Illustration Companion

re-posts of applicable graphic novel content!

2012-02-09T13:49:00.000-08:00

Manga Kamishibai

Understanding Comics (Scott McCloud TED talk)

Manga History

a smattering of sequential art links

2012-02-09T10:26:00.000-08:00

Timeline of the funnies in America.

History of Comics (thorough but poorly illustrated).

Dylan Meconis "Outfoxed"(online comic)

Craig Thompson Process Gallery.

Emily Carroll's "The Prince and the Sea" (online comic)

Jordan Crane's "What Things Do" site.

Scott McCloud (excerpts from "Understanding Comics")

2012-02-09T09:44:00.000-08:00

children's book history sites

2012-02-07T12:51:00.000-08:00

University of Delaware, "World of the Child"

History of Little Golden Books.

Little Goody Two Shoes.

Looking Glass for the Mind.

Princeton Children's Lit Exhibits: here and here.

early experiments with multicolored lithography

2012-02-07T12:17:00.000-08:00

Ida Waugh (1890)

From Wikipedia:

Senefelder had experimented during the early 19th century with multicolor lithography; in his 1819 book, he predicted that the process would eventually be perfected and used to reproduce paintings.^[1] Multi-color printing was introduced by a new process developed by Godefroy Engelmann (France) in 1837 known as chromolithography.^[1] A separate stone was used for each color, and a print went through the press separately for each stone. The main challenge was to keep the images aligned (in register). This method lent itself to images consisting of large areas of flat color, and resulted in the characteristic poster designs of this period.

Ernst Haeckel (1904)

James Rattray (1847)

Arribas (1937)

Julio Suarez (1942)

on location

2012-01-31T12:08:00.000-08:00

Illustrator Samantha Kallis drawing on location:

coffee shop

san diego zoo

Jury Duty

Stacey Rozich

2012-01-24T23:35:00.000-08:00

Another fabulous local (Seattle based) illustrator!

Artist's website here.

more possibilities in inky water + line

2012-01-24T10:01:00.000-08:00

Carson Ellis

Jesse LeDoux

Jen Corace sketch

Jillian Tamaki

wateriness

2012-01-17T12:00:00.000-08:00

James Gurney

Ann Field

Nathaniel Russell

Francesco Clemente

Tina Berning

Nathaniel Russell

Laylah Ali

the bounding line as primary human language

2012-01-10T09:20:00.000-08:00

Surviving human artifacts tell us something about the way that we seem to be wired. Some of the earliest examples of visual expression are created by the use of elegant contour line drawing:

Lascaux, France

This is interesting to me, because the bounding line is entirely a human abstraction, and has persisted throughout history:

Leonardo Da Vinci

In different time periods:

Medieval Westminster, U.K.

In all parts of the globe:

Japanese Ukiyo-e Block Print

Draw your attention (pun only half-intended) to the fact that black lines do not actually hold in the world around you. Line work is, instead, a human language short-hand to show where one object ends and another begins. It's all about the perception of edges. So what parts of an object are most important for determining a contour? What can be left out?

David Hockney

Egon Schiele

Ingres

Student drawing

welcome, winter 2012 students

2012-01-05T10:03:00.000-08:00

Hello, hello! This is the place to go for extra resources, inspiration and direction during your time as an illustration student at SPU and beyond. Start by browsing the side bars and reading back in time. Continue by keeping up with posts as the quarter progresses.

Clare Rojas

Collaboration Stations

2011-11-30T11:48:00.001-08:00

Nous Vous
Dumb Eyes

SuttonBeresCuller:

Work in progress from Rodrigo valenzuela on Vimeo.

education paradigms

2011-11-14T11:41:00.001-08:00

See above clip for thoughts on education, artists' brains and the power of collaborative thinking.

Unorthodox Storytellers

2011-11-07T11:19:00.000-08:00

Check out some more character builders. Below are links for artists who have built a cast of characters and/or alternate worlds that wander through their studio practice:

Ernesto Caivano

Ernesto Caivano "...it is very important to be able to resonate with other narratives. Other stories from the history, folktales, science…. It is kind of like a collage, traditional historic collage of all those different elements also the current collage. We cannot have folktale mythology but by looking at the pictures, we can tell that the contemporary cultures are connected, and in the end, looking at these images, you will essentially find the mythology and how those things are connected.
I am very interested how these images told in school, history and books are connected and resonated. For instance, some cultures have similar symbols but different meanings. I am interested in what kinds of meanings these objects can help bring to the culture and how these objects establish the culture. You make a story collecting these objects and the story becomes something real to us in the end. But in fact they are abstract, very abstract. I like that very much." (mildly edited for grammar)

Matthew Barney

Amy Cutler "Siege"

Amy Cutler "Cautioning writers against merely reweaving the same old narrative threads when translating fairytales to contemporary settings, A. S. Byatt recently wrote: ‘We live in a world very far from woods, castles, and gibbets. We live in a world of urban myths – alligators in sewers, grandmothers on car roofs, and a burgeoning virtual world of gossip and storytelling, real and fantastic, on the Web.’ Similarly Cutler mines an especially productive vein when she draws on current events. The elaborate gouache titled Siege (2004), for example, was inspired by the hunt for Saddam Hussein: flurries of arrows descend like heat-seeking missiles on bewildered people, some of whom clutch geese like their only treasured possessions." Kristin M. Jones-- Frieze Magazine

William Kentridge "World Walking"

William Kentridge

Matthew Ritchie

character building

2011-10-31T12:32:00.000-07:00

Chris Ware

Junichi Tsuneoka

Trenton Doyle Hancock

"The characters which populate his imaginary worlds include the Mounds, half-animal, half-plant creatures, which are preyed upon by evil beings called vegans."

