for DJs and producers alike. It combines percussion, synth pads, instruments and other effects with an x/y pad to map the key and notes being played. So far I've been having a blast using it, although I'm not even close to experienced when it comes to using it and knowing my way around the interface.

ART

 

 INSPIRATION

Creating postcards and interesting designs for fliers has always been a passion of mine, and in this case I used the tools in Photoshop to draw a landscape, complete with mountains, trees and water. I made sure that the textures I used for this piece were not in any way derived from any stock images.

MECHANICS

I've gotten more used to the lasso and pen tools in the past 2 years, and still I feel that by far the most versatile tool is the pen tool. It can be use for drawing shapes, lines, implementing colors or effects and also styles. In this piece you might notice the smoothness of the outlines of both land and water. Thanks to the pen tool that is possible.

AESTHETICS

For the most part, a lot of my art is made to be pleasing to the eye. Although this is usually the case, in this piece I feel that I deviated a little from that trend as I tried to make some parts of this art piece conflict and pop out. With the clouds I overlayed another more grayish cloud cover, distracting the viewer from the landscape below.

 

 

 INSPIRATION

I am currently almost finished with my next big project, Culture Aficionado Magazine, Issue #2. This piece was inspired from a lot of the work I put into working on that magazine. It incorporates the style I was going for while still making the viewer's eye travel throughout details of the picture.

MECHANICS

I made sure to use a good amount of Photoshop tools in this art piece, including but not limited to, the brush tool, lasso tool, polygon lasso, pen tool and gradient tool. All of these together make infinite combinations and can be used to experiment with for creative purposes.

ASTHETICS

By throwing splotches of color in between the shiny bubble-like renders in addition to glowing lightning, I have juxtaposed a collage of  many colors. I feel that the magazine I plan on releasing soon has a theme associated heavily with the more modern looking art I make.

Check in next week for more tunes!


Peace,


Abstract Thought

Atomic Art Apocalypse!

Hey People,

Hows it going? Now that my art is starting to fill up this blog, I have decided that I am going to expand to a website in the future. I have started working for a company which produces boardshorts! Hopefully in the future I can get a collection of my art of clothing going and possibly be able to sell it on my blog. As for now, enjoy the new art pieces! And Music!


ART

INSPIRATION

It takes me a good 2-3 hours to complete a piece this complex, although a lot goes into why I designed it the way I did. I started with pen and paper, drawing a very abstract looking composition of angles, lines, shapes, even machines. I then added a cityscape on the upper part and gemstone at the center. These represent the focus I took on this piece, which was abstract renderings.

MECHANICS

Drawing is almost as much fun as the part where I get to fill in the pencil markings with color. Little by little, I filled in each part of this picture until it was full of color. I also added a sun and my alias as a logo.

AESTHETICS

For reasons unknown, this piece looks a lot like another drawing I scanned. The direction of this particular piece is more skewed towards an abstract perspective. In doing this, I have created another grouping within my own art of pieces of this nature. I can now say that I have multiple pieces in my collection which are similar.

INSPIRATION

Upon looking through a list of Google images, I stumble across a nice looking red dodge challenger and a gorgeous picture of a mountain next to a road. Next thing I know I am assimilating multiple part of different pictures to achieve a realistic looking scene in which a can is racing through a stormy road.

MECHANICS

In order to achieve this idea of making different pictures all come together and look natural, I needed to gain insight as to what it looks like to drive in a storm. Well luckily for me the last week was full of rain.

AESTHETICS

Some of my more surreal looking artwork containing cars has been, well more fictional. In this piece I started to include the surrealism of driving in stormy weather with the realism of driving a fast car on a mountain road. The reflection of the landscape on the car and the rain bouncing off the car augment to the scene to that effect.

INSPIRATION

I've always liked the way that some digital artists will, without fail, create everything you see in their images from scratch. In most cases, something like this would take a long time to detail and perfect. However, I have taken it upon myself to find a faster and more effective way of doing digital drawing or painting without the use of a pen tablet or special tool.

MECHANICS

Occasionally I like to design plants, trees, simple foliage and bushes near and around houses and temples. As a factor in the over atmosphere of the picture, I feel that without these elements it would not be as convincing to view. What I have done is include textures and patterns of abnormal size and dimensions and attached them to some main parts of this piece.

AESTHETICS

In bringing this artwork to life, I was going for a more subtle look, not as abstract and random. I wanted to make the viewer feel as if they are standing in the midst of a small civilization not too far from nature and mother earth.

