THESIS ENDS

1984 by George Orwell
Ink on toned paper, Digital


Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Pencil drawing and Digital


Brave New World Revisited by Aldous Huxley
Pencil drawing and Digital
This book was a short, nonfiction reflection back on the predictions from Brave New World that came to fruition more quickly than expected. I used the two novels as an opportunity to do a sister cover to the first piece


The Giver by Lois Lowry
Watercolor and digital


The Children of Men by P.D. James
Ink drawings and Digital
a note- the book is absolutely nothing like the movie. Both were very well done, and took place in the same world, but the plots were very different. The book was much more of a character study of what the effects of the inability to have children had on the whole human race, instead of the action being driven by one event. I wanted to kind of show that the world was messed up, and so Trish suggested I have the kids upside down, as nothing in their world quite worked anymore.


Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut
Ink drawing and digital


The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Digital
Ended up never putting type on this one, I didn't feel like it needed it.

A few people have asked me about prints. All of these are available as 13"x19" prints for $20 each, just email me or leave a message on here.

To explain, here is a summary of my artist statement-

Dystopian Literature - Negative or undesirable societies, visions of "dangerous and alienating future societies," often criticizing current trends in culture. These books describe the state in which the conditions of life are extremely bad, characterized by oppression, the effects of pollution on the environment, or any suppression of humanity
Why I picked this topic- I loved these books in high school, and wanted to create interesting covers that would reach a wider audience. The novels remain very relevant in warning against current issues in our society (for example, wire-tapping, genocide, global warming) and possible futures if we aren't mindful of ways to prevent these outcomes.

About a month into the semester I was starting to really worry about my topic, I was scared that it was too negative (for applying to Hallmark and Children's book publishers), that the books were too overwhelming, but all in all, I'm really glad I picked something I cared about, and the work didn't turn out to be too negative at all. I wanted to use this semester to create a body of work that really reflects on what kind of person I am and where my interests really lie. After doing the covers for Black Swan Green and Double Bind I felt like it was an affirmation that books are, and have been, a very important part of my life (sup librarians). I have always loved reading, as much as I love art even, and wanted to do a body of work that scratched the surface of that, and wasn't just work I knew would get me hired somewhere.

After long projects like these you always feel like there was more you could have done, but I'm pretty happy with the books I chose, and was happy to hear from some people that they'd read them and liked them as much as I had. 

To everyone who came to the show, thank you, hope you grabbed a postcard :) To the other illustration seniors, I think we had a pretty rockin show. I am really proud of our class.

Perspectives

My first tearsheet! My Hallmark piece got on the cover of Ringling's magazine, and there's a nice profile of me on the inside. I listed Paul Pope as an influence, and my mom thought I meant The Pope.

Real nice big post Friday once thesis is up, you will see what I've been doing all semester.

Longest. week. ever.

peripheral

The final design I ended up printing for my business card. The drawing is mine, I liked having an icon of sorts, it takes less explaining and it's easy to identify.


Getting some stuff together to send out to children's book folks, I plan on finishing this one. 

One of the most precise and helpful critiques I've gotten was from (I think) Sarah Caterisano, who told me that sometimes the ages of my subjects are too ambiguous. Sometimes this can be to my advantage, this girl could be anywhere from 8-11, covering a range of children's book projects, but when a girl could be 13-23, that starts becoming a problem.
I've never owned a dog, and am decidedly more of a cat person, but man, something about Scotties gets me, I bet they have a lot of integrity.

Recently, Ryan Hammond asked a bunch of us to contribute drawings for a project being done at the Design Center. He liked mine and asked for a few more, so I finished these up last week. He specifically wanted them to look like "raw hand-drawn maps" as the poster was centered around maps, and the career responsibilities of some of our alumni. I had a lot of fun doing more loose, sketchbook kind of stuff.

(I don't know if the L train goes to the east village I just do what they tell me people!)

the title is "digital film director" I left it off because I kinda blanked on what would be a good type solution, and figured the real designers would know better.

My favorite one because I got to draw knobbly hands


I picked up my cap and gown for graduation the other day. That was pretty surreal, but we're all so much on auto-pilot now that every surreal experience has started to just melt into the fog that is senior year. I don't regret anything about my time here. That's a good way to feel.

penelope

Penelope

Next Monday starts National Library Week, so I felt like paying homage to my place of employment, and drawing some library themed love. I've worked at the library for 4 years now, and being as I'll be uprootin myself en route to another endeavor, I think I will miss it, as much as you can miss a job. If nothing else, the library exposed me to a lot of different artists and random information, just by flipping through the books as I put them away. Though I got sick of putting away DVDs, because you can't flip through those.

catacombs

Changing gears a bit, I wanted to do some work that wasn't a dystopian book cover. Book covers come with a certain expectation; they sum up the story in a singular, graphic image. Doing these little environments has been really fun, and feels way more open ended. I've come to realize that no one has just one set of skills, it's a bit more like a venn diagram, where you can have commonalities but go pretty far in opposite directions. I'd be equally happy as a graphic designistrator (real technical term) or doing more painterly stuff for visual development avenues.

Really though, these are for comics class. In my story, lonely lighthouse boy wishes his scientist girlfriend didn't always have so much homework, she feels bad and builds him a flying machine to bring him something nice. It's based on a true story.no it's not


I've always thought that I kind of suck at drawing guys, but if I can give them big ol Freddie Highmore ears, I seem to have more fun. I just can't seem to pull off a drawing of a really manly man.

I'm volunteering this weekend for "Accepted Student Day" at Ringling, meeting the next crop of new art students and telling them fun horror stories about the work load (which are always grossly over-exaggerated). I remember when I could not wait to get here. Now I'm waiting for the next big chapter of my life, and the uncertainty is taking it's toll. We'll all land on our feet, I just wonder where.