Illustrator Research #4- Julia Woolf

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Julia Woolf was born in the UK and worked in animation in London Art Directing commercials. She also worked for Dreamworks as Production Illustrator for the Shrek and Shrek 2 films. She now specializes in children's illustration, as a digital illustrator.

Some of her clients have been Dreamworks Animation, Scholastic, Pearson Learning, W.H. Sadlier, Running Press, Highlights for Children, Playhouse Publishing, Scott Foresman, Penguin, American Greetings, McGraw Hill, Harcourt, and Random House.


Her style is very simple and playful, and I do like how she plays with texture in some, while others are very solid.

Illustrator Research #3- Michael LaVasseur

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Michael LaVasseur graduated from the Ringling School of Art and Design. He often spends a lot of time at his cabin in Northern Minnesota with his family. He spends time hiking, fishing, and enjoying nature, and this inspires much of his work.

His work is created digitally overall; it is stylized and contains many natural elements of animals, landscapes, and people.

Some of his clients have been Golf Digest, Continental Airlines, Lord and Taylor, Medtronic, Inc., UPS, American Cancer Society, and The Plain Dealer.

I really enjoy his style and use of digital work. I'm not too fond of his centered images, but I do like how he approaches nature and applies it digitally.

Artist Lecture- Gary Panter

I actually had forgotten to make a blog post about this lecture, but I did write some notes that I wanted to mention. A point that Gary Panter made that really stood out to me was the idea of making a list of what you love and hate to start any kind of art. We seemed to do this in illustration class, but it really seems like a good idea for creating other ideas for other classes. He also mentioned problems with society getting swirled too much into media, and how we should go to an earlier version of ourselves before we'd been so influenced by it.  This also brought up the other part he mentioned about for artists was that anything we learn, it would be best to learn the old fashioned way first. This stood out to me since I've always been so based on digital skills that I haven't been focusing on traditional mediums as much.

Gary Panter's work itself as he mentioned, has a sense of lonlieness to it, and it also seemed to play with humorous ideas as well. What was also interesting to me is that he liked psycadelic light shows from the 1960s, and the pieces he created and described really demonstrated his focus of painting with light. The 1960s aspect seemed to stand out in his work with a lot of the ideals at the time.

His work and lecture brought up ideas of reaching beyond the exterior of ourselves and viewing how we portray ourselves as humans in general. I really can relate to his mention of art not just being for selling, but it being a spiritual trip.

Illustrator Research #2- Andrea Cobb

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Andrea Cobb attended Parsons School of Design in New York where she received her BFA in Illustration in 1988.  After living in Manhattan for ten years, she now works in North Carolina.

Some of her clients  have been Quaker Oatmeal, Ritz Carlton, Target, Toyota, The Wall Street Journal, and

 Yoga Journal.

Andrea Cobb has been featured in media for advertising, corporate, editorial, package, card and stationary.  She recently has launched limited prints of landscapes.

She mixes Illustration, Fine Arts, and Surface Design to work with high amounts of color and pattern.

I really enjoy her designs in their simple styles.  They're really whimsical and playful, and I also enjoy how she incorporate color choices and text.

Illustrator Research #1- Kim Rosen

Website

Kim Rosen worked as a graphic designer for several years in New York before becoming an illustrator. She received an MFA degree from the Savannah College of Art and Design and Kim is now working as a Freelance Illustrator.

Kim combines traditional media such as painted textures, hand drawn patterns and intricate line-work, with digital media, completing each illustration digitally.

Some of her clients have been American Express, Scholastic, NY Daily News, Continental Airlines, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, TIME Magazine, National Post, Delta, American Way, Indianapolis Monthly, Philadelphia Magazine, Today's Parent, Shape, Women's Health, and Conde Nast Traveler.

I really enjoy the style of her work, especially how she combines traditional media with the digital. I really enjoy how she plays with the figure and expressions.

"What's Missing" Piece

Here's the piece focusing on what is missing from my portfolio.

Class Assignment- The State of the Union: Post 6

What sort of Illustrator are you?
I am an Illustrator that enjoys working with simple elements while still creating a sense of realism. I enjoy graphite and watercolors among traditional art tools, but overall I prefer digital media. I enjoy working on scenes from real life, especially human and animal figures.

What sort of career do you want to have?
I'm still a little unsure completely on this, but I know I want a career I can enjoy always at least a bit. I want a career that helps me expand my work and help me grow not just as an artist, but as a person. Whether through children's books or magazines, I want to deal with real life issues and scenery in my work.

Does your present body of work reflect your aspirations? Could it do so more strongly?
Some images do, while others seem to stray a bit, as I either was going according to an assignment or I was testing a medium I'm not too familiar with. I would just need practice in media I really enjoy.

List ten images/themes/techniques/subjects/formats that your portfolio needs in order to become more in line with your aspirations.
1. More textures in my work
2. Practice on traditional media, mainly watercolors and graphite
3. Combine more mediums
4. Have more dynamic images
5. Create more scenes from daily life
6. Explore more concepts and metaphors
7. Practice in general
8. Working more with humorous or cartoon styles
9. Creating more of a style that is solid and less varied
10. Spending more time on drawings