Daniel D. Teoli Jr.

You imply I should not accept the budget I have to work with. A dedicated artist finds a way to get the job done, if it can be done, irrespective of critics and low $$ Uli. That is why I run ads, I let the person, that is willing to do the job, contact me. I let them look over the work and see if it fits their needs. Here is a piece I wrote a while back called: 'Is it easier for the rich photog?' Gives you a rundown on how $$ can and cannot help a creative. If $$ was the only deciding factor, then only the richest creatives would create the best work. But we all know $$ only goes so far Uli. nsfw https://danielteolijr.wordpress.com/2015/10/08/is-it-easier-for-the-rich-photog/

Thanks Phil for the feedback. What broke the back of my Argentinian artist was a 5 panel job for $65 I gave him. Usually he did single panel jobs with little issues. Most of my jobs would not make a material difference in a person time schedule since they are quick and simple. But he did write me a month later saying he got a 'real' internet art job in Europe and was having trouble getting my art done. Here is the Argentinian's piece I commissioned to honor Spike Lee's 30th anniversary of Do The Right Thing. It may have been $45 - $55...can't remember. https://archive.org/search.php?query=do the right thing teoli Of course, some people will say my piece is no honor. To them I say...you don't like my art...go pay for your own goddamn art! Anyway, love comix art. If I was rich or even slightly well off you should see what I could produce. I owe it all to Crumb. Plus he was a major influence in my archival work. Crumb is an outstanding archivist in his own right. Crumb is the godfather of it all.

An interesting project I'd like to undertake someday is to give artists the same instructions and see what they produce. I've done it in small ways with their initial test jobs. And really, it does not take that much $$ to do it. But I don't have excess $$ to devote to 'fun' things like that. It is either do fun tests or do the actual art projects. We sometimes see the same thing with photogs that shoot the same subject in a shootout. And of course movie remakes. But movie remakes are not really comparable since tech and time changes things so much. For recent test jobs I had the artists work on my Greta Thunberg 'How Dare You' series. (Sorry, can't post em here due to content and politics.) One male artist was given a script of Greta by candlelight...but he flaked out on his first test job. Why do they waste my time? Everything needed is given up front. No mystery. Why accept the job if you know you are a flake? Maybe that is the issue...flakes don't know they are flakes. Next month when I get more $ I will give the 'Greta by candlelight' job to someone else.

Now Uli, what you and Max propose is that no one that works for a low fee is reliable or does good work. Sure, Crumb is fantastic! No debate there. But you have to accept your budget and work within it. And even so, how many times do we hear about flaky and rich actors and artists? Other option is not to do anything unless rich. In my case, my lifetime 51 year body of work would have never happened if I had to wait to get rich before I did anything. nsfw https://danielteolijr.wordpress.com/2017/08/30/its-the-birthday-of-american-cartoonist-r-crumb/ Most of what I commission is underground comix. When I mention Crumb I am not comparing his technique to what I commission. My comparison is with the subject matter. Crumb is the godfather of underground comix. nsfw https://danielteolijr.wordpress.com/2016/08/28/when-history-must-distill-what-defines-underground-comix-into-the-creative-genius-that-is-the-alpha-and-the-omega-of-underground-comix-there-can-be-no-argument-dispute-or-question-that-name-is-cr/ And even though my art is produced on a low budget, it is decent work. Especially when you consider the price.

The Argentinian artist used to write me every few weeks looking for work. I get lot of comix ideas, but don't get ideas as fast as he wanted to work. I used to ask him, you got any ideas? Tell me and I'll pay you to do it if I like it. For over a year we worked together and he never had 1 idea. When I would look at his portfolio nothing impressed me. Yes, it was decent art, but boring material as far as I was concerned. Some artists may have talent, but may be lacking in creative abilities. Same way as I have some talent for creative ideas but lack the technical skills. One thing I've noticed about artists, and I learned this in the early 70's when I used to sneak into the old Art Center School in L.A. to sit in on some of the classes. The natural genius always surpassed the ones that tried to buy their abilities. Almost all of the natural genius's work were masterpieces when it came time for the weekly critique. Whereas the non-genius would sometimes produce something great, but you could not bank on it...their work was more of a crapshoot. The genius works natural and relaxed whereas non-genius has to work hard and force their work. I see this in my own photo / cine' work. My still work is relaxed and easy...it is as easy as breathing. My cine' work is not natural, it is hard, takes concentration and full of fear of failure. Most of the time when I take on a still related project there is no doubt it will be good. I know my still abilities in the areas I work in. I can't say the same about my cine' work. That sums up the difference between the 2 genres....relaxed and natural vs forced and unnatural.

That is great Leanne! Glad you like them. While it is too early to say, the lady artists may be more reliable then the men. Time will tell. And my sampling is small, so nothing conclusive. Another interesting thing I've noticed is most of the artists that apply for the jobs are not in America. Looks like American artists don't want to work for low $$. Most of my jobs pay $25 for a single panel and think I paid $65 for the 4 cell phone people job. I tell them do it digital and easy. I give them a pretty free reign to work as they like. I give them the basic story line then let them go. That is part of the fun seeing what they come up with. So I am not demanding or nitpicky. But American artists just are not interested. I had a very good man from Colombia. But he only lasted a couple of comix job. He was an excellent artist, but took way too long. I once gave a comix job when Trump was going to be censored by Congress. Before the art was inked they had changed it to an impeachment. So the art had to be reworked. Political comix are timely. Timeliness is a problem with flaky artists.

