just some art, by caitlin b. alexander

Those other updates I was telling you about!

2012-03-06T19:08:00.005-05:00

Hi all,

I painted another Austin scene for work, only this time in glazes instead of gouache, and on a plate instead of paper, which is a lot more difficult! We are using it as a sample right now, to show all the different sizes and shapes we have to choose from. I love to see my work in a different media like this! It's really rewarding, knowing that it's something useable. Eventually I'd like to make more pieces like this.

Also, I have some of my old prints hanging for sale! My boss, Kelly, was nice enough to let me test out the waters a bit, to see if anyone is interested. I've had a lot of positive feedback, so hopefully a purchase or two will be on the way!

And again, make sure you switch over to my Tumblr page, so I don't lose you when I make the final switch! That's all I have for you today. :)
adios,
caitlin

Latest Square Carousel Challenge!

2012-03-04T19:19:00.003-05:00

Hi all,
Sorry it's been a while. Please make sure to check out my Tumblr, where I'm updating more regularly now. Eventually this blog will no longer be used. Sad, I know :(
So... now for:
Square Carousel challenge number 13!

"St. Patty's Parade People," Gouache and Digital, 2012.

We can't attend the St. Patty's Day parade in Savannah this year... so we're going to make ourselves one. Head on over to the site to see what everyone else came up with, and also to read more about these characters.
Not too much going on in other news, at the moment. I've just been busy getting my day-job stuff sorted out (which it looks like is now finally the case!). I have sent out 20 packets full of goodies to art directors at publishing houses, magazines and even an art licensing company, so hopefully something will come of that soon!
I've also got a few other little things to show you, but it will have to wait for another day... Oh, the suspense!
adios,
caitlin

Just a teeny update...

2012-02-09T12:14:00.003-05:00

Hello all!

Just a very brief post to show you my latest piece for Square Carousel. The challenge was "Sh*t Politicians Say," which I was so excited about! I never illustrate politics, or specific people, so this really pushed me to go outside of my comfort zone. Head over to Square Carousel to see more crazy quotes, and to read more about the Light Bulb Debate!

"Light Bulb Debate," Gouache and Digital, 2012.

That's all for now! Sorry for the briefness here :)
adios
caitlin

First Change of the Year

2012-01-24T16:26:00.006-05:00

Hi all!
So, to those of you who adore Blogspot, I have some news you may not enjoy. I've created a Tumblr, where I've imported all of my old posts, and plan on beginning to use it as my only blog sometime this year. I'll be using both at first, just because I'm not a huge fan of change myself, but eventually, should things be as great at Tumblr as they say, I'll stop posting on my Blogspot. If you have a Tumblr account, be sure to follow my new snazzy layout! And also, a big thanks to Casey Crisenbery for helping me figure out the HTML coding... not exactly my cup of tea!

On to other news: School is back in session for Square Carousel! Our first challenge of the year, chosen by Maily Degnan, is to illustrate our favorite movie. I chose "Big Fish" for mine, and focused on the character design of protagonist Edward Bloom's true love, Sandra Templeton. Head on over to Square Carousel to read more about the movie and my process!

"Sandra Templeton," Gouache and digital, 2012.

Also! I got my new set of cards in the mail! They look fantastic. Gotprint.com did a great job with the color. This time, I got matte instead of glossy, and I really prefer the turnout! The only thing I'm a bit saddened by is those corners. Last time I got rounded ones, and I loved it, but unfortunately, for some reason, you can't get them with matte cards. Oh well! I'm excited to send them out. Time to start writing addresses!

That's all I have for now, folks,
adios
caitlin

Fresh start, 2012

2012-01-11T14:00:00.006-05:00

Hi all!
The last few days I have been working on my new mailers for 2012, and am happy to tell you that they are ordered, and hopefully on their way soon!

By the way: Spoiler alert, if you are on my list! I'll be posting the images here.

I decided this time to change it up a bit by sending out two different cards, one aiming at children's book publishers, and the other at editorial clients. Had I been able to afford it, I would have printed cards for art licensing and perhaps another editorial example as well. Hopefully 2012 will eventually allow me that! This is still pretty exciting for now.

For the first card (my "editorial" one), I used an image you may recognize, but played with it a bit, and eventually decided to display my hand-lettering abilities at the top. This also created an unexpected and unique composition for the postcard.

"Postcard 2012," Gouache and Digital, 2011-2012.

"Hello Neighbor," Gouache, 2012.

The lettering here was a lot of fun! For Christmas, Kellan got me two amazing books full of lettering samples from the 1940s through '70s, and I spent quite some time pouring over the pages, looking for ideas. For anyone who loves type and lettering, I highly recommend these books! I am in love! (With the books, and with the boy).

The second card was almost entirely new work, although you may recognize the houses below from my collaboration with Seo Kim! I loved them so much, I had to use them again for something. For this card, I knew I needed something that would embody all the different elements of a successful children's book. This is challenging, because those elements usually unfold throughout 32 pages, but I had to represent as many as possible in one image. I feel as though the result was pretty successful, as I attempted to show both animal and child characters, an event taking place, a location, a brighter color palette, while still keeping my stylistic approach to all these things. Hopefully a publisher will feel the same way! We shall see!

"The Best Dream," Gouache and Digital, 2012.

The back of both cards will be the same as my previous one:

(It's hard to see the edges on a white background, huh?)

And in other news, They Draw and Cook is featuring my Superfood Salad on their jumbotron this week! They have been the kindest, most supportive people of my illustration career, and I can't explain enough how thankful I am to have fans in them!

That's all for now, but keep an eye on Square Carousel, because we are starting back up for the New Year!
adios
caitlin

Happy New Year!

2012-01-04T16:19:00.003-05:00

Hi all!
Just a very, very quick post to let you know I've survived the holiday season and haven't forgotten about you!

Just before Christmas, Seo and I completed our collaboration piece for Square Carousel. I really, really love how it turned out. It's so much fun to see how my work can transform by the hands of another artist. Check out the website to read more about our process and thoughts on the final piece!

"Relationships," Mixed media, 2011 ©Caitlin B. Alexander and Seo Kim

I'll have more news to share soon.

adios,
caitlin

Christmas Inspirations

2011-12-13T12:34:00.010-05:00

Hi all!
A quick note: I have significantly updated my website! There is one little glitch I have just noticed-- on the portfolio page, the Christmas dove piece continues to haunt you when the cursor is off the thumbnails! I will be fixing this problem shortly. But check it out anyway!
Speaking of Christmas cards...
Well, this year I am neglecting to paint my annual Christmas cards, unfortunately. I was on a roll, three years in a row, but I just couldn't find the time for 2011's rendition. So, instead, I decided to show you some really wonderful retro cards and advertisements, all of which I find pretty inspiring.

I can't resist starting off with my favorite: Mary Blair!

Here's a Disney illustration from 1952. The use of green is a little odd here, but I love the line work on the buildings. I think it's also pretty funny to see the traditional Disney characters drawn in their usual style, with Mary's trademark technique surrounding them.

©Mary Blair, 1952.

I'm not sure when this Christmas card was made, but I really enjoy the simplicity of it. The texture is really nice, also. Although, the rocking horse's eyes make me slightly uncomfortable after some time.

© Mary Blair

Not a card, but still for the holidays! This character is my personal favorite of the bunch. Her way of handling children still has the largest influence on my personal work. I also enjoy that this piece required such a limited color palette.

© Mary Blair for Meadow Gold

While on the hunt, I also found some really fun card illustrations from the 1950s. The first is from "Better Homes and Gardens," illustrating a happy family in the most traditional sense possible. I love that about old illustrations. Even if life wasn't really this perfect, the world sure pretended it was! Wonderful limited color palette here, also.

© Better Homes and Gardens

This is an old children's card from Carrington. Again, the simplicity here is just wonderful. Apparently, there are some Carrington card collectors out there. I can't imagine what kind of lovely goldmines those folks have.

© Carrington

Now, this I just found really funny! Talk about simplicity-- Santa in his most basic form, selling electrical appliances. I'm not sure what woman today would really want a slow-roaster or waffle iron for Christmas, but I won't judge either. This was printed sometime in the late '50s or early '60s.

I don't have anyone to copyright it to. :(

And last, but not least, a really fun card illustration from 1960 by Hallmark. The card was made for First Lady Mamie Doud Eisenhower. Apparently, Mamie was responsible for the pink bathroom trend that graces millions of homes today (or once graced, as I'm sure many have sadly been torn out by now). Click here to read the really interesting article on Mamie's love of pink influencing America, which I discovered was attached to the illustration.

© Hallmark via The Eisenhower National Historic Site

I hope this makes up for my lack of personal work for Christmas!

adios,
caitlin

Features, features, and some more features!

2011-12-05T16:28:00.006-05:00

Hey all!
I realized that I never updated you on my fun discovery a few weeks ago! After taking Kellan's suggestion to Google my own name, I found that other folks had, well, found me! Let me tell you, it is one of the most exciting things to unexpectedly see your work featured on another website. (Unless, of course, they've stolen it. I suppose that would be a different kind of exciting.)

Here's the links to each page:

Halogentv.com wrote an article on They Draw and Travel, and They Draw and Cook. My Zippy Zucchini recipe was at the top of the page! This was a nice treat, and was posted on my birthday, no less.

Avocado Sweet also did a piece on They Draw and Travel, and sampled both my Austin map, and fellow Square Carouselian Catherine Fontenot's Northway Park guide. About my work, they said, "Two maps that immediately made me want to go to Texas: Active Austin by Caitlin B. Alexander which includes a plea to 'Keep Austin Weird' and identifies the Armadillo World Headquarters."

Another Wordpress site to feature TDAT was Valesulfilo, which included my Austin map again, as well as previous Square Carousel member, Shannon Snow's, Savannah map.

I also found my map on a Tumblr page!

The most interesting feature of them all though, I must say, is the one I found written in Portuguese. The author was comparing cat totes, and mine was at the top of the page! It's so interesting to wonder how this ended up on her site, because it had been a year (at the time of the post) since my Etsy screen-print shop was selling the bags! In the post on Nao Me Mande Flores, she asks "Which one of these cute cat totes would you rather take home? I want them all!" I am proud to say (after translating all the comments like a dork!), that my tote was one of the most popular in the bunch! Good to know I have some Portuguese fans!

On another note, I finished my recipe for They Draw and Cook's youbeauty.com holiday contest. They'll be announcing the winners soon. I hope someone from Square Carousel wins a prize! That would be so fun, but if not, it was a blast anyway. I always love creating pieces for TDAC and TDAT.

"Superfood Salad," Gouache and Digital, 2011.
That's all for now!
adios
caitlin

A little something extra

2011-11-30T16:13:00.008-05:00

Hi all!
I thought it was about time for me to start blogging about a variety of illustration-related topics, instead of just posting my work. It's so easy to fall into that rut, and I know I used to have much more interesting things to say!

Lately I've been feeling very inspired by the 1940s and early '50s. Truthfully, I'm usually drawn to these time periods, as I'm sure you all have noticed, but for the last week or so, I've been especially obsessed.

I believe it all started with Thanksgiving. My parents have a box of endless ancient photographs, dating even back into the 1800's, featuring family members mostly forgotten. It's always really exciting to look through the old pictures, imagining what life was like, and how the people were related-- asking yourself, "was this woman my great-great-great grandmother, or was she... or this lady?" The box makes for quite a historical puzzle. The pictures I fell most in love with, however, were of my mother's parents. They truly were from the era that I daydream of. Here are a few scans:

And a fun one in the late 50's/early '60s of my mother and her sister:

It's so interesting that children had to dress up for a theme park during this time period.

The next day, we saw "My Week With Marilyn," with Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe. The movie was really visually lovely. I found a picture online of her reading, which I don't remember actually seeing in the film, but it still captures the same feel. The patterns and colors here are to die for!
I've really been wanting to cut my hair like this for some time, but haven't had the nerve. Now that I'm out of school, I think it's really the best time to try it out. I found a really fun blog to follow called Elegant Musings. The girl who writes it has really similar inspirations as I do, and she actually cut her hair the same way I'm considering. Seeing her blog has finally given me the nerve to try it out. I'll be making an appointment any day now...

And what does all this have to do with illustration, you ask? Well, not only is my life influenced by these time periods, but my work is as well. Here is an illustration by Jan Balet that I've had on my bulletin board for probably a couple years now:

© Jan Balet, from "What Makes an Orchestra," 1951.

I love the mix of solid shapes, line, and collage that Balet uses here. Not to mention just the feel of "simpler" times that the piece exudes. I feel like this sensibility appeals to a pretty wide range of viewers, and I always try to keep my own work in line with that. I want it to seem timeless, approachable, and nostalgic, even though I'm creating it in the 2000's. And by surrounding myself by reminders of that time, I'm constantly motivating myself to recreate it in my illustrations, as well as research more and more. Plus, I just personally enjoy it quite a bit. It's just too much fun to live in an apartment with a teal-tile-walled bathroom!

(Yes, I took a picture of my toilet, and yes, there is a ceramic cat on top of it.)

That's about all I have to share on the subject for now. If you're feeling up to it, please leave a little note with your most inspiring era!
adios,
caitlin

To brighten or not to brighten?

2011-11-09T12:39:00.004-05:00

Hi all!
I'm in the middle of working on a self-portrait for Square Carousel, and I just wanted to get a little feedback. Some people love the colors I use, and others aren't much of a fan, so I've been playing around with it a little bit in Photoshop.

The original painting I think is too heavy on red/orange on the left side. The chair and the clothing kind of melt into one another.

So I played with it some, and I can't really say I'm a huge fan of this one either! I made the chair more of a teal so there would be a contrast with the dress, but then I felt that the piece was too cool overall, so I made the table slightly more purple. Maybe I just have to get used to it.

Thoughts? Which one do you like more? Any suggestions of colors to experiment with? I'm pretty set on my palette for everything but the table and chair, but if you have other ideas, be sure to throw them out there.

Thanks!!
adios
caitlin

Happy November!

2011-11-01T12:23:00.004-04:00

Hi everyone!
Just a quick update. Most of the pieces are in for the new Square Carousel challenge. We were approached by Philippe Debongnie of Jazz and Draw (thanks to our success with They Draw and Travel) a few weeks ago. Then the group, prompted by Jazz and Draw, created pieces inspired by jazz music, whether that be a specific artist or general mood.

I chose to create a pattern for my piece. It is some of the best fun I can have, honestly! I don't know what it is about repetition like that, but nothing can compare to the feeling of creating something like this. (Plus, I'm a pattern junkie anyway. You would agree if you've seen my home or wardrobe!) Here's a peek, but for my explanation of my interpretation, you need to go to our site!

"Teddy Wilson, Summertime," Gouache and Digital, 2011.

And by the way everyone-- some big changes are coming to Square Carousel, so keep an eye out!

That's all I have for now!
adios,
Caitlin

Season changes

2011-10-13T11:56:00.006-04:00

Hello all!
This will be a quick update, because I need to work on a piece for Square Carousel before heading to work (I now have a second job at The Art Garage, a walk in paint-your-own-pottery/art camp/classes/birthday parties place just outside of Austin!).

I completely neglected to show you the last challenge from Square Carousel, which was "Spirit Animal:"
"Wolf," Gouache, 2011.

Visit the site for the whole explanation of why I chose a wolf, but I can tell you this: don't think of the animal as the vicious carnivore from children's stories.

And I've completed another piece for the group, this time the challenge being "Fairy Tales with a Twist." I chose to illustrate the Mother Goose rhyme "The Three Little Kittens," which I suppose is less of a fairy tale, but it was something I held dear from my childhood. Here's the illustration:

"Kittens' Mittens," Gouache, 2011.
I have been getting some feedback lately suggesting a brighter color palette, so I pushed myself a little with this piece. I'm sure I still have progress to make, but I'm proud of myself for using so much pink!

Let me also show you my very latest piece for Square Carousel. The prompt was to illustrate your greatest fear. I have many fears, but I knew immediately that my greatest was to lose my loved ones and be alone in life:

"Greatest Fear," Gouache, 2011.

This piece was actually extremely difficult for me. The first painting I did was absolutely dreadful, and you aren't going to get to see it! Luckily, with a little inspiration from my dearest Mary Blair, I was able to pull this one out of the hat. I realized, although I have no issue seeing the negatives in life sometimes, I truly struggle with portraying it through my art. I suppose for an aspiring children's book illustrator, that isn't such a bad thing! You can read more about my piece on Square Carousel's website.

Also, some exciting news: I have been featured on several websites thanks to They Draw and Cook! The first was on their own art shop, where you can buy prints of my recipe, and even have the option of getting it framed. Then I was notified that my piece was up for sale on Great Big Canvas, a website that sells prints on stretched canvas of varying sizes. The great news about both of these is that I'll see a profit from any purchases of the prints. Thank you again, TDAC! And for the folks who read my blog-- if you have ever wanted a nice quality print of my work, this would be your best option at this point!

After that exciting news, then I found out that Halogen TV.com featured They Draw and Cook, with my recipe front and center, as the first of several example works from the site! And this happened on my birthday, no less! What a great surprise!

