Contributed by Melissa Kojima
Artist Phillipe Debongnie found our Illustrations Pages site and told me about his collaborative blog, Jazz and Draw. Phillipe combines his love for illustrations, jazz, and blogs that showcase book covers, all into his own Jazz and Draw blog.
Phillipe said, "The goal of the blog is to get everyone (me included) to discover new artists as well as new musicians, styles and/or albums." He has asked various illustrators to contribute to the blog, and as you can see here, they have created some amazing and beautiful work.
In addition to their illustration, he also asks each contributor to add a link to a jazz song. It's a wonderful mix of visual and aural beauty. If you'd like to contribute your jazz illustrations,
go to the Jazz and Draw blog for artist submission guidelines.
Contributed by Melissa Kojima
Tim Burton, the director of so many awesome films such as,
Edward Scissor Hands, Pee Wee Herman and
Batman, has
a retrospective of his illustrations, films, animations and writings at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Below are some of the images that will be in the exhibit. It's happening now and will continue through October 31, 2011. This is a real treat that you don't want to miss.
Find out more about the Tim Burton exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art website….
Contributed by Melissa Kojima
Illustration by Paul Blow
If you're an illustrator, graphic designer or teacher of designers and illustrators, you might have been contacted recently by
3x3 Magazine to participate in an online survey. They conduct this survey annually to see how the design and illustration industries are doing. I feel it's important to take the survey - in the end - it helps us all to gain a better understanding of what's going on in our industry. It asks things like what was your income last year and and how much of it came from illustration commissions. Know it is completely confidential and anonymous. So if you're asked to participate - please do so. Thank you in advance.
Check out the results of a 3 x3 survey conducted last year...
Contributed by Melissa Kojima
One of my favorite galleries in L.A. is "
Gallery Nucleus". They have been exhibiting and supporting illustrators for as long as they have been
opened since 2004. They feature art by illustrators from the entertainment and editorial industries and they regularly have
workshops to help illustrators improve their skills.
BILLIE THE UNICORN BOOK SIGNING/MARKER RENDERING WORKSHOP
CHARACTER & CREATURE SCULPTURE SEMINAR W/ JORDU SCHELL
Weekly Sketch Book Society LONG POSE FIGURE DRAWING WORKSHOP
Moreover, they always try to give back to the community and to those who need help. For example, they just had a show to help
Ghana, specifically to provide boarding and education for orphaned children in Ghana, West Africa.
Great magazine cover by illustrator, Rey Ortega. This was created for Kill Screen 3, a video game magazine. The theme for this issue was intimacy. Ortega felt that intimacy extended beyond the romantic. Here's what he said about it,
"My thinking on this was that intimacy extends beyond the romantic, or the sexual. Intimacy is kind of a like a secret world that you share with someone else. It's exclusive knowledge between people, deepening their relationship with one another. I tried to get a bit of that mystery here.".
Contributed by Melissa Kojima
Contributed by
Melissa KojimaHave you ever read an illustrated interview? This is where questions are asked and the answer is given in the form of an illustration. Sounds fun, huh? Well, over at
Doodlers Anonymous (a blog dedicated to those addicted to doodling) that is what they do every Sunday. They call this, "
Sunday Grins". I think it's because these interviews with illustrators are so fun, they will make you smile. I particularly like the interview with Gemma Correll. Below is a picture of her and some of the answers she drew. What were the questions? You'll have to visit the
interview at this link to find that out.
Contributed by Melissa Kojima
Artist Cheong-ah Hwang doesn't just create compositions with paper on paper, she has also made a whole wall of pop-up art for a baby's room. I can't imagine how fun this would be for a child to play with. The flowers open up into parrots and lions. In the grass, a zebra is hiding. Behind a tree a giraffe is hiding. It's truly a wild adventure.
Her other artwork isn't any less adventurous or amazing. Below you'll see her version of Alice in Wonderland, an undersea world, and a monkey on a cloud.
Check out her website to be even more amazed by her skills. She conducts pop-demos and parties. She also offers free pop-up downloads on her site.
Contributed by
Melissa KojimaAt the beginning of the year, are we just trying to celebrate all the great work we did last year? I dunno. But there seems to be a lot of art and illustration contests popping up. They're asking you to submit your work, so it can be celebrated by your peers and co-workers. Below are two I found that may interest you.
National Cartoonist AwardsThe deadline for this contest is Feburary 6, 2011. Submissions are open to anyone, there is no fee, and you are even encouraged to submit the work of others.
Categories include newspaper illustration, gag cartoons, greeting cards, comic strips, magazine illustration, book illustration, editorial cartooning, advertising illustration, comic books, graphic novels, and animation. Click on the link above to learn how to enter submission.
3 x 3 Magazine Pro Illustration Show3 x 3 Magazine is a professional illustration magazine that give you advice and shows you some of the top contemporary illustrators in the world. Every year they have an annual contest. The deadline for the professional show is March 25, 2011.
Categories include Advertising, Animation, Books, Editorial, Editorial Spots, Fashion, Gallery, Institutional, Medical, Self-Promotion, Sequential, Three-Dimensional, Unpublished. And two new categories: Sci-fi and Graphic Novels.
