Illustration Friday: Obsession

It’s an old student piece from my RISD days for this week’s Illustration Friday submission! It was created for an editorial illustration class and we were given articles on obsessions. This was the first in a triptych about late night binge-eating disorders. There was obsession with food (shown), overindulging, then feeling remorse. I haven’t seen this piece in a long time and it’s woefully apparent why I only made a B+ in that class.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Forgotten Files: The A-Blast

For 2 years in high school, I was the staff illustrator for my school newspaper, The A-Blast. We reported on such hard-hitting news like prom, after-school jobs, sports, and other typical teenager-stuff, but we also covered local and worldwide events like the Bin Laden-led terrorist attacks in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, the Columbine shootings, and others. Our award-winning student paper reflected the cultural diversity within Annandale High, and I absolutely loved my experience on staff. 

My tenure on the paper taught me how to meet tight deadlines, tackle multitudes of topics and themes, handle the scrutiny of critics and the art direction of my peers, and work with writers of all kinds. It certainly had a role to play in my development as an artist, as the awards I won while on staff looked great on my application to art school. I would encourage any high school student with their eyes on an illustration career to try out for their school newspaper.

The A-Blast looks different today than it did in high school, and it has long since embraced the digital age, but this student paper has retained the same quality and appeal that I enjoyed more than 10 years ago.

Illustration Friday: Prehistoric

Happy Friday, everyone! This week's submission for Illustration Friday is a blast from the past.  I did this back in 2003 while I was a student at RISD, to illustrate a children's story idea I had floating around in my head. Fortunately, prehistoric animals never lose their awesomeness!

I'd like to take this opportunity to announce a little book sale! Just in time for the holidays, I'm offering autographed paperback versions of the award-winning children's book I illustrated, Storm Codes, for $10.00 with FREE SHIPPING through December 31st, 2010. To purchase, go here.

Illustration Friday: Ahead

For this week's Illustration Friday, I'm submitting an older piece from 2003, inspired by a spring break trip to the National Museum of Natural History and a nod to my then-boyfriend’s (now husband) favorite ancient marine reptile. The turtle unknowing swims ahead of the girl behind him, who in turn unknowingly swims ahead of the plesiosaur behind her.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

The Forgotten Files: Blind Contour Drawings

Blind contour drawing is a classic exercise to develop hand-eye coordination. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the technique, it is drawing the outline of the subject (a still life, the figure, etc.) without looking at the paper.  The end result usually looks like a mass of scribbles, but it doesn’t matter.  The goal is to work on those observational skills.

During my time as a student, I filled countless sketchbooks with blind contour drawings.  We’d usually have to time ourselves; some drawing sessions could be only 30 seconds long, others could be 3 minutes, and so on.  These blind contour drawings were completed nearly 10 years ago and each took less than a minute.  The funny thing is, I think I can still recognize some of the subjects: one is my husband for sure, and another is my friend Angie.

While as a child I found blind contour drawing pretty confusing (it actually made me cry once!), nowadays I really enjoy the technique.  It’s rather a luxurious practice to merely observe the subject without worrying about how it looks on paper.  Anyone, no matter their skill level or experience, can have fun with this.