Student Work: Children's Vignettes

Time for some student work! The fun pirates are by Kevin Ilqua and our boy with monkey friend is from Michelle Garcia. Students were encouraged to bring in product mock ups, and as you can see from Kevin's shirts it's fun to see the possibilities of the artwork.

Student Work: Providence Monthly's Beauty Column

Allison Cole will be selecting the winning illustration for Providence Monthly's beauty column soon. In the meantime, here are the favorites selected by the class.

(top to bottom) Ophelia Hathaway, Michelle Garcia, Chelsie Sutherland

Children's illustrations for Licensing/ November Updates

First of all, Congratulations to Michael Vance for having his illustration selected for the Zombie Anthology! Adam says it was very close and that people should be motivated to try again for the next Zombie judging happening during our department show.

Right now we are currently working on the Children's vignettes as well as the editorial illustration for Allison Cole at Providence Monthly. PM illustration is now due November 16th (with 300 dpi images sent to Allison by 10a.m. the next day) and the vignettes are due November 23rd.

Children’s illustrations for licensing

Size: determined by artist

Vignettes (organic edges)

Be inspired by the licensing market and the products that were featured in the presentation. Imagine a company wants three fun illustrations that they could use on products: plates, lunch boxes, pillowcases, etc. Think of these as “spot” illustrations, images that are vignettes with organic edges (the images should NOT be “boxed in” by the edge of your composition or canvas). They can end up being very simple depending on what you do. Make sure all three images are coherent in technique, concept, and color.

Feel free to push limits- even though this is for a younger audience, many companies are trying to reinvent themselves to be more hip and current towards kids and their parents.

Zombie Anthology: Chelsie Sutherland, Take 2

10/19 Individual Meetings

Individual meetings Monday the 19th!! If you need the schedule please email me. Bring all your work including your finished wine labels and tarot cards.

Student Work: Ogden Nash Poem

(From top to bottom) Michael Vance, Kevin Ilacqua, and Chelsie Sutherland.

Zombie Anthology: Kevin "Don't Drink The Water" Ilacqua

Zombie Anthology: Chelsie Sutherland

Zombie Anthology: Ophelia Hathaway

Zombie Anthology: Mike Vance

Assignment: ZombieBOMB Anthology

Art Director and fellow artist Adam Miller will be picking one student work to be published in the "pin up" section of a new comic anthology involving zombies! We are looking for pieces that are, in Adam's words, "about zombies and awesome".

All mediums and styles welcomed.

Size: 11"x17"

Sketches due: Oct 5th

Final Due: Oct 12th, posted on blog by 6pm

You will have time to fix anything after the 12th. Adam's deadline will be sometime late October and will be posted ASAP when received.

Student Work: Creation Story

Our creation story about Sedna resulted in a tie for third place! Congrats to all.

Chelsie Sutherland (best use of clothes...meaning none)

Benjamin Donahue (best use of projectile animals)

Kevin Ilacqua (best action scene)

Michael Vance (best reference to a scene from "Jaws")

Student Work: "So, Tell Me..."

My trusty digital camera captured the nominated top three solutions to our editorial assignment, an article about the perils of interviews and its process.

Michael Vance

Chelsie Sutherland

Benjamin Donahue

Student Work: 7 Deadly Sins

During every critique, students nominate their top three solutions to the assignment. Congrats! Look out for more student work soon...

"Pride" by Chelsie Sutherland

"Greed" by Kevin Ilacqua

"Sloth" by Michael Vance

Office Hours

I am in the back office of room 305 Mondays from roughly 11:30-12:15 if you need to see me for anything.

Assignment: Products

Products: Choice of Wine Labels or Tarot Cards

Size: labels are roughly 4”x4”, cards 2.75”x 4.75” (same ratio)

Illustrators enjoy a variety of product designs, ranging from novelty items to packaging. For this project you will have the choice of illustrating 3 tarot cards (2 fronts, one back) or 3 wine labels. If you pick wine labels you may want to plan not only a coherent style for all three labels but also think about necessary text for the brand of the wine, the type of wine (chardonnay, shiraz, merlot, etc), and possibly where it’s from. Tarot cards should be researched to make sure that the meaning and imagery correspond (for instance, the “death” card does not mean death as much as it does rebirth). Think about how imagery, style, and color helps to unite the elements of your project. Do not be afraid to try something unexpected if you wish.

Sketches due: Sept 28

Progress critique: Oct 5

(No Class Oct 12)

Final due: Oct 19

A Great Way to Think of Ideas

Seasoned illustrator and artist Nate Williams shares a great post about how he thinks of ideas for his illustrations. Check it out on his blog.

Assignment: Ogden Nash Poem

Illustrated Text: Ogden Nash Poem

Size: determined by artist

No Maximum Saturated Colors

Create an illustration incorporating hand done text for one of the Ogden Nash poems below. Notice that your samples given in class incorporate images and are still conscious of elements such as composition. Please use the title as well as the actual poem in your final illustration.

Color wise, create a palette that does not have any maximum saturated colors (colors will be lighter, darker, or grayed out from their purest form, so no fire engine red!). Remember to borrow ideas from the color presentation.

You can check out tigercolor,com to refresh yourself on some of the color theory we talked about

.

Sketches Due: Sept 21

^{Final Due: Sept 28}

Ode To Baby

A bit of talcum
Is always walcum.

Further Reflections on Parsley

Parsley
Is gharsley

Reflection on Ice-Breaking

Candy
Is Dandy
But liquor
Is quicker

Fleas

Adam
Had'em

Assignment: Creation Story

Creation Story

Size: must reprint as a 10”x 6” (h) image. Same ratio.

Color: try to create a palette based off of the presentation in class and the idea of “sophisticated complementary colors”.

