Vuinnardenkornlish

Taps

2008-06-05T13:37:00.000-04:00

This blog is dead.

call for entries!!!

2008-03-18T18:05:00.002-04:00

Hi guys!
Sorry it's been so long! I hope everyone is doing well and keeping busy; the work on the site looks great! I wanted to let you all know about a call for entries for the Richmond Illustrators Club 2nd Annual Juried Show. Last year it was a "regional mid-Atlantic" show, but we got such a large response, that this year it's open to everyone, everywhere. You guys should definitely enter! It went so well last year, and with the art directors, ect that we will be specially inviting [and mailing free drink tickets to] it's a good opportunity to try and get some important people to see your work. Some people definitely got gallery work as a direct result of the show, and we want everyone to have that opportunity! Below is an email the club sent out with lots of info; please email me at h_camp@hotmail.com if you have any questions.

Thanks!
Holly
www.hollycamp.com
[updated Jan 20008]
___

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to give a reminder of the Richmond Illustrators Club 2nd Annual Juried Show, and the fact that we are currently accepting entries! Entries are due by April 5th, so start getting your favorite work together now! This is going to be a great show -- it will be held at Ghostprint Gallery, and it will open with June's First Friday Artwalk on Broad Street. We're also honored to have some really great judges this year -- Anita Kunz [www.anitakunz.com], Greg Swearingen [www.gregswearingen.com], and Josh George [www.joshgeorge.com] have all agreed to be a part of our show. We will be awarding gold, silver, and bronze places, as well as The Phil Meggs Award for Excellence in Design. Entry forms and more info are available at www.richmondillustratorsclub.blogspot.com. Check out more about the gallery at www.ghostprintgallery.com.

Katie McBride and Holly Camp were recently interviewed by MashUp, the Richmond Time's Dispatch's video summary of what's going on about town, to talk about this show and illustration in general. Go to www.timesdispatch.com to see the archived video if you missed it the first time around, or go directly to http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/entertainment/mashup.html.

Last year's show was a great success, and we're excited about outdoing it this year. Please be a part of this show! Enter your work to be seen by our specially invited art directors, gallery owners, art buyers, ect. Please spread the word to everyone you know and to everyone you don't know. This is a great event for Richmond, and we'd love to include everyone that we can.

Thanks!
The Richmond Illustrators Club

Active Minds Poster Contest

2008-02-28T16:11:00.000-05:00

I won this contest at school! It is a poster that promotes mental health on college campuses through awareness. 8x10 watercolor and ink.

Spike Lee portrait

2008-01-30T13:08:00.000-05:00

Spike Lee came to Sarasota to speak. I couldn't meet him, but he got it through his manager.
8"x10" scratchboard

30 Faces

2007-11-29T18:36:00.000-05:00

Here they are!
Lindsay: acrylic. Fran: micron pen. Mike Rowe: oil rub (used him twice!). Pamela: crayon. John: digital. Cat: oil. Sally: torn paper. Mike: charcoal. Kevin: ballpoint pen. Matt S: sequins! Abby: conte crayon. Jihad: watercolor pencil. Katie: fingerpaint. Kyle: chalk. Jordan: pastel. Kirk: colored pencil. Sarah: watercolor. Nick: value scale markers. Brian: froot loop dust. Sarah: thread. Perry: stamps. Erika: gauche. Jasmine: marker. Keith: scratchboard. Me: lino cut. Andrea: wood with staining markers. Jesse: carbon copy. Mike: stencil. James: oi pastel. Matt C: graphite.

Thanks for the reference photos, and forgive me if I did not do a flattering likeness--time and materials were against me!

Hallmark Card Contest

2007-11-26T18:07:00.000-05:00

Here is my entry for the contest.

Hallmark Card Contest

2007-11-22T15:31:00.000-05:00

This is extremely short notice, but they just sent it to us at school.

www.hallmark.com/you

Fahrenheit 451 Cover

2007-11-20T18:25:00.001-05:00

We had to read the book and re-do the cover. I used acrylic, oil, and string for the cage bars. Unfortunately after I finished it, and after we had the crit, I realized that the books didn't need to be birds. It was also suggested that I stack cages up the whole way, more like a city.

Mike Rowe: Dirty Jobs

2007-11-19T13:19:00.000-05:00

I love watching the Discovery Channel, especially the show Dirty Jobs hosted by Mike Rowe. They are having a portrait contest and you can submit until Dec 5, and the winner will be announced Dec 19. It is a really great show! Here is my entry with the good ol' oil rub technique and collage garbage.

Speaking of Portraits

2007-11-18T23:27:00.000-05:00

Good evening all,
Lately i keep focusing on the likeness of a figure that it feels like i have lost the ability to distort from my imagination. I wanted to fix that. So i am on the road to recovery thanks to the help of the Photo Booth distort features.
I am very much looking forward to the 30 Ports project of yours Heather.
till next time
Cheers
Brian

two exciting things:

2007-11-15T17:55:00.001-05:00

Pratt's assignment is to do thirty faces, 5"x5" each in thirty different mediums. I would love to do portraits of all of you! Also, medium ideas would help a lot, I couldn't come up with more than twenty. If you want to get your portrait done (the sooner the better!) just send a high resolution, well-lit photo of yourself to me at heather.heckel@gmail.com

Other exciting thing: I made myself a website!! It is HeatherHeckel.com Please let me know what you think! And I have some new things on my blog, which is also under news on my website.

Hope all is well! Miss everyone!

it's been a while

2007-11-08T15:07:00.000-05:00

Hello my friends,

the activity on this blog has certainly died down. I have been posting my own stuff on my little blog so I have neglected this one. I have been working on a few things that I thought I would share:

First of all, I have started an ambitious project called 99 Paintings of Beer on the Wall. I have been wanting to learn oil painting for a long, long time, so I thought I should just pick a subject matter and go with it. I chose beer! I love beer and I always find them interesting - bottle shapes, beer color, labels, bottle caps, the light shining through the beer.... Plus, I'm not gonna lie, people wouldn't mind owning a painting of a beer they like so they are marketable. Unfortunately, this also means that I am making the paintings themselves rather large, so they are taking a long time to do! Here's one I did for my brother. I haven't figured out how to photograph them so all I have is shitty scans, I swear this one looks pretty darned good in real life:

I also completed a cool piece for a company called Terressentials. This was supposed to go on their shampoo bottles, but they put a halt on the label redesign project so I'm not sure if it's going to be used. It was still a fun project and I like the way it turned out:

And finally, another illustration for Louisville Magazine. This was for an article that dealt with how boys and girls learn differently and how some public schools might switch to same sex classrooms.

I am also working on an illustration for Realms of Fantasy magazine, but it will be a while before I can post it. I am enjoying the illustration work, but I'm also enjoying learning new things and experimenting. I still think that learning to keep a sketchbook is the most valuable thing I learned at the Illustration Academy.

