Friday, February 7, 2014

Welcome Back Everyone!!

01/24/14

Welcome back Party

During this meeting we had a pizza party and worked on the artwork for our next ISC Gallery show. The theme is Mythos and Lore and the deadline to submit is the 14th of February. If you have any questions please contact any of the leaders or our Email Illustrationstudentcollective@gmail.com


Niches Week!!

01/31/14

Find your Niches meeting

Illustration by: Colleen Clark

During this meeting the leaders and some members showed off their favorite artists and their own work and talked about what niche they fit into. We also introduced our new leader Lauren Engle, and our leaders in training. Kevin Deasey as Art Director, and Emmett Shearer as President.



Illustration by: Thomas Kirkeberg




 

Thursday, November 14, 2013

11/01/13 and 11/08/13 Meeting Recap

Meeting Recap


11/01/13

 

Adam Osgood




Hello Everyone! Adam Osgood joined us to talk about his work and showed us how to create Gif's (Tutorial on gifs will be posted later.)

Adam Osgood is one of the teachers here at CCAD, he studied in college as an Illustrator and obtained a masters as an animator.



Mr.Osgood Love to practice different styles and encourages us to do the same. Doing this teaches you to develop your own style and be unique among your peers.

He originally wanted to be a Fashion illustrator but obtained a job working as a designer. He recommends us to accept lots of different jobs when we graduate because turning down a job just because it was not your dream job is not a smart idea.



Adam recently worked on a music video for the Big Black Delta music group to create an animation for one of their songs. He used 2.5 d in after effects to create some of the scenes present in the video.

His advice for sequential artists is to work out your story and make sure everyone understands what is going on. If they do not understand then your story can be not as engaging.

Q&A




Q: How long did it take you to create the Music Video?
A: 3 Months. (He was also able to create the storyline for the video himself)

Q: Was some of the music video done in a 3D program?
A: No, He used 2.5 D in after effects to make 2D images into a 3D looking environment

Q: How did you learn 2.5 D?
A: When he was attending college he had classes that dealt with after effects, which gave him some experience with the program. But later on he just "jumped into" the program and taught himself how to use it. (He recommends looking at Lynda.com and Digital Tutors)
 
Here is Adam Osgood's Blog and website,

http://adamosgood.tumblr.com/
http://www.adamosgood.com/work/motion/index.shtml

Also here is Big Black Deltas website,

http://bigblackdelta.com/

Tutorial on how to create gifs will be posted on the ISC Blog within the next few weeks



Meeting Recap

 

11/08/13


Character Gestures with the ASC!!


This week we joined teams with the ASC and had some fun with drawing character gestures.

We had members pose and the group had to draw the models as their own original characters and characters from movies.

Join us next meeting for more fun and tutorials!    

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

10/11/13 and 10/18/13 meeting recap

10/11/13 Meeting Recap


Rebecca Zomchek Meeting!


Rebecca Zomchek is the newest Illustration faculty on campus. She is the New kid on the block. Rebecca she Graduated with an MFA in Illustration as Visual Essay from The School of Visual Arts in New York City, BFA in Illustration at Summa Cum Laude, and Syracuse University.




Rebecca has worked as a game designer and Freelance Illustrator. She has recently finished her second children's book with scholastic. 

She loves to create characters, make book covers, and does portraits

During her internship with the Fantasy illustrator Donato Giancola (http://www.donatoart.com/) she spent a year creating Harry Potter related artwork. 


Her process for creating artwork is as follows;

-Thumbnails
-Reference and inspiration pages
-Basic color comp
-Refine


Hand Lettering



Rebecca taught herself how to hand letter, she experimented with type and found how that she loved to do it.

Type has a long history, and "it's a visual experience." 

Any type that you see today was and is based off of type that was created hundreds of years ago.

Type has many uses, and in fine arts projects it's an expression


Hand lettering is also a way of expression it says "Lets make this art!" It's a unique way to create type. Rebecca points out that we would be surprised about how many company's use hand lettered type. Hand lettering is a celebration, and we should use it that way. 