2011-09-21T14:26:00.000-07:00

Craig Frazier Studio (Underwater)

Hope you had a terrific summer and are ready to get some good work done! As many of you know, this is the blog designated as a resource for illustration at Seattle Pacific. This quarter is Digital Illustration, during which we dig into exactly what the boundaries are for communicating through and by the filter of ye olde computer. Straightforward approaches toward illustration will be wrangled, but we will also take experimental romps. Get ready get set!

In the meantime, check out this documentation of a design/illustration team working on an album cover for Son Lux:

The Made Shop's film documenting the creation of Son Lux's "We Are Rising" album artwork (CD and digital download available now, LP on 6/28).
www.music.sonluxmusic.com
"The plan is to do the entire record cover for the new Son Lux album in 28 hours, since he recorded the whole thing in 28 days. If all goes according to plan, we're going to shoot 28 smoke bombs going off in a parking lot behind some warehouses on top of a crane, and then cut out the Son Lux title out of the smoke."
Music: "Rising" by Son Lux
from We Are Rising
Anticon. Records
The Made Shop
www.themadeshop.com
Shot and edited by Michael Chiarelli (www.vimeo.com/michaelchiarelli)

Graphic Novelists who should not be missed: Part Two

2011-05-19T13:39:00.000-07:00

Joe Sacco.

Graphic Novelists who should not be missed: Part One

2011-05-17T13:41:00.000-07:00

Art Spiegelman

The Loose Edges of Storytelling

2011-05-17T13:25:00.000-07:00

Acting, animating, drawing, singing, writing, filming and dancing. All of these methods and more have been used fluidly over centuries and centuries in order to satisfy our desire for a good story. One interesting form, a precursor to cinema and comics as we now know them, was a storytelling practice outlined in a recent book by Eric P. Nash, Manga Kamishibai. Storytellers on the streets of Japan would tell elaborate stories with the aid of a sequence of paintings. From the publisher's site:

During the height of kamishibai in the 1930s, storytellers would travel to villages and set up their butais (miniature wooden prosceniums), through which illustrated boards were shown. The storytellers acted as entertainers and reporters, narrating tales that ranged from action-packed westerns, period pieces, traditional folk tales, and melodramas, to nightly news reporting on World War II. More than just explaining the pictures, a good storyteller would act out the parts of each character with different voices and facial expressions.

Read some more excerpts and quotes from the author here.

re-post

2011-04-28T15:44:00.000-07:00

Jillian Tamaki's idea-foraging workshop.

Content for next gig!

2011-04-26T15:24:00.000-07:00

^Harry Campbell^

Astronauts Seek Next Frontier:
students with last names between A and C
The beginning of fire insurance:
students with last names between D and E
Synchronicity:
students with last names between F and Ha
Doctors for Homeless Teens:
students with last names between Ho and I
Birds Twitter:
students with last names between J and L
Surprise Matisse crits:
students with last names between M and Z

see sam sketch!

2011-04-15T14:24:00.000-07:00

Samantha Kallis keeps a terrific blog with lots of illustration process. Check it!

it does not comprehend reductions...

2011-04-07T14:43:00.001-07:00

"You have two brains: a left and a right. Modern brain scientists now know that your left brain is your verbal and rational brain; it thinks serially and reduces its thoughts to numbers, letters and words… Your right brain is your nonverbal and intuitive brain; it thinks in patterns, or pictures, composed of ‘whole things,’ and does not comprehend reductions, either numbers, letters, or words."

From The Fabric of Mind, by the eminent scientist and neurosurgeon, Richard Bergland. Viking Penguin, Inc., New York 1985. pg.1

drawing lines

2011-04-07T11:56:00.000-07:00

contours

2011-04-05T15:52:00.000-07:00

David Hockney

Matisse

it starts with a line

2011-04-05T12:24:00.000-07:00

(Image credits in order of appearance: Guo Fengyi, public domain, Drew Beckmeyer, Ben Nicholson, Fuyuko Matsui, Gustav Doré, Kids at MoMa, The Clay Princess, Jillian Tamaki)

The language of line is something we tend to take for granted. Some of the earliest traces of mankind on earth are outlined animals and people. A line doesn't exist in actuality, but it's a great shorthand for the edge of something. As such, it's a huge part of many illustration styles.

