juicy colorful sketchbooks

i like his full use of the page and the great color. nice combo of collage and srawing, too. nice composition. the illustrators name is David Kilpatrick. his figures look weak. but i enjoy his exploration of mark making. (ht: drawn)

portraits online

National Portrait Gallery's Modern American Portrait Drawing Exhibit

business of illustration

This article called Can You Make a Living as an Illustrator by Paul Mirocha talks about the business plan and gives a sample budget. informative.

link snack

A report that surveyed the demographics of Art Critics...hmmm, i wonder how many Christians in that pool? my guess slash opinion is "not enough".

The "making of" the daily comic strip For Better or For Worse. Nicely documented. (HT: drawn)

recent interests

Jenny Kroik's lovely collage. note her painting ability. i'm especially enchanted by her plant treatment in the illustration titled "Peas". ht: drawn.

and the links from my recommendations on the Na blog: ("what i'm into this week")
+ freshly picked blueberries from the pick-your-own farm down the street

+linoleum and wood relief printmaking. so far i prefer the expressive marks i can make with the linoleum over the precision that the wood seems to favor. i have a lot to learn from the german expressionists. here is where i'm being schooled.

+dry point etching on copper plates. trying it out for the first time. the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam) website has some gorgeous examples of drypoint , mostly done by Rembrandt. inspiring and informative.

+the creative process. especially in a group setting. IDEO does it so well.

+My Name is Asher Lev by Chiam Potok. a fiction account of a young boy with artistic talent, Asher Lev, growing up in a hasidic jewish family and community. i love it when his uncle tells him that his artistic gift is from the Master of the Universe. (yessss!) When Asher takes his mother to the museum and asks who the man in the paintings is, she responds, "Where your painting has brought me, Asher. To Jesus." Though she thought that a bad thing i think it pretty wonderful...art bringing people to Jesus.

couple goodies

• julia, have you heard of this guy? Mis-printed type sounds right up your alley.
• Illustrator Joe Ciardiello. hmmm, lots of implied-dotted-dashed lines. lovely. (oh, an the water color colors are lovely too!)

recent finds

• have you seen the re-design of design observer? my favorite "observed" items (previously mentioned) are now on a permanant column.
• here's a good post on images replacing letters on logos. ht: design observer
• i don't entirely understand, but the flickr photos from this gallery of art in berlin are pretty super.
• kyle, you were talking about performance art...have you seen Improv Everywhere?
• this little article on IDEO gives an overview of their innovation process. by the way, i'm a big fan of their latest book, The Ten Faces of Innovation. and here are more related articles.
• peter and hannah might be interested in this article on sustainable design.

inspiring sketchbooks

wow, these sketchbooks get me inspired and excited to draw! They belong to Swedish designer/3D artist/architect/cartoonist Mattias Adolfsson. ht: drawn, of course.

more stumbles

• Kreatory Studio: nice logos...
• Swick Creative
  
• okay, so everybody's doing the symmetrical ornament flying from behind the character thing. but this guy, Hydro 74, does it nicely.
• YouareSoLastYear hip, even if self-proclaimed-so
• Incredible video of the beauty of the motion of rubber balls. Design Observer pointed me to this.
• Sports equipment fun. ht: design observer
  

recently stumbled upon

• K-Create - web designer i stumbled upon. this guy appreciattes good ornament. i especially like this one. Note the nice use of illustration!
  
• and i dont know much about web design, admittedly. but i like how dense this flash animation is. and of course the hand drawn stuff.
• on a different kind of note, this guy reviewed part of a Steve Turner book re: Chritians and the arts. some good dicussion, i think.
• Check out the art show pics in the Neighborhood section of the Na weblog site. my painting even made it, as well as me drawing my hand.
  

Links for Drew

on creativity, design, etc.

• drawn.ca - one of my favorites. a daily dose of illustration links
• design observer - scroll down to any post thats called "observed" with a roman numeral. these are super links to a wide range of goodies. these guys are pros, I like their taste.
• designers who blog - gives a quick overview so you dont have to click too much.
• check out this innovative product post on pingmag.jp (yes as in japan)

MoBiA Rouault show

We saw this little Rouault show this weekend in Manhattan at MoBiA. His sorrow is striking in this collection of prints.

There was one clown in particular that rocked my world. (alas i cant find a pic of it on the internet)

Oh, and the Museum of Biblical Art is free! Thanks to some generous patrons. I was disappointed that there was no permanent collection, but the space was great and exhibit shown very nicely.

BODIES...The Exhibition

Evidently there are other variations on the previously mentioned idea. in ny this weekend i saw an ad on the subway for this: BODIES...The Exhibition

Muscles exposed

A couple of my friends are in philly today at this show at the Franklin Institute, Body Worlds. Basically, real human bodies have been put through a special preservation process so that you can see all the muscles exposed and "in action". Oh how I'd love to draw from these. Kinda like drawing from a cadaver without the smell?

9th annual worldwide sketchcrawl

hey come join us. on april 22nd. we'll start 10am at the hisrshhorn sculpture gallery and then "crawl" our way around with sketchbooks in tow. check out the latest at the forum here.

online fun

Moma Red Studio - Targeted at teens, but pretty entertaining for the rest of us nerds who like to draw stuff online.

CRUNCH time inspiration

Artist Michael Cutlip - Inspiring expeimentation with materials. wish we could see closer up on these pics.

Painter Monica Cook - here bird series is similar to a concentration. interesting background textures and variation. lovely self portraiture with a strong light.