You should start Hand lettered type the same way that you start an Illustration
-Sketching
-Drawing
-Finished Type  

Lettering Is a visual Story

Link to Rebecca's Website: http://rzillustration.com/index.html

Artists Rebecca recommends to check out,
 Jessica Hische: http://jessicahische.is/

David Smith: http://theblksmith.com/

Luca Barcellona: http://www.lucabarcellona.com/

Dana Tanamachi: http://www.danatanamachi.com/

Alan Ariail: http://alphabetguy.com/Artist.asp?ArtistID=22121&Akey=QRGKQ8C4

Rebecca Also had us do a type exercise, and here is an example of Katie Chandler's work from it, 

10/18/13 Meeting Recap


Gesture Night!


This week we drew gestures. We had a good time and had a lot of great poses to work with! 

Join us on Oct 25th for a character drawing exchange. Expect Halloween fun and excitement!

If you have any questions email us at theillustrationstudentcollective@gmail.com or on our Facebook page.






 

Monday, September 23, 2013

09/20/13 Meeting recap


Fears Gallery Critique Night



This week we showed artworks in progress for our next gallery show Fears: Monsters and Madness. If you missed the meeting/made more progress and want to show what you have been doing post it on our ISC FaceBook page. We will be happy to help everyone out! :)

Friday, September 20, 2013

Meeting Recap 09/06/13



Welcome to the ISC!


 

This Week we introduced our new leaders!

Colleen Clark as President

Ashley Tatman as Producer

Thomas Kirkeberg as Art Director

and Samuel Veirs as Communications



We also introduced some of the fun things heading our way this semester.

Like our next gallery show Fears: Monsters and Madness
 
 
We also showed off the ISC Senior art book
 


 
 
If anyone is interested in buying one of these books please contact us through our email or Facebook page. Our Email is illustrationstudentcollective.com
 
 
 

 

Meeting Recap 09/14/13

 

Caricature Night!




This week we drew caricatures, here are some examples of the members work.






 
 
 
We had a lot of fun this week! We hope you can join us for our next meeting!
 
 







 

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Rountable Meeting Recap


3/29/2013
Roundtable Meeting Recap

Is college worth it?

for some it is, and for some it's not

Investment in your college career is more than just money it is time and passion. Depending on the person it can take a while to receive payment in their investment.

Graham Erwin




2011 C.C.A.D Grad

Illustration Major

Focuses on Graphic designs

Does Editorial work and poster work

He works for Mondo and designs movie posters, like for example ParaNorman and Nightmare Before Christmas.

He has learned to expect his employers to turn down his work. For example with his Nightmare Before Christmas poster his first version was turned down by Disney. He made the necessary changes and his next version was accepted.

Graham has learned to work with tight deadlines. When you work for a place like Mondo you have to have thumbnails and concepts approved before you can move onto the final. Sometimes employers will not get back to you for a week and you only have four days to complete a finished artwork. These experiences will teach you to work with tight deadlines. As an artist we need to expect that we have to redo things (many times in some cases)

Alex Lyon



2010 C.C.A.D. Grad

Illustration Major

Currently working in Visualization

As soon as he Graduated college he scrapped everything in his portfolio and started fresh. After he created his Illustration portfolio he started a Design portfolio, and after a few month of doing that he got a design based job. He is currently a visualization artist, which means that he helps clients envision what they are thinking. People rely on him to show the client what a product would look like in 3D. He creates vector lines, brings them into Photoshop and creates images. If you take the right amount of time in this process you can create realistic looking things. One thing he stresses is that clients hate surprises. Once they like something don't change it. He also stresses not to let critiques hurt you personally and don't let them take you off of the target/goal.

A side note is that he can also re-touch photos (which he personally finds boring, but it pays well.)

A fun fact is that he does extremely rendered fantasy art. He originally wanted to create fantasy art as a way to make a living but realized that he would not at the current moment be able to.

Alex Alvarado    



2011 C.C.A.D Grad

Illustration Major

Currently works at Disney Animation in Look Development

During his Junior year of college was got a summer internship with Disney Animation studios. what he did was paint on the 3D models (Texture Painting) and program the lighting effects (describes what will happen). What got him the job with Disney Studios was the fact that he kept in contact with his mentor at Disney. They wanted him to succeed, and helped him get the job that he has. He also stated that he would not have been able to get the Job without his illustration background.

Adam Watkins



2004 C.C.A.D.

Illustration Major

Currently a Children's Book Illustrator

Adam after graduating got sick of art, so he found a job in construction. After a while of doing construction he worked on a few AD things but he felt like it was just not for him. He was afraid of failure but he was able to overcome it. He tells students to not be afraid of failure, everyone has failures in their life's. You have to go through a certain amount of failures before you are able to succeed. His Children's book Illustrations were first published in the book "Stubborn as a Mule." His most current work publish in a book is from "Literally Disturbed" (A scary Children's book.) and he is currently working on the second book in that series. Adam likes to work traditionally and likes doing portrait work.


