MECA inspired
Local Portland illustrator Betsy Thompson visited the Maine College of Art illustration department this week, sharing her professional wisdom and talented work. A former K -2 educator, she quickly turned the tables and asked each student to share what medium they worked in, what area of illustration interested them, and what did they want her to address. I love when visiting illustrators reinforce what I preach in class. She asked how many students kept sketchbooks, and how many were drawing in them right then. I myself was in the middle of a drawing of senior Miles Cook. She talked about...
Read Moreclassroom comeback
It’s been a busy coupla weeks getting back into the classroom rhythm at Maine College of Art. A new banner sporting a roaring bear illustrated by recent illustration graduate Hannah Rosengren was a delight to see. The illustration studio gained more space in the Karu Media Collective wing. Here department chair Scott Nash shares announcements with students. Cool news: the new MECA Illustration Film Series, which kicks off next week with Cartoon College at SPACE Gallery. Charles Hively, editor and design director of 3 x 3, The Magazine of Contemporary Illustration, joined us for the...
Read Morehere come the humpbacks FOR REALS!
Ever since visiting Nova Scotia two summers ago, I’ve been longing for a glimpse of a real humpback whale. Sure, I did my homework, reading books, watching films and videos from whale sightings while illustrating Here Come the Humpbacks! During that trip I saw plenty of signs for whale watching, but we traveled constantly, with no time for a cruise. I began working on the book in the fall of 2011, just past the season when humpbacks are in the Gulf of Maine. My wish for our recent return to Nova Scotia was to see some whales at last. We drove from Pubnico, Nova Scotia with our host,...
Read Moreisabelle stops in
Summer in Maine is a fleeting yet spectacular thing. It helps, when you’re on a deadline, to have an island outside your studio, an island that draws others into your world unexpectedly. Recently, Isabelle Dervaux knocked on my door, a famously talented illustrator visiting our neighbors across the street! I was in the midst of working on a poster for Portland Stage Company, and she wanted to take photographs. Now a photo organizer, she enjoys creating visual narratives. I showed her some of my sketches for Words By: Ira Gershwin and the Great American Songbook, in which I tried...
Read MoreB is for bikes, barnacles, and bears
Pretty soon Marty and I will be married 25 years. How did we get here? I can honestly say the romance began on a motorcycle. Zooming around Marin County hills and feeling like it was Ireland. Fog, eucalyptus, and Dogtown, a heady mix back in 1987. There were many miles of touring California once we got married. Delivering illustration jobs to Fed Ex on Harrison Street in San Francisco made deadlines more fun, as seen here in Marty’s work: Then he surprised me with a gift certificate for a motorcycle safety class. At first I was slighted: you don’t like me as a passenger? Yet...
Read Morelegacies
With Memorial Day just passed, my thoughts are thrown back to another era. I visited my Uncle Roley last week, now living in an assisted living facility in New Hampshire. He asked me to help clear out his studio, over the garage, where I found objects and ephemera from a lifetime. Roland B. Hogan, Jr. followed in his father’s artistic footsteps, becoming a commercial artist in the early 50’s. He was the middle son, between my Aunt Eleanor and my father, William, the baby below. Roley has outlived them both by decades. I encountered sweet moments dismantling his keepsakes. To say...
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