Last, but not least, I have one quick piece left to show you. This painting was for a very dear friend of mine who had a baby in August:

"Teddy Comes to Life," Gouache, 2011.

And now it hangs in the baby's room!

That's all for now,
adios
caitlin

Lots and lots of goodies!

2011-09-10T17:48:00.010-04:00

Hello all!
I know, I know. I'm back so soon! Well, my lovely followers, I have so much wonderful news to share!
First of all, here is some new work (I have been very busy!):

"Trees in the Grove," Gouache, 2011.

"Picking Pears," Gouache, 2011.

"Harold Carries, Rosie Counts," Gouache, 2011.

These pieces are from an imaginary children's book I came up with. Theoretically, it would be titled, "Pears, Peaches, Apples," and would be about counting and seeing differences in objects (fruit specifically). I haven't added any text here for two reasons: first of all, I haven't written any text, and secondly, placement would likely be a designer's job, not mine. I had a lot of fun working on this, because of the challenge of a semi-limited color palette, as well as keeping my characters consistent.

Exciting bit number two:
The reason I was motivated to create these spreads was because I received a couple thrilling emails! First was the blog feature I have already mentioned on here. Annie Ericsson, an art assistant at Penguin/Putnam, loved my postcard mailer enough to post it on her website, and suggested that I create some spreads that show consistent characters to push my portfolio further. I have emailed her all of my most recent work.
And now, the Art Director of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has emailed me as well, saying that she loved my postcard and wants me to keep her updated with new work. How exciting is that?! So, I sent her my recent pieces also. Obviously, I will be letting you know if something happens!

And here's the BIGGEST NEWS OF ALL:

Our last Square Carousel challenge was to create a map for the wonderful website "They Draw and Travel," where illustrators around the globe create beautiful and geographically informative artwork. They often create books and calendars from hand-selected pieces, and are widely followed by the creative community. Here was my map (of my lovely home, Austin, Texas!):

"Austin Map," Gouache and Digital, 2011.

This project took a long time, and was pretty difficult for me because I don't usually work with such intricate details and backgrounds, but the struggle was so, so, so worth it! As soon as I uploaded my map to the TDAT (They Draw and Travel) site, I was contacted by the creators, Nate and Salli, saying that they had completely fallen in love with my work (I'm blushing!) and after searching around on my site and blog, they discovered Square Carousel. It was so exciting to them that our group of diverse (and talented!) illustrators had devoted our collective challenge to TDAT, and because of that, they offered to us the incredible opportunity to be heavily promoted by their network.
TDAT then did us the biggest compliment possible by telling every single person they could about our group. They featured our maps at the same time on the website (currently mine sits as the homepage!), with an amazingly large header that links to the Square Carousel page. Also on the They Draw and Travel site, Nate and Salli wrote a lovely blogpost about our collective. Then they took to Facebook and Twitter, repeatedly updating their hundreds of followers on our work. (Please check these links out for yourself, too!) The most exciting of all, however, might just be that Nate and Salli emailed all their subscribers (about 500 people, I believe) with an image-packed update of all Square Carousel's maps. This email also went, with a personal note, to the amazing Lilla Rogers, an artist representative who has corralled some of the most fresh illustrators to date. Even if none of us see immediate feedback from this networking extravaganza, it is such an honor and compliment to be promoted so heavily by one of the best creative websites around! THANK YOU, TDAT!

This made me so excited, so inspired, and so motivated that I decided to submit to TDAT's sister site (also run by Nate and Salli) called "They Draw and Cook." They are currently running a competition called "Cooking 4 Kids," so I did a quick, easy, and fun way to get children to eat their veggies: "Zippy Zucchini" (an allrecipes.com creation). This is the link to my submission and it's comments, but here's the image itself:

"Zippy Zucchini," Gouache and Digital, 2011.

And that would conclude all the exciting news I have for you right now! Stay tuned though, because I have a new Square Carousel challenge that I'm pretty close to posting...
adios,
caitlin

Moving right along

2011-08-10T15:45:00.007-04:00

Hey all!
Things are pretty crazy and busy right now, so here's another quick post.
Life update: Kellan and I have moved into our apartment, unpacked and decorated. It looks awesome! Now we just need some house guests... and the internet! I'm bumming off my parents' at the moment.

Here's a couple pictures of my amazing new workspace!

It's in the bedroom, but I divided the space a little with the tapestry.

Big, beautiful window!

Storage and a little personal work on display that you may recognize.

I love hanging art with clothespins! And bulletin boards, as you can see.

The best scanner ever sits on my dresser.

Also, I've started work at Urban Outfitters, although the minimal hours may become an issue by the end of the month. I'm hoping this will change soon though! It is the perfect job for me to couple with freelancing.

Some exciting news: I received an email from Annie Ericsson, an art assistant at Penquin/Putnam saying that she really enjoyed my postcard and posted it on her blog! She enjoys my work a lot, and suggests that I now make more pieces with a continued plot and characters. I'm on it!

Also, I've been getting some responses from other companies from my postcards, but I feel like I shouldn't jinx myself by discussing that too much yet. Baby steps! It's exciting to know that people are seeing my work, though.

The spots I was going to have in the September issue of "What's Up, Annapolis?" Magazine have now been moved to February so they can be larger. Here's to hoping that the next article isn't bumped! I can't wait to see it in print!

"Honey Bee," Gouache and Digital, 2011.

And last, but not least, here we have another post for Square Carousel! You need to go check out the site for yourself, but here's a snippet of my explanation of the piece:

"This quote I found very fitting to my personal life, as well as an interesting fact..."

Go look at the challenge theme! It was a great, and broad idea. So far the interpretations have been really interesting.

That's all for now!
adios
caitlin

More Square Carousel

2011-07-27T20:42:00.004-04:00

Just a quick post today to let you know that I have another piece to show for Square Carousel! The explanation is on the site, so here's a little snippet of my interpretation (of my own theme) "Home Away From Home:"

"I picked this topic, thinking that it would be a piece of cake, since I love painting houses, but I quickly realized during the sketching process that this was not an easy concept to illustrate..."

Check out the site for more! Here's the piece:

"Where is my home away from home?" Gouache, 2011.

In other news, I started my day job this week, and am moving into my apartment with Kellan in eight days. Life is moving on!
And so am I! Time to go.
adios,
caitlin

Summer Limbo Land

2011-07-15T18:41:00.007-04:00

Well, this has been a very interesting period of time so far for me. It really is difficult to describe. I feel free, in some regards, and more bound in others. I have yet to start a job, although I have been hired part-time by Urban Outfitters (starting the 26th), and am in between interviews with another store for a second job. Kellan and I have an apartment pre-leased for August. Although I've worked hard to take care of my responsibilities as a budding freelancer, it feels a bit like I'm living in the Groundhog Day movie! Every day is very similar to the last.

Regardless, I've made some significant progress with my illustration. At the end of June, I mailed out my roughly 650 postcards. That was an all-day ordeal, putting on stamps and addressing that many postcards takes a great deal longer than you'd expect. Toting them all in a shoebox to the post office certainly got me some strange looks! I also forgot to mention in my last post that the illustration department at SCAD offered to pay me for my portfolio book, to keep as a sample, but I declined. I couldn't give away my baby! So, instead I mailed them a disc copy of the PDF files. I've also prepared my tear sheet packets to be mailed as soon as we move into our apartment.

A couple weeks ago I received an email from one of my cards. I shouldn't name the company, since they haven't given me any work, but they were impressed by my portfolio and are asking for me to submit additional work soon (they need something slightly more specific in purpose than I have just yet). I'll let you know if this goes anywhere, but even if it doesn't, it was a very nice surprise, since I wasn't expecting to get any responses from my first mailers!

The biggest and best news of all though is several months in the making! Today I can officially announce my involvement with the Square Carousel Illustration Collective! It is a group of ten illustrators who met at SCAD and graduated this year. Josh Heinsz organized the group in a bout of complete genius, carefully selecting artists whose styles and personas mesh well together. I see our aesthetics as a gradient-- one person's work may be similar to another, who is similar to another, who is similar to another... The group will have bi-weekly challenges, and will act as a self-promotional tool, also giving us an opportunity to share advice and contacts with ease, now that we are spread across the country (and Canada!) The first challenge was to create our carousel animal, which will be synonymous with our name on the site. Here's mine:

"Happy Carousel Raccoon," Gouache, 2011.

Click here to check out our website! And here for our Twitter. Aaaaaand here for our Facebook page! Please like it, if you're on Facebook!

That's all I have for you at the moment. Check back soon!

adios
caitlin

The end of the beginning of real life, and the beginning of the very beginning of the middle of real life

2011-06-19T15:20:00.007-04:00

Or something like that.

I am officially no longer a student, and instead a self-employed freelancer! Kellan and I will be moving into an apartment into Austin, Texas come August, and until then, I am in a little limbo living with family. It's okay though-- gives me a moment to catch my breath and organize myself.

Clearly, no new art to show at the moment, but I do have a few pictures from festivities at the beginning of June.

At the beginning of the weekend, we attended the Communications Arts show, which was organized by the school and consisted of works from Illustration, Graphic Design, Advertising, and Sequential Art. Here are pictures of Kellan and me with our accepted works:

Me
Kellan

Then, the next night, we had our Illustration Senior Show, which for me was an extremely wonderful culmination of all the relationships, experiences, and growth I have experienced over the last four years in the Illustration department. My parents were able to meet my professors, as well, which was really nice, because they had some very kind words to say about my work. I will miss all those lovely folks from Morris Hall! I only wish I had appreciated the community more when it was readily available.

Me and my work!

My dear friend, Casey Crisenbery

My lovely roommate, Catherine Fontenot!

Aaaand my super-talented love, Kellan Stover

The next day, we turned our tassels and were declared graduates! It was a long, hot, emotional, and overwhelming day that I will never forget and will hold dearly to me for the rest of my life. These people have touched me in so many ways over the years, and I owe them so much. Here are a couple pictures:

Procession into the graduation auditorium.

My school!

SCAD's president, Paula Wallace, and our commencement speaker, Whoopi Goldberg.

The Savannah College of Art and Design Class of 2011.

Kellan and I in our caps and gowns

And again in our fancy outfits

Some illustration loves-- Seo Kim and Josh Heinsz

And now I'm back in Texas! Since then, I have mailed out almost 650 postcard mailers and am an established member of the Square Carousel Illustration Collective-- a group created by Josh (seen above) that consists of 10 cohesive illustration students. Check out our site!

That's all for now! More updates soon. =)
adios
caitlin

Okay, I lied...

2011-05-31T17:54:00.004-04:00

One last quick post! I graduate in four days... so I'm a tad frazzled at the moment.

My website is 100 percent done and spiffy now!! Go check it out.

Also, did a quick project for my World Mythology class. It is an illustration of the Australian sun goddess, Gnowee, who lights the sky each day with her torch, searching for her lost son. I wanted the piece to acknowledge her despair, but also give a sense of hope. Likely not going in portfolio, but it served its purpose well.

"Gnowee," Gouache, 2011.

Toodles! Next time you hear from me, I'll be a real grown up.
adios
caitlin

One last post as a student...

2011-05-23T15:53:00.015-04:00

Can you believe it?!! I'm having a hard time realizing that my entire purpose for the last 18 or so years of my life is now coming to an end. School has been my job, and I have to say, as much as I complain about this or that, it really has been very fun, and I know I'll really miss certain parts of it.

Anyway! Avoiding the emotional and now onto some artwork. Last I left you, I still hadn't received any Getting Published jobs. Well, HOORAY, because that curse has lifted, as I was finally chosen!

First a couple other sketches that weren't picked:

This is for an article in Bay State Parent magazine. The story was about a young woman who loses her beloved family dog. The event makes her realize what she has really lost was that innocent, close relationship she once had with her father. I chose to depict this mourning instead of that of the dog, but the magazine had a more specific other image in mind. I still really liked my sketch for this, though.

For this sketch, we were asked by Crayola partnered with Cartoon Network to create a simulation of chalk-board drawings. The image was to be of a child participating in a sport (we were given a short list to chose from), and then the chosen artist would actually draw this onto a chalkboard, which would then be spray-fixed and not erasable. These chalkboards would accompany the companies as they went on a promotional tour, allowing children to also draw on the board, possibly attempting to re-create our illustration. I was really excited about this job, but unfortunately, my professor did not see my email submission (although I was the first to turn it in, ironically), and it did not make it to the client on time. Completely not my fault, and a big bummer, but I suppose I wouldn't have had much time to spare for the project anyway. I usually don't work digitally, so this was a challenge that I'm happy with the result of.

Regardless, I still won a job with What's Up Annapolis? magazine! The article is about house prices/purchasing/browsing. Four people were chosen to complete a piece (this is the feature article, so we will be spread over several pages), but I was the only one to be asked to complete both of my sketches! What a relief and excitement this was! Here are the sketches:

The first is illustrating housing prices, with the addition of digital color just to help a bit, and the second is showing the concept of "full circle." One day the young family will be old as well, passing their house along to the next generation. The circular composition is intended to help this idea along.
And here are the finals!

"House Prices," Gouache and Digital, 2011.

"Full Circle," Gouache, 2011.

I kept with the same color palette intentionally. Hopefully they will be placed near one another in the article, which will be out in September, by the way!

In other news, I've pretty much wrapped up creating all my self-promotional materials. Here are a few pictures of it looking all fancy together:

Mailer list, promo envelopes, postcards, business cards, and portfolio.

Postcards and business cards

Portfolio exterior and case (so pretty!)

Portfolio first page (my prints all look great, for once! Thank you Gulfstream!)

Another portfolio page, showing the design layout.

My little name tag. =)

Now I am officially professional! Also, quick news: I got my "Rabbit" piece back from Hong Kong, safe and sound, and lookin' good in the frame (which I never saw before!). Finally, I am officially in the 100 Sketches From Life Club from last quarter's Portfolio class.

Oh! And how could I forget? My painting for the mural, which seems like it unfortunately won't happen. Or, at least while I'm in Savannah.

"Counting Mural," Gouache, 2011.

And the last announcements for the day: Thursday, June 2nd and Friday, June 3rd are the senior shows I'll be participating in. Thursday is the Communication Arts Senior Show, and Friday is the Illustration Senior Show. If you're in Savannah, ask me for directions and stop by! There will be lots of pretty art to see.

As you may have noticed, this blog is looking a whole lot spiffier lately! Keep an eye for an updated site sometime soon too...

That's all for now!
adios,
caitlin

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

2011-05-05T12:07:00.011-04:00

I have a fiesta of artwork to show you! (teehee)

First off, I finished the Dog Sees God poster, which was not chosen, as they preferred something a bit more humorous. It'll still make for a great portfolio piece, though, so I'm okay with it.

"Dog Sees God," Gouache and Digital, 2011.

Next, a couple more sketches (which also have not been chosen to get published. I am keeping my fingers crossed for some upcoming projects, though). They were for a story in Charleston Magazine, in their "Southern View" section. The text is about a woman who is not from the south, and cannot tolerate the snakes around her new home. She describes them as the "pink elephant in the room" because the locals never discuss their existence. We were told to create either a sketch of a snake on an elephant's back, or the snake as a garden hose, and I chose to do both.

I am working on sketches for two more projects, but haven't finished yet, so keep an eye out for them next time! There is one more sketch though, for the SCAD Illustration Club. We have been asked to create murals in the Children's Hospital, and this is a concept for one of the walls. The project has been postponed a little due to lack of participation, but I really hope we are able to follow through with it.

The idea is to create a subtle counting interaction with the patients, with one monster on the left, two boats in the middle, and three umbrella characters on the right. The flowing from one portion of the piece to next is also intended to be somewhat comforting and intriguing, keeping the child interested and distracted. I'll keep you updated on this project, too.

Next up: I've been working hard in my self-promotion class! First item of completion (other than my artist statement and logo, which I've already shown you) is my business card! I'll be ordering these today, likely, which means I should have them in a week or two.

Here's the front:

And the back (the image is from my "Restless" album cover project a couple quarters ago):

Next, I finished my resume! It looks much more professional than my old one.

You can click on the image to make it larger.

And last, but not least, I finished my postcard mailer! The artwork is original for the card, and I wanted to include as many of my illustration themes as possible: kids, adults, cat-people, birds, houses, patterns, flowers and trees.

"Welcome to the Neighborhood," Gouache, 2011.

I may need to tone the color down a bit before I send it off to get printed (which should be today!) Here is the backside:

On the white background of this blog, it may be difficult to tell what is happening here... But the edges are a quarter inch away from the text in the top left corner, if that helps at all.

Anywho, one last bit of AWESOME news for today-- Kellan and I won first place group at the Sidewalk Arts event last weekend!! I was so excited and surprised. And thankful for the money! Here are a few pictures.

This is our piece! Kellan worked on the two kids, and I did the monster, birds, and ground. We painted the background together (Kellan added that bit of sky at the top, too). This image was taken by SCAD and is on their website. Just look at the bottom to scroll through the winners.

Our first place sign!

Proud parents

Kellan working diligently.

And this is me!