So what has everyone else been getting into? The Society of Illustrators show is in Febrary - see Erika's post below - but I don't think i am going to be able to get to New York this year. My cousin's getting married in Louisville 2 weeks after the Gala in New York and I just can't swing both trips. Such a bummer.

Digital Collage #2

2007-10-04T10:50:00.000-04:00

Morning to you all,
Most of the art i have been working on as of late has been for other people. I am looking forward to doing some personal pieces here soon but right now i am happy to stay busy with projects period. I have been working on a collage for a buddy of mine. His wife asked that i design a shirt for his 30th birthday. The time frame (Sept 21- Oct 2) lent itself to digital printing. Again, the content is more for the client, Set Chaucer to Stun is what my friend will say when the hound starts howling when someone comes in to the house or knocks.
Here are the progressions from initial proof to final.
The colors are just blocked in here on the first version. Mostly to make sure i was not clear out in left field in my thinking.

The second proof i ventured a little further out into left field with the coloring of the hound. i wanted to tone down the type so that it wasn't so over powering in the black.
I feared that with the new treatment it would not read well due to the light colors that now made up the text. the back and forth of the dark reds and light oranges kept messing with my eyes. I felt that it was fun but hard to read. The purple hound also was a little over powering. It all started out more monochromatic and slowly crept out of hand. The blues and purples were meant to complement, but i feel detracted from the piece. I did enjoy going back in and softening the blocked in colours. Adding nuances to the background and areas surrounding the hound.

So here in the final i toned down the purple hound and found a happy medium in the text that stood out but didn't overpower the rest of the piece. Over all it was a fun project.

cheers
Brian

figure paintings

2007-09-17T21:49:00.000-04:00

These are oil paintings done in class over 3-5 hours, 11x14

Digital collage

2007-09-16T23:50:00.000-04:00

Evening chaps,
Been real busy keep the bills paid and the boss happy! Also been working on a collage for my aunt. She sent a bunch of picture to put together for her and her husbands 25th year anniversary. i had meant to post it during the process but got lost in deadlines and all. here are some screen shots of the collage for my aunt. It came about after i had built a collage as a wedding proposal for my wife. My aunt liked it an wanted something similar for her husband. To keep it flat so i could mail it and let her frame it the way she wanted i did it digitally.

Also have been looking through blogs and finding al kinds of great things. Don't know how many of you are type geeks, but i stumbled on to this site last night and thought i would share.

http://www.typeisart.com/
I have been falling in love with hand drawn type for some time now. I think one of the first people to have really started that passion of type is john hendrix.
http://johnhendrix.com/
I am sure that some of you have seen his work around, he and Sterling went to school together for a couple of years. Anyhow, the more i began to draw type the more i found others that were doing as well.
Misprinted type has some hand drawn type illustrations that are amazing and some collage that hint at a time just at the back of our memories
http://www.misprintedtype.com/v3/
Can't seem to get there images to load, so go check it out with the links above.

The Bathroom monkeys was a card i did for a friend of mine. For what it worth it was a birthday card. Long story.

Cheers
Brian

Society of Illustrators

2007-09-13T01:06:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone,
The Society of Illustrators just annouced the editorial gala will be held on Friday February 22, 2008. Get the date on your calendars and start planning for another amazing time in Manhattan!! I'll post some new art soon, work is crazy, as usual. You are all doing such incredible work, talk to you guys soon. Miss you all!!!

ok, now that I have a little more time...

2007-09-11T20:47:00.000-04:00

Pratt is amazing! Here are two paintings that were assigned in the first week, both 20''x30'', acrylic (the oranges and reds are a little more intense than the actual paintings); they had to be figure in space.
Since then we have had to do two 16x20 paintings of the same image shot in black and white (figure in space again), then make up or borrow the palettes, one being in the daytime, one at night, but we must use the same reference for both. This entails pushing the values and playing with color temperature, etc. (I will post those later)
He is also reassigning the first Academy assignment of just basic color and value.
In addition to that, we have 15 sketchbook pages due each week... this keeps us drawing non-stop! He wants figures in space, with value.
I will try and keep up with posting, but just as one thing is critiqued, we have something else due the next class!

our next assignment

2007-09-11T18:42:00.000-04:00

I will write more when I get a chance (Pratt is working us hard!)
Due Friday we have to paint a funny face taken in class, but paint from a grayscale version and borrow or make up our own palette. Does anyone have any ideas for who would use a wild palette (Ren & Stimpy the old Nickelodeon cartoon comes to mind)? Cat, who was that guy you liked with the bold colors, he worked really big I think? Anyway, I'll post more later. Hope everyone is doing well!!

http://gallery.mac.com/georgepratt/100035/Photo-20214.jpg?derivative=medium&source=web.jpg&type=medium

Everyone hanging in there?

2007-09-06T23:38:00.000-04:00

I'm sure everyone is really busy, Just wanted to throw a sketch out there and say Hi!

I've been busy with life.. you know..working and surfing. -- get to sketch with the pencil practically every day! Working on logos, drawing out ideas. Working with other artists... we motivate each other even for outside of work projects... Its pretty fun and sometimes work is work.. Still working on some personal paintings at home.... not as many as I would like... I need to get a show together and just do it! Its always going to be busy! One painting is just of pattern... I'll post it when I'm done, its a watercolor- so when I finally choose on some colors- It should be a quick one..

How is everyone? Whatcha working on these days?

Google & Blogger

2007-08-29T22:10:00.000-04:00

What do you all think about this?

http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9768298-7.html

Portrait Commission

2007-08-23T15:37:00.001-04:00

Okay so this is the final sketch for the portrait commission I've been working on. It's a little messy from all the cutting and pasting, etc...yay tracing paper! This is the sister of the woman who commissioned the portrait. She passed away, so they wanted this to be a really peaceful, spiritual portrait, and they had liked an angel painting I did a while ago. So we decided to have a bird flying out of her hand and a sky as the background.
Please let me know what you think, and how I can make it better. I really want this to be a special portrait for them.
Thanks guys!

some painting

2007-08-22T22:22:00.000-04:00

I've been doing a lot of painting lately... Here's the latest.... some pro bono work.

What's everyone been up to?

New Movie

2007-08-11T21:05:00.000-04:00

Here's what looks like a great movie coming out that I know all of you will want to see.... especially Chris.

The Christmas Cottage

final version (i think!)

2007-08-10T12:20:00.001-04:00

Any final suggestions?

paper mosaic

2007-08-05T14:29:00.001-04:00

Hello all! This piece is an 8x10 self-portrait I am trying to finish before school starts (Aug 22). I think that one of my biggest weaknesses is backgrounds and whimsical items that are not present in reference! help! This is mostly complete, but any suggestions for background elements, shapes, colors, borders, etc. would be much appreciated.

Any suggestions?

2007-08-01T08:19:00.001-04:00

Hello.

Sorry I haven't posted much lately. I just moved again. This time minutes away from the beach :)

So here's the illustration I have been working on. Any suggestions? I tried to clean up the type a bit, but for some reason it is still bothering me... Also what do you guys think of the bottom land area? I think I should gone darker with the foreground and lighter in the background... silly me... I have a couple more days after work to paint on it, so any critique would be cool!

