The Photo Reference Debate

Sam Weber sent a note referencing James Gurney's blog, and in particular a post about his thoughts on using reference in the service of illustration and art. It's worth reading, and puts the issue in historical context that sheds light on the ways our forebears used the newfangled camera in their art.
For you newbies out there, James Gurney is the artist who wrote and illustrated the masterful series of books "Dinotopia". He spends countless hours making maquettes, studying various lighting schemes, doing hundreds of sketches and studies before he's ready to begin the actual painting, because his work is realistic fantasy and requires the highest level of believability. He understands the value and necessity for reference, because he spends so much of his time preparing it.
Here is the post on Photo Reference.

Enjoy!

Julie's Jewelry Projects

Time to show off some cool faculty stuff. Okay, you can stop snickering now...some of us really do some interesting stuff. And Prof. Julie Mueller-Brown has been working on an awesome idea that is yielding some amazing results. She is marrying her fanciful illustration imagery with her new-found love for glass-bead and metal-clay jewelry making, and has created a new art form; illustrated jewelry.


This Clown Fish, replete with Carnival regalia, was the inspiration for a playful yet stunning necklace of hand-made glass beads and a copper metal-clay piece that has set Julie on a path that beautifully combines her jewelry with her art and illustration.




detail

And of course we all knew she'd find a way to immortalize her beloved Tootie, and she's done it in a way that is funny and beautiful at the same time, perfect for a pup who looks like she's ready to be fired from a circus cannon.


And here she is in metal-clay.

Awesome stuff, and further evidence that illustration ain't just for print anymore. And that even us seasoned pros can find new and wonderful ways to apply our vision! Way to go Jules! These are gorgeous!

Student Spotlight- Brenda Lyons

This time we are very proud to shine the Student Spotlight on MFA candidate Brenda Lyons. Brenda will be doing her thesis next quarter, so we wanted to be sure to show off her beautiful work before she leaves us . Brenda has an affinity for all things avian, as you will see, and her thesis pays tribute to Birds of Prey and their historic and cultural relationship with man. She will me mounting her show along with other MFA candidates Goñi Montes, Heather Elder, and Yossaya Aisiri in the spring.
So, here's a bit about Brenda and the wonderful work she's been doing.

1. Where are you from?
I grew up in Manchester, Connecticut: a place where three inches of snow is considered a 'dusting.'

2. Where have you been to school?
I received a Bachelor of Art in studio art and a minor in writing at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana. I also attended the National University of Ireland - Galway for a semester in 2006.

3. What attracted you to Illustration?
I've always loved drawing things based on stories. When I was a kid, I would read and imagine and wanted to see, physically, what those things in my imagination looked like. In order to bring them to life, I would draw them. As I got older, my inspiration turned from 'drawing stuff for fun' to 'creating detailed illustrations based on ideas.' It wasn't until my last year of undergraduate school that I came to the realization that I wanted to be an illustrator.

4. Who are your biggest influences?
John James Audubon has been my biggest influence ever since I first saw his paintings in elementary school. I remember going to the library every day and sitting there, looking through the enormous books filled with full-color pages of his bird paintings. Even now I am inspired by his birds that have such elegant personality. Peter Parnall is another illustrator, though not very well-known, who influenced me though his detailed pen-and-ink birds of prey. The work of Arthur Rackham, Robert Bateman and Susan Seddon-Boulet also inspire me.

5. If you weren’t studying illustration at SCAD, what would you likely be doing?
I’ve loved birds my entire life, and my original dream throughout my childhood and into high school was to be an ornithologist and raptor rehabilitator. If I wasn’t studying illustration, I may have ended up with a degree studying birds. Though I ended up choosing illustration instead of ornithology, I still may end up rehabilitating birds of prey one day.

6. What do you like to do in your spare time?
Ah, 'spare time.' Actually, when it comes to my spare time, I enjoy painting. I love illustration, which is why I'm studying it at SCAD. Most of my personal work is bird and fantasy-based, so when I'm not working on assignments, I'm working on my own art. I send to a few fantasy convention art shows, so doing that takes a lot of time (cutting mats and backing board, framing, bagging prints, filling out forms, shipping, designing business cards/signs). As for non-art related activities, I enjoy hiking, exploring, and archery. Sadly, there are no archery ranges in Atlanta, so I haven't been able to practice for a while.

7. What is something that most people don’t know about you?
In Montana I originally majored in equestrian studies. I spent my freshman year of undergraduate school riding and training horses. It wasn't until I realized getting stepped on and bucked around wasn't really my passion that I switched my major to art. I can actually say that I've walked into a restaurant with spurs jingling on my boots, that I've been on a runaway, galloping horse, and watched the sun set behind the mountains while in the saddle.

