'Tell me what happens the first time you see a woman naked.'
'The first time you see a woman naked will not be like you imagined. There will be no love, no trust, no intimacy. You won’t even be in the same room as her.
You won’t get to smile as she undresses you and you undress her. You won’t get to calm her nerves with nerves of your own. You won’t get to kiss her, feeling her lips and the edge of her tongue. You won’t get to brush your fingers over the lace of her bra or count her ribs or feel her heartbeat.
The first time you see a woman naked you will be sitting in front of a computer screen watching someone play at intimacy and perform at sex. She will contort her body to please everyone in the room but her. You will watch this woman who is not a woman, pixelated and filtered and customized. She will come ready-made, like an order at a restaurant. The man on the screen will be bigger than you, rougher than you. He will teach you how to talk to her. He will teach you where to put your hands and he will teach you what you’re supposed to like. He will teach you to take what is yours.
You must unlearn this. You must unlearn this twisted sense of love. You must unlearn the definition of pleasure and intimacy you are being taught. Kill this idea of love, this idea of entitlement, this way of scarring one another.’
"Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”
“I am constantly trying to communicate something incommunicable, to explain something inexplicable, to tell about something I only feel in my bones and which can only be experienced in those bones.”
In the early years of space flight, both Russians and Americans used pencils in space. Unfortunately, pencil lead is made of graphite, a highly conductive material. Snapped graphite leads and particles in zero gravity are hugely problematic, as they will get sucked into the air ventilation or electronic equipment, easily causing shorts or fires in the pure oxygen environment of a capsule.
After the fire in Apollo 1 which killed all the astronauts on board, NASA required a writing instrument that wasn’t a fire hazard. Fisher spent over a million dollars (of his own money) creating a pressurized ball point pen, which NASA bought at $2.95 each. The Russian space program also switched over from pencils shortly after.
40 years later snide morons on the internet still snigger about it, because snide morons on the internet never know what they are talking about.
Children are the main audience when referring to the cartoons. A good cartoonist is one who can extract the main details of an object or a human being and simplify in shapes so that a child can recognize and be attracted to what they’re looking at. Was studying infant perception that masters like Walt Disney, Hanna & Barbera, Chuck Jones, Jim Henson, Walter Lantz and many others have enchanted the world with its magical and eternals characters.
My role here is to make you understand the proper way to assemble this puzzle and definitely learn how to build any character from the techniques presented. I guarantee you will be shocked at how easy it is to create a cartoon expression that children (and adults) will adore!
Understanding Human Perception
The human-being has a very interesting feature: We can synthesize the details that make up a structure or an object in very complex ways into very basic and simple ones. This way we can represent any type of thing through a few curves and geometric shapes.
Can you tell me if the two images below represent the same object?
Weird as it may seem, you can look at the two pictures and say "it’s a car".
What happens is that, unlike artists, most people can’t tell from memory all the details that make up a car, a dog or even a child. So they start to associate very basic and primitive shapes to the specific characteristics of each object. How many children of 4, 5 or 6 years old came from school with a drawing of two circles and some toothpicks on a piece of paper and said: “That’s mommy and daddy!”?
You don’t want to keep drawing like that, do you? So, let’s get our hands dirty and make some cartoon faces!
1. Create Our First Character
The basic cartoon shape is a circle. Circle Is All You Need (besides Love, of course). It’s from the circle that you define the basic proportions of your character’s head.
Once the circle is ready, it’s time to trace the face axis. Draw a vertical and horizontal line intersecting at the center, like in the image below:
Step 1
To make the eyes, draw an oval shape with a slight tilt to the side at the top. Repeat on opposite side. It is important to leave a gap between them of approximately the same size as an eye. As we are in the drafting phase, you can draw another eye in the center to serve as a measure.
Step 2
At the top of the circle, slightly thicken the trait that will be the eyelashes of our character. Place the eyebrows a bit above the eyelashes to spend a sort of a surprise expression. The eyebrow form is free and with practice you will adjust to your own style.
Draw both pupils directed to the center (this is a very effective tactic used by major cartoonists whose sole purpose is to make our characters look cuter).
Tip: To give more life and “realism” in our eyes you can draw a small line below them to simulate a kind of wrinkle. This is another very interesting tactic that adds a special touch to our facial expressions.
Step 3
We arrived in the most creative freedom of the whole course. Think of it this way: In cartoon style designs, the main structure of a face is the skull and the eyes of the character. It is at that stage where you define the identification with the external world, IE, it is already clear to people that you’re drawing a character.
Now that we come to the jaw, we will decide if we want a fat character or a thin one. Could be old, young and so on. My character will be a young one. So, let’s design a proper jaw for him.
