Cut and Paste Graphic Arts Competition

This weekend I got to see a very cool graphic arts competition courtesy of my friend Mickey who helps direct the show. It's called "Cut & Paste", and it features several top-notch graphic artists specializing in 2D, 3D, and animated art. Each contestant is given a theme in advance of the show which they must represent graphically within 20 minutes live and onstage. This is not a lot of time to draw, so the pace is frantic. Each person's work is projected onto several huge screens so the audience can watch their use of the graphics programs. In the background a DJ played some dance music, making the atmosphere like that of a hip club. It was fun to watch each piece emerge in sometimes unexpected ways. In one instance a woman started off drawing an elaborate squiggle and spent half of her time decorating it with roller coaster cars and balloons. In the last five minutes of the contest she drew a giant deer head underneath, connecting the two. It then suddenly became apparent that the deer had antlers which doubled as an amusement park ride.

In the 3D contest the theme was "Double-Edged". One competitor started off drawing a very realistic-looking pistol. Midway through his time he flipped the plane of the barrel such that it pointed backwards relative to the trigger. In other words, anyone firing the gun would shoot themselves. When this sort of trick happened the crowd went nuts. Are you reading this, Marc? You really should try out for this event, or at least catch a show. Check their touring locations.