MUSIC

Leakage/Whiskers.mp3

Lo Fizzle.mp3

Tarantula Soufle

Hey, Whats up?

I'm doing a little more renovating to this blog, so please don't be surprised if one day you look and its completely different, with a new customized layout. But seriously, this blog is now hosting art for social media, networking for business and also small-scale advertising at a local level. I, of course am responsible for creating all of the art you see on this blog and I also need to mention that all pieces are copy written and not distributable without a license by law. Now, this is one of a network of blogs, all started by Writers, DJs, Musicians, Artists, Illustrators, Painters, the works. Please be on the lookout for new blogs entering this network as I am in the process of inviting new members on a monthly basis. As for now, there are about 3-4 blogs total, and in about 1 year's time I expect that number to exceed 20. Thanks for reading and enjoy the art and music.


ART

 

 INSPIRATION

I've always liked old photography from 1960-1970, its always fun to look at how it's aged. I was inspired by a photograph I viewed of Jimi Hendrix, and I decided to embellish his captured attitude and mindset.

MECHANICS

Starting with some intense colors with styles behind the cut out figure of Jimi Hendrix, I began to add effects as if this were a very surrealistic looking picture taking place in another dimension.

AESTHETICS

For purposes that reflect the Rule Of Thirds, I placed the figure on the left of the art piece. This gave me room available for rendering a wafting, puffy looking smoke effect in addition to making the figure more viewable by blurring its edges.

 

 INSPIRATION

This album cover was a short project I was convinced into completing at my friend's house. It was created in order to give an album cover art and to also create a mood or theme.

MECHANICS

After finding a picture of a red panda online, I decided to overlay it with some grunge brushes and layer styles. I also used some blend modes to add more fluency. I made the brushes black to instill a dark sort of atmosphere, as if this picture took place during an apocalypse.

AESTHETICS

 I enjoy the simplicity in this piece. It is a basic yet concise message, sent to the viewer from the artist. I wanted to convey the simple fact that wild animals can be more dangerous than they look from afar.

 INSPIRATION

This piece was inspired by a list of different books, movies, posters and music, all currently unnameable. I can tell you, however that I picked up an interest for city skylines over the past 3 1/2 years of being a graphic designer.

MECHANICS

I attempted to construct a double layered city, with an intense explosion emitting outward from behind. I gave the building layers colorful attributes as well as a glow to add to the atmosphere around them. It is supposed to look as if the explosion has not completely taken effect.

AESTHETICS

 I wanted the piece above to appear as if it were a snapshot in time of the moment before the immense city is destroyed by a fictional nuclear blast. I have toyed with this type of image from time to time, creating shocking and bleak scenes before incredible disasters vaporize unreal civilizations.

MUSIC

Deadly Tea

Ghetto Rasta Dread

Lo-Fizzle


PEACE.

Russell Xavier

A.K.A.

Abstract Thought

Wombat University of California

Continued as promised...

Konichiwa,

After about a week of getting this Culture Afficionado Magazine, Issue #2 off the ground, I'm finally ready to post a bunch of prototype artwork. Get ready for a sneak preview of the world's most prestigious non-subscription magazine!


ART

 

 INSPIRATION

I was inspired to let the art flow through me and not to put as much emphasis on how exactly the piece looks.
Do not ask what it took to make me create this, instead ask in what state of mind was I in (during midterms; Stressed, with my girlfriend; content, at a friend or relative's house; inventive). I chose to improvise and generate random vectors and gradients until I came up with something I enjoy looking at.

MECHANICS

One by one I used a lasso tool and gradient tool to depict large spiky vectors surrounding the colorful background I started with. I was going for a very Modern approach and I feel like I accomplished the shock-inducing look of many modern art pieces in today's galleries and art dealers.

AESTHETICS

Why did I choose so many pastels, yet place that shiny lightning next to all of the intense colored vectors? Because I can, in addition to wanting to know what it looks like. In every art creation I make I experiment, through trial and error and eventually settle on something I am satisfied with. In this case I wanted to view a multiple layered version of a 2D painting done by Pablo Picasso or Jackson Pollock, deriving from its minimal appearance but also maintaining that unique Modern Art integrity.

INSPIRATION

I was looking online at some used cars for a friend when I got this outrageous idea to Photoshop some burnt-down and broken, smashed and/or wrecked cars. I tested the look of many different samples until I came across this specific car, played with the levels and colors a bit and tagged my name to it underneath, along with some gritty looking bits of debris and shrapnel.