Erika Steiskal



2006 C.C.A.D. Grad

Illustration Major

Works as an editorial Illustration

During her senior year she has worn herself thin and started to make works that she was not necessarily proud of. She had lost her confidence. After she had graduated from C.C.A.D. she went to the illustration academy and practiced different things. She learned from them to keep a sketchbook and draw in it as much as she can. The sketchbook allowed her to help with her line work and line technique. When she went to New York she showed her portfolio to an interviewer and he thought that it was not that good, although he did like her sketchbook. He recommended that she combine her linework and paintings together into a finished art piece. After this interview she realized that she needed to rethink her work as a whole, what would sell to businesses. So she combined her line work and painted underneath with a digital paintings. People loved her work after she made these changes and she found consistent work. It took her 7 years to get consistent work.



AG Ford 



2007 C.C.A.D. Grad

Illustration Major

Works as a Children's book Illustrator

During school he worked extremely hard, he had worked during the day on school and at night he would go to work. He had to have a great work ethic to get his work done on time. When he attended C.C.A.D. he knew he loved to work traditional and researched what jobs would allow him to work in traditional media. So he decided to be a children's book illustrator. After college he looked for an agent and sent his work out until someone accepted his offer. When he talked to his agent he decided to create a whole new portfolio, something that he would be proud to show to publishers. After he had finished creating his new portfolio he showed it to some publishers and that landed him his first Children's book Illustration job to create the artworks for the book "Barak" which was about Barack's life. At the Current moment he is working on his 11th book. His way of working is to draw on an illustration board, do an acrylic under painting, and Finnish it off with oil paint.


Q&A


What was the first thing you did after you Graduated?

Adam: Worked in construction. He learned how to take criticism (and talk like a sailer)

Alex Lyon: Was determined to replace his portfolio and re-build on his skills. He also started to bounce back onto his design work.

Erika: Went to the Illustration academy and revamped her portfolio.

Graham: Screen printed T-shirts, he had a smooth transition into the field he wanted to be in.

AG: Moved back to Dallas, he allowed his fear to motivate him to create better portfolio pieces.



Describe your school experience.

AG: School Full time and work full time. Had to stay productive and use his time efficiently. He also used his school time efficiently, did not mess around when work could have been done.

Graham: He had fun doing his personal work and gave himself a lot of deadlines. Started to send things to blogs. They posted his work and his work became popular. During this time he sent his work to Mondo (by accident.) He used his time wisely, two hours everyday can add up.


Describe a typical workday

Alex Alvarado: He would get coffee at 9 and then open models (computer Models) and start painting. Periodically he would show what he was doing to the supervisor.

Adam: Had discipline throughout the day. He does not want to get distracted. Goes to the studio and works during the day. His work is flexible.

AG: 5:45 go to gym. 9-7:30 work on his artwork. He treats his time like a boss is watching him.

Graham: If he is not doing paid work he treats his personal work as if someone is paying him to do it. He suggests not to do work that your not interested in.  


What would you have Done differently at school or what would you have wanted CCAD to do Differently?

AG: He wanted the teachers to ask for more personal work and personal sketchbooks. AG would have learned more digital techniques.

Graham: He wanted the school to have more non art technical classes. Graham would have taken classes that he was not comfortable with.

Erika: Wanted the teachers to tell the students how important New York was, and also wanted the teachers to push sketchbooks more. She would not have stretched herself to thin.

Alex: He had wished that the teachers would have told him that there are a lot of jobs out there. Alex wanted to teachers to tell students to research all of the jobs out in the real world. He wished he had more fun in school instead of being obsessed with projects.

Adam: The Food (but it has changed.) He wished he had started searching for jobs right after college.

Alex Alvarado: Wished he had the knowledge of the Skill level of artists in the real world. Everyone is amazing and you need to be that good to get a job.


You can get better if you work hard. Everyone will have bad drawings, you just have to get past them to get to the good ones. Another pointer is that you need to work in the right Direction if you don't your work will get you nowhere. Find your Niche!


What do you do to keep yourself going?

Erika: She surrounded herself with people who had new tips and tricks. She found new ways to challenge herself and look at the bigger picture.



