hiatus

Hey guys! Things have been really busy for me lately. The training for my serving job at PF Chang's took some serious time, and now they are scheduling me EVERY DAY. I really don't like it at all, but I have only done it a few nights so hopefully it will get better and the money will start to make it worth it.

I don't think I mentioned it on here before but I am taking one class towards my MFA right now. I am giving the Academy of Art's online program a try, being an internet geek, it seemed like a perfect fit for me. Right now it's just a color theory class but GOOD GOD it's time consuming! When I originally signed up, I thought I would take one or two classes at a time and just peck away at my masters since it's something I have always wanted to get, but now I have been flirting with the idea of going "balls to the wall" (as David put it) and going full time so it doesn't take 6 years to finish. This of course means I won't be able to pursue freelance stuff as much as I would want to. So I'm perplexed. Maybe I should forget about PF Chang's and I should just live off of student loans and try to pursue freelance jobs in addition to my school workload.

Bah! I guess I'll see how the rest of this semester goes. Oh, and I'm leaving for Disney World with my family Wednesday morning and won't be back until Saturday night. I will try to do some sketches and stuff on the airplane so I can whip something out for the Halloween project when I come back - I am going to try to make it simple. I still haven't finished my self portrait and I haven't even transferred my ice cream one to board yet - I'm feeling very behind! I blame PF Chang's.

okay, enough bitching and moaning, I have some homework to do!

sarah uses bright colors

Hey guys,
Here are some sketches for something I'm working on. I'm doing a business card/logo design for a lady who's updating her massage studio. She wanted something really psychedelic and colorful. It's been 100 times harder than I thought it would be...fonts are super hard. She's going to be printing these on like a brown cardstock. Could use some suggestions! Thanks

Sketchbook

Hey guys, sorry I've been a bit out of the circle, work has been crazy -- lots of overtime. I have been working in my sketchbook, so here are a few scans from that to show that I am still in the art biz. Some of the local musicians like my sketch stuff and I got a really nice write up on myspace at www.myspace.com/bongosteve. So that's the news from Toledo, hope you like everything.

Possible Assignment

Hey what about Erika's holiday idea?? It's not in the 100's here anymore, it dropped to the 90's...brrrr, I'm feeling the holiday spirit. :)
We could do something for any holiday coming up. Yay Halloween!

Hey all!

Well, these are just some quick sketches I did awhile ago. I use my quill pen all of the time, I love it. There is a freshness and boldness to it. I dip the pen in the ink and have to stick with it. Just like George said.. you have to commit to a line, once it is down on the paper you commit to it and use the next lines to complete the drawing. I need to sketch EVERY DAY, that way I will get better at the anatomy if I continue to practice!

I miss all of you guys and thank you so much for this blog, I look forward to completing some projects with you guys, keep the assignments coming, sorry I have missed the past couple.

p.s-I have some self portrait pen and ink sketches, but they are "so-so" on the resemblence,.. Maybe I will post them anyway.

Stuff

So I am most likely not going to make the deadline this time, sorry, but this is what I've got so far. I've been doing lots of research and spending lots of time at the library, and they have tons of illustrated books on "famous people in history" for kids, and most of them are white men (no offense to all the lovely men in our lives :) . Kids need female role models too. I looked all over to find a famous women in history book and found nothing for kids, so I decided I'd work on my own book. The children's illustration society says it's good to make a book dummy with a few fully completed illustrations to show publishing houses that you can do that, so that's what I'm working on. I'm really really excited about it.
This is the first one, Sacagawea, the famous Native American woman who traveled across the country with Lewis and Clark as a guide, translator, and symbol of peace to other tribes....she did all this after just having had a baby, which she carried with her in a papoose across the whole country. She is super cool. So this is like a two-page layout. The left side will be all very bold, then the right will fade away into a landscape of the Rockies, where her name and a short biography will be.
Sorry this is so long, Please please let me know what you think about the sketch and the book as a whole! Miss you guys!
P.S. I went to Austin City Limits Music Festival all weekend and it was rocking! I saw MUSE cat! They were great, and I saw the Flaming Lips and Cat Power and lots of fun people I want to do portraits of later!

Also

I am working on my aunt's movie poster. The film is about her father's suicide and how it affected the family. I would love to hear your input on the layout of the poster too.
Thanks!

Update!

