Just in time for the Mad Men season three finale, I have a celebrity portrait of Mr. Jon Hamm as Don Draper for your consideration. Check it:

This is the only piece I have done for my illustration class that my teacher has genuinely liked; he even went so far as to call it a "knock-out". I am pretty pleased with it, too. It's more along the lines of what I want to be doing, for now anyway.

Love,
The Letter A

According to my friend Jared, people actually read this blog. Happy Birthday, Jared! Thank you for making me feel guilty and convincing me to show what I've been doing. Here it is, just past midterm and I am making my first post of the school year. Not that I have much to post, mind you.


The above is a painting I am currently working on in my figure painting class. This is the first color piece I have done this semester where it feels like everything is coming together. I am much more comfortable with value, and starting to get over my fear of color. My teacher said he likes my mark-making, which is always nice to hear. ( Carl Johnson, I love you.) Anyway, I really like the way I rendered the hair in this...

I have a lot of little, non-Ringling projects that I am juggling at the moment. Rest assured I will be posting them as they are completed. This is just a tiny post to restore some faith in yours truly.

Love,
The Letter A

I started a new project. It's called I've always been drawn to you and it's a collection of drawings of people that I like for various reasons. Right now, there are only two drawings, but I'm working on that.
Today's is Chris Walla, Death Cab for Cutie guitarist and all around nice guy. We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes was an album that "changed my life" in a really "meaningful" way. I was fifteen and in private school and they were my big secret. A few years later, I met Chris Walla and Ben Gibbard, and it was clear that Chris was the brains behind the outfit.

Now that's what I call a "W".

He gave me a list of bands I should listen to and signed the CDs I had brought along. They are one of the few bands whose discography I physically own. I HATED Plans but I still bought Narrow Stairs, and though it took me some months, I finally listened to it today (thanks be to Genius). It was better than I thought it was going to be, with a few little charmers that were fairly unexpected. I might not be in love anymore, but I figured it would be nice show a little appreciation.

Love,
The Letter A

I've spent the past ten or so hours pouring over all the old sketchbooks that aren't hiding at Casa Benitez in Orlando. I feel a little bit fried, like I was suddenly back in high school cramming for a test I was ill prepared for, but I suppose it was for the best. After all, everyone is their own favorite subject.

I managed to take notes the whole time, and now that I'm finished, there are a few pages of reoccurring images and themes that I still think are interesting and want to keep working with. Fun stuff I had forgotten about, like color blindness and unicorns, and more provocative things like cultural identity and exoticism. Yee-haw.

Here are a few interesting trends I found throughout the books:

There is significantly more text than images. This isn't too surprising because it's easier and faster for me to write down an idea than to devote the time to a thumbnail right away. Also, whenever there is a study for something I would like to develop further, there will be a metric ton of notes that go along with it. An example:
There is also a fair amount of pages that are just text. That's where I found this little nugget:
Keen observation, Sir.

I am more inspired by fine artist's than illustrators. Out of a solid list of 150 artists, the majority of them were fine artists and, what's more, quite a few were conceptual artists (shudder to think). Most people who know me understand that my inability to reconcile my love/hate relationship with post-postmodernism is why I ran away from Carnegie Mellon University. In spite of this–or perhaps because of it–I have more of an appreciation for reconstructivism than I thought.

I am so totally into feminist art theory. There are women artists listed on almost every page, there are notes on The Gaze and articles by Laura Mulvey, there are even studies based on Cindy Sherman's Untitled Film Stills:I knew this to be the case, but still, I had better start working towards communicating something meaningful rather than just drawing pretty girls. I'll leave that to the boys.

The biggest realization is that my sketchbooks are intensely private affairs, and if I ever quiet my nerves enough to hand one over to you, please disregard the weirdness, I'm trying to get the poison out.



As you might have guessed, there is a big update at HOT PROCESS with all the stuff from the newest book that I have yet to share. Go and look.

It was a pretty fun way to spend the day, but that's not to say that this was easy. I'd like to think that taking the time to go through and really study what I've been recording, is making me a more thoughtful illustrator/artist. Maybe that's why much of the work I see is conceptually bankrupt, because so few people are really willing to do the work.

Anyway, let me go ahead and thank Edward Tufte, otherwise I wouldn't have thought to organize and analyze the data.

I am such a nerd.


Love,
The Letter A

Last Friday, I was part of a really fun local show with bands, live painting by little old me, and lots of hipster kids pouting and looking disinterested. Unfortunately, no one does "aloof" like Jordan Catalano, and despite all the posing, I had a pretty fun time.

I got to paint in a hot little corner for most of the night, but I made a few sales and some new friends. All in all, it was a pretty good day.

