bundle of joy....someday...soon.....very soon.....

I sit here and wait impatiently for the phone call letting me know that my sister's in labor and the baby will be born soon! Come on little Isabella! You want to come out into the world!

I have finished an illustration of a cool knight with a big nose, temporarily called "Knight in Armor" for lack of a cooler title. He's the second of the small colored pencil illustrations that I love working on, as it should be for an illustrator. Instead of saying "how long can I procrastinate?" I say, "Oh! I can work on this AND watch tv...or listen to music...or eat (as long as the food doesn't contain oils or messy red sauces)." The only thing I STILL haven't found how to do is read and work on art. And yes, I have heard of a thing called books on tape/cd. 3 inherent problems with them: 1) They are about 2-4+ times as much as a normal book, depending on whether you purchase paperbacks or hardbacks. 2) Not all the books I am interested in reading are considerate enough to provide themselves with the oh-so-convenient book on tape. 3) The library, where I can check them out for free, has an incredibly poor collection of sci-fi/fantasy books and I always forget to return them and end up with $10.00 late fees (granted that was for 5 books...)

I must go now and begin my new conquest.....er.....illustration. (and finish some...many...unfinished illustration projects I have currently) Where's that magical wand to go bibbity-bobbity-bo! so they're all done?

Annual Juried Student Art Show

I got two entries into the student art show at CSUN, which I'm happy about! It opens next Friday. I'm excited, but not nearly as hyper as I was last year when I got in the show for the first time.

I got the vegetable houses (all three as one set) that can be seen in the Gail's art link to the right, and I also got my baby shower invitation for connie in the show.

I really enjoyed working on the baby shower invitation, which was done in colored pencil. It was a pretty small piece that was fast to do compared to my normally massively detailed peices. I would like to do more pieces in this style so I have a marketable style that I can start submitting to children's magazines while still leaving myself with time to work on personal pieces.

Yawn... Test at school

Since I have a class on Thursdays until 2:00 pm and then another class at 7:00 pm, one would think that the 5 hours between classes would be ample time to study for an exam for the latter class. One would think. Alas for me, 2 hours was enough to bore me silly. Granted, it's for Political Science, the one class that 99.99999% of Americans would avoid if they could (me included). What's worse, the teacher is great and actually makes this class INTERESTING! (but that doesn't make me want to read/study for the test any more) I made it through Chapter 1 and I made it through Chapter 2. But then I was done eating and overflowing with the free refills of tea. My smart idea: take a break and then return to Chapters 3 & 4. BAD IDEA. The break continues 2 hours later and 40 minutes before class. I've checked my email (none), i've updated myself on the one webcomic I follow regularly (megatokyo - two new posts) and I've updated myself on the new posts up on Dave Barry's Blog, resulting in me sitting in the hallway in front of class, typing away on my Mac (with wireless of course) writing this Barry-esque post on my blog (after noting that it's been 2 weeks since my last post. So I now just need to procrastinate for 37 more minutes before I can wish I had studied more for the test I don't care about. I know that's callous of me, but it's fact. I take this class because it's required of me, not because of self-interest. Self-interest was the 6-7 anthro classes I've taken in the past 5.5 years of college.

Ah well. On to more interesting things: the art!
The workbook: I've been doing the watercolor studies of the illustrations for the workbook, and find them acceptable, but not as volumetric as I would like. i've touched up one digitally and like it much better then the others. Need to finish scanning them and laying them out in the workbook, which I get to work on over the weekend.
Reinbear: I've gone through about 1/4 of my sketchbook and what seems like half of a pad of tracing paper and I MAY be able to transfer my first image to the illustration board and begin inking it next week! YAY! But at least I do have sketches in progress for some of the other panels as well. And i've started drawing Santa.
Apprenticeship: my explorations in Acrylic paint have been going well, and I'm very pleased with the portrait study i'm doing so far. A tentative project for the rest of the semester is painting a piece geared toward Spectrum.
Other personal projects: I need to get my act together and step up the pace on some of my projects so I can complete all that I wish to finish this semester, including chartering the Illustration Club.

i better pretend to study more.

Typography...or illustration?

During my typography crit yesterday I worked on this little sketch...about 3 inches big. I colored it digitally this morning. I could add more detailing, and get it so I don't need the original sketch at all, but this was just a quick sketching, something to relax and pass the time.