Judges are:
Jason Treat, Design Director, The Atlantic
Mark Reddy, Art Director, Bartle Bogle Hegarty, United Kingdom
Haika Hinze, Art Director, Die Zeit, Germany
DJ Stout, Graphic Designer, Pentagram
Andrew Bannecker
Emiliano Ponzi, Italy
Oliver Weiss, Germany
Andrea Innocent, Australia
To learn how to enter and for more submission details, click on the link above.
Contributed by Melissa Kojima
If you're new to an illustration career, or even if you're not, you may be wondering how you can get hired in the arts or where you can find more work. Well,
Marshall Vandruff (illustrator and teacher) dispels the mystery with a one day workshop called,
HOW TO GET HIRED IN THE ARTS. Does it have to do with networking? Does it have to do with having a good portfolio? Well, yes, but it's a lot more too.
He'll tell you the trade secrets and how to survive until you've landed your dream job. I've taken this course and found it very insightful and it helped ground me and give me a clear path to follow. If you're in the Southern California area, you might want to
check it out. It's Sunday, January 2, 2011 and only $30.00.
Contributed by Melissa Kojima
An illustration student recently contacted me to ask some questions and express a few concerns she has about starting a career as an illustrator. She stated that she is "confused and paranoid about a lot of things". I think her sentiments and worries are like many who are thinking about a career in illustration. I definitely could relate to her about this anxiety. Here are a few of her questions and my responses. Maybe, they will inspire and help other emerging illustrators.
Back in college did you feel an atmosphere of competition among the best students around the department?At the Art Center (in Pasadena, CA), it was very competitive. There were students who outshone everyone else, however, following their various careers after graduation, they weren't necessarily the ones who have had successful careers. It was the ones who kept working at it and believing in him/herself that made them find their niche. Perseverance and self-belief go a much longer way than simple talent and innate ability.
A lot of students feel depressed at this time of their lives because they have not approached what they want with their style or don't feel they are good enough, have you felt this way and if so how did you manage to overcome it?Oh yes, I've felt this way. It's called being impatient. Of course, you want to run before you can walk, but that's not the way it works. Little by little is the way it goes. Mastery does not happen over night and not even in a few years. I read a book called, "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell that said to gain mastery of anything takes 10,000 hours. This translates into 20 hours a week over 10 years or 40 hours a week over 5 years. In other words, when in doubt, just keep doing art. Just do it and do it and do it again. You will make it with perseverance. Impatience will make you mess up many things, do not succumb to its worrying whispers. It is like the siren songs which lure men to their deaths on the jagged shores of the sea in the book "The Odyssey" by Homer. I know that's melodramatic, but just know that worries and doubts will arise, but you can ignore them and rest comfortably when you do art each day.
Contributed by Melissa Kojima
Happy Thanksgiving to all you Americans! And get ready for Black Friday, the official day for holiday sales. Many mothers have waited in long lines to buy their children toys on this day of price cuts. But if you want some art, you don't have to wait in line. Below are two Black Friday art sales where you can make your deals online. No getting up early and trying to remember where you put your trousers. Sit in your underwear and shop if you like.
The lowest of the low-brow galleries in Los Angeles,
La Luz de Jesus, is having a huge Black Friday sale. Original art like that of the above Robert Williams will be available for one day only! Tim Biskup, Camille Rose Garcia, Gary Baseman and the Clayton Brothers among many others will have art for sale. Check it out at the link above.
If you can't afford the original art, you can still get your fill at the
Society of Illustrators's online Red & Black Friday Sale. You get an additional 15% off if you enter the code "REDBLACK" at the check out. They have lots of art books, prints and other artsy items including toys that your mother won't have to wait in a long line to buy. Have fun and happy holiday shopping to all you Capitalists!
Contributed by Melissa Kojima
As an artist and illustrator, I like to help other artists and illustrators. I mean, after all, that's why I'm a contributor on this site and why I blog what I blog on
my own site. So when I see a charity or auction that helps artists, you betcha, I'm on board.
I've been on board to help
"Postcards From the Edge" for several years now. They are an annual art event which sells art postcards for $85.00 each and which go to help artists with AIDS. The unique thing about this event is that, each postcard on the gallery walls is posted anonymously. In other words, you have no idea who the artist is until you buy it and turn it over to see the name of the creator. Famous and unknowns share wall-space in this great art charity event. That's right, I can say I've exhibited in a gallery where Barbara Kruger and Dean Koontz were also exhibiting.
If this has inspired you to create an original postcard and to help artists,
click here for submission details. Several thousand artists, designers and photographers participate in it annually. The deadline to submit is Friday, December 10, 2010.
Contributed by Melissa Kojima
Do you have a favorite artist or illustrator who you follow and who continually feeds you inspiration? Olaf Hajek is that illustrator for me. If his art were a meal, it would be a lavished Christmas feast with no expense spared. I visit his website every few months and he always has dish after delicious dish of new work posted. This time, I found that he has an African art show in Capetown, South Africa which inspired the below series of paintings. They are beautiful and some are sad. I love that he can evoke that kind of emotion. Enjoy.
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0 Comments on The Search for the Perfect Paper Dolls as of 1/1/1900
TERRIFIC!
Lovely - and a nice break from all the "edgy" stuff. Sweet and innocent are highly underated! :)