MECHANICS

Cutting things out in Photoshop used to be a pain in the ass, until I learned how to stop using the lasso and magnetic lasso and graduate to quick masks and selections via channels. This made things way easier to extract out of photos, drawings and magazine scans. The car I cut using the quick mask tool and I colored it blue and yellow with bits of red to match the name "Abstract Thought" below.

AESTHETICS

The car throws kind of a curious, "I want to know more" element to this piece. I feel like when I first placed the car on top of my alias I wanted it to look clean and painted like a new car, but I've done that so many times it has become rather monotonous and mundane. Follow the laws of physics and make everything look as convincing and real as possible? How boring! That is the main reason as to why the grimey, rusty looking paint on the car is almost absorbed by the debris floating under the text.

BONUS

Tell me what I was thinking when I made this last piece by posting a comment of your choice below!

 

Examples:

Was it after eating fast food at a certain hamburger food chain?

Was it after paying $17 dollars for a ticket to see a movie in 3D?

Was it after a trip to Las Vegas?

YOU DECIDE...

Russell Xavier

Graphic Designer/Artist

Part-time Chef

Member of Standard Deviants

Redoing this Blog

Hey whats going on?


I decided to update anyone following this blog that the format for posting art and mixtapes has been changed. I will now include a paragraph describing Inspiration, Mechanics and Asthetics. I will also be introducing more classical styles of art to my audience, including Pointilism, Comic Book, Modern, and also Impressionist styles. Be sure to check in monthly as I will have much more art to display in addition to new tracks and beats. This blog is geared towards my artwork and is covered by a copyright, protecting any and all infringements.


Russell Xavier


Enjoy the first selection:

Art

Inspiration:

I was originally beginning to work on this project after a request from a friend and fellow musician of mine, Butterknife Beats. He explained to me how he just finished constructing and mixing a track he produced by the name of Ghost Toast. He gave me a detailed description and after a couple proofs and re-makes I came up with this design.

Mehanics:

After just recieving my Netbook I ordered off the internet, I installed Photoshop onto my new computer and composed a rough edit of what I wanted the picture to look like. I drew some ghost-shaped figures with effects and placed them above a high-exposure picture, tinted blue of Great Hall. Making the ghosts look "classy" was my true goal in this piece as I satirically added a monical, top-hat, gold teeth and sun glasses on each of the party guests depicted above.

Aesthetics:
I attempted to recreate a spooky, gloomy yet sophisticated and classy function in which there happen to be a group of apparitions enjoying some ghoulish cocktails and listening to experimental trip-hop.The fact that I was going for more of a cheesy as well as comical attitude was what I feel that I actually demonstrated.

To Be Continued...

Continued soon!

50 Cows Starring at you

Whats good?
Got some new gear, new art and tunes for you to check out.

Life is good! Got a new netbook and been working on projects with Standard Deviants. What do you think today's post is going to feature? How about another serving of abstract art, brought to you by Abstract Thought AKA DJ GenerRuss?!?!!?



ENJOY!



PEACE!


ART

 

Flaming Artifacts, twisted orange stylizing with gradients and layer styles intertwined over a brushed background.

 

Made this one on my new netbook, took about 6 1/2 minutes to compile, only I didn't realize that Photoshop CS5 requires a 1280x900 screen resolution. Fuck em, CS4 will do.

 

An older background designed on a friend's PC for his desktop. Originally I put his name over it, then I decided to change it and keep the new copy.

MUSIC

Counter Stricken.mp3 DJ GenerRuss


Late Night Coffee.mp3 DJ GenerRuss

What it don't do?

Sup,

I am living it up in Santa Cruz, practicing djing and making graphic art and media all the time. I have yet to establish a solid line of communication with my bandmate(s), although things are going great for Standard Deviants. The team of producers (DJ Adsynth, DJ GenerRuss, DJ Prescription, Butterknife Beats) have been working hard on a new mixtape, due this March. It should feature MC Cydah, Phraction Kontraction, LBizzle and possibly a guest appearance by MC Checkmate, but I'm not making any promises. Here is some art from past, present and future:


ART

Ghostly trails of commets and meteors, with gaseous pillars and nebulae.

Good background for cell phones, iPod Touches, PSPs, etc.

Funny story: this took only 15 minutes

MUSIC

Noisia- Groundhog

Blakroc- Dollaz N Sense (feat. RZA and Pharohe Monch)

Devin The Dude- Zeldar

Living Legends- Anything You Want

Jurassic 5- Canto De Ossanha

PEACE OUT WORLD.

ABSTRACT THOUGHT