Jacqueline McNally

First Fridays @ PAD

2012-01-01T19:02:00.000-08:00

I am very excited to be able to showcase my work for PAD's "First Fridays" event! The work displayed will be primarily thesis work with a few new pieces that relate to the series. The work will be up for all of January, but be sure to come by the opening this Friday from 6-8pm for wine and appetizers! PAD is located at 1500 Thames Street down in Fells Point. Check out the event page for more information about the show: http://pad-furniture.com/arts-at-pad/ They are now accepting entries for the February salon-style show.

Ten Paces and Draw--November mixtape

2011-11-17T09:19:00.001-08:00

Ten Paces and Draw featured my art this week for their "November Mixtape"--a bit different from their usual sketch swap; we were given a selection of songs to choose from and illustrate. I chose "Bobby Beale" by the Generationals--check out the song and full post here!

Holler to my man Klimt for providing the inspiration for this dysfuctional relationship piece

Birthday Card

2011-09-10T20:37:00.000-07:00

A watercolor I made for my roommate's birthday yesterday---happy birthday Annie!!

Handlettering Commission

2011-09-08T20:58:00.000-07:00

This is a commission I did a while back--sorry for the poor image quality! I grabbed a few snapshots before sending the illustration on its way. The work was commissioned by someone who wanted a gift for his sister who was graduating from college. She had a typed list of personal inspirational quotes that she kept on her mirror which he wanted to have hand-lettered and framed. You can see the document in its original form below.

Ten Paces and Draw

2011-08-29T10:01:00.001-07:00

It was a lot of fun to contribute to the blog Ten Paces and Draw this week! The theme was "Pet Portraits", and this is my finalized version of Kyle Fewell's cat sketch. You can see them together here and also check out Jen Mussari's version of my sketch here

Thunder Thighs

2011-08-19T14:17:00.000-07:00

Cards!

2011-08-19T14:12:00.000-07:00

Two cards I recently made--one is a thank you to a friend's parents who let a bunch of us stay at their home in Connecticut last weekend for a rock climbing trip, and the other is a very belated birthday card.

Ganymede

2011-07-18T10:53:00.000-07:00

A graphite study of a sculpture in the Walters Art Museum

Sketch Map

2011-07-01T11:13:00.000-07:00

An unfinished map illustrating a portion of Lynne Cox's Arctic swim in relation to the expedition of Roald Amundsen. This is meant to accompany an article about the 3 legs of Cox's journey and its historical ties to other water voyages.

Safari Mural Process and Completion!

2011-06-27T18:19:00.000-07:00

This is a little late in the posting, but I wanted to share a quick little stop-motion I recorded during the install of the Safari Nursery mural. Everything is a printed vinyl transfer apart from the vines, which were penciled and then painted on with acrylic. The install took all day but moved along swiftly thanks to all the help from my boyfriend Mark Oliver The process was a lot of fun and something I hope to continue in the future for large-format projects. (Music clip is "One Heavy February" by Architecture in Helsinki)

Safari Mural

2011-06-09T11:12:00.000-07:00

I've been working on a mural project while I've been home in Michigan for a couple of weeks, and this time around I experimented with a slightly different approach. All of the murals I've done thus far have been abstract compositions painted directly onto the wall using semigloss interior paint. For the safari nursery project, I decided to go a different route and do large vinyl print-outs of ink and photoshop illustrations, with some details being painted directly on the wall (such as the vines) Here is a sampling of the work I sent out for print. (The monkeys were part of the original design but will not be included in the final installation)

Thesis and Graduation

2011-05-23T09:42:00.000-07:00

A few snapshots of the thesis show! I had the privilege of showing in the Meyerhoff Gallery right next the the talented Dai Foldes (pictured above with part of his painting/design thesis) The shelf and frames were custom-made by Mark Oliver. I have high-res photos taken by a friend that will be posted as soon as possible. The shows all looked great and I was especially proud to be part of the Illustration senior class of '11. Whitney Sherman is an excellent instructor and I've been honored to graduate with such talented classmates. As for future plans after graduation, I will be working as a Teaching Assistant/Resident Counselor at MICA's Pre College program and then looking for work in Baltimore as I develop my freelance business. Currently I am home in Michigan for a couple weeks and working on a commissioned mural.

Artist Statement from Commencement:

I have always been drawn to the narrative potential of visual art as well as the imagery that exists within the written word. For the past semester I have been navigating this relationship between text and image by using both mediums to explore one over-arching theme. The novella “Fells” is a fictional narrative based off of the environmental disaster in Picher, Oklahoma and the surrounding areas of the Tar Creek Superfund site. It explores the ideas of responsibility, consequence, and man’s relationship with land through the eyes of three boys who witness the rapid decline of the city of Fells. The fragility of human structure, both built and inherited, is revealed in the constant push of the interior to the exterior. The imagery displayed is not meant to accompany the story in a traditional illustrated sense, but is supportive to the narrative and includes characters from the text. In the same way that the imagery was inspired by the text, some of the visual elements of the novella “Fells” existed before the parallel text. This relationship of text and image is something I plan to continue to explore through both my illustration and personal writing in the years to come.

Game Day in Illustrated Maps

2011-05-23T09:10:00.000-07:00

For the last day of class we spent the time playing the finished board games and having a short crit at the end. Here are some photos of Sack Lunch! Our class blog is now public, you can check out more photos of game day as well as a thorough collection of maps made over the semester: http://micamaps.blogspot.com/

Sack Lunch game cards!

2011-04-29T11:46:00.001-07:00

In Maps class we are doing a collaborative project where we work together to make board games. My group is doing a game called "Sack Lunch" to help teach healthy eating habits. Players collect entree, side dish, drink, and dessert cards that have different point values. The idea is to have the highest rated lunch by the finish. I was responsible for the side dish and drink cards--the entire game will be finished next week so check back for updates!

Thesis Update

2011-04-19T19:51:00.001-07:00

These drawings are old, but I realized I hadn't posted them yet--here are two more thesis works, uncolored. Final print sizes will be 13x20 and 14x10.65.

Novella, finished!

