Student Spotlight: Solongo Mellecker

Monday, April 19, 2010

solongo.jpg
We are proud to shine the SCAD-Atlanta Illustration Student Spotlight on Solongo Mellecker, MFA candidate, amazing artist, and a delightful young lady. As usual, we asked her the obligatory 10 questions so everyone could get to know her a bit better. Enjoy her answers and her fabulous artwork...

Mellecker_Teatrio.jpg
1. Where are you from (hometown, country, etc.)
I'm from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Dalantaismall.jpg
2. Where have you been to school?
I went to The Institute of Fine Art in Mongolia. I attended for four years and received my BFA in Traditional Mongolian painting.

Mellecker_3_SCAD_ATL.jpg
3. What attracted you to Illustration?
I always loved to read folktales and myth books with illustrations as a child. I didn't know there was an illustration major in art schools until I came to the States.

Mellecker-S_2010-Q2_ILLU735-LOWERY-1.jpg
4. Who are your biggest influences?
My biggest influence is my early teacher Batbayar Dovdon , who is a great calligrapher and artist in Mongolia. He taught me all the basics of illustration, brush strokes, layouts, scale etc. I was also inspired by Hieronymus Bosch, Hokusai and Tibetan thangka painters.

Mellecker-S_nammi.jpg
5. If you weren’t studying illustration at SCAD, what would you likely be doing?
I would probably be trying to get freelance work, or painting murals. I would still be painting for sure somewhere.

Mellecker-S_2010-Q2_ILLU735-LOWERY-3.jpg
6. What do you like to do in your spare time?
I like to surf illustrators' blogs and websites and check out who is up to what. It gives me inspiration. If I have any more spare time left I like to do crafts. Scrapbooking is my favorite, it's a really fun thing if you get serious with it. I scrapbook all night sometimes, it's really addicting.

Mellecker-S_croc-goddess.jpg
7. What is something that most people don’t know about you?
I guess I don't talk a lot about myself. When I was younger I trained to be a pianist, I also smoked rabbit poop thinking it would help my allergies :-) Do not try it, it didn't help at all!

Mellecker-S_goddess-death.jpg
8. What would your dream job/client be and why?
It would be great to work for Chronicle Books or Candlewick Press. They are my favorite publishers right now.

Mellecker-S_2010-Q2_ILLU727-Mueller-Brown-4.jpg
9. What’s your typical process for creating your artwork (technique, media, etc)?
I think about the project everywhere I go, even when I'm talking to someone, the idea just wraps me and it never stops until I complete the project. Even colors, details come into my mind. I usually start with thumbnails. Then I pick one and start drawing. Scanning or using the Artograph is next, then transferring the drawing onto the final surface using transfer paper. Then its onto rendering in whatever medium is best.

Mellecker-S_2010-Q2_ILLU727-Mueller-Brown-3.jpg
10. Sum up your personal philosophy in 25 words or less.
See things through to the end.

Crossings Reception

Friday, April 16, 2010

DSC_0356.jpg
Fernie Vazquez, Renee Rivas and Rod Ben (aka Killamari) had their thesis show opening last night at Studioplex. It was a great night, and much fun was had by all.

DSC_0358.jpg
Lee and Bill Mayer chatted it up with Renee. The Mayers are always so supportive of our students and we are truly grateful for that. Good folks, they are.

DSC_0369.jpg
Renee's family came up from Tampa for the show. She's VERY happy.

DSC_0394.jpg
Laura Coyle came in as well; she hosted Renee's field internship a few quarters ago. Mike had Laura spellbound, and a little confused with his barrage of obscure references and non sequiturs.

DSC_0384.jpg
Pat Bollin and Allen Spetnagel were representing the Sequential folks, and Pat was clearly amazed at the artwork on the walls. Allen, not so much.

DSC_0395.jpg
Fernie is explaining his series of paintings to Anna Whitson. Not sure she's buying it, though.

DSC_0378.jpg
Rod is waxing poetic with Julia Berman.

DSC_0390.jpg
Julia, Mike, Sojung and Solongo.

DSC_0397.jpg
Fernie, Goñi, Heather Elder and Rod, striking a pose of some sort.

DSC_0374.jpg
More posing; Merritt, Brent, Rod and Solongo.

captions.jpg
Fill in your own captions here.... Download the photo, add text in Photoshop, and email it to Rick Lovell. I'll post the best ones to the blog. Have fun!

