So unfortunately my dA account's almost defunct since I'm barely uploading work there. I do have a ton of other places where I keep new stuff posted (since most of them are kinda drafty works anyway).

For one you can visit my tumblr page (with ALMOST a daily update) right here: [link]
And subsequently I maintain a ton of side-project tumblr pages including my experimental sound project "The Sounds of Forgetting": [link]
Of course my sometimes-updated comic: [link]

There's also my blog: [link]

Lots of work folks. Lots of new stuff happening. Just can't show it all.

I haven't necessary left deviantART, I'm really just... getting a bit busy with actual work. Very difficult to post stuff and keep things going and living here when I can't post the work I do. So that's kinda sad.

Anyway aside from that news I've been maintaining a little comic for myself: A Day in Life of a Digital Artist. The comic follows Cyan, a 2D/3D photography general artist (and sometimes sound design and musician), who works as a freelance artist in the hostile world of creative businesses. A Day in Life of a Digital Artist is a mark and reminder of the dumb crap I get into, it is also all about what's annoying, really lame, and just downright awful. It's PRETTY MUCH FICTIONAL, but it's part based on truth. I just exaggerate the issues.

The comic began on a classroom whiteboard as an outlet of irritation and constant stupid. I personally enjoy making fun of stuff and also making fun of myself in the process. Continuing the conversation, the trend, and other fancy I can say about this, I bought a 100 yen ($1) whiteboard and some stupid-cheap pens and began the journey of Cyan the artist once again online.

I've posted some of the comics here and will post more to keep the thing going.



Well anyway, here's the link again: A Day in Life of a Digital Artist

So I got a bit of a surprise today when I heard from blackwatchstudio over on VideoHive.net saying that somehow one of my little things that I posted on Video Hive ended up on "Sensato - Crazy People ft. Pitbull, Sak Noel" music video. Surprise! Woo hoo!

The elements I specifically made (not for the video but for the general purpose) was the blue, pink, and green circles that ripple outwards. Here's the link to the product: [link] And the glowy blue and orange squares: Here's the link to the product: [link]

Now go and watch it!

[link]

My VideoHive portfolio is here... [link]

HELLO.

Initially this piece was made for a compilation, instead it was fully rejected because ... it sounded totally different from the main goal of the thing. Either way I went back, remastered it fully for the tastes of the 2012 audience. It was created in 2010. 100% experimental, have no idea how you'd react to it. Totally IDM style... well ok tons of things.

[link]

Hi everybody! So I haven't been actively updating my dA account for quite some time now. A good reason: I'm stocking up on stuff So just letting everybody know that I'm really... well "not dead" lets just put it that way.

I'm also packing up and doing all sorts of fancy. Busy days ahead!

So I finally made another trailer for my up coming animated film The Door to Tomorrow.

The work should be done pretty soon but I probably can't upload it here given some restrictions on film festivals and otherwise. It will be a while before you may see it online fully. But either way enjoy this second trailer for the film.

I made a short trailer for the Door to Tomorrow film project I'm doing for my thesis at RIT.

You can view it here:

There is NO such thing as trying to be an artist. Either you are one or you aren't.

Everyday I see people TRYING to be an artist. I'm sick of people saying they're trying to be an artist.

An artist does art. He or she lives for art, practices art, researches art, experiments art, says art, hears art, and dies for art. And if you thought being an artist was just about making art, you should think again. Really. Just think again. Because artists don't pull stuff out of thin air. Artists sense the world and wonder what they could do to say something about it. And whether it'd be just a cool looking fractal or some colorful experiment you did with your paints, it doesn't matter. It says who you are and where you're going.

Don't try to be an artist if you're going to be one. Live it and die for it. That's the least you can do for art.

Dute Episode 4 reaches a new limit on what my brain can do. This is the highest quality version of Dute and it's 27 picts long. Darn. Here are all the parts in order.