Welcome!

2011-03-31T12:54:00.000-07:00

This is home for a continuous blog for illustration, and this post here marks the start of Spring Quarter 2011.

On second thought...

2011-03-08T10:23:00.000-08:00

Poster? What?

When I heard that many of you are designing posters for two other classes, I had to change my tune. Let's do CD/album covers.

Check out grammy winners,

Unified Manufacturing,

Some classics...

post and...

2011-02-17T10:49:00.000-08:00

...REPOST

understanding comics...

2011-02-15T10:31:00.000-08:00

...and more...

2011-01-13T09:33:00.000-08:00

Johanna Goodman
Jonathan Viner
Jack Teagle
Anita Kunz

P.S. This and the last post are devoted to compelling caricatures or portraits of famous or reg'lar people.

that face, that face

2011-01-13T02:57:00.000-08:00

Hibiki Miyazaki

Sven Raye

Joshua Williams

Aaron Scamihorn

Iain Macarthur

Sterling Hundley

amzing in town event: FREE!

2011-01-04T12:25:00.000-08:00

{click poster to enlarge}

A Quarter Begins!

2011-01-03T22:20:00.000-08:00

Maquina de Escrever by Amedeo de Souza Cardoso

This is your go-to spot for Illustration in Winter quarter, friend. Please get your feet wet by browsing any of the links to the right. Content is updated quite frequently-- even after you are no longer enrolled in this class!

rise and fall

2010-12-16T11:44:00.000-08:00

Check out this concertina by Micah Lidberg.

Awesome!

dripbook

2010-12-07T10:15:00.001-08:00

right here...

brains

2010-11-30T14:38:00.000-08:00

geoff mcfetridge + ok go = improbable, incredible toast animation

2010-11-19T00:16:00.001-08:00

Last Leaf

OK Go | Myspace Music Videos

right under our noses

2010-11-04T20:01:00.000-07:00

Well what DO you know? The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators meets on SPU's campus.

From their website:

Meetings take place on the second Tuesday of every month from September through May at Seattle Pacific University, Demaray Hall, Room 150. Registration at 6:45 p.m., program at 7:00 p.m.

Visitors are more than welcome to attend our meetings, as well. The cost at the door is just $8 for full or associate SCBWI International members (bring your membership card with you for entry) or $10 for non-members.

November 9, 2010

Mini-Session: EVERYTHING I EVER NEEDED TO KNOW ABOUT PICTURE BOOKS I LEARNED IN ARCHITECTURE SCHOOL with Jennifer Mann. Jennifer received her formal visual education while earning a master’s degree in architecture. For her, the best part of architecture school was all the drawing (and visual storytelling). Who knew the skills she gained in architecture school would translate to writing and illustrating picture books? In this mini-session, Jennifer will share tools that have helped her better understand the visual and textual structure of picture books. She’ll show (and tell) how, by mapping the composition of each page of a published picture book and viewing it in context, we can see just how the images support and amplify the pacing and impact of each beat in the story arc. This analytical tool can help illustrators and writers alike as they approach their own picture-book work.

Main Program: SPEAKING IN TONGUES: ZADIE SMITH AND OTHER WRITERS ON POINT OF VIEW with Kathleen Alcalá. Choosing the right point of view is crucial to the success of any book. Tangled with that is the voice that the writer will use from that point of view. Author Zadie Smith has meditated on this at length, and we will look at her collection of nonfiction essays, CHANGING MY MIND, along with some classic children’s or young-adult books that have set the standard for point of view. (You may want to read Zadie’s essays before this session.) Kathleen is the author of several acclaimed adult books and is a faculty member for the Whidbey Island Writers Association MFA program.

designing characters

2010-10-15T08:33:00.000-07:00

James Jarvis + interview
TADO + interview
Chris Ware +

Deep Fried Experimentation

2010-10-08T12:18:00.000-07:00

Cultural Carrots and Donut Burgers

Collaboration!

2010-10-01T10:54:00.000-07:00

Feist's art-heavy performances...
SPU students + faculty...
Blu + David Ellis + Roberto Lange...

Welcome, Digital Class of Fall 2010.

2010-10-01T08:01:00.000-07:00

Let's do this!

(image above from Ill Illustration: Don Kilpatrick)

Daehyun Kim, also known as moonassi

2010-08-16T11:15:00.000-07:00

Much with little... moonassi.

it goes both ways

2010-07-16T09:58:00.000-07:00

Tips on working with illustrators from Bearskin Rug.

big poster link list

2010-05-27T14:48:00.000-07:00

Early Poster History
Polish posters
The Chairman smiles: political posters from Soviet Russia, China, Cuba
Art Nouveau
Poster For Tomorrow
Shephard Fairey
Power to the Poster
60s Art Nouveau influenced posters
Wolfgang's Vault
Gig Posters
Scrojo (Belly Up)
Heads of State

some more integrated type

2010-05-26T10:19:00.001-07:00

Peachbeach: via

What can a poster do?