2011-04-19T12:05:00.001-07:00

I finally finished my novella and ordered it for print today--you can preview it here: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2115637 or see the printed book at the Commencement Show in three weeks. The book is hardcover, 72 pages. Here is the summary printed inside the front flap:

"For Adam and Dan and Isaac, the sinkholes were the beginning. They were the first violent strike by the ground, the most visible sign of aggression that was to build in the following months."

A fictional narrative based of off the environmental disaster in Picher, Oklahoma and the surrounding areas of the Tar Creek Superfund site, "Fells" explores the ideas of responsibility, consequence, and man's relationship with land. The rapid decline of Fells is witnessed by three friends who become the city's vigilantes at night, fueled by their devotion to the condemned high school building they will never graduate from. The fragility of human structure, both built and inherited, is revealed in the constant push of the interior to the exterior. The remaining residents of Fells must cope with this realization and make the choice to abandon the land or become part of it.

Neverland

2011-04-13T10:56:00.000-07:00

I did this map a couple months ago but was just recently able to get a decent scan of it. The actual size is about 20"x24", ink and watercolor.

Top Ten UFO Sighting Spots in New Mexico

2011-04-01T10:22:00.000-07:00

For my maps class we threw darts at a wall to select a state to make an infograph about. I hit New Mexico, wanting to do some sort of chart about Roswell. The result after some hours of research was this graph, which shows the Top Ten UFO Sighting Spots of New Mexico. I learned a lot about UFO sightings and the Roswell Incident in the process--this website especially was amazing: http://www.ufoinfo.com/contents.shtml Unfortunately the colors are showing up a lot more desaturated--that pink should be neon!

New Business Card!

2011-03-26T16:02:00.000-07:00

Here is the new design for my business card--the final version will have rounded corners. I placed a rush order so hopefully I will have them by next Friday, the day of the Career Fair!

Risk Assessment

2011-03-22T13:12:00.000-07:00

An illustration for a business article on the topic of "risk." This was an assignment for Fantasy Art, so the idea was to add a fantastical element to the image.

Thesis Update!!

2011-03-11T19:08:00.000-08:00

So it's been a while since I posted any thesis work. . .here is an update of what I've been working on. The colors are not final, but I wanted to start experimenting as I'm continuing to work on the next few pieces. The drawings are done in graphite, and the color is photoshop. I'm continuing to work on my novella, and my thesis imagery is starting to parallel the characters and motifs in my writing. I included a few excerpts of writing below that relate to the work.

Three weeks ago to the day the first sinkhole swallowed a house. It was the first house of many, but the ground in Fells had been bad long before then. If you took a cross section of the land and sliced it either way, you would find holes like swiss cheese, some of them a quarter mile deep. Gurgling up from these spaces there was water, a coppery red-orange sludge making a film across sluggish streams in low-lying areas. It flowed from cavities in the ground back where people rarely walked and dissipated itself invisibly into clearer rivers and swimming holes. The mountains near Fells High were not really mountains; they were massive piles of earth that had been dug up long before most of the residents were even born. But to most, especially the children, the piles were part of the natural landscape of Fells. It was hard to imagine watching a football game without the backlit silhouette of the piles looming in the distance, their dusty surfaces disrupted by playing children strong enough to reach the top.

For Adam and Dan and Isaac, the sinkholes were the beginning. They were the first violent strike by the ground, the most visible sign of aggression that was to build in the following months. There was no fear over the holes, and the thought that Mrs. Skinner’s fate was possible for of the boys’ houses never came into their minds. They were intrigued by the sudden awakening of the landscape, something they had always thought of as passive, asleep, and constant. Now the fine grains of chat that blew across the track on windy days were something to look twice at. The sweeping wave was searching for a place to rest, a yard to cover with a thin film like a morning frost.

******

They were down near the swimming hole now; Adam could sense the openness of the space, the shift in the sound of dirt under the tires traveled far away and did not return. Sleep was creeping over him even as he pressed his foot on the accelerator. His tongue was a warm, heavy stone in his mouth and his eyes felt as though they were sinking deeper into their sockets. His fingers were slightly numb and light as he turned the wheel to park. Dan and Isaac were already halfway out of the truck before it even stopped. The three of them stepped from the glow of the car into the night air. Adam slid the key ring into his pocket and followed Dan down the edge of the slope. The swimming hole lay dark and silent at the bottom of the hill. A milky circle of white was wavering on the surface of the black water like an alien pupil. Upon seeing it each boy felt a brief internal shudder that they masked from the others.

******

There was a weight to physicality, a price for the pleasure of flesh and blood. She was starting to feel the burden of carrying around bone with muscle, the strain of creaking tendons forever stretching and releasing. But there was something more: a new, foreign weight to her blood. Maybe it was a recent adoption or maybe it had always existed there, flowing without her notice until just this moment. She felt that if her finger was pricked and a small bead of red sprung from the point that the blood would be of a darker, more sinister hue. This image of dark, alien blood in her veins just made her heart pump it with more force. It was hammering at the walls of her temples now and draining from the tips of her fingers and toes, making them tingle. Where could she go now? Even as she slept this new presence would be exploring the cavities of her organs and pressing up against nail beds and peeking through the thin windows of capillaries. Even if she left this house and all her possessions, her body would not be entirely her own.

Map of a Subculture

2011-03-11T18:27:00.000-08:00

This week we had the critique for our "map of a subculture" with guest critic Josh Cochran, who assigned the project. I did a map of Bodybuilding using ink and 80s-inspired photoshop color.

Thirteen Nights of Dreaming: Edit

2011-02-18T23:14:00.000-08:00

After the feedback in crit today I decided to change the colors and placement of the title for this piece. I still enjoy the sepia of the earlier piece but a lot of people felt it was reading as dirt or underground and not dream-like patterning. I do enjoy the blue of the cups in the new edit--it has a cooler feel to it.

