Life's Really Hard - Thesis Process Book

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Copyright Kevin Valente 2014 With Special Thanks to Whitney Sherman, Jaime Zollars, Eric Leland, Lydia Nochls, Rebecca Bradley, and all my MFA in Illustration Practice classmates.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS ABOUT ME

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THESIS BEGINNINGS

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INSPIRATION

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PROCESS

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LONG HAIR DON’T CARE

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FALL SHOW

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TOO MANY SELFIES, NOT ENOUGH TIME

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THESIS SHOW

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SELLING AT MOCCA

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LOOKING FORWARD

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THANKS babes

(All my family, friends, and loves.)

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INTRO / ABOUT ME KEVIN VALENTE 24, MALE, BALTIMORE SCORPIO

Currently working as a freelance illustrator and designer, I obtained my BFA from MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art) in 2012, where I studied Illustration and Graphic Design. This dual exploration provided the perfect opportunity for which as an artist, I could fully explore my love for typography, as well as the humorous and conceptual sides of the Illustration canon. This exploration has been paramount in this past year as a Thesis student in MICA’s MFA in Illustration Program. As only through my thesis, was I fully able to understand how to articulately mix handdrawn typography with both narrative and editorial based imagery. This book exists as a means to explore this development, as well as explain the process in which I completed my thesis.

Hello. Before we begin this journey into my MFA Thesis, I would like to let you know a little about myself. My name is Kevin Valente, and I am a mustachioed Rhode Island native, currently living and working in Baltimore, MD. As a child, my formative years — from when I was five until thirteen — were spent abroad with my family.

My parents, being the adventurous type, took every opportunity to bring my brother, sister, and myself on trips throughout Asia and Europe. Consequentially, at a very young age I learned to be open-minded in the face of diversity, to embrace foreign cultures, to be resilient in the unknown, and most significantly, to find humor and laughter in the world around me. Needless to say, these experiences have shaped the person I am today. It is from the humor I gleaned as a child, as well as my insatiable appetite for exploration that drives my creativity as an artist.

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The work shown within these pages is referential of a childhood rooted in the ‘90s: characterized by bright color fields, intricate pattern work, quirky hand lettering, and a sarcastic sense of humor. As an artist, I am driven to create by my desire, and need, to fully explore human nature’s absurdities. Through tongue-in-cheek critiques of today’s popular culture, especially that of the Millennial generation’s obsession with the Internet, it is my hope to actively engaging the viewer in satire. Laughter after all is the best medicine. Through showcasing how ridiculous we (as a society) are in regard to Internet culture and Social Media, it is my intention for the audience to comprehend the full extent of narcissism and ignorance that rules our online personas.

The next two pages include samples of my work from outside my thesis.

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THESIS BEGINNINGS

SO, YOU WANT TO DO WHAT? As someone who is interested in the more humorous nature of art, of Internet fandom, and the notion of celebrity (both the media’s portrayal and the irrelevant nature of social media fame), I decided to dedicate my Thesis year to creating work based around the Millennial Generation’s weird and bizarre obsession with Internet Culture, celebrities and famous online personas.

The title of my thesis, Life’s Really Hard, which is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the vast narcissism of a generation of people, who although have more opportunities and resources to advance themselves than any other previous generation, chose to live their lives egocentrically, opting often for the easy, lazy way out and who are obsessed with the instantaneous gratification cul-

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tivated by the Internet. It takes much less effort to complain about not having the correct salad dressing at a restaurant on Twitter, than it does to start a revolution for human rights. As such, it is this blatant narcissism that greatly attracts me, and fuels my desire to critique and make fun of the culture that I myself am so embedded in.