Hope everyone is well. I seem to be more settled now and ready to keep painting.... I am really liking the fabric media.

Cupcakes

2007-07-25T12:43:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone,
It's been a while, but I'm but from vacation and finally had a some time before work to paint the other day. This weekend though I'm going to a painting-a-day workshop by Carol Marine: www.carolmarine.blogspot.com Check out her work, she is one of my favorite daily painters. So hopefully this will get me re-energized! I'm so excited!!
I've also got another small good news. I got a portrait commission! I had an artist day where I painted all day at the Starbucks I work at, and one women wanted a portrait of her sister, who passed away. She hasn't decided if she is going to get just a flat painting, or a shadow-box style one yet. We're going to do it kind of Renaissance style, very spiritual, with the gold halo and such. I'm really excited about the chance to work on it! I keep you updated!

Lukas Rossi Painting

2007-07-22T12:55:00.000-04:00

I went to this musician's show on Saturday night. If you want to hear some of his music you can go to www.lukasrossi.tv Let me know what you think!!

second posting... second sitting

2007-07-19T22:36:00.000-04:00

thanks a lot everyone for the comments. i am glad that maybe everyone is getting something from this. it certainly helps me to talk about what i am doing as it allows me to approach the painting process analytically.

cat- that self portrait was a 20 minute digital. i appreciate the kind words.
sarah- i wish that i was a smarter man and had a disposable palette. that would make my life easier but alas i am an idiot ;)
matt and ty - thanks for the comments on the painting and the figure drawings. the encouragement is definitely welcome.

i had a lot of fun painting today. i feel that having instruction on wednesday and being left to myself to try the things that i have learned on another painting is extremely helpful. starting today i was able to see that i had over rendered this model in the initial sitting and today, approaching it with a fresh eye, i decided to get some paint on there and simplify the shapes a bit.
unfortunately, because the model is live, i am unable to use the camera to take process photos of this step. by knocking things back and concentrating on the big shapes I was able to obtain a better likeness of the model. more on this later.
after fixing the shapes on the model, i took a cue from my session yesterday and immediately knocked in some of my darkest values. doing this allowed me to spend the rest of the session refining some of the values in the models face and also try using more color.
when i felt like i was warmed up, i really started concentrating on the colors in the face of the model. as i am not very good with color picking, mixing and theory, this part was exceptionally difficult. after i while i found that i was not thinking as hard and trusting my instinct. im sure whether or not this was a good thing. i feel like i may have given way to some of my bad habits. i am pretty sure that i got ahead of myself and mucked up the process. i think perhaps that this is a good thing. this will give me a chance to go into my next class and see how what i did today compares to the next step my teacher has me take on my first painting. i am sure that this will be a positive learning experience.
below you can see the painting as it is and the black and white shows that today my values were a bit better than yesterday. i actually left the session a bit early today as i felt that the painting was getting away from me. i can see now in the photos that the nose is a bit skewed and perhaps a bit long. now, im not making excuses for myself but the model has a nose on her. anyway, i felt that rather than push the paint around and screw it up, it would be best to call it a night and come at it from another angle next week. i have one session left with this model and i hope to resolve the couple issues that i am having with the painting.

Academy - Week Seven

2007-07-19T14:30:00.000-04:00

Mark English's assignment (bad photo). I'm pooped.

first painting...second sitting

2007-07-18T23:00:00.001-04:00

had my second portrait class with joe today. i have been waiting a whole week to continue with this model and learn more about the process that i am working with. because i am an idiot, i did not bother to clean my palette. i made this mistake for two reasons: 1- I thought that my paint would still be wet 2- I needed to remember what colors i had mixed the week before. joe made sure that i payed for my insolence and demanded that i clean my palette before i started to paint. sweet. well turns out that i did not have a razor blade for my scraper. sweet again. i did not expect to be having to spend 30 minutes cleaning my palette with a palette knife. this sucked. afterwards, i decided to rework some of the features, now with a fresh eye. coming at it with a new head on my shoulders allowed me to step back and discover the things that i missed last class.

so to discuss the pics below, again, bad pics. tonight i was learning how to build on the structure that i had previously established. this proved to be very hard but i learned a lot. i still have a long way to go, obviously. the smartest and best thing i did was establish my darkest darks. i did this by roughing the hair in. this allowed me to frame the shape of the head and as i mentioned, gave me a dark value to relate to. unfortunately, i did this just before cleaning up and i noticed that once i had a value i knew was correct, how washed out everything else it. ( see b and w below)

any hoo, im gonna cut the jibba jabba.

my lovely lady lumps

2007-07-17T21:58:00.000-04:00

here is a quick study of my ugly mug for a painting that i intend to do. getting back in the groove of things. trying to learn and be productive. i wish halo 2 with my roommate was not so seductive.

thought i might share a link with you guys. a good resource for those of us who hope to be freelancing sooner or later.
http://freelanceswitch.com/

special thanks to TY for hooking me up with the academy assignments. be on the look out for my work. i will try to remain faithful to the specs as they were given but i do plan on changing them slightly. i.e. slice of northern virginia as opposed to sarasota.

Carnegie Hall finished

2007-07-17T17:00:00.000-04:00

let me know what you think!

figures, BORING!

2007-07-16T21:54:00.000-04:00

another day, another session. i thought it would be a good opportunity to try things a bit differently today. i decided to work on toned paper with colored pencils, something i am not very used to. being to a couple of these sessions now, i kinda had an idea of what to expect from the model. i was rather unlucky tonight in the fact that it was crowded in the room and i was stuck facing the model head on, and she was not a very exciting model. these negative aspects aside, i had a lot of fun drawing today. as far as the drawings go, they are not great but they are personally informative.

P.S. I WAS WONDERING IF ANYONE AT THE ACADEMY RIGHT NOW (TY) COULD POST THE ASSIGNMENT LIST. I OWULD LIKE TO DO THEM BUT I AM UNAWARE OF WHAT HAS BEEN ASSIGNED. ANY INFORMATION WOULD BE AWESOME I.E. ASSIGNMENT SPECS

ROUGH THUMBS

2007-07-16T00:24:00.000-04:00

Hey guys,

I am working on a piece and here are some rough sketches for composition. I want to put some layers of collage ( fabric) as parts of the hot air balloon and around it... I also want to use some pen and ink along with paint/ colored pencil/ watercolor in places too.

Which is the most interesting composition so far?

