New Sketchbook Zine Available!

Hey bloggerfolk!

I had mentioned MONTHS ago that I was working on a sketchbook zine about clouded leopards, and now that I’ve finished all the drawings, captured a decent “about the author” photo after waiting about a month for the perfect opportunity, and printed off all the pages at my local FedEx, it’s DONE! You can get a copy (PDF or printed) here: https://ko-fi.com/danielhaycox/shop

Since I’ve been wanting to build up my YouTube channel more during this season of unemployment (such an unoriginal idea, I KNOW, but one I’m excited to do nonetheless) I made a preview video which shows off some pages and talks a bit more about the project -

I did not expect how much fun I’d have knocking something together in Premiere again - after making only animation for the past 3 years, making a live-action video in a week felt like I was moving at lightspeed! I definitely want to make more videos like this again, maybe for art of book reviews and stuff. 

I hope you’ll give the zine a look too! It’s a fun, rougher, very DIY kind of project, and a look into my personal sketchbook. While I did most of the pages at home based on photos I took, I think the sketches I made while at the zoo (shown above) are some of my favorite! I hope to do more zoo drawing videos/zines in the future - one of my favorite parts of this unemployed season has been going to the zoo about once a week and just drawing whatever suits my fancy/is not moving that day.

Hope your summer is off to a great start (yes, I’m gonna count May as summer), and thanks for reading!

-dh

Daniel's Big Weekend in Cincinnati

Hey Bloggerfolk!

I’m back from a weekend trip to Cincinnati, a place I’m growing increasingly more and more fond of. Strange to think I would be feeling this way about a place in Ohio, but it’s true! And it’s great! I’d briefly seen the city on a trip to King’s Island but was excited to really experience it - and in two PACKED days some friends and I really took in all the city had to offer! History, kitsch, animals - what more could you want from a city?! At the American Sign Museum we admired the graphic design of decades past under the neon glow - the craftsmanship was so impressive! Makes our modern cityscapes feel cheap. And makes me even more repulsed by current digital signage… check out those bubbly plastic letters!

It felt like I was living in an article of the Retrologist (which I very much recommend if you’re into 20th century Americana!)

While looking for things to do after lunch, I was delighted to discover that Union Terminal - a place I’ve been researching for months as part of an upcoming project, is located in Cincinnati! It’s an incredible example of art deco design - and aside from the missing train terminals, it really does look much like it did in the 1930s. I’d gathered numerous pictures of this place online, so to actually be there in person was a big treat. Especially since scale is such a feature of the place. This was a niche, but very special highlight of the trip for me, and even if you aren’t a freak about art deco/civic design the building houses Cincinnati’s museums (which we’ll have to do on a future trip! Yep, we went here JUST to enjoy the art deco. Glad my friends are willing to put up with my artistic obsessions!) 

This is a waiting area for a restroom, and it’s beautiful! I believe that’s the original mural too.

Overall, Cincinnati is a city that seems to have more historical buildings than it knows what to do with - there’s whole blocks of beautiful, ornate facades which are entirely boarded up and out of use. Some of the roughest areas of town are still graced by the aesthetic eye of an earlier century. A stark juxtaposition, but one that promises hope, and is surely better than a cheap, modern building in a similar situation. I was stunned by how well these buildings were preserved - likely a joint effort of concerned citizens and a sluggish market and gentrification engine. Either way, I was excited to see so many old architectural relics, something hard to find in a city as new as Nashville. 

We enjoyed some drinks at Carabello’s exquisite coffee bar (yes, they served coffee in a cone!),

and enjoyed the kitsch and exotic foods of Jungle Jim’s. Jungle Jim’s was one of the main reasons I wanted to return to the city - it’s just so eccentric and oddly nostalgic! 

After packing so much into day 1, we spent most of day 2 at the Cincinnati Zoo, where I was impressed by the number of animals and the numerous, well-themed dark-room habitats and aquariums. Many of these exhibits feel like a crafted experience, where you move from a greenhouse, to an indoor viewing area, to a museum all in the same area. There’s so much to see at the Cincinnati Zoo, and despite the confusing park layout and crowds we got to see most of it. Highlights were the painted dogs, potto, leaf cutting ants, and fennec fox. Lots of impressive big cats too, who liked to lounge in very visible sections of their habitats (unlike our local tiger at the Nashville Zoo…) I had really hoped to see Fiona the celebrity hippo, and while she probably was one of the three hippos they had out on display, I had no way to identify her, which felt anti-climatic. 

