LIKE CANDY by Megan Jean Morris

[Megan Jean Morris]

Consumed by the Modern Medicine of Casual Anesthetics - LIKE CANDY

by Megan Jean Morris

Oil on Canvas

4' X 4'

see more at www.meganjeanmorris.com

[Megan Jean Morris]

This is my first time using the Juxtapose Forum... I really appreciate an honest critique and would be happy to return the favor... so please let me know what you think and if you have artwork up here I will take a look and reply as well!  Thanks.  -MJ

[Heidi Alamanda]

I like your work. Interesting color and nice composition.
Just put more of my work on this section, too.

Heidi Alamanda

[doug]

Hey Megan don't be too discouraged by the lack of responses- this forum seems to be unfortunately pretty sparsely populated.  I like your piece-there are some nice ideas throughout it.  I'm a little hesitant to give crits because as far as I'm concerned art is about having complete freedom and NOT having an art director looking over ones shoulder.  That being said, having people critique my art has been invaluable.  So in that spirit don't take this as me saying "this is what you should do" but rather "if I were working on this piece this is what I would do." 

Starting on the right hand side, the gentleman who holds the most prominent position might benefit from having a stronger silhouette.  Right now he is competing with the two guys behind him creating tangents with his face and the back of his head. Maybe bringing one of the guys back and one of the guys forward would help strengthen him up.  Also varying the values would help them "pop" from each other.  Then again it could be your intent to have them seem as an amalgam of characters- I don't know.  If that is the case feel free to ignore me;)

Throughout the piece there are elements which because of their perspective and  scale seem to be occupying different spaces (ie. hotdog woman and bartender).  This of course is perfectly ok but the two guys at the end of the bar seem to be inhabiting the same space but their relative sizes seem to be a bit off unless you are pushing the perspective .  This is nit-picky but it  is something I noticed;) Also I might have the one guy (who reminds me of Barack:)) facing the other direction.  I think that might strengthen the composition by helping to draw the viewers attention inward towards the center of the piece.  I might say the same thing for the large figure in the back having a snack (that the composition might be better having him facing more towards the right).

I think the brain guy is my favorite part of the piece- the multiple arms remind me of Hindu goddesses.  One of the things that make the Hindu goddesses so iconic is that all the appendages are readily visible and as such create a strong silhouette.The far right hand with the cherry, because of it's large size and the fact that we can't see where it connects to the body, seems somewhat divorce from the rest of the character.I like the hand spilling the pills which seem to be cascading down towards the woman with the hotdog.  I think more of that (connections between characters) would be great! I might even push the perspective with his hand and bottle of pills (make it bigger) in order to ease the vast difference in scale between him and the woman- does that make sense? Also having the pills cascade down towards her mouth would help create a nice circular motion and energy from  brain guy thru hotdog woman and  up thru the bartender.

Ok I've rambled enough. Hope that all made sense:) Nice work. Hope you keep it up!

[Megan Jean Morris]

Wow... thanks for taking the time to really think and respond!  I agree with you around crits... but they can be soooo valuable (as you clearly understand).  This piece is already finished and sold... otherwise I would actually be tempted to go in and use your idea about strengthening the silhouette of the business man in front!  I was trying to make them feel like one ameba ... but it wasn't really clear one way or another and now that you say something I see it immediately... as if the artist (me) never made up her mind! 

This has made me realize that I shouldn't just be posting finished projects up here.  As I develop my current painting more I would love your feed back... and others too!  I'm going to go look around the forum to see if you have some work up I can look at.

Thanks again!
-MJ

[Megan Jean Morris]

Crap... I missed the last paragraph you wrote... I don't know how.  But anyway... I think you'll really enjoy what I'm working on now.  It's another painting that has a lot going on like this one... and I am going to apply some of what you are talking about here.  Strong silhouettes where needed, character interaction and connection through different spaces... and while I love a strong perspective- I will consider to what degree it is effective or distracting.  It's also great to know you enjoy the brain character 'cause he was the last character I developed and I was unsure how it would go over... he's soo off-the-wall.  But now you have encouraged me to have fun with the piece I am on... and that's cool because it suddenly becomes less predictable!