So you guys... it's been long and maybe I should just say it. I really really have been keeping it pretty quiet and I've been careful not to blow my name everywhere but guess what. I'll just say it because it's got some recognition. My name is Yuya Takeda. I'm a Japanese artist, photographer, director, composer, and sometimes writer. I'm a 3D/2D generalist, and I work with various programs from Autodesk Maya, Photoshop, After Effects... etc etc.

With love and respect,
HELLO EVERYBODY!

Hello everybody!

It's been a long time since I posted something here and quite frankly part of the problem is that I was being lazy. But that's not what I'm getting at. I'm currently working on a short, animated film titled: The Door to Tomorrow. The story's basically what the title says: a door that leads to tomorrow. You'll see more about it as time goes on.

I've uploaded some bits and pieces of the film's background and some other works already on dA but you'll see more. I promise you that.

So yeah, just wait a bit and you'll see.

It took me a while. But HAVOC part 1 is finally here.

You can view it right here:

Here's something I wrote in an hour out of just a dream I had.

[I'm Not Icraus]
Skybase

I'm not Icarus, I'm not an angel, a messenger of god, anything like that. I'm just a normal human being with wings. I didn't mean to grow them, I didn't want to grow them, and I never wished they grown on me. People always wish they an travel the skies and fly. I wished that too and as a child I wished I had wings so I can go all over the place. But now that I have these, I feel like I'm trapped.

There's more to having wings than none. First of all, nobody in the world owns a pair of wings excepting the birds. I'm a human being with wings. How crazy is that? Nobody will believe this story right? It happened with me for whatever reason.

The first people who were confused were the doctors. They thought I was a joke, that my parents were making this up. But I had to prove to them that these were real. They were wings that functioned just as a bird's wings. They're not small either, they're quite large, but I can't fly with them. Either way, as much as they were perplexed, I became some medical mystery for those doctors. They were happy to study me. I didn't want them to, but they pushed me into it anyway. Some called me an alien, others were quite convinced that I wasn't, instead I was some genetic hybrid of a bird and a human. Nothing really explains it.

My daily life changed since the day my wings were fully grown. First the doctors, next came a media hype. I was subject to some really annoying load of people taking pictures of me. I even had a press conference which I didn't want at all. I got paid fair, but not everybody did. Of course then there were tons of folks who yelled that I was making all of this up. That every single piece of feather and all of the little things inside of me were fake. Some even argued that I was a robot designed to look like a human with wings. They're all wrong and that frustrated me the most. I hated the media hype, but I also hated those who denied these wings. Sure it's unbelievable, but it's painful when people think I'm a liar. I'm not. I don't want these. I don't want to fly anymore. I wanted them to see for themselves that this was real, that I was real but it was never going to happen.

The next annoyance came from the religious people. I don't believe in god, and even if he did exist, I believed he left the world to be. I was rather deist than anything, but I don't place myself anywhere. Some folks called an Angel, that I was a gift from god or gods and that I'm god's messenger. Some said I was the devil. I just couldn't stand the sight of people praying to me as I walked from place to place. I didn't want them to pray to me. I can't answer wishes, I can't give them happiness. I don't have messages and I don't have any intention of destroying the world. I'm mildly spiritual, but I don't believe too much into it. I don't read books on this stuff at all. I'm just a kid with wings. I don't think anybody understands that.

Some of my friends were creeped out by the wings I grew. Others became jealous. I told them I didn't want them. I got beaten when I said that. My best friend though stayed with me. She was the only one who listened to me and understood me. Though her parents hated the attention she got just out of the friendship. We eventually began writing letters to each other instead of meeting, and finally she moved away. Her parents left me a note saying, "Don't follow us." I wanted to say sorry to them, they knew it wasn't my fault, but they didn't want to be part of it. I don't know where she lives anymore.

I was finally left empty. I had nothing but annoyance in my life. I was tired of it all and I was losing my choices in life. Maybe I should become an angel. Yes, I thought about death. Happiness died with the wings.

