Writing (blog posts)_1

I was asked by a former student (Jared Jennings, fyi) to take part in a 3 person exhibit that will be located at Crowder College in Neosho, MO. For this exhibit I will be needing 10 to 15 pieces. THAT is what I will be working on this semester and for this critique course! The theme/title of the exhibition is "Untold Stories." My concept for this show and my pieces will be centered around local spots in Pittsburg, KS. This last summer was my first summer spent here in the burg, working at a pool shop (I was a pool boy, for clarification) and I fell absolutely and unconditionally in love with this town. I hear people complain almost daily about being trapped here,  in this podunk little town with nothing to do etc. But I have no qualms. I am qualmless. This town is quiet, simple, and incredibly, considered by some ALMOST TO A FAULT, m-i-d-w-e-s-t-e-r-n. I straight up love this place. So I find it enormously fitting that my series shows these quiet perfect little places that often get ignored, or are seen as commonplace or insignificant.

I would like to draw a love letter to Pittsburg.

When it comes to myself as an artist, I tend to like quiet works with lots of white space. I appreciate small drawings and pencil sketches. My work will be "sketchy," and incorporate text. I find hand rendered, almost sloppy, text to be incredibly charming. I like work that proves someone made it with their hands, I love a certain messiness in works of art. For these pieces I intend to work with graphite and watercolor. Maybe branch out?? WE'LL SEE!

Here are a few of my works that I am fond of and define my artistic sense described above.

"Four Peppers" 

                          

A couple of pencil pieces from the last Critique Course, in which I interviewed residents of a local nursing home.

Another piece from the last course. I hope to continue in this style.

One last piece, this is my mother. She is beautiful.

Not only do I want to highlight Pittsburg, I would like it to be personal. I want to show my favorite places and help illustrate WHY this place is one of my favorites on earth.
To do so, I intend to visit local restaurants, Harry's, Daylight Doughnuts etc. and illustrating something there from life. Harry's famous cinnamon rolls, possibly an interview with the owner. I will be interviewing and making portraits of my favorite professors who have shaped me here. Mooreman's is my favorite local tavern and where I learned to play pool, I would like to do a contour drawing on the interior of the bar. Lakeside Park is my favorite place to bike or run to and I would like to draw a specific tree there that is PERFECT for climbing. I have many ideas for this. I'm excited to get started on this project and see where it can go.

Like I said earlier, I enjoy quiet, sketchy works and my greatest inspirations and artist of ALL TIME AND SPACE is the effervescent Wendy Macnaughton. I cannot get enough of this chick, I tell you what. http://wendymacnaughton.com/ <---- go here. Do it. You know you want to.

Wendy Macnaughton's work. See what I'm talking about??

Her storytelling ability and poignant illustrations are simply stunna. Her work is recognizably "Wendy" and her honesty has played a huge role in my development as an artist. 

 

A few of her works. Wow.

OKAY ONE MORE I can't resist!

Her portraits are especially inspirational and a favorite of mine.

Another inspiration and a favorite of mine is comic and illustrator, ELEANOR DAVIS (her collection of comics, "How To Be Happy" is one of my favorite books- check it out or live a life of regret) ---> http://doing-fine.com/ her website.
I envy and someday hope to emulate her bright and creative use of watercolor in her comics and illustrations. I love in her work the astounding honesty and vulnerability that she portrays with her quiet, simple illustrations and text.

            

These examples are from her book, "How To Be Happy"

I have many ideas for this Critique Course. I'm excited to get started on this project and see where it can go. LET'S GO

Coloring Book Closing Thoughts

As the semester comes to a close, so does the first HUGE component of my internship. The Erie Dinosaur Park Coloring and Activity Book. This project has absorbed a big part of my semester and life in general so it is very near and dear to my heart! As I type, a PRINTED COPY of the book is laying right next to my keyboard. That's right, a hard copy! In my hands! That I can hold and color in! Rather exciting business if you ask me. Here is a run through of the process this book went through to become an actual feasible, holdable book.

We began with the initial concept phase. My first step was to develop characters to tell a story with...

The first character sketch of Diesel (Originally named Danny)

Once I had figured out my little dinos, I then had the task of developing a story for them! What would they do? Where would they go?? I decided to have them go on an adventure (who doesn't love an adventure!) and I also wanted them to explore as many different atmospheres as possible- island, desert, snowy mountains, forest.... I felt that this would give kids variety to keep them interested. And it's fun to color! All with the end goal of reaching their new home in Erie.

After the journey, they find Kansas!

Along with the story and coloring pages, I also chose to include activity pages! I chose some of my favorites from when I was growing up.

Hand lettered word search

A fun maze

There are four activities total.

Next was selecting an image for the cover, I went over that process in my last post.

After that was the back page, recognizing the donors who helped with the cost of printing. Along with the Dorris family for their donations, and some general information about the park.

Back cover.

2,000books will be printed at 5.5 x 8.5. They are at the printers right now!

This whole internship experience has really showed me that being an artist takes much much more than possessing the ability to be creative and put a pen on the page. It requires interpersonal skills, a commitment to fine details, a certain amount of managerial skills and EMAILS. So many emails. I truly feel that this entire internship experience has shaped me and really given me a taste of my future.. and I like it!

