12/23/10

Christmas Projects. . .





I made these little initial illustrations for my four best friends back home in Michigan: Katy, Katie, Sarah, and Stephanie. It was fun to sit down and just freestyle, which is something I haven't done in a long, long time! Ink and watercolor. . .

Advanced Book Illustration Finals






Here are the final versions for my series in Advanced Book Illustration. I'm also taking Jaime Zollars for Fantasy Art next semester, which should be a blast. I'm taking the next few weeks of break to develop a thesis for the spring, as well as start writing my creative writing thesis. . .

12/20/10

Thesis Finals!




My big final I still need to photograph, but here are some of the finals from my thesis class. I was exploring modern societal issues using gladiator themes and classical imagery. The hog battle comments on the self-perpetuating issue of resource depletion and environmental woes, while the reflection piece deals with the constant battle with beauty and aging. The spots illustrate the modern American suiting up with the correct "armor" to preserve sanity and peace of mind in the current times. I struggled a lot with my theme and medium over the semester, and it was a very uncomfortable and at times very discouraging battle, but I learned a lot about myself as an artist and how I work best. I'm taking the next few weeks of break to center in on a new thesis for the new semester that will be better suited to my interests and working style. More updates to follow!

12/12/10

Nature Drawing finals!!







Whoa it's finals week!! Here is the final series of personal work I did for my nature drawing class. I focused on illustrating the constellations--a star map of the northern and southern hemispheres and a triptych of 3 specific constellations. From left to right: Auriga, Cassiopeia with Pegasus, and Bootes with hunting dogs. As always, click on the image for a more detailed view.

12/8/10

Some Art Market Things. . .




Here are three of the prints I'm selling at Art Market, which is happening Wednesday through Saturday, 10am-6pm in MICA's Brown Center. There's some great art for sale from MICA students, faculty, and alumni!

12/4/10

Bootes Finished Illustration


Here's the completed version of the sketch I posted earlier. . .

Update on Book Illustration





Here's the latest finished work from my book illustration class: two spreads, the line work and the finished pieces. For some reason I still like the pencil versions the best.

11/30/10

Star Map Progress Photos





Some progress shots of the big project I've been working on for a few weeks now--an illustrated star map of the northern and southern hemispheres. Still a few hours of work to go, but I need to finish by the end of the week so I can get prints made for art market!

Sketch for Bootes piece



Here's a sketch for the next piece I'm working on, an interpretation of the constellation Bootes and his two hunting dogs. I've been working on an illustrated star map for the past few weeks and am moving on to more focused illustrations.

11/24/10

Some Nature Drawings. . .





Here's a few things from the last week or so of my nature drawing class. The skeletons and lions versus water buffalo sketch were done at the Natural History Museum in DC, and the insects were done in class. I'm thinking of coloring the insects later this week as a break from all the thesis work I've been doing, which I've been spending a lot of hours on but making slow progress. On a more positive note, I have been making strides on a large piece I'm doing for art market! It's an illustrated constellation map and I'm finishing the drawing in the next two days so I can start thinking about colors.

11/1/10

Some Thesis Stuff!




Okay, so I realized I haven't posted anything from thesis this year. . .so here are two inked drawings! I'm holding off on posting the final versions until I get the colors just right. There's also a larger piece I'm working on that I'll try and post this week. For those of you who don't know the theme of my thesis this semester, basically I'm working on a series of illustrations inspired by a fusion of the themes behind the Roman gladiatorial games and the classical styles of the Italian master artists. The gladiatorial games, besides being a perverse form of entertainment, also served as a visual metaphor for the threats faced by Roman society at the time, including the threat of criminals, invasion by foreign enemies, the danger of wild animals and the ever-looming knowledge of an early death (life expectancy was less than half it is today). Order and peace of mind was maintained by the literal slaying of these threats, whether it was a formal execution of a criminal, the slaying of a prisoner of war, or a mass slaughter of wild beasts.

WIth this in mind I'm exploring the threats of modern Americans and how we face them, using both gladiator imagery and reference to the figurative poses seen in old Italian master paintings. The two images shown represent two different modern-day battles. One is the defense of the environment and natural resources against constant threat, a sort of never-ending loop of self-perpetuated disaster (the small boys in the forest area are nurturing the baby hogs while the adults defend the same forest from an onslaught of wild hogs.) The other image shows our relationship with beauty and the futile attempts to stop the process of aging (the girl is piercing her own reflection, which is indestructible). That's all for now, more updates to come later!

10/21/10

Colored Book Illustrations




Here are the finished drawings with color! I did watercolor separately and then combined it with the drawing in photoshop.

10/10/10

Advanced Book Illustration--In Progress




Here are two uncolored drawings for the illustrations I'm working on in Advanced Book Illustration. The story I'm working with involves a boy living far into the future, where the structures of previous years have been submerged in water from some massive, disastrous flood. He retrieves things from the old world to reconstruct the past--it's sort of a reverse Little Mermaid narrative. Anyway, here's a scene showing the view from the top of the houses, and one with him jumping into the water.

10/6/10

Naturalist Center


For Nature Drawing this week we took a field trip to the Smithsonian Naturalist Center in Virginia. There's a huge room full of taxidermy animals and all kinds of specimens to draw. I spent some time drawing the image you see here. . .yes, that is a fawn in a jar. I'm not sure if I was more fascinated or weirded out by it, but the baby deer itself was so beautifully intricate I couldn't stop looking at it. The image you see here is a WIP, hopefully later I'll post some finished drawings as well as some of the thesis stuff I've been working on.

9/29/10

Nature Drawing








Studies from trips to the zoo and taxidermy animals (fox)--I have some larger pieces I need to photograph. For my ongoing project in the class I'm making a giant star map with illustrated constellations.

9/15/10

Sketches from Italia









Wow! So it's been a really long time since my last post and I have a ton of catching up to do. I was in Orte, Italy for the month of August working on a horse farm through WWOOF (WorldWide Opportunities on Organic Farms). It was an amazing experience, I got to eat lots of delicious home-cooked meals, get lots of fresh air, and see some art on my time off! I'll be starting up my thesis blog shortly, which will tie in some of my experiences from Italy. For now, here's a few sketches from my trips into Rome, and two watercolors done at the house where I was staying. I'll have a photo post later when I get all my film developed.