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UltraDad

Struggling Poet
84 Watchers72 Deviations
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How long have you been on DeviantArt?

Since June 4th, 2008. I originally signed up when I was running a design studio and was looking at people's profile pages to get a sense of their work. I didn't start submitting until 2014.

What does your username mean?

I have four kids. We play a lot of pen & paper role-playing games at my house, and at some point when making characters for Champions "Ultradad" just came out. Later that year the kids got me that as a custom license plate for my car. I've been using it as a gamertag ever since.

192222 10150116894113046 4357507 O (1) by UltraDad

Describe yourself in three words

Calm Cold Collected

Are you left or right handed?

right.

What was your first deviation?

For a long time I never posted. The first thing I posted was a batch of poems. I think "Another Secret" was the very first, although the poem was written 20 years beforehand.


I have a series of poems in this line, all inspired by a girlfriend I had in college who liked to be cut. After a while that starts to really mess with your head. For years afterwards, I would have dreams about blood, covered in blood, drowned in blood, etc. It became an obsession and was kind of horrific. But at some point a psychologist friend told me that the desire to be submerged in blood is most likely a desire to be in the womb and to regain that feeling of absolute peace. That observation had a profound effect on me and the horrors all went away. OK, probably TMI...

I recommend avoiding dating such people and instead steer them towards some professional help. #protip

What is your favourite type of art to create?

I liked to sketch scary faces. They aren't really supposed to be scary, I just can't draw that well so they come out that way. In college I would sketch scary faces for $1 on Venice beach. I was "discovered" by an extra agency and started appearing as an extra in movies. My deviantID image is actually a still frame from the video for Oingo Boingo's "Out of Control".

I like to write. I used to mostly do poetry but now I am focused on novel-length work or screenplays. I love doing dialog and creating complicated plot structures.

If you could instantly master a different art style, what would it be?

More realistic drawing. I really wish I could draw accurate people but I just don't have the eye for it. They always say "draw what you see" but my perception is just not in line with my drawing.  

I admire artists like DanteWontDie. He does Touhou characters mostly, a lot of digital art, commissions, etc. I think it would be great to be able to produce art for my own games! 

What was your first favourite?

I think it was "Conscience" by kharlamov:
CONSCIENCE by kharlamov

Just love the surrealism of that, and so well done.

What type of art do you tend to favourite the most?

I really like Asian girls. I have a Chinese wife and lived in China for a while, so I am biased Wink/Razz . There is a certain Chinese/Asian aesthetic that is very different from the Western sense of beauty, which always seems a bit aggressive to me. Some artists on DA capture that even though they are not Asian - for example, check out "Time" by LilyThula - it is great:

Time by LilyThula

I also really like Shibari - japanese artistic rope bondage, in particular when done with a single rope. Like many Asian art forms, it is deceptively simple but extremely difficult to get right. It is also very difficult to photograph in a way that captures the beauty. But there are some great artists of this form on DA. Check out this piece by WykD-Dave for example.

Yubi shibari by WykD-Dave

NFGphoto also has some great pieces. (Many of these pieces involve nudity so be advised.)

Who is your all-time favourite deviant artist?

It is really hard to pick, but I guess if I had to I would go with duongquocdinh . His photography is amazing. It has such a heightened sense of reality, it is like being inside of a painting. Check out this angel for example:



or these snails:



Amazing! It is also immediately recognizable. You don't get that very often with a photographer, where any piece of theirs, from a portrait to a flower to a landscape, is just obviously theirs.

If you could meet anyone on DeviantArt in person, who would it be?

Hmm, hard to say. Maybe Pepper? 
artgerm.deviantart.com/gallery…

For real people, it is difficult to say. It is hard to know anything about a person from their work. I think most artists prefer to have their work speak on their behalf.

If we have to pick an actual person, I guess I would say 张小白 (@XaioBaiArt). She has so many great images and also looks like she has a very interesting life. Plus, 她非常漂亮...

Awaken of the Spring by XiaoBaiArt

I am also a huge fan of CliveBarker . He is my favorite horror writer and a real inspiration to me in my own writing. On DeviantArt I learned he has a very nice illustration style:
Mater Motley by CliveBarker
I also heard he lives not from from the DA office, so maybe he will stop by...

How has a fellow deviant impacted your life?

When I first joined DeviantArt, everyone in the office had a ton of old DeviantWear but I had none. Luckily I managed to find a deviant (name withheld) who was able to give me a generous back supply of classic shirts from the start of devwear! Now I can roll with the cool kids.

What are you preferred tools to create art?

I like to use pen and paper when composing poetry. I carry a notebook with me everywhere in case there is something to capture. I never erase. Erasing is the enemy of creation.

For writing, I used to use an old typewriter until it was broken in a move. I type very fast, and I found that when I used a word processor I would spend too much time going back and editing what I just typed. I would second-guess myself. Using the manual typewriter prevented that.

Now that the typewriter is gone, I just use Microsoft Word. I trained myself not to edit anything I type until the next day. This really increases output and quality I find.

What is the most inspirational place for you to create art?

I like to be alone in a crowded place, so I usually will bring my notebook or a laptop to a bar and just sit at the counter by myself and write for hours. Plus while quietly writing you can overhear all kinds of crazy things in a crowded bar.

What is your favourite DeviantArt memory?

There are many since starting to work here. I think the best is still going to the shooting range with spyed and shooting trap and skeet. He brought a quadcopter drone, how awesome is that!?!?

No, we did not shoot it.
#deviantartistquestionnaire 

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Did you ever notice that things that happened before the internet (or the widespread adoption of digital cameras) have very little evidence of their existence?  The other day I was talking to some people about Burning Man.  The last time I went was in 2001.  We did a project call "The Princess Cage".  The idea is that at Burning Man, there scarce resource is human attention.  We built a fancy cage out of wood.  You could lock yourself inside and then people would look at you.  But you couldn't get out unless someone opened the door and let you out.  Inside the cage was a treasure chest full of princess dresses, so you could wear those and perhaps that would help people rescue you.  It was an interesting project - let me tell you, there are some people who will just NOT lock themselves in a cage if they have to rely on others to release them.  Interesting psychology.  

Anyway...  I wanted to show someone a picture, but it turns out photos on the internet from that time are few and far between.  I did manage to find a few:

Cage by UltraDad

Cage2 by UltraDad

But that is basically it.  Not a whole lot.

Compare this with an event just a year or two later, and there are literally thousands of images from all sorts of people online, in google-y goodness.

So that got me thinking...  What does this mean for our memories?  Are we remembering more or less as a result?  Did I remember things better before or after the internet made me not have to?



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DeviantArtist Questionnaire by UltraDad, journal

Life before the internet by UltraDad, journal

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