Things.

I have a few things to talk to you about. This will be a long blog.


1. www.gorillaartfare.com

I have seen some INCREDIBLE art on this site, which has given me SO MUCH inspiration.
As a student, sometimes it's hard to think of your art as having a feasible place in the art world. But the work I've seen from some of the artists on this site have really given me some insight and some security in what I'm doing. Concept art is so beautiful to see, and the thought behind it can be stunning. So PLEASE check out this site when you have a chance.

2. Troy Galluzzi

I found him on gorillaartfare.com.

His work reminds me of my idol, Veronica Hebard, and to see other artists using such brilliant, neon colors in such well-done work encourages me to work with bright colors. His traditional work is ASTOUNDING, and his digital work makes me just squee with joy. Here are some examples. Go check him out!3. Business card


This is my solution to my business card problem. I feel much more confident in what I've created (thanks to the help of my Lindsay Small, Andy Fish, and the rest of my classmates). I feel very confident about this one, especially after I've been such an emotional wreck these days because of the fire. I hope you like it to! Let me know if you'd like me to send you one, along with one of my promo postcards. I have stamps!

4. I had a review with some of the creators of Rock Band at Harmonix tonight.

They told me that I have a good sense of color, and it shows in my traditional work. I wish I had had better digital samples for them, but the fact that they had difficulty telling my gouache work from my digital work gives me a sense of accomplishment. I talked to Mitchell, one of the character designers, and his feedback was great. I told him that I was interested in making toys and apparel, and he told me my work would translate well to 3D media. I take that as a HUGE encouragement, and talking to a professional has really helped my view of things. I feel enriched from talking to them. (And they set up Rock Band 2 on the big projector screen on the 11th floor, so I got to display my AMAZING fake guitar abilities, my bum wrist yelling at me the whole time.)

New Blog Layout.

Alriiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Charlie Alan

I'm not quite sure how I found Charlie Alan's work, but I've always found it extremely cool. I think it's the noses on his characters and the delicious way his lines come to a taper. Either way, being the crazy person he is, he's selling all of his work to start again with a clean slate. He's selling big paintings for $50. If I had this money, I would buy everything he has. But alas, I do not.

So if there are any of you out there who are a fan of his work (or could be), check out his site and get your wallets out. Opportunities like this don't come around every day.

http://www.charliealankraft.com/

2/8 Degree Project Pieces

These are the first two in a series of 8 for my Illustration Degree Project pieces involving clowns depicting parts of my life and feelings they convey to me.

The first involves staying calm while your world comes crashing down.


The second depicts the moment before all hell breaks loose, the moment of ungravity, not knowing what may happen.


The next piece in the series that I'll post soon conveys mine and my sister's battle with depression and learning how to save yourself.

The fourth, the comp I just posted, is a realization of being different and embracing the way you don't fit into the normalcy of things and other people.


This project has a really deep meaning for me, regarding specific moments in my life. It's too difficult to post here - if you'd like to hear more, you can email me or buy me a coffee. I'm happy with the way this is turning out.

I'm probably traumatized.

Here's the color comp for my next Degree Project piece on clowns representing my life.

This one represents being different. There's this phrase I heard in a song that said something along the lines of, "You can lie amongst your lies, like a tuna in the brine." I've always loved that song, and it really stood out to me. If you're a big fish, everyone will be able to see you're not a little fish, so why bother? Embrace yourself and what you're all about.

SO THAT = OCTOCLOWN. I know octopi are pretty popular/cliche at the moment, but whatever. I like this one. To be painted in gouache like the others.


And now a list of things I need to be working on and have to complete.

1. Experimental homework Done!
a. 3 collaged background surfaces using techniques from class Done!
b. 5 surfaces treated with gesso Done!
2. Degree Project painting DUE 3/1 BECAUSE OF SETBACKS
3. All School Show Submissions flyer Done!
4. Modus Lotus flyers DUE 3/10
5. Fix up business card DUE 2/25
6. Fix up resume DUE 2/25 BY THE LATEST 3/3
7. Buy portfolio, Done! get pieces printed for Harmonix review DUE 2/26
8. Fix up B+W dog/Halloween comp, color comp DUE 2/25
9. Make digital comps of 3 promo postcards DUE 2/25

I have a lot of shit to get done. But first I must brush my hair! I will have rice for dinner tonight!

