Threadless

Threadless is currently holding a contest to make a political parody tee shirt--many of the designs right now are either too mean or too off-the-mark, so I decided to take the leap and submit a design for the first time! Here's the cleaned up linework, and I'll update more as I add!

Revisiting Baby Gaga

Sending this to a friend of a friend of my aunt's--we'll see if he likes it!

Continuing my YA illustration trend...

Tithe--the first book in another damn good trilogy by Holly Black. Just a little character sketch.

BRONZE ADONIS. AKA another HG character.

Finnick, the gorgeous fisherman/victor from District 4. He's a huge flirt.

Continuing my obsession with The Hunger Games...

This is Katniss, the narrator.

Aren't you all glad I wasn't interested in Twilight? (At least, not GENUINELY interested--I'm plenty interested in it's entertainment value for bashing.)

An actual ART UPDATE.

Since Harry Potter is drawing to a close, I need to find something else to occupy the literature-obsessed part of my brain. SO, I read all three Hunger Games books at the end of this summer. One of my favorite parts of the series is how vividly you can visualize the characters, particularly the grotesque residents of the Capitol of Panem, the book's version of post-apocalyptic North America.

One of my favorites is Caesar Flickerman, the host and interviewer of The Hunger Games. This is a bit of a work-in-progress, but I'm pleased with what's come out so far. He started out a bit differently--I imagined him obnoxiously tan at first, but then I reread and he's supposed to be coated in white makeup, so I adjusted. He began as this:



And ended up as this:





In other news, I'm moving to New Jersey this weekend! I'm a little scared to start over, but I'm really excited to be closer to John and to start making our lives together! :)

To tide you over until the project is complete...

Here's a drawing I did awhile ago of some annoying kids my friend Emily and her sister Bess observed at the Carnegie Science Center during the science-y food presentation. (In honor of Em lending me her scanner. :D)

The End of the MICA Chapter

Classes and finals are (essentially) over for me!

My plans for the next few days are:

-Hang the commencement show.
-Start packing.
-Attend a super-fun Victorian tea party.
-Go to a wedding! As a bridesmaid!
-GRADUATE!

I had my interview with Sarah Vinas, the art director of Glamour magazine, yesterday. Overall I think it went well! I was a little intimidated at first, but she proved to be really personable (but professional), and she offered some good advice--some which I'd heard from others, but that's normal. My biggest concern (and don't I know it)is settling on a style/media/vision. I need to focus myself. This summer will be an excellent time to explore that, so I'm looking forward to it. :) So, Sarah offered to e-mail me with a few references for people/places that could potentially be interested it my work, and offered to be a contact for me (which was very generous). Successful, I think!

Oh my gosh, here comes real life!

Some older art that is dear to my heart. (It wasn't meant to rhyme, really!)

I invented Melvin Bloo shortly before I started at MICA. I'm not exactly sure how I stumbled upon him--my next-door neighbor, an interior designer, was talking about paint colors, and I think we might have been talking about what goes into naming colors, and I called out Melvin Blue offhand as a joke. She loved that and asked me to draw what Melvin Blue would look like, so I did. He was a bit skinnier then (which my mom and sister prefer), but I like the big blue boulder he became (I subsequently changed his name to Melvin 'Bloo'). :)

(I'm pretty sure the last panel of the third comic is the most depressing thing I've ever drawn.)

His friends in the three comics below (which I drew sophomore year for a book/sequential assignment) are Sherwin (Melvin's periwinkle dog), Taylor (the red one--although I never thought up a satisfactory 'red' last name for him.), Sandy Brown (the love interest with a Cat named Queso, as you might have read), and the bully Buster Black (POKE).

My mom has always encouraged me to market Melvin and my other original character (more on him in the next paragraph), which sounds like it would be really fun, should I get enough money together to print tee shirts and hats and promote them. Who knows?!

I must say that Melvin is my most sympathetic character. He was the second original character I came up with (the first was Ug, a caveman with the Barbie-like talent of being able to wear and be anything) and therefore the more sophisticated. His friends didn't exist until I made the book, but I find I like the newer characters just as much! :) I hope you like him!

-A.

Baby Gaga and a personal observation...

Firstly, a new Baby Gaga! I'd love to draw a little companion piece illustrating how she maimed her childhood dolls into that wretched ensemble...we'll see. :P

Secondly...well...

I have this weird tendency to get super, super into competitive sports if there is even the slightest bias for someone to win. This was regarding the Kansas U game for March Madness, as my good friend (and artist!) Katie is from Kansas City and is a huge fan. (they lost...sorry Katie!)

This weekend and the next is going to be full of THESIS, thanks to my boyfriend John being indisposed due to A Midsummer Night's Dream, playing at MICA right now. GO SEE IT! The sets are spectacular and the actors are super-talented!

An Alter-Ego and a BRILLIANT idea.

Here's a little something (two little somethings) that came out of a fun evening with friends. The first is a drawing of my friend Bess, the sister of close friend (and fellow Blogger) Emily. This alter ego was invented simply by switching her initials and a fleeting moment of mock-mustache twirling. :D It was really fun and I really love how it came out.

The second drawing, Baby Gaga, was a concept I came up with two days ago, watching some babies play out in Cohen Plaza in the sunlight. I searched to see if anyone else had come up with it yet (No one! Although BabyGaga.com is a baby/pregnancy site), so I'm going to run with it. :P

Hope you all got a laugh out of it! Watch out for more Baby Gaga!

Flashback to Italy (and some friend-ly fun).

My friends and I went bowling this weekend after the MICA senior gala (which was FABULOUS, and I admit, I looked pretty good!), and we had a fabulous time. During our third game, I started cartooning the parties present, and John lent his lettering talent to our names! Colin and myself were little, well, crappy at first, so we re-vamped them into more interesting characters! :P

I also wanted to post the sequential art book/diary that I wrote/drew while I was abroad, but there are FAR too many pages, so I'll post a preview, and you can access the full book here!