Step 4
When designing a nose being seen from the front, it is common not to use many details. If you draw only its tip, it is likely that already achieves a convincing effect. It is also very common detailing to draw only one side of the nose, from the idea that this is the opposite side of light.
Let’s put the correct nose on our character.
Step 5
As our character is a child, we will make a cartoon mouth: something simple just to represent an expression of innocence.
Notice that when drawing a little child’s mouth, the lips shouldn’t be drawn! In cartoon style, children, regardless of gender, have quite simple mouths. A good and expressive trace already does the job.
Step 6
The ears are seen from the front side view (because our character is facing the camera), so that the internal cavities will not appear. Then we will do just a simple shape using some basic perspective (more on that later).
Step 7
The shape of our skull is already defined by the circle we did at the beginning, right? So we just need a very simple and childish haircut to give life to our boy. Let’s do it now.
I Don’t Know How to Draw Hair! Help!
Easy, easy… there is nothing to fear. Nobody needs to be stylist or fashion designer to make the perfect hair. There isn’t a right way to draw hair, so you’ll need to try until you create the ideal haircut you want. Just remember that the hair is responsible for defining the personality of our characters. Oddly enough, the hair can express age, rebellion, conservatism… incredible, isn’t? Speaking of which… what is your hairstyle?! Oh, never mind…
An accurate and fast way to drawing cartoon hair is to seek photo references on the web! I do this all the time: grab a fashion magazine or try a Google search. After finding the ideal style, put the image as a reference next to your drawing board (or tablet) and start making a cartoon and simplified version of it.
Well, it seems we completed our character successfully! Congratulations!
Now let’s play a bit more and create a completely different character leveraging the same template we used for little Tommy (yes, I created a name for him).
2. Create an Older Character
Step 1
As usual, let’s start with the eyes. This time we will draw faster, adding wrinkles, eyebrows and the eye pupils.
Notice that we haven’t changed a lot, we just expanded the eyebrow a bit. Older men have thicker eyebrows, occupying more space on the forehead. Eyelashes make no difference in men, they are always drawn in the same way.
Step 2
We will increase our chin a bit this time. Try something like this.
Our character is already with a different “look”! This is very good. We will proceed by choosing the ideal nose for it.
Step 3
Following what we did before, let’s create the nose. This time I will make a completely different nose from before:
Notice that the ends of the nose are positioned very close to the bottom of the eyes. This is an effective technique to use when designing larger and wider noses. The idea is always to exaggerate to get a good result!
Speaking of overkill, let’s eliminate the mouth of our character in favor of another artifact…
Step 4
I decided to use another technique now: instead of drawing the mouth, we’ll simply draw a big mustache to create a better persona for our character.
Done! A big and exaggerated mustache for our old friend!
Step 5
Remember what I said about the hair helps to represent age and personality? Check it out.
We’ve just added some side hair and left him bald on top. Amazing how it creates a totally different look, isn’t it? Also notice that I took the same ear from Tommy, our beloved boy. That’s the advantage of working on templates. That’s the magic of cartoon!
I think our friend is a mad scientist!
3. Create a Female Character
I don’t know… I think Tommy needs a sister! He’s been very lonely out there. Let’s create a sister for him now, as if by magic:
Hey!!! How did you do that so fast? Very simple … Women have more delicate facial structures. Follow the step-by-step instructions below:
Thin eyebrows;
Larger and expressive eyelashes;
Thinner chin;
Small nose with less details;
Long hair (use a real reference and choose any style you want).
That’s it. These are all changes you need to do. Besides that, I took everything I could from Tommy, her brother. After all, they are siblings, right?
When you start to feel more comfortable, you can slowly create some more “realistic” details to your characters. Such as larger pupils…
4. Facial Expressions
We are ready to add more emotions to our dear Lucy (yes, that’s her name). Let’s draw her after receiving the news that their school holidays have come to an end…
Again we achieve something totally different just adding two things: The tears and the new shape of her mouth! Isn’t it amazing?!
Now let’s get back to Tommy and ask him what he thinks about it:
Hmm… I got a feeling that Tommy is planning something!
Notice that I’ve totally changed his expression just following the steps below:
Making one eyebrow lower than the other;
Cutting the eyes in half with the eyelashes;
Adding a smile (one side is higher, following the eyebrow);
Moving up the eye pupils to stay under the eyelashes.
And that’s it! We got the expected result with just these few changes. Hair, ears, nose, chin and the circular shape of the eyes are the same! Simple as that!
5. Profile View
Draw the template below again. Now we’ll learn how to make Tommy and Lucy from the profile view:
We will fit the face of both now:
Notice that, in profile, is the ear that stays in the center of the circle.