Thirteen Nights of Dreaming

2011-02-17T21:04:00.000-08:00

Here's a piece I did for my Illustrated Maps class--we did a map inspired by "a place we feel we belong." The projects are being submitted to make-maps.blogspot.com , a blog started by artist Adam Hayes that features maps drawn by various artists. He will take a look at our class's maps and post some of them on his blog. We are supposed to submit a short description along with our personal map. Here's mine:

My nightstand is covered in glasses filled with varying levels of water. I always need a glass of water next to my bed when I am going to sleep, and many of my dreams involve being submerged underwater or take place near large bodies of water. I chose to map a collection of my water-themed dreams because I feel a sense of identity and belonging in these surreal spaces. I think my affinity for water may have something to do with growing up in the Great Lakes State, but it is also connected to my interest in the concealing and revealing of reality, motion within structure, and the nature of the subconscious.

Sea of Frozen Words

2011-02-09T12:40:00.000-08:00

A fantasy art assignment to create an image based on a brief description of an imaginary place. I did a book cover (title would wrap around under center circle) for the description of a sea that froze all sound during the winter and released it during the thaw. The imagery is based upon the description's mention of a battle between two different tribes within the world.

New Semester, New Thesis

2011-02-03T10:41:00.001-08:00

This semester I'm switching gears in my Illustration thesis, playing more to my strengths and interests. I am working on more fine art/editorial work inspired by the environmental disaster in Picher, Oklahoma. I'm interested in the play between internal and external anatomy in man and land. Here is an uncolored drawing of my first piece. More sinkholes, chat piles, and acid mine water to follow!

Christmas Projects. . .

2010-12-23T15:47:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-23T15:36:00.001-08:00

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. . .

Thesis Finals!

2010-12-20T20:27:00.000-08:00

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!

Nature Drawing finals!!

2010-12-12T19:39:00.000-08:00

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.

Some Art Market Things. . .

2010-12-08T18:06:00.000-08:00

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!

Bootes Finished Illustration

2010-12-04T18:53:00.000-08:00

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

Update on Book Illustration

2010-12-04T16:45:00.000-08:00

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.

Star Map Progress Photos

2010-11-30T21:30:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-30T10:43:00.001-08:00

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.

Some Nature Drawings. . .

2010-11-24T18:05:00.000-08:00

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.

Some Thesis Stuff!

2010-11-01T14:01:00.000-07:00

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!

Colored Book Illustrations

2010-10-21T13:11:00.001-07:00

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

Advanced Book Illustration--In Progress

2010-10-10T18:56:00.000-07:00

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.

Naturalist Center

2010-10-06T21:27:00.000-07:00

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.

Nature Drawing

2010-09-29T10:05:00.000-07:00

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.

Sketches from Italia

2010-09-15T17:16:00.000-07:00

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.

Sea Woman

2010-07-20T21:44:00.000-07:00

I did a quick sketch of a Jules-Joseph Lefebvre painting ("Graziella") at the Met last Saturday and decided to do an inking based off the piece during studio time today. I just recently discovered his work and love the way he handles figures--I think more studies will follow! I'm going to color this piece later, but for now, here's the black and white version.

Pretty Boy Reservoir

2010-07-18T21:20:00.000-07:00

I don't normally post pictures of my everyday happenings, but I snapped these two photos right after sunset at Pretty Boy reservoir and could't resist sharing them.

Elijah Mural by Ann Arbor Area Youth

2010-07-05T18:22:00.001-07:00

So about a month ago I met with Carol Tice, the art director of Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, to see how the murals for Elijah turned out. The girls all did a great job taking inspiration from my sketches (see bottom sketches) and running with it. I met with the group (mostly high school and middle schoolers) once over spring break and it was cool to see the fruits of their labor. The mural is for the Blue Lake International Youth Orchestra and Choir's performance of Mendelssohn's Elijah, in Hill Auditorium on July 27th. Here are some photos of the finished mural.

Medic Babe

2010-07-05T17:22:00.000-07:00

I'm currently working at MICA's Pre-College Program as a Teaching Assistant/Resident Counselor. One of the kids' in-class projects was to make a tattoo design, so I made a pin-up inspired medical babe. Here is the illustration version of the design.

Loose Color Sketch for Mural

2010-06-05T08:12:00.000-07:00

So I never did post the first mural I finished in the basement over a year ago, so hopefully I'll get some pics of that this week to post. It's very tricky to get a good photo, since it's in a long, skinny hallway with dim lighting. Hmmm. Anyway, here is a very loose color sketch of the mural I am starting this week--the colors may vary slightly, but you get the general idea. My parents (who commissioned the mural) wanted something with greens, resemble an abstract forest, with echoes of the arts and crafts style. This is my own take on the abstract, and has similar themes to my first mural (which I will post later) especially the contrast between swooping arcs and straight lines. The colors are taken from a William Morris wallpaper design, "Arbutus." The final mural will measure just over 6 x 9 feet.

Ethiopian Codex

2010-06-03T16:52:00.000-07:00

One of the examples of the books I constructed last semester in my Papermaking & Book Structure class. Coptic binding, wood cover stained with acrylic--hopefully more books to come! I need to get better photographs of them.

Nine Lives

2010-05-27T08:40:00.001-07:00

So, here is the final I did for my folk art and folk life class. My idea was to collect and illustrate various stories from my dad and his 8 siblings, and the idea evolved a bit along the way. I definitely improved my inking, and enjoyed working with minimal, vintage-y color (I've always loved the limited color palette of children's books like "Blueberries for Sal") The tales themselves are another story--many have tweaked or added elements, just to help them fill out or wrap up in a slightly cleaner way. I'm not very fond of the re-telling of the stories, mostly because the book was put together during a very limited time frame, where I was spending most of my time trying to ink, scan, and color the illustrations. It never ceases to amaze me how long inking takes (always about 3x longer then I suspect it's going to take. . .) Anyhow, here is the "finished" book! I think the babysitter and car seat comps are two of my faves.

A Few Style Buddies. . .

2010-05-15T12:32:00.000-07:00

So for my fashion illustration class we had to "dress" these dolls every week with designer fashions (or just random street fashions) These are a few of my favorites. It was kind of a lot to do these every week on top of our regular class work, but I feel like it really helped me improve my tablet skills and short-hand methods for depicting different types of surfaces.

Mount Royal Elementary/Middle School Arts Evening

2010-05-04T16:16:00.000-07:00

My work-study is at the elementary/middle school down the street, so to earn some extra hours I did the postcard and flyer for their upcoming "Arts Evening." Here's the front & back view of the postcard and the flyer design. . .