Hi Everyone!!
I am super busy at Ringling. I am taking Illustration 1, Illustration Media, Figure Drawing, Painting, and the Business of Art and Design. Our assignment for Illustration media was to illustrate a fish (from a reference photo) using pen and ink. We had to include a letter. I don't know how well this image will show up, but there is a K in the lower left corner. I am working on my self portrait, all of yours look wonderful!!! I am also excited about the children assignment...mine will just be a little delayed. I will try and write more later, I miss you all! Please tell me what you think of the fish.

i have a new illustration website!

yes, it's true. it's long overdue, but www.hollycamp.com is completely redone. many thanks to my friend jason [www.getyourlefton.com] for stepping up to help someone who hates dreamweaver, flash, ect.

let me know what you think!
:]

Ice Cream

I have to admit I have been procrastinating on this project. Here is my thumbnail for the Young'ns project. It is set at the ice cream store in Silver Bay, my family vacation spot for my whole life, where I had spent 2 weeks post Academy. I took a whole bunch of pictures of these kids eating ice cream on the porch at sunset. I asked the parent's permission to photograph them and one of the girls was super shy and kept trying to hide from the camera. So my problem is that my reference isn't very good, and I don't know of any children that I can use.

This sketch isn't very developed yet - I need to look at it like we did the last project; just flat shapes of value, and then design from there.

how is everyone else doing?

update 9/15/06 - more developed sketch:

An Update

Well, I've been reading all the posts and sometimes responding to them during my move to the Washington, DC, area. It's been a lot of work and I haven't done any art.... the Academy feels like a dream, I'm sad to say. The good news is that my employer in CA offered to have me telecommute from my new home in Alexandria, VA, so I haven't had to find a new job and I can pretty much work my own hours. The bad news is that since I'm working out on the East coast I'm under greater scrutiny and so I have to work harder. Most of you know already, but in case you don't... I work as an editor for a prominent publisher/electronic resource provider for historical research. I specialize in modern European history, particularly German-language sources, though I work daily in world history across several languages and time periods. While it gives me my history and language "fix," it's pretty draining. Eventually I'll figure out how to fit in my art time. I'm eager to get things going and participate in our "assignments" for this blog. My wife, Megan, is in an incredible grad program at GW, studying security policy and having great experiences.

Keep up the great work, everyone! I look forward to increasing my participation and I hope to see more of you "silent" members getting involved. Let me know if any of you visit the DC/Northern Virginia area.

blah

final sketch?

took me a while to revise the sketch, i think it is for the better. at least i hope so, i gotta get cranking on the final, needs to be done tonight so the flyers can be passed out over the weekend. met the guys at their show last night ( see previous flyer) and to my surprise they are a very good band. they kicked ass, im happy to be working with them. lemme know what you think.

murals

Here are the murals from one of the rooms I worked on this week and last. They've been a lot of fun. A few of the design decisions are my boss's (the silly lion coming out of the crown, and the dragon's little hand...which is backwards). But the rest of them are mine. The little boy we did them for really likes them. In the background of the dragon mural, I painted him rescuing a princess, which he thought was awesome. Some time soon I think I get to do a Paris scene, which should be fun. Let me know what you think...I hope they're not too cheesy. (P.S. there is a big glare on the dragon...that's from a window...I didn't paint it like that :) (P.P.S. The S on the shield is for the little boy's name, which is Samir.)

upcoming show

new poster for another upcoming show on the 12th. tried going in a different direction. thought by drawing the text i could have more creative control and would be able to make it integrate better. i was right, but after scanning it i noticed some problems that i thought i would be able to make work. this one is going to take some time. ha. lemme know what you think.

Scanner??

Hey everyone,
I was wondering if anyone had a recommendation for a scanner to buy. My parent's want to get me one for my b-day coming up. I've been trying to find one with a large scanning window thing...but most of them are 8x10's. Remember I have a PC (Blah, I know....but it's what we've got). Any suggestions???

sept.7 stone lucy poster finished?

so i think that this poster is done. for just being a show poster i got pretty conceptual with it, it would take too long to explain. but the main idea was to have something eye catching. dont know if i did it or not. i think i could use some design advice for sure. it would help me greatly. so lemme know what you think. would you see this show?

SP BLAH

well i bombed this one. ran out of time, had to work to much, didnt like where my first idea was going. i did a drawing in my book (first image) and then decided to try to throw some quick color on top of it(second image) i think the drawing is alright but the colors look like shit. hopefully i can manage the children assignment better.

retrato del gato

Thanks for the comments on my sketch the other day. After checking it against my reference...
1) my nose was just a tad too big
2) my ear wasn't far enough back
3) my forehead was sloped too much
4) my brow bone jutted out too far
5) my chin was a little bit too fat
6) I think something was wrong with the lips but i can't think of what.

It will always amaze me that the difference of 1/16 of an inch can make or break a portrait.

Sarah, I didn't get the comment about the big curl of hair until I had finished the drawing :) Oops! Hopefully I incorporated it well enough. I didn't do a wash over this, maybe I should. I am really digging the right side of the painting... the left side is just a tad too primary for me, even though I used a lot of grays. I was looking at a Cezanne painting, Madame Cezanne in a Red Armchair. This image from the 'net doesn't do it justice: My book pictures it very rich with LOTS of grass green.

comments are appreciated, I wouldn't mind doing some finishing touches on this.