Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Caitlin Hackett Interview


“I almost became an Illustration major, but one of the professors really didn’t like my work. A lot of the older professors have this strange idea that there’s a really big delination between drawing and illustration..it’s a break up I’ve never understood.” - Caitlin Hackett


Here's my phone interview with the artist, Caitlin Hackett If anyone else wants to share their Illustrator interviews, e-mail them to 23spades@gmail.com!

Do you do your Illustrations for a living?
“No, I actually work full time on top of my studio career. I don’t get enough time to work on my art as much as I’d like, it’s actually pretty crazy. I waitress full time…I also work for a video game company doing creature design so I work 80 hour weeks.”

How did you get the job at the video game company?
“I found it right as I was graduating Pratt..I saw an ad on craigslist. I never really thought of doing design because I was a fine arts major. I’ve been working there for a year and a half.”

How long have you been out of college doing this?
“I graduated Pratt in May 2009…like a year and a half now?”

How did you get yourself out there as an artist?
“A lot of it was luck with my senior show…a lot of people came who were friends of professors that were curators. It’s kind of a small world, especially in New York…a lot of the curators knew each other.”

Is there any story behind what got you started drawing the monsters you draw?
“A lot of my inspiration comes from endangered species…when I was growing up I planned being a wildlife biologist and I ended up being an artist. A lot of my concerns are based on environmental problems. It’ll kind of come just randomly…I’ll read an article about a certain animal and I’ll be like ‘I like that’. It may have started as a certain species but the drawings take a long time and they change. It’s definitely a long process…when I start it’s about a specific species, but you know how it goes…a piece when you work on it long enough…it definitely changes over time.”

Is there any other process you’re fond of besides large ballpoint pen drawings?
“I definitely pretty much use only ballpoint pen and wateroclor, I would like to get into oil paint …I’ve been interested in trying other methods with the paint.”

I read in your interview in Hi-Fructose that negative opinions from a teacher got you started on your large illustrations. Were there any other hi lighting experiences from your college career?
“Yeah, I had a couple really fantastic professors…an oil painter Chris Wright, I was in one of his classes before I switched from painting to drawing major. I never really preferred painting…as you can see from my art I love line. When he saw my personal sketchbook, he said ‘If that’s what you like what to do, that’s what you should really do’ and I think that’s one of the other turning points I really had. If I want to draw the things that I’ve always thought of, then why not?”

What are you up to right now?
“Well my apartment is my studio, I’m working on a bunch of small works for a show next month. It’s a group show, and all of them are under 11x12, which is hard for me because I like to go outside the bounds of the page. Endangered backyard birds that ended up as creepy mutations…they’ll all be up on my site soon. I’ve got to finish them today.”

Monday, October 25, 2010

Drawn Is Back Online!


Well, almost...but the blog and old archives are up, and there are apparently surprises awaiting everyone in the near future for the main site!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Sinbad 2010!

I'm still waiting for Sinbad photos from October 21. Please send them to me at shane@theflyinglighthouse.com and I'll get them posted in a flickr set right away. While we wait I've taken the liberty to link to the Sinbad photos from 2009.

2010 24 Comics Challenge photos!!

I'm never awesome at remembering to snap photos, but this year I managed to grab a few toward the end of the night. You can head over to my flickr page to see the set. If there be no objections I'll string together some of the video I shot and post it over the weekend. You've been warned!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Panel Grids and Page Composition


An interesting post by Frank Santoro on panel grids in comics: Giving Up the Center.

I'm not sure I quite feel his urgency for claiming "the center," but I look forward to seeing where he goes with this in the following posts.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Harry Potter Sequential Art by Lucy Knisley


In lieu of the new Harry Potter movie coming out/the HP craze in general, super awesome illustrator/puppeteer/comic artist Lucy Knisley has done a series of sequential images from each book and has posted previews on her blog.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

UP! Fair























Just heard about UP! Fair, which is an event focusing on independently published writers and artists happening Nov. 19-20. It looks like it could be fun and informative, especially for you comics kids. So if you happen to feel like spending a weekend in Kentucky, check it out!

Sunday, October 3, 2010

24 Hour Comic Day Results

Curt Franklin and Chris Haley of Let's Be Friends Again judged MCA's 24 Hour Comic Day today, and here are the results:

Matt Ryan won Best Overall Comic.

Whitney Hubbard (MCA Alumni) won Best Story.

Kayla Cline won Best Visual Storytelling.

Thanks again to Shane McDermott for making it possible and making sure everyone won a little something with the post-comic raffle.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Jen Wang Interview on...MTV?



I recently discovered Jen Wang, and I'm kinda in love with her art. I found out she did an interview for, of all things, MTV! Here it is, and the currently secret comics-based website MTV is concocting is located here. Apparently the director of True Life is now interviewing comic book artists in their studios? Kinda awesome.