Mental Disorders: Get in the Know (Concepts Final)

2010-05-02T12:39:00.000-07:00

So I've been revisiting this idea of the ocean and sea creatures and how this parallels the human mind and the subconscious. (see my Dick and Jane series from a while back) It was a topic I explored freshman year a little bit and I wanted to re-engage those ideas in a different way for my Illustration Concepts II final.

I've been wanting to work with this specific imagery of sea creatures interacting with human anatomy, and my professor challenged me to find a real-world application for this idea (apart from a purely visual piece, which is what I had in mind) I came up with the idea of an awareness campaign for mental disorders, titled "Mental Disorders: Get in the Know" (cheesy, I know...) headed by the National Institute for Mental Health.

These posters reference early medical illustrations, but each image is a visual representation of a particular mental disorder and/or symptom. The idea would be to have a half-dozen or more of these posters, one for each mental disorder falling under the common categories (Mood, Psychotic, Anxiety, etc) The roman numerals are not meant to be sequential, merely a visual reference to the classic anatomy plates. As always, images can be clicked on and zoomed for a more detailed view! (I recommend it :)

Vice & Virtue Final

2010-04-26T20:04:00.000-07:00

Vices and Virtues: Sketch Phase

2010-04-13T17:26:00.001-07:00

We had to choose one of the seven vices and its corresponding virtue to illustrate as two posters. I chose pride and humility, here is the sketch phase--update to come next week!

Burt's Bees!

2010-04-06T20:28:00.000-07:00

Full-page and two-page spread illustrations for my latest Lifestyle: Body and Behavior assignment. We had to take a photograph of a clothing item or product and incorporate it into an illustration. I chose Burt's Bees Very Volumizing Conditioner and Beeswax Lip Balm.

Red Sonja

2010-03-14T13:53:00.000-07:00

Magazine illustration for a feature story about the upcoming movie Red Sonja. It was a little tricky to find runway fashion that fit the theme, but I ended up using an Alexander McQueen piece from an older collection. Got some mixed feedback on this one--there's still a lot of things I'm trying to improve on with my technique and compositions. I was pretty happy with the anatomy in Red Sonja, though--no negative feedback there, and drawing anatomy is still something I'm trying to get a good feel for. I'm thinking about taking Life Drawing again in the Fall just because I'm a little rusty.

"Night Out" Finals

2010-03-14T13:44:00.001-07:00

Final versions for a two-page spread about a "Night Out", featuring fashion from one or more designers' ready-to-wear collections. I went with the idea of Geocaching in Sequoia National Forest. Honestly I think this may have worked better as a sort of day trip feature, but I already was pretty involved in the sketches, outfits, etc so I decided to stick with it. Not too crazy about the coloring job, though I like the general color scheme.

Old Stuff!

2010-03-14T13:33:00.001-07:00

So, now that I have a little free time to update my blog, I'm dumping a bunch of stuff from my fashion illustration class on here. Remember those sea-themed fashion sketches way way back? Maybe? Well here are the final versions. . .it's been a while so I don't remember all the dates for the collections, but the "washed up" girl is wearing an Alexander McQueen dress, the clown fish girl is wearing Stella McCartney, and at least one of the jellyfish swimmers is wearing Armani.

The Last of the Superheroes!

2010-03-13T10:29:00.000-08:00

Finally! It's done! I printed these all 11 x 14, and I'm shipping them in glass float frames to my brother on Monday. I have to say that the Batman print is probably my favorite color-wise. I'm not quite sure how I feel about the Captain America print--I used colors from a WWII poster and sort of an updated style, but I'm still not 100% on it. . .I think one thing I struggled with for this project was color. All these superheroes have specific dress and color schemes, and it was sort of tricky trying to incorporate my personal taste in color combos with that to try to create a cohesive image. . . Color is an area I'm still trying to work on and develop.

Anyway, hopefully I'll get photos when these are all hanging up in my brother's pad in Seattle! He's going to have a small get-together to show off the new addition to his apartment so I'm sending some complimentary prints and a stack of business cards to hand out. We'll see, maybe I'll get some commissions out of it! I think I might need a short break from superheroes for a while--I'm a little more into the warrior chic kind of genre (think Frank Frazetta....) Latest work from fashion illustration class soon to come!!! (I'm on spring break, which basically means catching up in all my classes while catching up with some friends while I'm in town!)

Deadpool, Print Version

2010-03-03T17:12:00.001-08:00

I need to stop obsessing over these pieces and print them. Here's Deadpool, background colors reworked.

Words on Wheels

2010-02-22T15:30:00.001-08:00

MICA partnership with Baltimore City Schools--we receive select poems from Baltimore students around the city and illustrate them. A few selected images will be displayed on the Light Rail and bus system.

Raquazia Gross, "Imagine Me"

Imagine me loving what I see

when the mirror looks at me,

because I imagine letting go

of all the ones who hurt me.

They never did deserve me.

Can you imagine me saying NO

to thoughts that try to control me

remembering all everyone told me?

Can you

imagine me

in a place of no insecurities?

I'm finally happy because

I imagine me.

Deadpool-Finished?

2010-02-16T07:35:00.001-08:00

I added the question mark to the end of "finished" because I am not completely satisfied with the outcome...it might be one of those instances where I'm so sick of looking at a piece that I just can't think straight anymore. I'm going to wait a couple days before I go ahead and print it, just to be sure.

Style Buddies Revisited

2010-01-31T15:08:00.001-08:00

Slightly more exciting than the last crew...

Fashion within Location: Sketches

2010-01-26T19:35:00.000-08:00

For my fashion illustration class we were to choose an environment and then create illustrations featuring apparel from existing designer lines that somehow echoed or meshed with the location we selected. The articles in these sketches come from a variety of lines from different seasons, some of which include Alexander McQueen, Armani, and Stella McCartney. The final two illustrations will be posted hopefully this weekend...

Style Buddies!

2010-01-24T16:32:00.001-08:00

I'll be dressing up these peeps every week for my fashion illustration class.

