CafePress Stores!

Hey, remember your stores?! What's there? Do you have it linked to your blog? If not, do that this week. Or else! Just so you know I'm playing along, here is mine: Prof. D's cool stuff

The "Free Lessons" Department

Check out this pair of demos from Gary Kelley. You'll be glad you did. Especially around 2 am next Wednesday night when you're down to that one, last piece of paper:

Demo One

Demo Two

The Only Thing Better Than Making Art Is...

... Looking at other really tasty work! To that end we have on today's menu a selection of main courses that are so appealing, so fulfilling, so beautifully presented that you will want to stay forever and never go hungry again!

Ok, all I'm really hoping for is that you've read this far and you'll click on the following links and educate yourselves:

The super-great Vivienne Flesher (that's her piece on this post)

The equally fabulous Gary Kelley

The never-to-be-outdone Mary GrandPre

So, that mess you made with pastels? Guess what- it doesn't have to be a mess! These folks don't make a mess and there's no reason you should either!

Entirely Free Gift Waiting For YOU!!

Yes! Free! A genius bit o' comic wit and wisdom is YOURS merely for going to the second floor and plucking (from the envelope on the wall next to my office) a copy of something that will change your life.

"What can this be?!" you ask. Just remember to thank me later...

Remember Cathie Bleck? Scratchboard Wonder Woman? She's HERE!!

You saw her work when you couldn't get enough of it at her own website! Now see her LIVE and IN PERSON at the New Britain Museum of Art:   Sunday, February 24th, 3-5 pm.

It's a great opportunity for you to see a show of this quality without lots of travel time. Who could ask for more? You'll be back on Sunday in plenty of time to ignore what you need to do for Monday. I'm planning the same!

Really. Go. After struggling through your own recent scratchboard pieces you'll have a new appreciation for the work of this woman who tames the clayboard like no other!

Get directions to the museum here:   Go HERE, then click on "General Information"

This Week's Top Secret Instructions

This week I'm unable to be in studio on the 21st. Remember that there are Office Hours (and hours, and hours) on Wednesday the 20th from 11 am - 1 pm.

We're working on "Forks" and you've got the text. Invest in the process up front (that means do lots of research and thumbnails along with it. These will be turned in at the end, along with your final illustration).

Remember, you can make a decent comp by copying or scanning your pencil drawing (at a small size, not 11" x 17"!) and going at it with colored pencil (for the comp, not the finished piece- we're using larger materials for that, remember).

The color-scheme parameters: monochromatic, analogous or a complementary pair.

Don't whine- you can make magic within those parameters!

It All Started Like This, See...

Yesterday (Valentine's Day) we were the lucky recipients of a presentation by Mr. Michael Sloan, DGI (Damn Good Illustrator). That's an official professional term that you folks will be expected to know. There are a few snaps here showing us a) Digging his work, b) digging his work some more, c) really digging his work, and d) digging it, and then some!

Yes! I want to see exciting action shots NOW!

Thanks, Michael Sloan, for taking time out of your busy studio day to be with us, and for the great (illustrated) dog and pony show. I guess it's really more of a "Professor Nimbus Show." There are not enough "Conversation Hearts" in all of CVS to do you justice!

Check Us Out- Project #1- Finished!

Bookplates galore. Click on the class blog links to the right.

Michael Sloan's Super-Great Poster Art

Michael Sloan sent this great image in advance of his talk this week. Be in the Pit at 12:30 pm on Thursday the 14th to see his amazing display of technological skills (slide show- digital), some original work (that you cannot even THINK of touching with your dirty lunchtime hands) and other wonderful things.

Go HERE, look, and think. You'll need to formulate some questions so there is not that embarrassing SILENCE when our guest asks if there are any questions.

Don't make me open the can of whup-ass you've seen on my  little classroom cart, eh?!

The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain, by Peter Sis

Another great illustrated book you should know about and desire to possess! The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain, by Peter Sis, is an outstanding autobiographical effort. Plus he mentions the Beatles. More than once. Since we were groovin' to a "reasonable facsimile" of the Beatles last week in studio (the "Across the Universe" soundtrack, courtesy of Kat H.) you might dig this image? Click the link on the right to check out the book.

Last Minute Scratchboard Slump? Check Out Cathie Bleck's Work!

Oh, Art 271-2ers! I see you have all been working feverishly day and night, night and day, then night again, on your bookplate designs, stopping only occasionally for beer and cigarettes, unable to divert your focus to anything else, it's bookplates, bookplates, bookplates,... and then I woke up!

But seriously, here is some more work by an accomplished illustrator that is right up our Ex Libris Alley in the "materials" sense as well as the "strong compositions in black and white" sense. Check out Cathie Bleck's scratchboard and printmaking work here (along with some drawings, and so on): work I'd better look at before Thursday!

Namaste, Student Human Rights Journal, Wants YOUR Artwork

One of our on-campus literary endeavors, Namaste, has contacted me seeking submissions of artwork. The link to the right gets you to the journal and you can check it out. The submission info there is for 2006. So, use the e-mail there to contact them and get:

Current theme

Current deadline

Current specs for artwork, if there are any

You need to think about publishing and there's no time like the present! Believe me, if you're waiting for a time when everything feels like it's in place to submit or show your work, that day NEVER arrives.

Sometimes you gotta jump!

Michael Sloan, Please Be Our Valentine!

On February 14th, illustrator Michael Sloan will be our guest in ART 271! Get a sneak preview by visiting his smart and groovy website. He's done all sorts of work for clients like the New Yorker, New York Times and Wall Street Journal (to name just a few). His "Professor Nimbus" comic series is sure to please. He'll be here to talk about it all, and then some, after which we'll shower him with gratitude and eat liberally from a giant bowl of conversation hearts. Don't miss out- BE THERE!

Super-Exciting Project Part II! (Bookplates, Remember?)

Ok, I know most of you have put aside the Super Bowl to work on your bookplate assignment, which is entirely normal and also very collegiate. Good for you! It's time to be reminded, though, of what is due for this coming week.

Yes, Sunday evening is a downer for all of us, and if I'm going to suffer, then so are you.

#1: Remember that linocut and scratchboard are BOTH "reductive" processes. That means think about this as you cut or scratch. If this is confusing be sure to look at the (really good) scratchboard demo that's been posted. There are visuals there of what you should NOT do (i.e. "a common mistake," and "it's not a negative"). That's in red. Red equals NOT.

#2: Come into class on Thursday the 7th with your work far enough along that you can finish it by noon. Those of you with blocks will then print. Those of you with scratchboard will scan. I'll help you do this, so watch the in-class demo if you've not scanned anything before. The equipment may suck but you don't have to!

 

(If you are printing a linocut, print on a variety of papers; the texture of the paper you print on can be used in the final digital image).

#3: Store your image on ArtSpace.

#4: Then we'll have a workshop on making a sticker sheet in InDesign- all you have to do is pay attention and follow along. Harder than it sounds!


By Thursday, February 14th, you should have the completed image in a digital file, a sheet of stickers in an InDesign document, and a printout of the sticker sheet.

Also, be prepared at that time to present your project in critique. Let us know what became the focus of your project. Think about whether or not your image is effective at the smaller size.