Oh and the bird painting is the one that is a finalist in the jjill contest. Go to jjill.com under "nature of compasstion" to vote if you get the chance! Funny thing to note- When I submitted the bird I wasn't happy with where it was so since then - on the original piece- painted over the bird, (keeping the shape) collaged in more fabric and painted in the top left corner...

more crappy pictures

2007-07-12T23:24:00.001-04:00

had a sustained figure drawing class today. this session is an un-instructed meeting and the model takes a pose for three hours. we have this model for the next three weeks, so i will be able to finish this painting without being in a rush. the greatest part about this thursday class is that i am able to practice, on a new pose and model, with the techniques that joe and i discuss the day before.
so, today we had a pretty cool model. she holds a pose fairly well. i was not too keen on my position in the room but i was having a lot of fun painting regardless.
as another side note, i will be buying a new camera because mine sucks ass. again, you will have to wait for good pictures.

help!

2007-07-12T19:08:00.001-04:00

please excuse the poor image quality, and the fact that this is far from done... I am entering a playbill cover contest for Carnegie Hall. The theme is "musical journeys". I'm doing the piece in black and white, but I want to digitally color it. How do I do that?? Is it possible in photoshop to lock the black part and color underneath it? I don't want to have to individually color each cell. Please let me know, thanks for the help :)

portrait painting, first sitting

2007-07-11T23:20:00.000-04:00

i have recently enrolled in a portrait painting class at the loudon academy of the arts with joseph trigiani (sp?). i was really excited to get working today. after talking and discussing and taking advice from the teacher, i would say that i got in almost a solid hour and a half of painting today, this is of course accounting for breaks for the model as well. i am also very excited to continue my studies, i often enjoy new approaches and Joe gave me some really great things to think about. The painting as it is now can be seen below. I will apologize in advance for the quality of the picture. I will replace it tomorrow when a picture can be taken in the daylight.

on a side note: i feel that i am finally beginning to adjust to life outside of richmond. i must admit, i am still not crazy about the area that i am now residing in but i find myself thinking about it less. i believe that this is in part due to the classes that i have been attending as of late. i am currently going to figure drawing on monday, an instructed portrait painting class on wednesdays and un-instructed figure painting on thursday. it is helping me to get out of the "funk" that i have found myself in for the last several months. any-hoo, im le tired and i need to be up early, check for more updates soon.

i am indeed alive.

2007-07-10T16:47:00.000-04:00

went figure drawing today, boy was I in a mood. i was not too thrilled to have the same model as last week. i did not feel that she was very exciting but i kept it to myself and was amped about drawing anyway. because i knew that this model was going to do sustained boring poses i decided to go into the session completely care free and just attack the drawings. i had fun and learned a lot and out of the thirty or so drawings that i did, the only legible drawings are the 6 that i am posting. if she looks like she is smiling in any of the drawings, she is. i think this was because she was getting $20 an hour to lay on her side for three hours. i imagine this is what she does at home, just add a television. she has a scam going on. can't believe each session is $15.

Academy - Week Six

2007-07-10T11:16:00.001-04:00

Pinocchio - UNFINISHED. This was my roughest week at the Academy...ever, including last year. I didn't get to the drawing until Saturday and didn't start painting until Sunday night around 6pm. My first and only all-nighter of the summer followed. It's washes of acrylic, an oil wash, and I just started painting back into it with acrylic after I fixed it. I have a long way to go on it.

Thank all that is good and holy that we're on to Mark's assignment now.... and the last assignment of the Academy. It's almost identical to last year's but this time we have to have at least two figures in it and it has to be at some sort of eatery. We can use a second value but it can't be more than 20% darker than the local color.

Academy - Week Five

2007-07-02T17:13:00.000-04:00

Anita Kunz gave us our assignment: Conceptual Portrait.

I chose to do a conceptual portrait of Hillary Clinton. I focused on her outrageous accent/manner of speaking and statements recently when speaking to primarily black audiences. She comes across sounding like a racist depiction of blacks from the 19th century. It's her own fault.... she even said that "Congress is run like a plantation.... and you know what I mean." It think that's ridiculous. So this is Hillary in blackface. And that's why I put her in front of the capitol building.

The instructors loved the idea and thought it showed the power of illustration.... but the only way I could pull it off would be to do it in the style of 19th-century political illustration. I referenced Thomas Nast. Jon Foster was also here to provide direction. I explored a lot of different techniques to get that engraving or etching quality but ended up doing it in pen and ink on watercolor paper. I learned that a razor blade makes a great eraser on ragpaper. (Thomas Nast image below).

The critique went very well. Lots of kind words. The only negative thing seemed to be that I overdid it on the speckles. But speckles were too fun to do.

WEEK SIX: Alumni instructor week. Doug Chayka and Jenny Kostecki are the instructors. Our assignment is do a double-page spread (11"x17") for chapter three of Pinocchio.

Sketchbook!!

2007-06-28T20:27:00.000-04:00

Hey Everyone, I visited Sarasota last week to get inspired and hang out with John, Brent and the guys. It was incredible and I'm slowly working on getting back into an art making groove. I'm actually . . . updating my website (gasp!) I'm hoping to have it up sometime this weekend. It was so nice to see Tyler, Perry, Tina Sweep, Andrew, and several other people from last year. Lots of good times with everyone, I only wish that I could have stayed a bit longer ( a bit meaning three more weeks) so that I could have more time visit and make art :)

Here's a sketch from a plane ride to Dallas (my first business-related trip)

Another coffee shop collage

With this one, I did the drawing of my feet by holding the very end of my pen.

I'm trying to integrate more environmental images into my sketchbook rather than just obsessing about portraits and figures (though I still find the most enjoyment from drawing people)

Sorry to cut his short, I have to get ready for a few major deadlines at work tomorrow, but I hope you enjoy the work. I'll be in touch and hopefully posting more work! :)

watercolors

2007-06-21T20:18:00.000-04:00

Lately I have been experimenting with watercolor. It's a medium that I have never really tried before. I purchased a moleskin watercolor sketchbook and decided I would do a simple still life painting from a photograph. I had to be completely unintimidated. So here is the bowl of soup:

Next I painted a sailboat from a picture I took while on my cruise:

And the other night I painted an iguana, also from a photograph from my vacation:

All in all, I find it to be a fun medium. It takes patience and a certain amount of planning and calculating which satisfies the left side of my brain.

I enjoy these little paintings, it's fun, it's easy to work from photographs, and fast (I can easily finish one in between dinner and bed-time). I actually look forward to doing these when I get home from work. This is a problem, though, because I haven't been working on "illustration" projects. This is mostly because I could sit around and come up with concepts and thumbnails, or I could bust out a whole pretty little painting in the same amount of time, (which amazingly people are offering to buy, to boot).

How can I somehow get this same excitement into my illustration work? Why does it take me months to get one "illustration" done when I can do 3 watercolors in one week? How can I change my technique or approach to make illustrations flow out of me one after another, like Penelope Dullughan? I am in a rut and I feel like something needs to change. help.

Blue Max

2007-06-19T23:58:00.001-04:00

Well, here's my "Blue" illustration. It's based on the Prussian (later German) medal Pour le Mérite, nicknamed the Blue Max after its color and an early German World War One ace, Max Immelmann. The Blue Max could be awarded to members of all German military branches but is most recognized with the German aviators of World War One. This was largely due to the German propaganda of the period. That's why I made a German WWI propaganda poster image. For inspiration I looked to German printmaker Ludwig Hohlwein. When the German empire fell in 1918, the medal ended its service.