Sketches for Elijah

2010-01-23T21:06:00.000-08:00

The Blue Lake International Youth Symphony and Choir is performing Mendelssohn's Elijah this summer at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, and Carol Tice (the art director at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp) commissioned me to sketch up some mural ideas. Three panels featuring scenes/themes from the Old Testament story of the prophet Elijah will be painted by youth in the Ann Arbor area and displayed for the musical performance. I attended BLFAC for camp as a middle schooler, and worked as a counselor this past summer, so this project has a special meaning to me. The colors and compositions are of course subject to change--while I may be getting back to Michigan in time to help the kids paint, it's likely these sketches will serve more as a guideline for inspiration rather than a rigid map for the murals. I also have versions of these sketches with embellished borders featuring patterns and images, but personally I feel like they clutter the composition too much. I'm giving both versions to Carol and letting her make the call.

For those who are unfamiliar with the story of Elijah, in the panels I've illustrated a few major scenes of his time on Earth: the first shows Elijah being fed by ravens when there is a drought in the land of Isreal following Elijah's confrontation with King Ahab regarding the worship of both God and the idol Baal. The second panel is the depiction of the "face-off" between Elijah and Ahab to reveal the true God (both make sacrifices to their gods but only Elijah's altar is consumed in fire from the heavens. After this the drought ends, and a series of other events happen before Elijah ascends into heaven on a chariot of fire (last panel, also my favorite of the three)

I'm still working on the superhero pieces; the coloring is taking longer than expected. Also it's the first week of school and my professors have wasted no time piling on the homework!

Deadpool-Stage I

2010-01-17T07:21:00.000-08:00

Still need to do a little cleaning up on this one, but the drawing stage is over and now the painting begins!

Captain America--Stage I

2010-01-13T19:37:00.001-08:00

Superhero Series--Rorschach and Batman (Stage I)

2010-01-11T18:13:00.000-08:00

Here are two of the four portraits of superheroes in a series that my older brother has commissioned for his office and apartment in Seattle. I'm planning on doing the coloring in Photoshop--final images will be 11x14 and be displayed in float frames. Here's Rorschach from Watchmen and Batman; Deadpool and Captain America soon to follow!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-28T09:02:00.000-08:00

Here's a little something I made for my cousins Mary, Kaitlin, and Katie--we're all around the same age and exchange Christmas gifts every year. Christmas with my dad's side is always a lot of fun: he has 8 brothers and sisters which makes for lots of cousins! I used a few photos for reference, did a line drawing in graphite, and colored it in photoshop with my Christmas present from mom and dad: a wacom tablet! It's small but very portable and gets the job done. Unfortunately I haven't been able to install the software on my laptop yet because my disc drive is broken. Not sure how to get around this-we've tried various methods with external hard drives, but nothing seems to work. Anyway, I'm excited to use the tablet for a few upcoming projects involving superhero characters: more to come!

Art Market Review

2009-12-21T14:59:00.001-08:00

Here is a sample of the prints I sold at Art Market last week, a four-day student and faculty-run event at MICA that raises money for the sellers and for scholarships for students at MICA. Pretty cool! I bought a few Christmas presents, sold some of my shark litho prints from last year, and sold out on my hand-lettered dragon alphabets! All in all the Illustration department had a strong showing, I saw a lot of impressive and creative work from my fellow illustration majors (everything from hand-painted pendants to printed tees to printed books and cards) For a sampling of some of the MICA Illustration work, check this out: http://blogthelab.blogspot.com/ I'm definitely going to participate in Art Market next year, with a focus on packaging and overall branding of my work. The experience was great practice!

Google vs iPhone: Revisited

2009-12-15T14:32:00.001-08:00

Here is a reworking of an earlier illustration I did for my Concepts I class. In this updated version I changed the colors of the environment to suggest a slightly more aggressive mood (if you look at the earlier version you will see that I had originally colored the background a light green similar to the one in the buildings) The illustration is for an article about the new Google Droid, a rising competitor to the iPhone.

Simulator Santa!

2009-12-15T14:19:00.000-08:00

A holiday card I designed for VI grade--the cover is a play off of their product "Car RealTime," a software used to create vehicle simulation environments (http://www.vi-grade.com/index.php?pagid=vehicle_dynamics_carrealtime)

As always, click the image for a larger view!

Character Development Final

2009-12-15T14:02:00.001-08:00

My Character Development final--a movie character I designed based off an environment provided my my professor (a photo of an abandoned factory covered in snow) Kaneq was a veterinarian before the snowy apocalypse forced her to seek refuge in an abandoned factory. Once a cat lover, she now has to fend for herself in a world where the only survivors are packs of mutant feral cats that are constantly on the prowl. Using gears and pipes from her home in the factory, Kaneq fashions weapons with which to defend herself, making the physical and mental transformation from a tender-hearted veterinarian to a feral cat huntress fighting for her life in a post-apocalyptic world.

Kaneq's latter character dress was inspired by attire of the Arctic Native Americans; her name is the Inuit word for "frost."

Drawings in graphite; coloring in photoshop.

Business Card

2009-12-02T20:51:00.001-08:00

My business cards! (front/back) Still need to order them from gotprint.com (great site) in preparation for MICA Art Market next week, but I'm happy with how the design turned out.

Business Card--preliminary drawing

2009-12-01T20:37:00.000-08:00

Front/Back design for my business card for Art Market (next week!) Still need to color and print.

Boogeyman Re-design

2009-11-24T12:46:00.001-08:00

This is an assignment we had in my Character Development class earlier in the year--everyone in the class did 30 quick sketches of a "boogeyman" character. We were then assigned another person's sketch in the class to re-design, keeping the essential qualities of the character idea, but re-executing it in our own style/interpretation. The topmost image is the original sketch by my classmate, the other two are my re-interpretation of her idea.

Ocarina Salesgirl

2009-11-24T12:31:00.000-08:00

This is slightly dated--we had to design a new character and environment in my Character Development class for an existing video or computer game. I chose Zelda: The Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 64) My character is an Ocarina Salesgirl who travels around Hyrule Field with her large pack, selling ocarinas and other special instruments. The environment shown is my first attempt at digital painting in Photoshop, something I hope continue and improve upon.

Battle to the Death!