The set-up:


The highlight of the evening was getting to talk a little bit with "the band from Orlando" attachedhands. If I am plugging too much, it's because they are superniceguys and the music is dreamy and awesome, and that's not even including the projector show.

There is also a fair amount of web design that I'll be working on in the next few weeks too, including a redesign of my site (finally). I've been trying to think of a different way of showing everything, and I've been leaning towards a World of Wasco type of menu.

I've also been selected as one of the vendors for this year's Atomic Holiday Bazaar, and although it's not until December, I have to start thinking about what I'm going to bring (original artwork, prints, postcards, stickers, buttons, etc...)

The frontier looks particularly wild, let's get ready for adventure.


Love,
The Letter A

I've noticed that most of the student blogs that I follow have gone silent for most of the summer. Me too! I do have my fair share of excuses though, starting with my beautiful but stupid MacBook Pro going screendead which involved a week of checking gmail on my phone and a trip to IT to sort out.

Then I went to visit my family up in Orlando for a couple of weeks. I posted lots of pictures from the trip on flickr, including pictures of the new kitten, who is currently without a name:

I love him terribly.

Once I got back, I had a few days to throw together some work for the 2nd annual Summer Bash at the best dive in town, Cabana Inn. I've been trying to work within larger themes as a means of organizing my work and giving me a bit more wiggle room to do art/design/illustration. The collection I put together for the show was dubbed Love Letters.

Most of these actually were snapped up at the show. Surprisingly, the hearts didn't sell, but I'm happy that I can have it hanging up a while longer.
It's just too cute.

I also sold some older work that I had been hanging onto for FOREVER, and was happy to see them go off to good homes. I'll miss you, babies!

I have another show this coming Friday, June 19th at Crêpes Suzette in Sarasota. I'll be painting live and and there will be superstunning work from two awesome photographers, Brian and Tara, AND bands! Meteoreyes and attachedhands (looooooooooooooove) will be playing from 10pm onwards into the glittering night.

I'm so excited, I'm so excited, I'm so... Exactly.


Love,
The Letter A

Wat Mongkolratanaram is a Thai Buddhist temple in Tampa that uses the proceeds from its weekly food bazzaar to the build, decorate, and maintain the grounds. The food is supposed to be delicious, and the review was the cover story for this week's Creative Loafing, which I got to illustrate.

The editor wanted a fat happy Buddha with a napkin tucked into his collar (btw, Buddha wears collared shirts), utensils in hand, ready to eat.

Ok, no.

Fat Happy Buddha is Chinese, not Thai, and even though I'm not a Buddhist, I know several (including my mother and my eldest sister) who would definitely not appreciate the mixup. Even if I was to picture a graceful Thai Buddha, there is nothing funny or charming about watching thin people eat.

I suggested a few ideas, the best being a big steaming bowl of Thai Shrimp Soup filled with ca$hmonies because it's such a lucrative fundraiser for the temple. Good idea? I think so... anyway here is some of the process:


Granted, the idea was changed at the last minute from chopsticks (too Chinese) to the more Pan-Asian soup spoon, but cultural senstivities aside I think it might have improved the image.

Here's the final artwork,


...and the actual cover.


It amazes me that I finished a fairly successful piece in such a short amount of time (about 48 hours) and I even did the process work. I am a better illustrator outside of school, I suppose...

Love,
The Letter A

Because I did so very little classwork worth posting this year, I figured I would get a little closure by ranting/raving about the teachers I had:

Mr. Hodges Soileau is a prince among men. I've never heard anyone say an ugly thing about him and with good reason. Not only is he a lovely human being, but he painted the covers for The Baby Sitter's Club and The Boxcar Children books. ZOMG! If you were a girlchild in the eighties there is no way you didn't own at least one of these books. He also did cover art for a decent number of Harlequin romance novels, which I know he is embarrassed about, but I don't care. I think it's pretty fucking cool. He's a painter through and through, and approaches drawing in a very painterly way. He's really encouraging, and always tries to be helpful. You get to know his sayings pretty quick, some of which can be a little folksy (in a charming way). My personal favorite? "Boy, I tell ya..." My Advice: Go to class? This man is pretty easy to please.

Ms. Cheryl Cooper and I have a special relationship. I go to her class and freak out because painting makes me nervous, and she calms me down with her very soothing voice, shows me some art books, then proceeds to talk about her personal problems. We made it through the entire year in this fashion, which is fine, because I love talking to adults about how real life can get. If you would rather not have to hear about her jerk of an ex-husband, just jump in and paint, paint, paint. She appreciates those with a strong work ethic, regardless of talent. Don't be afraid to ask for help, either, although she will probably say something along the lines of "Dark to light, muted to bright, and easy on the white". That having been said, I did gesso over all of my paintings from that class. My Advice: She is incredibly forgiving and a little absent-minded at times, so try not to take advantage of her. Talk to her once in a while, too; she is a human being, after all.

