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".

Meta For War

Here is my final for my Sequential Imaging class here at VCU. It's titled "Meta For War" and I guess you could call it a mixed media piece(?). It is oil paint on 5 cradled panels (each 6"x6" in size). The other squares were filled with actual military ribbons, brass, and pins which I acquired from a fellow art student and retired Army vet Joe Sullivan. I bought the flag and learned how to properly fold it, and also bought the dogtags (which bear the name John Doe). I made a frame out of 1"x2" select pine, then stained and sealed it. I added a black curtain to fill the frames I knew would have the military ribbons, pins, etc., then I put a wooden backing on it to give it some structural support.

With this piece I really wanted to combine the idea of chess and war. I've played chess for a long time and have always liked the idea of it being a game born out of tactical military approach. I knew early on I wanted my final piece to be set up like a chess board, so the painted panels and the objects on black backing I thought played that up pretty well. I also wanted this piece to read as 2 narratives that parallel one another. If you follow the progression of the game, it mirrors the progression of the John Doe soldier. I tried using the black knight as a protagonist through the chess paintings to help keep a cohesiveness so it would read as a story. I tried using unusual angles in the paintings to sort of play with the idea of the scale of the chess pieces and how they are normally perceived. The military pieces were set in a way to hopefully read as a chronicling of a soldier's career from entering the service, to retirement/death. The dogtags indicate the soldier entering the service, the pins indicate the training received, the brass and patches show what company he was with and that he saw combat, and finally the bars and folded flag indicate the end. As the soldier's story ends, the chess pieces arrive at checkmate.

This was a challenging but fun piece to work on. I got to break out of my comfort zone a little and actually build something in combination with my paintings.

2010 Juried Student Exhibition @ The Anderson Gallery

^This was my piece that got into the show this year. It's called "(mis)anthropology" and it's oil on 24"x48" birch wood panel.






^Mr. Josh George staring contemplatively.



The show was really well curated this year, and all of the artist's had great work to show. Congrats to everyone that got chosen to exhibit. Thanks to the VCU Communication Arts faculty and everyone that stopped by to check it out.

Also, I have a ton of work waiting to be posted, it's just that most of the work I've done this semester has been too big to scan so I'll need to take some hi-res photographs. But before I can do that, I have to get my hands on a decent camera since mine is garbage.

sketcheries

been busy with various projects..but for now here's some sketches. keep an eye out for some finished work coming very soon

sequential boxing

here's a boxing sequence I did for sequential imaging. we had to show a 3 step process from 3 different view points, totaling 9 panels. so I did a jab, cross, uppercut from boxing. these were done on 6"x6" bristol with ink and acrylic. thanks to my roommate Ben for posing for me.

the " outside is cold enough to freeze my face off "-sketches

new year sketches