On a nice summery evening, I decided to head out for once and look around town. Everybody just jeered at me but I didn't care anymore. I had more things running through my head at once than ever. I just wanted to leave the world. I tried flapping my wings, though they weren't enough to lift me.

And I finally gave up on living. My life was no longer worth anything excepting attention.

- - -

As much as that was the story I wanted to tell of what I've been, I also want to apologize here. I'm sure you trusted me when you began reading this but this is going to break all the trust. I'm going to say sorry a million times. I had rough days thinking about writing this. I didn't know if I should.

I know what happens next since it already happened. I heard all about it and I can't write about it no matter what. It's hard for me to write about it.

I'm his best friend who left him on his own. I wanted to write letters but my parents never allowed me to. I sit here, writing this as I imagined wearing his wings.

Now he's gone.

I miss him.

A lot.

I guess the commentary has settled so here's just some summary and my thoughts about what qualifies "art."

As expected, many of us are relativists. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" for example is a relativist statement and we seem to figure the sense of what's art and not art. Here's `Trapiki saying the same thing:

"It all boils down to what is pleasing to your eye. Personal preference plays a lot in that definition. Someone might look at a picture of a lamppost and think, 'It's just a lamppost' others will look at it and see something completely different." - `Trapiki

And then we have the generalized definition:

"But I am not that sure about that definition. Maybe art is like almost anything in life, dependant on the perspective and the point of view." - ~Beykex

"Art is whatever people want it to be. If someone says its art then it is for the most part..
But i would just say anything that people have created can be classified as art if they want it to be. ^_^" - ~tehmantra

And then we have the ULTRA relativist answer:

"Ask a trillion people, and you'll get a trillion different answers!" - ~soloact-the-bard

Not so sure if some trillion people will give different answers. In the general understanding of art, MOST claim aesthetic value over functionality. When you look at your window, you don't necessary see "art" right away, you see function. A window is a window. Then of course there are some of us who believe even that window is a work of craftsmanship, therefore, art. However, and while I don't mean to generalize any of us, we seem to view this window as something that separates between inside and outside. And some of us may argue: this isn't art, it's just a window, a mass produced window.

Now, I disagree with the general consensus regarding this. ~IzzuThug seems to have a good idea here on the matter.

"Just about anything in the world can be considered an art. Is a mona lisa that looks like crap but was created by shooting a paintball gun at a wall considered art? Just everything else in the world that is trying to be sold to the consumer the consumer has to like it or have some connection to it to appeal to it. Considering whether something is art is not what we do when we judge, we are just saying whether or not we like it and if we think it's hard or not to reproduce or make."

Though what's really interesting is what we value as art and what we don't. Even, to my surprise, some people who designed the things around you, don't really see what they've designed as "art." They much rather see it as an invention. In other words, even with the appeal, sometimes it's just done to create the appeal and not necessary the sort of "art" we may see as "art." In a more vague sense, I can agree that this can be art, but I'm generally not going through the supermarket thinking, "These are so well designed." No, I'm thinking, "Well I want that jar of pickles."

This makes me go "hmm." And as much as I'd love to see everything with a different perspective, I don't seem to be able to override my unconsciousness from telling me that I'm just passing through the supermarket. Artists of course can turn on their "artist switch" and think about the local supermarket as being a full of design, technology, and functionality, though who else thinks like us? And this is where we hit a sort of wall. Because by definition, we can go as relativist as we want, and we'll end up with perhaps "a trillion answers" but we DO in fact have a dividing line that we seem to be terrible at describing.

In my view, what becomes art isn't really how we see it as art: I think it's honestly about display. Dadaists have done a great job with this. You may know Duchamp, famous for "The Fountain." I've seen this in person in the National Art Center in Roppongi, Tokyo during their show, "Living in the material world "things" in art of the 20th century and beyond". And you can't help but hear people just ask themselves, "What the hell is this?" The pamphlet for this exhibit (intended for kids I assumed) had a bit of bold outlining of the exhibit: "Is this art? Or is this not?" And surely, I don't know. But we can conclude in a very objective manner that what's very poetic about it is how it begs us to give an answer about what's art and what's not. Yes, it's a urinal laying on its side with a signature. But given the fact that it's in an art gallery, we're forced to think that it's some kind of art. We don't know or care if the answer is "art" or "not art" but to us it's this vagueness that dictates aesthetics and value. In the case of Duchamp, I think it was more "value" than art.

