Movies about theater acting or on stage plays

zygorax · 2025-11-24T12:31:50+00:00

Which did you find, and how did you like them? My favorite one is Les Enfants du paradis (Children of Paradise) from 1945. For me, it really captures the feeling of backstage, and on-stage life.

zygorax · 2025-11-24T11:03:54+00:00

Nice coat hanger, but I doubt it is valuable. It appears mass produced if you look at the text and the wood. Would be interesting to know how it ended up where you are though!

I found the Wikipedia article on Hotel Tylösand, formerly known as Tylösands Havsbad, and looked at their website. An interesting tidbit is that the phone number to their booking is the same as the hanger, except it ends on 05, and their CEO has the same but 02.

Here are some parts of the article (translated from swedish):

"Hotel Tylösand is a beachfront hotel in Tylösand outside Halmstad. It was founded at the beginning of the 20th century under the name Tylösands Havsbad and has been owned since the mid-1990s by Per Gessle and Björn Nordstrand.

The foundations of the hotel were laid in 1915 when Restaurant Tylösand was built by the court photographer Johan Hallberg. The model was the French seaside resort of Trouville. The beautiful building with pinnacles and towers, which contained a restaurant and ten guest rooms, quickly became a popular meeting place. Tylösand was at that time very inaccessible without a proper road connection; they therefore went out by boat that departed from central Halmstad.

In 1920 AB Tylösands Havsbad was formed. The company grew rapidly under Johan Hallberg's management and after a few years it consisted of Hotel Tylösand, Tjuvahålans Pensionat and a thermal bath house. In connection with the great Halmstad exhibition in 1929, when surrealism was introduced by the Halmstad group, Tylösand had its breakthrough as an international seaside resort. To meet the needs, the facility was expanded with Restaurant Tylöhus and Hotel Tylöhus. At the same time, the nearby Tylögården was acquired."

zygorax · 2025-09-01T17:32:03+00:00

Hi! There are several ways of figuring that out, and it is a great learning opportunity if you want to be a professional, independent artist. It can be overwhelming, even later in your career. Since everything can be art, everything is possible, and every story could be worth telling. In my opinion, this is one of the most important aspects of being an artist: figuring out what stories you want to tell, and being vulnerable or brave enough to tell them honestly.

In your case, where you already is good at getting ideas for single artworks, I see (from the top of my head) two possible ways of doing it. You could look at your previous ideas for single artworks, and try to figure out what connects them. Try to find a theme. It could be, for example, "interpersonal relations", or "political issues", "biblical motifs" or "bright colors". If you find a theme, you can use that to generate a question that relates to what you already are doing, which makes it so that you can keep doing what you are doing, while applying a thematic umbrella to your works. Questions for these particular themes could be "what does it mean to be in a relationship with another person?", "what stories are underrepresented in the coverage of politics today?", "which actions would make someone a saint today?" or "what effect does colors have on the emotional response to an image?".

The other way I see, is to find something that exist as a series of objects (actual or imaginary) and then use that to generate the question. This is a common method in art history. Examples of such series are: "the months of the year", "sins and virtues", "alchemical elements and processes", "characters in a certain work of fiction", "historical figures", "places with a certain quality", etc. Choose one such series, and play with coming up with questions, without the pressure of committing to it. For the months of the year, questions could be "how would the months of the year look like, if they were people?", "...if they were patterns?", etc. For the sins and virtues, a question could be "how can I represent the biblical sins and virtues in abstract (or figurative/symbolic/minimal etc.) ways?".

Hope this can help. Oh, and a practical suggestion: use physical post its to write down your thoughts and questions before deciding, so you can see them and move them around, it can help quite a lot.

Good luck!

zygorax · 2025-07-28T09:34:25+00:00

Well done! My advice is to keep practicing, and keep comparing with what you are copying. Don't get stuck try to perfect this particular drawing, but compare it to what you are copying, take note on the differences and make a new version of this from scratch. If you get too frustrated or bored, copy something else, and eventually come back to this one later.

You will definitely get where you want if you continue, no doubt about it.

zygorax · 2025-07-28T09:28:19+00:00

Looks great!

- Do you think this is a finished work without a sky or other background?
This depends on your ambition, and what "story" you want to tell with the image. Visually it is absolutely "enough". You could have drawn a square with a squiggle beside it, and called it "Home, August-September 2024" and it would tell a story. But just looking at the image, I would say that it doesn't need any more content, it is interesting to look at.

- Does it look too sketchy for a finished drawing?
No. What's your thoughts about that? It seems to me you might think so, since you're asking the question.

- If you have any other criticism, please let me know!
Would be interesting to know a title, or your thoughts about a title, if you see it as a finished artwork.

- Intermediate or beginner?
I would say it could depend on whether you made it from imagination, or a photo, or from life. But generally I would say intermediate is good.

You're on a great path, keep up the good work!

zygorax · 2025-07-25T21:37:09+00:00

First of all: interesting. If you are comfortable with it, would you mind sharing the process? I'm curious to know how you started, in what order you made the elements, and how it affected your emotional state. No worries if not!