Be aware of the main differences in structure when comparing them side by side. Pay attention to these details when drawing male and female characters:
Tommy’s eyebrow is thicker
Lucy’s chin is slightly projected in front of the face
Lucy’s nose is thinner and pointed;
Lucy has big and feminine eyelashes.
6. Play With Angles
Eyes, nose, mouth, ears… all the details that make up the face change its shape when viewed from different angles. It’s very common to see cartoon characters looking at every possible direction with different camera angles, because they will need to react to situations and objects around them. This helps bring them more to life!
Notice how the eye format is simplified when converted to cartoon. See it in red the oval shape in contrast to the circular shape of the real eye.The real nose is composed by several cartilages. Notice how its shape is drastically simplified in the cartoon.Understanding how the mouth behaves at different angles is essential. Remove the excess detail and try to keep only the basic shape of the lips. The ears are also dramatically simplified.
Now we will put into practice everything we have learned so far… Below follows a basic template (only circles and directional guides) where we can practice our drawing skills in different positions:
Let’s mark the eyes in different directions for each one of the circles…
Now, let’s add some random jaws, with different sizes and shapes…
It’s up to you now. I guess you can walk alone and explore the techniques I gave to you to complete the drawings. Remember that cartoon style has two premises:
Simplify the face details in rounded shapes;
Exaggerate the facial expressions.
Once you managed to sketch the direction of the eyes and have chosen the proper chins, try to use your creativity to build how many faces you want. You can be sure that, if you practice at least 10 minutes per day of the techniques presented here, drawing cartoon faces will be as natural to you as breathing.
Let’s summarize! To reinforce what I talked throughout the tutorial, let’s remember the proper steps to draw cartoon faces:
Make a circle that will represent the skull of our character;
Set the direction in which your character will be looking at and draw the guidelines;
Make the outline of the eyes in an oval shape;
Draw the eye pupils (make them pointing to the nose, if you want a cute character). Don’t forget the eyelashes;
Choose the correct eyebrow, depending on the age and gender of your character;
Draw an appropriate jaw;
Draw simplified ears;
Search haircut styles in Google (or a magazine) and use it as a guide reference for your sketch;
Celebrate!
Below is my version:
Example of how to use the same template to build distinct emotions. Notice that only the eyelashes and eyebrows were changed. Nothing more!!!
7. Research Multiple Ethnicities
We are nearing the end of our tutorial. As a last tip, I would encourage you to continue experimenting with facial expressions and, whenever possible, to invest more in studies of the face. Learn how the eyes and mouth behave in different situations. Take a look at different ethnicities and the key features.
For example, those of a black ethnic origin have a slightly flattened nose and more rounded cheek bones.
Whenever possible, try to give a little more realism to your characters. Observe the behavior of people in real life. Look at photos, study the style of your favorite artist or search for inspiration on the Internet. It’s when we look to real life that we can extract quality information for our drawings. But remember: observing the real world does not mean copying! You want your character to be unique and not a copy of reality, right?
Great Job! There is More to Come!
Now you know the basic techniques used by the best cartoon artists around the world. There is plenty more to come and this is just a small fraction of the cartoon drawing tutorials I’ll be presenting to you. Up next, we’re going to dig deeper into cartoon expressions.
Explore different styles and skull format! Sky’s the limit!
Lili Cuzor and Elijah Pointer live a grand life, but not in the traditional sense. They don’t have much in the way of material things, instead they choose to fill their world with respect, love, sunlight, plants, and fresh air. They build furniture and collect objects that are of use and also in harmony with their simple aesthetic, believing in the beauty of simplicity. They respect their home and their personal philosophy resonates throughout. A large glass jar holds a collection of sticks. Books are for reading and pressing flowers. Cats lounge near open windows and little impromptu flower arrangements are tucked into the corners of every room. They tread lightly on the planet, but also on their space; living within their means.
Their apartment is in one of Los Angeles’ celebrated courtyard buildings. Surrounded by vibrant, violet jacaranda trees, they sit high on a hill above Silver Lake’s Sunset Junction in a small, leafy world far removed from the bustle of regular city life. Lili is a floral artist, working primarily with materials she finds in the wild abundance of Southern California. Elijah is a talented mixologist at one of Downtown Los Angeles’ pioneering nightspots. He also works independently, creating custom drink menus for events and venues using plants and herbs from their garden.
Over homemade banana bread, watermelon cocktails and with the soft strains of Japanese Koto playing in the background, Lili and Elijah talk about their wedding in a French forest, wildflower pop-ups, and an inspiring run-in with Quentin Tarantino and RZA.
You were married in Gien, France – Lili’s hometown. The ceremony tells so much about how you choose to live. Will you share your story?