Mark English and Gary Kelley (among others) critiqued it. They wanted blue at the top of the poster, more values in the face, and less detail in the medal. I made corrections to the first two issues but not the third. I didn't want to erase all that detail work :/ I'm not really that thrilled with it. I learned that I really enjoy looking at images in this style, but I do not enjoy painting like this.

************************************************
UPDATE: Unfortunately, the photo isn't all that great. I "fixed" the fixes and did a wash. I'm done working on this. Time to move on.

Some More sketches before I get to "Blue"

2007-06-19T23:36:00.000-04:00

Good evening all,
Sorry to have dropped out for a bit. Here is a sketch that i did from an old National Geographic about Italy. I remember thinking that the woman was not overly attractive but at the same time she was very striking. Don't really know if i captured it but i would love to hear your thoughts. After some time away from it, i see some areas that i would like to add some colour and develop a bit more than where it is as at this point.

Here is a still life drawing while my mind wanders in and out of whatever it is every one is talking about in the other room. Some of the thoughts for the shirt (I'm getting to below) show up here in this sketch page.

The next image is a photoshop'ed collage of sketches for a shirt i just finished up. i was approached to do a T based on the scripture (1 Samuel 2:10). I was having the hardest time getting started due to the art direction that was given at the beginning. The basic gist is that they wanted to show a man anointing another with oil. I was looking at a couple view points in the style of Frank Miller (Sin City period) as far as a graphic rendering of the figures. Started working in a comic book panel to tell the story. I couldn't help but feel that it lacked the graphic & iconic presence that it needed to stand on its own. This was proving to be difficult for me. i found myself turning to birds as a metaphor. Don't want to bore you any more than i have, so i'll sign off for now.

TTFN
B

Finalist!

2007-06-19T21:45:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, so I am a finalist in that design contest I was telling you about awhile ago. :)

JJill store had the contest for a t shirt design depicting your inspiration of nature. Last year 2500 people submitted. I submitted 3, and I'm not sure which one they picked but maybe I will post the rest eventually, the iris is just my guess. Check it out though on jjill.com on July 16th- 31st and vote for me! The grand prize winner gets a 4 day 3 night trip to CA for an abstract painting workshop in CA at Carmel by the Sea, near Point Lobos State Park.

Anyway remember that bird painting? its still going - here it is right now.. I'm experimenting with fabric and I am having fun. I get stuck sometimes, not knowing what to do next. I'm working on 3 others with fabric/ mixed media right now, I'm finally getting home after work and painting and it feels refreshing.

Earthy Lady

2007-06-13T12:37:00.000-04:00

Hey Everyone,
All this talk about the Academy got me back to focusing on the basics. On this last painting I did all the steps, thumbnail, value study, color study, then final. I think it makes a difference, it was easier to go to final. I've finally started adding a signature to my work (a little overdue since I've been doing these for a while). Let me know what you think!
Thanks!!
P.S. Thanks to Tyler for keeping all of us updated on what's going on at the academy, I think it's a little of a re-energizer for us :)

Academy - Week Two

2007-06-11T18:38:00.000-04:00

Remember those critiques that lasted over six hours? They still happen. The James Lipton piece was my first one... the one for which I got approval and everything. The second piece (featuring Ty Cobb) was my fun piece that I did on Sunday after I finished Lipton. I just can't escape Payne (regarding the Ty Cobb portrait). I'm going to have to start avoiding looking at his work. I didn't even use his technique. I tried painting all in acrylic for once (no oil wash or colored pencil) and that's how it turned out. Gary says it's the drawing, subject matter, and colors. I love baseball, so it's going to take all my strength not to imitate his work... and I don't want to surrender that subject matter. However, I had a lot of fun painting the details in the Ty Cobb piece.

Next Assignment: Illustrate "Blue" ...since we weren't given the spelling, we played with the idea of illustrating "blew."

Hardy har har.

Dwight!

2007-06-11T00:38:00.001-04:00

I finally finished my April assignment!!!!

Academy - Week Two (in Progress)

2007-06-08T17:56:00.000-04:00

It doesn't look like we're going to get access to the lab and the large scanner... so here's a bad photo of the first assignment.

Week Two's assignment for CF Payne is a portrait for the NY Times Book Review. I'll let you all guess who this is. I'm still experimenting with cardboard as a painting/drawing surface. I think Gary Kelley is coming for next week.

Newbie's Sketches

2007-06-03T23:23:00.000-04:00

Hello all,
I have been reading and enjoying the work you all have posted for a month or so now. I was feeling a little bad to just be posting some sketches on your blog till the State of the Blog Address, where you asked for sketches and anything that caught our fancy.
So here are some sketches that i had done a while ago ad revisited to add some colour and see what happens. Thanks Cat for the opportunity to join in on this blog! I do envy those that have been and are currently attending the Academy and look forward to hearing the assignments and to see the posted process and finals.
TTFN
BReed

Taking Care of Business

2007-06-03T23:13:00.001-04:00

Hey everyone,
While I haven't had a chance to paint in a while, I have been busy taking care of the business side of things. (Which is something that is stressful for me, but I know I have to get done). So I finally got some professional business cards made (above), got a real website which is still very much not done www.sarahfoxart.com , and hung all my work in the coffee shop. Now that that's finally done hopefully I will spend my next days off painting!

Academy - Week One

2007-06-02T20:15:00.000-04:00

I'm nearly done with the first assignment... Just waiting to do a wash over it. We're spread across three studios this time and have more students than last. Fortunately, there are less people in each studio, which allows us to spread out quite a bit... I'll post my final piece sometime soon. Above is just a quick sketch of my work area while I wait for the paint to dry.

Though it's like I never left, it's not the same without you all. :/

EDIT: CJ-10 (the computer lab) hasn't been open and so I can't get to a good scanner to post my final piece. It seems that Ringling is being difficult about making it available.

state of the blogion

2007-06-01T16:40:00.000-04:00

Participation in the assignments is completely dwindling, but that's okay, because like Tyler said, it gives us ideas and goals, etc. But I want to make sure that everyone realizes that ANY artwork is accepted. Articles that you found interesting, inspirational quotes, a new artist you discovered - all is welcome here. I want this to be a source of inspiration and support. So ignore the assignments if they aren't your style, embrace them if they are. The most important thing I took from the Academy is to just DRAW every day (or as often as you can anyway). And if you want to do the assignment but don't have time, then do a doodle or a sketch or whatever just to keep the creativity spewing forth. Maybe participate in Illustration Friday assignments and post them here.

And now that i have rambled on... I want to see lots of work! Sketchbook stuff, thumbnails, paintings, figure drawings..... bring it on!

And here are some links for inspiration:

Danny Gregory - a huge inspiration for sketchbook journaling and the importance of drawing every day. Wrote a great book called The Creative License

Karin Jurick - does an amazing (but small) oil painting almost every day and sells them.