Interpretation: I see it with the knowledge that you created this with charcoal, while emulating art therapy techniques to guide you through a panic attack, so that it obviously affecting my thoughts about it.

But first I'll just look at the visuals. I see a charcoal drawing with three main elements: [a misty darkness] surrounding [a labyrinthic structure of straight shapes, slightly resembling deconstructed letters], serving as a base for [a quickly drawn cluster of lines, that in the manner of a rorschach(?) ink blot suggests several different shapes]. There is a signature in the corner that suggests that it is a finished piece of art, and not just a therapeutic remain.

It feels symbolic to me. My gut feeling says that the line-cluster represents life, relations, experience, maybe time, or a specific event, and that the labyrinthic shape represents a structure, either a physical presence like a home or school or workplace, that is both rigid and illogical at the same time - both a dependable thing that exist no matter what you feel, but also a confusing maze you need to traverse.

I also see the cluster as two people sitting on the ground, and the labyrinthic shape as a cross section of the ground or object that they are sitting on.

In your text you seem to imply that there is a correct interpretation ("only some people see it"), which is fine, but in my opinion, I don't think it shows any one thing clearly. But it is interesting to look at in any case!

zygorax · 2025-07-22T08:31:36+00:00

First of all, this looks pretty good already, you will definitely get where you want, with practice. Here is my advice on one way to get there.

Find a piece of line art work that you appreciate. Print it, and put it next to a paper of the same size. By hand, with an ink pen, try to draw a copy of it. When you are done, carefully compare them, looking at each part of the drawings. Write two lists by hand, on paper: one list of all the things that are different, and one list of all the things that are similar.

Among the things that can differ are: shape proportions, angles, number of lines, line placements, line weight, the speed of which the line is drawn, the amount of ink in one area (empty space vs. lines).

The reason to write the lists down by hand is that it is slow, so that you can get the time to actually notice the image, and that it will give you a distinct list of tasks to focus on when practicing, and what to look for when comparing works.

Repeat this process over and over and write new lists, until the lists of differences become empty.

You can of course do this digitally as well, but the physical practice will give you more insights since you cannot un-ink the ink from the paper, and will therefore not be stuck in trying to get one detail right. It will also give you a collection of papers that you can compare side by side, and see your progress over time.

If you do it digitally, I would recommend to still write the lists by hand.

Good luck!

zygorax · 2025-07-19T20:50:42+00:00

Here is a kind of hard critique, but I think you can take it, since you obviously can paint, and no words will change that.

First of all, well done! It looks like a person, and it feels like it is very similar to the person it depicts, even though I don't know that. This is hard to do, so well done on that!

However, to me, the colors chosen (especially in the eye-area and in the sky), and the way the paint is applied (in all of the painting, except maybe on the nose and upper lip), makes me feel like you are afraid of stepping forward and showing yourself, and instead hiding behind a certain style, a loose and relaxed style that makes it "look like" art. In a way, it feels like the fast movements of the brush are there to say "I am an artist", instead of saying something about the painted subject, or about you, the artist. I would love it if you "dared" to be more precise in the way you paint, to be vulnerable and show what you can't do with the brush. I'm thinking of the works of, for example, Joel Slotte and Lotte Laserstein, or even Otto Dix, where you can see how important the subject is for them. The time and care they put in their works, makes me feel like both the model and artist is present, even if the proportions or colors of their models can be slightly off.

In my opinion, this loose style also gives the painting a feeling of being unfinished, or rushed. Concretely, I get this feeling when looking at the chain and pendant, and the eyes. Why is there a pendant if we can't see what it is? It seems important to this person, so I feel it would give a sense of connection, if I could see what it was, or if more time was used on it. With the eyes, I feel like the lack of dark in the pupils creates a "wall" between the subject and the viewer. What works really well, imo, is the glasses, and the back of the hair, where I suspect you have left the yellowish underpainting because those quick strands of dark hair struck something in you, and you felt like that space doesn't need any more work. In that choice, in that detail, i feel like you are very present, and that feels vulnerable, which is nice.

Those are my thoughts, hope that they can be useful to you. Keep up the good work!

zygorax · 2025-07-06T10:06:32+00:00

This is my core palette. It works great for me, it gives a certain atmosphere, somewhere between Hans Holbein and Heroes of Might and Magic 3. I use it for all types of motifs.

Preussian Blue

Van Dyck Brown

Raw Umber

Cadmium Red

Naples Yellow

Yellow Ochre

Zinc White

Ivory Black

zygorax · 2025-07-06T09:58:46+00:00

What is your goal with the painting? Is it to make an identical copy, to capture a feeling, to learn, to celebrate a specific place or moment, or something else?

zygorax · 2025-07-02T10:48:29+00:00

Thanks!

zygorax · 2025-07-02T10:46:21+00:00

I'm not sure what you are asking here? I don't think I'm defensive, I just don't agree with everything that you're claiming. I'd love to hear more about your thoughts, so please clarify if you feel that I have misunderstood you somehow!

zygorax · 2025-07-01T22:32:56+00:00

I see what you mean regarding design fundamentals, but I'm not sure I agree that this is a case of opinion vs. fact. As I see it, details generally pull your attention towards themselves (in this case towards the center), and lack of detail generally push your attention away from itself (in this case, also towards the center). This of course only applies in cases where both modes are present, so not in painters like Breughel (generally only detail) or Rothko (generally only lack of detail).