Illustrator of the Week: Jill Barklem

This week we look at mice...those cute, adorable balls of fluff with the big ol' ears and the looong whiskers. Ms. Barklem's world of Brambly Hedge is great! It is full of factual information about the land and environment she grew up with. And the mice are such characters! Her work is very reminicent of the Beatrix Potter illustrations, which I grew up loving. Best of all, the characters are NOT "perfectly drawn" a habit that I need to grow out of and just let the pencil flow, because they will never be perfectly drawn. The little wobbles and quirks make the illustrations that much more interesting. Characters like these are one of my goals for what i'm trying to achieve with the insect illustrations. (Also, characters like Laurel's black and white illustrations, which I spent all Monday drooling over!)

on a different note...time for laundry...sigh

Angry Moon

I don't know why he's angry, and there has never been a more cheerful looking angry face. it was fun to paint, and I enjoyed adding texture to the moon himself. I was very pleased with how the face came out. he looks petulant. and we mustn't forget the shooting star!

For whom the school bell tolls

Back to school for me, and I couldn't be happier. I have discovered that I like interaction and feedback from other students. I definitely need to start holding illustration parties or something at my house to get that interaction when I am out of school once and for all (if that will ever happen...)

The job continues very well, and we are starting phase two...color studies! look at all the pretty colors! I shall post my digital illustration of a moon I sketched out last semester and have been itching to paint for a while. I need to learn to get this type of color and form in my traditional paintings. maybe just do lots of mini-illustrations where I paint loosely...not loosely as in abstracted shapes, but in not trying to achieve perfection....who knows, I might achieve perfection better that way.

Projects for the semester: of course, the workbook, my paid job. Then the illustrations for a friend's story...it has bug in it: fun bugs, and i've had an idea for drawing bugs for a while (I even have some really old sketches I might revisit sometime. and then there's my holiday/birthday poem that I want to illustrate. I was going to do the bug illustration in class and the holiday illustration during my apprenticeship, but I was thinking about it, and I wanted to work on pen and ink in class, which I really want to do for my holiday poem, and I'll use the more colorful acrylic paints for the bug illustration. oh, and onion boy. musn't forget him!

very busy this semester!

Work-work; ready to work

The illustration job is coming well, but I still have to put in many more hours on it, primarily on the two full page illustrations. The hard part about that is that I'm not sure which ones will be the final choices for the characters, so I just have to put in generic representations of the people for now. I'll be busy right up until school starts, trying to get as much done before the start of school that I can.

Besides for the illustration job, I need to work on/finish Scott's commission (thank you Scott, for your utmost patience) and I need to make a few changes to the final illustration I did last semester, to get it even better so I can submit it in the communication arts illustration competition.

so much to do....so little time!

bouncie, bouncie, bouncie....

i'm a little hyper now, don't mind me! just got back from meeting with carol heyer about my apprenticeship and i'm very, very, *bouncie* very excited. and maybe a little hyper too. capitals? nope, too impatient to use them. you're lucky you got periods and commas at all. eric's gonna run away in fear...maybe. he kinda likes me a bit, so he may stay around ;) carol and i are a lot alike and we both love books and art...is there anything more (besides eric) in the world? i think she'll teach me a lot about illustration, and i hope i can learn to paint faces like she does...the ones she does are just beautiful! must paint.....must clean (because cleaning never ends).....must paint.... where's my ipod? eric's definitely gonna run away....

new year, new job

Rather than a new years resolution, i'm starting a new job...my first freelance job! I am very excited and a bit nervous. This is a big project and it will be a good test of whether or not this is the right profession for me. The good thing about the job is that I have a partner to help me with the illustrations. That means half the work. The negative will be trying to smoothly integrate our drawing styles, which differ somewhat. But we do get to play up on our strengths: David is better at pen and ink and I am better at watercolor, both of which we need for this project.

Oh, the project... We are illustrating a workbook for a trauma center for sexually abused children. The workbook will be a guide to the children, showing and telling them what to expect at the center, as well as having children characters in the book that have experienced what they have experienced. It is a wonderful and meaningful project.

Time to get to work!

School's out for winter, but that hasn't slowed me down...too much. I've caught up on my sleep and on my fun time, but I'm working on a painting, with a looooong (and growing) list of projects still to do. Also keeping me busy is cleaning and preparing everything for going to LB for Christmas. We want to come back to a house that is clean and inviting, so that's my job.

I have to finalize many projects in the next couple days, so I can enjoy my Christmas. I will also be posting up my last painting of the semester at some point.

Happy Holidays to all!

Heyer and Heyer: illustration double take

Two artists I have recently been introduced to that I have grown to admire are Marilee Heyer and Carol Heyer. They are not related....that I know of.

