joy
While I wait for the go-ahead for final art on a new book project, I am elfishly sending out season’s greetings. I added a couple of elements to an illustration from Nest, Nook & Cranny for this year’s card. If you haven’t gotten yours yet, send me your snail mail address! That humble book has received a string of recent accolades. I am proud to share: the Nook book made it onto the New York Public Library’s 2010 list of top 100 books for children! Cool! The season sure has it’s merry madness. The MECA holiday sale was the kick-off. My students did a wicked...
Read Morebeyond shopping
The time has finally come! MECA’s holiday sale begins tonight. The tenacious elves in IL 421 have been working on sale items for the Illustration department tables for the past month. While ideas were in the making, the busy and talented Betsy Thompson visited the class to share her wisdom and talents. She brought in lots of sketchbooks, portfolios, marketing tips, resources, you name it. Thanks, Betsy! She also gave feedback on early ideas for products and packaging. These are cute things by Bri Juliana will sell these felt toys that must be fondled: Seumas did some awesome...
Read MoreMECA lekka trek
The seniors in MECA’s illustration IL 421 blasted down to Boston this week, stopping mid-way at the Portsmouth Museum of Art to see the expansive exhibit, Sugipop!, all about manga and it’s influence on contemporary art. From the opening display of cute severed heads, to the Hokusai book of character designs that spawned Japanese sequential storytelling, the show spans an amazing range of imagery. This is “Yoko Natsu Chan” by Mr. We couldn’t go in this room, but you could feel this piece by Momoyo Torimitsu, titled “Somehow I Don’t Feel...
Read Morevisions and views from MECA
The senior illustration students at Maine College of Art have had a busy fall: looking, listening, and drawing. As background for a sci-fi book jacket assignment, the esteemed Joshua Bergey gave a fascinating lecture on his grandfather, Earle Bergey, a brilliant illustrator of many genres in the 30’s and 40’s. Joshua never met his grandfather, who died when Joshua’s father was young. He’s piecing together a biography, and talking to models still living. He also shared a big collection of books and magazines with Bergey’s illustrations, as well as some of the...
Read Morecolor me october
Color is such a powerful force, yet we are so often unaware of it. I love the colors of October. Recently, my illo students worked on a 10 color palette of their personal favorites, to become better acquainted with their tendencies. It was a fun exercise, and I created the one above with bits of my favorite pastel papers, as I rarely do color on a white background. Thomas made one with paint, got frustrated, and made a collage version that better captured his taste. Part of the exercise was to guess whose palettes were whose. Juliana stumped us all. Her work is delicate and detailed, but...
Read Morehere, there, everywhere
It’s official! I’m getting postcards printed so the long held intention of celebrating Nest, Nook & Cranny is now gonna happen. At last. Author Susan Blackaby is coming east, and we’ll meet for the first time. Can’t wait! We’ll do a school visit to Peaks Island Elementary and also a visit to the Portland Public Library at 3 PM on October 14. We will write, draw, and be yappish. In other news, I am jazzed about autumn. Tis my season, y’know. It promises to be hectic. I’ve been all over lately, soaking up inspiration. Made a jolly good jaunt down...
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