We stayed late in Cincinnati that day so we could attend a dinner theater - which I loved. It looked like all the supper clubs I’ve seen in old 1940s movies, with low-lit tables surrounding the center stage. In addition to the fun of watching a great musical from your table, the cast and crew were especially gracious. The whole cast came out after the show to greet guests in the atrium - a very kind gesture from people who are acting their hearts out to audiences in the middle of Ohio. I’m always impressed by artists who really do care for their audience - and the people at La Comedia do that well!

We got back to Nashville suuuuper late but felt so satisfied with such a fun, absolutely packed weekend with good people. After such a bummer of a year so far it was great to have a weekend of nonstop fun! Thanks to Parker, Olivia, Olivia's family, and Sydni for humoring my outsized interest to see Cincinnati and for making it a great trip!

Thanks for reading, and until next time,

-dh!

Frog Lady

 I'm back! And the semester is over! Thank goodness!

Or in particular, Philosophy of Religion is over! The day I turned in my final paper was one of much rejoicing, ice cream, and dancing. I also got very close to burning all my class handouts in our dorm's firepit. Then I realized that a student burning academic papers in broad daylight would probably not be a great look for the university. So I decided to refrain from that. Anyways, in an act of God's grace I somehow got a 93 on the paper, and my thoughts were able to turn toward more pleasant activities. Like gift exchanges! And smoking pipes with friends! And drawing tigers at the zoo!

When drawing at the zoo it often comes down to finding the right combination of materials that feel comfortable that day. I usually juggle pencils and pens and the Pad until something feels right, and then the drawings typically end up better. Fortunately, I can usually figure that out by the time I get to the tiger exhibit, and extra fortunately the tiger was right next to the glass both times I visited! I don't know exactly what inspired it, but this time I felt drawn to thick ink lines with a limited selection of colors underneath. I would begin by scratching the surface lightly with the brush for the undersketch, then build up to thicker lines as more of the drawing was completed. Even though this was all done with an ink brush (Jingsketch's Thin Ink), I made full use of the eraser (a big reason why I enjoy digital "inks" more than traditional ones). Anyways, these were fun to do and it was fun to be so close to a big cat while drawing. 

But enough about tertiary stuff. You've read the title, and you've put up with my excessively long introduction for too long. It's time for Frog Lady.

I actually made this piece a few weeks back but didn't post it because Instragram crippled their hashtag system for a frustratingly long time following the election. But now that hashtags are back to normal (as probably the only thing that will be "back to normal" during 2020) I've started to resume my usual posting schedule to get some art back out there! This happened to coincide nicely with the season finale of The Mandalorian, and so I wrote up my best attempt at a humorous caption and sent my version of the froggy lady out into the world. And as it turns out, there are a lot of frog lady fans out there! I had assumed this was a pretty niche favorite character to have (and she is my favorite Star Wars character, honestly) but I guess her charming practical effects, adorable little gestures, and irrepressible commitment to her family have universal appeal. So far, she is my most popular post and the closest I've come to "trending" or "viral." She reached the #2 spot on #starwars (screenshotted that for the scrapbook) and received sustained attention for about 2 whole days (much longer than the typical 8 hour life cycle for an Insta post). And the greatest honor was that Frog Lady herself (well, the actress who played her) saw the post and had kind things to say about it!

With a post doing this well, it gave me a lot to think about. When you post art online, this is the sort of thing you always hope will happen. I spend hours, often days on pieces that end up feeling like they had very little impact at all, and are barely seen even by my core audience. I use Instagram too, and I know how fast people zoom by incredible pieces of art because I do it myself, often. So when a post makes a slightly larger splash than usual, it can be really exciting. Every new follower is a jolt of dopamine. You watch the numbers tick up and hope the ball keeps rolling. I didn't even touch the post for a couple days for fear of messing up the algorithm. 

Is this what being a "big artist" feels like?

Cause I'm not so sure I like it. I treat Instagram pretty personally, and I care about the people who follow me. That means I try to respond to every comment I can think of an interesting reply to. When I get new followers, I want to welcome them and give them a chance to get to know me and my art. This takes time, usually a manageable amount, but when a post reaches this level it can take more time than I really want to give. If my posts were to do this well consistently, then I fear I would be forced to decide to engage less overall or spend even more time doing things that are not-art. When it came to followers, I've only been thinking about quantity. But now I'm starting to see the value of quality.