8. What would your dream job/client be and why?
My absolute dream job would be to create whimsical bird illustrations for a client who loves flowing, colorful birds, because that's what I love to do! I would also love to be hired to study and illustrate birds of prey - perhaps to create a book based on the species in my own style. To be able to study birds of prey up close would be more of a dream come true than a 'job.' Teaching college-level illustration is also something I would love to do; in fact I'm not picky when it comes to location, and I'd be willing and enthusiastic to travel around the globe to teach.

9. What’s your typical process for creating your artwork (technique, media, etc)?
My media of choice is watercolor, though I also use acrylic, ink, colored pencil, marker, and scratchboard. Recently, I've been experimenting with ink or graphite shading under my watercolor, and for now I have settled on a light graphite drawing with watercolor and touches of white gouache where I want more cloudiness or opacity. I used to work on Strathmore Illustration Board, but after discovering the vibrancy of color and control of pigment that comes with watercolor paper, I switched to Arches cold-press watercolor paper. I stretch my paper on sheet of masonite to prevent buckling, and usually work in many, many layers of watercolor.

10. Sum up your personal philosophy in 25 words or less.
Never take yourself so seriously that you won’t run after an ice-cream truck when it passes you on a hot summer day.

Awesome weekend with Anita and Sam!

Sam Weber and Anita Kunz, two of the brightest stars in the illustration universe, absolutely dazzled us this weekend at SCAD-Atlanta.


The awesomeness kicked off with Anita showing her amazingly smart and beautiful work from her associations with some of the biggest names in publishing, as well as her thought-provoking and provocative personal work. Her mantra was to always say something in your work, to make your voice be heard, because illustrators have the power to not only reflect the world we live in, but to affect it as well. I've always been a fan of her work, but now I'm a fan of the woman.
Sam followed Anita's very tough act with his own sumptuous work. For such a young man, his art is that of an old soul, with a truth, wisdom and beauty that is rare and precious. The images are hauntingly beautiful, and the thinking behind them is as multi-layered and textured as his art.


After their lectures, the floor was opened for a casual Q&A, and it was time well spent for everyone.


A few friends dropped by as well; Laura Coyle made it in to the lectures, as did Kelly McKernan, a friend and student from Kennesaw State, seen here chatting with Sam and Anita. And a few students made it up from Savannah, but Career Day was Friday in SAV, so only the hardcore fans made it up to ATL.
We had a great, crazy dinner at RuSan's afterwards. I will post no photos of that here, however;)
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Friday was set aside for every visiting artists' favorite part of any speaking event; demos... NOT! It's nerve wracking and logistically tedious, but these two were amazing, and their pieces were actually quite good.


The main component of Anita's trademark style is her drawing; no tracing, not much reliance on reference, but just getting in there and drawing your subject from memory as much as possible. Don't rely on someone else's photograph to give you your vision- you have to do that yourself through your drawing. The painting part is all her own technique, and Anita still uses the Pelikan pan colors she's used since her uncle gave her a set when she was a little girl.


Kat's got a new BFF, aww.

In the early stages, the foreground elements of the piece are covered with a couple of layers of liquid masking fluid, then the background, in this case a night sky with stars and planets, is quickly painted in with acrylics. When the acrylics are dry, the masking fluid is pulled away in a big, stretchy sheet of rubber, revealing the white illustration board underneath.


Anita works primarily with pan watercolors on Crescent 100 board. Her technique involves building up the tonal variations using layers of cross-hatched dry-brush watercolors, then tinting the forms with a wash of color, dry-brushing more shadows and form shapes, then tinting again. It's a methodical building up of color and value, and can't be rushed or short-cut.


Not sure what Sam said here, but it must have been a hoot.
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After a very nice lunch at Wolfgang Puck, Sam set out 20 or so originals.


After all the drool was cleaned up off of his artwork, he set into his demonstration.


Here, Sam is asking forgiveness for what he knows will be a humiliating disaster. Julie just wants him to get on with it and stop making excuses.


Sam did a skull image; it started as a light drawing on Fabriano 300# hotpress watercolor paper. He then covered the drawing with commercial high-tack frisket film (the kind you use on metallic surfaces), cut out the skull shape and removed the frisket from the skull area. He then mixed up a batch of Golden fluid acrylics in a warm, neutral tone. He wanted the skull to look broken and distressed, so to create breaks and fractures, he used liquid masking fluid (as did Anita) to mask a few edges of the skull. When the fluid was dry, he rubbed it a bit to make it less perfect, to create rough, ill-defined, organic shapes and edges that could be enhanced to look like fractures in the bone.


