Monday, April 28, 2008

Jukebox Hero

New piece this week! But first, a small pat-on-the-back for myself-- I got into CMYK magazine!
The piece that got in is this one, which also got into the Society of Illustrators student contest this year:


Andrea Kalfas also made it into CMYK! Hooray!
Also, I'll be going to the Society of Illustrators awards ceremony this friday with fellow MICA Society of Illustrators winners Jeremy Enecio (the grand prize winner!) and Eamonn Donnelly (a $1000 winner!). Unfortunately the other MICA SoA winner, Jimmy Giegerich, isn't able to attend, due to a rockin' band performance he's putting on the same evening.

[ALSO in awards/winning news, Sam Bosma got second place in the Project Rooftop Iron Man redesign competition! Second only to the formidable Daniel Krall! Congratulations all around, men.]

Aaanyway, self-congratulations aside, turns out I decided not to do living with bears or $1 buffets for Frank Stockton's assignment, "Something worth shortening your life for", which was actually an article he had done illustrations for in Esquire, which you can see here. I ended up thinking "Rocking too hard for The Man to handle" would be something worth shortening your life for. Hence my Office Rockstar, annoying his pencil-pushing coworkers while catching some sweet air with obligatory double-necked guitar!


It's not really an activity that is immediately life-shortening, but getting fired from your job and put out on the streets could take some years off your life.

Also, a big thanks to everyone who has commented on my blog already, or just stopped by to take a look. Thank you for being interested. It keeps me happy inside!

Next up: the ever-elusive Thesis work (possibly?!), and my interpretation of a fortune-cookie fortune! Team break!

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Grab-bag

     First of all, thanks to all of you who took the time to visit my little blog kick-off! It was nice hearing from everyone who commented on my first post, and hopefully I can make some more posts to hold your interest.
     I know I said I was going to put up thesis stuff--but I lied......I'm sorry! I'm actually feeling pretty uninspired with it right now, but I'm working on getting back on track. In the meantime, I have some sketches for your perusal!

     In our senior thesis classes, we each started off with a moleskin sketchbook, which we had to give a one word theme (like, "discovery" or "flower" or "skullcrushing" or anything else we could come up with). Then, every week you had to grab a new sketchbook and put something in it relating to the theme. Here's some examples of themes I drew for (sometimes I added photoshop coloring, just for fun):

"Wings"

(however, according to zeitgeist expert Jeremy Enecio, drawing people with antlers just went out of style, so I'm ashamed to say that I'm terribly unfashionable)

"Anxiety"


"Birds"


"Snack"

Silly. That picture is actually from a fashion show I was in last year--the designer made a bunch of postcards with me on them (eee...), and I figured I might as well put them to use. Plus, I love sweets!

Hey, remember those sexy Hindenburg people? I had always meant to do one more, and this was actually my favorite one, but I never got the time to do it.....maybe this summer. Here's the lineart and my rough color sketch:



Finally, just a random sketch from my sketchbook I decided to color real quick:

Jeremy also tells me that owls are also out of fashion, but I liked owls before they were in fashion. So there!

More updates later. This was our first week with Frank Stockton in my fashion class! Our first assignment is to make an illustration for "something you wouldn't mind shortening your life for" (Doesn't "being an illustrator" fit into that category...?)
It's a toughie, but I'll have some sketches for next week.
Maybe they'll include buffets! Or bears!

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

One is the Loneliest Number.

     So, this is the first post in this new blog, and it's a little intimidating.
There's probably not even anyone actually looking at this yet, but I'd still like to show you, imaginary audience, some nice things.

     The launch of this blog corresponds with the update of Ciesemier.com to v2.1, so I'll take a moment to point out some new pieces and explain a bit about them:

     Most of my new stuff is from a class I've been taking this semester which covers fashion and lifestyle illustration, taught in thirds by different teachers. The first and only actual MICA teacher is the always enlightening Daniel Krall, who assigned the class to pick a specific time and place, and then do 3 illustrations incorporating modern-day clothes from designers. Literally, my first thought was "the Hindenburg disaster!" so naturally I have a series of very sultry people lounging around with cigarettes while the Hindenburg goes up in flames, one of which is shown below.


     The series isn't strictly accurate, as there weren't actually any ladies (in Alexander McQueen couture, no less!) shimmying down ropes, with nonchalant men smoking and falling in the background. I tried a little different technique than my usual pen-and-photoshop-flat-color, and used pencil lines and more shading. It was a nice departure, but I think I could push it a lot more should I ever try it again in the future. More texture!

     The second guest teacher who I've had the pleasure to be taught by is illustration-god Sam Weber. It was really awesome to be able to see all his original work, because it's just sooo....perfect. I'll never be able to use the same style he uses, but his talent just makes me cry silent tears.
     Sam really dislikes pencil lines used in conjunction with photoshop coloring. He really, really dislikes them. Accordingly, I switched back to good old pen 'n photoshop for an assignment based on the hierarchies of playing cards. The piece shown here is the Queen. If you check out my website, King has a collection of animal heads, and Jack has a shady wine cellar.


     The theme I was going for was "Eccentric, slightly dangerous millionaires with collections". This one was real tough to think of the concepts for, but I'm happy with how things turned out in the end. I feel like there is still a little something to be desired in the Jack, though.
     The other assignment Sam had us do was a theater poster for any Shakespeare play. After initially taking a liking to the imagery in the Tempest, I ended up doing a piece for Macbeth. I've never read the play, but I liked the idea of contrasting the three fates (as lovely ladies) with a bloodthirsty and grizzled Macbeth.


     I'm pretty happy with how the composition and colors work in the poster, and the way Macbeth's face and hand look, but Sam Weber harped on me for the use of pencil lines everywhere else. I think I agree with him, using pen lines for the hair and cloak would probably give a cleaner look. Perhaps if I have time this summer I can re-ink things. For another approach to the poster by a talented person much more knowledgeable of the actual play, check out the acrylic stylings of Sam Bosma. Ana Benaroya's Blog also shows her solutions for a King Lear poster. There was a lot of great work that went up!

     This week was Sam Weber's last week, and it was great having him around, hearing his opinions, and seeing his heartbreakingly-good artwork. Plus, both my lady and gentlemen friends in the class agree that he has the most perfect hair curls of anyone we've ever seen. Sam left us with some advice he gleaned from a video of Todd McFarlane drawing and giving advice: "When in doubt, block it out." (preferably with a log.)
     Next week our guest teacher is the extremely talented Frank Stockton, who I am looking forward to having in class! We don't know what our new assignment is going to be yet, so things should be interesting.

     So, I guess this post ended up being much longer than I expected, and if you stuck with it and read it all, THANK YOU! I owe you a nice crisp high-five! Also, if you have a link to me and I missed putting you on my links list, or if you'd just like to BE on my links list, let me know! I'd be happy to put you up. I haven't had a links list for a looong time, and it's time for me to pay up! There are so many illustrators and students that do great work, it makes me proud to be one too.

     That's all for now, but my next post should have some sneak peeks of my Senior Thesis project! (Mysterious portraits! Done in acrylic??!) Any comments or critiques are greatly appreciated, or thoughts about Ciesemier.com! Is it easy to view? Easy to get around? Does it look fat in those colors? I hope y'all have a lovely evening--I bought some York peppermint patties, so mine is sure to be delicious.