Now, the other side to the debate about the qualification of art lies heavily on our way of seeing things. The comments I've read so far had significantly to do with perspective and the way we perceive an object given our understanding. However, this definition can extend to further things such as environment. In other words what surrounds us makes art as well. Now, again, back to Duchamp and his Fountain. His work, in an art gallery, is displayed with proper lighting to extend the form of the object and so on. This gallery was very dimly lit in fact, the focus was obviously the artwork itself which gave me the sense that what I'm seeing is important in some way. Given that I was in an art gallery, my brain subconsciously fixed itself to the fact that I was here, intending to see art.

In other words, what may or may not define art also relies heavily on the environment. As an example, there was an marketing survey that was conducted on how presentation affects our view of quality. (Source: Snopes) In this experiment, a professional top violinist, Joshua Bell played 6 Bach pieces for 45 minutes in a metro station. He played, some people listened, most people passed, and he basically collected $32 from 20 people and 6 people stopped to listen for a while. That's very interesting. In other words, our perception is constantly being fooled by an external, surrounding entity. We are choosing what's art and what's not art through the display of things.

Allow me to conclude here.

First of all, what qualifies as art, while we're very relativist about this matter, I at the same time believe that there's a pretty distinct line we draw. To me, what divides art is it's presentation, display, and it's overall intent. I am subconsciously being controlled and manipulated by the environment (and this gets into a lot of other things too!) but either way, our view of things change so rapidly that at one point we may see a lamp post as art but at other times we may not.

In one way, what we end up is still a messy goop of reality and our ideal. Though this always happens anyway.

I've recently had a discussion about this matter too along with a friend of mine. To him, some of the things I've created isn't art. You may have noticed that some of the items in my gallery seem rather computed than done manually. He believes that they're too computer generated and given that, I'm really not controlling it as most of the process is "automated." This is partially true. But what I disagree on is the fact that it's not the process that matters, it's the final product that gets seen. And it's also the fact that I have something ideal in my mind and I follow those ideals to create something that in the end is pleasing to the eye. Given that, even with a partially automated system of creating art, we end up with pleasure. And maybe, by following a computer program doing art for you isn't 100% original, but that doesn't matter too much I think. I see that more as, "Who cares. People only see the final product." If they like it, they like it. If they think it's art, it's art. If they want to see more, I'll give them more. And while I'm probably simplifying the issue here, maybe it's better to think like that instead of getting down to the nitty gritty of what's art and what's not art.

Am I a relativist saying that? Sort of. But I still think I've defined some boundaries of art and not. And this is totally up to you on agreeing or disagreeing the issue.

It's an important issue about defining art since it defines us. It defines our culture, it defines our behavior, it defines everything we see.

Any opinions? Comment below. And thanks for all your commentary. I tried to get most of them in, but some of them got repetitive. So I ended up leaving those out. Sorry if you commented and expected some response from me and thanks for taking part in the discussion. It was very interesting hearing your thoughts.

Here's a question for you:

What qualifies as art? What doesn't? Discuss this matter below. I'll summarize it on the next journal post.

Ever since Final Cut Pro X has been out some people have been rambling about how awful the program is compared to their expectations. Here's my opinion on it: shut up.

I'm a newbie in this whole industry and professionalism. I've made professional stuff before, but I'll be digging deeper into all of this. Regardless I'm sure I'm allowed to say something right? I have my opinions and I choose to punch you in the face with it. Haha no kidding. I'm about to do that.