Life’s Really Hard, which exists now as two separate series of work — Long Hair Don’t Care (Amanda Bynes’s Twitter Account) and Too Many Selfies, Not Enough Time (Justin Bieber’s Instagram Feed), is (and will continue to be) a collection of work, both in the form of prints and ‘zines (fanzines), that works to satirically critique and skewer contemporary social media, as well as our interactions of my generation — the Millennials

— within each online culture. Through the juxtaposition of narrative imagery, standalone illustrations, and tongue-in-cheek prose as a means to showcase the peculiar real life experiences attached to each different network, I seek to showcase the hilarity and bizarre nature of engaging in social interactions in a place that physically doesn’t exist. The collective series seeks to create a sense of nostalgia by providing the readers with experiences that are easily identifiable with for each social network through the mocking of wellknown online personas. At same time, the ironic notion of creating nostalgia for social media, as well as the literal fact that the final result of this endeavor will be the production of printed materials provides a very tongue-in-cheek reminder that even in all the vast depths of the Internet, nothing is ever really forgotten, deleted, or completely private. As a result, Life’s Really Hard exists at once to celebrate a generation’s developing Internet identity, as well as to highlight the reality that the anonymity provided by a computer screen

and/or mobile device does little to save ourselves from our own human nature and resulting selfhumiliation.

Furthermore, as a means to engage a young audience, by choosing culturally relevant and obsessive online personas such as Amanda Bynes and Justin Bieber, it is my desire to engage in an open dialogue with not only my own generation, but also the generation beneath myself that has never known what it means to live without the Internet. These teenagers exist within a world of endless possibilities, and as such, they must learn how to appropriately navigate the Internet so that they may break from the narcissism that is characteristic of my generation. The Internet as a resource is humanity’s greatest achievement, but without the transcendence and comprehension to realize that we exist beyond our own immediacy, the Internet will be the downfall of our culture. For although social media brings us closer together online, it drives us further apart

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in real life; persons are more willing to spend their time together on their phones or computers engaging with a community they cannot see face to face, than actually talk and embrace their fellow constituents. By using the words and actions of celebrities within this culture, it is my desire to expand the minds of online users.

Thus said, I wished to pursue this concept because of the relevance to life today. More importantly however, I am a man obsessed. I am greatly interested in how the Internet has changed our lives, and how the dawn of social networks has fanned the flame of society’s egocentricity. Everyone wants to be Internet famous, which is bizarre as it means being famous in a place that physically doesn’t exist, and usually

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for things that do not require talent, hard work, or skill. At the same time, because social media is so pervasive in our lives, it has become acceptable (with great influence by the currently famous celebrities of this generation) to post the most bizarre, shocking, racist, bigoted, misogynistic, ridiculous things as possible without the need or desire to filter anything. It is like some sick obsession that we all are addicted to. Everyone is constantly posting something: if not on Facebook, then on Instagram, or on Twitter, etc. We can’t help ourselves from engaging and participating in such narcissism because we want to be heard, to be apart of something. The ironic part is even though the Internet has allowed for us to make connections with thousands of people, our commitment to be socially active online really has

done little to boast — if not negatively impacted — the socializing between people in person.

Everyone feels so much safer behind their screen, in the anonymity of being online were you can be whomever you want. This to me is fascinating. At the same time, as fascinating as our interaction with social media is, I completely understand that the Internet is constantly evolving and as such, older (and sometimes newer) forms of social networks are quickly becoming irrelevant (e.g.

Myspace, Google+, Ping, Eons, Friendster, Digg, Xanga, etc.); however, no matter how ephemeral these social networks, the stories and experiences are timeless because of their ability to be universally identifiable. The ‘zines engage the audience because of what human nature has

allowed the different social networks to transform into. It could be said that this series is as much about the human condition in the 21st century, as it is about the actual celebrity’s social media profiles. The drama and hilarity found within the interactions — albeit removed physically through the use of technology — are the results of the people using them, not the technology itself.

This is why to me I see this series of work as being ironically nostalgic; a reminder of a time that will never exist again, of the last generation to have been alive before the advent of web 2.0, of a modern society trying to figure out to exist (and mainly failing) on the Internet. As such, I can find no other way to tell these truths than to embrace the weirdness and absurdity, and be as audacious as possible.