Marilee Heyer's illustrations I first discovered in a re-release of Tamora Pierce's books, which I absolutely love. I think historically that this would be the 3rd US release of Ms. Pierce's first series, The Song of the Lioness, yet are not to be confused with the fourth and latest release of her books (which also have great illustrations, but of a different quality). Then in illustration class I was shown one of her children's books, The Girl, The Fish, and The Crown. I was amazed by the intricacies of detail and beauty of color that she has in each of her pieces. I need to practice a LOT more with watercolor to come close to her or other watercolor masters, such as Olga and Andrej Dugin and Gennady Spirin. I definitely would like to move my art more in their direction.

Carol Heyer's art is also beautiful and in the areas I would enjoy working in: children's art and fantasy art. Her illustrations are colorful and very volumetric, a tendency that I have been moving toward in my own work. She is also a local artist, which is very exciting. I hope to get to meet her and talk with her at least once while I'm here.

Illustrator of the week: Joanne Lew-Vriethoff

Joanne's work is incredibly whimsical, the direction my art has been taking me recently. The settings appear very simplistic at first, but they make interesting use of perspective and line quality. one of my favorite illustrations of hers is the mice eating the cheese and mac & cheese. I love the fourth mouse, who's not quite as obvious as the other three, but is quite amusing.

What I can learn from Joanne: great imagery doesn't necessarily transcend from photorealism. Artistically simple, but conceptually complex work can be astounding.

Illustrator of the Week: Charlotte Voake

Charlotte Voake's illustrations are very whimsical, which is what first attracted me. When I saw her castle illustration I knew she would be the artist I chose this week. Her art is just plain fun.

What I can learn from Charlotte Voake: whimsical perspective. The type of linework used, and whether or not it feels "casual" impacts the illustration greatly: broken lines, and inking that doesn't entirely outline the form.

Back from nowhere

It's been a while since I posted. Granted, I had visitors for a week, but that was over a week ago. Scott's painting is ready to be started, my parent's painting is almost done (running slightly behind on that) and a logo I designed needs it's final touch-ups and then it'll be finished.

The summer is nearly over. In review of my summer: More successful summer than last summer; not nearly enough if I am to make a career out of freelancing. I'm going to start looking into magazine layout as an option. It's not nearly so high-end as graphic design, but there are also a LOT of graphic designers in California, and they're all competing for the flashy jobs. I've always enjoyed working on page layout in yearbook, so why not? If I can do the technical stuff, I can always use my creativity to interpret the technical end or add some pizazz to the pieces. Well. that's my career thoughts for the moment...i tend to fluctuate frequently.

Goals for semester: maintain onion boy (because i'm doing soooo good at it now) updates every week. Work on value contrast to create form in illustration. Look into internships offered at CSUN. Focus on hands and faces in figure drawing. (I've actually noticed in many illustrations, that's often the only body parts you can really see....clothing covers anything else.) Create characters for an illustration project for some friends.

Time to get working on some final summer projects.

Sayonara!

Illustrator of the Week: Linda Petchnick

Linda's watercolor flowers

I have chosen Linda Petchnick for her orchid illustrations since i'm working on an orchid painting myself at the moment. I love the colors she uses and she is painting in watercolor, which is the medium i'm using as well. Although there's no real close up of the paintings, even from what is shown, it is evident her work is very detail oriented.

What I can learn from Linda: detail can exist in watercolor, and even her white petals are not stark white.

Words to live by

"It helps to be out there, whether you're an artist or a musician,'' Porter said. "Art is so tricky to really make it work. It's like a faith. If you have a faith that it'll go somewhere, then you buckle down.''
From an article about live painting.

7. Peter Schjeldahl’s Ten Commandments for Artists: "Work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, don't whine." (Found over in the archives at ArtsJournal.com)
From SL Viehl's Blog, Paperback Writer.

Illustrator of the Week: Bagram Ibatouline

Bagram Ibatouline.

I chose Bagram for two reasons: first, the illustrations of The Nightengail, which was one of my first illustration projects. I like the very Asian quality to the work, slightly flat, just as some of asian imagery is. Second, the train illustrations have great perspectives and they are not flat looking either. Currently, all my perspective projects--save one--look very stiff. But you have to start somewhere, I guess, and I'm trying to get all my images to have a setting of some sort.

What I can learn from Bagram Ibatouline: curving perspective and showing light and form on black objects.

Onion Boy 7

Omph!

Poor Onion Boy. He's so abused. He's so cute! After I had almost completed the coloring, I realized that I forgot to put the torn flag in the background. At least it's alluded to by the peice in the dog's mouth.

Illustrator of the week: Paige Pooler

This is a new weekly post that i'm going to have, allowing myself to have fun while researching the field I'm interested in. Although this first post should in theory be linking two of my favorite illustrators: Stephanie Law and Todd Lockwood, this first one is actually an illustrator that has a style completely different than mine and yet is still very cute: Paige Pooler.

What I can learn from Paige: sometimes simple works better then elaborate.