2010-05-18T09:51:00.000-07:00

Agitprop poster by Vladimir Mayakovsky titled: "Want it? Enter."
"1. You want to overcome cold?
2. You want to overcome hunger?
3. You want to eat?
4. You want to drink?

Early Poster History

headless, but super smart

2010-05-12T08:15:00.000-07:00

Headless studio reel 2010 from Headless Productions on Vimeo.

"Headless Productions is a small independent animation studio founded by Adrian Garcia, Alfredo Torres and Victor Maldonado. We're based in Barcelona.

This is our current studio reel. There's some of the stuff we did in the past and some of the stuff we'll do in the future. Including sneak peeks to some of our future projects."

akio takamori

2010-05-11T12:23:00.001-07:00

(image via)

Hello, all! When we were in the Asian Art Museum, I saw a sculpture by Akio Takamori (the elegant little sleeper in a plexi box on the floor) which reminded me to remind you that he'll be speaking this Wednesday, May 12th, at 5pm in the Art Center.

rabbit monks and robot boys

2010-05-04T13:23:00.000-07:00

A nice write up on early origins of manga here.

A great article/comic from Wired on how manga conquered the U.S. here.

We're meeting here on Thursday at 2:30 (meet out front so that I can give you a sheet to fill out):

Seattle Asian Art Museum
1400 East Prospect Street
Volunteer Park
Seattle, WA 98112–3303
206.654.3100

So that we can see some Ukiyo-e in person!

Illustration Annual

2010-04-29T09:08:00.000-07:00

Communication Arts has just posted its 2010 Illustration Annual winners online!
Check out thumbnails of the whole slew of them here. Unfortunately, you have to have a subscription to view them larger.

analog, analog

2010-04-27T13:38:00.000-07:00

Timothy Karpinski uses a sewing machine.
Benjamin Edmiston paints on wood panels.
Grady McFerrin prints from blocks.
Ted McGrath cuts and pastes.

there is a light that never goes out

2010-04-20T20:20:00.000-07:00

Frank Chimero's site is a beaut for understanding a creative process. Look at this little burst of inspiration (he gives links to the spurs). Browse the rest of his site for much more.

The Smiths song.

editorially thinking...

2010-04-08T13:04:00.001-07:00

Here... a handful of illustrators who do lovely, enduring work with editorial illustration:

Jillian Tamaki (+ Tamaki's brainstorming session)
Sam Weber
Josh Cochran
Yuko Shimizu
Tim O'Brien
Marcos Chin (portrait of MJ above by Chin)

golden age

2010-04-05T21:12:00.000-07:00

^(Walter Crane)^

To think a little bit about where we are in the history of visual culture, read this perspective from Susan E. Meyer, (via):

For nearly seven centuries all artists in the Western hemisphere were employed to display the wealth and power of their patrons. In the nineteenth century, however, a change occurred and the publishing industry – replacing all traditional patrons – emerged as the chief employer of artists. The publications succeeded both church and court as the great showcase for artists, and illustration, a creation of the Industrial Revolution, became the significant avenue for the artist.

At the end of the nineteenth century and during the early decades of the twentieth, books and periodicals provided the major source of public entertainment. Consequently, the contributors appearing in those pages — the writers and illustrators – assumed an importance of unprecedented proportions. Now that publishing has surrendered its exclusive power, overshadowed by the more pervasive presence of television and the Internet, it is not easy for the contemporary reader to imagine the extent of the artist's influence on the public mind. Illustrators had a crucial role in governing the cultural appetites of the day, and no American of that period could possibly remain unaffected by the millions of pictures circulated each week.
The years between 1865 and 1917 represent publishing's most exciting and dramatic time of expansion. This era, known as the Golden Age of Illustration, shaped the American character as we know it today and illustrators became inextricably linked to the development of an industry whose main purpose is to embrace the aspirations of an entire nation, to create the American Dream.

ukiyo-e

2010-04-02T10:36:00.000-07:00

Advance notice: our class field trip.

into the third dimension

2010-04-02T10:13:00.000-07:00

Amy Cutler has been an inspiration to me for the last few years as someone who allows narrative/illustrative elements prevail in her work without falling into what, for my purposes, are the pitfalls of the more traditional illustrative genres: cuteness without creepiness, creepiness without subtlety, technical subtlety without conceptual rigor. I just looked her up again and saw that she's been making sculpture. I like the risk, of course, because I love seeing people take risks (have you seen Inka Essenhigh's newer work?), but I'm not sold on Cutler's world in three dimensions yet. Perhaps it would be better to SEE it in three dimensions, but as of now, the work of Red Nose Studio is, even when it's located within a commercial sphere, more compelling to me.

fresh!

2010-04-01T15:37:00.000-07:00

Patrick Draws Things.
Inspired, certainly, by Charley Harper and possibly by Mary Blair.

welcome back

2010-04-01T10:17:00.000-07:00

fantagraphics event!