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#YOLO

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SOCIAL MEDIA AND BLOGS During the summer months between our first and second year, I researched about the impact of social networking on our lives, the evolution of human behavior through the use of Internet, and the ways in which this affects human relationships both on-andoffline. In tandem to this research, I also looked for real life examples of how these articles could translate into my own Internet usage and online persona. To do so, I elected to join several online social networks over the summer, such as the online dating app known as Grindr, (images on previous page), Reddit and Vine. As an already active user of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, I sought to seek a more encompassing understanding of Internet culture beyond my own egocentric understanding of social media, and to be honest I was quite shocked by what I found. I could not believe how ridiculously forward, overly sexual, and extremely unappetizing online dating had become, and yet

I was addicted to the attention received and the hilarity that came forth from other users, who having the benefit of hiding behind a screen and username, could say whatever they wanted to. At the same time, I was also amazed at the variety of friendships that blossomed amongst fellow blog commenters and Reddit users that were solely based on individuals relentlessly degrading each other, while still maintaining a high level of respect to the forum in which they existed. At the same time, I also began recording the blogs that I most readily frequented and found that I had a profound interest in obscure and bizarre pop culture. Blogs and websites like Dlisted, Celebitchy, OMG Blog, Gawker and became platforms of inspiration, exploration and research for potential pop culture critiques. Eventually leading me to the Amanda Bynes’ Twitter feed (following two pages), and thus the initial inklings for my thesis project.

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STORE At the same time, as someone who has always greatly enjoyed the DIY (Do It Yourself) culture and history that surrounds trade shows and expos, I wanted to find a way to meld my own interest in selling outside of traditional venues with the work I was creating. The ideal end result was to create a line of products branded by my own visual language that could be sold at multiple different venues and ultimately in an online shop. As such to gain reference for this direction, I began researching different individuals who were well known and highly reputable in the self-publishing field. Through all my research, I greatly was impressed by the anthologies produced by Nobrow Press, especially the works

by Robert Hunter and Kyle Platt, the ‘zines by Tiny Pencil, the work of Eleni Kalorkoti, and the product lines by Adam J. Kurtz.

I also drew inspiration for more traditionally published works such as Esther Watson’s Tammy Pierce Is Unlovable, and Mike Perry’s compiled catalogues.

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THINGS I LOOKED AT

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AGAIN AND AGAIN...

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PROCESS / HOW I MAKE THINGS

As an avid sketchbook user, I approached my thesis in a very methodically, processoriented manner. I began by first compiling inspiration and content in which to generate imagery from. Once I found a selection of social media posts that were bizarre enough to extrapolate from, I began the image making by thumbnailing spreads and doodling within my sketchbooks: keeping in mind from the start of where the text would fit into the imagery.

From these intital sketchs and doodles, I created detailed line drawings in graphite and ink, which I scanned into the computer. Finally using a cintiq, I developed illustrations from the drawings by using an assortment of brushes, hand made textures and patterns. At times I would color the line, erase it, or paint over it, in a manner that replicated my own personal style of gouache painting. Once the imagery was completed, I would finalize the hand lettering, and digitally lay it on top to complete the illustration.

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LONG HAIR DON’T CARE AMANDA BYNES’ TWEETS

Cover Image of Long Hair Don’t Care.

Long Hair Don’t Care is the first of a series of projects that germinated within the framework of my thesis. I knew that I wanted to create a series of work that both functioned as a series of individual prints and works, as well as a collection that could exist within a functional and enjoyable ‘zine. The title for this collection of work (as well as the ‘zine for which is collected within) is derived from Amanda Bynes’ (former child star) tweet, in which she posted a photo of herself topless with nothing covering her breasts except for her hair. As result, her Twitter presence and her Online Persona instantaneously drew me in. Bynes apparently held no qualms about being perceived as ill informed, volatile, crass, or even mentally unstable. As I followed her trail of ludicrous rants and ravings, it became apparent that her unadulterated narcissism and aggression was not only launching online “Twitter Wars” between more well-known celebrities (e.g.

