Congratulations SI-LA Winners!

A big, fat, WELL-DONE goes out to three of SCAD-Atlanta's finest for being accepted into the VERY competitive Society of Illustrators Los Angeles 2009 Annual Competition. All are Illustration MFA candidates.

They are Solongo Mellecker, Sojung Yu and Frenando Vazquez. Way to go, guys!

Solongo Mellecker

Solongo Mellecker

Solongo Mellecker

Sojung Yu

Wonderland Show at Kai Lin Gallery

Kai Lin Art, the contemporary art gallery in the heart of Midtown Atlanta on Peachtree Street near the Fox Theatre, will host its sixth art gallery opening, “Wonderland” on Friday, December 4 from 7:00-10:00pm.
“Wonderland” is a group show presented by over fifteen established and mid-career artists, all professors, deans or chairs from the Savannah College of Art and Design-Atlanta (SCAD-ATL):
Kent Knowles, Larry Jens Anderson, Carl Linstrum, Michael V Brown, Dale
Clifford, Amanda Dumas, Richard Lovell, Mike Lowery, Jay Montgomery, Brett Osborn, Alex Kvares, Robert Brown, Tom Francis, Matt Maloney, Ann-Marie Mankur, Lisa Hart, Matthew Burge, Kelley McClung, Jim Gladman, and Alessandro Imperato.
The exhibit will be open through January 22.

Congrats Renee Rivas!!

Atlanta INtown Magazine unveiled Renee's winning cover last week at Atlantic Station.


Read all about it on Renee's Blog!
Way to go Renee!!

Sterling Hundley Interview

Painter Sterling Hundley who graciously came to ACA in 2006 for an inspiring lecture and demo was recently interviewed on the Podcast Sidebar. It's a great talk about his beginnings, self promotion, being an illustration professor, and his first gallery show in September called "Emergent". A true intellectual with a great work ethic and some mad drawing and painting skills. At the end he talks about the story behind this piece entitled 'The Bends" If you have iTunes, subscribe to the Sidebar podcast here to listen to tons of other famous illustrator interviews.

Josh Cochran interview

Our good friend Yuko Shimizu recently interviewed Josh Cochran, an amazing young illustrator who Mike Lowery and several SCAD-Atlanta students got to meet last year. The interview appears on the Illustration Friday website.
Here is the direct link to the interview. Enjoy!

Student Spotlight: Corinne Francilus

Corinne Francilus (aka Corinne Stevie to the musically initiated) is one of the last ACA folks who transitioned to SCAD way back in 2006. As she nears her graduation, we'd like to make sure her awesome work is recognized before she leaves us. She brings a colorful island vibe to her work, and somehow it also feels like music - no surprise there. Enjoy!

Where are you from?

I was born and raised in Miami, Fl but my parents are from different parts of Haiti.

Where have you been to school?

Well I was at Atlanta College of Art the last year it existed and then I came to SCAD in 06.

What attracted you to Illustration?

I’ve always been an Illustrator at heart. I was always interested in drawing when I was younger because my older brothers drew around me a lot. Once I got into college I knew that I would get into Illustration because of my drawing style.

Who are your biggest influences?

My older brothers, graffiti art, comics, fashion photography, Audrey Kawasaki, Kehinde Wiley and Michel Gondry. I have a lot of big influences.

If you weren’t studying illustration at SCAD, what would you likely be doing?
Illustrating is my life but um, I would probably be studying sound engineering somewhere. I love hearing unique sounds in music and trying to create them.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
I love working on music. When I’m not drawing or painting I’m normally messing around with garageband and making tracks. I actually just got a midi keyboard so I’ve been working on composing my own music and writing songs. I’ve been recording music since high school though.


What is something that most people don’t know about you?
I’m really shy.


What would your dream job/client be and why?
My dream job would be to work on a movie with an amazing team of artists and create the soundtrack for it.


What’s your typical process for creating your artwork?
First I sketch out the image I’m creating in pencil. Next, I spray fix it and then I paint. I like to use acrylics but sometimes if I’m being really experimental I’ll use tissue paper, house paint and spray paint.


Sum up your personal philosophy in 25 words or less.
Never stop creating. The more you create the better you get at it.

Peachtree Publishers Field Trip

Many thanks to Loraine Joyner (art director), Margaret Quinlin (owner and president), Paula Herr (director of Creative Marketing) and the rest of the folks at Peachtree Publishing for taking time out of their crazy schedules to speak with several Illustration Grad students in their Atlanta offices yesterday.


Loraine works with illustrators daily, and shared some of her vast knowledge about the art of illustration and the business of children's book publishing.


Loraine walked us through several books, explaining the process of working with the authors, editors and illustrators to bring a book from an idea to a finished, published work.


We got to meet many of the other folks at Peachtree and learned a little about what they do in the publishing process.


In Loraine's office, she showed us a few of the MANY, MANY promos she receives on a daily basis, and gave us a few hints about what she keeps and what ends up in the round file. And finally, she walked us through a wonderful set of working drawings for a book in progress, explaining the importance of flow, continuity, pacing and point of view. It was a wonderful tutorial on how to think when laying out a picture book.


D'oh! Look who beat us there!

Thanks to Loraine Joyner and everyone at Peachtree Publishers! We really appreciate your hospitality.