Lili: Well, Elijah has a very small family here in the States, and I have a very large family – all living in France – so logistically France made the most sense. The incredible part was that 16 of our dearest friends flew out to be there with us! I couldn’t believe that I was able to share my small hometown, Gien, along the Loire river, with all of my close friends let alone to marry Elijah. To get to share where I grew up with everyone so near and dear to me was truly the happiest time of my life. Imagine the surprise my family and small town town felt when all these young beautiful Americans descended on to the town for the week. It felt like we were movie stars, truly.
We rented a big farmhouse in the fields and filled our days by making crafts for the wedding – with branches, feathers and flowers foraged from the forest around us. We swam in my uncle’s lake, rode bikes, drank rosé, and enjoyed dinners in the late summer sunsets while listening to my Uncle Michel’s vinyl collection. Michel generously gave us his cabin in the woods to hold the reception and for us to use as summer wedding camp. Michel also had very thoughtfully planted wildflower seeds in the fields around his property six months prior so that the day before the wedding my friends and I could hit the fields and pick flowers for the wedding. I really love that the color palette of the entire ceremony was up to whatever he’d planted: foxglove, poppies, wild violets, wheat.
It sounds like the day was destined to be a perfect one. Lili: On the actual day of the wedding we all got up early and went to Michel’s forest to set everything up. We hung garlands, set up the tables with the second-hand China that we had bought from a village nearby, created the flower arrangements, set out candles all around the lake on tree stumps and hung chandeliers from the trees. We got married later that afternoon at a quaint little chateau. White doves were released and we drank champagne. Michel had another surprise and took us all out on his flat-bottom boat down the Loire river back to his forest for the ceremony. It was just so heartfelt, such a magical day. We ate a wonderfully prepared vegetarian dinner, danced, played music, watched paper lanterns get lit and float off into the star-filled night sky and celebrated well into the wee hours of the morning. It truly was a perfect moment in time. Full of so much love.
How do you and Elijah approach making a home? Lili: Marta Teegan, owner of Cookbook and Cortez in Echo Park, not to mention a friend and a great inspiration, once said to me that flowers – and nature – are by all means a necessity not to be mistaken for a luxury. That really resonated for me in my heart. It’s a philosophy that Elijah and I try to apply to our home on a daily basis. It’s the little things, the sprigs here and there, the little love notes and gifts we’re always doing for one another and for our home.
We try to maintain a light load. Respect is a really big factor in the equation: we respect our home, our garden and our neighbors. We start first and foremost with respect for one another and then that extends to our pets and our plants, and then to our living space. We clean it, we try our best to tread lightly, we let the sunlight in and open the windows everyday – even on rainy days – to allow for the air to move through the house to keep an existing sense of movement. The antithesis of stagnation. Hopefully that extends to the bigger world.
And this extends to the contents in your home also? Lili: We build and bring in furniture and objects that are of use but that also keep simplicity afloat while also looking beautiful. Someone once told me that ‘not all things have to be beautiful you know’, but I highly disagree. If there is a possibility to have something that is beautiful and functional then why not? Simplicity is beautiful. A branch is beautiful. I wish to surround myself with as much beauty as I possibly can. That’s the filter I chose to view my life through. Elijah and I don’t have much in the sense of material items but I think our home feels grand. We make choices that I think make our home, and world, a beautiful one.
Do you have any favorite items, pieces of furniture or belongings? Lili: We both really love our turkish rug that we got in Woodstock, NY. It has a story behind it that is really special and the deep aubergine color of it is extremely satisfying. Our vinyl and book collection has been a slow growing one but one that we both covet. There is one little wooden lamp that my youngest brother made for me one year for Christmas that I cherish. Lastly, our plants. We have a wonderfully diverse family of plants that have been with us now for quite some time. They have continued to grow with us.
What is the best thing about a simple life? Lili: With simplicity comes a lack of distractions, and I believe that this allows the two of us to really pay attention: to our animals, to our plants, to our garden, and to our home. Promoting a nurturing environment.
Tell me about your neighborhood rituals. Lili: We love to have a lazy morning together and take our dog V.v. on a walk to get coffee. I also love to walk the hills in our neighborhood and see what is growing. We do love to go on nice walks through Griffith Park and Elysian Park as well. Especially late in the afternoon. One of our favorite dates is to take V.v. on a super long walk to one of the nearby old time movie theaters – the Vista or the Los Feliz Three. If we can get a glass of rosé from Fiagaro Cafe and some fries before taking in a movie all the better. Then we’ll walk back home late into the night and maybe get a slice of pizza along the way.