2009-11-10T19:15:00.001-08:00

Spot illustration for an NPR article about the new Google phone, a rising challenger to Apple's iPhone. Concepts I class--I was told to change the background color to something more intense (I'm thinking orange...) The palette is inspired by vintage comic covers. My second-ever experimentation with coloring digitally! (First was an environment for my character development class that I'll post later in the week)

Character Design-Jungle Queen

2009-09-30T09:49:00.000-07:00

For my Character Development class we designed a comic book character that was inspired by an interesting object we brought into class. My objects were an assortment of doll hands, which eventually developed into the idea for a character with interesting/additional hands and arms. I have not thought of a name for this character yet, though I imagine her to be a villainous jungle-queen of some sort. The final piece is done in watercolor and ink, with graphite sketches.

Old Photographs from an Old Camera

2009-09-18T16:14:00.000-07:00

Some of my favorite images from an old roll of film that I just got developed...I've been trying to upload sketches from the summer for a while but it doesn't seem to be working. Hopefully I will have those up later this month. The horses and cows are from a trip to upstate New York with some friends over Spring Break, the portraits are friends and family, and the aerial artistry is from a performance at MICA last spring (I was amazed they turned out, since my camera has no flash!) The cornfield is from my home in Michigan and the city scape is from my home in Maryland...quite the juxtaposition!

An American Wedding

2009-07-07T08:37:00.001-07:00

front^

inside^

back^

So while I've been a counselor at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake, Michigan (http://www.bluelake.org/) for the past few weeks, I had the opportunity to design wedding programs before I left for a friend who was married just last Saturday. Everything is completely hand-drawn and fairly low-tech: I don't have the resources at home that I do at school (scanners, printers, Photoshop, etc) so I had to keep it relatively simple to create and inexpensive to reproduce. The illustration is graphite and ink, drawn at about 175% size to allow more detail when I reduced the image for the program. I did the entire program in one go, then scanned and printed the image of the happy couple to attach to the center of the front cover. The entire program was then photocopied for the wedding guests. Congratulations Sarah and Mike!

Dragon Alphabet

2009-04-21T18:21:00.000-07:00

Part of a sketchbook alphabet I developed further for my Hand Letters class. The dragons are hand-drawn and colored in Photoshop.

Circles

2009-04-08T14:14:00.000-07:00

An older hand-drawn alphabet, but I recently resurrected it for another project I'll post later this week. I've been behind in my updates due to a sudden and catastrophic hard drive crash, where I lost everything from Spring 08 until now. After researching hard drive data recovery, I have found the expense to be upwards of $1,000; so unless I can find another (affordable) alternative I am going to suck it up and replace the hard drive with a new one. The massive loss is mostly my fault--everyone knows how important it is to back up all your files, but it's something I failed to do. Since this is the second hard drive crash in less than two years, you can be sure I'm going to purchase an external hard drive and back up everything from now on. It still doesn't help the sting of losing everything---personal photos, class papers, photographed/scanned artwork, etc. Hopefully my next post will be a brighter one...

Queen of the Bees

2009-03-29T19:20:00.001-07:00

My Illustration II class got the opportunity to go see "A Circus Family: Picasso to Leger" at the BMA before spring break. The exhibit was worth every dollar--I have always taken an interest in Picasso's paintings and studies of circus people, and it was amazing to see some Toulouse-Lautrec prints in living color. I wasted no time filling my sketchbook with studies of the posters--their strong compositions and energetic layouts will be sure to inspire me in future Illustration assignments. For our "circus portrait" project in Illustration II, we were to depict a well-known celebrity as a circus performer (acrobat, lion tamer, ringmaster, etc) that somehow related to their image or persona in the real world. I was inspired by Amy Winehouse's towering hairdo, and so she became a circus freak known as "Queen of the Bees." (it was between her and Mary-Kate Olsen as the Incredible Shrinking Woman) As always, click for a larger view!

Lighting Workshop

2009-03-12T10:59:00.001-07:00

These are from last semester--all Illustration majors were required to attend a lighting workshop in the BBOX performance space. I'm not sure if you can read my scribbled handwriting, but the topmost sketch is drawn from 2-point side lighting, the middle from "Rembrandt lighting" (creates a triangular patch on the cheek) and the bottom from bottom lighting (also called "up" or "foot" lighting..) All are five-minute exercises executed in sharpie.

Blood Type

2009-03-04T19:07:00.001-08:00

For my Hand Letters class we were assigned a project entitled "Nature's Alphabet," where we had to render an alphabet inspired by natural elements. (Leaves, birds, vegetables, etc) I chose the circulatory system, and used my handy 1940s anatomy book to aid me in depicting realistic vein and artery structures. I apologize for the low image quality; the file size had to be greatly reduced in order for me to upload. We used this alphabet in a later project---I will post it later this week, if I can recover my lost flash drive!

Ponytail Type

2009-03-02T17:39:00.000-08:00

Fun With Dick And Jane

2009-02-22T17:05:00.001-08:00

Collaged image for my printmaking class, Hand-Drawn Photo. Continuation of a series I started freshman year of Dick and Jane characters interacting with deep-sea creatures (see color illustrations below) All text is from the original readers; only recontextualized.

The Fall of the House of Usher

2009-02-17T11:22:00.001-08:00

The Illustration department at MICA has been buzzing for the past few weeks because of the upcoming experimental production of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher." Sets, posters, flyers, and programs are all being designed by MICA Illustration students--the image depicted above is a detail of a poster design by Cameron Shojaei that I converted to black and white and adapted for a program. My entire Hand Letters class had to do the same assignment: take a portion of one of the poster designs and incorporate hand-drawn type into the grayscale image. One of the faculty will select a few of these designs to print for the show. I'm looking forward to seeing what the set looks like, and how the performance plays out. It is a brief show, only about 15 minutes long, but one of my roommates will be on stage so that makes the event even more exciting. That's all for now--I'm hoping later this week to post some more of my work from Hand Letters!