I have dealt with lots of artists over the years. From painters to draftsmen to comix artists. For the last few years it has been comix artists. I routinely run ads for artists and a number apply for the jobs. I review their work and many times give them a sample job for $20 - $25 to get going. The jobs are nothing too complex, but many of them flake out and don't even do the first job. Or if they do the first job it takes them weeks and the time agreed to is within 3 or 4 days. Just terrible. I' don't have a lot of $$ to throw at the art projects. But I have many great comix ideas, I'm of the school of Robert Crumb. I just can't draw, so I hires artists to do my ideas. I was working long term with a Argentinian artist for over a year. But then he flaked out. Now I got 2 gals I'm working with. One is from Poland, the other one from who knows where. But they seem to be doing good with the jobs. The gals work in a little different style than male artists. I didn't think I'd like women artists, thought they would make the art too girly. And some of them do. But so what, I have a wide variety of likes when it comes to art. I'd give you a sample to illustrate my 'too girly' point, but it is hardcore XXX and it may not go over well here, plus it is political. So just take my word for it. Here is one from the Polish artist on the coronavirus. nsfw https://archive.org/search.php?query=Opening The Mail During Coronavirus Dagger Here is a series I am working on called Cell Phone People. The old Argentinian artist did them last year. nsfw https://archive.org/search.php?query=cell%20phone%20people%20series%20nano The artists don't have to be super reliable. Just be half-ass reliable is all I ask. The Polish gal is going to get me an animation next month when I get more $$. She is making a pig pop out of a bag. I hope to use it in my films. A 'pig in a poke' production type of thing. Huge % of my films are found and bought blind. Hence they are pigs in a poke.

May Day used to be a big deal. Glad the filmmaker devoted 36 seconds to preserving history. Mount De Chantal was subsequently shut down and demolished in 2011. https://archive.org/search.php?query=Mayday Celebration At Mount De Chantal

For the last month I've been archiving hundreds of hours of talk radio, news radio and TV pertaining to the coronavirus. I bugged out of NYC a long time ago. No plans to go back in the foreseeable future. I'm deep in the rustbelt. Not many people round here to take photos of. And even so, do we need any more photos of people with masks on? I decided to spend my social documentary time recording an archive of unscoped audio airchecks of how the coronavirus disaster unfolds. Here are some samples. Have recorded hundreds of hours. Probably this week will be my last week more or less recording. We will see. I'm getting burned out with the project. I got ADD. https://archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A"teoli+coronavirus" PS..if you use any of the audio for projects...give me some credit!

Working on archive for most part. Biz as usual, no rest. I work year round day and night. Just more stress trying not to get virus when I go out for food a couple times a week. Been making good progress with Fredericks of Hollywood archive. Have completed a few thousand scans so far. About 65% done. Also working on a sod house archive from 1890s. Hope to make a video about the sodbusters. About 35% done. Then have many thousand scans to PP. Working on many other small projects, too many to name. Trying to spend a little more time with exercise. Back went out 4 weeks ago. I was using a copy stand shooting oversize art for a few hours on the floor. That fixed my back good. Today is first day it has been slightly better. At morning can hardly get out of bed from back pain. I drool over getting an adjustable work table someday. For most of my life I have worked on oversize projects on the floor. I live a life of endless work. Can't blame anyone but me...I took it all on. I am closing out some areas of the archive as I have to face the facts that I may never get to working with it as my years and health are running out. No use adding more fuel to the proverbial fire. If I had more money maybe I could hire some help. But hiring people has it's own problems. I need to start spending more time on health...so I can get a few more years to get some of this work done. Glad you are all relaxing. Everyone looks good! Now is the time for you to get some sleep. When you get old it is harder to sleep. Your brain is like an overworked, jammed up computer. Sorry can't post photos of work samples. My kb limit is too low. Best regards to all...stay safe.

Doug, can't answer your question. I can only relate what the late Robby Müller had said in an interview. Even if it was a large street scene Müller liked to light the entire scene so he needed to make the least amount of cuts. He said every time you stopped the camera for a cut to set up a new shot, you lose the flow of energy...or something to that effect. Good luck!

I hope to do a film on the sodbusters. Similar to my previous Cotton Pickers film. I tried to get you a photo of a sodbuster family with animal pelts hanging to cure on their sod house and plants growing out their roof, but no matter how I tried I could not get it under 30KB to post here. This article will give you a rundown on sodbusters. It is fascinating stuff! https://truewestmagazine.com/the-sodbusters-historian/

Someone sent me an email trying to sell me hard drives. They said March 31 was world backup day. I never heard of it, but it is true. https://www.google.com/search?nfpr=1&sxsrf=ALeKk03SI132ZYhAVQkSKvO80Cyk4kOaAw:1585660485770&q=world+backup+day&spell=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiciPTP5cToAhWOWM0KHcekD9AQBSgAegQIDhAm&biw=960&bih=687 https://blog.macsales.com/43702-we-bet-you-didnt-know-that-your-hdds-or-ssds-may-need-exercise-too/ As I've told you before...put it on M-disc if you want permanence.

I need a 1/4 - 20 standard tripod thread one inch riser. Acratech makes a nice one but it can't be adapted top and bottom to 1/4 - 20.

OP, one of my late mentors used to say he didn't like the camera work to over power the subject. In other words he liked the photography to be invisible. But that is just one person's opinion. Now, the average Jane or Joe may not know or care because they don't have a trained eye to notice unless things are very extreme and in your face. With cine' work you can develop a story over time. With still photos you have to do it all with one image. But whether still or cine', many of us use tools to one degree or another so we can use to call attention to our image.….high or low contrast, HDR, grain, color whether muted, bold or selective, BW, sharpness, diffusion, composition, bokeh, lighting, subject matter, etc. And with cine' work you have many other tools to use with camera movement.