Rihanna, Courtney Love, etc.) and herself, but also launching her identity and life back into the spotlight, becoming nationally recognized amongst online blogs and within Entertainment News. With so much attention being projected upon her Twitter account, as well as the bizarre nature of her tweets, I knew that Amanda Bynes was the perfect muse for the work I wanted to create. Her serial narcissism and unapologetic nature provided the ideal starting

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Opposite: Poster sold in tandem with the Long Hair Don’t Care ‘zine.

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point for which to explore my own obsession with Internet Culture, scandal as performance, as well as the role of a “celebrity” within our society.

The Long Hair Don’t Care ‘zine itself is a 28 page long booklet with a heavy cover, inside cover pattern, and 14 full color spreads depicting different tweets from Amanda Bynes as she descended into crazy town from April 2013 until August 2013. The spreads alternate between fully illustrated spreads and single page imagery, with heavy emphasis on incorporating bold design elements, hand lettering, patterns and illustration all together. The ‘zine reads as purposefully overwhelming, as a means to mimic the social network’s constantly updated content of selfindulgent inklings posted without discrepancy or filter. Moreover, the allusion to Twitter is further strengthened by the choice to use a bright color palette that makes the illustrations vibrate, and exceedingly hard to focus upon when viewed one after the other. Finally, the middle spread of the ‘zine, as a medium to play with the overall layout and content is a classified as being a “pop spread” and references Amanda Bynes in popular culture (See page 43).

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My main attraction to Amanda Bynes, besides enjoying her work as a child, is the way she utilizes the Internet as a platform to boost her own fame and reputation. And although Long Hair Don’t Care critiques her irrational behavior on Twitter, I do not think that she is degenerate or mentally ill, but rather somewhat of a genius. She went from relative obscurity, being well known when she was younger as a star of the “Amanda Show” and “All That” on Nickelodeon; which she then parlayed into a brief film career with such movies as “What A Girl Wants,” “She’s the Man,” “Sydney White,” and most recently “Easy A.” However, after “Easy A,” which was filmed in 2009 and released in 2010, she essentially fell of the face of the Earth; nothing was written about her, nor did she engage in any new work or social appearances of merit. Then, in what can be perceived as a moment of “stunt queen” genius, she begins her online tirade and within weeks the scandal, as well as questions about her mental health, and party girl ways becomes the subject of headlines all over the Internet, as well in reputable news outlets. By being so absurd in such a public venue, she becomes relative and important again (of course with the subtext that she may or may not be insane).

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The pages include initial thumbnails, sketches and patterns from the Long Hair Don’t Care series.

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The title page (opposite) for Long Hair Don’t Care, shows the pinnacle of Bynes’s outlandish and unstable behavior, depicting the act of her setting a random neighbor’s driveway on fire, and brought into custody after being found without any pants on, running after her dog, who she feared would be in danger of getting burned. It was after this episode that she was put under an involuntary 1515 stay in a psychiatric ward to evaluate her mental state. Bynes later entered a rehab facility. This event also marked the end of her twitter tirade, as she does not tweet again until the new year.

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The image above, is an example of a typical, offensive tweet by Bynes in which she purposely tweets antagonistic states at other celebrities in order to elicit a response. Ironically, as much as she tweeted at the rapper Drake (who was her obsession during the summer), not once did he acknowledge any of Bynes’ tweet, nor dignify her ramblings with a response. Although he does reference her “I want @drake to murder my vagina” tweet in an interview with XXL, in which he just says it’s “weird and disturbing.”

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of the ‘zine, while also bringing another humorous pop culture reference to the work. Furthermore, by implement the pattern (full color version on page 41) of “things Amanda Bynes would like” (bongs, shoes, weed, fake nails, etc.), I was able to create a cohesion with the other patterned spreads, as well as with the patterned belly bands used to package the ‘zines for distribution.

