Monday, June 28, 2010

Illustration Academy 2010

Here's my work from this summers illustration academy. By far one of the best experiences I've had, not just as an artist. I got to work side by side with some of my biggest heroes: Sterling Hundley, Robert Meganck, Doug Chayka, Josh George, John English, Jon Foster, Anita Kunz, C.F. Payne, Jason Manley, our interaction via the web with the Kansas City Chapter, and not to mention all the artists from around the globe that I had the privilege of working beside for 4 weeks.


^This was a 20 minute head study of fellow artist and friend Charles Valsechi, for Doug Chayka's alternative portrait assignment. It was done in oils on Strathmore 500 illustration board.

^This was Chris Payne's assignment, simply called "conversation", in which we had to come up with a scene interacting with 2 characters.

^This was for Jon Foster's young adult book cover assignment. I chose "Lullaby" from Chuck Palahniuk, in which parents are unknowingly killing their children with this nursery rhyme, that actually is an African culling song for those who are deathly ill or infirm.

^Here is Anita Kunz's assignment, Conceptual Portrait of a famous person. I did John Belushi. I wanted to show him in a light that was different from what we immediately remember him as. He was a big, wild, and volatile comedian and actor. All of the images I could find had him acting goofy or in character. I wanted to show him as he would look after his performance, when the joke isn't funny anymore. My feeling was that for someone to be that animated and in need of attention, there must be more going on under the surface.

^This one was Robert Meganck's alternative assignment: Illustrate the lyrics to the Tom Waits song "What's he building in there?". I did this with ink and acrylic and it had to be black and white (I technically used unbleach titanium white for the background so it's totally legal!).

^I did this one on my own, just taking the opportunity to play with paint and get feedback from my heroes. Just for fun. It's oil on board 10"x10".

^Again this was for fun. I did this one because the first day of the illustration academy we all saw this place right down the street and I couldn't pass on the opportunity to paint it. That's pretty much my reasoning for doing it. oil on panel 6"x6".