2010-03-11T10:22:00.000-08:00

Come meet the great Gilbert Hernandez, co-creator of Love and Rockets, at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery this Saturday, March 13 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. The evening will feature a book signing and exhibition of original artwork from Gilbert's amazing new book HIGH SOFT LISP. It also serves as the after-party for this weekend's Emerald City Comicon, so expect cameos by comics pros, complimentary beverages, and DJ Russ Fallout spinning classic punk rawk platters.
As one of the founding fathers of the alternative comics movement, Gilbert Hernandez needs no introduction to fans of the genre. Since launching the groundbreaking Love and Rockets series with his brother Jaime nearly three decades ago, his work has only become more relevant and influential. Don't miss this opportunity to pay respects to a master of the medium.
Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is located at 1201 S. Vale Street at Airport Way S., just minutes from downtown Seattle on Metro bus route 131. Phone 206.658.0110. This event coincides with the colorful Georgetown Second Saturday Art Attack featuring challenging visual and performing arts presentations throughout the historic arts community.
See you all on Saturday.

covered

2010-03-10T21:08:00.000-08:00

Genevieve Simms
framed, gouache
art size 19.5" x 15.5"

Check it! "Artists from North America and Europe re-imagine old comic covers in their own style. Based on the blog: www.coveredblog.blogspot.com
and curated by blog editor, Robert Goodin." See the flickr set here.

the heritage of the poster

2010-03-09T14:36:00.000-08:00

(above: Diana Sudyka)

Brief history of the poster
Swiss posters
Polish posters
The Chairman smiles: political posters from Soviet Russia, China, Cuba
Art Nouveau
60s Art Nouveau influenced posters
Wolfgang's Vault
Gig Posters
Scrojo
Heads of State

posters posted

2010-03-02T11:35:00.000-08:00

BECAUSE THIS MOUTH
IS MINE

FRANK ARBELO
LA PAZ, BOLIVIA

I hereby challenge you to make a poster about something you really care about. It can be a band you're passionate about, or a cause. An organization, or an idea.

Some interesting examples:
Poster For Tomorrow
Shephard Fairey
Power to the Poster

stormy

2010-02-24T20:43:00.000-08:00

Storm Tharp, one of the artists whose work was chosen for the 2010 Whitney Biennial, is a great example of an artist who is informed by (and perhaps informs) illustration. A lovely seamless combination of media and approaches. The Whitney's description of his work:

Storm Tharp builds his strange and beautiful characters by first drawing contours on the page with water. Before the water has a chance to dry, he applies drops of mineral ink, resulting in unruly and expansive bleeds on the paper. This process is repeated in various instances to build forms and light sources. Once the adequate amount of ink has been dropped and dried, the artist manipulates the form in a variety of ways, such as drawing and erasing. Tharp takes his inspiration from a wide-ranging set of influences including 1970s American cinema and Japanese portrait prints. His characters have names, histories, and narratives, but they suggest multiple interpretations. Is the woman clutching a knife in Pigeon (After Sunshen) defending herself or is she a vengeful murderess? Is the girl in Dolores tethered by the medal around her neck or free like the bird perched on her head? In these enigmatic portraits Tharp investigates the performance of identity and the point where the myth of a person supercedes reality and becomes truth.

re-post

2010-02-09T11:04:00.001-08:00

text by hand.

Tomorrow!

2010-02-05T08:35:00.000-08:00

Well, Hello Friends!

These weeks have been filled with many fantastic fiestas for Fantagraphics. This week is extra special because we have two nights in different cities with Steven Weissman.

First, Steven will be celebrating the release of his newest release, Chocolate Cheeks, in Portland, OR with an art exhibition and book signing at Floating World Comics this Thursday, Feb. 4th. Next, Steven heads to Seattle, WA on Saturday, Feb. 6th to grace the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery with an evening of book signing and art selling. Address and times for each event are below.

We hope to see you all there!

-Fantagraphics Books

Floating World Comics

20 NW 5th Ave. Portland, OR 97209

Thursday, Feb. 4th from 6-10pm

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery

1201 South Vale St. Seattle, WA 98108

Saturday Feb. 6th from 7-8pm

Manga Kamishibai: Japanese Paper Theatre

2010-02-02T14:30:00.000-08:00

I'm fascinated by this part of the history of storytelling illustration. I've just started reading the book whose cover is pictured above. On the streets of Japan, starting about 1930, this scene could be witnessed:

During the height of kamishibai in the 1930s, storytellers would travel to villages and set up their butais (miniature wooden prosceniums), through which illustrated boards were shown. The storytellers acted as entertainers and reporters, narrating tales that ranged from action-packed westerns, period pieces, traditional folk tales, and melodramas, to nightly news reporting on World War II. More than just explaining the pictures, a good storyteller would act out the parts of each character with different voices and facial expressions.

The Anatomy of a Fictional Character

2010-01-26T15:47:00.000-08:00

What would a PowerPuffGirl's x-ray reveal?
Above is Michael Paulus' guess.

Jen Corace peeks inside one of her characters here.