Either way this Final Cut Pro X: man it got awful reviews, partially because it was all new and was missing a ton of features. And I can agree on people's frustrations but man, some of you are just impatient. This just sets an example of these new. Geek-techy people who think they know what they're doing but are slaves to this sort of "function" mentality. What do I mean by that? Well see, "functions" of a program sometimes limit us to what we want to do. Now here's what separates the master and the slave: the people who say, "Oh, because I can't do *this* particular effect, therefore this program is useless to me." are basically slaves to the program. The people who say, "Oh, because I couldn't do *this* effect in the program, therefore I must find another way around it using the same program." end up quite skillful at what they do. Therefore we call them masters. RIGHT? You have to think again about what you do and how you'd do it. Yes, there are technical difficulties, and we'll have to compensate some things, but that's not what I mean. I mean that some of you buy seriously good machines, with expensive, professional software, and complain "No I can't do this because the program is limiting." What does it mean to be a fucking professional after all if you complain that there's no function in the program?

See people are impatient these days. And with such powerful machines, growing speed, and increasing demand for quality and cheaper stuff, I can understand this growing trend. We've been so hooked to faster, efficient things that we need better things all the time! So what do we do when something like Final Cut Pro X comes out? Final Cut Pro X is completely fresh, rewritten, and it's got lots of new things inside. Well, what some of us chose to do was stab it and said "YOU'RE NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME!" because some things went backwards. To this I say: GIVE YOUR DEVELOPERS SOME TIME. Jesus. And maybe Apple's decisions on some functionality was bad, and I agree to an extent. But seriously, some of us are just so annoying about this "OH YOU'RE NOT GOOD ENOUGH" thing just because you're missing out some functions. I don't think Apple killed Final Cut just yet. Apple's done a wonderful job recreating the old, and making sure the program stays up to today's technologies. And if you don't like that, just continue to use the old version of Final Cut Pro. Update when you feel like it.

You're not being forced to upgrade anything you know. You have the choice to stick around with old software if you so desire. My friend still uses Illustrator 5.5 because he thinks its the best version. Consequently he still runs OS 9 and otherwise but his works are professional grade and excellent. So to me, all these people arguing that Final Cut's professionalism is dead are just fucking immature and a bunch of uncreative losers who can all suck on a big fake flower that says "art" on it.

And I do mean to offend you. Think again about what you've done. You're no longer creative. You're no longer an artist and no longer thinking about what you're producing. You're just machines tied up to stare at a screen producing "professional quality work" as you drag the mouse around. Your work is no longer impressive. And nobody's happy.

Look, it's not just about features, how the GUI looks, or otherwise. It's about what you can make with the given stuff. That's true professionalism to me. I'm impressed with people who can start with a small thing and end with big things. And hey. If you found this offensive. You're exactly who I'm talking about. Like I say, I'm just beginning my way through all of this. I'm so unimpressed at your workmanship, your lack of understanding, and your narrow-minded scope of sight.

I think this applies to many things!! It's not just this case. It's happened with many many many things. And I swear, this is just one of those passing moments where we all like to bitch and whine about how dumb something is compared to the old stuff.

So to summarize:

1. Quit being slaves to the program. You should become a master at what you're given.
2. Patients gives you more than being impatient.
3. Well all have things we don't like about things, but there's no point in arguing about the same garbage over and over. Quit being a dick about it.
4. Quit acting like you're professional. If you're complaining about petty things, you're probably carrying the name "professional" around but not the actual weight of it.
5. Regarding computers: old things get thrown out in the end. Sad news to some of you. I hate this too. But we all have to live with it.

And again, if you don't like the new version of Final Cut just stick with the old one. I think this is a no-brainier and you shouldn't be arguing about how awful the new version is.

Just to clarify on offensive stuff: I really mean it. The creatives should be adapting to new things while keeping in mind basic principles of design and history. Computer technology changes very rapidly, and because of this you have to make tough choices. You can stick with the old or make sure your product works 10 years from now and have no trouble adapting to new things that come.

I expect a year from now Final Cut Pro X will be mature, and the adoption rate will go higher. It's a new beginning for Final Cut.