As the “pop” spread of the ‘zine, “We Love You #Blurred Bynes” references the satirical parody video of Amanda Bynes and Robin Thicke’s song Blurred Bynes.

The music video performed by the three drag queens, Willam, Vicky Fox and Detox Icunt, much like Long Hair Don’t Care, is both a critique and celebration of Amanda Bynes’s bizarre behavior. The spread, although not a tweet itself, is meant to break up the constant image:word layout

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FALL SHOW

PRACTICE +EXPERIMENTATION

The fall MFA in Illustration Practice show, which ran from November 22 - December 20 provided a crucial moment in my thesis as it allowed me to experiment with the presentation of my work, as well as explore my own ideas for the upcoming Thesis Show.

Taking the pattern that I had created as part of the ‘zine, I printed fourteen sheets of newsprint that I then wheatpasted to the wall to create a pseudo wallpaper. To give the work a special accent I also spray painted the sides of each frame florescent yellow, so when a viewer walked by they would catch a glimpse of the yellow and see how it was carried throughout the work.

Playing with my work this way provided me with my initial thesis show idea of creating a social media alter, as well as the idea of applying patterns I had created to objects.

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TOO MANY SELFIES, NOT ENOUGH TIME

JUSTIN BIEBER’S INSTAGRAM After receiving the “End of Semester” Fall critiques and advice from visiting artists, I realized that a common concern had arisen that although Long Hair Don’t Care’s format made sense for its purpose (in alluding to nature of Twitter), creating another ‘zine with the same structure of just words and images would make Life’s Really Hard monotonous and overly repetitive. Therefore, keeping in mind the necessity to switch up the layout and pacing of the next ‘zine, I decided to search for an individual who was infamous for truly misbehaving, and as such, could offer inspiration for more narrative based imagery. The golden goose (or ultimate jackass) just so happened to be Justin Bieber.

In the series Too Many Selfies, Not Enough Time, I choose to satirically critique Bieber’s Instagram feed through the mocking of his extensive selfies, weird quotes, and overall idiotic postings (for which his fans will defend to their deaths).

By mixing in highly publicized stories and more obscure fanatical knowledge with his own social media persona I aimed to create the most bizarre portrayal of the asinine Pop Star. At the same time, choosing to focus more on bringing the illustration up to the same level of polish as my hand lettering, I created images that this time

WORKING WITH NARRATIVE ELEMENTS

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around dynamically filled the spreads, while also adding several different series of minicomics into the mix.

In an effort to bridge the gap between Long Hair Don’t Care, I kept with the same overall layout of the ‘zine: fourteen full color pages with a pop spread and inside cover pattern.

The pop spread in this case; however, is a “What Kind of Bieber Are You?” quiz, referencing the plethora of online personality quizzes produced by Buzzfeed daily. And although this series is not fully completed yet, I am enjoying the new style I am using

to create the mini comics, which I believe acts a great visual reciprocal the fully rendered spreads. Furthermore, I am excited to add more interactive elements — referencing more ‘80s fanzines — such as implementation of longer text, more over the top obsessive art, such as a made up schedule for his day, and the notion of creating a spread that riffs off of a preteen girl’s notebook.

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The above spread was pivotal in this series of work, as it was my first exploration in working within a comic form. The mini-comic, with references to Bieber’s instagram feed, explains the story in which he and his posse (including his father), smoked so much weed in his private jet that the pilots were forced to wear oxygen masks, as not to get high, so that they could (1) properly fly the plane, while also (2) saving themselves from failing their regular drug tests, and thus retain their pilot licenses.

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As part of the Thesis Show 1, which ran from March 28th until April 7th, Illustration Practice was amongst the first students to showcase their thesis work.

For the show, I was able to further brand the identity of my work, as well as Life’s Really Hard, by creating show invites, promotional postcards, and business cards within the color scheme of the two series.