Jared Shear's "Cougar Peak-A-Boo" - this guy paints the exact same mountain scene every single day. It allows him to focus on technique and medium without having to worry about the composition, concept, bla bla bla.

Nathan Fowkes Land Sketches - beautiful, small, gouache "sketches" that are better than anything I could do in weeks.

Hope Gangloff - found her website today courtesy Illustration Friday blog, amazing sense of design... she definitely rocks those pens.

Cat Scott - Wow, that Cat Scott is really something. hehe, I started a blog a few weeks ago and I have been trying to post sketches daily, although it ends up being just a few a week. Shameless self promotion.

Woo hoo! Go bloggers go!

RE: crazy thought

2007-05-30T20:56:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone,
Since Tyler is off to the academy again and maybe others we know, I thought it might be challenging to create our versions of the illustration assignments as they are given at the academy. Since they are doing the slice of life in Sarasota, we could do a slice of life from where ever we are living, then as the week goes on we could work along side the academy. I think Tyler will clue is in. Any thoughts, like do we have the time? I many have at first since I am off till June 18th. I may begin and see what develops.

Best - Don

Hello from Toledo

2007-05-30T20:50:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone,
Yes, I'm still alive and thinking about you all. It's hard to believe that we were all at the Academy this time last year. I miss you all sooooo much. Things are going well over here, though work is still kinda crazy. We just moved into a new building right on the Ohio/Michigan border, so there's been lots of chaos. I have let my sketchbook fall to side, but am fianlly getting back to it. Here are a few pages of my latest. There will be more to come, my scanner just broke and the one at work isn't hooked up yet, so I'll get some more to you soon. Big thank you to Cat for calling me and reminding me about the importance of the sketchbook even if I only draw my cup of tea.
You guys inspire me with all that you do. Keep up the amazing work, and I'll do my best to post more work on this blog. Thank you for your support!

Erika

Some new stuff

2007-05-28T22:59:00.000-04:00

Hello.

So I just recently submitted some work for a contest in which the theme was nature. The deadline came quick, although what I posted here are not the same ones I ended up submitting, they are a part of a series that happened as a result. (still in progress as you can see- the bird I posted earlier this mos. is with the group... in a .... "experimental state, trying to save it actually.. used a wrong combo of collage media.. ha - Im learning) I'm getting into some mixed media, gel medium, ink pens and quill, piling on the layers.... having fun, -wanted to share.

Hope you all are doing well. The academy just started I think- Here's to those hard workers! Can't believe its already been a year! I miss those late nights in the studio... I had a great time in Sarasota and I am happy I got to meet all of you there!

erika's famous

2007-05-23T16:19:00.000-04:00

When I saw Chris Payne last month in San Francisco, he had told me his graduation idea for Reader's digest was finally approved - so it looks like Erika made it on there! You are famous!

RE: illo magazine

2007-05-21T21:20:00.000-04:00

Check out this link:http://www.illo.us/
look over this magazine and comment on this art work, where and why, I love the stuff but I don't understand it as its called illustration.
Don

2007-05-20T20:16:00.000-04:00

Thanks Sarah for the helping me with uploading imgaes!
I guess I found it the first time I posted works for the RIC show. So here are a few wet pastel practice samples. They are not illustrations. They are from various photo images like Mucha, news photos etc etc. Just for practice and to use the value pattern business form the illustration academy.
Don

RE: I can't find where to attach?

2007-05-19T21:21:00.000-04:00

RE: illustration academy

2007-05-19T21:16:00.000-04:00

Anyone going this summer? Jon Foster was really good at the 'Art Out Loud' event November before last. And speaking of the illustration academy, I have been playing around with English's wet pastels tech. Here are a few examples, they are not so good. It is a struggle to work so loose when I favor the tighter rendering style. I don't know somtimes - any comments?
Don

RE: entries

2007-05-17T21:52:00.000-04:00

ok, here are the illustrations accepted into RIC. I hope I uploaded these right.

Gerber Daisies

2007-05-16T15:51:00.000-04:00

Hey there! This is the latest painting, finally finished. It's gone through 3 different color palettes (of fabric). I've decided to do tiny versions of each painting with the actual fabric from now on. Sorry the lighting is crappy. The red panels are the same color on both sides.
Hope everyone is well!!

Hello everyone!

2007-05-11T17:13:00.000-04:00

A bit of good news - got 7 illustrations in the Richmond Illustrators club annual juried show. wow, too bad that doesn't happen with CA or NY Society of Illustrators. Got to keep on keeping on!
Don

"The Sky is Falling" cover and spread

2007-05-07T17:03:00.000-04:00

Texas Sayings Assignment

2007-05-07T15:57:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone, thought you migh want to try out this assignment (thought of you Sarah!)
We had to illustrate one of these Texas Sayings:
Hotter than a honeymoon hotel
He's riding a gravy train with buscuit wheels
As full of wind as a corn eating horse
He looks like the dogs have been keeping him under the porch
If brains were leather, he couldn't saddle a flea
Happy as a clam at high tide
She's got tongue enough for ten rows of teeth
He got whipped with an ugly stick
*Don't hang your wash on someone else's line
So dry I'm spitting cotton

hi everyone

2007-05-02T21:53:00.000-04:00

I have my own makeshift portfolio started at: heatherheckel.blogspot.com (I still have a ton of uploading to do)
This will have to do until my web development class in the Fall!
I am in the last week of school and everything is crazy!!! After I'm finished I'll list some of the better assignments I've gotten so you guys can do them if you want.
AND I got Pratt for illustration next year YAYYY!!! I'm so excited and lucky (I was number 18 out of 18)
hope everyone is doing well miss you all

dwight

2007-05-01T02:17:00.000-04:00

what do you all think? I tried not to morph him too much but a little bit of my old tendencies crept up on me. That's my favorite part of drawing people anyway - noticing little quirks about them and pulling and skewing features. It's a challenge to make it still look realistic, but it's a challenge I really dig. I need to do a color study... my inclination is to skip it and figure it out once i get going (I have something in mind) but I don't want to waste time. I should have this finished by the end of this week... I leave for a cruise on Saturday so I want to be done with it by then!

now that I look at it, the crop on top is just a little awkward. I'll bring it up a tad.

delayed

2007-04-29T22:42:00.000-04:00

Well, my assignment is going to be late :(

However, I recently finished creating a web site for my mother-in-law, who is a painter. www.KathyBodycombe.com

I'm loving the increased activity on this blog!

Also, Jon Foster is going to be one of the visiting artsts at the Academy this summer! I'm stoked!

Under painting

2007-04-29T22:17:00.002-04:00

So, here goes nothing, I want to post more work. I am really liking the new job, but need to push myself to paint outside of it...

So this one.. a little study.. I like the texture that is going on,... I think a smooth paint application in contrast to the texture might add interest to this piece, I need to experiment with some gloss medium. Some of the pen and ink sketches I am working on could work out as silhouettes... sorta like the bird, is trying too, if I blocked it out,.. not like it is shown..