(both from judy AP listserv)

Perpsective tutorial

here's a clear explanation with good diagrams for Basic Perspective. Its shows 1, 2 & 3 point perspective. aimed at an adult audience, i think.

Rednosed

oh my. art is good. please check out this incredible 3D illustration, the Red Nose Studio.

His rep's site has additional info including a great sketchbook and more images.

links for my students

Rachel, this one's for you: Artnatomy (found from Drawn) shows facial structures with some animation. Pretty cool.

Pixel tile machine. Maybe you'll even want to make your own tshirt from here.

a great way to learn about art careers or even art schools is to find people in that field and research their bio to find out their influences. So check out these Pixar animators.

silkscreen tutorial

a comic-style silkscreen tutorial ! which i found on the carrot revolution.

recent inspiration

design firm: the New Year more music posters, plus

illustration (via Drawn) Tim Marrs, a guy from the UK. very messy, lots of silk screen layers. urbansubjects with rich textures, patterns, visual puns, ... wow!

Cut it Out, Martin O'Neil. Collage with subtly strong composition. another wow.

Design Observer - very professional site. i like the small text and concise descriptions, seemingly made by/for professionals. scroll til you find a post entitles "Observed (with roman numeral)" these are chocked full of goodies. I've added them to my perma-list here on the right side.

This site sells handmade crafts and has the coolest way to shop...by color! Puma used to do this too, though less specific colors. which was helpful. because theres something special about green shoes.

ornament

I've had a strange attraction to ornament recently. Okay, its not that strange, but i've been drawing ornamental print designs out of fashion magazines and my trusty Grammar of Ornament.



In related interests, here's a nice combination of drawing and ornament, the artwork of Alphonse Mucha. He is credited with shaping the french Art Nouveau style in the very late 1800s. Check out his work here, at the official Mucha website gallery. I'd love to go to Prague sometime and see the Mucha museum.

More design firms online

A few more to learn from...

Boss construction - these logos are nice. i also like the presentation of how you click on the squares (i'm sure theres a better word for that).

Cricket Press

Heads of State - a design firm in Philly

T Stout - I like his posters. lots of layers, textures

Step into Design, a magazine. this links to their education articles. I love it when my worlds collide!

a world of music posters

Drawn turned me on to this amazing world of silkscreened music posters. How soon can i take a silk screen class?

Flatstock at SXSW

list of designers for this SXSW gig

some posters by Delicious design

okay, so you know when you find talented people on the net they usually recommend other similarly talented talents. So here's some studios that I'm a new fan of:

Aesthetic Apparatus Design

Asterick Design Studio

Lure Design - I like the the views of their studio. (i'm a nerd,okay)

evolving interests

la dolce vita...life is sweet, no? here's what i mean:

drawing. art. color. teaching. these have been my long loves. well a few new interests have emerged in my life. like business. design. silk screened posters. not so different but now emphasizing making art in community. articulating concepts. cultivating curiosity.

so for my very small audience, you might find the tone here changing a bit. i've got some great art opportunities in the works.

may the sweet life continue...

Basquiat online

I'm hoping to get to the Basquiat show in Houston this weekend while I'm there for a family event. Check out the timeline of Basquiat's short life on this site, Street to Studio, the art of Basquiat.

5th grade gargoyles

meant to scare us into repentance. :)

1st painted portraits by my students

An AP teacher's website

Here's an AP teacher Ruth Wilson's website. She set up blog threads for each of her students' concentrations. (The concentration portion of the portfolio is a theme that students pursue through at least 12 pieces.) It'll be interesting to see how the consentrations develop.

Sketchbooks online

So I'm on a listserv for AP art teachers. And one of the teachers, Nicole Brisco, shared a long list of sketchbook websites. These are great. I love sketchbooks. So here are my favorites of what she mentioned, with a few strengths for each.

1. Wayne Jiang - Many layers of mixed media, Book 7 has a lot from life (love the peeled orange)
2. James Jean - Gorgeous (!) observational drawing that is loose and "panoramic" in composition. Travel sketchbooks. Beautiful line quality with value marks. Wow!
3. Tom Wood - Looks like the record and development of ideas, mixed media
4. Rebecca Bradley - Mixed media illustration book
5. John Copeland - There's a ton to see here. Very skilled observational drawing, with ink wash and paint layers. his out-of book work is great too.
6. Sabrina Ward Harrison - Multi-media illustration. nice layers
7. Danny Gregory - Here's a cool lil promo for a book re: sketchbooks, and I mentioned his site a few posts ago.

to blog or not to blog

I haven't updated for the past couple weeks for a couple reasons. I've been thinking through my purposes for blogging, and what the goal of this blog should be. I've also been considering a career change out of classroom teaching and into the role of Art Director. So my thoughts have been a little occupied.

I realize that my audience isn't very big, and I haven't really sought that out on purpose. I've been wanting to see if the links I offer and some light commentary could be helpful for others. Well I'm not convinced I'll stop entirely, but in case anybody is wondering, I may be even less frequent than before.

Anyways, I thought I'd keep you posted...

Everyday Matters

I have a list of art blogs on my favorites menu that I stop by periodically. Everyday Matters is among them. The author, Danny Gregory, does some great drawing and participates in those Sketchcrawls that I'm hoping to get to sometime. Also check out his Roman sketchbook.

This recent post, titled Conversion, reminds me how artists seem especially in tune with common grace and how few artists know genuine Christians (though this artist says he has religious friends).