Lili, how did you get into floral work? Lili: I’ve always been a fan of nature and being outdoors. It’s something that was a part of my upbringing, my surroundings. I studied design and media arts at UCLA after having been devoted to playing the violin for eight years. I needed a change. I feel like it’s a big part of who I am: this unwillingness to do one thing. It’s hard for me to stick to one thing, one idea, one form of work. So I started getting into flowers slowly but not seriously. My best friend was getting married and asked me to do the flowers for her ceremony because she didn’t trust anyone else. I decided to give it a go and I really enjoyed the process. I got to work with my hands – with these natural, beautiful materials and it enhanced the everyone’s experience at the ceremony. Whether it was a glance, a scent, a branch sticking out to create a form, the flowers were very much a part of something special. This made me realize that flowers were truly something worth getting into: how remarkable that they can affect another person’s emotions.
They can brighten someone’s day or make a mundane space feel elevated. This is such an interesting concept for me. I worked at a flower shop for about a year after that and then needed to push it further and take the flowers to another level. There is still so much to explore. I’m fascinated with Japanese floral arranging. It could take a lifetime to master! But pushing flowers and plants into art and expression is so satisfying and it’s eternally inspiring.
You adamantly say that you are not a florist. Define your floral work. How do you approach florals and plants. Lili: I feel what I practice is floral artistry. I work with flowers but I also work with plants, plant materials, and ideas that go far beyond traditional floral arrangements. I like to think that I’m commissioned as an artist to provide a work of art.
Getting to do creative work for Vogue, Oyster Magazine or Wilder is always such an honor, and I’m given a lot of freedom. Defining myself as a florist is too limiting. Give me room and I can create floral fireworks. I really appreciate the unexpected. I also love to research what flowers and plants mean and do for other cultures. There’s so much to learn still.
Where you do find your materials? Lili: I like working with plant materials and flowers that are close by, as opposed to being sprayed, packed and shipped across the world. There is a life to them, a vibrancy that resonates with me. Depending on what it is I am working on, I’ll go on walks and hikes to forage for materials. I’ll go to farmer’s markets. When possible I’ll forage from my garden or a friend’s backyard. I also work closely with local farms: The Ecology Center, Silver Lake Farms, Muir Ranch High School Gardens and Rose Lane Farms.
Describe your wildflower pop-ups at Cookbook. Lili: The idea of a wildflower pop-up came from Marta and Robert and I jumped on it! Marta’s only rule: the flowers must hold the same integrity as the food they carry: meaning organic, local and in season. This really pushed me to research how to source my materials. It forced me to look beyond the flower mart and reach out to local farms, farmer’s markets and domestic gardens, and the abundance that could be found in my own neighborhood. The response was humbling and fantastic: customers were stoked with flowers that lasted so long and that were so fresh. They kept coming back for more. It was a very satisfying opportunity because I was incredibly aware of the entire process. I was picking flowers in fields firsthand. I knew exactly where every stem came from. I also went on to provide flowers for their restaurant Cortez.
What are you working on now? Lili: I just finished a month-long art installation at The Standard in Hollywood titled Plants: Our Silent Guardians. I’m also in the process of plantscaping The Standard Hollywood’s diner to celebrate a new chef’s residency. I also just finished working on a 3′ x 3′ wall of flowers for a music video directed by one of my dear friends. Work like this is so much fun and again I’m usually given a lot of freedom. More than anything I feel fulfilled knowing that my work makes others happy. I’ve also just started taking Ikebana courses and am planning a photo book focused on miniature Ikebana.
You talk to and play music for your plants. Why should we all be doing this? Lili: Plants are living things. They need to feel the good vibes too, and what better way than to talk to them, play them some music, or to brush my hands along their leaves. I also feel that if my overall spirit is positive and radiant, then it will rub off on them. I know this sounds strange but I fully believe in sharing the love with your plants.
Elijah, you also work with many herbs and natural, living ingredients. What are the advantages of working with these ingredients? From where do you draw inspiration? Elijah: It took me some time to realize how amazing California is. It’s pretty incredible that twice a week I can walk to a farmer’s market at the end of my street and buy fresh organic fruit and vegetables all year round. This is an inspiration in itself. How could I not take advantage of such amazingly fresh ingredients at my fingertips?
Beyond that, the art of making cocktails has risen to such a grand stage. It really has created an opportunity to use one’s culinary creativity. The more I learn about herbs and the use of fresh ingredients in preparing a drink, the more drinking a cocktail becomes an experience. It’s not just about the party. My friend James and I have been experimenting with homemade herbal simple syrups using ingredients from our gardens. Two of the most popular are a lavender infused simple syrup for vodka, lavender lemonades, and a pineapple syrup for our take on a pisco punch. With the abundance of fresh local produce, and the fact that we can grow our own, there are no limits.