I believe that's all the news I have for you at the moment. Sometimes it's hard to keep track, with so many things going on at once as we close in on graduation. I got my work printed and framed yesterday for the senior show, and will next be working on my new website and portfolio book. Phew! It's going to be an intense four more weeks.

That's all for now,
adios
caitlin

Sketches, Sketches, and More Sketches

2011-04-21T17:02:00.012-04:00

So many sketches and so little time! I've actually completed only one true piece so far this quarter, but I've been very busy drawing, and drawing, and drawing some more, for my Getting Published class. Unfortunately, I haven't been picked for an assignment yet, but I will keep working progressively harder until I do!

First off though-- other news:

I attended an event last week called the Bandwagon Poster and Record Fair, where there were tons of band posters for the taking (er, buying mostly. But inspiring too!). Most of the work was hand screen-printed, which I found especially inspiring. Methane Studios was probably the best booth there. I actually have already posted about them before, because they had a show in Alexander Hall a few quarters ago.

There is a slew of upcoming events in Savannah in the next couple weeks that I am participating in, including the Sidewalk Arts Competition, Sand Arts, and a few things unrelated to art, such as an Iron and Wine concert! It's going to be so, incredibly busy, but it doesn't phase me one bit. And then...

GRADUATION! We are headed into week five after this weekend... which means only five weeks after that. I'm not sure if the shock has hit me just yet.

Anywho, I forgot to mention in my last blog post that I got a little something in the mail a little while ago:

Now I'm all fancy and official and such! I'm not sure why they gave me four, when I only had two pieces, but I'm not going to complain.

Onward! In Self-Promotion, we have written an artist statement, created a logo, and are now preparing postcard mailers and business cards, which will be followed by a new website (hooray!). Here are my logos (one in color and one in black and white):

You'll be seeing a lot more of this little guy in a few weeks, when I revamp my site, and yes, blog too. It's in dire need of a makeover!

Finally, it's time for a big pile of sketches. First off, the class worked on posters for the upcoming SCAD theater production of "Hair." We were all to take the piece to finish, so the director and his creative crew could understand what they were choosing. For our sketch critique, the director came in to see our work. He surprised everyone by disliking most of what he saw, and contradicted his posted requirements as well as our own aesthetics. It was a very much a learning experience: you never know what a client will want from you. He made it pretty clear that he did not like "cartoony" work, so I created my final knowing full well that it wouldn't be selected. I was perfectly alright with this, since it will just become another portfolio piece. Here are my sketches and final:

"Hair" Gouache and Digital, 2011.

Next, we were asked to create an illustration for WNC magazine to accompany an article describing the beautiful scenery of North Carolina, and how the author preferred her own porch to leaving for a vacation. I completed two sketches of the same subject matter, focusing on the symbolism of the suitcase and Hawaiian lei. I think the reason this wasn't chosen was because the scenery was not shown enough. Understandable!

And most recently, we are working on two assignments at once (he said one was optional, but I guess I'm an overachiever). First, another theater poster, this time for the play "Dog Sees God," which is a peculiar parody on the Peanuts characters, grown up and in high school. The plot focuses around teenage problems such as drugs, sexual orientation, bad behavior, bullying, and suicide.

This is the image I'll be taking to final. It is implying the relationship between two characters, as well as the contrast of hope and depression between them.

This sketch is a more narrative representation of the play, as the "Charlie Brown" character is mourning the death of his dog, "Snoopy." (I put these names in quotes because the play doesn't actually use most of the Peanuts names, as agreed between the author and Charles Schulz).

I wasn't sure if I was taking the play as too seriously, so I drew a more lighthearted image of raining peanuts with cuter lettering. My professor said he saw Jesus' face in the imagery... still not sure if I'm on the same page with him there.

Keep an eye out for a post with the "Dog Sees God" final poster!

And last, but not least, my sketch for the Savannah Green Guide: a pamphlet that will be distributed which explains eco-friendly ways to create an event. Kellan actually illustrated their last edition:

©Kellan Stover

You can download the PDF at their website. He also did the little spots on the inside!

Here's my sketch for what will hopefully be the next edition (the pressure is on, since Kellan already got it! If I win, we will be the ultimate illustration power couple! haha, just kidding of course!):

Also, I just sent in four submissions to the SIC Senior Show. Hopefully I'll get all of them in, so I can have a greater presence there. If not though, I'll still be entering more work in the Communication Arts show, which also includes Sequential Art, Graphic Design and Advertising.

That's all for now!
adios
caitlin

My Last First Post of the Quarter

2011-04-05T19:16:00.007-04:00

MAnd then I am no longer in school!

These classes will be an excellent way to wrap up my education. They are challenging, yet fun, and scary, yet exciting. I'm in my last English class of my life-- World Mythology-- which, so far, has been especially entertaining. Our book, "The Friendly Guide to Mythology," has short explanations of stories passed down in cultures across the globe and over the centuries. Some of them are surprisingly crass. Here is a short excerpt that had me laughing:

"The Narrinyeri of Southern Australia, an irreverent group, say that the Creator used excrement to form human beings. Afterward, he tickled them until they laughed and thus he brought us to life."

Now, is that how he did it? Funny we don't smell worse...

Anyway, not too much to show yet for my other two classes. In Getting Published (where we have actual clients and compete for the assignment), I have yet to be picked, but I do have a few sketches to show.

Worcester Sketch 1, 2011.

Worcester Sketch 2, 2011.

These were two different concepts (with the masthead mock-up) for Worcester Magazine's poetry contest special cover. The first is of the concept "word garden." The second is playing off of the idea of the metamorphosis of poetry. Neither were picked to take to final.

Charleston sketch, 2011.

For this piece, we were told exactly what the client (Charelston Magazine) wanted for their story on a trip through Italy: a spot of a couple walking down a path Wizard of Oz-style, holding a basket with salami and bread, and also some wine. The Italian hills would be clear in the background, and the path would be lined with Cyprus trees. Where they are stepping, the path turns into a map of Italy, with their destination of Spoleto clearly marked. It was a challenge! Even though I wasn't picked for this assignment either, I was pretty happy with my sketch.

And in Self-Promotion, we have only completed our Artist Statements (logos are in progress), so here goes:

Many people are bound to simply dream of exploring a career they are truly passionate about. I chose, a long time ago, to take the risks of pursuing that fantasy, and at this point, I could never imagine myself doing anything but illustration. Living through eyes trained to see aesthetics is a privilege that makes the world instantly more sentimental and filled with magic. My goal is to bring that sentimentality to others, that simple beauty which four years of art school has trained me to capture from my everyday life. More practically speaking, my goal is also to live a modest, comfortable, cozy, and colorful life creating illustration that, to be put most simply, makes people happy.

As I create any illustration, I always try to keep in mind my inspirations and references. I am continually looking to art created by illustrators in the 1950s and ‘60s, such as Disney concept artist Mary Blair, taking note of elements of the work that are still pleasing today. I also often reference current artists inspired by the same era, including Matte Stephens and Peter Brown. Following the research, my creative process moves quickly from start to finish. During the sketching stage, I hammer out important aspects of the work, such as composition. The character of my illustration truly lies in the color selections and handling of paint, however, where I spend the majority of my time. These are things that grow naturally as I work, and if I see the development as unsuitable for the assignment, I will likely start the piece over again. It is a priority of mine to not overwork a painting, because doing so diminishes the lively quality I am attempting to achieve. I want the work to appear effortless and simplistic, and never “trying too hard.” This is a partial cause of my love of dry-brushing techniques. The natural quality of a brushstroke is something I believe many people find comfort in. It is a subtle reminder of human hands at work, and creates beautiful imperfections that reflect life itself. I believe that art needs to be ever so slightly quirky to have a heartbeat, and I have always strived to create illustration that shows a steady pulse. My color choices are also a large part of my work’s energy and emotion, and with every piece I entertain complimentary selections. This is another area where I draw from “retro” illustration, finding color palettes that are instantly comforting because of their nostalgia. For me, the best tool to create perfectly opaque color is gouache paint. I use it with much less water than traditionally suggested, and paired with a perfectly destroyed brush, it creates texture faintly reminiscent of chalk pastel. This style of painting allows me to focus on a composition of shapes, rather than lines. Although sometimes challenging to achieve, I believe a successful silhouette is key to a thriving piece. All of these intricacies mixed with the childish nature of half my mind form an appropriate recipe for young and old viewers alike.

My purpose is to touch people through my creations, and I find that children are especially attracted to way I paint. If I can produce work that captures a moment in their life, whether that be through a storybook they cherish still as an adult, or a pattern on the baby blanket they cannot leave home without, I will feel complete. After spending enough time solidly in this style of illustration, I feel that my work and I are stepping in time with one another, neither dragging the other behind them. My relationship with my own illustration is much like the message I attempt to convey through it: relish the small moments, savor the silly, and find comfort in your own life. It is very much a truth that the years pass by too quickly, and I hope my work can slow the momentum down enough for some people to savor a few sweet moments.

And that's all I have to share for now! Keep checking for updates, because things will be changing quickly in the next 8 and a half weeks.

adios,
Caitlin

Spring settles in as winter waltzes away

2011-03-16T23:54:00.008-04:00

Just a quick update with the last of my work for the quarter!

For my very last printmaking assignment ever, I wanted to create something that made me leave the department with a bang. Unfortunately, I don't think I completely managed that, because my ideas were too large to follow through with. Not to say the piece isn't successful, because I do like it, but It wasn't the "bang" I was hoping for. The end of this class was strange. It was much like being in a bad relationship, spending all your time wanting it to end, but when presented with your new found freedom from the bond, you experience a sense of confusion and restlessness, instead of relief and happiness. The beginning of my minor was extremely enjoyable, but as I experienced more and more distaste of commercial art by the fine artists, and had to spend more and more time away from my major, the passion truly faded for me. I think I just need some time away from printmaking to enjoy it again. But I promise, I will do some woodcuts and screen prints in the future. This is not my last print ever.

Anyway, in my Portfolio class my professor was talking about taking rejection in the field of illustration. She was emphasizing that it is important to not be hurt by being turned away or not selected to win awards. She said "just remember, it means everything if you win, and nothing if you don't," meaning, although celebration is expected and good when you are recognized, it isn't the world if you lose, and life goes on. I have personally been struggling with this lately, and decided to make a poster for myself with the phrase to look at when I am upset. Unfortunately, nobody in my class understood that the message was an uplifting one. They all thought that it meant "winning is the most important thing ever." Sigh. I just can't win with some people. But it's still on my wall for inspiration.

"In Other Words: it's okay to not be the best," screen print, 2011.
So concludes my printmaking education.

And last but not least, my art licensing Halloween illustration! These can be on plates, napkins, buckets, stickers, cards, anything really. It is very unlike my comfortable niche in both color palette and subject matter, but I really love it! And my professor had a really wonderful suggestion, saying that the work is extremely versatile because each individual character could also be on different products. It could be a whole series!

"Halloween Friends," Gouache and Digital, 2011.

Here's a quick mock up:

"Halloween Friends Mock Up," Gouache and Digital, 2011.

Oh yeah, and here's that magazine mock up I mentioned last time:

"Abandon the Binky Mock Up," Gouache and Digital, 2011.

That's all for now!
adios
caitlin

Another late progress check

2011-03-06T18:34:00.005-05:00

This quarter is so insanely busy! Sorry it took me a while to get back with another update.

First, here's my page on Letter Playground. I've already receieved quite a few "likes!"

Also, because of the SILA competition, we were recognized by the President of SCAD, Paula Wallace, a few weeks ago. It was nice to feel appreciated by the school. Usually our little department keeps to itself.

Kellan and me with Professor Danawi. Click here to check out the SCAD online article on SILA.

Now on to Printmaking! This is my first screen printing assignment (I tried to teach myself how to print on fabric last summer and was mildly successful, but I'm not counting it really). I enjoy how so much faster of a process this is, especially compared to Lithography. I don't have to clean any rollers, mess with any chemicals, and can reuse my screens over and over again! This piece is about not letting other people get you down. Luckily my metaphor was vague enough that my professor was unaware that it primarily was inspired by her rant a few weeks ago. The raindrops are people's opinions and negativity, and I am the cat person, persevering and enjoying myself despite the downpour. I titled it "Monday," implying that this may happen any, or every, day of the week.

"Monday," Screen Print, 2011.

In my Portfolio class, I worked on an editorial piece for a parenting magazine. The imaginary article would be discussing how to support your child in giving up their binky or thumb-sucking. I decided to choose this topic because I know it's a common problem of dependency with children on things like pacifiers. I personally had this issue! My stubborn thumb-sucking lasted until about fourth grade, and because of it, I had to go through some major orthodontics to keep me from resembling a beaver. My parents threatened me with putting lemon juice on my thumb or with completely fictional contraptions with spikes in the roof of my mouth. At one point I wore a mitten, but that didn't work at all. Then it was just soggy. Not even pointing out adults with really awful teeth, saying, "if you don't stop, that will be you someday," worked. Just one day, I decided on my own. Anyway, now you know a little bit about my inspiring childhood. Here's the piece:

"Abandon the Binky" Gouache, 2011.

The colors aren't exactly like the real painting. Sometimes gouache scans perfectly, and other times, it just refuses to cooperate.

I did a mock-up magazine article, but what I referenced to create the page layout was extremely unprofessional. I plan on redoing it, so I'll post that later.

Tomorrow I give an oral presentation on one of my favorite artists, Matte Stephens. His work is what I wish mine looked like! The color, repeating shapes and careful designs are just music to my... eyes. Here is one of my favorites:

©Matte Stephens

That's all for this time. More art soonish!
adios
caitlin

What is Art?

2011-02-15T17:18:00.005-05:00

I have always worked at my full potential in my classes, despite my enthusiasm level for the assignment. Performing at my best is always the goal, and I am usually well recognized by my professors for this effort. Perhaps I've been spoiled to mild critiques, but a couple weeks ago I received the harshest response to my work I've experienced since my freshman figure drawing classes.

The professor I am taking Photographic and Digital Applications for Printmaking with is the same I took last quarter during Intermediate Lithography. We have always had a friendly relationship, and she seemingly enjoyed my work and dedication to the classes. I can strongly say that I am one of the more responsible students in nearly, if not all, the courses I have taken, and printmaking has been no exception. The technical issues are always difficult to slog through, but I never cut corners or give up, and I always turn in progress work, as well as the final, with all points checked off the list. Two Tuesdays ago was no exception, as we were having a progress critique on our newsprint proofs. Most of the class was absent, and of the few of us there, only about four including myself, had something to hang. I was the only student to hang three proofs, having success with all of my plates in printing. Naturally, I felt confident about the seemingly informal critique that day. At my turn, I briefly explained my piece, saying that I wanted to make something for a dear friend of mine who is having a baby soon, because it is exciting and the first person of my age I've known well to have a child.

My professor proceeded to delve into a lengthy explanation of distaste for not only this piece, but my entire body of work to-date. In front of the attending class, she unleashed an interrupted monologue discussing why "client-based" work is not "real" art. She told me that she would keep cutting me off when I tried to respond because she did not want me to defend myself. There were so many points made during those long, shocking minutes that I could never manage to repeat them all, but the general message was clear: I was not creating art because my work had a client in mind. She told me that I needed to create "selfish" work, that then it would be truly mine, and I had never successfully done anything this way. Apparently, if the outcome of the work is dictated by another person's taste, then its legitimacy is called into immediate question. The only words I got in edge-wise were to explain that the "client" never expressed any opinion on the final outcome because she was completely unaware of the project at all, seeing as how it was meant to be a surprise gift, and I had chosen everything on mine own, from the color, to the image and the concept. She said that did not matter, because the work was for someone else, and finally wrapped it up by glazing over the fact that my technical abilities were fine, and moved onto the next student.

After the critique was over, I attempted to move on by accepting her statement and continuing to work. I went into the hall to pick up supplies from my flat file drawer, and my professor followed me. She asked if I understood what she had said. Finally able to express myself, I said that I understood her point (which is true, I do agree that an artist should be getting something personally from their work), but I did not understand that I was not doing so in my own. I love creating work for other people, it makes me happy, and I have never felt incomplete in doing so. I argued that illustration is different because we have clients, to which she heatedly delved back into the same points once more. She told me that she once created work for others, and did not realize how unfulfilled she was until she stopped creating commercial art. She referenced the piece I made for my father, which was the closest I had gotten to success. I told her that ironically, I felt that the piece she mentioned was probably one of my least favorites visually, and she seemed to find that either pathetic or saddening. In an attempt to seem supportive rather than attacking, she told me not to be afraid to create "ugly" art, to stop playing it safe, and that she would not be telling me these things if she did not care (she told another student this almost verbatim in a later critique about the same issue). At this point in the conversation, I felt so confused and off-track that I became emotional, making my professor take the "uplifting and supportive" approach even more. The conversation ended on a accomplished note for her, and a defeated one for me. She tied it in a nice little bow by telling me that "in addition to illustration, [I] can be an artist." As if I am not one.