Also, I'm going to be INCREDIBLY poor soon, as my hours at work keep getting screwed up/are diminishing/I had to miss my only other shift this week because of the fire. So if you see me, give me a coupon or something to Shaw's or whatever.

Things will not get easier, only more difficult, yet I shall persevere.
Also, I think I'm seriously traumatized because of that fire. Whatever possessed me to RUN INTO a raging fire, I don't know, but I'm still having flashbacks. So blah. If I go insane in the next week, you'll know why.

Fire

There was a fire in my apartment building last night, down the hall. At about 2 or 3 in the morning, I was awake, and I heard the fire alarm go off. Thinking it was probably a false alarm, I went out into the hall to double check - the hallway was filling with smoke.

I ran back into the apartment and woke up my roommate and her boyfriend, telling them we needed to get out of the building. Harley, Sarah's boyfriend and I ran down the hall to see if we could help as the building filled with smoke. Two kids with fire extinguishers ran up to us, and we grabbed them. My pin was stuck, but Harley and I braved our way into the fiery apartment to try and stop the fire. Since my extinguisher wouldn't work, I ran through the rest of the apartment, looking for pets, computers, phones, or anything really flammable. The smoke got too bad, and we had to run out.

We ran back inside to Sarah, grabbed our cat and our jackets and ran into the hall, which was now too smokey to see the walls in. Sarah screamed to "KEEP LOW!" while we hurried to the staircase. As they descended, I realized that there might be people awake or trapped upstairs, so I ran upstairs to the third floor. The smoke was too bad to see, and my lungs were beginning to burn. Sarah screamed for me, and I ran back down.

Outside, the firetrucks came to stop the blaze, which was in the first apartment on the second floor (my floor) facing the street. I grabbed our cat Momo from Sarah, and she and Harley helped carry the fire hose into the building with the firefighters. You could see the girl, Austin, whose room was up in flames, hysterical with her roommates. I tried to console her but was too panicked and terrified to do much, so I walked to a neighboring building with the rest of the neighbors while they put the fire out.

Within an hour, the fire was out, and we were allowed to come inside to grab our valuables before we were evacuated for the night. Those who had nowhere else to stay were boarded onto a bus that was parked in front of the building for the evening. Sarah's mum came and picked up Harley, Sarah and I, and we made it to Franklin around 5AM. I called out of work, and we went straight to sleep, smelling like smoke. This morning, my lungs are full of ash, and my nose was bleeding. I really tried to help, but it was too late.

The important thing is that no one was hurt and that stuff is replaceable. Austin had been using a blender and too many other electronics in her room, which started an electrical fire. In the past 3 years, my building has caught fire, flooded 2 or 3 times, been burglarized dozens of times, had parts of exposed sky in the top apartments, and horrible plumbing/electrical problems.


As we were driving to Franklin, so late at night, Momo curled up in a bag on next to me, The Doors were singing "Come on baby, light my fire," on the radio. We all laughed, and I had a silent heart attack for the 9th time that night.

Something I'm working on.

Freelance work for NEAFA.
Here's my lighting comp. (WARNING HUGE FILE)

(This is the piece where the human's shadow is facing the wrong direction. I'm also going to change the hand to be dropping a treat in the bucket instead of just an amputated hand shoving a treat at the puppa.)

Either way, problems aside, I thought it was a pretty sophisticated go at a lighting comp. I usually do them in pencil, but it was SO MUCH FASTER in photoshop. I need to do more digital work. And I did a full background! Even though I normally despise them. I'm usually just very character-obsessed, though, so it's good for my to do backgrounds.


I had my first comic book class at Emerson tonight with Andy Fish. It was very good! Lots of in-class working time, which I'm not used to with such loooooong critiques at MassArt. It was good to see some work from people whose lives don't revolve around art the way mine does. It's nice to see things from a different, sometimes simpler perspective every once in a while.

Better update soon, promise.

Don't laugh at me.

I was looking at my AWESOME AWESOME ARTIST MECA FRIEND Kori's blog, http://seekoridraw.blogspot.com/, and she had some Eva fanart up. And I LOVE Neon Genesis: Evangelion. It was one of the first mangas I ever read, and the weird psychotic neuroses in it make my brain interested.

So I did a drawing of my favorite character, Asuka Langley Soryu.



Lindsay made me post this!
The arms are way too short, and her head is WAY too big. GAH. *embarassment*

New Business Cards

Here are some business card ideas I've been fiddling with.

I think I'm gonna go with the first one.
Image in first one adjusted with Shawn Morris's advice. (Thanks Shawn!)