What do you love most about being a mixologist? Elijah: Working in an environment that I get to meet so many new people day in and day out is an incredible thing. Making cocktails and learning new drinks and recipes is certainly fun, but if it wasn’t for the human element I don’t think it would be the same for me. A real plus about where I work is that it gets so many people from so many different places around the world and from all kinds of backgrounds. I get to see people on a really human level.
Do you have a favorite place for a weekend getaway? Lili: We both love going to the desert. Palm Springs is an amazing getaway for us because it’s close yet feels removed from LA. We often rent a house or stay at a hotel. The most important part being the pool. Elijah loves to soak up the rays. If we have a few more days to spare then we head up to Big Sur. Nothing beats the epic hikes through the sentient redwoods forest or a soak in the natural hot springs.
Do you have a favorite shop or restaurant in your neighborhood? Lili: Elf Cafe in Echo Park is our favorite restaurant. We don’t go nearly enough but when we do go it is always a cherished meal and experience. It has some of the best vegetarian and vegan food either of us have had. I have to say that Squirl and Cookbook Market are frequent run-to’s as well. Elijah: I love The Last Bookstore for books and vinyl.
Lili and Elijah, thank you for welcoming us into your home and inspiring us with your personal philosophy while explaining the importance you both place on your surrounding natural environment. To find out more about Lili visit her journal. More information about her recent installation at The Standard, Hollywood can be found here. If you are interested in Elijah’s unique approach to concocting drinks and his profession, visit the restaurant page of The Standard here.
Spontaneity and trust is what David Fischer regards as the key factors in creating interesting portraits. As a professional photographer he knows that sometimes it is a lot to ask of both his subjects and clients to not always know exactly what is going to happen. Therefore he appreciates the freedom when granted. But in the beginning even he himself often felt the pressure of having to perform under open circumstances, knowing that the judgment about his work would be subjective. “I guess that’s the flip side of freedom: Not knowing can be scary”, David says. Maybe it is also a reason why David enjoys the predictability of athletic performance. “The time I spend on the bike, and how I spend it, is completely dictated by my training plan. If I follow it right and don’t get sick, my performance will be good.”
The winning combination of David’s two passions evolved naturally over the years. After being sidelined from bike racing during high school due to illness his desire to remain part of the team, he picked up the camera and started snapping their pictures while racing. Then he applied for the prestigious School of Visual Arts in New York and was happily surprised when being offered a full scholarship, marking the next chapter in his life in America. During this time David undertook an internship at Interview Magazine opening the doors to work with a range of high profile fashion photographers and coming in contact with celebrity shoots.
After various assistances David wanted to kickstart his own career and relocated to Germany. His approach is to be uncompromising and spontaneous in order to create honest and simple portraits, in opposition to contrived outcomes. So far he has worked for clients like adidas, Hugo Boss, Chanel, Jill Sander, and Levi’s, just to name a few. As part of Berlin Art Week, David Fischer’s photo-exhibition “young urbans” will be showing on the 20th of September at the USM Berlin showroom in collaboration with Interview Magazine.
A couple of years ago he also got back to cycling in his spare time and since then always picks one competition a year for which he prepares meticulously. This passion being in the saddle, as well as his activity behind the lense can be found in David’s studio and Altbau apartment in Berlin likewise, as it is full of photographic magazines, framed photographs, bicycles, and cycling gear.
This Portrait was produced for adidas Journeys. Find out more about David’s passion of cycling in the soon to be released interview and full video portrait. Like every Wednesday we published an interior focussed story with Zeit Online.
The interview and full video portrait will follow shortly.
Photography: Philipp Langenheim
Text: Katharina Finke
We’re pleased to announce that The Old Reader will officially remain open to the public! The application now has a bigger team, significantly more resources, and a new corporate entity in the United States. We’re incredibly excited to be a part of this great web application and would like to share some details about its future as well as thank you for remaining loyal users. We’re big fans and users of The Old Reader and look forward to helping it grow and improve for years to come.
First off we want to say that it’s rare to have an application that inspires as much passion as The Old Reader has as of late. We think that’s a sign of greatness and all credit for that goes to the wonderful team that has been running the show including Dmitry and Elena. We’ve gotten to know them pretty well this past week and they are smart, honest, and passionate people. We’re happy to announce that they are still a part of the team and we hope they will be for a long time to come. The new team will be managing the project and adding to the engineering, communications, and system administration functions.
