Anyone in the area should check out “Charles Addams’ New York” at the Museum of the City of New York, through June 6th.
The exhibit includes over 60 drawings — beautifully refined watercolors and loose preliminary sketches (which sometimes showed alternate versions of the joke.) In the center of the gallery is a recreation of Addams’ studio and an interior room dedicated to the Addams’ Family cartoons. Seriously, you can’t pass by more than three feet of exhibit space without cracking a smile.
If you are keeping half an eye on up-and-coming illustrators, it would be impossible not to notice the rise of Ringling College of Art and Design these past few years. I’ve run into great student portfolios from Ringling students at Comic Con, the Society of Illustrators student exhibit, CA workshops...all over the place. So when George Pratt asked if I would come down and give a talk, I jumped at the chance to see what they were feeding these kids to make them so promising. Their secret, as it turns out, is a steady diet of drawing and painting, and good strong fundamentals.
On the first day of our visit, Greg Manchess and I looked at 600 works, from sophomore to senior levels, and curated a “Best of Ringling” exhibit of just 70 pieces. It was as inspiring as it was exhausting. As it got down to deciding class medals, we often had three or four paintings of equal merit — the decisions were heartbreaking.
One the second day, I gave a lecture about working with art directors, marketing, etc. -- my usual dog-and-pony show. Greg followed with a slide show and painting demo. While Greg was painting, I was looking at portfolios from some of the students.
All the students seemed engaged and excited to be soaking in what they could. I was glad to see the breadth of styles -- clearly they are encouraged to experiment and find their own voices. And I particularly enjoyed seeing such solid work from 2nd and 3rd year students; it’s exciting to imagine where they might be with another year or two of school behind them.
A big thanks to the Ringling faculty for having us down and being such great hosts. And a thank you to the students for a chance to look at so much good work.
GREG MANCHESS to Ringling:
“I couldn’t believe that after my afternoon lecture and demo, so many students were still watching me go. You guys are showing the signs of ambition and drive that are so very necessary to survive this business. Thanks for sticking it out. I had meant to trim about an
hour or so from that painting, but everyone had such specific questions, I couldn’t resist answering!
I was also very happy to see the level of skill that everyone displayed with their pieces for the judging. Remarkable. You made it a painful joy to select favorites. As I mentioned on Friday, if you didn't make it in, don't let it slow you down. And for those that did make it in, carry on.
Thanks for your interest in my work! When I looked into the lecture hall, I saw myself as a student, looking for the same answers as you are today. I have many now, and you will, too.”
WORK SHOWN:
Venessa Del Rey, Eli Minaya, Keyla Valerio
Haylee Herrick, Lamar Mathurin
Eli Minaya has a great series of photos of Greg’s demo on his blog.
More photos from the visit here.
Better Things: The Life and Choices of Jeffrey Jones
Maria Cabardo, of DC Comics, has been putting together a documentary of the amazing Jeffery Jones. (Like, really amazing — If you need one reason to be on Facebook, it’s to see Jones’ gallery.) Here’s a quick glimpse at the work in progress — an interview with the also amazing Michael Kaluta. I know the film crew has been traveling around and interviewing as many artists as they can. I’m very much looking forward to watching this develop.
Everyone has seen Christoph Niemann’s brillant Lego NY!? Amazing. I can look at it 1,000 times.
And now, it’s expanded into a book! So excited.
It’s not common for an artist to have multiple styles that are truly unique from each other and all equally accomplished...And yet, Thomas Fuchs.
As well as having a more painterly style, he has a great facility with logos and icons which he’s clearly had fun with on his Heart a Day blog — never saccharin, always beautifully drawn. And all this week: Star Wars! Go check it out, and stop by all week to see what he comes up with next.
If your geek-crush isn’t of the Star Wars persuasion, he’s got plenty genre-love throughout the site
Think small.
Each year, Dan Dos Santos and I organize “MicroVisions”, an exhibit and auction to raise money for the Society of Illustrators’ student scholarship fund. Over the past four years it raised $20,000.00 which was given directly to students displaying exceptional promise in illustration.
I am proud to announce this year’s line-up of participating artists. I cannot thank these guys enough for dedicating their time and talent to this endeavour. To carve out time for anything beyond work and family is not a trivial thing to ask, so, applause to:
Scott Altmann
Scott Bakal
Rick Berry
Bill Carman
Jon Foster
Donato Giancola
Michael Kaluta
Tim O’Brien
Omar Rayyan
Jordu Schell
Allen Williams
Boris Vallejo
Bravo guys! Rest assured, the students really appreciate the support these scholarships represent.
The works will be on display at the Society beginning April 26th. Painting and auction updates as I get them.
RELATED: Past MicroVisions here.
A quick shout-out to Frank Stockton because:
1) The guy can draw!
2) The guy can draw hands.
3) He once tried to sneak me into a bar by lending me his ID. (It didn’t go well, but a nice gesture nonetheless)
4) He’s got a lot of cool process info on his blog.
5) The guy can draw!
Also, check out his Sidebar interview.
Because the awesome Megan Messinger is awesome, she has created a slightly extended version of Lord of Chaos video which includes “real-time” painting footage. Enjoy the artist-edition:
The next of our Wheel of Time ebook covers is up! For Lord of Chaos we present a signature battle of the series, Dumai’s Wells, as portrayed by Greg Manchess.
As usual, all the details can be found in the Tor.com post, including our groovy “sliding” cover, Greg’s thoughts on composing the image, and a
super-cool time-lapse video of Greg working on the painting from beginning to end.
RELATED:
All Wheel of Time ebook posts are archived here.
Which include:
David Grove on The Eye of the World
Kekai Kotaki on The Great Hunt
Donato Giancola on The Dragon Reborn
Sam Weber on The Shadow Rising
Dan Dos Santos on The Fires of Heaven