I spent the rest of the week feeling completely conflicted and generally off. It was such a struggle to first believe I was completely wrong in all my years creating art, or rather, not art, and to then realize that I am doing nothing wrong, and my professor is simply a person with an opinion. I had never experienced first-hand the looking down upon by fine artists onto illustrators. We are selling out and hopelessly uninformed in many of their eyes (I say many, not all, as I have plenty of painter and printmaker friends who have been entirely supportive about this situation). The hardest point to come to was understanding that a professor's word is not gold. They are here to help and teach, but because art is so subjective, they are not always right. I am creating art for myself, because making other people's hearts warm makes mine even warmer. So, I wrote this response in my artist's statement that was handed in with the final work:

" Nothing makes me happier than to see someone who has been moved by the art I create, especially if I create the art specifically for them. In general, nothing makes me happier than to make someone else happy. I do not see this as neglect for myself, but rather a selflessness that I can be proud of. Or perhaps it isn’t even selflessness, because I do get much out of my work. I have a passion for creating art that others can relate to, cherish and love. My work feels whole, exciting and new to me, and when I make art for someone I am close to, they share that feeling. That is why I chose to create a piece to give to a friend and soon-to-be-mother.
As well as always loving to show my warmth for others, I have also, since I was quite young, been fascinated with the connection between a woman and her child, and pregnancy in general. My friend Michelle is the first person of my generation that I have known well to carry a child, so it was very moving and monumental for me to observe her transformation. I wanted to create a work that she would forever be able to look at, with her baby Henry, and know the love and excitement I have for them. I feel I do not need to create deep-seeded symbolism in my art to express this, but instead pour the energy into the piece as I create it. If I care about the work, it is clear in the work. The imagery is straightforward, light, and jovial; a celebration, if you will, and an opening of arms. Michelle will know this, due to the way our lives are connected through friendship, and nothing fulfills me more than to solidify that by my craft. Perhaps any other onlooker would simply find the piece emptily “cute”, but that does not matter, because the work is not for them, but rather for Michelle and Henry, for me, and for us.
This piece is something I care about, just like the rest of my work, as I am always finding some source of excitement for every assignment I complete. I can feel the steady rhythm of my art, regardless of its purpose, and I feel whole because of it. I am confident in myself as an artist, illustrator, and printmaker, each of those titles being synonymous with the next. Aside from forever growing technical skill, I know I am doing everything the way I need to in order to be my happiest. My art is for me, and it is also for the people I keep in mind when I create it. This work, “Happy Birthday,” is no different than the spirit of my art previously, presently, or in the future, and it couldn’t make me a happier artist."

The next class I arrived early to finish up a few things that were due, and my professor found me. She said that my artist statement seemed really defensive. I told her that it was more of an explanation of the work, since I never had the chance to really express how important it was to me, and she went into the same discussion one final time. Thankfully, I was much stronger in my viewpoint by this time, because, despite its shorter length, this conversation was even harsher than the first two. She reiterated that she had created work for other people before, making "home decor, and [she'll] admit, it pleased [her] for a while," but then one day she realized she was not making real art, because it was not being selected or sold in galleries. She just wanted to tell me what she wishes someone had told her. I then realized that this issue was hardly about me at all.

And that, in her opinion, what defines art is its purpose and where its sold. Selfish gallery work is art, commercial work for other people is not. Therefore, I am not an artist.

Never before had I been scolded about not being selfish. It is such a baffling concept to me. I feel like it should be a good thing that I get as much joy as I do from pleasing others.

Never before had someone questioned my identity or career choice.

Never before had I been essentially told that I am not a successful artist.

Now I am stronger in my passion for what I do. Is this not paint on my desk? Are those not brushes in my box? Have I not been praised for the images I create by people who understand their purpose? Do I not create beautiful things with my mind and hands?

Does this not look like art to you, with its color, brushstrokes, and pattern?

"Happy Birthday," Lithography, 2011.

Does this girl not look like an artist, sitting at a desk full of fresh paper and supplies?

I think she does. I know she is. And I know that all things creatively made are art, whether that be paintings hung in a gallery, buildings on my street, the movie coming out this weekend, fabrics we wear every day, the book you are reading at night, or illustrations on a billboard advertisement. The purpose of the school I attend is to prepare creative careers from artistic skills. Your goal here is to be able to pay the bills doing something you love.

Be passionate about what you do, and never let someone tell you that it is invalid. If you create something, you are an artist. Just not a snob.

That's all for now,
adios
caitlin

A little late...

2011-02-08T18:17:00.008-05:00

Well, the second quarter of my senior year is flying by, and I've been so busy, I haven't even found the time to update you all! This is going to be a very long post, so hang in there.

I started off the quarter with some really exciting news. Two of my pieces from last quarter were entered by the SCAD illustration department into the Society of Illustrators Los Angeles Illustration West 49th show, and were accepted! Kellan also got three works in, and we furiously framed, filled out forms, and sent away our pieces at the beginning of the quarter. The show just ended last week, but we will be on the website gallery, with contact information, for two years! This is such a huge honor, I can't even describe to you how thrilled I was to be a part of a Society of Illustrators event. My work is sitting on the same website as illustrators I have looked at countless times for inspiration. And there's even the opportunity of getting clients from being there, too! Here's a link to my work. I am number 21 and 22 from the bottom.

Also, my "Bunny" piece was finally sent to Hong Kong for SCAD's "Year of the Rabbit" show. I wish I could get a picture of it on the wall there, but I'm not sure how to manage that.

First completed piece for the quarter was in my Photographic and Digital Applications for Printmaking class. We used Solar Plates, which are a much easier, but more expensive, version of Drypoint Etching. Just, instead of scratching the surface with an etching needle, you shoot and develop the plate just as you would in many photo processes. I wanted to create some hand-lettering after my roommate, and fellow illustrator, Cat Fontenot showed me this incredible website called Letter Playground. I think I might actually enter them, and see what happens! Here it is:

"See Eye Tea Why" Solar Plate, 2011

The next work I turned in was for my Portfolio class. I wanted to create a children's book spread that included many images I have been tempted to incorporate into my work lately. This included anthropomorphic characters, buildings, and plants. Peter Brown's "The Curious Garden" was especially inspiring to me for the foliage. I really need to suck it up and just buy that book already! It'll be a great addition to my collection. Some day I'll write a lengthy blog post about my love of books. Anywho, this imaginary book would be about a city frog and a country frog, yes, very much like the story of the mice. I am pretty happy with this piece!

"Urban Frog, Rural Frog," Gouache, 2011.

I decided to create a challenge for myself for my second Portfolio assignment. I was inspired to create a repeat pattern to use in nurseries or children's bedrooms, but I was very unaware of how confusing and challenging creating a pattern in Photoshop can be. I painted each element of my pattern individually in gouache, and then scanned them all into the program. Following a set of specific guidelines of half-drop patterns (they are much more confusing and difficult, but look better because the repetition is less obvious), I worked and re-worked my colors, composition and sizing for my pattern over and over. In the end, I was actually pleasantly surprised with my result, considering I am not exactly the most proficient artist in Photoshop. Creating this was challenging but not frustrating, fun but not lackadaisically so. I even took the time to create mock-ups of this pattern on potential products! Seeing my art this way was very exciting. After our critique, I tweaked a few colors. First is the original:

"Repeat Rabbits" Gouache and Digital, 2011.

And the redo:

"Repeat Rabbits (Redo)" Gouache and Digital, 2011.

Here is my mock-up sheet (which the original pattern was used for). My favourite is the lamp!

"Repeat Rabbit Mock-Ups" Digital, 2011.

Although I thought originally I would talk about my second Printmaking assignment, I might leave that for another day. I do not have the scans for it just yet, and there is quite a lot to say regarding it... Or rather, regarding my Professor's response to it. I think that one deserves a post of its own. Foreshadowing!
That's all for now.
adios,
caitlin

And so we wrap up 2010.

2010-12-29T21:56:00.010-05:00

2010 was an interesting year for me. It was straining and stressful, but full of growth and self-discovery. A lot of things I took for granted changed, and those changes made me open my eyes a little bit. I learned to accept people's faults, including my own, but also discovered when walking away from someone is the right choice. I shut down and woke back up again, I cried and laughed, I danced for days and woke up early. My art grew, my heart grew, and my body didn't. People helped me stand on my own feet, and I helped people stand on theirs. "Progress" would be the best word to sum up my year. 2010 was the conclusion to my life's Prologue, filled with love, laughs, pain, development, and a little foreshadowing. The changes most relevant to this blog, however, have to do with my artwork.
Here's a sample of what I made at the end of 2009:

"Big Fish," Digital, 2009.

I didn't even have a style yet! I will always be able to thank 2010 as the year of inspiration and finding an illustration identity.
Anywho, here's what I wrapped up the year with.
A quick piece for my old high school art teacher, Mr. Bates', Art for Life show to raise money with his class.

"Top Hat Cat," Gouache, 2010.

Sorry for the poor quality image-- we don't have a scanner at my parents' house.

The big project, however, was this:
An undertaking of epic proportions (something only I would be silly enough to take on)-- hand-painting each of our family Christmas cards. All 20 of them. In a matter of days. Let's just say, I felt a sense of accomplishment after I finished them. And some are quite cute! I made 4 each of 5 designs, to lessen the blow a little.

"Dove," Gouache and Sequins, 2010.

"Houses," Gouache and Sequins, 2010.

"Presents," Gouache and Sequins, 2010.

"Santa," Gouache and Sequins, 2010.

"Wise Men," Gouache and Sequins, 2010.

So yes, everyone got original art, and yes, I don't plan on doing that again. But I'm pretty pleased with the turnout, and pretty pleased with myself for doing it! And many thanks to my mom, who helped me glue those dang sequins on every card!

That's about all I've got for now. I hope everyone had a nice holiday, like I did. Spending time with my family is probably my number-one joy in life. Illustration is up there, too. :)

See you next year!
adios
caitlin

End of my final fall quarter

2010-11-22T13:19:00.009-05:00

Hello all,
Just a couple more pieces to show you before a nice, long holiday!

First off, the most exciting news I have this quarter is about my Advertising Illustration class. For our final assignment, my professor was able to snag an actual client, Perc Coffee. Perc (Panther's Eye Roasting Company) is starting out in Savannah, and was looking for illustrators to create a poster to hang in the places in which their coffee would be sold, for customers to try out new blends. We were to illustrate "Perc Up," the house blend, and put our illustration into a template created by Perc's designer. Only one person from the class would actually be printed on the posters. Thanks to learning how to sell myself from my trip with SCAD to New York this summer, I snagged the deal! It is extremely exhilarating to be a "real working" illustrator now, and I can't wait to see my posters hanging around Savannah. I am very excited-- working with these people is a great first job to start of my career. There may, just perhaps, even be opportunities in the future with these folks.

"Perc Up," 2010, Gouache and Digital

For the concept, I was wanting to do something unexpected and fun. These "Cool Cats" came to mind, and then as I worked on the idea, my professor and I discussed how using animals are sometimes a safer bet than actual people. This eliminates issues of offense, by not representing different groups successfully enough. Everyone can relate to the cats. And, for kicks, I put them in clothing representational of different types of people who might like drinking coffee, such as professionals, professors, moms on the go, etc. The feel I was going for was one of unity and tranquility in the gathering around coffee. There is no specific background so the viewer can more easily place themselves in the piece, imagining the coffee shop or cafe they feel most comfortable in. I also made sure to use the color scheme already provided by the designer, so the poster worked well as a whole. The groupings are painted in gouache individually, and then arranged in Photoshop.
I'll keep you updated on this incredible adventure!

Backtracking a little, here is an older piece from my Psychology class that I was unable to scan until later. For this project, we had to create a superhero based on one specific sense. It sounds like a very juvenile project, but it was a nice creative solution to learning about one of the duller parts of the class (science... in my opinion!) My partner and I received "sight," and created Eb the Eye Blinder. His eyes can intake more light than any other human, and they overflow to the outside of his eye, temporarily blinding others. That's why he has to wear those stellar shades when his power isn't in use. (Kinda cheesy, I know. But I had a lot of fun with the illustration.)

"EB" 2010, Gouache

"Popi 4/4" 2010, Lithography Print with Chine-colle

For our final lithography assignment, I decided to utilize the open theme by creating a piece symbolizing current happenings in my life. My father, a couple of weeks ago, was asked to step down from his position of store manager at a national grocery chain. He had been a loyal, award-winning and trusted employee of the store for 26 years, and the circumstances in which he lost his job were unfair and clearly revealing ulterior motives by his employer. Truly, he was constantly celebrated by the people he worked with every day, and had an uncanny knack for improving morale and margins in one fell swoop. This came as a shock to everyone in my family, as well as the company community. My father, typical to his personality, is incredibly optimistic, and already finding golden opportunities for his next career. I wanted to express to him, through this piece, how moving it is that he touched so many people, and that he continues to march on, unwavering. To illustrate this feeling, I chose to use lyrics to a sweet song, which I comically had heard from the Muppet Show. The song is about holding people up, supporting, loving and believing in them. One part reads, “If just one person believes in you/ deep enough, and strong enough, believes in you/ hard enough and long enough/ it stands to reason that someone else will think/ ‘If he can do it, I can do it.’/ Making it two whole people who believe in you.” For the imagery, I knew I wanted to use some type of ocean scene, because of my father’s undying love for the sea. He recently has discovered an interest in sailing, so I decided to use the boat as a metaphor for him, being lifted by the encouraging words of the people who love him. He is sailing away from the gloomy city, the lifestyle that did not appreciate his contributions. The color choices are all symbolic as well. Using a warm yellow for underneath the water and the boat suggests upbeat energy and happiness, while the colors fade into a chillier palette the further into the background it recedes.
I executed the assignment with three runs of photolithography plates. The images I painted by hand, scanned, and printed onto the transparencies, which I then used to burn into the photo plates. My first run was in yellow, and went quite smoothly, except for my registration. I always find myself frustrated and seemingly stupid about the concept. This is embarrassing, and I realize I should have conquered this step at my stage in the curriculum, but for some reason, I have a very difficult time with it. The large size of my prints made this even more frustrating. I ended up somehow printing my plate two inches higher than intended on the paper, which has forced me to tear my edition down to make the border less awkward and bottom-heavy. Whatever caused my error then drove me to recreate my registration once more for each plate after the first. Luckily, I had saved my transparencies, and through a very silly system, I managed to problem solve. The rest of the plates lined up pretty well.
My second run included a blend roll, which I enjoyed very much. This was my first time attempting the technique, and although not always cohesive with my style, I found it a very simple and pleasing tool to create atmospheric perspective. Not to mention my blue and green look lovely mixed together! The last run was in dark blue, with chine-colle. The only issue with this was the glue, which apparently soaked through my patterned paper, causing it to stick to the plate as I lifted the paper off. There was some tearing, unfortunately, and I have tried to mend it as subtly as possible.
Overall, I am pleased with the outcome of this project. I attempted several techniques that I had not utilized before, and worked outside my comfort zone with such a large image size. This project was a challenge, but also a success, and a wonderful way to wrap up my lithography studies.

On week 9, I got to see award-winning illustrator Peter Brown speak. I usually enjoy sitting in lectures pertaining to my major, but listening to Peter Brown was especially inspiring. Peter is a children’s book author and illustrator, with one of his books, “The Curious Garden,” having sat on the New York Times bestseller list for six months. He explained not only his personal journey into the field, but also gave advice to the audience about procedures to earn book deals. I felt as though the lecture was a very nice balance between autobiography and guidance, whereas usually speakers seen lean too heavily on one topic over another. Plus, I just really love his style!

©Peter Brown, "The Curious Garden" Cover

©Peter Brown, "The Curious Garden" Spread

This was a pretty good quarter, as far as work goes. And it looks like I managed to get by with all A's again! Next quarter I'll be taking my last printmaking class, Photographic/Digital Applications for Printmaking, and my very important Illustration Portfolio class. And for my lecture, I'll be in Art Since 1945 online. Hopefully that will allow me to focus more on my portfolio class and less on exams. But no need to worry about that, just yet!

That's all for now, more updates on holiday work coming soon.
adios
caitlin

Mid-Quarter Work

2010-11-02T16:40:00.013-04:00

Hello again!
Well, it's significantly chillier outside today, and it reminded me that quite some time has passed and I need to post some more artwork!
First off, if you live in Savannah, you should check out the SIC Urban Legends show at the Savannah Mall. Both Kellan and I have work hanging (mine is the piece I posted last time of Goat Man and Donkey Lady) and they are for sale too!
Now for the art:
Let me explain these first few. In my last update, I showed you the beginning of the Exquisite Corpse assignment in my Lithography class. The project is now complete, and I have three collaborative pieces to show for it. I have to be honest-- this project was extremely frustrating for me. It was very difficult to not be in control of my own work because of what was already completed when it was handed to me. It was a learning experience to let go, and to "go with the flow," and by the end of it, I had pretty much mastered the concept. These are not going to be in my portfolio by any means, but I am very proud of the growth they represent. Being a control freak is great when you are working alone, but not so much when collaborating with others! This assignment got me out of my comfort zone. I usually work with the mindset of "all or nothing," and end up doing a whole group project myself, or don't want to be associated with it at all. That wasn't an option here, and although it was very hard for me, I'm glad I had the experience.