So now for the future. The Old Reader is going to retain all of its functionality and remain open to the public. Not only that, we’re going to do everything in our power to grow the user base which will only accentuate the things that make this application special. To facilitate these improvements, we’re going to be transitioning The Old Reader to a top tier hosting facility in the United States this coming week. It’s going to require some downtime and for that we sincerely apologize, but it’s also going to mean A LOT more servers, 10x faster networks, and long-term stability. We realize that doesn’t make the downtime easy but rest assured that things are looking up.
Over the coming weeks we’ll talk more about the new team of The Old Reader. We’re looking forward to introducing ourselves and making significant improvements to this incredible application. Thanks for reading and thanks for using The Old Reader!
Brighton-based designer Luke Twyman has come up with a rather humbling HTML5 infographic which effectively demonstrates just how insignificant we (and the entire human race, for that matter) really are in the grand scheme of things. Starting with a "Here Is Today" timelime, the user clicks through to "Here Is This Month", then "Here Is This Year", and so on, until you reach "Here Is Earth", which reaches back 4540 million years ago. It also displays various points in evolution, such as when fish, mammals, and birds first appear.
Setting out to design a house like a boat on the top of a cliff, artist Judy Millar purchased a plot of land outside Auckland on the west coast after graduating from art school. Upon four acres, her home, comprised of found industrial materials, overlooks the black sands of Anawhata beach. Known for its treacherous conditions, the beauty of this rugged coastline exudes a wild energy and beauty. Describing her home like an animal that moves and makes sounds in the wind, it is a structure that she has become inextricably linked with. A series of sprawling sub-tropical garden beds have been built up as protection from the wind, that over time have seen the roof replaced more than once.
With solar power, and a gas bottle to make her daily coffee, Judy’s existence is a comfortable but basic one. Not far from here scenes from Jane Campion’s movie, The Piano, were filmed. One can almost relive the scene where Ada McGrath and her daughter, Flora, were stranded ashore with their luggage and piano overnight.
Within this environment, Judy creates expressive, often sculptural paintings and installations that reference the history of painting within a conceptual framework. Her works synthesise colour, sound and space. In 2009, she was chosen to represent New Zealand at the Venice Biennale and today, continues to exhibit locally and throughout Europe. Despite her love of travel, Judy continues to be drawn back to the recurring sound of crashing waves below her boathouse.
This portrait is part of our ongoing collaboration with ZEIT Online who present a special curation of our pictures on their site.
Have you always lived in New Zealand? Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Auckland. But I’ve travelled a lot since. I lived for a year in Italy and have spent long spells in New York. For the last few years I’ve been dividing my time between Berlin and my home in New Zealand.
Do you have any poignant childhood memories?
I had an incredibly free childhood. As the third girl in a family of four I was left to be the wild-child. I rode horses, hung out by myself and would often just roam around in nature.
You live in such a beautiful setting, I understand you purchased the land your home is on today when you were quite young and just out of art school, is this correct?
Yes, I bought the land for an incredibly small amount of money the year after I left art school. I had become pretty rebellious against everything and everyone and I think I saw something in the place that matched my moods. It was the externalisation of the rage and power I felt inside. I knew I needed to be there.
Your friend and architect, Richard Priest, designed the house for you inspired by the Werner Herzog film, Fitzcarraldo, and imagery from the scene of the boat being dragged through the bush. What was the process like and when was is completed?
The time of designing and building the house was an absolute adventure from beginning to end. I had always loved the image of the boat being dragged through the bush in Fitzcarraldo and thought the house should be the boatshed on the top of the hill. Richard and I began with the thought of just putting a small simple structure on a jetty cantilevered off the cliff. The house has changed over-time but the essential idea is still there.
When I built the house in 1986 a huge number of old buildings, warehouses and small industrial structures, were being demolished in Auckland to make way for mirror-glass towers. Many of the materials, windows, floorboards, wooden panelling and beams all came from demolition sites, often in exchange for a crate of beer and a smile. As I found things, Richard would alter the design and incorporate the materials into the building.
What do you love about your home and surrounds?
The place is the most energetic, wild, epic, sometimes violent, often beautiful, crazy place I have ever found. It’s the New York of the natural world and I love every minute of being there.
Do you ever feel isolated?
I don’t feel isolated when I’m there, quite the reverse, I feel at the centre of things. Waves, wind and sky.
Did you always want to be an artist? Where did you study?
As a child I didn’t have any idea that being an artist could be either a full time occupation or a way of life. When, as a teenager, I found out there were such things as art schools I knew I wanted to go. Then when I began studying art at the Elam School of Fine Arts that is part of The University of Auckland I quickly realised that one way or another art was going to be the ‘big thing’ in my life.
You are known for creating very expressive, gestural, sculptural paintings that interact with both two and three dimensional space. Can you tell me about your artistic practice and working process?