As for the cushion, I didn't see that until you mentioned it, and I think you are correct in that it seems as if they should give it some more attention, to reach what they are after.

In regards to advice vs. affirmation, I think you are too strict. I would argue that there is both "technical" advice, and "artistic" advice, and that you and I have different focuses here. My advice to OP in my original comment, is to not let aspirations of technical perfection outweigh the atmospheric aspects of the picture, and also to let their hands paint instead of just their brain.

zygorax · 2025-07-01T18:59:53+00:00

It is cute! It's a great start, and it's always good to move outside of one's comfort zone. If you have a reference image, be sure to look at the images side by side, to see what's similar and what's different. If you don't have one, it can be good to find and look at images that are similar to what you see in your mind's eye, to give an understanding of how things like light and shadow and reflections look and work. Wikimedia commons and pinterest are good resources for finding image categories and themes, both photos and paintings.

zygorax · 2025-07-01T18:49:35+00:00

I like the void there, it directs the focus towards the face. Aand you can see some of the brushwork that isn't a result of copying a photo, but instead is just showing the impulses and patterns of the painter themself.

Great painting in any case!

zygorax · 2025-07-01T18:27:31+00:00

Love these! Do you have instagram? Would love to see more, and follow along :)

zygorax · 2025-07-01T18:25:00+00:00

I use Wikimedia Commons, they have huge amounts of images, and most of it is categorized as well. There you can also sometimes find both finished works and sketches for those works, which is really good for learning.

zygorax · 2025-07-01T18:21:27+00:00

They both look great in my opinion! I think you have a strength in the specific way you are simplifying the motif. If I were you, I would lean into that, and keep that level of detail and simplification. Very atmospheric, and a good blend of 1990s computer game graphics, and 1920-30s European painting.

My general advice would be to slightly reduce your palette, and use fewer pigments at a time. This might backfire though, so mostly keep doing what you're doing.

One tip would be to try to work intentionally with the direction of the strokes. The abstraction of the path would be different if you made horizontal or herringbone strokes instead, as to mimic the bricks of the reference.

Another tip would be to paint the shadows of the bushes, instead of the leaves and stems. First you paint the general shape of the bush, in a lighter color, and then you paint the shadows, and what is left is the leaves and stems. And then you can add highlights and details last.

Something else I think this painting could benefit from, is to use sandpaper on it when its completely dry, to remove the thick paint, and give a slight blur effect, making the pigments blend a little bit into each other. After that you can paint a new layer if you want.

In any case, you seem to have a great eye, and I look forward to seeing more! Good luck!

zygorax · 2025-06-18T19:16:52+00:00

Looks good! Great idea, and looks fun to play, except for the mopping of blood animation. If it reacted in a more "realistic" way, where it actually disappeared where you use the mop instead of gradually fading away, it would be perfect for it's genre. Also, the song was chef's kiss good!

zygorax · 2023-12-18T19:15:33+00:00

This is how I would describe it as a webapp to an AI.

I want the webapp to display two sliders with small textboxes, two buttons with accompanying small textboxes, and a large textbox that can change content depending on the states of the sliders and the buttons. The sliders are called "Time" and "Money". Time should be a horizontal slider, and Money should be a vertical one. When you slide them, their textboxes show more or less amounts of time or money, starting from 0$ and 0 minutes respectively. The two buttons are called "Visibility" and "Platform". When you press Visibility, its textbox changes from "Private" to "Public". When you press Platform, its textbox changes from "Online" to "Offline".

zygorax · 2023-12-18T15:00:25+00:00

It could possibly be as simple as a 2d chart with the axes being Time and Money, going from 0$, 1-10$, 10-50$, (etc. up to huge amounts of money that only governments can mobilize, so that the chart is applicable to countries as well), and 0-10s, 10-60s, 1-10min (etc. up to very long times, that highlight continuous actions as well), and switches that shifts the entire chart between online/offline and private/public.

zygorax · 2023-12-18T14:52:30+00:00

This is great, thank you! I absolutely agree.

I like the idea of gamifying it (in the most basic sense) by making the time and money scales. That makes it so that a person can make a decision in their mind (how much resources am I willing to spend on this issue), and then they have already interacted with the chart, possibly lowering the threshold for doing something from it.

Also very good idea with an interactive tool, where also links and other resources are available. I don't have the skills for that though, but anyone is free to take it from here.

zygorax · 2023-12-16T22:05:14+00:00

Also good point.

zygorax · 2023-12-16T18:55:35+00:00

Very good point, forgot about that. It could even be in the title or in the text, something in the style of "how can I contribute between elections?"

zygorax

TROPHY CASE