Is honesty the best policy?

A good companion.

More and more I have decided that this first piece is my test piece. A huge gigantic test strip. I want to see just how far I can take a pack of these BIC ink pens, not used traditionally for art. The medium often times sets that bar for how the public will value an art piece but I don't want the medium to set the bar in this project for two reasons. One I love to draw not paint and two I am hoping that the weight of the illsutrations will pull people in so successfully that they can't help but respect it. I live in what some would call the ghetto. But the ghetto has a lot more to offer than many in the DelCo think. I've decided that the medium should reflect that train of thought. The least of these becomes the greatest :)

Still the simplicity of the figures slightly concern me yet then again it may be necessary for them to seem not so serious and threatening. A colleague of mine referred to it as a "cartoon". I'm not sure what this means in terms of how seriously it will be taken by the public. I want it to have a "political cartoon-ish" feel so I guess I shouldn't over think it. 

The chaos in the back is tremendous and will only become more hectic as each tentacle is developed and the bricks are flying all over the place. I'm realizing that not only is there tension between the static poses of the figures versus the organic energy of the crushing buildings in the back but there is also a serious contrast between the limited tonal changes in the figures versus the varying gradations within the background. Do I want to continue this trend? Probably so in order for it to read as intentional and not a mistake. If there is anything that can hurt an art series is when you have something in it that reads as a flat out mistake. LOL "It must always be intentional." And I don't mean just in the way that YOU feel about your art but also in the way that others perceive it. I honestly do not understand artist who claim that their work is produced for themselves and not the public yet they want the public to affirm their art. LOL Being honest with myself about what I want out of this process I would say... I want to get some of the worse thoughts about where I live off my chest and then I want to illustrate what I believe we could be collectively. But is honesty the best policy? I guess if I am willing to take the criticism and own the hard stuff that I plan to illustrate then it should be alright. Right?