Find more from Michael Paulus' collection of famous cartoon characters' skeletons here.

with a chance of

2010-01-12T16:30:00.001-08:00

Here's a link to the Jillain Tamaki brainstorming clinic. May the storms brew and break over you.

touchstone

2010-01-05T06:32:00.000-08:00

(Seonna Hong)

Well, hello there! Another beginning among beginnings. This is the blog where you, as SPU illustration students, check in for information and links during the Winter quarter of 2010. But now that you're here, feel free to keep in touch here beyond the class. As long as this space stays active, it's a touchstone between you and me and your cohorts, past present and future. Magical.

the da-da content approach

2009-10-21T10:30:00.000-07:00

{Francis Picabia: Dada Movement, Via MoMA}

Modern art mythology contains a story of a group of artists looking for a name for their movement, in which absurdity and irreverent thought experiments were the order of the day. One member opened a dictionary and blindly pointed (some even say he stabbed it with a knife) at the word "Da-da" -- a French word for hobby horse. Thus was born Dadaism, a term Wikipedia claims would not even have been embraced by its practitioners. Alas. In this spirit of chance and play, I asked my sons to each give me three words, and then found articles that related to them. Find, below, your assignments for two spot illustrations. I'll send you, by email, your assigned number.
1 BEE

Process, process, process.

2009-10-17T20:32:00.000-07:00

Take a look at this detailed account of the process of illustrating for a big, high profile job by John Hendrix.

glueless collage

2009-10-09T08:54:00.000-07:00

What?! No Mod Podge? Digital collage can be seamless or purposefully clunky, depending on your approach. Take note of these illustrators to see a quick sampling:

Elke Ehninger (image above)
Julie Blackmon
Marci Roth
Raoul Weiller
Marty Blake
Hanoch Piven
Ellen Weinstein
W.C. Burgard

Public Domain Images

welcome, class of sometime-soon

2009-10-08T09:00:00.000-07:00

{Shroud of MJ-- Robert Hunt}
Ode to Illustration by Steven Heller.

bring em

2009-06-06T11:25:00.000-07:00

Reminder: bring your sketchbooks to our finals meeting time. This sketchbook spread, by Sarah King, found here.

poster re-post

2009-06-04T12:13:00.000-07:00

Brief history of the poster
Swiss posters
Polish posters
The Chairman smiles: political posters from Soviet Russia, China, Cuba
Art Nouveau

60s Art Nouveau influenced posters
Wolfgang's Vault
Gig Posters
Scrojo
Heads of State

text by hand

2009-05-28T11:00:00.000-07:00

Here are some links to artists who do magical things with hand drawn or painted text.
Ray Fenwick
John Hendrix
Grady McFerrin (poster example, above ^^)
Kate Bingaman-Burt
Ralph Steadman
Kate O'Connor
Andy Rementer

puzzlehead

2009-04-29T13:15:00.000-07:00

Ran across this on one of my favorite design blogs. Looks like a good one!

editorialize us

2009-04-14T11:17:00.000-07:00

Above: Sterling Hundley... new work for Arena Stage's production "Duke Ellington's Sophisticated Ladies"

Just a few illustrators who bring a great flair and flavor to editorial illustration:

Penelope Dullaghan
Craig Frazier
Red Nose Studio
Sterling Hundley

Jillian Tamaki clinic on idea blocks

2009-04-06T18:20:00.000-07:00

Below is a fully transcribed blog entry by Jillian Tamaki, about the process of brainstorming and overcoming artist's block. (I would have just linked to it, but her blog isn't set up to be able to link to static pages for individual entries)

Idea Generation

[Below is a handout that for a little talk I gave on concept generation for my class at Parsons. I thought maybe you would enjoy it, since Frank seems to get a great reception when he gets all "talky" and informative.

Following this guide will not guarantee you success, conceptually, professionally, or otherwise. It's just my way of working and I know for a fact it will not work for everyone. However, I was pretty interested to read that Chris Neal, someone whose work I really admire, follows a similar sort of process.

I do not address many important things in this little blurb, including the importance of aesthetics, appropriateness, marketability, and taste. These things may arguably be more important than conceptual prowess, since I don't think you need to be especially smart to be successful. Not that I consider myself exceptionally smart.]

WHAT ARE CONCEPTS AND HOW DO I GET ‘EM?

Concepts are Ideas. Some ideas are good. Some are bad. Some are offensive or insensitive. Some of them are tried-and-true (but possibly boring). Some are clever and make you laugh. Some rely on intangible things like “atmosphere” and “emotion” for their power. Some live and die on the execution (finish) of the piece.

In order for a piece to be successful, you must communicate your idea to the viewer. The viewer should be charmed, intrigued, empathetic, repulsed, provoked. SOMETHING.

They should be touched enough to want to cut the illustration out of the magazine.

How you choose to connect with viewers is up to you. There is no right or wrong, just successful and unsuccessful. There is space in illustration for personal vision and passions (in fact, illustration usually sucks when they’re absent), but we can’t forget about “the viewer” and our role as communicator.