"No Name Exquisite Corpse" 2010 Lithography and Chine-colle collaboration with Rhett Scott and Emma Davidson
The yellow and brown runs are Rhett's, which were after mine, and Emma wrapped it up with the cat's legs and exploding body. She had quite a challenge to make the yellow legs and my cat head work in the composition, since Rhett printed on the other side of the paper.

"Untitled Exquisite Corpse" 2010 Lithography collaboration with Rhett Scott and Emma Davidson
Emma started off with the light line work at the bottom and the teal run. She had trouble having her lines show up over the color, and when I created the body and shoes (to bring the feet back out), I had similar troubles. I wasn't sure if it was the paper choice or color, but everything seemed quite grainy. Rhett then added the heads, which I am wondering if perhaps they were meant to be flipped and connect to my body.

"Aliens Did Visit Us" 2010 Lithography and Chine-colle collaboration with Rhett Scott and Emma Davidson
The piece started with Rhett's robot body (minus the colored in plates) and brown background. Emma then added the head, and it was up to me to make the rest of the piece work. Registration was an issue because the bodies were not always in the same place, so I had to come up with something that would still look decent in different locations on the page. Another challenge was to break up or push the brown background, because it lay too heavily in the foreground. I chose to break it up with cave-painting images, which weren't as successful as I thought, and then wrapped up the theme by making his lower half a cave-painting horse. Then the body fell too far into the background, so I brought it out with the chine-colle leg, and pushed this idea further by coloring in the two plates on the robot. I feel as though I did everything I could to make this creature work, and as hideous as he is, the piece does follow many of the design elements and principles. Hooray!

"Let Go of the Past" 2010, Lithography print with Chine-colle
During our last run of the Exquisite Corpse assignment, we were also working on a trade portfolio in my Lithography class. I was very excited about this assignment for two reasons: first- we get to own other printmakers' work from our class, and second- the theme was "Dreams." I have always been fascinated with dreaming and the subconscious' way of telling us things about ourselves, and was thrilled at the opportunity to put that into my print work. The piece is based off a dream I had in which I was walking in the Sahara, near a town, and stumbled across an elephant sitting in the grass. His legs were covered with ants, and he was helpless. The elephant was dying. When I tried to brush the ants off, they stung me too, and I knew I had to run for help. I told people nearby, and no one seemed to care about the poor elephant. When I later looked up the meaning behind this dream, it suggested symbolism relating to personal problems I had been overcoming recently, which is how I came up with the title of the work.

"The Vicar Wine Label" 2010 Gouache
Meanwhile, in my Advertising Illustration class, we were working on wine labels. The wine our professor picked for us is called "The Vicar," which is the flagship wine of Chapel Hill Winery. My style is a little too child-friendly for alcohol, but I really love the way my piece came out. I chose to use less predicable religious imagery (the lion, a representation of Jesus, just as a Vicar is somewhat representative as well) because of the beautiful, warm complimentary colors of the animal's fur and the purple grape.

This is packaging for the top of the wine bottle neck. I did not create the logo.

Here's the label on my bottle! The topper is just an old trinket my mom gave me, nothing I took the time to create!

"Self-Portrait" 2010 Collage and Gouache
My last image to show you today is actually from my Introduction to Psychology class. We had to make a collage that described ourselves, and I, being always in illustration-mode, thought of an actual collage. Everyone else did clippings from magazines. Oh well! They seemed to like it, and I might actually use it in my portfolio. The metaphors here are clear-- I protect the people I love (friends, family, and even acquaintances I can empathize with) from the world, and can sometimes feel that weight upon my shoulders. The relationships in my life are extremely important to me, and I am a loyal person to those folks I hold close. Also, I wear my heart on my sleeve, whether it be anger, fear, joy, frustration, love or sadness. The color palette and pattern choices also are really indicative of my personality and life in general.

That's all the art for now! Keep an eye out for the final projects of the quarter. Oh, and some exciting news-- we have an actual client for my final Advertising project!! I could be a official working illustrator by the end of week 10. I'll give more details later.

adios,
caitlin

And the work comes pouring in!

2010-10-14T23:43:00.009-04:00

I finally have lots of scans to share with you!

To begin with, my first Intermediate Lithography assignment. I believe I already explained how it worked, but I'll give a more detailed account of the project now that there's an image to account for all that time I spent in Alexander Hall, printing away! For this piece, I chose to create a book cover for a competition I found online during the summer. The winner actually gets their illustration printed on the new edition of "The Unfastened Heart" by Lane von Herzen, in addition to $1500 and the Icon Prize. How could I pass up the chance? I read the book during the remainder of those hot weeks before school started back up, and absolutely adored it. Lane has an incredible gift for descriptions, and as I was reading the novel, I had the most lovely pictures in my head. The characters will stay with me for a long, long time.

"The Unfastened Heart 1" I. 1/5 3 Run Lithography Print with Chine-colle, 2010.

"The Unfastened Heart 2" II. 1/5 3 Run Lithography Print, 2010.

Here's my explanation of the imagery from my artist's statement portion of my entry:

"The imagery I created for "The Unfastened Heart" is inspired by several important themes within the book. Most obvious is the bird subject matter. I found the birds who lived in the cages of Anna de la Senda's home to be very symbolic of many events in the story. They were reflections of freedom, beauty, and love. This imagery, I knew from the start, was what I wanted to use for the cover. I chose to have them flying in a round pattern because of the cyclic nature of the story. The message I was left with at the end of the book was one of hope-- although they may never be exactly the same again, things in one's life can be mended. Not everything happens the same way when it comes around again, but the events with each step of growing follow a similar circular pattern. After having come to this conclusion, and after drawing out my sketch as well, I realized that my image is also symbolic of the gathering of loved ones. The Cordojo Women circled around the people they cared for most, in an effort to protect them. I almost view my little birds as those colorful characters."
So, the printmaking assignment. For this project we had to use all the different techniques to lithography we learned in our intro class. It was hard enough just doing one of them! We had to do a stone run (the bird linework), a aluminum ball-grain plate run (my flat green), and a photo-litho plate run (the lettering). It sucked the life out of me, but I am so glad I did it, and I not only survived, but got a pretty good piece out of it too! I had two versions, one with chine-colle, and one without it. I love the paper pattern, but I thought it would be wise to have variation in case I was alone in that opinion. Thoughts, anyone?

Next! My second assignment in my Advertising Illustration class was for a theater show poster. I chose to illustrate "Promises, Promises," a Broadway musical comedy that is set in the 1960s. The time period was my main factor in that decision, being that my work is pretty retro as of late. The concept is pretty basic-- the main characters are constantly attempting to maintain balance and wobble through their lives, and sometimes fall down. I did the parts of the work in gouache, traditionally, and then arranged it in Photoshop. I was having some difficulties with the composition, and ended up needing to remove some of my hand-lettering to avoid awkward tangents. This was my final piece:

"Promises, Promises 1" Gouache and Digital, 2010.

But here's with the text:

"Promises, Promises 2" Gouache and Digital, 2010.

What do you think? Which layout works best? And here's just that abandoned lettering, because I feel so guilty for leaving it out:

"Play Text" Gouache, 2010.

Next up! I did a piece for the SCAD Illustration Club (formerly Society of Illustrators). We are having a show called "Urban Legends" coming up soon. I'll update you with more info on whether or not my work gets accepted, and when the show is. But if you are a Savannahian, you should come check it out!

"Donkey Lady Meets Goat Man," Gouache, 2010.
This is based off two different urban legends (both much scarier than I depicted here.) My mother's friends growing up made her fear a strange lady in town who was said to be part donkey. (Not sure what's so scary about donkeys, actually). And by a strange coincidence, my father made up his own local legend about a crazy, deformed "goat man" in his hometown. I thought it would be funny if these hybrid monsters met instead of my parents. What would their children look like? Hopefully the parallel wouldn't include those kids looking like me... although, my brother and I did resemble chipmunks growing up.

Last but not least! The beginning of my next printmaking assignment: The Exquisite Corpse. This is a game played by artists world wide, where one person is assigned the monster's "head," another its "body" and the third its "feet." Basically, it is just a fun collaboration of styles to create a work impossibly unique. For my first part, I printed the head. This scan unfortunately doesn't do my color scheme justice, making part of the lettering just fade away into the paper. This is a two-run photo-litho print with chine-colle (the umbrella). I really liked how it turned out, so I wanted to give you a sneak peak, since who knows what the monster will look like when it's all over!

"Exquisite Corpse, Part 1" 2 Run Lithograph, 2010.

That's all I have for now. The only other fun news is that we got to see the art director from Rolling Stone magazine speak last night. It was really interesting to find out some of the quirks of editorial. For example, a whole lot more pieces get killed (never put in the magazine) than I thought, and for some strange reasons, like the owner of the magazine not liking a depiction of a person he might be friends with, or that an article is postponed, but for some reason the illustration can't be. It was pretty intriguing!
But I'll stop boring you to death now! Goodnight.
adios
caitlin

Constant Inspiration

2010-10-11T15:51:00.012-04:00

Still no scans of my current projects, but I will have work to show pretty soon, promise!
In the meantime, I have been seeing some pretty inspiring work around town.
First, in one of the last places I'd expect, I found some great retro packaging in Kroger while picking up my weekly groceries. Quaker, after seeing competitor General Mills do the same, re-released some of their 1960s box designs for Cap'n Crunch. I love the type on these so much. 1960s illustration and advertising is some of the greatest stuff ever.

Then, today, I spent a little while admiring the new show Alexander Hall has up right now of screenprints by Methane Studios. I love the flat, graphic quality, and again, retro feel of these prints. Especially the last photo, which really reminds me of the Einsels' work from the '60s.

©Methane Studios

©Methane Studios

©Methane Studios

©Methane Studios

The Einsel's work:

©Naiad and Walter Einsel

That's all for now!
adios
caitlin

Beginning of the year!

2010-09-30T10:33:00.005-04:00

Hellooooo!
One project down, many more to go. My first assignment in Advertising Illustration was to create an album cover for a band fictionally titled "The Restless." Much of their lyrics were about travel and journeys, so I immediately thought of streets and roads, but didn't want to be quite so literal. Instead, I created implied streets by arranging homes from various lifestyles and locations into an imaginary grid. Each house was painted in gouache separately, and then arranged in photoshop. It was a lot of work, but I am very pleased with the result!

"The Restless" Gouache, 2010

Nothing to show for Intermediate Lithography just yet, which is pretty frustrating considering how much time I've already put into that class. Our first assignment is to essentially do everything we learned in our Intro to Litho class... in one project. AH! So, I have to print a stone, a ball-grain plate, and a photo-litho plate. Think back to that "how-to" post I had last spring. It's a whole lot of work!

My Introduction to Psychology class is amazingly fun and exciting. I always enjoy going there, and I feel like I'm really getting a lot out of it-- how to understand myself better, as well as others. Perfect choice for a general education elective.

That's all for now!
adios
caitlin

Back to School!

2010-09-06T20:03:00.007-04:00

Hello for a brief moment! Just a quick note that I am starting school again a week from today (the journey there begins Wednesday) so there will be much art to show again pretty soon!
I'll be taking Advertising Illustration, thanks to my visit at GSD&M which made me realize expanding my horizons even further isn't such a bad thing. Also, I'll be in my second-to-last printmaking class-- Intermediate Lithography. I'm a little nervous about it because I feel like I haven't quite found my niche yet with litho. I'm considering doing some of my hand-lettering instead of trying to bring printmaking and illustration together, like I did before. And to top it all off-- Introduction to Psychology, for a credit and some fun! I've always had an interest in how people interpret things and function differently.
Anywho, here's a throwback to my early days as a printmaker, just for kicks. This is from my Freshman year of high school-- it won awards if you can believe it!

(This used to have a name, but I don't remember anymore. It was something very profoundly emo) Relief Print, Collage, Colored Pencil, 2004.

That's all for now!
adios
caitlin

As Summer Winds Down

2010-08-20T12:04:00.004-04:00

Hello all! This will be a short update. I finished a couple more pieces this summer! Probably the most art-productive summer to date! Not too much to say about them, except that I'm pretty happy with the results and they will fill some holes in my portfolio. Take a gander!

"Moving?" 2010, Gouache

"Visit Austin" 2010, Gouache

Also, meander over to my official site-- it got a pretty major facelift! (If it looks the same, give it a day or two. Sometimes the change is slow.) I like it much better than the one I had before, and I even managed to teach myself a little html code in the process! Super-nerd in the making.
That's all for now!
adios,
caitlin

New Merchandise!

2010-07-28T16:52:00.008-04:00

Calling all cat fans! You can now own your very own customized cat shirt or tote (or something else if you prefer, just ask) hand screen-printed by yours truly! Just place an order on my Etsy shop, or if you'd like to email me, you can do that too.

Basically, the cats can be arranged any way you wish-- I have two sample styles on the shop, but if you have your own ideas, that's fine too. Also, you can choose the shirt color (or style-- just let me know where to get it).

Best of all, however, is the cat accessorizing! If you find your cat a little too dull, spice it up a bit with a bowler hat, monocle, top hat, bow tie, scarf or earmuffs! I'll take other suggestions too, if you want something a little more personal.

Guys, this isn't just for girls, if you want one too.

In the fall I'll also be selling prints again on my Etsy shop, so check back in if you have something in mind!

That's all for now!
adios
caitlin

Some Summer Assignments

2010-07-22T19:02:00.006-04:00

Hello! Sorry it's been about a month. I would have posted, but I didn't have anything scanned in to show you! One of the frustrations of being away from school and all it's conveniences-- you have to go to Office Max and pay for scans. Anywho, this is what I've been up to:

"GK Chesterton" Gouache, 2010.

I made this piece pretty quickly after getting home from New York. I was feeling really inspired and wanted to add some more hand-lettering to my portfolio. It's something that I have been so interested in lately, but never really had a chance to explore much. Thanks to my wonderful friend Shelley, I actually got to take this piece and my little portfolio booklet to ad agency GSD&M here in Austin. Shelley's aunt Liz works there as a hand-letterer, and she gave us a tour of the office. It seems to be a really fun place to work, and the interior of the building is indicative of that! I ended up leaving behind a few booklets and postcards. The staff there really seemed to like my work. If I want to juggle an in-house job like that while working on my freelance career, I just need to make more pieces that are applicable to advertising. So that's why I switched from Humorous Illustration to Advertising Illustration for the fall! I'll also be taking Introduction to Psychology and Intermediate Lithography.
Speaking of printmaking, here's a lino relief with chine-colle I did for our New York Harper's Magazine assignment. My previously-published article was called "Life on Broadway." There was a specific portion of the article describing bees, but more appropriately, the article begins with a quote comparing the city to a beehive. That's where I drew inspiration for this piece. Unfortunately, when the very nice Office Max man scanned this in for me, he cropped off a portion of the left-hand side. If I get a better one, I'll post it. What's missing is a bee or two, and some buildings like the right side. The work was pretty symmetrical. Ironically, when printing this at the wonderful and amazing Slugfest Studio in Austin (where I plan on having a membership after school! It's just lovely-- they even have cats) I went to brush something off my leg, and low-and-behold- it was a bee, which proceeded to inject it's entire rear end into my thumb. Two days later it's still pregnant with poison. I found it pretty amusing that the subject of my own illustration ended up hurting me!

"Life on Broadway" II. 1/3 Relief Print with Chine-Colle, 2010.

Here it is without the chine colle:

"Life on Broadway" I. 1/4 Relief Print, 2010.

And last, but not least, is my final New York assignment: an additional portfolio piece that takes the constructive feedback from one of the people we visited. I decided to use this as an opportunity to make another children's book example, and made a point to have my character in action, creating more of a narrative. This was based off some advice given to us by Claire Counihan, Holiday House's Director of Art and Design. I had a lot of fun making this, and I think I'm getting into a bit of a good groove here.

"A Very Large Cookie Jar" Gouache and Collage, 2010.

More art on the way! I am currently working on a travel-poster-ish image for Austin, Texas (because I just love this place!) and hopefully I'll get it scanned in soon. Also, keep an eye out for a post about my new little screen print business. If you love cats, you'll love this stuff!
Until next time!
adios,
caitlin

New York, New York

2010-06-21T22:49:00.025-04:00

Hello all!
Well, I just got home from a whirlwind week in New York with SCAD. It was insanely busy and tiring, but I am so, very very glad I decided on a whim to go. I got so much out of it, I don't know if I can really fit it all in a blog post. But I'll sure try! It was scary and uplifting, eye-opening and humbling, inspiring and surprising. And most of all, it was extremely motivating! I am so ready to put together a killer portfolio now. I want to knock everyone's socks off with my illustration!

A lovely scene in New York!

First, we went to Illustration House-- Walt Reed is the founder, and also author of many illustration history books. This is the home to many renowned illustrator's works. It was a joy to hear all the stories of the illustration greats from such a respectable man and his son/business partner.

Illustration House gallery.

