Aubry Cohen graduated from Kutztown in 2014 with a concentration in Graphic Design. She had all the classes for the Illustration Concentration, but one. As I always say, a portfolio is WAY more important than a transcript. Today Aubry works for Artskills, a Bethlehem, PA company that makes art and poster supplies along with manyContinue reading “Aubry Cohen has got Skills”
Author Archives: illustrationclass
Hannah Stephey has BIG News She Can’t Share!
” It’s super easy to just sleep and watch cat videos in your spare time.”
The Real Poop on Pigeons !
Time to reveal the subject of my next book, -PIGEONS! “Robert McCloskey’s original idea for Make Way for Ducklings (1942) was to use pigeons …but he found pigeons too difficult to draw.” from Claudette Hegel’s Newbery and Caldecott Trivia. Hard to believe, but it makes me happy because my next book is The Real Poop on Pigeons! The greatContinue reading “The Real Poop on Pigeons !”
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”
Illustration Concentration 