Illustration Master Class Day 2

IMC 09 DAY 2 PHOTOS

48 hours, and 30 hours of active instruction time, into the program....

It feels like the students are about a day ahead of where we were last year. By midday most people had finished their drawings and started to prep their paintings surfaces. By late afternoon the smell of turpentine started to slowly rise.

Dan Dos Santos' afternoon lecture focused on utilizing reference photos. He had taken a shot of one of the students and then "frankensteined" various shots together, taking details out of context to create bits of costuming from them, playing around with background elements. Afterwards, he redrew it, making all the pieces coalesce into a unified picture and then jumped into painting it for the rest of the night.

The night lecture was Greg Manchess showing his influences throughout the years, namely focusing on Frank Brangwyn, Sert, Duveneck, Schaeffer, Sargent and other chunky painters, and talking about how they all still play a vital part in how he paints. He also stressed the degree to which getting good is about hard work and constant study, not a passive talent. It was a funny and honest talk and it got everytone jazzed to get back to work for another 5 hours.

Studio time is a mix of some of the instructors demoing and others going from easle to easle giving hands on advice......Then I decided to jump into Allen Williams' armour.

Illustration Master Class Day 1

[IMC 09 Day 1 photos]
[IMC09 Day zero photos]

It's like the first day of school...only with much more work is getting done.

An impressive amount of year-one alumni have returned -- we spent as much time reacquainting ourselves this morning as we did introducing ourselves.

After a few quick opening remarks, and an amazing video of all the instructors work that Rebecca Guay put together, we leaped straight into a six hour sketch critique. After dinner, Boris Vallejo, Julie Bell, Donato, and Dan Dos Santos did a hands-on photo shoot lecture. (Once again unleashing Donato's inner ham.)

Currently, it's midnight. Many of the instructors are demoing while the students either watch and ask questions or work revising their sketches.

For those following along at home, the choice of assignments were:

• Firstborn: military science fiction story
  
• Steampunk Wizard of OZ.
  
• Lady of the Lake
  
• Berserker Lord: Viking-ish fantasy, two warriors fighting a polar bear.
  
• Princess of Mars

There seems to be a whole lot of ringers in this group. I can't wait to see what these rooms look like by Sunday.

Off to the Illustration Master Class

Barron Storey Opening

Unfortunately I only caught the tail end of last night's Barron Storey opening, but by the time I walked in everyone was glowing.

The exhibit is a collection of 150 sketchbooks displayed on wall-length shelves. The viewers are invited to thumb through each and every explosive page. It's an extraordinarily intimate to look an artist's work and daily thoughts, and a touching pact of trust between the artist and the viewers. If you are planning to see the show, give yourself a few days -- one viewing is overwhelming.

A few more shots from the opening here.
Sketchbook shot courtesy of Zelda Devon.

Krishnas on Fifth Ave

The smell of the Madison Park barbecue festival couldn't tempt me out of my office but somehow the sound of a thousand Hare Krishnas did.

Flickr set here.

Steve Stroud, the new website on the block.

Outside of family there aren't many people that mean more to me than Steve Stroud. And who here is surprised that he's a great painter? He has, finally, put up a website. Yay, Steve. And Happy Birthday!!

(We'll have you Twittering in no time.)

Jon Foster's "The City Quiet as Death"

We got a very Lovecraftian story in on Tor.com, The City Quiet as Death by Steven Utley and Michael Bishop. It involved tentacles and, you know, once that happens any number of artists start looking so very appealing. So of course, I went with one of my faves, Jon Foster. (Its only just occuring to me that Jon lives in Providence. Hmmm?) He did two sketches and I honestly couldn't decide which I liked better. We went with the tall version, but I still like the horizontal equally as much.

Greg Manchess says: Go to the Barron Storey exhibit. Reception tomorrow night.

Barron Storey
Life After Black: The Visual Journals of Barron Storey
Society of Illustrators
June 10 - July 32
Opening Reception Friday June 12

Greg Manchess, guest blogging, sez go!

"I gave up keeping a sketchbook years ago thinking no one would ever see it, or even wanted to. Two days ago I walked into the Society of Illustrators and was astonished at the new show going up. 100 sketchbooks by Barron Storey will open Friday night.

Barron has been filling sketchbooks with his incredible thought processes for decades. Every page a celebration of line, tone, color, and design.

And you can flip through them. It's so inspirational, you'll go home wanting to fill every one of those nice bound sketchbooks you've got laying around gathering dust."