P.S.  Are you an artist?  I looked for some of your work up here and found something by some one called Doug Land. Probably not you?

[Katie]

Megan:

Your work has been selected as a reader art choice! Check it out; your work is now online in our reader art section at www.juxtapoz.com/Reader-Art/reader-art-megan-jean-morris


Keep up the good work!

[Megan Jean Morris]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!   Cool. Very Exciting!  I'll go check it out Katie. Thanks

[Megan Jean Morris]

Um... Doug or Katie?  I have some questions for you and I am not sure how to reach you other than this forum... Could one of you email me?  meganjean10@hotmail.com

[Megan Jean Morris]

For whoever else takes a look at this piece... Let me know what you think.  All comments are interesting so don't be afraid how your thoughts will effect my feelings... I love hearing how my artwork lands for others!  It's soooo different than for me, ofcaorse.... after staring at a piece hours and hours and days and weeks...  compared to someone who is seeing it for the first time.

Feedback Welcome!!!

[Brewster Hammond]

Well... I guess I am "whoever else"!  I just joined this site and started browsing around, I am not an artist but fell in love with the magazine as soon as I saw it... so I am not familiar with what the correct thing to say is... but I guess I would simply say I love your work!  It's very developed and interesting and has a lot of detail that I could look at again and again! 

I am interested in more.  Beautiful!

[Megan Jean Morris]

Hey Brewster... Heidi... Doug... Detroitghost... whoever is reading... I have heard other artists say that they moved here or there and then their art work really took off.  As if different locations around the country have different preferred styles and an artist can really make it or break it depending on their location. Does anyone have any opinions  about how the internet, magazines, and willingness to travel may or may not effect the importance of location?  For myself I am faced with a dilemma some of you must be familiar with... to live in a prominent location is expensive... so I might have to work another job so many hours of the week I wouldn't have enough time to paint.  But honestly, I'm way up here in Maine and feel like I might be missing out on some opportunities by being so far from a city... any body relate?

[Heidi Alamanda]

I'm an fairly new artist and still trying to grasp the whole thing while improving my art.
I'm more of a believer of the opportunity for our career to take off.
I read some artists interviews that sometimes it took the right person in the business to recognize you, which sometimes could be from viewing their artwork online, and it went from there.
I'm sure living in some well known locations for their art scenes have some advantages. We'll have a better chance to see other artists' style in that current market by attending art galleries and so on. But there will be so many competitions and you have stand out from the crowds either you stay where you are right now or moving to a prominent location.
Besides, like you said, you won''t have enough time to paint if you move somewhere else since you have to work another job, right?
Myself, I may consider to live somewhere closer to art scene once my career is established.

How long have you been an artist? and any particular city that you think will suit to your artistic style?

[Megan Jean Morris]

Heidi... this is really funny cause I can't figure out if we are having this conversation on your artwork page or mine... but it doesn't really matter!  Just funny!

OH... and tonight I showed my dad that I got Reader Art feature and he saw your little thumbnail on one of my responses... he loved it and wanted to see more of your work!  So I took him to your website and we spent an hour talking about your paintings!

As far as how long I have been an artist - like all of us on here, I am sure, since I was a child!  But not until I graduated Syracuse with a degree in Industrial Design and thousands of dollars in debt did I actually say NO... NO I just can't go work in a cubical and YES mom... I'm gonna be a tattoo artist.  With a years' apprenticeship as a tattoo artist and some new found self confidence after having artwork painted on my skin forever did I discover a pair of balls between my legs that said PAINT. So... a year and a half ago I started painting.  Not like it was my first time.  I studied fine art passionately in high school. I attended an art academy in the summer of my sophomore year... and took fine art electives during college.  But only recently did I start painting whatever I wanted because I wanted to ... and then declared it valuable as if I had begun to discover my own self worth... unrelated to what others thought.  It's been cool actually... really wanting something and making myself vulnerable by just doing it and admitting it... instead of following a safe plan that will provide benefits and no criticism. Suddenly life is unpredictable... and alive.

[Kidknapper]

Very nice work Megan. Checked out your gallery and such. Very interesting style.