And this is my current one.

Degree Project and Something Completely Different

This is a sketch for my fourth Degree Project piece. It's an octoclown. I've been wanting to combine animals with clowns (my theme being clowns), and I feel this was successful. I know drawing octopi are all the rage right now, but I have a reason: I had bought a small glass sculpture of an octopus with only 5 tentacles (a pentapus) and a big red nose. It's adorable, and it inspired this piece.

The theme is being "the octopus in the brine," if you will. It's about being different and not being afraid to shine. The light source will be from directly above as sunlight gleaming through water. The fishes swimming in their school below will be highlighted in the sun. The main colors will be blue, turquoise, red, white, cream, and violet. Possibly yellow tones in the water.


And this, THIS, my friends, is a commission my friend asked me to do. PLEASE FULL VIEW. He wanted me to take this picture and make it badass. And if there's anyone who wants to whine about copying - go for it. I was told to go by a direct reference, and I'm complying to my client's needs. So whatevs on you.

Either way, he wanted St. Michael kicking the shit out of a demon with a sword, and I took this as an opportunity to draw lots of line and lots of movement with the fabric and the feathers. I NEVER draw men either (which you can probably tell) so I tried to make St. Michael look as beefy as possible. His flowing blonde hair doesn't lend well to his rippling muscles.

Isn't it strange to think I did the octoclown 4 hours ago and this new one an hour ago? What the hell happened since then? And I was drawing puppies earlier. Weird night. This is what happens when Jared leaves.

New England Arts for Animals

In my Professional Freelance class, I've been working with a foundation called the New England Arts for Animals. They support animal rescue, therapy, companion and service organizations, as well as wildlife sanctuaries that support these causes.

They've offered spots in their 2010 illustrated calendar to myself and my class, demonstrating the bond between humans and animals. I've found this assignment to be refreshing, with the subject matter being easy to swallow and having such a warm, touching feeling behind it. Jill, the founder, did a great job opening our eyes to the many needs for helper animals - not just as aid animals but also as a form of therapy for sick and disabled people.


I'm incredibly fond of snakes, so I wanted to show that snakes could be lovable as well. One of my friends has a snake named Medusa that will curl up in your pocket and fall asleep if you let her. I also had my picture taken with a 12 foot boa constrictor when I was 7, and I was absolutely fascinated.


For my second sketch, I wanted to make a girlfriend for Mister Roosh's Frankensteiny, since it's his anniversary and all. Her name is Lizzy (after Elizabeth, who became the bride of Frankenstein). And, of course, it would have to be a Halloween scene! He's been an awesome teacher and an awesome friend the past few months, and he bought a few of my paintings a little while back, so I wanted to do something small to thank him. haha. Yay puppies!

Materials: Holbein

I thought I'd take a moment to talk about the materials I use for my traditional pieces.
There is one brand of everything that I'm obsessed with, and that brand is Holbein.

Hans Holbein was some famous artist guy whose name they decided to use to get artists to think that if they used Holbein materials, they could paint like him. Same with Rembrandt paints, along with Van Gogh and M. Graham. Working at an art store, I have a lot of knowledge stored up in my tiny brain of the different qualities, pigment intensities, and consistency of each of these types of paints.

But Holbein hit the nail on the head. A German brand produced in Japan, Holbein has never failed me. In my experiences with many types of paints and materials, they've consistently shown me super high quality in all of their products, from comic patterns to gouache.

Today, as a present for myself, I bought this.


I bought the tub on the left. 330ml of beautiful, rich, super opaque bright Titanium White acrylic paint. I've found many of their acrylic paints to have a transparent quality to them (which isn't for me), and for the amount of a paint most acrylic artists use, I probably wouldn't recommend them. But the fact that you can mix them with their gouache and water-soluble oil paints is excellent. I recently just invested in a set of the water-soluble oils, but working on a primed surface is still a new thing for me (I work on super heavyweight hot press board normally), so I've yet to partake in their glory.

So for now, I'm using what I consider to be the holy grail of paints, Holbein Acryla Gouache.


Gouache based with acrylic polymer and Titanium white, I have never used more vibrant paint. If you were to apply this paint as a wash onto a black surface, it would dry super-matte with no streaks. That, to me, is BEAUTIFUL. As a graphic artist who likes to use traditional materials, I haven't found a comparison as of yet. And I only started using them as a fluke - I hated gouache, but I loved their color selection. Who knew I would fall in love with them?

