"The great work must inevitably be obscure, except to the very few, to those who like the author himself are initiated into the mysteries. Communication then is secondary: it is perpetuation which is important. For this only one good reader is necessary."
~Henry Miller

There are times I'm reminded what the internet is best at: connecting people. deviantArt has many flaws (as I have written about before) but the one thing it does well is connecting artists together to get a chance to share ideas and projects. What I do, and what many people I watch do isn't "fine art" (but what is that anyway?) but it is fun art. And there is nothing more fun that being able to host a project like the Obscuri-Jam.

It should be no surprise that the jam structure is designed to emulate *14-bis' popular art Jam formula. The concept is a simple one, encourage a group of artists to produce work along a simple theme. Give them a framework and a deadline to work in and you may see some amazing things, and I think we all saw some great work. So with the idea planted back in March, I knew wanted to host a fun art jam that would allow artists to see each others' non-typical work (maybe even for the first time) and get people networking.

I can't say this for everyone but I add several new people to my list and I see several new watchers come by (more than normal) when I participate in any jam, so that's what I mean by networking.

At any rate picking a jam topic was not easy. I bounced a lot of ideas in my head. But the idea of people picking their favourite underdog characters or even better, lost and forgotten characters and giving them the spotlight the annals of internet fandom seemed the right choice. And so the Obscuri-JAM was formed in my mind.

Below you will see all the entries I received (including my own) in chronological order. There were a few entries that sort of bent the rules regarding the border and in future jams I may be more strict. I did not judge entrants based on quality OR subject matter. The main thing is that the entries had some thought behind them and were fun for people to do.

This jam was all about fun.

Entries:


Unframed thumbnail entries:
*

I think we can all agree that this jam was a lot of fun and I'll be running it again in October.

OTHER NEWS

I have a lot of artwork to catch up on, including two contest entries that are due for the end of May (one for the Mega Man Legends Club and one for Rhythem Wily's Contest). But I also have a lot of my own projects I want to get off the ground.

I was ill almost all weekend and got nothing done that I had planned (except clean up the patio and play War Machine on Friday). If you are waiting for a commission or a request I'll have to ask you to be patient.

I was messing around with speed art today, it was a scary place to be but it has me excited, so I may try again soon.

Thanks for reading.

P.S. I will be turning 31 soon... where does the time go?

Requests: Closed
Art-Trades: Closed
Commissions: Closed

Request & Commission Rules



CONTESTS

Scrapbook Contest
Draw your character going through time, as if through 5 snapshots in a family album.
More info here on this creative contest:
[link]

Put some clothes on Rhythm Wily by Rhythm-Wily

Robots don't need clothes, they happily weld car bodies together and that's it, what you say, what about robots with personalities and humanoid features!? Well I'm not 100% sure but, all I know is Rhythm Wily is out there menacing dA with robot nudity and it's up to us to chase her down and clothe her as fantastically as possible! So, if you are up to the challenge of putting a Mega Man type character into any kind of duds you can imagine this contest is for you. It's also being sponsored with HUGE prizes (if you are a manga fan).

More information can be found here:
[link]