As a culmination of all our hard work, it was great to be able to create a dynamic space in which viewers could see all the work created for Long Hair Don’t Care, and the beginnings of Too Many Selfies, Not Enough Time.

Further more, it was exciting to explore custom signage, and create a unique thesis sign for my work, which I created by laser cutting florescent plexiglass.

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Life’s Really Hard is an ironically nostalgic celebration of Internet culture and the obsession of celebrity in social media. The work, characterized by quirky hand lettering, bright colors, and a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, explores the online personas of two serial narcissists — Amanda Bynes and Justin Bieber — as they foster a culture of self obsession, instant gratification, and ignorance.

THESIS SHOW WALL TEXT

The work is compiled into two separate series. The first, Long Hair Don’t Care, is a compilation of illustrated tweets from Amanda Bynes; the second, Too Many Selfies, Not Enough Time, showcases illustrations from Justin Bieber’s Instagram.

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SELLING

AT MOCCA FEST Moving forward from the Thesis Exhibition, this year’s MoCCA Festival provided an excellent opportunity to crowd-source feedback for the Long Hair Don’t Care ‘zine from a consumer perspective. I engaged in dialogue with attendees about what they enjoyed about the work, what they thought I should add or take away, and whether or not they liked the format. Additionally, selling at MoCCA Fest, also provided for me the ability to see which works were crowd pleasers, and which pieces could stand alone as prints. This experience will help guide my goals in the upcoming trade shows that I will participate in.

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CONTINUING THE SERIES As I leave this thesis year, there are still many objectives and goals that I wish to pursue in quest to create a world filled with my own visual vocabulary. First and foremost, I will complete the Justin Bieber series and compile the illustrations into a ‘zine. Beyond competing the Too Many Selfies, Not Enough Time ‘zine, I plan to continue Lifes Really Hard with five more ‘zines about other celebrities in social media. The next five individuals include Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, Miley Cyrus, Drake, and James Franco. I also wish to complete a sequel to the Amanda Bynes ‘zine that details her time at design school, with a direct aim at drawing attention to the narcissistic notion held by celebrities that because they are famous, they are also multi-talented artists (looking at you, James Franco). In tandem with the goal to complete more ‘zines, I will launch a new website and online store in which to promote and sell my prints and creations.

ALL ABOUT THE HUSTLE

SELLING & DISTRIBUTION

In regards to future employment, I am currently interviewing with Spur Design for a paid summer internship. Additionally, as I wish to bolster my freelance experiences, I am compiling a package of promotional materials including a Long Hair Don’t Care ‘zine, promo cards, and a button, which I will send to the following wishlist of clients: The Baltimore Sun, Gawker, Esquire, GQ, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, New York Magazine, Geek Exchange, Nylon, VICE, Out Magazine, Urban Outfitters, The New York Times, Adult Swim, and Scout Books. Moreover, since I greatly enjoy making gig posters, I will actively engage with show spaces such as Ottobar, Windup Space, Metro Gallery, and 9:30 Club as a means to gain a client base for illustrated posters. Ultimately, beyond the continuation of my work, I will be spending my summer hustling to promote my work and myself, with the endgame goal of finding a salaried job in New York City.

In order to gain more insight on the expo circuit and participating in trade fairs, I will attend and sell at the upcoming Masters Benefit Sale, DC Zine Fest, Pete’s Mini Zine Fest, and Baltimore DIY Festival. Simultaneously, I will use this summer to find distributors for my ‘zines. Places that I have approached so far and am in dialogue with include Atomic Books, Trohv, Dessert Island, Blue Stockings, Parcell Press, and Portland Button Works.

ADDITIONAL IDEAS Furthermore, as a means to explore my own personal stories, it will be my goal this summer to create an online comic about my own interactions within social media, especially with regards to online dating and the gay male community (referencing again those ridiculous Grindr messages that I have received).

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KEVIN VALENTE kevinvalente.com kev@kevinvalente.com kevinvalente.tumblr.com tweet:@kevin_valente ig:kevinvalente

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