in the mean time

The Giver

I've been trying to keep most of my thesis stuff under wraps, since I don't want the senior show to be super anticlimactic when everyone's already seen all my stuff on my blog, but I figured this was unfinished (still needs type) so it's alright to show.

I never read The Giver in middle school, it seems like the people who did all had a really strong response to it. Luckily, the cover is pretty ugly, so that gave me a lot to improve upon. I decided not to do A Clockwork Orange as a cover for a similar reason, I don't feel like any solution I can come up with (that is still an illustration) can compete with the image and the style of Kubrick's movie. The Giver was a really awesome book, it was fun to read it for the first time in the context of all this other "adult" dystopian literature. A Kid's dystopian novel is still pretty scary, and the old cover shows none of that.

Lately I've been doing what I refer to as "everything other than art" which seems to be the harder, stressful part of being a senior. The work, we can do, we just don't have much time to do the work when we have to cut mats, frame stuff, get something ready for a company, etc. When I was an underclassmen I had the impression that the seniors must just be in their rooms all the time working on their thesis, when really, working on thesis is a treat compared to this other stuff. I have 2 covers left to go, and then I'm done with my thesis, which is a weird feeling.

In the mean time, trying to not lose my voice!

sesquipedalian

Cat in a Box

you heard me.

This past weekend I participated in an on campus Hallmark workshop with some Ringling grads and a bunch of other students. I did the same workshop last year, and both times I had a lot of fun. 

This year, we changed things a bit and spent the whole time concepting ideas for celebrating something for someone specific in your life. I ended up coming up with a cat-suitcase-bed for my sister, since she has a new pet and travels with it a lot. The cat wouldn't actually be closed inside the box but would be a bed when it was open, and closed, would hold all the pet necessities. I had a fun time doing something different, and it was nice doing something other than thesis.

Here are my original concept drawings-

The one on the left was the other idea I liked, and would have been an entertainment chest for Drew and would have included a cool dresser, with a top that folds out into a ping pong table, a refrigerated top drawer for beer and wine, and a bottom drawer with party games and a bar set.

All in all, a fun time.

like a little astronaut

Sometimes thesis gets me thinkin too serious like, and I feel like drawing cute awkward girls. Can't decide which jacket I like better. I think the red is nice but olive green holds a weird soft spot in my heart. Funny how in art school, you stop having a favorite color, and you develop a favorite palette. I tend to favor warm colors, and I think the palette in Amelie always lurks in the back of my mind.


Being as it's my last semester, I wanted to take another figure class to round out my time here, and I'm really happy I did. Having figure with Hodges Soileau is really awesome, and it's nice to be painterly without the mess of paint, and to be in the studio some more. I've been drawing almost entirely in conte and chalk, and I do not miss oil paint at all. Haven't painted with oil since last April.
Funny how linear all of my stuff is, but when I draw the figure (or anything from life) I want to be tonal and painterly.


Sketchbook drawing I did during comics class. Sketchbooks to me, always kind of feel like long term relationships, being as this book is in your life for sometimes months at a time, and you invest a lot of care and time into it. So naturally, there are times when we don't get along or things feel kind of uninspired, and sometimes all is well. I miss sketching as much as I did last year, focusing entirely on finishing work doesn't leave time to sketch and wander and experiment.
So, my sketchbook has been a bit neglected this year, and only gets attention when I'm bored, or as a place for process work. This will change after graduation, I hope.

Tomorrow, my whole apartment, plus a big group of Ringling folk, are going to Megacon to represent the school. It was quite an experience last year, and this year, I feel way more prepared. I'll be selling some prints and stuff too, Hope to see you there :)