The color? -I was thinking of the colors as more of an under painting, ( I don't want to lose all of the texture that happened though...)

Composition: -believe it or not, I used tracing paper, but something about the composition bugs me,... too centered?

My inspiration to the piece: I feel sometimes even though I am free to paint what is in my heart I feel still. Not moving. Frozen.. Perhaps the contrast of the water's shapes and reflections seem to "move." I want water to be present in some of these new abstract "flat" paintings... breaking down the shapes in the water... ( yeah its not clouds, its water... ) Intricate cage-like trim... Floating silhouette of the bird perched in symbolic space / outside of cage yet not in flight...

Well, I'm ready to keep going, I have a feeling the whole piece will be totally different soon. I just wanted to share some process and some thoughts, Open to suggestions.... Thanks.

2007-04-29T17:18:00.000-04:00

Here are two little oil paintings I did recently. I've been trying to do a little painting everyday just for fun. The bottom one is the real color....the top one should look more like the bottom (color-wise). I'm still learning with my scanner and with photoshop. I've been doing these paintings on black gesso after reading about it. It's fun because it makes the colors really vibrant.

mmmm.... cheesecake

2007-04-27T01:10:00.000-04:00

This is the final printed piece for my big cheesecake factory gig. The kind people at Doug Oliver Design Office hired me to do this, and thank you to SILA for having my portfolio there to find.

They provided me with architectural elevations. I copied them onto a nice Canson toned drawing paper that I cut down to copier friendly sizes, and then all I had to do was color. I used my trusty Prismacolors and didn't sleep for the 3 nights leading up to my trip to New York City. Totally worth it though; the book looks incredible in person. The designer, Abby Bennett, did a really great job. So there are a few book shots and then one of the drawings I sent them. Enjoy!

Lend a hand?

2007-04-25T20:35:00.000-04:00

Hey all, I have started some sketches of the editorial illustration I want to do about "Whales death toll/ caused by migration effected by solar waves". I would love to post something on it soon though. I'm getting excited about it. I need to find some tracing paper. I will probably need a hand in the composition of things...

Been lovin being close to the waves again :) I found a beautful longboard I want to buy,....unfortunately the one I have has seen better days... I am working on some studies for a series of paintings based on the surfaces of the water. ( To try and sell in downtown Wilmington)

Cat- I don't "blog" much, so its probaly really easy, but how can I invite my friend Brian to post?, just tell him the name of the blog so he can sign on? Anyway he's a creative dude that I went through illustration school in college,... and I would love to have him around on vuinnardenkornlish..

Mutey the mailman

2007-04-23T16:40:00.000-04:00

I am finally doing an assignment! Woo hoo! I'm going to do a portrait of Dwight Schrute from the Office. Since my time is so limited I am trying to keep it simple and I'm going to just do a straightforward portrait - no concept or anything. I'm not very good at the concept stuff... Meganck never gave us his brain strengthening tips :)

Anyway, the other day I sat down with a photo and sketched this in my sketchbook just to sort of study his features and stuff. I liked the way it turned out - I have gotten a lot better at drawing with pen... although I'm still not the best pen & inker out there.

I'll post a sketch when I get it worked out; I hope to have something nailed down by the end of the week, then I'll have the weekend for the finish! Hooray for productivity!

waking up

2007-04-22T20:20:00.000-04:00

Hello out there... How is everybody?, I have been through a lot in the last few months. Doing very well now though... I have a great job now in wilmington. long story.

I am working on having an art show in the downtown wilmington area with a friend of mine, (fellow illustrator amoung us). I want to invite him to post here.

I was thinking -- I'm just beginning with it, but I want to get some input on some new stuff I am working on. These paintings will be more abstract, I'm experimenting with some new subject matter and sketching objects as well as rendering type etc...

Anyway I have missed you all and I am looking forward to more posts and involvement with what we have going here. good to be back. are any of you guys going to the academy this year?

Kim

RE: new assignment

2007-04-15T09:38:00.000-04:00

I think I have done this assignment many times so I may just post the most recent for comments. Also, I sent work in the Richmond's illustration club. I think we need one here in Savannah. Could anyone share how you go about developing such a thing as a city wide club?
Don

Hey, I am new to the blog!

2007-04-15T09:32:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone,
I hope to be part of this blog and contribute often. But today I am busy with the online class and its dicsussion board - an assignment is due tonight so there are lots of questions. I want to take part on the illustration assignments too. So see you soon.
Thanks Cat for the invite.
Don

deadline extented!

2007-04-13T12:20:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to let you know that the deadline for the Richmond Illustration Club's Juried Mid-Atlantic show has been extended until April 20th. We've received some great entries so far, including some from fellow academy students. PLEASE! submit to this show to help make it awesome and tell all your friends about it. More info and entry forms are available at www.richmondillustrators.com, and there's a post a few entries down on this website with info on the jurors.

Thanks!
Holly
www.hollycamp.com

New Assignment

2007-04-05T18:22:00.000-04:00

We need a new assignment. Any ideas? How about something easy that EVERYONE can do. Heather, maybe there's an assignment you are doing at school that you think we would enjoy doing? (not that it would be easy). Please post any ideas. I will pull from the idea list for the next month or two.

Angel

2007-04-04T12:20:00.000-04:00

Here is the angel piece I just finished. I had to take a picture from above since the glue on the stars is still drying. I think the buttons are my favorite part!! I wanted to do something kinda monochromatic for this one and just have the hair and skin the main color. Hope everyone is doing well!!

call for entries!

2007-03-19T16:20:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone!

The Richmond Illustration Club is putting on a juried mid-atlantic illustration show at Plant Zero [www.plantzero.com]. Juriors include Andrea Wicklund, Kadir Nelson [illustrator of Spike Lee's "Please, Baby Please," and "Please Puppy Please," Jerdine Nolen's Coretta Scott King Honor Book "Thunder Rose," and Will Smith's "Just the Two of Us"], Tyler Darden [art director of Virginia Llving Magazine] and Steve Hedberg [art director of Richmond Magazine]. The deadline for entries is April 13.

I would suggest that everyone in the mid-atlantic or kinda-mid-atlantic area enter! We have great jurors and the more entries we get, the better the show will be. Tell your friends/students/teachers/strangers!

To download an entry form for the juried show, go to http://www.richmondillustrators.com. Feel free to email me with any questions.

Thanks!
Holly
www.hollycamp.com

more cardboard

2007-03-18T16:13:00.000-04:00

I finally got around to doing that celebrity portrait. I've been a busy bee with other things. I wanted this to be a caricature yet still keep an element of realism. He's pretty weird looking anyway, so it makes it really easy to get too out there with the caricature. I had to reign myself in. Even still, I had a hard time drawing him. I'm not thrilled with it but at least it's out of my system...for now.