“COMING UP WITH IDEAS”

Plunking yourself down in front of a pad of paper and scraping the inside of your brain is probably not the most effective way of generating ideas. If we only draw upon the images that already exist within our heads, or our own memories and experiences, we are actually quite limited.

Step 1. BE INTERESTED.

- Consume media. Participate in culture. Read books, go to movies, the news, fashion magazines, stupid blogs, etc. Browse the bookstore just for the hell of it. All of this contributes to our personal visual fabric. Soon you will be CONTRIBUTING to this world.

– Find inspiration in museums and the visual arts. Discover the connections between what is going on now and what has already come before. You might be surprised to learn that your favourite artist is really a knockoff of someone from 100 years ago.

Step 2. COLLECT THAT MEDIA.

- See an amazing photo/illustration/design? Save it. I keep a folder entitled “Reference” on my desktop where I keep anything I find interesting. Sub-folders include: Bodies/Gesture, Chinese Posters, Colours, Faces, Vintage Objects, Maps, Nature. A quick jog through these images can really help you out when you’re stuck for a colour scheme or composition. Or they can form the BASIS of an idea.

- As a professional, one can write-off much of the media you purchase. Books, movies, museum tickets, etc. all become professional expenses.

Step 3: TAKE THE SOURCE CONTENT SERIOUSLY.

- Read content (the book, the play, the article) carefully and thoughtfully. Several times. If possible leave a day between reading and starting work on it. Sometimes leaving it to sit in your brain for a while is very helpful, I find.

- WHILE reading content, highlight vivid imagery, key phrases, descriptive passages, notable quotes, and anything else the jumps out at you. Take quick notes or do a quick doodle in the margin if something comes to mind.

– Go find supplementary material, if necessary, to help you parse the content. If you’re doing a cover illustration for War and Peace, it may be helpful to read online discussions, dissertations, reviews, and such. The internet makes this VERY EASY.

Step 4. START WITH WORDS.

- Starting with words is quicker and more fluid because the concepts do not exist as solid representations or images yet. They make the concepts easier to manipulate.

- Use the words you isolated in Step 3 as a foundation. From here, really open your mind and think of it as a game of word association. Metaphors, symbols, verbs, colours, random thoughts and connections… they’re all important, so jot them down. Do not think in specific solutions (but if one pops in your head, make a note of it).

Step 5: ADD IMAGES.

- We think of ourselves as creative people, but the reality is that Nature is way more bizarre and interesting than anything we can come up with. Does your picture involve fish? Research variations. Does the story take place in the Texan desert? Gather some photos. You may see something in one of them that triggers a great idea (who knew cacti could look like that?).

– Try Google Image Search, GettyImages, Corbis, and Flickr. Books too (although I realize time is often short). Remember! You are drawing elements from these sources. Not transcribing or copying.

Step 6: MIX.

- By this point, you probably have some good leads as what looks interesting/what you’d like to explore. Your head is fully in the content. You’ve isolated what is important to communicate. Here are a few things to help you flesh out some usable ideas:

Combine words from the word list, even if the combinations seem strange. Unexpectedness is good.

Do character sketches. Many of them. Look at the word list and perhaps use some of the adjectives/concepts to guide your characterizations.

Sometimes thinking of COMPOSITION or DESIGN first can be helpful. Draw a thumbnail of the pleasing composition or gesture. Assign details to shapes.

Is colour very important? Build a composition to highlight it.

Look back into your Reference folder for inspiration. Sometimes you can fit your material to an existing design, colour scheme, etc.

Step 7. BUILD UP THUMBNAILS TO FINISHED SKETCHES.

- The Art Director is infinitely thankful for your research and process steps. They are going to provide her with a unique and interesting final product. But she does NOT want see them (however, I will sometimes include a reference photo to say, “this is the colour scheme I’m thinking of.”) EDIT your ideas, distill them into legible sketches, in the format.

IN CONCLUSION
This is my process. Everyone works differently, and maybe there are some fabulous steps out there I have yet to discover. But it’s a very standard way of generating ideas (which is just a fancy of way of “getting the juices flowing”). Try some of these techniques and think of it as an experimenting with concepts as you would experiment with paint. Everyone’s personal style and interests will dictate the exact process (a little less words, a little more character development, for example). One could argue that Step 1 is actually the most important.

Fin!

Sketchbooks online

2009-04-02T13:29:00.001-07:00

{Yoda Navarrete}

Happily, many wonderful artists and illustrators publish their journals and sketchbooks online. Here are a few for inspiration:
Chad Grohman
John Hendrix
Tom Deslongchamp
Laura Park
Astrid Gabriella Kraepelien

MUTO: a wall-painted animation by BLU

2009-04-02T00:19:00.000-07:00

The Line Convention

2009-04-01T21:01:00.000-07:00

{Leonardo}

{Emiliano Ponzi}

{Hokusai}

{Jillian Tamaki}

{David Hockney}

The first two-dimensional drawings that exist by humans include contour lines. This language of line is so familiar to us that we almost forget that they are entirely a human convention-- the description of edges in shorthand. Illustration often relies on it heavily-- often reducing an entire idea to black lines, or using line work as the primary structure. So this is where we start, dear students of a fresh quarter, thinking about and wrangling with line.

