My book, Being and Perceiving, mixes psychology, neuroscience and philosophy. I also write nonfiction articles and bits of fiction, mainly sci-fi and horror.
So, I realised I hadn't updated the site since July last year. Since then I've put a load of new paintings up, mostly a mix of abstract stuff and portraiture. Below are a few examples. I've got a few new pieces that I'll also upload when I get the time.
You can see more of these on the paintings page. I've also been teaching myself to draw with my left hand. You can see my first few attempts below (they get progessively better, I think):
I've also been working on another album. I have six or seven tracks fairly near completed, and another handful underway, so I'll post more detailed of that in the near future. I had a bit of a mental block when I tried to get started, and decided to get round it by making some short animations and doing some music for the soundtracks. This seemed to work. You can see the two animations I made on YouTube. They're a bit weird:
I've been working on another handful of things that won't really fit properly on this website, so I'm thinking of making a blog to upload any projects not related to my art, music or writing -- again, I'll put some details up here if/when I get round to it. That's all for now.
Below are some examples of some of the portraits I've been working on over the past year. I have some others which I may upload some time soon, although I'm currently experimenting with mixing portraiture and figurative stuff into my abstract paintings, so probably won't do too many more of these.
The image below left is an influence map I made a few months ago. I think the original idea comes from fox-orian.deviantart.com -- you can read more about it and download a template at the link.
Below right is another commission; a picture of an alien abduction / autopsy that I painted for a friend.
Just finished a new wood carving. I started this about six months ago but wasn't happy with it, then decided to paint in the lines with blue woodstain about a week ago. Partly inspired by polynesian Tiki carvings and Maori facial tattoos.
A work colleague pointed out that nose was extremely phallic, which hilariously I hadn't noticed the whole time I was carving this. You can see the unintentionally sexual facial carving with my other 3D work in my sculpture gallery.
I now have quite a large batch of portraits, so I'm going to upload those fairly soon. Today I started messing around trying to make a Japanese puzzle box. I'm planning on making a set of boxes with relief carvings over them, maybe illustrating psychological motifs.
I've also just received confirmation that a story I've written, The Man with 268 Bodies, is going to be published in FutureQuake some time next year. I'll give more information out nearer the time.
Humanoid aliens are common in science fiction, but what are the odds that intelligent life – if it were to evolve on other planets – would resemble human beings? I suggest that 'intelligence' implies a human psychology, which in turn implies a humanoid body plan.
I've also recently painted my first two commissioned pieces of work, a fantasy landscape and an animal canvas:
I have some more work in the pipeline, so I'll be adding a new gallery section once I've got a few more commissions under my belt.
In other news, I've recently built myself a guitar, and started making my own effects pedals. Still early days, but I'm going to paint the guitar and then stick some photos up here. I'm also teaching myself to play, so if all goes well I'll try and incorporate some real instruments into my electronic music at some point in the future.
I've recently set up a facebook page for my art. It has galleries of my paintings, drawings and sculptures, and I'll probably also update it with info about my book or any other projects I've got on the go. You can find the page at:
I've also started painting portraits recently. Once I've got a few more completed, I'll upload a new gallery section here on the site, and put the pictures up on facebook. I'll also be taking commissions, if anyone's interested (check this space later).
There's also currently an Amazon listing up for my book, but unfortunately they've decided to spell my name "Daniele Haycock" instead of "Daniel E. Haycock", and the book isn't yet available for sale. I'll update the site with more info and a link once the kinks have been ironed out and the book is actually available.
Been going over the site and adding some new features. I'm in the process of adding sharing widgets, to make it easier to link to my content. I'm also rewriting this front page to give it more of a blog format. I also intend to create an RSS feed some time in the near future. I also plan on updating the front page whenever new content is added (i.e., articles, new pieces of artwork, etc.).
I've also started painting portraits. Once I'm happy enough with what I'm creating, I'll add a new gallery to the art section. Today I completely rehauled the writing page, to include share buttons, descriptions and thumbnails of illustrations.
In other news, I'm in the process of setting up an account as a publisher, and thus my book should be published in the next few weeks (a month at most).
The Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom has argued that, statistically, we are more than likely living inside a computer simulation. In Hinduism, the phenomenal world is said to be a mere dream in the mind of Brahman. I suggest that Bostrom's simulation hypothesis may provide a statistical argument for Hindu cosmology.
How does a skull full of firing neurons give rise to the rich tapestry of external and internal experiences that we respectively refer to as the world and the mind? This is the hard problem of consciousness.
It is often said that although we cannot prove there is a god, we also cannot prove there isn't. However, if a concept contains an inherent contradiction, it cannot be true. In effect, there must be logical constraints on god.
I recently put together this overview of the many comic book projects I've worked on over the past decade. Many of these never saw completion, for a variety of reasons, but quite a few of them did. I might upload some of the better stuff to the website at some point in the future.
Added some new sections to the site. I've uploaded some new articles, and made some digital illustrations for all of them. There's now a new digital art section that I'll be adding to as and when.
I've recently released another couple of albums of electronic music, so I'll be putting some info up about that soon-ish.
Finished the illustrations for my book a few weeks ago, so doing some final prep before I publish it. Here's a quick mock up, using the image I've made for the cover:
The puzzle ball is a series of concentric spheres, carved from a single piece of material: normally jade or ivory, but also sometimes wood. This article explains how I carved a puzzle cube from a block of hardwood.
Just a quick update to say that, along with my friend Laura, I'll have a stall at the arts and crafts fair in Middleton Hall, Milton Keynes City Centre on Saturday the 12th of March (a week this Saturday). I'll have prints and postcards for sale at cheaper prices than here on the site, and will also be displaying some of my sculptures.
Just finished updating the graphics on the site, and completely rehauled the store section. Prints, posters, MP3s and a CD of my music can also be bought via the links to the right hand side.
My debut album, Chief Engineer of a Sprained Science, was released earlier this month, and is currently available through Amazon, iTunes, eMusic and Napster. It's also available for streaming through Spotify. More details on the music page.
I also finished writing my book, Being and Perceiving, about a week ago. Still some illustrations to get finished, but it should be published some time in the next few months. More details soon.
Paintings
Drawings
Sculpture
Digital