Board Art 2007 2008-04-08 Hello friends. This week I've added my successful submission for Board Art 07. My design teacher gave me a heads up on a competition being run by COCA in the early '07. As the name suggests, Board Art participants are asked to design a graphic for the underside of a skateboard deck. The comp is run at 3 levels; primary, secondary and tertiary. However, professional artists are welcome to submit pieces outside the competition. The competition is a unique mix of youth culture, street art and young innovation. Initially I sketched 2 concept pages and conducted a tally to see which one was the most popular. Cuddles, a collaboratory design of a friend's and mine won a flawless victory. I submitted the rough design to the gallery and was successful in the secondary level. As a finalist, COCA supplied me with a full size, blank deck as a canvas to interpret my design upon. All finalists have the privilege of having their decks displayed in the Board Art exhibition upon completion and later sold by the gallery as genuine art pieces. COCA selected my deck, Staring Competition as the winner for the secondary level. To see all of the submitted decks or to read more details on Board Art 07 visit the Centre of Contemporary Arts website: http://www.coca.org.nz/boardart07.html Check in frequently! Josh Stewart Catbot 2008-04-02 Yeah, that's what I called them. I added a small comic series that I started when I was 10 years old. I creatively titled the series 'Battle of the Bugs'. The series depicts the epic conflict between the Catbots, a creation of my own and the Bugs, which I acquired their inspiration for them just about anywhere. Naturally, at a young age I took a heavy influence from everything that I saw. The major influence for the comic however was the Starship Troopers CGI series that screened on Saturday Mornings. I remember also catching a glimpse of the creatures from the Alien movie on the old arcade shooting game that once traded change for pulse rifle madness at the Movie Theatre. That's why they make a guest appearance in the comic as well. As for the Catbots, I was slightly obsessive when it came to cats as a kid simply because I had two Burmese cats, Flo and Leroy as pets. I guess that is why I decided to draw super-awesome-amazing-cat-soldiers of them. You'll notice also that the comics are strewn with poor spelling and grammar. Yeah, I wasn't the strongest speller. But who cares when I could draw Catbot though! Josh Stewart Welcome to ReaperArt 2008-04-01 Everyone needs a website and because bebo is gay, here is mine! With my own website I’ll be able to upload my work as I please and you’ll hopefully be able to view a steady progression in my technique. That being said I’ll also resurrect some of my earliest pictures from the art crypt so you can see that I didn’t always draw morbid crap like death and destruction. During the site’s development, I’ve been more encouraged to produce work of a higher quality, so you guys don’t think I’m rubbish, which is good a sign. It means that no longer will I be drawing assault rifles during physics class and the load screens of STALKER. Nah, I probably will actually. The site you are currently viewing is still going through its final changes. Some features that may be implemented into the site in future are a comment and update system. If you notice some sort of bug or have any suggestions or just want to talk shit please email me at josh@reaperart.net Okay, well, have a little browse of reaperart.net and be sure to check back frequently their will always be more to come! Josh Stewart And a special thank you to Josh “Oosty” Oosterman who coded this site and brought the dream to life. But seriously, thanks mate.