Art Here and Now
Daring creativity happening now around the world
Drawing and Illustration
Categories: Animals, Drawing and Illustration, Myanmar / Burma, PaintingComments Off

In this post I pondered whether dolphins blowing bubble rings were a form of art.  After all they serve no purpose except aesthetic ones – the dolphins are having fun and stare at them.  So now we have this video of an elephant painting a self portrait.
Whether methodically trained to do this or not, how is it [...]

Categories: Controversy, Drawing and Illustration, Graffiti, Israel, Palestine, Public ArtComments Off

In Bethlehem, artists from all over the world, including local artists, have been making art on the barrier wall separating Israel and Palestine.
Video from the BBC:

Read more from
The Washington Times
National Public Radio

Categories: Art Life, Artforms, Big Business, Cinema, Dance, Drawing and Illustration, Featured, Painting, Photography, Sculpture, Television, The Press, TheatreComments Off

I’ve noticed for quite some time that most media web sites and newspapers do not have an Arts section. The closest you find is Entertainment. The meaning of these two is of course very different, not because art can’t be entertaining, it can be. But art often has more purpose to it [...]

Categories: China, Design, Drawing and Illustration, United StatesComments Off

When you do your own work, it’s your own point of view. It’s how you see the world, your own perspective on things reflected in the artwork. But with advertising or marketing, you’re helping other people get their points of view across. You’re just an interpreter.
To me, that’s the fundamental difference between designers and artists. [...]

Categories: Art Life, Dance, Drawing and Illustration, Featured, Galleries, Government, Outer Space, Painting, Performance Art, Philosophy | 1 Comment

I have all kinds of crazy dreams. I’ve had one of them for a long time, and I’ve never told anyone about it until now. Even for me it’s a nutty one. My secret dream was to be the first artist in space.
I had such a strong desire for this, I think, [...]

Categories: Animation, Big Business, Drawing and Illustration, Japan, Manga & ComicsComments Off

The current issue of Wired is all about manga – how the industry works and how it conquered America.
Two stories:

(pdf) How Manga Conquered the U.S., a Graphic Guide to Japan’s Coolest Export, the story of Manga in the US told using Manga.
Japan, Ink: Inside the Manga Industrial Complex

Read some manga and learn how to draw [...]

Categories: Controversy, Drawing and Illustration, Economics, Featured, TechnologyComments Off

I used to flip through the Artist’s Market when I was in middle school. Back then, the prices paid for illustrations from books and magazines seemed extravagant. I didn’t understand until later how little artists get paid for their time and skill.
How about $.69 per hour?
Mechanical Turk is an Amazon project which hands [...]