They also carry a professional grade gouache that is SUPER PIGMENT RICH. While most classes suggest Winsor Newton gouache, I see no comparison. I will almost always recommend these instead to students. Why get the generic brand when you can get BETTER? For LESS MONEY? And it's all about money these days.

So to conclude my Holbein review, there is one product I cannot fail to recommend to any traditional comic artist: Holbein comic patterns. While digital screentones are easy to find and easy to use, there's something about being able to hold a finished piece in your hands with traditional media.

There are two different varieties: there are contact paper screentones that you can buy in large sheets (about a 10" x 14") along with rub-on transfers. The contact paper ones are digitally printed images of gradients, patterns, scenery, architecture, and objects. They're used by cutting the pattern to fit a certain shape and burnishing on. I've used these before, and while I may not have been using fresh-off-the-press patterns, I wasn't impressed with how tiny the halftone dots were. If you were working very small, you might get a better affect, but for me, I like to SEE the pattern.

But the rub-on patterns are beyond decadent. Much like the outdated (yet incredible) Gocco printing process, these are on their way to being discontinued. You can't even find them online. They consist of a layer of digitally processed ink that is laid onto a piece of wax paper and can then be burnished onto paper. The dots are permanent, beautiful, and they don't gleam with cheesiness the way the contact paper transfers do. For a 6" x 8" sheet, you can still find them in some art stores for around $8 a sheet.

HOWEVER, if you'd like to try your hand at these before they're gone, at Blick Art Materials (in Boston), in the back of the store on the clearance table is a full display of these babies - 25 different varieties, available for $4.67 per sheet (not including your student/faculty discount of an extra 10%). They were forgotten by Blick after they were discontinued for the store about a year ago, and the price has continued to drop since then. I've refused to move them, hoarding them for myself, so if you want to try them out, get them before I buy the rest out. They're AMAZING. I'll even gleefully show you where they are if I'm working. (No one else there even knows what they're for.)

To conclude, I'd like to post a piece or two I've completed solely with Holbein gouache and acrylic. I have yet to complete anything with the transfer sheets as I treasure them like gold.


But thanks for listening to my review. If there are any art materials you've been looking to try, or any sort of affect you've been trying to achieve but don't know where to look, ask me. I'm a walking catalog for everything that is art materials, and I'm always excited to answer questions. Thanks!

(Bonus fun fact: Holbein packages most of their paints in plastic tubes - I can't stand metal tubes or anything metal for that matter. I eat all of my meals with plastic cutlery and children's plasticware.)

I Mean Business

AND BY BUSINESS I MEAN BUSINESS CARDS!


New design for my business cards, featuring future new website address!!! *www.bamcatart.com* I bought the new web domain today.

Andy and Ken mentioned that I should go for something a little less cutesy for my business cards/promotional material. I agree. As much as I'd LOVE rainbow cards, people wouldn't take me as seriously as I'd want them too. I'm not just a cartoonist - I'm very versatile, I think. I just love cartoons.

So here's new business cards featuring Bookie the Black Dog! I hope you like them. :)

Recent things.

So I've been working on a few things.

I've been working with a snowboard company called "FLOW" from San Diego, helping design a board for their 2011 line. That's going well - you can see my most recent submissions a couple of posts down.

I did a bit of freelance work today (FINALLY) for a wonderful company called Medallion Gallery Rugs. They're a high end rug company on the corner of Newbury and Clarendon Streets, and I must say that the people who run the shop are fantastic. They were more than accommodating to my needs, getting me ladders, paper towels, and I even had the general manager help me a little because I was too short. I was on a 20-foot ladder for most of today, and I didn't realize until now that my fear of heights starts at 15 feet. haha. Either way, Amir and the people there were just great, so if you're over by H&M on Newbury, go check them out! I even got a $50 bonus for being awesome, so I bought myself some earrings and a small vinyl toy (the last one on the right):
Along with this, I've been getting my Degree Project finished along with my final portfolio. As of now, I've got my 3 promotional postcard ideas figured out. Now I just have to commit to a new business card, which I'm working on. I'm also trying to decide on text placement for this next piece. Opinions? Which one's your favorite?

Still trying to get my comic going, still trying to get my website up. There aren't enough hours in the day! Seriously! I can't wait until it's spring and the sun is out longer - it'll trick my brain into thinking I have more time to do all the things I want to do.