Some Flowers

2007-03-13T11:13:00.000-04:00

I finished these a while ago, but am just now getting to post them here. I decided to do some flowers because I'm applying to a show at the Dallas arboretum. Plus I get to paint more quickly and thickly which is fun. The gladiola one is about 4 feet tall, the tulip only about 2 feet tall.
I feel like so much has happened just since I got back from NY. I've paid to get professional scans of all of my shadow-boxes (mucho dinero :( . I got my first giclee print (from one of the scans) from the blue lady with the sunflower and it turned out great! I was so relieved the 3-dimensions translated well to a flat print. I've taken slides of all my work, and just sent off my first art festival application, which made me have a panic-attack sort of thing that required lots of chocolate to calm down from. And I've started a new piece. It's so exciting to get all this stuff rolling, but it's incredibly nerve-racking to be investing so much time and money into something I'm not sure will happen...I hope i hope...but nothing is certain. I find out in May if I got into that first show (I'm applying to 3 this season), so wish me luck.
On the new painting I'm starting I'm going to take pictures along the way and post them on my blog: sarahfoxart.blogspot.com Because when people where asking me how I did these, I think I did a really crappy job of explaining it, so hopefully pics. will do better.

The rooster made it!

2007-03-07T22:54:00.000-05:00

I entered the Society of Illustrators student scholarship competition and got in!!! I was one of 16 Ringling students of about 120 total to get in. yay Ringling! (this was the show that we got the brochure pamphlet of at the Academy) The show is being held at SI, we were just there!

NYC07 - recap

2007-03-04T22:44:00.000-05:00

New York was fantastic. Me and Erika got to see David Cross at a comedy club called Comix. We saw a couple of cool galleries in SoHo. We saw Sterling, Holly Camp, Lisa Fields, and other people at the Society of Illustrators show, and Gary Kelley spilled red wine on my favorite sweater, but you can't hold a grudge against GK. We saw an amazing John Singer Sargeant gallery and then more amazing artwork than you can believe at the Met. We had a late night dinner in a tiny italian place in Alphabet City and camped out on the floor of Heather's aunt's East Village apartment. We saw the MoMA, a Klimt/Schiele gallery, and had delicious deserts at Serendipity. We saw a taping of Conan O'brian, got cupcakes at Magnolia, and got lost in SoHo before seeing a band play at a small bar called Corio. All in all, it was a really fun trip.

Being the nerd that I am, I already started an ING savings account dedicated to next years trip.

Here are some pictures I took - I don't know why I didn't take more. I think I was absorbing more than I was recording. Enjoy!

MoMA poster

2007-03-01T11:26:00.000-05:00

This assignment was an all text poster advertising a fictional upcoming show at the MoMA

fans

2007-03-01T11:20:00.000-05:00

This commission was for the Collier County Medical Association's 50th Anniversary gala event brochure.

Eve

2007-02-14T15:30:00.000-05:00

Here's my "Eve" painting I just finished. In these pictures the reddish fabric behind her came out really dark, but it's actually a little lighter.

taxes

2007-02-11T18:14:00.001-05:00

Anyone know how to write off the Illustration Academy on your taxes?

assignments

2007-02-10T01:14:00.000-05:00

I agree with Tyler that we should still keep up assignments because, if anything, it will give us an idea of what to work on. But I will change the format so that there is a new one due once a month. How does that sound? Speaking of which I need an idea for this month. Maybe we could do a "conversation" again - we could all use ideas that got shot down at the Academy :)

Graphic design and layout

2007-02-09T15:14:00.000-05:00

We had to do a self-promotion letterhead, envelope, and business card and then put them in a layout.

fire and ice assignment

2007-02-09T15:00:00.000-05:00

We had to illustrate "fire and ice", acrylic 10''x10''

things

2007-02-05T22:56:00.000-05:00

Wow, I am so happy everyone is posting work, and it's such great work!!! I have been really out of the loop. As I mentioned in a previous post, I was looking for work as a graphic designer. I was really hating the starving artist thing and I kept going into more and more debt and couldn't afford to do anything. I was working more and more hours at my 2 jobs just to try to make ends meet and it was leaving me feeling exhausted and angry all the time. I looked to see what types of jobs were out there and applied for a few just for one. A headhunter found me on Monster.com and interviewed me for a job for a real estate investment banking company owned by Wells Fargo. Well I ended up getting the job -it pays amazingly well - probably twice what I was making working 2 jobs - and the benefits can't be beat. I started last Monday and I really like it so far. It's nice to be back in a regular routine (free weekends? what?) and have a regular paycheck.

I'm still taking my MFA classes - I'm taking 2 this semester - so I have been SO f@#%ing busy. I also have an hour long commuter until me & David move in June so my entire day is pretty shot. I haven't drawn in my sketchbook since I started and I don't know how I'll find time to do any illustrations of my own design. The classes are keeping me super busy!

I was halfway done with my celebrity portrait before i started work... maybe one day I'll finish it :) I think once I settle into more of a routine I'll be able to squeeze things in.

So about the assignments - let's vote. People seem to be doing their own things, which is awesome, so should we do away with the assignments and just encourage art making in general?

I love seeing the sketchbook stuff by the way. I started a sketchbook section on my website if you want to check it out ;)

-cat

SOI Reception Ticket Info

2007-02-02T21:28:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone,

I got a hold of the people at Society of Illustrators. The reception will be on Friday February 23 from 5:00 -- ?. The tickets are $30.00 a piece. When I called, tickets weren't on sale yet, but they sent me an RSVP form. You may be able to order them over the phone in the next week or so, but I'm not sure. I can't wait, this is going to be amazing!!!

Sarasota

2007-02-02T16:35:00.000-05:00

this is an alleyway in Sarasota, done in acrylic with a gel medium underneath for the texture. About 8''x10''

Finally!

2007-02-01T18:00:00.000-05:00

This is a painting I've been working on since before Christmas. I finally finished it today. It's got four layers, the black, blue, figure, flower. (I was trying to show the layers with the side picture). I'm pretty happy with it... I've still got a lot to learn with my wood working skills. I was looking at Klimt and Botticelli a lot on this painting.
Hope everyone is doing well in the New Year!

New year New things

2007-01-31T18:56:00.000-05:00

Hey all.

I just accepted a job offer in Chapel Hill. I feel excellent about it. I will be closer to my family and my mom and this job holds great opportunities for me. Possible illustration too. One of my first projects would be promoting exhibitions at an art museum downtown. I have been wondering what the next new thing for me is and you just know when it happens. I am going to emerge myself in painting so count me in on upcoming assignments. I hope to sell my art around Chapel Hill.

Anyway, one of my favorite things to do is check the blog out and see what all you talented peeps have posted lately. It is a big new years resolution to get serious about illustration so I will need things like this blog to keep my chin up and a paintbrush or ink pen in my hand...

Yeah... the change I was waiting for!

new figure drawings

2007-01-30T14:05:00.000-05:00

one in charcoal, one in pastel

Illustration Academy

2007-01-30T01:31:00.000-05:00

Anyone going back this year?