I will be back here in the spring with info about the brochure and rack card component of the internship.

Coloring Book Cover

I am sorry for not posting more frequently! My mind has really been stretched thin this semester and some things tend to fall through the cracks (this being one of them!)

In regards to the Cover for the coloring book, I was considering traditional color- a vibrant watercolor. However, in the end I decided to go digital. It is the future after all.

I began with the first page of the coloring book. I decided to go with this image for the cover because I was very pleased with the composition and the line quality achieved. I feel that the dino's were all front and center and this image allowed for some fun color options!

Image from the first page.

 Next, I handlettered the title and my information at the bottom of the page. I felt that this font for the title was fun and complimented the overall aesthetic of the book.

With Text!

 Next comes COLOR. Something rather daunting for me. I tend to work in Black and white, and shades of grey.... However this project required fun, bright, and vibrant colors. 

The final cover design.

Yesterday I took a pdf file of the coloring book to the printing services on campus to print three proofs for us to see how the pages look on the paper and at the size we have chosen to print at (8.5 x 5.5) I CANNOT WAIT to see the finished product.

As of right now, I am in the middle of compiling images and information for the pamphlet to promote the park. I am having a little bit of an issue with the Indesign program that I am using to make the pamphlet. My computer skills are rudimentary at best. However I have been seeking out the help of my Graphic Design savvy friends and they are helping me immensely! Having talented friends is a blessing!  

Portfolio

I intend to enter an art fair here at Pittsburg State, where I will be selling my art. For the fair I wanted to post some examples of my art! ENJOY

The final page of a coloring book that I've been working on all semester for the city of Erie, KS. At the end of the semester they intend to print 2,000 copies.

Watercolor and graphite

Watercolor and Ink

Watercolor and Graphite

Graphite selfie

Watercolor and Graphite

Colored Pencil. I've been working on a flower illustrations that I would like to sell prints or originals of at the fair.

Graphite Illustrations from a narrative that I created from a conversation that I had with Mr. Tom Turner at Golden Living Center in Pittsburg.

MORE colored pencil works. A medium that I've really enjoyed exploring lately.

Graphite. This is from a conversation that I had with Mr. Gene Shaffer also at Golden Living Center in Pittsburg.

Colored Pencil

Ink and Watercolor

Ink.

Watercolor portrait for the Student Body President

Watercolor, a gentleman that I met at Golden Living Center last semester.

Along with things like this, I am working on a small auto-bio comic that explores my internal battle between wanting to lead a small, country lifestyle and a city life, living out my dreams as an artist. Titled "Milk and Martini's." This will be entered in the art fair.

Final Batch of Pages!

 

The last page of the coloring book.

I did it. The day I've been so excited for finally came! I just sent the last of the images for the book to the committee for review. NOW my task is to complete a full color cover. I know that I want to handletter and ink the piece, but I'm trying to decide whether I want to do traditional color, a saturated watercolor perhaps, OR do digital color on photoshop. STAY TUNED FOR ANSWERS

Page Process

I thought it would be nice to take you through the process of creating one of the pages for the book.
It starts with a thumbnail sketch like this:

 

This sketch is for the snowy mountain piece, page 10.

Next comes the blue pencil phase. I'm drawing the pages at twice the print size so that I can get all those good details in. 

Strange picture quality on the second one, but you get it.

Next phase is inking. I prefer to use a brush over the nib because the line quality make is second to none. For the lettering and small details I use a Pitt Technical Pen. 

Inking is the most stressful part for me. It's very FINAL.

Here is the image that was scanned in to photoshop.

After some photoshop magic, the final product looks a little something like this, here is the final draft of page 10:

Erie Coloring Book Concept

A little bit about the book itself! It consists of 12 coloring pages, 4 activity pages (connect the dots etc.) and a full color cover. The book is going to be printed at the size of 8.5 x 5.5. The most exciting thing about this whole thing is that the committee has decided to print 2,000 copies! I am so incredibly humbled and honored by the confidence that they have in me.

Since the coloring book is being designed to accompany a DINOSAUR sculpture park, choosing the theme was pretty simple... I decided to design 3 little dinos for the book:

Original character sketches

The names that I had originally chosen are shown in the images above, however Cindy asked that I change them to Mr. Dorris' nicknames- Diesel, Scraps, and GM. I was happy to do so, these names make the project specific to the town of Erie and much more personal. Love it. 

Now for the story line! Our new little friends lived on a beautiful and exotic island called Dino Isle. One day they decided to go on an adventure so they hopped on a raft and set off. Out at sea, Diesel made a new friend- Riptide Rosie (a sea turtle sculpture was named by the local school children of Erie, another lovely personal detail that I was asked to include.) When they reached the shore, they explored the deep, dark, bat filled forest... the hot and sunny desert... and the snowy mountains. Finally they found themselves in a FANTASTIC place called "Kansas" where they find a new home at the Erie Dinosaur Park!

A few rough sketches of my storyboard.

A design for the cover. We'll see if I change my mind.

My next post will take you through the process of penciling, inking, and editing a page in the book!