What Illustrators are you influenced by?

Graham: Kovach

Alex Lyon: Gray Manches and Howard Pyle

Adam: James Bennett and peter de seve

Alex Alvarado: Paul Felix and Mary Blair



How Hard was it to find a job after school?

Erika: very hard, after you get out of school it was hard to find good critiques. So it was hard for her to improve her artwork.

Alex Alvarado: Not to hard because he stayed in touch with his mentors at Disney.  They wanted him to succeed so they fought for him to get a job in the Look development department.


Do you have any Advise for juniors and seniors?

Stay excited, do the research that you have to do, and be patient.

Have your links (online Portfolio) available on your emails.

Keep files that your sending to employers under 5mb.

Always bring your portfolio with you to interviews (hard copy version.) You can not rely on an online portfolio because you might not have access to a computer.

Employers do not want to hear your life story, get to the point quick and efficiently

Be persistent and do not stop trying. The more someone sees your work the better.

Be brutally honest with yourself, there are always things that you can improve on.

Do not be afraid to ask other artists/studios to review your work. Getting feed back from the people you want to hire you is extremely helpful and can get you closer to getting the job of your dreams. 

Friday, March 1, 2013

Meeting Recap 02/22/2013




This Friday we talked about what a niche is and how we find one for ourselves. The leaders shared who inspired their work and how these artists helped them find their Niches.

What is a Niche?

The Literal definition of a niche is a recess in which you can place something into. This relates perfectly into how we are as artists, we need to find a field in art that we fit into. We need to find what niche fits us perfectly.


How do you find your Niche?

To find your niche you have to do research into what art you enjoy and what type of artwork you make. Then ask yourself what do these artists do? Where do they work? and how can you improve your work to get a great portfolio like the artists who Inspire you.

Another Great tip is to do research into where your favorite artists work. If your work is similar to these artists this means these are Studios and businesses that could hire you. So you should make a list of possible places that you could apply to.

Lexie explained that you should look at where your favorite artists work to see possible places that you can apply for jobs. She said that if your work is similar to theirs then those companies could be interested in Hiring you. Lexie Talked about her two favorite artists Brittney Lee and Chris Sanders, Both of these artists work For Disney and are involved in Visual development.

Brittney Lee

Her work is graphic and colorful

She has worked on movies like,
-Wreck-it-Ralph
-Tangled

Link to Brittney's Work,


Chris Sanders 
is a story board and Character artist for Disney

He Has worked on the Movies,
-The Croods
-Lilio and Stitch
-Mulan

Link to Chris's Work,



Lexie is Niche is;
-Story Boards
-Prop Designs
-Color Studies

Link to Lexies work,



AJ talked about how he has found his niche and wants to become a medical illustrator. The most important things that he talked about was that you need to research what it will take to go into the field that you are interested in. He would not have known that he needed to take 4 specific classes to get into Grad school if he did not research what it takes to get into the Medical illustration field.

His first favorite artist is Sam sprat. This artist inspired AJ with his use of color and his unique Portrait paintings.

Sam Sprat 

\






























Is and Editorial artist and has created cover art for Game Informer.

Sam Sprat focuses on,
-Portraits
-Color Theory
-Shaping
-Line work

Link to Sam Sprats Artwork,


AJ's second artist is Ken coulter


Ken coulter
is a Medical Illustrator and  started Ion Medical Designs

Link to Ken Coulter's Website,

http://ionmedicaldesigns.com/ion_site/about.html

Link to AJ's Artwork,
http://ajrothert.deviantart.com


Wes shared his two favorite artists Nicholas Kole and Justin Gerard. Wes explained that as artists we need to do what we love to do, not what other people want us to do.

Nicholas Kole
 
































is a Freelance Illustrator and Character designer.

He has worked for,
-38 Studios
-Comics (Dark horse and Disney)

In addition to creating artwork he is a voice actor, He is not afraid to do what he loves.

Link to Nicholas's Artwork,

Justin Gerard 
is a Freelance artist and has worked on Book Covers and Concept art. He starts his work in watercolor and boosts the colors in Photoshop.

He has Worked for Warner Brothers as a concept artist

Link to his Website,

Wes has found his Niche as a Freelance Artist

He wants to,
-Work for Lego
-Fantasy Freelance

Link to His Artwork,
http://westalbott.deviantart.com/


Colleens two favorite artists are Kali Ciesemier and Natasha Allegri. She is interested in artwork that depicts people as Realistic, specifically real life women. Colleen encourages you to create artwork that you like even if your teachers do not. Be who you want to be. She wants to be a character artist and an in house worker.