Looking Back, Looking Ahead

2009-01-30T11:36:00.000-08:00

Second semester has begun--I feel like the course load is much greater than last, due to the fact that I've been up past two o'clock nearly every night since my return. I sent in my portfolio for Competitive Scholarships last night, so I've included a few of those images in today's post. It would be great to get some money for next year, considering I've had to dip into my savings account time and again to make up for no work-study job this year. Some good news: I accepted a job at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp (http://www.bluelake.org/employment_staff.html) for the summer, which should be a lot of fun. I went there twice during my grade school years, and the atmosphere is a great combination of rustic living, intense study, and of course the usual camp activities like swimming and talent shows. I will be a Cabin Counselor and Health Provider (which basically just means you are certified to handle emergency medical situations in case they arise) in addition to assisting faculty with class instruction in the visual arts (drawing & painting, ceramics, and fibers). I'm looking forward to living there for the summer. In the meantime, it's work, work, work. Don't get me wrong, it's a lot of fun, but sometimes I wish there were more hours in a day to get everything done!

Anachronistic Drawing Final

2008-12-21T19:21:00.000-08:00

For my Life Drawing final we were told to do an anachronistic piece that transformed the original state of an old master drawing by putting ourselves in the scene as a fully modern player. I chose a well-known drawing by Albrecht Durer (top) titled Adam and Eve and replaced the apple in Eve's hand with a different kind of Apple... It works as a pun as well as a commentary on the cultural and societal impact of technology (Mac in particular, which is the preferred operating system for most visual artists) I'm sure there are a half-dozen other interpretations you can make from a piece like this, but I'll leave it at that. Overall it was a fun project, and I learned a lot trying to integrate my style of drawing while keeping true to the meticulous air of a Durer engraving. That man had an extremely steady hand and a lot of patience!

Midwest Holiday

2008-12-21T12:09:00.000-08:00

It's good to be home--my flight was delayed, but I got back in time to sleep in my own bed on Friday night. Saturday morning I grabbed my boots, my dog, and my brother's camera and ventured outside for a hike in single-digit temperatures. While Rohan ran ahead, I snapped a few pictures and enjoyed some fresh air. I like experiencing the contrast between living in a metropolitan area like Baltimore versus a rural environment like Dexter. They each have their own advantages and opportunities--deep down, though, I think I'm more of a small-town girl.

When I come home I am reminded of the importance of tradition, of community, and of fellowship. It's a feeling that is hard to articulate to someone who has never experienced the spectacle of hunting season; who has never heard of a buck pole or been to a cider mill; who has never fished off a dock; who has never woken up one morning and known it was springtime solely because of the strong smell of manure hanging in the air. There's a sense of comfort living in a place where you can have a conversation with the bag lady at the grocery store and she's not rushing to get to the next person in line. I love going to school in Baltimore, but I think I'm starting to appreciate the people and places of my past more now that I've been away. It's a deep respect and reverence that I can't deny, no matter how much I think I've changed. The experiences I've had growing up in the Midwest are ones that I'm grateful for, because they've given me a rooted confidence and sense of peace wherever I go. Sounds pretty cheesy, I know, but nostalgia has a tendency to evoke cliches.

I'll be home for a month, so look forward to posts on the finished mural in my basement and the start of a collaborate project with my room mate Rachel: http://threadedletters.wordpress.com/ as well as images from the semester's final projects...

Cicada Summer

2008-12-15T16:03:00.000-08:00

Finals, finals, finals! That seems to be my excuse for everything these days--be it lack of attentiveness, cause of illness, or reason for insanity. There are projects to complete, portfolios to revise, papers to write and exams to study for....along with the frantic planning of holiday get-togethers, scheduling and re-scheduling of flights, and frenzied emails coordinating possible job opportunities for the summer. I feel like I'm walking in a cloud most of the time.

Anyway, I thought I'd post my final for Narrative Illustration, which is now over and done with (I have a one-on-one portfolio review with my professor this Wednesday). For our final project we had three weeks to write and illustrate a story of our own. I decided to write a children's story about the Great Southern Brood, a large swarm of periodical cicadas that emerges every 13 years. The story follows a young girl who discovers the existence of the cicadas while they are still in the ground, and speaks with them each year as she grows older. Ultimately it is a coming-of-age sort of story; feel free to read the full text below--not a fully revised draft, but solid and readable. The illustrations are executed in ink and watercolor. For the scene in which she is building a snowman I experimented a little with filters in Photoshop--I didn't have the time (or money) to print all of the edited illustrations, so I stuck with the originals for my final. Here they are, in the order they appear in the narrative...enjoy!

Cicada Summer---unrevised draft:

It was late summer in a sleepy little hollow of a sleepy little town in Illinois when a young child first felt the rumblings of another world. She was sitting alone outside, digging with her sand bucket and bright blue shovel when she heard a tiny voice whisper from beneath the ground.

“Wait, little girl! Don’t unearth us from our beds…we are sleeping here. Wait!”

The child was so surprised she dropped her shovel and sat frozen, listening.

How had she never heard it before? Thousands upon thousands of tiny little snores, echoing from beneath her feet. The constant steady hum of life made her fingers tingle when she touched the ground.

“Who are you?” the girl asked, captivated by the sound.

But the only answer, faint as a breath, was “Wait…”

Each day the little girl sat outside in the shade and thought about the creature that had spoken to her. What did he look like? How many of his friends and family were sleeping in the ground? When the little girl stepped on the grass she stepped lightly as to not disturb them, and when she sang to herself she sang softly so they wouldn’t wake. Summer drew to a close, with fall close behind, then winter and then spring. When the snow melted from the ground the girl was another year older. She played outdoors all summer, climbing trees and throwing rocks in the pond, catching fireflies in a jar and sleeping out on the porch when the air was cool and pleasant. Sometimes the little girl would whisper back and forth with the creatures underground, who would only say a few words before drifting back to sleep.

Year after year the seasons changed, and the girl grew taller and stronger. She was not so little anymore. The little friend she had made so many years ago spoke less and less.

“When will I get to see you?” the girl asked, frustrated and impatient.

“You will meet me soon. The time has almost come…wait…” replied the creature softly, joining in the steady hum of his underground companions.