In other random news!!! I learned how to use packing tape transfers, thanks to Bob Maloney! They're AMAZING. I'm pretty much obsessed with that, at the moment, and I'm going to use them for everythinnggg.

And lastly, I'll be making a portfolio blog to post all of my final images on. I like using this blog to say my silly things in, but I know I need a better gallery for my finishes until my website's up. Along with this, http://www.grin-grin.com will soon be obliterated. I'll be opting for a more big-girl name, www.bamcatart.com. So look out for that! Change is a brewin'!

To conclude, here is a picture of my boyfriend, Jared, being unbearably cute. I've been staring at this picture all night. He's coming to visit Friday night for Valentine's Day! I haven't seen him in 3 weeks! It will be wonderful. <333

Detour! *bing!*

The long-awaited Detour 12 is finally almost here! Featuring my cover!

I'm too exhausted right now to really function, but buy one! Here!


Thanks for all the support from Andy, Lindsay, and Veronica during the Detour contest.

In other news, I'm now doing a freelance job for a Rug company off of Newbury St. I'll be designing/painting a window advertisement for them - not my most favorite thing to do, but I do it well, and quick. Also, it's money, in a time where I have very little. So I'll be doing that Tuesday (when I should be doing my other homework, which I'll finish, somehow).

But yes! Detour! Buy it! It has comics from AMAZING artists such as Andy Fish, Derek Ring, Veronica Hebard, Jamie Buckmaster, Jim Riel, and lots of other super-talented people. I'm really excited!

Utterly exhausted.

Working myself to the bone, but that's alright. I'll keep updating my last post as I check things off (for sake of staying sane), but in the meantime, here are a couple of comps I've been working on for a snowboard company. We're in the final stages with it, I hope.

These won't necessarily be made into snowboards - they're not finished, and my style might not be what the company is looking for. But that's alright, too.

I really need like, a full day of sleeping. Perhaps a week.

And Detour comes out soon! Watch for it!

Organization post.

So my life is slightly overwhelming. Therefore, lists. Lists and lists and lists of things to do.

Thursday, 2/5
-MassArt to discuss student government forms with Stephen DONE
-Print out copies of Clown #3 for color comps DONE
-Work, 5 - 10 DONE
-Color comps for Clown #3 DONE
Friday, 2/6
-Work, 9 - 5 DONE
-4 new color versions each of snowboard designs #3 and #6 DONE
Saturday, 2/7
- *NEW* Meet with Amir at Medallion Gallery RE: window painting job at 10:30 DONE
- *NEW* Sketches for Amir DONE
-Work, 2 - 10
-Sketches for next 2 pieces for Degree Project
Sunday, 2/8
-Go on a jog because it'll be 47 degrees!
-Paint Clown #3, complete
-Revise essay
-Experimental homework
Monday, 2/9
-Experimental Illustration 9 - 1
-Degree Project 2 - 6
-More snowboard work
Tuesday, 2/10
- *NEW* Medallion Gallery window painting (about 6-7 hours)
-Sketches for new logo
-Thumbnails for mailer series
Wednesday, 2/11
-Professional Freelance Studio 9 - 1
-SGA 1 - 3 (Unless Stephen doesn't make me go)
-Portfolio 3 - 7/8
-Draw out final for Clown #4
Thursday, 2/12
-Color comps for Clown #5
-Work, 3 - 10
Friday, 2/13
-Paint Clown #4
-Finish any/all Experimental Illustration homework
-Jared comes to visit at 8!
Saturday, 2/14
-Valentine's Day!
-Work 10 - 6 (hopefully not)
-Valentine's dinner with Jared
Sunday, 2/15
-Jared!
-Snowboard finish-up (?)
-Get things organized for Monday


And that's as far as I'm willing to think. I really hope I don't have to work while Jared's up. :(
Time to go do all my 2/5 stuff. I'll add/subtract things to this list as it goes. This just helps my brain from exploding.

Valentine's Day Jewelry Designed by Bamcat

I finally got my own custom jewelry made!

They're officially available on my etsy as of tonight, and if you get one quick, I can get it to you before Valentine's Day! Also on my etsy, I'm still selling prints for $5 until the end of February.

They're in SUPER limited demand, as these are the first batch I've created.

It's my first official merchandise, and I'm planning on experimenting with layering acrylic and wood for the next series I create. I should have them within the next month or so (the turn-around time is pretty long since it's coming from so far away).

So buy my shit!