Next stop was the home and studio of children's book illustrators Ted and Betsy Lewin. His style is very realistic, and hers loose and lively, but somehow they have found a way to collaborate and create books together, based on their love of the animal kingdom and travel. They have gone on a trip every year since 1970 to visit every continent, but Antarctica, to watch the animals and hear the locals' stories. Their home was just incredible, adorned with the treasures of their travel. Every wall is covered in their own beautiful artwork, and they have such an everlasting love, it's truly from a book or movie. They are both so proud of each other and supportive, and they love recounting the stories from all their adventures. I just loved Ted and Betsy, and their eclectic studio. I want so badly to have a life like theirs! They are content, creative, and found a way to incorporate everything they love into one profession: each other, art, animals and travel! I would give to be so happy. It was truly inspiring.

Betsy's work on the wall.

Ted's work on the wall.

The incredible studio!

Ted showing us his book dummies.

Betsy giving a demonstration.

Our last stop of the day was at Harper's magazine. Thanks to our professor Talon, we had an assignment to illustrate a previously-published article, in which we will be contacting them through the sketch process, just like a real job. It will be a great opportunity to learn how the process works, and to gain a connection with Harper's. My article is about Broadway, and was originally written in the late 1800s. It will be an exciting challenge that I can't wait to take on! It has been requested that I work in my relief printmaking style for this assignment, so I have a good deal of work ahead of me. But I can't wait! More updates on that soon.

The next day we spent at the Society of Illustrators. It feels just like home to me! Tons of books and famous illustrations on the walls. We were spoken to by Holiday House, a children's book publisher, and got a good insight into the business, with advice on how to present our portfolios, contact publishers, and specifically what to adjust in each of our books. My portfolio review went pretty well, she asked me a few questions about my choice of media and such, but didn't say too much. She was very nice, and even had another person from Holiday come by to see our portfolios again. Overall, it was pretty successful, if I don't say so myself!

One of many bookshelves in the Society of Illustrators.

We also were visited by both Yuko Shimizu, who spoke to us about editorial and advertising illustration, and Murray Tinkelman, who discussed self-initiated projects and the importance of continuing to work even when the phone doesn't ring. Both were just lovely people to listen to, and it was nice to hear perspectives from illustrators who have been successful in the business for some time.

©Yuko Shimizu

©Murray Tinkelman

The third day started off with a visit to the New York Times. We spoke with the art directors from several sections of the paper. The insight into editorial illustration was really helpful, and they were a fun and relate-able group of people. I got some good feedback on my work and presentation of it, which I will most certainly be applying to this summer's projects. I really liked the way they worked with us, being personable so that the critique wasn't painful, and having both positive and negative feedback. It was motivating and made me want to put together the most impressive book I can. That's the plan for the next few months, anyway!

Next, we visited two SCAD graduates at their home and studio. Zelda Devon and Kurt Huggins work primarily in sequential, and just broke into the field. What they told us was eye-opening and slightly intimidating, but after a little scare, it made me even more passionate about illustration. They really emphasized how difficult it truly is to be an illustrator and to get work. You have to be very diligent and motivated to get your name out there. No matter how good you are, no one will see you or hire you if you aren't networking. As much as I love SCAD, (the program is wonderful and I have gotten so much out of it), it made me realize how cushioned we are, as students, from the outside world. I am definitely a big fish in a small pond, as they say, and it was pretty bewildering to see what the real world is like. But I know I can do it, and I want this more than anything. Zelda and Kurt's talk pumped me up to get out there and show the illustration world what I'm made of!

©Zelda Devon and Kurt Huggins

The last stop of this day was at 3x3 Magazine, a publication for illustration. We spoke with Charles Hively, the publisher of the magazine, who is notorious for a hard critique. I have to admit my heart was pounding going into that meeting! Mr. Hively is clearly very passionate about illustration. He told us about the decline in the public's interest in it, and therefore illustrators get paid less and less. His goal is to get illustration's good reputation back. This talk made me want to become active in his fight for our field. He had some very good arguments about how people who accept jobs for way too low of pay harm not only themselves, but also the rest of us. Doing this allows clients to take advantage of us. Hively talked about how photography was replacing illustration because it's "faster" and "easier." He said that illustration is "in Wal-Mart" and needs to get out. We shouldn't be looked at as the last resort for an image in editorial publications or books. His critique was pretty hard, but it will make me grow to hear the worst. He wasn't fond of a lot of my work, and said my portfolio is nowhere near consistent, which is a big problem. He seemed to like my woodcuts alright, and he had some good tips for book presentation. It was hard to hear, but completely necessary. I'm grateful for the experience.

Our second-to-last day was much easier on us! We went to Friend of a Farmer for breakfast and lunch with two children's book illustrators, Melissa Iwai and Kristen Balouch. Hearing them talk was very refreshing. They are both happy with their jobs and lives, and are doing quite well for themselves. Both are very talented women, and I really enjoyed getting to see their processes behind each book. I'd love to be in their shoes one day, talking with students about how to make it!

Friends of a Farmer

©Kristen Balouch

©Melissa Iwai

Mark Smylie from Archaia Studio Press, who creates children's comic books. It is not specifically an area of illustration that suits me, but he was a very nice man and had some more great feedback on how to enter the creative field.

We wrapped up the day at Nancy Stahl's apartment. Her studio was just amazing! She had shelves and shelves of books (it appears this is a requirement for an illustrator, which is fine by me!) and lots of little oddities from thrift stores and garage sales. A lot of it seemed to be from the '40s and '50s, and it's inspiration shows in her work. It gave me some great ideas of how I'd like my studio to be one day! I am so excited to no longer work in a dorm room.

Her awesome studio! This picture doesn't do it justice.

©Nancy Stahl

Our last day was another great one. We started off at Penguin Group, and met with people from both Dial Books for Young Readers and Dutton Children's Books, both of which are housed under Penguin (in total, three people: one for each). My portfolio review went really well with them, and it was so relieving. They told me my style was very European and "hip," and even pointed out a specific character from my children's book that they liked a lot. Steven Meltzer, the associate publisher and executive managing editor for Penguin, said he would love to hang my "Cat" piece in his house! He said my gouache work was very 1960s retro, which is a good thing, since it's coming back in style. I was ecstatic with this review! These are people I hope to be working for someday. And they liked my stuff!

We wrapped up the trip back in SOI with Steven Tabbutt, another SCAD graduate who has incredible fine art illustration, and David Guertin of Insomniac Games and Creature Box, who does a lot of character design for games. Steven's work was really interesting to see, because he even showed us original works. It made me proud to be a SCAD student! David was a really funny guy, and also emphasized how hard you have to work to remain relevant in the business, but how it's also very much worth it. Anyone interested in character development should contact him for some advice. He is a really nice man and gives great tips. We went to Toy Story 3 with the group and then said our good-byes. It was such a great trip. I completely recommend it to any SCAD students (although Talon won't be your professor for it, because he is sadly leaving the school! I am happy for him and his new opportunities though).

©Steven Tabbutt

Whew! Exhausting, huh? Oh, and we also got to see some famous murals. Dean Cornwell and Maxfield Parrish! I was so glad to get to experience these huge paintings in person.

Maxfield Parrish

Dean Cornwell

I'll update more about my progress on assignments this summer. Rest your eyes from all that reading! Update soon.
adios
caitlin

Printing a Lithography Stone

2010-06-01T17:15:00.022-04:00

Hello All. One last post for today.

I thought I would explain the very complicated process of Lithography stones. This will be lengthy, so bear with me! And don't try this at home (mainly because you won't have access to hardly any of these supplies).

First, you pick a stone. This one was my friend; I used it for every stone assignment in the class.

Then you have to grind the stone down with a levigator. I unfortunately don't have any pictures of this process, but it involves varied sizes of grit, a spray hose, and the levigator itself- a heavy, round wheel with a handle you spin over the grit, to smooth down the stone. This eliminates the old image on the stone and levels it out.

Next, you transfer your drawing onto the stone.

I used autographic ink to recreate the image. This ink is one of several greasy mediums that can be used on a lithographic stone. This needs to sit overnight.

Next is the first etch. This is a dangerous step, so you need to wear a mask and gloves!

After preparing the workspace, brush talc and rosin over the image to solidify it.

Then you made the etch mixture. First pour gum arabic into the etch glasses. Then add drops of nitric acid; the more drops the hotter the etch. I used this chart to figure out how much acid to use.

Apply the etch with a brush.

Let it sit, and then buff it down tight with a rolled cheesecloth.

This needs to sit for at least an hour, during which, you can set up for the second etch.

Set up 1803 ink, water bowls, and sponges.

Wipe out image with Ispoar G.

Rub asphaltum over image (this is where I probably ruined it- you aren't supposed to use as much as I did here).

Charge up roller, and then wash out the asphaltum with a dirty sponge.

Wipe stone with clean, damp sponge, then roll two passes of 1803 ink, then recharge the roller. Repeat this until the image is dark.

Fan dry the stone.

Talc and Rosin again.

Repeat the etch steps again.

Set up the press. Make sure the stone is in the center, up against the woodblocks, and lined up with the scraper bar.

Tear your paper, and set up the marks on the press that tell you when to put the pressure on and off.

Roll out 2244 ink.

Wash out image with Isopar G again.

Rub asphaltum again.

Wash out with dirty sponge.

Now repeat the clean sponge and ink roller passes. Here's a video of me printing at Open Studio Night:

Whew! The end!
adios
caitlin

Lots of Art!

2010-06-01T16:12:00.021-04:00

Hello again.
Sorry I haven't been so great about updating lately. After midterms I was so busy with the end of the year, packing, storage units, job hunting for the summer and getting ready for New York, I just couldn't manage to squeeze blog time in! But now I'll squeeze all that was missed into a couple blog posts.

First off: my second Lithography assignment! This is a two plate run, and a rather large print. These are aluminum plates, which require a lot more processing than the pronto plates from the first assignment. One run is the brown line work, done with Litho Crayons, and the second (yellow) created with washes. Overall, a pretty successful but not quite portfolio-worthy project.

"Catnip" AP, Lithograph Print, 2010.

Moving right along! Kellan and I, as mentioned previously, were participants in the Sidewalk Chalk Festival. No luck again this year as far as winning goes, but we had fun with it, as usual, and got a lot of good feedback from the people walking by. The weather wasn't as good this year, but we stuck it out, and it was certainly worth it!

The proud artists!

The final product! Children playing pirates in a treehouse with their imaginary friend.

Me working on our piece.

An interesting thing happened to me when I went into Panera for lunch with my roommate Maria a few weeks ago. The cashier, when I handed her my card, said "Oh! You're Caitlin Alexander!" I was pretty confused, and agreed with the statement- yes, that's my name... She then went on to say, "You're really good!" I had no idea what she was talking about, and it was pretty clear, so she continued, "You're illustration, right? I've seen your stuff, it's awesome! You have a boyfriend, Kellan, he's good too!" My department is pretty small, and I didn't know this girl from any of my classes. Needless to say it was very flattering to be recognized by my name as an illustrator! And she even knew about certain details of my life. Celebrity status, woo! Just kidding, but it was pretty exciting.

The third assignment in Poster was very frustrating for me. I actually did the project twice, starting over a day before it was due because I was so unhappy with what I made. I still wasn't thrilled about the final result, but it was better than what I had in the beginning. It is a poster for a band called Horse Feathers. The event in New York is real, and I wanted to show the concept of a indie-folk band taking over the big apple. Here, the chickens are coming out of an apple, like worms. I feel as though my color choices here are poor, and the composition was difficult to understand. A lot of people didn't see this as an apple, and I didn't like the aesthetics of the chickens.

"Horse Feathers take 1" Gouache and Photoshop, 2010.

In the second attempt, I limited my color palette, and removed the harsh orange. I made the chickens more readable, and the top of the apple makes a more iconic image. I used watercolor paper instead of bristol to help with the texture, making my technique a lot better here. I am not, however, as fond of my hand-lettering in this work. I think it looks a little sloppy and rushed (because it was) and, as nice of an idea it was to use the leaf for text, I didn't get it working quite right here. Oh well, learning experience!

"Horse Feathers" Gouache and Photoshop, 2010.

I actually started over my third Lithography assignment as well, although I don't have any scans of the first attempt to show you. This was less of my fault as an artist and more of my fault as a chemist. One of the many steps of the stone process I managed to goof up, and my first print filled in really badly. In a post following this one, I will give a step-by-step of the stone lithography process. So, I started over, and came up with this simple little illustration. The colors are done by hand, not print, with watercolor. The drawing on the stone was done with autographic ink.

"Too Many Dogs" AP, Lithography Print with Watercolor, 2010.

I was actually printing this edition (I pulled a grand total of 21 prints!) during Open Studio Night, where I also had working hanging for sale. I was essentially a demonstrator of lithography, and had people asking me questions about the process. It was a lot of fun, and I'd love to do it again.

I finished my final Litho print as quickly as I could, since I knew I had so much more work in other classes to do. This is also with autographic ink, but there is another run of monoprinting for the the balloon colors and background blue. This is when a printmaker basically paints on a sheet on plexiglass with ink, and then runs it through the press. To get a consistent edition this way is very challenging. The chine-colle (basically collage glued down as the paper is run through the press to print at the same time) of the balloon was done with the linework. It was thought, after seeing these results, that the work still seemed incomplete, and I was considering hand-coloring a little bit of it (which I did do with the hats later), when one of the printmaking professors came in with a box of goodies, showing us little tricks. I tried out her craft Martha Stewart flocking powder out, and it actually balanced the piece perfectly! Flocking powder, in case you aren't familiar with it, is a powder, that once glued down, feels like a fake velvet texture. Very retro greeting card. I love it!

"Balloon Brigade 2/3" Lithography Print with Watercolor and Flocking Powder, 2010.

I had three works in the juried show Alexander Ink at the end of this quarter. Two of them were in the main gallery, and I even got the "Sentient Bean Award" for one of them. The printmaking department announced my name as Caitlin Anderson, though, which was a little awkward. Oh well!

Me with my works in the main gallery.

My other piece framed.

I decided that I really needed to pull out the best work I could do for the final in Poster. I had to redeem myself after that Horse Feathers piece. I looked a lot at the work of Mary Blair and other 1950s illustrators, and carefully worked on this poster for a documentary. I am very pleased with everything about it. I think I finally hit the nail on the head here with the painting style working with the subject matter, and my hand-lettering. And I think the professor agreed! He was a difficult one to please sometimes, but I'm pretty sure he liked this one from me.

"Died Young Stayed Pretty" Gouache, Pencil and Digital, 2010.

And finally, I had to do a piece for the New York trip coming up. I reviewed my portfolio with my professor, and he told me that I have a style for people (gouache) and a style for animals (printmaking), with crossover between (people in printmaking), but I needed something of animals in the people style. So I came up with this! I had been dying to do a piece with a city backdrop, and it was kind of wonderful to have freedom in what I wanted to do (but not too much! That usually ends badly for us illustrators. We need just a little direction to find our own creative method within). I am very happy with this piece, too.

"Worm!" Gouache, 2010.

I also had some work in a Litho show with my class called "Polyautography: Science of the Handmade." It went well, and I even traded prints with some of my classmates. Hooray free wall decor!

And Ancient Art and Architecture, well, was difficult to say the least. Lots of memorization, and in that sense, kind of the art history class from hell! But I pulled it together and ended up getting an A in the class. All A's my entire Junior Year! I have been on the Dean's List my whole college career so far and have a 3.88 GPA. Let's just hope I can keep it up for three more quarters! In the fall I am taking Introduction to Psychology, Humorous Illustration, and Intermediate Lithography. But before then I have a few months off, and a trip to New York to show some important folks my portfolio. I am very excited and nervous. And I will update you again on how the trip goes!
Have a fantastic and lovely summer!
adios,
caitlin

Long time no... write.

2010-04-21T23:00:00.004-04:00

Yikes... Sorry it's been so long! I got caught up in being busy the last few weeks and didn't have time to upload the scans of my artwork. So here's an update on everything I have been up to.

