illustrationclass

More Death With a Smile

I promised more images from the exhibition “TO DEATH WITH A SMILE” or in Spanish “A LA MUERTE CON UNA SONRISA.” Thanks to Prof. Vicki Meloney for sharing the files, here they are. These Kutztown students are finalists, along with artists worldwide. The works are on display through Feb 9 in Mexico City at MUMEDI,Continue reading “More Death With a Smile”

Death with a Smile

MUMEDI is the Mexican Museum of Design, near the zocalo in the center of Mexico City. They host an international poster exhibition. The theme this year is “To Death with a Smile.” On Facebook, Sam Mickley posted her image (above) and this note, “Found out today that I’m a finalist for the Mumedi International PosterContinue reading “Death with a Smile”

Illustration Goes Live!

Neil Numberman and my worms in the dressing room at Dixon Place Theater. Saturday morning I took the Bieber bus to New York City carrying my bucket of worms. The Dixon Place Theater on the Lower East Side was locked when I arrived. A man walked up and asked, “Are you a performer?” I had toContinue reading “Illustration Goes Live!”

Heads Up: Colored Pencil Project

Scratchboard illustrations from my sophomore classes gained nearly 200 views on day one. So here’s a gallery of their colored pencil projects. Animal Head on Human Body I have been using this assignment for years, getting imaginative combinations. Back in the day, students found three different photos: a head, body and background. Lately I’ve seen students actually google theContinue reading “Heads Up: Colored Pencil Project”

Scratchboard: Starting from Scratch

Kylie O’Connor’s Frog Prince is a wonderful example of scrathboard illustration. She began by painting the basic components, – frog, hand, plants – with brush and ink on a prepared clay-coated board. The horizontal lines were added with a micron, an artist’s felt tip pen with pigmented black ink. She used a scratchboard knife, likeContinue reading “Scratchboard: Starting from Scratch”

A Culture Cut in Wood by Alec Dempster

Out of the blue, Alec Dempster wrote to tell me about his new book, Lotería Huasteca. I know a good deal about Mexico, but never heard of the Huasteca. This book is both charming and illuminating. Its woodblock prints provide 54 little windows into the Huasteca culture of East-Central Mexico. Oddly enough, last week we had a masterContinue reading “A Culture Cut in Wood by Alec Dempster”

Real American Prints

Alan Altamirano, the printmaker from Oaxaca, and I visited IPCNY, International Center for the Prints, NY. It can be hard to find the first time you look for it. If you walk the High Line in the Chelsea gallery district you might spot the signage in their 5th floor windows on the south side of 26thContinue reading “Real American Prints”

Orale! Alan Altamirano esta en Kutztown.

Alan Altamirano makes art about women, beautiful women. The 27-year old artist is from Oaxaca, Mexico, a city famed for its food and visual arts. Like many of the best Oaxacan artists of his generation he studied with Maestro Shinzaburo Takeda at the School of Fine Arts at the University of Benito Juarez, Oaxaca. TodayContinue reading “Orale! Alan Altamirano esta en Kutztown.”

HANDWERK at Lancaster PA First Friday

I’ve only been to First Friday in Lancaster once, but I am going again on Oct 2. It should be great. Ryan Smoker and Ryan Martin of Infantree are putting together a pop-up show at Passenger Coffee Roasters. The posters are by grads of Kutztown’s Communication Design Dept. I got a preview of some of the work inContinue reading “HANDWERK at Lancaster PA First Friday”

Kathy Sue Does Graffiti in the Alley

Kathy Sue Traylor is the department secretary in the Communication Design Dept at Kutztown U. She doesn’t think of herself as an artist, but she loves to see creativity in bloom. She often pokes her head in the illustration studio to look over students’ shoulders. She always gushes over the artwork our students are creating.Continue reading “Kathy Sue Does Graffiti in the Alley”