My work is very physical and works with the paradoxes we face of being both bodily and corporeal while at the same time inhabiting mental, illusory realms. All my work begins as painting and draws from the history of painting as much as from the physical, fluid possibilities of paint as a medium for thought. Sometimes aspects of painting are enlarged, ‘amplified’, printed or built in three dimensions. The processes involved are often non-linear, they can appear incoherent, but there is an internal logic of production, replication, and extension.
What are your motivations for making work? From where or who do you draw inspiration from?
Just what my motivations are I really can’t say. Making work is something I need to do and put everything else aside to be involved with. Inspiration comes from working; you know, doing something, doing something else, hating a result and needing to change it.
What are you reading at the moment?
I’m always reading about a dozen things at once, making a big soup out of different plots and ideas. But at the moment priority is going to re-reading Jack Kerouac’sDesolation Angels. I am also finishing Thomas Bernhard’s The Loser and working through Anthony White’s new book on Lucio Fontana.
You were chosen to represent New Zealand at the Venice Biennale in 2009. This must have been a great honor. What was this experience like for you representing your country among the world’s best?
Being in Venice for a number of weeks was a fantastic experience. I fell in love with the city completely and fantasised about never leaving. Being involved in the Biennale is of course stressful and tiring and very absorbing. However, it waa also a truly great and lucky experience.
Did this experience alter how you see your own work?
Producing the exhibition for the Venice Biennale gave me an enormous amount of confidence. I worked with a great team and saw the potential to take my work into previously unseen places. It was really like the horizon opening up for me. Of course I had shown many times in Europe and around the world before and was used to seeing my work presented amongst work from many different countries.
How do you view artwork produced in New Zealand on the world stage?
It’s difficult to categorise work from New Zealand, usually it fits seamlessly into work made in many other places but it often has a certain rough energy about it.
You currently have an exhibition at the Institute of Modern Art (IMA) in Brisbane. What have you included in this show to exhibit?
The new exhibition at the IMA in Brisbane was all produced on site and is a big unruly unpacking of a single image. A small painting was converted into a half-tone dot file and then the dots were enlarged to take on a life of their own. These dots cover the surfaces of twenty-meter long ribbons that curl and twist in space. It’s a big experience both visually and in a bodily sense.
You have are represented by Gow Langsford Gallery in Auckland. Do you have an exhibitions planned in the near future?
I will be exhibiting new work at Hamish Morrison Galerie in Berlin sometime in October, later this year.
Do you have any daily rituals?
Well I love my first coffee of the day but aside from that I don’t have any particular rituals. I take each day as it comes. In summer I do love to swim every day. I take the 10 minute walk down the cliff and then a 20 minute journey along a walking track to Anawhata beach.
What are your hobbies aside from art? You have a great sprawling garden that looks like it withstands the rugged coastal conditions. Do you spend much time outdoors maintaining it?
I love to grow things. The four acres I have is covered with regenerating sub-tropical bush that I tend to and nurture but which really grows quite well without any input from me. But I do grow vegetables in summer, if a little haphazardly with huge bursts of activity followed by total neglect due to lack of spare time.
Do you have a favorite local cafe, restaurant or place you frequent in Auckland?
Coffee in Auckland is incredibly good almost everywhere but I love to go to Reslau in Elliot St, Little and Friday for sentimental reasons or Golden Dawn at night. However, I have to say, one of my favorite places in Auckland, is the local library.
You often travel to Berlin. Why Germany?
I spend many months a year in Berlin where I have a studio permanently set up in a converted supermarket. I go there to be closer to a larger global art scene, to meet up with people, and to put myself in touch with everything going on in central Europe. Galleries in Berlin and Zurich represent my work now so I need to be in touch more than would be possible if I was on the other side of the world all the time.
Judy it was wonderful to get to know you and explore your little piece of paradise. To find out more about Judy’s artistic practice, see her website here, and further information on the Gow Langsford Gallery website here.
This portrait is part of our ongoing collaboration with ZEIT Online who present a special curation of our pictures on their site. Have a look here.
Photography: Mary Gaudin
Interview & Text: Rachael Watts
Rebel Revamped–Once again, photographer Giampaolo Sgura and fashion editor Miguel Arnau join creative forces to realize a stunning editorial, featured in Spanish magazine El País. Inspired by the always appealing figure of the charming rebel à la Marlon Brando, mixed with the seasonal trend of fashionable nautical stripes, Sgura captures model Andy Walters (WhyNot) in leather jackets, jeans, striped numbers, basic white tees and traditional sailor black caps, providing images pervaded by a strong cinematic allure. / Hair by Andrew Guida (CloseUp Milano). Makeup by Laura Stucchi (CloseUp Milano). View More