Illustrate the Inuit creation story about Sedna. You will not have to worry about placement of text, as it would be placed below the image, not inside. You can take multiple approaches including being inspired by Inuit folk art, making this a children’s illustration, or exploring the dark nature of this tale. You WILL have to think about building your palette from a set of complimentary colors, something we will go over our next class before you move onto the final.

Sketches Due: Sep. 14^th

Final Due: Sept. 21st

At the beginning of the world there were giants.

They lived on the land and ate the fruits of the land. One year, as the days began to get shorter and colder, a baby girl was born to two of the giants. They named her Sedna.

Day by day, as the sun became weaker and smaller, Sedna grew stronger and bigger. She grew and grew very quickly until, in no time at all, she was huge. Soon she was bigger than her giant parents.

The bigger she got the more she ate and the more she needed to eat, but there were not enough plants on the land to satisfy her hunger. One night, ravenously hungry, she began to gnaw her parents legs.

‘Owww!’ they cried, ‘that's enough of that.’ With a great struggle they bundled Sedna up in a blanket and carried her to their canoe. It was dark but they paddled out to sea in the light of a hazy moon. When they reached the middle of the ocean, they pushed Sedna overboard into the icy waters.

And that, they thought, was that. They started to paddle back towards the land, shivering for the cold and also for shame at what they had done to their own daughter. Yet before they had gone far, the canoe stopped - no matter how fast they paddled, the canoe would not move forward. To their horror they saw two hands, Sedna's hands, reaching out of the water to grip the canoe and then to rock it from side to side.

The giants felt the boat shaking. Soon they would be tossed into the ocean they would surely drown, unless they did something quickly.

Simply to save themselves, they pulled out sharp knives and chopped off Sedna's fingers. One by one the fingers splashed into the sea and, as they sank, they changed into swimming creatures. One became a whale, one a seal, another a walrus, another a salmon. The fingers changed into all the creatures of the seas.

As for Sedna, she drifted through new shoals of fish to the bottom off the ocean. There the fishes built her an underwater tent. Above her, the cold waters formed a crust of ice and sealed Sedna in her wintry, watery world. She still lives there, and whenever the Inuit are short of food, they call on Sedna and she provides it, even in the depths of winter.

7 Deadly Sin/ "So, Tell Me What I Want To Hear"

The Seven Deadly Sins

Size: determined by artist

Black & White

In any style, create a black and white image depicting the sin you have selected. Use this as a chance to “introduce” yourself to me, whether it’s through high contrast, graphic shapes or subtly painted values and tones. Your final should be well-crafted and have a strong concept (we should be able to tell what it is when on the wall).

Final Due: Sept 14th

Editorial: “So, Tell Me What I Want To Hear”

Size: must reprint as a 5”x6” image (final has to be the same ratio)

Full Color

Writer Cecil Donahue manages to take a dry subject (the job interview) and create a fresh article full of whit, sarcasm, and interesting imagery (“corporate kabuki” is full of illustration potential!). This was originally printed in Gentleman’s Quarterly (known as simply GQ), a men’s magazine attracting young men along with older readers. Your goal is to create an equally fresh and engaging image to go along with the text.

Editorial Illustration is full of many styles and approaches, from silkscreen inspired images to sleek, fashionable interpretations. Create something that is in tune with the article as well as your artistic vision.

Sketches Due: please email 2-3 high quality sketches to me by 5:00 p.m. on Sept 7

(72 dpi Jpegs, no larger than 600 pixels tall or 5 inches tall)

Final Due: Sept 14th

Class Syllabus

 

ILLUSTRATION III

 

COURSE OBJECTIVE:

 Illustration 3 elaborates the standard demands and practices of the professional illustrator, while offering experience to the student through the sampling of a wide variety of assignments. In creating Illustration for real assignments, students will build on the conceptual skills in Illustration I, and on the personal vision and formal picture making skills honed in Illustration II. Attention to the marketplace, content concerns, art direction, reproduction, deadlines, and other obstacles to the illustrator are addressed and experienced.

 

CLASS STRUCTURE

Students will receive on assignment at the end of class to complete by the given deadline. Missed deadlines will be seen as missed jobs (and a zero for a grade) unless a proper excuse has been given (family emergency, serious illness). Most of the class is based on focused critiques that help us evaluate the quality of your craftsmanship as well as your conceptual thinking. A student’s ability to talk about their own work AND the work of others demonstrates a mature artistic mind that is able to communicate and articulate ideas appropriately, whether it be with a colleague or art director. Lectures on artists, contracts, color, and different markets will also be a constant element in the classroom, as well as exercises in sketching and brainstorming.

 ATTENDANCE

 Since we meet only once a week it is important to be present at classes. Each student is allowed 2 excused absences for the semester. Critiques and class time are a vital element to the class, and if a student exceeds 2 absences they will fail for the semester.  Class starts at 12:30 sharp, so please give yourself proper time to settle in. Lateness is noticed.

 

 EXPECTATIONS OF STUDENTS

 It is important to treat this class experience as professionally as possible. This includes:

• Following deadlines
• Notifying the instructor when you will be absent due to illness or appointments.
• Following up on missed assignments and planning when to make up lost time when absent.
• Providing the best quality possible for BOTH sketches and finals.
• Responsibly providing yourself with proper supplies, materials, and time. Excuses along the lines of “I ran out of paper/paint/pencils” will not be accepted.
• Participating in critiques when appropriate and respecting others when speaking.

 

 GRADING

 Grading will consist of several elements, including your ability to finish work on time and in a professional matter. Class participation and attendance plays a factor as well as your ability to build upon and utilize constructive criticism from past classes. Your ability to follow directions such as size, color restrictions, and other requirements will also contribute to your final grade.