Still dreaming

Well, if I had to spend the rest of my life illustrating one book, it would have to be the Bible. Kind of a cop-out because it's such a large and varied book, but I'm a Christian. And I would never get bored.

As for my dream mentors:

I would love to be an apprentice to Bill Watterson. The man is brilliant, yet private and quiet. And he looks a little like my dad. Watterson is a master of drawing and philosophy; how great would it be to study under him?


I think my other choice would be Mary Cassat, who was one of the first famous women artists. Her skill is undeniable, and her paintings beautiful.

Squeaky
But, if I were ostracized from the art world forever, I would start an organic chicken farm for eggs. My chickens would roam freely, be very happy, and lay delicious eggs, much like my pets back home. And if the egg farm weren't pulling in enough, I could always find a day job to help out, like maybe cashier at a book store, or something. I'm not picky.

If I had one month and a thousand dollars for art supplies, I would make a giant, paneled painting, probably of chickens, or something else that I really enjoy. Of course, the money would go to buying canvases or making cradles. Working in phases, I'd start with penciling the general layout over all the pieces, then the painting process. Finally, the panels would be hung in a gallery or on the side of a really big building.

However, if I had six months and ten grand, I'd make a frikkin' sweet comic book. The money would be spent on supplies to create the pages, and the rest spent on publishing the sucker. The schedule would be very similar to the one I'm using now for my independent study: do all thumbnails, then pencil and color as I go. The finished piece would be a mass-produced copy with that wonderful new book smell. Mmm-mm!
Stella: a character from my upcoming comic

With an entire year and a hundred thou, I would probably go crazy. In all actuality, I'd continue from the comic I made with the ten grand, and just keep making more comics until I ran out of dough. It's what I enjoy. With lots of chickens!

bad breath and Charlie Brown

This is my large scale drawing for the editorial piece, done at 125% of the final print size. I have no idea how I will be printing it, but we'll see. My apologies for the low quality photo; it's from my cell.

We have also been doing research on illustrators. I picked Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin & Hobbes, as my subject. His main influence was Charles Schulz, who everyone knows as the creator of Peanuts. Then my research took me all the way back to Schulz's main influence Billy DeBeck, creator of Barney Google and Snuffy Smith. Sounds like one of those "Abraham begot Isaac" linage listings in the Bible, huh? I guess that's art for you; none of it is truly "original" and all that.

Here's a work in progress from my Computer graphics class. We're learning photo manipulation in Photoshop. Note: I do not own some of the photographs used, but I'm not making any money off of it anyway.