Greened

What's the best part? The green wig or the pomegranate juice?

Jay Lake is running a contest to take a photo of Green in the wild. I'd say run and enter but, honestly, can anyone beat this? Kehrli, this is awesome. Dan Dos Santos, you now know where to go for your next model shoot.

Jacked

Who's cuter than Jack? No one, would be the answer. And Goni Montes knows it.

Goni is doing a series of great drawings for an upcoming Kij Johnson story on Tor.com. It just happens that he included my Jack...if by "happen" you mean I sent him photos of every angle and lighting condition....but to, you know, only include Jack if it was convenient and served the story. Of course.

More Terrible Yellow Eyes and Happy 81st birthday Maurice Sendak!


A quick follow-up: I have to admit...I alluded to it in my first post...When Cory Goodbey announced his Wild Things tribute site, Terrible Yellow Eyes, I thought he had great intentions that would be really, really, no really, hard to live up to. Maybe it was because he picked the author, and the particular book, that I most identify with my own childhood. But the site has taken off phenomenally well. They are not just "re-draws" of the book. They are true, lovingly conceived and executed continuations of the conversation.

Today, as Cory points out, is Maurice Sendak's 81st birthday. His books changed the landscape of children's literature books and inspired generations. So, today I will:

• be like an alligator and never nap
  
• tell them once, and twice, chicken soup with rice
  
• proclaim that milk is in the batter and nothing is the matter
  
• and let the wild rumpus begin!

Seen here: Andy Ristaino, Mike Lee. Cory Goodbey. Kevin Ang, Pascal Campion.

Animation: modernist flash cards and obsession.

This week on Tor.com's Saturday Morning Cartoons:

Kunstbar: Modigliani walks into a bar. Bartender says, “Why the long face?” (3.40 minutes)

The Last Knit: It’s about knitting...and obsession. (6.45 minutes)

Brad Holland on Sidebar Nation

We at the Art Department are great fans of Brad Holland. And by "we", of course I mean me. The good folks of Sidebar Nation have posted a podcast with Brad.

RELATED: Tor.com interview with Brad Holland, which includes the strangest Slim Pickens story you;re bound to hear.

Kurt Huggins and Zelda Devon and The Dreaded Question

The Dreaded Question

Kurt and Zelda's first (hopefully of many) online comics for Tor.com. You already know Kurt and Zelda are awesome so go check it out.

Milky Way Over Texas

"I get milk the Mickey way."

About 30 seconds in, this gets real cool.

Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party from William Castleman on Vimeo.

[via Coudal Partners]

Beatles Rock Band animation

OK, now I want to play Rock Band. Because A) It's the Beatles, B) it's beautifully drawn, and C) it's the Beatles.

I've watched this three times in row...I'm off to watch it ten times more.

[via Kevin Dart]

Animation: "Fallen Art" and "Canine Goodbye"

This week's Tor.com Animation picks:

Fallen Art: This is brilliant, albeit difficult to watch. An interview with the filmmaker, including concept drawings, is on CG Society. (5.45 minutes)

Goodbye Canine: And now to lighten things up a bit, a fun adventure story. Apparently in France the tooth fairy is a mouse. (5 minutes)

MoCCA Art Fest

Where all the cool kids will be this weekend.

Alex Kanevsky

I stumbled on to Alex Kanevsky's work in Chelsea a couple of years ago when I was looking for a photographer's show. I forget who the photographer was but Kanevsky became one of my favorite contemporary painters. He now has a new exhibit in Chelsea at the J. Cacciola Gallery, through June 13.

The paintings are mostly figurative with a few landscapes. His shear application of paint becomes the narrative. Seemingly skimmed onto the surface, the paint leaves many layers and impressions of the subjects, often transparent, unfinished, one layer breaking through the form while another redefines it, infinitesimally thin and fragile. The physical act of his painting, like layers of time and memory, come together to build the subject in a manner which is never quite complete or accurate.

Kanevsky maintains an extensive website that includes process shots of some paintings. These are particularly interesting as the paintings seem to come about as a series of shifting impressions rather than a linear progression.

By chance, I saw Synecdoche, New York last week. Early in the film you see an image of a woman embedded in wallpaper. I thought it looked like a Kanevsky painting -- quickly you realize they are Kanevsky paintings attributed to one of the lead charters. And, just as quickly, it becomes the only reason to keep watching the movie.

Last Days of May