The next step is where his mojo comes into play; he creates a very organic, textured middle value on the skull that will simulate the pits and imperfections that all natural things have. He does this by doing the equivalent of a monoprint - dabbing that neutral acrylic mix onto the skull, and then placing the waxy side of the frisket's backing paper over the wet acrylics and rubbing the backside of the backing paper with his hands and fingers. The aim is to create irregular, textural qualities in the surface before starting in on the details. It's a trial and error process that often works but sometimes goes horribly wrong, necessitating a fresh start. In this case, it was acceptable, but not ideal in Sam's discerning view.
He then removes the frisket and starts in with watercolors in subtle variations of color and value to push and pull the values in very specific places to enhance the form and establish a logical light source. Once the value structure is established and the form reads well, he uses opaque gouache to pop a few highlights and create a convincing, dimensional form.


The piece is typically about 75% complete at this point, and that's when it's scanned and brought into Photoshop for the color corrections and finishing touches.
He showed how he uses Multiply layers to enrich the shadows, and Color Dodge layers to brighten the lighter tones. He uses the channels palette to create very precise tonal selections to shift color and value as needed to create the almost translucent surfaces he's become known for. No specific secrets will be revealed here, however ;-)
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Saturday was Portfolio Review Day, and many students were wise enough to crawl out of bed to absorb the words of wisdom from our visiting artists.


Anita visiting with April Brantner


Lean, soaking in the wisdom from Sam.


Kat, showing Anita pictures of her dog Zeppelin when she should be showing her wonderful illustration work.


Kevin and Sam, waxing poetic about crazy monkeys and Marshall Arisman.


Not sure what Fernie and Anita are looking at...guess it's best the screen is turned away.


Sojung thinks that Sam's comments are just plain silly!


And, last but not least, Goñi is having his audience with the Master.
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We topped off the trip with a Sunday Brunch at Mary Mac's, to send off our visitors from the Frozen North with a belly-full of Southern Hospitality; Blackened Catfish, Turnip Greens, Fried Okra, Sweet Potato Souffle, Fried Green Tomatoes, Pot Liquor and Cracklin' Cornbread, Sweet Tea and Banana Puddin'. Yum! Now we'll just lay back and listen to our arteries harden.

I can't say enough great things about our amazing guests, Anita and Sam. What a wonderful weekend having them here to share their knowledge and talent with all of us. It's so refreshing to meet people who are at the top of their game, and still are kind, generous, and humble. This business is full of great folks, but these two are off the charts. Sam and Anita, thanks so much. You both are welcome back any time.

Arts Forum Weekends are HERE!!

February is an amazing month at SCAD-Atlanta. This Friday is Luba Lukova at 1pm in rooms 256 to 258 (the class rooms behind the hub), who is an amazing poster designer/illustrator that I've had the pleasure to meet, and she's terrific.
Then it's OUR TURN!!


Sam Weber is a true rising star in the Illustration community. His work is smart, beautiful and haunting. And this guy is just getting started.


Anita Kunz has won every accolade an illustrator can aspire to, and then some. She's been at this for some time and can speak to what has worked in the past as well as what newbies have to do to compete in this new world of illustration.

Each guest has a unique but valuable view of our chosen profession, which has morphed into a huge, scary, but potentially lucrative mix of traditional print-based work, new media, and gallery work as well. We've tried to cover all the bases here, and to miss it is to miss out on a LOT of great artwork and priceless information!

So, mark your calendars for the weekend of the 19th-21st. Anita and Sam will show their work and talk about their careers on Thursday the 19th from 5 to 9pm in room 347 (the Cintiq/Sequential Art lab). It will be small and informal, and space will be limited so come early for a good seat.
Friday the 20th is set aside for demos: Anita will be in 379 from 11am to noon, then Sam will go from 2 to 4pm.
Saturday the 21st is Portfolio Review day: Reviews will be from 10am to noon, and again from 2pm to 5pm. Sign-up sheets are on Rick's office door, room 381. The review times are filling up, so don't wait or you'll miss out...no rain-checks!

Shepard Fairey on Street Art

See more here.

Luba Lukova- Friday the 13th at 1pm

Internationally renowned Graphic Designer and Illustrator Luba Lukova will be at SCAD-ATL as a guest of the Graphic Design Department. Her posters are thought-provoking and powerful both intellectually and graphically. Her lecture will be Friday the 13th at 1pm in rooms 256 to 258.
So, make plans to meet and hear Luba at 1 and then trek over to UGA later in the afternoon to hear Sergio Aragones of Mad Magazine fame. Sergio's talk begins at 5:30pm; see Prof. Mike Lowery about travel to Athens.