Kali Ciesemier   
































She is a Freelance editorial artist and has worked for places like,
-New Yorkers
-New York Times

Link to Her Website,


Natasha Allegri

Is a concept artist for Cartoon Network, specifically Adventure Time. She Draws what she wants to and has a very creative voice.

Natasha was the one responsible for the Gender swap episodes for Adventure Time.

Here is a link to her artwork,

Link to Colleen's artwork,


Lucie Shearer also Visited us this week and shared with us what she does as a Freelance artist. She Graduated two years ago and is now doing freelance art for Layne Bryant.

She Works with Layne Bryant's marketing team to create Brand Presentations and Charts. The charts she creates tell the stores where and how everything should be placed in their stores. For example the charts explain where banners hang, Where fixtures go and how mannequins should be displayed. A fun fact is that where Items are placed can affect how well the items sell. The Chart book runs at around 60 pages. Another job she does is create illustrations of Items that would look weird if you just cut them out of a photo.

The First big tip she had for us was that when you are applying for a job you need to know who to apply through. For example to get the job for Layne Bryant she did not apply strait to Layne Bryant, she went to the Limited  company first. Layne Bryant does not Hire you Limited does.

The second tip that she gave us was that as a freelance artist we will not have our taxes taken out of our money. You need to put aside money to pay the government for the taxes you owe them. Lucie recommends that you make four smaller payments throughout the year instead of  one large sum all at once. It is easier to do so and not as painful when you pay.

The Biggest tips what she gave were ones about how to be professional and how to appeal to the person who will hire you. Lucie gave us three things that will help you get hired by a company,
-Know what your talking about
-Know the Process
-Show you know the process

She recommends that you put something personal into your portfolio, the people who look at portfolios see the same things everyday. If you put something personal into your portfolio you show that your different and that causes you to stand out from the multitude.


Lucie Shared the artists that she is inspired by,

Louis Van Baarle
He is a Freelance artist for Cafe Presser and has worked for the Tri color Ink company.

link to her website,

Kelsey Beckett

She is a Freelance artist that does very detail portraits of women.

Link to Her website,

Glen Arthur

Is also a portrait artist and has his own unique style.

Link to his Website,
http://www.glennarthurart.com/Portfolio_VGKE.php


Lucie wants her niche to be in fine art illustration

Link to her website,

Her suggestion to finding your niche is to find a style that you are comfortable with. She also stated that you and your art will change. You need to experiment with different media to find what you are most comfortable with.

Do not be afraid to ask people about Niches and where they think you would  
it in.


Some of the Members of our group presented their work. First was Luis Uzcategui who shared the artists Victo Ngai (Victoria Ngai) and Yuko Shimizu. Both of these artists focus on line work traditionally then color it in photoshop.

Victo Ngai

































Is an editorial artist and has had her work published in,
-The New Yorker
-New York Times
-Tor Books

Link to her Website,

Yuko Shimizu
































Is also an editorial Artist and has had her work publish in,
-The Discovery Channel Magazine
-Rolling stone
-Tor Books (Tor Books hire alot of illustrators so research them if you want to be an editorial artist)

Some tips for artists looking for jobs are,
-Know alot of illustrators (networking)
-Be a hard worker
-Be Persistent. The people who try the hardest are the ones who get the jobs.

Link to Luis Uzcategui's work,
http://www.behance.net/luzcategui#page=1&sort=creatives_order


Allison Also Shared who inspired her
The first artist is,

Ralph Mcquarrie

He was a concept artist for the first Star Wars Movies,

Link to his Arrtwork,
http://galactic-voyage.com/Ralph%20McQuarrie%20Art.htm

Tod Lockwood

Is a fantasy artist. He has done work for,
-Magic (Card game)
-Legend of Drizz Books
-Dungeons and Dragons
Baolong Zhang
Is a 3D Modeler who creates the 3D models and does the texture painting,

He has work on,
-Ghost Recon 2
-Brother in Arms
-Doctor Who PS3 Vita

Link to His Work,
http://baolongzhang.blogspot.com/



Other artists Mentioned,

Sam Webber

Arthur Rackham

Edmund Dulac


If you have any question concerning Niches help finding where you would fit in please ask us. We are here to help!