Fall, winter, spring, summer. The girl waited, listening. All summer she waited. There was no little whisper to reassure her, only a soft hum. After a while the girl wondered if she had only imagined the voice from before. And what was this soft hum? Perhaps it was just a buzzing in her ears. The girl was sorry she had ever believed in tiny little creatures that spoke to her from beneath the soil. The idea seemed so silly and childish. When spring came again, followed by the heat of summer, the girl did not even bother to press her ear to the ground. She played inside with her dolls or helped her mother in the kitchen. She learned to sew and practiced writing her name in cursive. The girl almost forgot about the voice she had heard so many summers ago.

One night, as the girl slept soundly in her bed, the creatures woke from their long slumber. Quietly, quietly, they burrowed up from underground. Silently, silently, they stretched their little legs. Without a sound they moved by the hundreds, tiptoeing up into the branches of the tallest trees.

When the girl awoke in the morning the air was filled with the loudest song she had ever heard. Rushing from her bedroom, the girl ran outside into the woods and looked up into the trees, where she saw a most miraculous sight. Hundreds and hundreds of little creatures, too many too count, adorned the branches and flitted from leaf to leaf. They had bright green and yellow and black bodies with golden wings and big shiny eyes. All of them were singing at the top of their lungs, a great big buzzing that made the trees resonate and sway.

“Hello!” the girl shouted, and watched as her small friends waved back.

They were in constant motion, shedding the delicate shell of their sleeping body and emerging with glassy wings. The girl was so happy to meet the tiny creatures that she spent every day in the woods listening to them sing as she played in the shade. As the weeks passed, the sound of the creature’s voices grew softer. The girl started to notice fewer of them nibbling on grass or resting lazily on a flower petal. One day the girl awoke not to a chorus of voices, but a single melody. Frantically she searched to find the source of the buzzing, and at last she found one lone little creature, resting atop a tall blade of grass.

“What is happening?” the girl asked, “Where are all of your friends and family? Where have they gone?”

The winged creature stopped his singing to look up at the girl.

“The summer is drawing to a close, and so are our lives. When the first leaf changes color, it is time for us to pass on.”

The girl’s eyes filled with tears, “But I don’t understand! You spent year after year sleeping underneath the ground, only to see the world for a few short weeks! Why? Why did you waste your life dreaming when you could have been singing in the trees?”

The creature nodded and thought for a moment before speaking.

“Our years spent underground are not wasted years. While we listen and dream we grow wise, so that when we finally emerge we can fully appreciate the beauty of the world above. We are content to sing and warm our backs in the sun for the few weeks that we have.”

“I will miss you,” the girl said softly. “I never even learned your name.”

“My name is Cicada. Don’t worry. Our family is very large; you will see us again. Wait…”

The girl smiled as the cicada resumed his singing, and slowly walked back to the house, thinking quietly to herself.

That evening, as the last low notes of the last living cicada echoed in the trees, the girl gathered a few things and set off into the woods. There was just a hint of coolness in the air as the sun set, orange and bright. Finding a small clearing in the woods, the girl took her little blue shovel from so many years ago and began to dig.

Catching Up...

2008-11-22T20:17:00.001-08:00

Okay, so my scanner has officially bit the dust, which is the reason why this post is so long overdue. I have so much catching up to do I don't even know where to start...

This morning I braved the cold, laden with a semester's worth of lifesize drawings, sketches, and in-class studies to make the (seemingly) long trek down to the Main Building, intent on documenting my work before finals really start picking up. I photographed around 40 pieces before the camera's battery called it quits... I'm hoping to get all the images up here in the next month or so, according to relevance and/or theme.

These two drawings are life size, done in one class period. It was a little difficult to work on such a large surface, considering we had to tack our paper to the homosote walls, which meant our backs were to the model. It was definitely an exercise in scale as well as memorization--looking over the shoulder, making a mark, and looking back again. Overall I'm pleased with the results--it's refreshing to change things up every once in a while.

Right now I am looking ahead to Thanksgiving Break, which starts this coming Wednesday. I'm excited to see my family in Michigan, eat home-cooked meals, and not have to climb a ladder to get in and out of bed!

Siddhartha

2008-10-06T16:57:00.000-07:00

Two-page spread and one-page illustration for the classic Indian tale of Siddhartha.

Feist cover/inside

2008-09-24T15:53:00.001-07:00

You Hope For Your Babies And This is How They Grow...

2008-09-18T13:38:00.001-07:00

For my Narrative Illustration class we had to develop an EP cover/inside for either Feist's "The Water" or Animal Collective's "Water Curses." (I chose the former) These works are executed in pen and ink--step two is to color them using Photoshop. You can listen to the actual song here: http:/www.myspace.com/feist

Sketchbooks: The Latest in Floor Decor

2008-09-14T20:07:00.000-07:00

Soooo...I am back at MICA. Diving into the third week and already slightly frazzled and a little overwhelmed. Our dorm ("The Gateway") is absolutely beautiful and I promise to post photos once I acquire the time/necessary equipment (ie, a camera) to do so. My floor is littered with sketches and reference material--my professors wasted no time piling on the projects, but I've been having fun thus far.

Unfortunately my financial situation is not all sunshine and smiles--my waitressing job over the summer fell through due to our one and only cook quitting, and frankly the money I have been saving over the years will not be enough to cover this year in terms of supplies and groceries. I had been counting on 10 hours of work-study like I had last year, but it was not awarded to me this semester. Hopefully I will sell a few paintings that I have up at Foggy Bottom, but the odds are slim. Trying not to think about it too much and taking advantage of the extra time to become more involved on campus.

For the time being, I am focusing on my studies while patiently waiting for a call from the financial aid office...and now getting back to my Illustration homework.

Gracefully Awkward

2008-08-10T19:53:00.000-07:00

I took a visit to the Toledo Zoo last week and brought along my sketchbooks and assortment of drawing materials to study the animals. The pictures posted are from my trip to the Maryland Zoo a few months ago--I still haven't documented a bunch of my recent work lately. As for any zoo, I enjoy seeing the big cats, as well as the zebras and elephants, but it's always the giraffes that catch my eye and keep my attention. They have an awkward air to themselves--shy and curious, lanky yet surefooted, an immense weight that balances on long, thin legs. I find them interesting to draw because they maintain an unequaled balance of grace and character. I hope to incorporate these aspects into a narrative in the future. . .