NATAS MENTOR STUDENTCONNECT DAY

Friday, April 9, 2010



NATAS -National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences presents an amazing student mentoring event.

FREE FOR SCAD FACULTY & STUDENTS

Featuring the following panels:

Motion media design- Designers for Artifact, Lucky Fish & X-Men
Original Program Production- TBS’ Dinner & A movie Producer, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Animation Director
Marketing & Branding- Marketing and branding for Adult Swim, TCM, NBA.com
Music composition/ audio design- Audio designers who work with Adult Swim, Bruce Springsteen & Disney
News management/production/reporting- CBS, Fox 5, NBC
Sports broadcasting/production/design- Fox SportsSouth, Turner Sports

SCAD Atlanta
1600 Peachtree Street
Event Space 4C

SATURDAY APRIL 17
9:00am -3:00pm
----------------------------------
NATAS MENTOR STUDENTCONNECT DAY Schedule
Saturday April 17, 9:00am- 3:00pm
SCAD Atlanta 4C- 1600 Peachtree Street NE, 30309

9:00 – 9:40 Intake / Registration
Students- 4 C
Mentors- Room 438C

9:40- 9:50 Welcome:
Student orientation 4C Event Space

10:00- 10:45 Session 1- Panels (45 min)
Panel-A Panel -F
Panel-B Panel –D
Panel-E

10:55- 11:40 Session 2- Panels (45 min)
Panel-A Panel -C
Panel-B Panel –D
Panel-E

12:00 – 12:50 Lunch (50 min)
Mentoring Lunch- 3 x 20 min. rotations

1:00- 1:45 Session 3- Panels (45 min)
Panel-A Panel -C
Panel-B Panel –D
Panel-F

1:55 – 2:40 Session 4 –Panels (45 min)
Panel-A Panel -C
Panel-B Panel –D
Panel-F

2:50- 3:00 Closing & evaluation forms

Room 450 Panel A - Motion media design
Room 449 Panel B - Original Program Production
Room 448 Panel C - Marketing & Branding**
Room 446 Panel D - Music composition/ audio design
Room 447 Panel E - News management/production/reporting*
Room 450 Panel F - Sports management/ Sports production/ Sports design

* Morning session only ** Afternoon session only

New books by Mike Lowery!

Thursday, April 8, 2010


Mike's new set of bilingual board books are now on the shelves. Check out what the publisher said...

New title in the Two Little Libros collection: Your Body / Tu cuerpo

We're thrilled to announce the publication of the latest title in the Two Little Libros collection. This beautifully illustrated box of two 16 page board books by Mike Lowery is the second title in this collection. This time the box contains books which focus on two aspects of the human body: Body Parts and Move Your Body. As you may know from the previous set of Two Little Libros (Sea Animals and Jungle Animals), this fabulous collection is designed to teach young children basic vocabulary in Spanish and English, as well as reasoning skills.

You can find all the details here.

As always, this new title is available in our on-line shop and in bookshops throughout Spain.

We hope you love it as much as we do!

Description:
Title: Body Parts and Move Your Body
Author: Mike Lowery
ISBN: 978-84-937273-7-6
Pages: Slipcase with two 16 page board books
Collection: Two Little Libros
Size: 20 x 20 cm
Specifications: Cloth binding
Price w/VAT: 14.95 €

For more information about Bilingual Readers, please visit us at bilingualreaders.com. If you like what you see, please tell a friend! You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter!

Congrats, Mike! Looks awesome.

Crossings

Saturday, April 3, 2010


Three of our Superstar Grads will be presenting their thesis show at Studioplex :
Rod Ben, Renee Rivas, and Ferni Vazquez present CROSSINGS.
Reception is Thursday, April 15 from 6PM to 9PM, and the show will be up from April 12-17.
Please come by and support our amazing graduate students at SCAD-Atlanta!

Vote for Illustration graduate Solongo!

Friday, April 2, 2010

SCAD-Atlanta's Illustration graduate Solongo Mellecker is entering Chroma paint's annual art competition. Please support fellow student Solongo and vote for her entries. She has 3 pieces in the competition, "Alice in Wonderland-1", "Alice in Wonderland-2" and "Black Cat".
You have to log in to vote, but please take a few moments to support her.

To see her full portfolio, go to www.msolongo.com