Dr. Robert Lovejoy is a weirdo, plain and simple. He's a lovable weirdo, though not as lovable as say Gonzo the Great, but he is a weirdo nonetheless. Maybe it's his unfashionable straw hat, or his obsession with his cats, or the way he makes countless references to his "wife" like Corky from Waiting for Guffman, but he fills me with a certain pity, the same way thirteen year-old boys whose mothers still buy all of their clothes tend to. I can't say I am a fan of the inappropriate jokes, but it's obvious this is how he attempts to connect with "the kids", and I can't really blame him for trying. Personality quirks aside, he is a very intelligent man who knows a great deal about Illustration (note the capital "I"). My Advice: If you plan on writing your research paper on someone in the comics industry, be prepared to work for that A, even if you are a spectacular writer. He knows so much about the subject that he will find all the holes in your research and point them out in the most fanboyish way possible. Make your argument as solid as a brick shithouse, or better yet, write about someone he has never heard of (good luck with that, by the way).

Ms. Lisa French is probably the single most misunderstood, misrepresented, and mistreated instructor in the entire Illustration department. There, I said it. The most diplomatic among us will say something along the lines of "She's very particular", while the less tactful will usually sneer in disgust and launch into some rant about how she personally wronged them. I find it hard to believe that Ms. French could wrong anyone though, she's incredibly sweet and genuinely invested in the growth of all of her students, even the terrible ones. She's refreshingly West Coast, and will occasionally say disparaging things about the state of Florida (which I, as a transplant, find hi-larious). She also uses words like "chintzy". She is one of the least confrontational people I have ever met, but don't let that fool you. It is impossible to pull one over on Ms. French. She has been teaching for a long time, and has heard every excuse imaginable. My Advice: DO YOUR WORK! Each and every project I had in her Illustration II class was completed at the very last minute. Needless to say, all of my work was awful. Yes, we all hate process work, but if James Jean has taught us anything, it's that once you're famous you can sell your process work for lots of money.

Mr. Steven Taft is one of the only teachers I have ever had that likes to play on YouTube as much as his students do. Just don't do it during a lecture or a critique. He defiantly gives lots of good advice, but he is a fine artist by heart, and I think he has more fun posing questions than providing answers. Incidentally, this also makes him a great teacher, if somewhat cryptic at times. While teaching graphic design to illustration majors has got to be a drag–most of the students don't care, and you have to look at the awful graphic design they produce–Taft bears it with a smile. My Advice: Try your hardest to develop a love for graphic design before you take his class. Not only will Taft be ecstatic that at least one of his students cares about what he is doing, it will make you a better illustrator, or desistrator, and my friend Tyler likes to call it.


So there you have it. Sophomore year is officially over and I'm trying my hardest not to break out into "School's Out" at the top of my lungs. We ain't got no class, that's all I'm screamin'... I hope this little exercise was helpful to some of you, or entertaining at the very least.


Love,
The Letter A

For my painting class, we had an outside assignment where we were supposed to create a series of twelve 12" x 12" paintings that explore a common theme. I chose desserts. I'm sure this comes as a huge and terrifying surprise to most of you.


Unfortunately, I did not get to eat cake after delicious cake. Most of the images were pilfered from across the interwebs, a few of them stolen from Bakerella, an two (guess which) are based on a 1971 lithograph print by Wayne Thibaud (if anyone wants to buy me this book, I would really appreciate it).

Here are some detail images of each canvas. These are not the best photos, but you can see each piece a little more clearly:

I like about two thirds of them, and feel that with a little more work I can sell the whole series off for a tidy profit.

School is almost finished and I have been stupidly busy the past few weeks. I even had to turn down the chance to do a second cover for Creative Loafing.

Aside from wanting to punch everyone in the face, I guess I've learned a good amount, although I don't have much to show for it. One of my many loves, Alex, proposed the great idea of redoing all of his media and illustration assignments over the summer. While I know I lack the patience to attempt that, there are several projects I would like to take a second crack at, Cheryl Cooper's White Painting being at the top of the list.

As we speak, I am finishing up my last illustration assignment of the semester, a reinterpretation of the classic fairy tale Cinderella. The best description I can muster is "Rococo Comic Book". I'll probably post the finals if they turn out well. If.


Love,
The Letter A