While I’ve been out of commission, I’ve been working on a little website for my friend Vivian (she’s a talented girl, who is a fledgling DJ - among other things). I’m doing it just for fun and I’m totally digging it so far.
Granted, Vivian hasn’t seen this yet, so it might look entirely different by the time it ends up online, but at the moment, I’m pretty happy with it.
Vivian was using a little snail with a record for a shell as her little logo, so I decided to take the motif a step further and go for a whole story-book, woodland DJ motif. She also has a love of Alice in Wonderland, so I integrated a bit of that too. Vivian’s own personal aesthetic tends to lean towards rocker-mod, with lot’s of black and white and red so there’s a bit of a subtle retro, rockin’ influence (most notably in the use of cooper black for the header - and who doesn’t *heart* cooper black!). I, of course, added in a good dose of my own Mary Blair obsession into the mix as well.
I’ve finally finished with the one project I’ve been steadily working on the past few months (a wedding invitation for friends - much more complicated and time intensive than you’d think - certainly than I thought) and I may have another project in the works (building a website for a local charity).
But I also finally have a workable idea for a project for ME to work on. I think I’m gonna keep that one under wraps for a while. But I will say that I’ve realised that I need to work on something I can split into very small little managable chunks (that will eventually build into somthing large and impressive). So it’s not gonna be some huge graphic novel, I’ll tell you that much.
Inspired by this bout of late inclement weather we’ve been having this week (it’s snowing again, as I speak - big, fluffy flakes), I put together a mini-comic. It’s a simple little thing, but it turned out nicely.
You can read it by clicking:here, or on the image up there.
Check it out!
My very first torontoist post!
Feel free to comment over there if you like it, or don’t like it, or just think indie rock pigeons making out is the most adorable thing, ever.
My OCAD interview went good. Nothing terribly exciting (except for the one reviewer that shared his love of Arrested Development).
I don’t know what my status is yet though. Apparently they’re sending out emails in the next couple weeks. So at least I won’t have to wait too long.
My interview is tommorow. This is my (slightly longer than 250 words) admissions essay. Wish me luck please!
I have always loved visual culture.
I just don’t think I realized that there was a discipline that spanned it all.
Then one day I stumbled upon the world of graphic design and illustration.
This is a world that I am now immersing myself in, and becoming completely fascinated with.
I am obsessed with: graphic novels, illustrated blogs (I happen to have one), vectors, comic strips, Blythe dolls, small press publications, DIY, creative graphic design, typography, library pop, bright colours, female auteurs, repurposed art supplies, and the new wave of illustrative art movements like Japanese Super Flat, and SoCal Lowbrow (not to mention all the wonderful stuff that’s going on right here, right now, in this very city).
I want to write and illustrate my own graphic novel, and children’s books. I want to animate. I want to design my own toys. I want to do illustrations for forward thinking magazines and other publications. I want to have shows in galleries. I want people to wear clothing with my drawings on them. I want to design concert posters and album covers, and packaging for beauty supplies and board games.
I want to come up with new ways for people to discover art and design in their everyday lives.
I love working in many mediums, digital and traditional. Mostly though, I like to fill black lines in with bright colour (maybe it’s a throwback to my colouring book days). I love the exciting versatility of vectors. I worked as the illustrator of a student newspaper (The Brock Press) for a year, and when you don’t know what size your finished illustration is going to be printed at vectors are an absolute godsend (not to mention how crisply and cleanly they print out).
I want to accomplish so many things.
I want to create a whole world in my own style.
I want to satiate my desire for more knowledge and inspiration.
I even want to go to work and learn, everyday inside that amazing, frightening sculpture floating in the sky.
I want to go to OCAD for Illustration, and no place else.
Here she is, although not exactly in all her glory.
Due to a combination of a crappy camera and weird, late-winter, city sunlight the colours are totally off.
She is bigger than I have usually work (since I usually work in a little sketchbook) approximately tabloid size, and mixed media (in case you couldn’t tell).
This is an idea I’ve been mulling around for a long while now: a portrait of someone who inspires me, in a really illustrative style (something that would work in a magazine as a cover or with a profile). I’ve started off with Sofia Coppola, and I may even go on from here and do a series of these.
If I get ambitious.
Which I don’t tend to.
The closer I get to my actual interview for OCAD (one week away!!!), the lighter I feel.
I still have some nagging doubts, and of course my own resident lack of self confidence in my own abilities (I am learning that this is something pretty much every artist ever experiences).
But I’m starting to feel better.
Of course, by the day of the interview, my stomach will probably be twisting itself into some fun pretzel shapes… but for now things are going good.
I actually got a major piece done for my portfolio, which I am very, very happy with. The concept has been bouncing about in my head and my sketchbook for weeks now, so I am pleased that it finally found it’s way out onto illustration board.
It was kind of a major block.
Worrying and fussing over this one drawing.
The time and worry was worth it though, because I think it’s turned out beautifully. I think it really expresses what I want it to express, and is indicative of my newish personal style I’ve been developing - but is also a bit of an evolution from where I’ve been (and if I say all this, just like this, in my interview that’d be cool too - exposition is good).
I actually feel a bit of that happy feeling people talk about with the birth of a new creation.
I will probably post pictures later.
So. How did my day go? The day I have been worried about for weeks? The first of a few portfolio once-overs that I have been going on about forever? How did all that go? Huh?
Well…
Pretty good, actually.
I didn’t exactly get what I thought I was gonna get, but that turned out to be ok.
I didn’t get anywhere near anyone from OCAD. Which sucked. Because of Saturday night’s parked-car-minding-its-own-buisness debacle, we were a bit late (oh, and did I mention it was the annual Santa Claus parade [that link is super creepy, check it out], and an Argonauts football game? Downtown was just plain silly with parade-goers and tailgaters). When we got there, there was a line-up halfway through the school for the OCAD room, and it was not moving at all.
Thankfully, knowledgeable art recruiters from the top North American Art schools were swarming the place, so rather than see some people we could easily make an appointment to see later, we went to find something prestigious and exiting - with a short line-up.
So, we ended up in the dreamy-dreamy California room.
I ended up talking to a girl from Otis College of Art and Design. And she really like my stuff. She thought my portfolio was polished and solid (though it could probably use some more life and figure drawing). And she thought if I brought my grade point up, I would probably have a great time at Otis someday (if I ever decide to move to California).
This is super cool, because Otis is an awesome school for three important reasons:
- Edith Head went there.
- They have a TOY DESIGN program!!!!!!!
- I could pretend I was Claire from Six Feet Under, on a regular basis (but without the dorky friends)
So.
My day went well.
I am seriously and truly working on my portfolio. I promise. Here’s proof even:
See!
It’s a super-stylized self-portrait. I hope I don’t look too much like a clown…
Working away is easy, it’s coming up with good idea’s that’s hard.
To get myself to stay the course I keep telling myself I only have a week to put this together… but then I hyperventilate and have to go back and remind myself that this weekend is only a portfolio workshop. Not the final interview. The final interview is months away.
So maybe I should just stop talking to myself all together. It’s altogether less insane.