Poster artist lecture perfectly timed...

2009-03-02T20:41:00.000-08:00

*FREE*

Art Chantry
The artist discusses his theater posters, album covers, logos, and band flyers, as well as his influential art direction for the Seattle music weekly, The Rocket.

3/3: 7 p.m Broadway Performance Hall + 1625 Broadway + Capitol Hill 206-325-3113

lasky comic mashup

2009-02-10T09:36:00.000-08:00

{Click image to read more clearly}

Visiting Illustrator... Thursday, Feb. 12th

2009-02-08T21:01:00.000-08:00

This week! We welcome David Lasky to the classroom to share his experience and work as a comics artist over the last nearly twenty years. Read an interview here, and a bite-sized bio here.

(+)plus(+)... Holy Cow. I was just reintroduced to the work of illustrator John Hendrix. His combination of drawing and hand-lettering is phenomenal.

some notable graphic novelists...

2009-02-05T10:31:00.000-08:00

Joe Sacco
Art Spiegelman
Marjane Satrapi
Daniel Clowes

UCLA Picturing Childhood

2009-01-29T12:46:00.000-08:00

A great early history of children's literature.

TED: Scott McCloud

2009-01-28T21:00:00.001-08:00

water media

2009-01-13T10:41:00.000-08:00

Above images: {Shahzia Sikander}

A small discussion about the difference between gouache and acrylic.

Betsy Walton
Justin Richel

the importance of being sketchy

2009-01-08T13:20:00.000-08:00

{images: Camilla Engman, Inca Pan, Jonathan Dueck}

Dave Reinbold
Paola Gaviria
Tom Deslongchamp
Teetering Bulb

Holy Comixtravaganza!

2009-01-05T22:32:00.000-08:00

Early bird extra credit opportunity-- attend the lecture by David Lasky that kicks off Comixtravaganza tomorrow night at the Ballard branch of the Seattle Public Library. Take notes and write a single page for your own personal growth and education, but then hand it in to me to start your quarter with some extra school-style points.

Kick-Off with David Lasky
6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 7
Ballard Branch
5614 22nd Ave. N.W., 206-684-4089

Local cartoonist David Lasky will present a slide show and information about major cartoonists from the Pacific Northwest.

welcome!

2009-01-01T21:49:00.000-08:00

(image: "This Flooded World" Sarajo Frieden)

This is your entry point into an ongoing blog dedicated to Seattle Pacific University Illustration courses taught by Gala Bent. Feel free to browse back in time and let me know if you have any great links for illustration or illustrators. I look forward to another semester of engaging work from talented students. Sis boom bah, rah rah rah!

how digital can you get?

2008-12-04T18:23:00.000-08:00

Scott McCloud, comics-creator and author of the series beginning with "Understanding Comics," has been making web-based comics in the last few years. While not entirely up to date (last updated in 2004) he also has kept a list of links for others doing the same.
Here are a few more links:
How-to articles
An enormous database (=wide range of quality)
Notable webcomics (according to Wikipedia)

While the medium seems especially obvious for this day-n-age, rife with possibility, prepare yourself for a lot of sorting. Anyone can publish this way, which is a populist's dream, but it also means that you have to wade through a lot of mediocre work. Any other tips for good pools?

idea block help

2008-11-12T13:54:00.000-08:00

Just ran across this blog post by illustrator Penelope Dullaghan (who is also the brains behind Illustration Friday) about what to do if you get blocked on an assignment. It's always so good to hear from artists who are busy at work. It's reassuring to realize that everyone gets stuck, but even more reassuring to get tips on how to overcome it. Read away.

Jillian Tamaki has a great post on a similar subject (scroll down to October 19th, and enjoy the rest of this prolific illustrator's work on the way as well).

From the field...

2008-11-10T14:35:00.000-08:00

note: date change

Visiting illustrators *next* Friday (November 21st, 9:30-12:30):
Tom DesLongchamp and Jessica Phoenix DesLongchamp.

Check out Tom's and Jess's websites beforehand!

talitha shipman

2008-11-07T10:22:00.000-08:00

Here's Talitha's website, and here is the site she mentioned for finding free textures...

And here's another interesting book that you can purchase as a resource.

Julie Heffernan

2008-10-27T21:05:00.000-07:00

Self-Portrait as Broken Home, 2008, Oil on canvas, 67 x 57 inches

I just was reminded of the work of Julie Heffernan, who I heard speak as a visiting artist at Ball State (my undergrad alma mater) a few years ago. Her work is a beautiful and disturbing lucid dream. See an interview with her here, and more work here and here.

one to watch (i feel like a news agency when i say that)

2008-10-16T22:05:00.000-07:00

The personal, touching and hilarious world of one Laura Park.