Kellan and I did get into the SCAD Con Artist's alley a couple weekends ago. It was a really good opportunity to get our work out to the public, by way of business cards, portfolios, prints, and original work. It was in conjunction with the Career Fair, which we also participated in. I showed my portfolio to a few companies and got some pretty good feedback. First I talked to Odopod (www.odopod.com). The man was very kind and sincere, but did say that they had been somewhat falsely advertised and weren't really looking for illustrators as much as artists of a more graphic nature. He did, however, take a card of mine (I used postcards instead of business cards because they catch a client's eye more, and they can stick it on their bulletin board for future reference. I also made several different kinds displaying different styles I am capable of, allowing them to choose.) and he seemed to enjoy getting to pick one. Then I talked to Gallopade International (www.gallopade.com) who work with children's materials, including literature and products for schools. The woman was very nice, although rushed because of the long line, and told me that they may be interested in my black and white line work. She gave me what they called a "free pass" for SCAD artists, and told me to contact them for either freelance work or internship opportunities. She took a postcard and a copy of my portfolio. Next I spoke with people from Wild Apple (www.wildapple.com), which is a company that creates artwork to be sold to home decor lines. I really love their stuff- gorgeous floral patterns are right up my alley! She seemed to like my work, took several postcards, a copy of my portfolio, and suggested I try for an internship (which I did apply for later). And I got a free bumper sticker reading "buy art!" I felt very comfortable with these people. If I don't end up working with them at any point, I know I'll at least be a fan of their product! Lastly, I talked with a woman from an animation studio, which I believe was simply called "The Studio." The line to see her was over an hour long, and people were not getting good reviews, but she surprisingly liked my work very much. She said that although it didn't fit what they need, she was personally inspired by my illustration (claiming to even "love" it! a rare word in these situations) and took several of my postcards for her bulletin board. She was very nice, and even though I won't be getting any career relations from that interview, it sure was a confidence boost to get feedback like that! So, after a long and informative day, Kellan and I were just about to pack up, when we were told by the man in charge of SCADCon that corporate employees from Scholastic had been there. We waited a little while, hoping to get to see someone, but alas, no one showed. The really wonderful SCADCon coordinator took a copy of our portfolios to give to the Scholastic people and said there would be a good chance they'd be back next year. Something to look forward to! All in all, it was a very successful day.

Me with my table at SCADCon!

Last week, we went to a lecture about the future of illustration and graphic design with the upcoming technology. The illustration and graphic design departments had some really incredible guests to speak: Bridgid McCarren, Cristoph Niemann, Tyler Darden, Christopher Sickels, and most impressively, Yuko Shimizu and Anita Kunz! It was a very important lecture, and made me proud to be involved in the word of illustration. There are a lot of inspiring people in the field.

An illustration by (and copyrighted to ©) Yuko Shimizu.

A depiction of Martha Stewart by (and copyrighted to ©) Anita Kunz)

Other news: I entered my Big Bunny from Winter quarter (look back in the entries or on my site to see it again) into the Spring Open Studio for printmaking. It'll be for sale, if anyone wants to spend a bunch of money on an awesome one-in-three-kind print!

More exciting news: I found out last night that all three of the prints I submitted into the Alexander Ink exhibition were accepted! Two of the three will be displayed in the main foyer, while the third will be in the printmaking gallery space. This is a pretty big deal, considering the juror chose less than half of the entries to hang in the show! Two pieces you may recognize from last quarter: "What Will You Strive for in Your Life?" and "To Love Any Art Form." Look on my site or back a few entries to see them again... or better yet, come by Alexander Ink in May! And what is the third piece, you may ask? It is something new! I bet you were waiting for that.

"When Nini Meets Clarence, 2/3" Lithograph Print, 2010.

This is my first assignment from Introduction to Lithography. We used pronto plates for this assignment, and here I have used a total of three-- one for the yellow, one for blue, and the last for black. The image was originally scanned from a pen drawing. I know I said I would attempt to explain the steps of lithography, but now I think I might change my mind. It is a very, very complicated and confusing process. Maybe I'll take pictures during my next assignment of the process... no promises, though! I just turned in my second assignment today, which I haven't scanned yet. It's done on an aluminum plate, and next we will be using stones. Very exciting stuff! Oh, and what's this? More new art? Hurrah!

"Whales," Gouache and Digital, 2010.

Did you know that there is a sanctuary for fin whales and striped dolphins in the Mediterranean governed by France, Monaco, and Italy? Did you also know that this "sanctuary" is not being treated as sacred in the least, and tourism, trade traffic, and gas treatment plants are all really placed in this area? And would you guess that because of these things, the populations of these aquatic species are dwindling quickly? I didn't either. That's why I chose this subject for my social awareness poster. This image will be entered into two separate poster contests-- one online and one with the school. Hopefully this image will be going places!

Well, not much to show you in Ancient Art and Architecture, although I could write another paper on the comparisons and contrasting elements of the Orientalizing Period's "Maiden of Auxerre" and the Archaic Period's "Anavysos Kouros." Doesn't sound appealing? Didn't think so. It actually is very intriguing subject matter, though. I just have a hard time remembering all the Greek terminology! I had my midterm yesterday, though, and I think I did pretty well. Hopefully all A's so far!

Other than that, not much else is happening. I'm trying to figure out what classes to take in the Fall, but there aren't too many options now that I only have three quarters left (eek!). I'll give another update after sign up. And this weekend is the Sidewalk Festival! Kellan and I are sharing a space, just like last year. I hear a rumor that the people from Cartoon Network are judging, so maybe we stand a chance! Pictures will be posted later.

That's all for now! If you made it this far, kudos!
adios,
caitlin

First Project of the Quarter!

2010-04-05T23:46:00.008-04:00

Hey everyone!
Spring quarter is finally picking up some speed, as my first assignments come to a close. Unfortunately, I only have a scan of one of them, but the other will be coming soon! This is a movie poster for my Poster Design for Illustration class. I chose to re-work the design for "Away We Go" because the poster released had a fantastic little, busy doodle in the background, but then some terrible Photoshop effects on an image covering it. Due to the fact that I don't know who to copyright for the image, I'm going to avoid putting it on my blog, but just Google-search "away we go poster" and it should come right up. Sorry for being lame like that. Here's my interpretation:

"Away We Go" 2010 Gouache and Digital

I think the concept is pretty straightforward. The main characters are presented clearly, and in the background are images that symbolize people and places they encounter on their journey to find a home. Everything is hand-drawn and painted, but compiled and tweaked on Photoshop. I got it printed for the class today at a whopping 22 by 30 inches! It's certainly shocking to see your work at that scale! I'm pretty happy with it, although I think the composition suffered a little because of it's complicated nature. I was really inspired by illustrator Nate Williams for this poster. His artwork is fantastic and fun, and his hand-lettering is to die for! Here's a sample of his work. Check out more of it at http://www.n8w.com.

"Beautiful Life" © Nate Williams

Other news: I won third place for the CSSS image competition! Yippee! (Look back a couple entries for my piece-- it's of a girl wearing water wings). I got a 25 dollar gift card to the Gryphon Tea Room, which was immediately spent on some delicious sandwiches and sweet potato fries.

I am trying for an additional off-campus program scholarship to help pay for this opportunity that my parents so kindly agreed to let me participate in. I am finishing up the application now, and am keeping my fingers crossed!

Also, my large "Bunny" print will be for sale at the printmaking Open Studio show! It will be in May, and if you are a Savannah resident, you should definitely stop by! There will be some pretty intriguing demonstrations at this already-awesome show.

Possibilities: My boyfriend (and fellow illustrator) Kellan and I are trying for a table at SCAD's Artist Alley, a part of SCAD Con and the Career Fair. It will be a great opportunity to get our work out there to other students, alumni, and, most importantly, professionals. I sure hope it works out!
Also, I'll be entering the juried show "Alexander Ink" in the next couple weeks, and am keeping my fingers crossed on that as well. More updates soon.

Lastly, I just want to say congratulations to Kellan for his interview/portfolio review with Pixar. He was chosen from many (and was one of a few) who got face time with employees from the incredible company. He is trying for an internship there this summer (his interest would be in character design) and I am wishing him the best of luck! He sure does have a leg up, now that they've met him. And don't let his modesty fool you if you talk to him! It's a really big deal!

That's all for now.
adios
caitlin

A slow start

2010-03-30T13:21:00.004-04:00

Hello all! I am mid-way through the second week of the quarter, and not a lot has happened just yet. I think spring break was too short, because I've had a hard time getting really excited about my classes so far. Not that I dislike them, I just still have those lazies left over! I am taking Poster Design for Illustration, Introduction to Lithography, and Ancient Art and Architecture. I was least excited for Ancient, but I'm pretty interested so far in the reading material. The Minoans were a really amazing group of people, with a pretty sad ending. They weren't particularly interested in battle or hunting the way mainland Greece was, and had a great love for the sea. They seemed quite the peaceful folks, and then a tsunami wiped out a good portion of Crete, allowing what was likely mainland Greece to come take over. The thing they loved most ended up being their demise. Pretty tragic stuff.
I don't have any art yet to show you, but I can give a quick update on what we are starting. In Poster, we are working on movie posters, and I have chosen to illustrate Away We Go. I love that movie! Anything with a group of ridiculous characters and a journey, and I'm in. If you haven't seen it, you should rent it for a good laugh. In Litho, we are starting out with Pronto plates. The steps involved are really difficult to explain, so when I post the piece, I'll try and give you a run-down for it. My imagery for it is going to be reminiscent of the "Cat" piece I did a little while ago.
That's about all for now! Here's an old piece to tide you over:

"The Wilson Brothers Get a Treat" 2009, mixed media

Not much like my current stuff, huh?

adios,
caitlin

And so ends the most challenging quarter of my college career!

2010-03-11T23:47:00.007-05:00

Hola!
Today was the last day of classes for the winter quarter of 2010. I can't believe I only have four more before I'm out of the nest and out on my own! What a scary and exhilarating thought... I'm really looking forward to the rest of school (this quarter I think was the beginning of the best classes yet) and looking forward even more to starting my life as an illustrator. I feel like all my little ducks are lining up just perfectly right now. It's official-- I'm going to New York this summer with SCAD for a week! We don't have a set itinerary just yet, but I will fill you in on all the juicy details as soon as I find out. I know we will be visiting big-name companies, meeting successful illustrators, showing off our portfolios, and seeing amazing artwork. It's going to be career and life changing! I can't wait. Also, I'm really pulling together my different styles now, and will be changing my website (yes, again) at the end of next week to fit those needs. I have about four styles going, but often they overlap-- printmaking (loads of patterns, usually relief prints), collage (strange papers and textures), flat qouache (vibrant colors and nice movement) and off-register qouache (pretty self-explanatory). I can't decide yet how I want to break up my website. Currently, it's by field of illustration, but I'm wondering if perhaps all my images should be on one page, or even broken up by style instead? Any thoughts?

Anyway, here's the last piece I did for the quarter. It's for a mock-up Rolling Stone cover. Mine is for Elvis Costello: Master of Wordplay. Get it, Scrabble is a word game? Har har. I'm so clever.

"Elvis Costello" 2010 gouache and ink

So I'm off for the week for some relaxing fun in this nice, new, warm and lovely weather! And when I come back, I'll have a brand-spanking new website, and three brand-spanking new classes.

NEXT TIME, ON JUST SOME ART, BY CAITLIN ALEXANDER:

WILL THE EIGHT-AM POSTER DESIGN FOR ILLUSTRATION CLASS BE TOO DIFFICULT TO WAKE UP FOR IN THE MORNING? UNLIKELY, CONSIDERING CAITLIN HAS HAD AN EARLY CLASS EVERY QUARTER.

AND WILL INTRODUCTION TO LITHOGRAPHY BE ANYTHING SHE EXPECTED? HARD TO SAY, SINCE SHE HAS NO IDEA WHAT TO EXPECT.

AND LASTLY, JUST HOW BORING WILL SURVEY OF ANCIENT ART AND ARCHITECTURE BE? HOPEFULLY NOT AT ALL, SINCE OLD STUFF IS COOL.

SEE YOU NEXT WEEK, ON JUST SOME ART, BY CAITLIN ALEXANDER.

Wow... time for bed.
adios
caitlin

I got my books in the mail today!

2010-03-08T15:57:00.002-05:00

Hey everybody! Just a quick post to let you know that I got my three copies of "Which Pet?" today in the mail, and Blurb did a fantastic job on printing them! The colors are perfect and there is minimal cropping of any images.

Running off to class now!
adios
caitlin

Wrapping up winter quarter

2010-03-06T18:38:00.007-05:00

Hello all!

I've been working like a madwoman this week on finals-- it's probably been the hardest quarter yet! Luckily, I am done with two classes, and just have a little left in the third. I am still waiting to receive my book from Blurb. The package tracker said it arrived in Savannah yesterday... and yet, I haven't received a notification from SCAD's mail center. I really hope it hasn't gotten lost in the shuffle! Printmaking, as of this afternoon, is finally over! And I even have scans of my last two prints.

"What Will You Strive for in Your Life? 1/3" Relief Print, 2010.

"To Love Any Art Form 2/3" Relief Print, 2010.

I hope it's apparent that the two images go together. It's somewhat of a narrative-- the little girl asking a bird a question, and his reply. I wanted to do something a bit more within my illustration style for these pieces. The second work actually was the first one I made, and at that point I truthfully didn't really know where I was going with the concept! Only after I completed it did I know what I wanted to do. Both used multiple blocks and stencils. Printing in color isn't nearly as simple as painting in it! Because of the numerous colors and registration on each block, each piece had to run through the press many times. "Strive for" ran through it six times, and "Art Form" went through nine. That's a whole lot of printing considering these are editions and there were six attempts with each... I guess that would make 87 runs through the press (since one of them I didn't complete due to really poor registration). Yikes! A lot more complicated than it looks, huh?

Really quickly, I made a piece for the Counseling and Student Support Services' image competition. It's pretty bold, which is nice, but my favourite thing about it isn't the aesthetic as much as the concept. CSSS keeps you afloat when you feel like you can't tread water any longer!

"Let CSSS" Gouache and Digital, 2010.

That's all I have right now for you. I still have a whole piece to do (and a paper to write) for Survey, so expect another update soon!
adios
caitlin

A few finishing touches

2010-02-28T19:05:00.009-05:00

Hello all.
Just two more weeks until the end of the quarter. This one has been quite the ride! It has been very difficult, but rewarding. I have just a short paper, take-home exam, Rolling Stone portrait (this is for Survey, I am going to draw Elvis Costello), and one printmaking edition left to complete. I finished up my third edition today in the print studio, and I am quite pleased with it! Unfortunately, I have no images of it just yet. I do, however, have a picture of my previous woodblock print. The assignment was to use color. It is somewhat frustrating to me, because I am usually really good with color, but this project just wasn't working out for me. It isn't terrible, but it isn't a portfolio piece, either.

"Goose 3/3" Woodblock relief print, 2010.

Sorry for the poor quality photo, as well!

Some good news though: I FINISHED MY BOOK! Hurrah! Just like my first one, it is for sale on Blurb.com.

Which Pet?

By Caitlin Alexander

Book Preview

I am very pleased with this. I put so much time into it! All the images are gouache with collage-- just for specific articles of clothing on the children and/or their family and friends. Here are a few images that will probably go into my portfolio:

"Rabbit Helps Simon," Gouache and collage, 2010

"Maggie Explores," Gouache and collage, 2010

"Which Pet?" Gouache, 2010

I have ordered a few copies of my book, and will let you know how they look when I receive them. And be sure to check it out on Blurb, even if you don't want to buy one!

Other big news: I am looking into traveling to New York this summer with the school. It's a week-long seminar that will count as a class for me. The opportunity is incredible. We will get to show our portfolio to potential big-name clients (Scholastic is one I am thrilled about!), meet current extremely successful illustrators, visit what is basically the core of the illustration field- the Society of Illustrators and Brandywine school, visit museums, and more! I really, really hope this works out. It would open so many doors and change the way I see illustration. So, anyway, I'll keep you posted on that, also!

Time to do some laundry.
adios
caitlin

A quick update!

2010-02-22T14:25:00.009-05:00

Hello all! Here's a few images of stuff I've been working on.

In Survey, we had to create a magazine spread ala the 1950s (stories for women in Good Housekeeping, etc.) Here's mine- it's for an actual published story in 1959 titled, "Take One Rainy Night..." I'm pretty pleased with it. The text for the story would be in the bottom left-hand corner.

"Take One Rainy Night..." 2010 Gouache and Collage.

I've been working furiously on children's book as well! Here's a few images from the spreads I've finished.

"Simon and Brother" 2010 Gouache and Collage.

"Frances Reads" 2010 Gouache and Collage.

No images yet from my relief class- but some good stuff coming up soon, I promise!

I've been pretty inspired by the art of Mary Blair and Jan Pfloog lately. Blair was a character designer for Disney, and more or less created all the old characters we know and love. I don't want to be a character designer, but her painting technique is so wonderful. The flat colors and movement are outstanding!

A children's book spread, © Mary Blair.

Jan Pfloog is not especially well known, although she had a pretty good run with Golden Books. I've had several of her stories since I was a kid- "The Farm Book," "The Zoo Book," and "The Kitten Book." I love her dry-brushing and use of color. Sorry I don't have a better image of her work. The interior illustrations are much more inspiring.