I appreciate that so many of my followers are people who care. People who comment on nearly every one of my posts. People who put up with weeks of inactivity on my part. I see you guys, and I'm thankful for you. It seems much more optimal to have a community like this, who is real and engaged and understanding, than a huge community that is largely apathetic towards what I seek to make. This post also comes in the wake of Instagram making some greedy algorithmic decisions, which have been weighing on me as Instagram is my main way of interacting with my online community. It seems more challenging than ever to be seen by potential new followers or even the ones you already have. And in addition to pleasing the masses, you must also please the developers/algorithm who somehow manage to be even more fickle. The path they promise to social media popularity seems ever changing, and ultimately detrimental to both creators and consumers. It trends toward frequent, short-lived, and banal content that tends to waste people's time.

That is not what I want to make. I want to make things that are good and beautiful. And if it comes at the cost of a smaller community who also cares about what is good and beautiful, I think that is a sacrifice I'm willing to make. 

Anyways that's what I felt after posting Frog Lady haha! Always in for a fun time at the Roost, aren't ya? This was a long one, and likely one of the final posts of the year unless I return for my customary Christmas Eve post. We aren't doing our usual double church service marathon with a Jason's Deli stop in the middle (it's gonna be a strange Eve for sure) so I'll probably have more time to write something up. I've also started working on my usual year-end post but since I can barely remember February, it may take a while to finish it. Hope to see you then! And on Instagram, despite it all. 

Thanks for being a part of this community with me. :)

-dh

Memphis

a polaroid from the zoo 

Hi everyone. Been a while, huh? It's golden hour outside my cozy dorm room windows and I felt like it was high time to sit down and revisit the Roost. Fall is finally here and it's actually been getting a little chilly here... BUT ENOUGH about the weather. On with the post. No big thoughts or theories for this one - I've just come back from a daytrip to Memphis and wanted to share some moments and art from the journey. Seeing as my post about Mammoth Cave remains one of my most popular, I guess you guys must like hearing about my little excursions - so I'll oblige :)

One of the most delightful surprises about being an RA (and there have been surprisingly many) is the wonderful community of RAs here at Lipscomb - all very decent and kind-hearted people. It's been a nice change of pace to hang out with friends who aren't art folks, and a good challenge to come up with conversation topics that don't involve Photoshop brushes and color gradients (which is more my cup of conversation tea, but whatever). And with new friends comes new experiences - Secret Hitler, Sonic, and most recently Memphis. One of my RA friends really wanted to see the Memphis Pyramid, and although I hold no particular love for pyramids, I always love a good excuse to get excited (and travel). So off we went! The long car rides there and back were actually a favorite part of the trip - lots of good music and laughter. Our first stop in Memphis was the zoo, a very good choice in my (slightly biased) opinion.

friends.

I've recently been very inspired by Noah Klocek's Inktober drawings - they have such a pleasant looseness that isn't rhythmic nor overworked. A scribbly of the best sort, and perhaps a good inspiration for storyboard sketches. I had this in mind when doing my zoo sketches, since I wanted to draw loose and fast and not keep my friends waiting. Few things are more tedious than watching someone struggle to draw a foreleg just right. I think this pressure/speed was actually really helpful because it challenged me to try new methods, worry less, and not overwork things. Of course, like a newbie chef I did overcook this one a little...

And speaking of chefs, did I mention that I've recently started cooking things? Now that I have space in my dorm for a fridge and pantry, I've dabbled in baking - a therapeutic and rewarding act of making. But I digress - here's a couple more drawings, these more inspired by Louie Zong:

By this time in the day we were very hungry and ready for some Memphis barbecue. Afterwards we visited the art museum, and drove by Graceland (while listening to Paul Simon's Graceland). As the sun was setting, we finally arrived at our ultimate destination - the Bass Pro Pyramid. Replica of an Egyptian religious monument, built as a stadium, now a temple to all things bass and pro. Only in America. The place was incredible, the scale gigantic. There was just so much in there - hotel, restaurants, boats - all around a man made swamp (though swamp in the loosest of terms, there was no peat and minimal bog-iness, to my disappointment). The view from the top was the perfect end to our day in Memphis, just watching the sun fade away over the Mississippi River. And then we drove back, listened to Sriracha at least two more times, and went to Waffle House. What a day! 

Of course now I've completely run out of time to talk about Hutchmoot and everything else that's happened in the last month, but I trust that this is enough vacation stories for now! Just be glad I didn't pull out the slideshow. It's crazy to think that we're already so far into the semester! Since I don't have midterms in my art classes it's easy to forget exactly how far we've come. But this year's going by fast and I'm already starting to think about The End (of college). But now that I think about it, I've kinda been dreaming/stressing about future life for at least a year already, so what else is new?

Hope this post finds you well, bloggerfriends -
dh