The full version of Complex Systems (new title for what was known previous as Living Hive) has now been uploaded onto my blog. The complete collection spans some 43 pictures done over the past couple weeks.

These are some of the samples I've uploaded onto DeviantART.


You can see the full gallery here: [link]

Ok guys, this is a rant. I don't care if you don't agree with my opinion but there's something really really annoying going on that I'd like to point out.



The fuck is this? This is like BLATANTLY IN MY FACE sort of tag/annoyance I see now on deviantart. The previous "Do not reuse" tag I complained about was actually better designed and NOW THAT?! It's so huge and annoying. It's full of just disrespect to the general public and distrust.

Look, as much as you want to protect your artwork with copyright, licenses... etc etc you are ultimately putting your pictures at risk by putting it on the internet. So I figure tagging your images with a watermark, a metatag with your name, address, copyright information seems quite enough. Hey if you want to go further use digimark, but please not that hideous thing up there. Also doing MASSCAPS to say things like: Is very disrespectful to the general audience who are just there to view your artwork as a piece of art. It's like having the artist at the gallery yelling at each and every audience and guest when they see his or her work hanging there. Look I'm just trying to say that everything on the internet gets stolen somehow, and we, as the originators need to protect it. But it's only a limited reach you can protect to. If you don't want people taking your art, don't put it online. Share it amongst your private friends and respected members of society.

Yeah, sure I get frustrated when I see my work somewhere else on the market. I had my stuff sold on streets. I've done much to prevent that, but ultimately I've realized the bigger benefit that it's actually kinda nice to have people just take stuff and reuse it. Of course, I still beg of you to ask me before you remix but in return, you'll have the full respect from me regardless of how your artwork looks in the end at least.

The point is this: if you want to protect your work, be respectful still. Being obnoxious does get you the rights I figure, but it's not the correct way to act normally. If you do need to emphasize, do not use It's an useless act and a waste of time. It's disrespectful to your internet audience AND you're just promoting yourself as an obnoxious individual whose protective about everything. Look, I get it. We all have something we want to protect, but with the internet you're basically going to lose that protection to an extent. If you want to protect your work, do some watermarking, tagging, signing. You can also develop your own style, and that totally protects your work. Nothing beats an original style and taste. That's enough. A text that says "copyright 2011 by <person>" is good enough and going overboard is not getting you anywhere.

- Skybase

First of all read this: [link]

Ok did you read it? If not go back and read it, otherwise this journal is just me ranting.

SOMEBODY has a really good point. I really haven't said much about this interesting issue and I don't mean to shoot down your wonderful pictures that you drew for us. Thank you at least for your consideration, but what we need right now is not a drawing, prayer, or whatever else there is that you do, it's a donation. I don't exactly know what it looks like there. I don't live there but my friends do. The people are there. It's a anything-goes situation. We don't know when aftershocks will strike. We don't know when that reactor's gonna go. We don't know how the future looks right now. All we can do is pray for ourselves.

See, I figure that's enough praying already. They pray because its the last thing they can do. We have options fortunately. So some of you have taken the option to draw. I don't call that wrong, I call it "Ok, but how's that going to help my country?" The reality is, it doesn't do much. Those people there won't see your beautiful picture. And they won't care if they see it. All they can be is thankful, and I don't think that raises buildings back where they were. I don't think that brings businesses back at all.

So your prayers, drawings, designs, thank you. That's enough. If you can read this, if you can type me a comment. You probably have a $1, 5, 10, 20.. I don't care inside of your pocket, drawer, desk... etc. I'm not forcing you to donate. It's your choice on what you want to do with that money. But it helps somebody there.

I'm usually quiet on these matters, and I hate to intervene in them. What I can do is what I can do. I figure I can now ask somebody else for that same favor. I thank you for your patients, and once again, I really thank what all of you have been doing. It's time to move on from that stage. There's a lot of clean up to do. We can rebuild, but we need your help.

- Skybase