Cover for "The Farm Book," © Jan Pfloog.

adios
caitlin

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T17:08:00.008-05:00

Hello everyone! I hope you are all having a overly-sweet, chocolate-filled Valentine's Day. I don't have much to share, so this will be brief. The biggest piece of news currently: my "Cat" piece (which can be seen in a couple previous entries) is in a Humane Society benefit show for the next couple weeks. It is in Poetter Hall (for those of you who live in Savannah), and you should stop by to check it out, along with all the other fantastic Society of Illustrators' work. The pieces are for sale (mine has already sold! Hurrah!) and a good deal of the proceeds go to the Humane Society.
No new photos of my second woodcut yet- I should have taken some before I handed in the project, but forgot to do so. All of my spreads for my book are finished. All that is left are some little touch-ups here and there, the front and back covers, and the interior papers (when you open a book, the inside of the cover usually has illustrations on it). I haven't scanned any of my work in yet, though!
I do have my most recent assignment from Survey of Illustration, however. We had to make a war poster, and I chose to make an ironic image based off of World War II propaganda posters, specifically ones that would read lines such as, "He volunteered for the Submarine Service" (by Jon Whitcomb), which I changed to an anti-war message. I emulated the style of Harry Beckhoff with qouache, and then edited it a bit in Photoshop. It's not really something I'm particularly pleased with, and it doesn't really suit my style, but what can you do? Live and learn! Not every piece can be a home run. Here's the image before my class critique:

"Protested" 2010, Gouache and Digital
And here's with the changes they suggested:

"Protested 2" 2010, Gouache and Digital

Which do you prefer?

That's all for now.
adios
caitlin

Daydreaming of a studio

2010-01-31T22:46:00.006-05:00

Hello all,
I know I just posted a few days ago, but I was pondering my future career, and then wandered into fantasies of a perfect studio. Working in a tiny space that also serves as your bedroom, library, closet, and lounging area isn't so easy. I find myself placing artwork or supplies on other things precariously, and then when I need that space, having to move it to another over-crowded spot. I am a very, very organized person, so this is not a cleanliness issue. Just a lack of space! The idea of having a designated area for my supplies, inspiration on the wall, papers in a filing drawer, and artwork in various labeled portfolios is so exciting! I know I'll have a writing desk for my computer, printer, and paperwork, and a drafting table for my projects. Although I already have one, there is a very nice model at Ikea that has a built-in light table. Needless to say, it caught my eye!

This (my desk now and personal belongings)

PLUS

this (me in an Ikea workspace dream. The clips on the wall- genius! The drawers for large paper- inspired! The yellow wall- beautiful!)

PLUS

this (a cozy, cute, and old little home in quirky Austin, Texas)

EQUALS

perfection!

Any thoughts to share on a perfect studio space?
And just to get a little art in, here's a painting of me painting (old school Caitlin art)

"Self Portrait as the Allegory of Painting" 2008, Acrylic paint

That's all for now!
adios
caitlin

I think I can, I think I can...

2010-01-28T22:45:00.019-05:00

Hi everybody! Well, this quarter is stuffed full of art, to say the least. It's going to be tough, but I can't wait to look back on it, knowing I devoted everything I had and did the best I could! Plus, hopefully, I'll have some killer portfolio pieces. A quick update on all my projects and such:

Starting February 12th, I will have my piece "Cat" in SCAD's Poetter Hall for the Society of Illustrator's Humane Society Benefit show. It's for sale, and the proceeds go the Humane Society. If you are in Savannah, you should check it out!

"Cat" 2009, Watercolor and Ink

My first relief print is finished! The composition was originally a tight square around the rabbit, but my professor and I decided it would pop much more on a solid black, and larger background. I used chine-colle to glue the cut-out rabbits onto 30 inch by 44 inch pieces of black western paper. It was a massive undertaking, but paid off quite nicely-- one of the three prints is now hanging in Alexander Hall, and another was held by my professor for the printmaking department.

"Bunny 2/3" 2010, Relief Print with Chine Colle

My pirate piece is complete, as well. I attempted to create an off-register look with gouache paint, and added detail with ink. The colors and symmetry are based off of illustrator great Maxfield Parrish's work. Here's a sample:

©Maxfield Parrish, 1908 "Lantern Bearers"
Here's my final piece:

"Captain Rory" 2010, Gouache and Ink

No finished pieces yet for Children's Book. We have spent the last four weeks on story-writing, spread-planning, composition-making, character-sketching, and layout-roughing. Here are some scans of my character development. This character is Francis, the girl who lives in a city apartment with her mother, and enjoys reading and writing. Her pet is a fish.

Francis as a concept during page layout. The sketches below were added later in an attempt to recreate the original pose.

First pencil sketch of Francis. Very stiff!

More pencil sketches, with newer pen ones next to them, attempting to be looser.

Redo of the layouts- Francis takes more shape, now that I've done a few character design sketches.

Sketching Francis acting as though she would in the book.

Working out the interaction between Francis and her fish.

Finally some color studies (after re-drawing all the roughs large-scale to be traced for the final artwork)! Her jacket will be collage, and the rest qouache paint.

I decided to do the outlines in a color relative to what it would be surrounding. The colors here aren't exactly right since I wasn't using a very good scanner, but you get the idea. My, how she's grown! And to think I haven't even begun (and have five other kids! Eesh!)
So much for this being quick. Oh well. Time for bed!
adios
caitlin

What a busy quarter it will be!

2010-01-12T12:39:00.010-05:00

Hello all,
I started classes back up a week ago yesterday, and I can see already how intense it is going to be! My Survey of Illustration class is not only a lecture (with two exams, two papers, note-taking, the works), but a studio class as well (four assignments complete with sketching and roughs and critiques)! Our first assignment is to create a piece illustrating a pirate of choice, using some form of inspiration from any of the illustrators we covered whom worked from about 1890 to 1920. The task is clearly taken from Howard Pyle's love of pirate illustration. I have chosen to illustrate my dad as a pirate. He is rather obsessed with the idea of being scoundrel on the sea (in a past life, I suppose) and I couldn't resist the minute I heard what our project was! It is too perfect! So far, all I have are sketches though, so no solid work to show just yet.

©Howard Pyle 1902- Illustration for "Harper's New Monthly Magazine"

In Relief Printmaking, I have begun my first wood cut print. The task is extremely daunting! I chose to try a 24 by 24 inch piece for my first try- we'll see how that works out. It's getting a bit easier to control the carving tools, but today I will do my first test print, and that will let me know for sure how much I'm improving! My concept for the piece is pretty simple- its a fat, round, graphic rabbit fitting sung within the square border of the wood. I'm going to be doing a lot of pattern work inside for his fur. I'm pretty nervous about this one! Here's a photo reference for the pattern. It's taken from my nasty old mat in the bathroom! Funny where you'll find inspiration sometimes...

And, saving the best for last, I'm LOVING Children's Book! The class is going to be a ton of work, but I am so excited about it. After seeing some of my previous work (including my book "Only With You"), he told me that I was "born to do children's books" which is a massive compliment coming from a man who is very successful himself in the field! Needless to say, it made my day. I've already learned a ton about the process, and know I'm going to get even more out of it. In the class, we write, illustrate, and get printed an entire book. That's not too shabby for ten weeks! So far all I have is an idea and some rough layouts. My book will be about what makes a good pet, showing six different children in six different living arrangements, with six different personalities, and what pet is right for them. Hopefully children who read the book will be able to relate to one of the kids and make an appropriate decision in pet adopting! Here's some art from one of my professor's books.

©Allan Drummond "The Willow Pattern Story" www.allandrummond.com

So that sums it about up! Here's some old work, just for kicks.

"Greece" 2009, Gouache

"Jamaica" 2009, Gouache

Off to printmaking I go!
adios
caitlin

The Birth of an Illustration

2009-12-30T14:58:00.022-05:00

Happy Almost New Year!
I just finished a piece yesterday for the SCAD Society of Illustrators Humane Society show, and documented the making of it to give you guys an inside peek into how I work. Let's dive right in, shall we?
First off, I always like to look up some inspiration, whether it be reference photos of my subject, or other artists' work. For this piece, I knew I wanted to illustrate a cat, which can be much trickier than it seems. Often, "cat art" can seem too childish, or on the opposite end of the spectrum, old-woman-ish. I wanted to try and put a new spin on my feline subject, so I researched a bit. I came across this work by Johanna Ost that has some lovely line work in it.

"Moon" ©Johanna Ost 2007, pen. www.johannaost.com
I also looked at different quirky styles. I love MarmeeCraft's work, and found this adorable illustration that gave me some ideas.

"Precarious Uniwig" ©Marjorie Liucci. (not sure of date or medium) www.marmeecraft.blogspot.com
Almost done with inspiration- now I top it all off with some wonderful music! (Please excuse the poor quality of some of these photos- they were taken with my phone- the only handy thing available!)

Time to sketch. I usually sketch in pen- just a personal preference. Pencil smears too much for my taste! Pen makes me much more of a brave sketcher. I started with a more naturalistic approach, and quickly realized that wasn't going to work for me, so I drew from MarmeeCraft's "thick-necked" look and sketched several possible backgrounds, choosing the yarn pattern.

My piece needed to be 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches, so I then taped my paper according to size, with a nice one inch border. The paper I used here is some from an Arches Watercolor Block.

Then I mapped out my composition with a mechanical pencil. I tried to not use too many lines, because often those will show through. I just need enough to get the idea.

Next, I started with the watercolors. The paints I used were a variety of brands- Cotman, Windsor and Newton, and Grumbacher, but it's always nice to squeeze a little of each onto a seal-able tray for easy mixing and re-usage. I always like to test my color a bit on the extra space on the paper, just to be sure. Then I began to paint! I just wanted a nice coffee stain look for a backdrop, and mixed a variety of yellows and browns. I first added a layer of clean water, and then added paint, letting it do as it pleased. The messier the better! I wanted some "mess-up" spots on purpose to give it some character, and splatted water here and there.

After that layer dried, I went in again with some darker hues, using a little blue mixed with darker browns. This change is subtle, and hard to see in this picture.

I realized my cat wasn't standing out enough from the background, and since I wasn't planning on adding any more color to her, I needed to lift up some of the color using a clean brush, water, and a tissue to dab it with. The paper's natural selection of what color to keep made a really lovely stain.

I then began to work on the more specific colors for the yarn. I still wanted to keep it loose, since I knew I was doing ink line work over it. I chose subtle purples, blues and browns for a nice complimentary contrast to the yellow hue underneath. Here again, I used a tissue to dab off some of the wet paint for an aged look.

One final touch with paint- the eyes and nose!

I needed to let the paint dry completely (not even having the paper cold to the touch) before I did my line work, so there would be no bleeding. I took a dinner break and came back to paper that was ready to go! Then I began the tedious task of patterning. It's very relaxing- until your hand starts to cramp!

And then I'm finished!

Here is the final work, sans tape and cut to size. If you have fallen in love with my kitty and live in the Savannah area, you are in luck! The piece will be up for sale within the next couple months. I'll have updates on the show in the future.

"Cat" watercolor and ink, 2009.
Another bit of good news- my book came in today! It looks fantastic. The colors are a bit more saturated than I thought, but it really works nicely with some of the images.

That's all for now. Have a wonderful New Year!
adios
caitlin

Post-Christmas Lazies

2009-12-28T16:21:00.005-05:00

Good afternoon! It's been a few days since Christmas (we just got back from a West Texas family gathering) and boy, am I feeling lethargic! I just barely mustered enough energy to take photos of these two prints I made (gifts to my cousins) and post them here. And now I need to start packing for my trip back to Savannah! I'll really enjoy being back at school, but it was so very nice to relax with my family for a little while. I love them so much.
When I return to SCAD, it'll be a busy but exciting quarter. I'm going to be taking a children's book class, which I can barely contain myself for because I am so thrilled, my second printmaking class-- relief (which is also a love of mine, in case it wasn't apparent!) and a survey of illustration class. The survey will be a toughie, because I hear that although it is a lecture class, there are projects assigned as well. I'm pretty much going to be in an extra class this quarter. I can't wait though; all three are so important now that I'm getting more specifically into my interests. There will be plenty of updates on those subjects! But enough of the blabbing- here are the two prints I made this break:

"Dillo" Relief Print, 2009

"Weather Bird" Relief Print, 2009

Sorry the photos aren't the best. I don't have a good scanner here at home.
I did both prints on linoleum, and used my old high school's ink and press. My beloved art teacher of four years, Mr. Bates, helped me out a bit. I've been so spoiled by SCAD's excellent printmaking studio, that using a little press and cheaper ink was pretty difficult! After switching from water-based ink to oil-based, the prints became a lot better, and I came out with quite a few good ones. Thank you, Mr. Bates! I have even more respect for the prints you create, knowing that's what you work with every time.
That's all for now! Have a happy New Year, everyone!
adios
caitlin

Merry Christmas Eve!

2009-12-24T16:26:00.011-05:00

Hello everyone! I hope you are all having a warm and cozy Christmas eve. I still haven't receieved my book in the mail (my fault for ordering it too late) so no update there yet. But I have two new lino prints that I will post photos of next week. They are gifts, so I can't show them just yet! So, to tide you over, here's some more work that didn't quite make it to my portfolio.

"Biff the Hat Man" Mixed Media, 2009

"Birthday Alligators" Ink 2009

"Cinco de Mayo" Collage with bought, hand-painted and hand-printed patterns, 2009

"Crawled to the Bath" Ink and Watercolor, 2009

Happy Holidays!
adios
caitlin

My book is available!

2009-12-15T16:54:00.010-05:00

Hey everybody! I finally got my book "Only With You" up on Blurb.com, and it's available for you to purchase too! I just ordered my two copies, so I don't know how they look yet. Blurb is a great company, so I trust them, but if you want to wait for me to check out my printed version, I'll update once I get them (probably after Christmas). Here's a link to check out the book:

Only With You

By Caitlin Alexander

Book Preview

And the cover!

Hooray!

Also, Spoiler Alert if you receive a card from the Alexander family! I got my family's Christmas Card finished about a week and a half ago. They wanted something classic, and similar in theme to last year's.
Last Year- 2008, Ink and Watercolor

This year- 2009, Ink and Watercolor

Happy Holidays and New Year everyone!

adios
caitlin

Been working on my book

2009-12-03T00:52:00.008-05:00

Hello all!
During the summer I wrote and illustrated a children's book (for my own pleasure) and have finally found the time to edit it! I'll update more as I keep chugging along on this project, but here's just an overview of the story. It's called "Only With You," and I actually got the idea from a class project (featured on the front page of my site, titled "Bunny"). The plot is that a little girl named Bernadette has just moved and gathers the courage to explore with her stuffed rabbit Mr. Wiggles, who is "larger than life." Thanks to my lovely mother for working out the plot kinks and thanks to my lovely boyfriend Kellan for editing and helping me with page layouts (which I'm still working on).

Here's one of the spreads:

"Spread 6" Ink, Watercolor, Varnish and Digital, 2009

Let me know if you are interested in purchasing a copy of the book when I'm finished putting it together!

I'll be updating a bunch soon with winter projects, so keep an eye out!

adios
caitlin

Happy Thanksgiving! (tomorrow)

2009-11-26T00:32:00.005-05:00

Wanted to wish an (early) happy Thanksgiving to everyone. This is my first year to actually participate in the major cooking frenzy in my home, and I have to say, so far, it's pretty fun! I made some rolls from scratch this afternoon-- not easy stuff, this "baking." So, consequently, I am very thankful this year for all the people on this planet who can cook well and enjoy doing it. (Of course I am also thankful for my family, friends, boyfriend, cats, home, school, possessions, health, opportunities, life, love, all art forms, nature.. etc as well!) Here's a man feasting on rabbits to tide you over till the next meal.

"Old Man Eating Rabbits" Ink, 2008

until next time,
adios
caitlin

Wrapping up the quarter

2009-11-16T22:26:00.007-05:00

Only a few more days until our very long Winter Break. I'm pretty relieved to have some time to relax with my family, and hopefully work on some art as well. With this close to the quarter, I'll be revamping my website (yet again-- hopefully for the last time... for a while) with all new artwork and layout! Here's some work that didn't quite make it into my portfolio this quarter.

"Octopus' Garden" Digital, 2009

"Birds of a Feather, E.V.- 3/3" Relief Print with Chine Colle, 2009
A piece very similar to this will be on my site. With printmaking, you make multiple "copies" of the work, (when they are all identical, they are called editions) and label each piece individually. With "Birds of a Feather," I used Chine Colle (to put it simply- gluing the papers together as you run it through the press) as a collage element, making identical copies nearly impossible. This is one of my good prints, but not the best, and because slightly different, it won't be in my portfolio. So sad.

More exciting stuff to come.

adios
caitlin

My very first officially grown-up blog

2009-11-11T19:05:00.002-05:00

Hello! I'm Caitlin, as you may have noticed, and I like to create art. Hopefully you are a fan of art as well, seeing as how you are reading about it right now. If you aren't really intrigued by creative stuff, just a heads up-- you are in the wrong place.

So, currently I am a student (junior) at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia. I am originally from Texas (Austin area) and actually spend almost as much time there as I do in Georgia because our quarter system... but that's rather irrelevant. I am an illustration major, wanting to focus on children's books, but open to just about anything. And just yesterday I declared a minor in printmaking! I was inspired by the Introduction to Printmaking class here at school (thank you Curtis Bartone, you are an amazing professor) and decided, why not? It's something I love to do.

Speaking of printmaking, I have two works for sale in the Open Studio show this weekend-- Saturday from 5 to 8 pm at Alexander Hall. Not sure if anyone will be looking to purchase prints of rabbits and other anthropomorphic characters, but who knows! Stop by if you want to check out some amazing SCAD art.

Well that's about all for now.

adios
caitlin